# Europeans TODAY > FREE fact-based analyses, expert advice, fact-checks, challenging comments & thought-provoking opinions. • Reliable, evidence-based journalism. • Editorially independent. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### GUIDE ON... Coronavirus (COVID-19) URL: https://www.europeans.today/covid-19-guide/ Last updated: 2022-10-01T11:46:29.000Z ### Our comprehensive guide on coronavirus with articles, charts, data, and expert advice on COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/05/daily-uk-chart-min.png)](https://www.europeans.today/latest-covid/) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/05/articles-min.png)](https://www.europeans.today/tag/covid19) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/05/get-tested-lft-min-1.png)](https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests?ref=europeans.today) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/05/book-vaccination-min.png)](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/?ref=europeans.today) ### --- ##### Sources - **Cover:* Pixabay. (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).)* ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") ### About Europeans TODAY URL: https://www.europeans.today/about/ Last updated: 2026-10-01T03:34:50.000Z #### **THE NEW PLATFORM FOR CITIZEN RESPONSE, IDEAS, EXPERTISE AND POLITICALLY INFORMED DEBATE.** *More and more readers follow our magazine every day because they like the content we offer and believe in our quality, independent and fair journalism. We want to keep this trend growing with a magazine based on trust (with our readers and with our authors).* *What we have is the understanding of good, independent and ethical journalism that considers the news from a different angle you may feel you can relate to.* *As we don’t have billionaire owners, nor shareholders who could add capitals in a snap of fingers, and because we want to remain financially independent – which is difficult and expensive – we have made the choice of relying on donations from our readers instead.* *So, if you like our work and believe in our ethics,* [*please show your support*](https://www.europeans.today/support)*. Your contribution to the work of our magazine will be greatly appreciated and guarantee we can continue to bring you great quality and independent articles to fight the fake stories out there… with real ones.* *Thank you.* ***The Editorial Team*** ## **SUMMARY** Our online magazine was created on 30 September 2016, just a few weeks after the British referendum on the EU membership and a couple of months before the first election of Donald Trump at the White House. ### What’s in the name: Our magazine was first called *PMP Magazine* (for *Politics Means Politics*) from the days when the then-newly appointed British Prime Minister Theresa May kept repeating in the media *“Brexit means Brexit”*, after the 2016 EU Referendum. We then changed our name in 2024 to **PUBLIC SQUARE UK**. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2024/03/logo-head-0004-flatten.png) In 2025, we have become **EUROPEANS TODAY**. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/01/new-logo-europeans-today-001-small2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/et-logo-july2025.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/10/et-logo-1-oct-2026-2.png) ### Why EUROPEANS TODAY? **EUROPEANS TODAY** is designed as a dynamic and engaging platform that transcends traditional political commentary. It is not just about presenting news and analysis; it is an interactive space that prioritises depth of understanding and the showcasing of expertise. Our magazine is dedicated to amplifying voices that often go unheard, inviting a rich diversity of perspectives into the political discourse. Our name **EUROPEANS TODAY** shows our deep attachment to the European ideal of unity, collaboration, and progress, reflecting our commitment to promoting shared values, diversity, and the collective future of Europe. ### Why this logo? Our logo offers a dynamic and creative take. It uses a speech bubble shape, which fits well with the theme of public discourse and conversation that a politics magazine like **EUROPEANS TODAY** embodies and reinforces the idea of an open forum for discussion. The overlap between the speech bubble and the square also adds a nice touch of depth and modernity. The font is bold and legible, ensuring that the name stands out. ### Our motto *“Political indifference leads to the rule of the unprincipled.”* (inspired by a quote by Plato in *The Republic*) ### Our mission To inform and educate to make a social impact. After Brexit and Trump, it is now time to fight back and stand up for truth and facts, or our ability to make informed decisions will be forever compromised. We have created **EUROPEANS TODAY**, a new platform for citizen response, because, unlike other media who focus on superficial news, irrelevant stories, fake news and alternative facts, we believe that some stories out there MUST be told. We believe that **EUROPEANS TODAY** should not provide its readers with stories they *‘want’* to read, but with stories they *‘need’* to read to understand the world they live in. ### Where our magazine stands politically We believe in social equality, equal opportunity, the promotion of individual abilities and talents, social responsibility, universal healthcare, workers rights, entrepreneurship, fair market competition, consumer rights, human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, equal pay, access to education and culture for all, the prohibition of child labour, the fight against racism and antisemitism, and in the fight against global warming. ### Our audience We have a growing number of followers and, on average, tens of thousands of readers choose to read our articles every day. Since 2019, our magazine has reached over 207k readers. We also currently have over 9k registered readers in our weekly newsletter. And we have just launched a new membership system which has already proved to be successful among our readers who wish to support our magazine on a more regular basis. Although our target audience is English-speaking readers mainly located in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, we also have readers in many other countries in the world, simply because the issues raised in our magazine are global and affect people everywhere on the planet. ### **HOW IS THE MONEY BEING USED?** All our articles are made freely available to our readers on our online magazine. Because it takes a lot of time to review, edit, get all articles and facts right, part of the money from our supporters goes towards cost-effective admin processes and apps that help us run the magazine’s website in the most proficient manner. Some of the money also goes towards our social media and website work in order to keep our magazine always current, engaging with our readers and without a paywall. Because we love our writers we want to help them all to continue feeding our magazine with great quality content. Therefore, when possible some of the money will be used in the future to fund some of our writers as well for the articles they produce. ### **WHAT IS THE MAGAZINE LIKE?** ▪ We open our columns to journalists, writers, bloggers, politicians, business leaders, economists, lawyers, thinkers and anyone who wants to discuss political decisions, social issues, innovative ideas, original projects and complex schemes. ▪ We open our columns to anyone who wants to tell their story, share their experience, explain their views, describe their pain, show their enthusiasm, demonstrate their joy, talk about their life. ▪ We open our columns to all writers with progressive opinions, whether they are Left-wing or Right-wing, as long as they support democracy, human rights, diversity and selflessness. ▪ We fight fake news published by right-wing outlets and tabloids and social media bots by publishing real, honest and positive news and opinions. ▪ We fight politicians’ alternative facts that threaten the democratic debate by fact-checking their speeches and comments to maintain transparency, honesty and democracy in politics. ▪ We go to the source of the reflections that influence politics and geopolitics in the changing world of today. ▪ We feed our readers with the most trustworthy, accurate and fact-checked information. **The future of independent journalism is at stake.** #### ### Our Contributors. URL: https://www.europeans.today/authors-copy/ Last updated: 2024-06-22T03:35:11.000Z ##### Sources - **Cover:* © [Olaf Speier](https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-freedom-press-threats-against-concept-image69322601?ref=europeans.today) | [Dreamstime.com](https://www.dreamstime.com/?ref=europeans.today).* ### Terms & Conditions. URL: https://www.europeans.today/terms-conditions/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T06:59:50.000Z - [Terms & Conditions for use of this site](#t&c). - [Our Complaint Policy](#complaint). ### TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE OF THIS SITE. Please read this page carefully. Your use of this site constitutes your agreement to be bound by the following terms and conditions. We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time, so you should read this page each time you access the site. For your convenience, changes to the terms and conditions generally will be noted in the "Changes" section for one month after a change becomes effective. Any change will be effective immediately, however, and need not be noted in the "Changes" section to be binding upon all subsequent visitors to the site. #### Changes There have been no changes to the terms and conditions governing your use of this site during the past month. #### Disclaimers and Limitations of Warranties This site is provided as a research and reference tool. Although we make every reasonable effort to ensure that the information, analytical tools and data provided at this site are useful, accurate, and current, we cannot guarantee that the information, tools and data provided here will be error-free. By using this site, you assume all responsibility for and risk arising from your use of and reliance upon the contents of this site. This site and the information available through it do not, and are not intended to constitute legal advice. Should you require legal advice, you should consult your own attorney. References and links to products and services belonging to third parties are provided for your convenience and do not represent our endorsement of such products or services. Materials accessible from or added to this site by third parties, such as comments posted in chat groups, on bulletin boards or similar fora, are strictly the responsibility of the third party who added such materials or made them accessible and we neither endorse nor undertake to control, monitor, edit or assume responsibility for any such third-party material. You may NOT submit or upload statements, data, or materials to **Europeans.Today** that (i) are harassing, threatening, obscene, defamatory, racially or sexually offensive, invasive of others' privacy, or otherwise unlawful, (ii) contain viruses or other harmful computer code or data, or (iii) in our judgment have the effect of disrupting others' use of **Europeans.Today**. "Unlawful" as used here means, without limitation, violation of any civil or criminal laws and the unauthorized use of proprietary materials owned by others, such as text and audio-visual material protected by copyright, trademarks and logos, and commercial uses of the name or likeness of persons living or dead. You may NOT use **Europeans.Today** to advertise any product or service without our prior written consent. You agree that **Europeans.Today** has the right, but not the obligation, to delete statements, data, or materials that you submit or upload to the site that violate these guidelines or any of the terms of this Agreement. **Europeans.Today** does not have the ability or the intention to pre-screen or edit statements, data, and materials submitted or posted to the site by you or third parties. Accordingly, you agree that **Europeans.Today** shall have no liability to you or any third party for statements, data, or materials posted to the site or for the removal of such materials if it is brought to our attention and deemed by us to be in violation of this Agreement. We expect that this site will be available to authorized users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but we cannot guarantee such availability. We will not be liable for any delay or temporary disruption in access, no matter for how long, due either to technical problems or to circumstances beyond our control. If you need access to our products during such a disruption in access to this site, please contact us to make alternative delivery arrangements. This site and its contents are provided "as is." We disclaim all warranties, express and implied, including the implied warranties of merchantability and of fitness for a particular purpose with respect to any information contained on, accessible through or derived by you from this site and with respect to any products or services purchased by you through this site. We likewise disclaim any and all liability to you arising out of interruption or damage to your computer system or software as the result of accessing or otherwise using this site. We neither warrant nor represent that the services or information available through this site will enable you to achieve any particular result or outcome, legal economic, education, or otherwise. We will not be liable for any incidental, indirect, consequential, special, punitive or exemplary damages of any kind, including lost revenues, lost profits, or loss of data arising out of your use of this site. In the event that any of the foregoing limitations and disclaimers is ineffective, you agree that our maximum liability to you shall be the total of the fees you have paid to us in connection with your access to this site and/or for products or services you have purchased from us through this site. #### Copyrights and Trademarks This site as a whole is copyrighted as a collective work, and individual works appearing on or accessible through this site are likewise subject to copyright protection. You agree to honour the copyrights in this site (including the selection, coordination and arrangement of the contents of this site) and in the works available on or through this site. In addition, trademarks and tradedress belonging to us or to third parties appear on this site or are accessible through this site. The fact that we have permitted you access to this site does not constitute authorization to reproduce such trademarks for any other purpose. By submitting any material to us, such as by posting a comment to a chat group or a bulletin board, or by sending us an e-mail or other form of message, you are thereby granting us a non-exclusive license to reproduce, display, distribute, modify and create derivative works from such material and to use such material and the fact of your authorship of it for marketing purposes. We reserve the right to remove from the site material submitted by third parties. #### Termination of Site and Site Access We reserve the right to change the contents of this site or to discontinue it at any time, as well as the right to deny access to the site to any person whom we have reasonable grounds to believe may be using the site for an unlawful or unauthorized purpose or in a manner that may harm us. #### Miscellaneous This agreement will be governed by the laws of England and the United Kingdom, without regard to choice of law principles. By continuing to use this site you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. **\* \* \* \* \* \* \*** ### COMPLAINTS POLICY OF JNPMedia. **1\. JNPMedia** (‘We’ or ‘Us’) view complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve the quality of our journalism and the contents of our publication(s) for the future, as well as a chance to put things right for the person (or organisation) that has made the complaint. **2.** Our policy is: • To provide a fair complaints procedure that is clear, convenient and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint (in particular those that are vulnerable or who have disabilities) • To uphold and adhere to the [Standards Code](http://web.archive.org/web/20210402002524/https://impress.press/standards/) (“Code”) set out in the IMPRESS Regulatory Scheme in our assessment of all complaints • To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that readers know how to contact us to make a complaint • To make sure everyone working for us knows what to do if a complaint is received • To make sure all complaints are dealt with promptly and fairly, with decisions based on sufficient investigation of the circumstances and (where appropriate) offer a suitable remedy • To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that trust in our journalism and our publication(s) remains strong • To gather information about all the complaints we receive to help continually improve the quality of our journalism and our publication(s) • To submit an annual report to IMPRESS of all complaints received and their outcomes • To submit any complaint that is not resolved by us in a timely or satisfactory way to IMPRESS and to comply with directions issued by IMPRESS relating to its Regulatory Scheme • To make available to all our employees a confidential whistleblowing hotline which is independently operated by IMPRESS and not to take any action to the detriment of anyone who uses the hotline or declines to breach the Code. ##### Definition of a Complaint **3.** A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, about the editorial content, standards of journalism or conduct of employees or contributors involved in production of our publication(s) that engages the standards set out in the Code. ##### Who Can Complain and How? **4.** Complaints may come from any person or organisation who is: • personally and directly affected by an alleged breach of the Code • a representative group affected by an alleged breach of the Code, where there is public interest in the complaint • a third party seeking to ensure accuracy of published information **5.** A complaint should be received by email or in writing although complaints are accepted by other reasonable means where it is not convenient or practical for the individual complainant to complain in writing. **6.** A complaint should be clearly marked as such. General enquiries and requests for corrections will not normally be dealt with as a complaint under this policy unless the complainant makes it clear that they wish to make a complaint. ##### Whistleblowing Rights of Employees and Contributors **7.** Employees or contributors are encouraged to contact the IMPRESS confidential whistleblowing hotline (“the Hotline”) if they are being pressurised to breach the standards set out in the Code or if they have concerns that the standards set out in the Code are not being adhered to more generally by Us. **8.** We will publicise the contact details of the Hotline to all our employees and contributors. **9.** Any employee or contributor of who uses the Hotline does so with Our full support and in the knowledge that they will not be sanctioned as a result of doing so, **10.** We guarantee to protect all whistle-blowers from possible reprisals, victimisation or sanction if a disclosure has been made in good faith even if a subsequent independent investigation carried out by IMPRESS into our journalism finds there to be no breach of the Code or of the IMPRESS Regulatory Scheme. For the avoidance of doubt, We will not take any action to the detriment of anyone who uses the IMPRESS whistleblowing hotline or declines to breach the Standards Code adopted by Us as part of our compliance with the IMPRESS Regulatory Scheme. ##### Confidentiality **11.** All complaint information will be handled sensitively, telling only those who need to know and following any relevant data protection requirements. ##### Compliance Records **12.** In respect of each title We will maintain a written record of all complaints, to include the name and contact details of the complainant, the material or conduct in respect of which the complaint is made and the alleged Code breach. **13.** For each complaint record, We will include any steps taken by Us to address the complaint, and the outcome of the complaint. This record will be made available to IMPRESS and to the public (in a redacted form, where necessary), for publication by IMPRESS in its annual report. **14.** We will report to IMPRESS all compliance failures of which We become aware (whether complained about or not) **15.** Monitoring and learning from complaints are reviewed quarterly by Us to identify any trends which may indicate a need to take further action. ##### Responsibility **16.** Overall responsibility for this policy and its implementation lies with our Management Team. **17.** Responsibility for ensuring that complaints are managed in accordance with this policy lies with a nominated senior legal and compliance standards individual for each title. **18.** Each title shall include a statement of arrangements which includes details of the internal authority structure, where responsibilities for Code compliance lie, to whom notice of failure in compliance would be reported (whether complained about or not), together with steps to deal with any failures in compliance. #### Procedure ##### Stage One: Making a Complaint **1.** Information on how to make a complaint is clearly publicised in the **“Terms and Conditions”** section of our publication. **2.** Complaints may be sent in writing to Us by e-mail at [*complaint@jnpmdia.com*](http://web.archive.org/web/20210402002524/mailto:complaint@jnpmdia.com) or telephone on *02032900774* or other reasonable means where this is more convenient and practical for the complainant. **3.** Complainants should provide the following information before their complaint will be considered: • The complainant's name, address, e-mail address and telephone number • If the complaint is about a news article it must include: - the name and date of the publication and page reference of the specific article being complained about plus the URL. - URL/Link to any visual or audio element of the complaint. - a written account of what is being complained about with clear reference made to (i) any specific words or phrases in the article that are relevant to the complaint; and (ii) any clauses of the Standards Code adopted by IMPRESS (“Code”) that the complainant believes to have been breached - The desired outcome or remedy sought by the complainant • If the complaint is about the conduct or behaviour of an employee or contributor it must include: - the name(s) of the individual(s) being complained about (if known) or any other information which may identify the individual (s) - a written account of what is being complained about with clear reference made to (i) the nature of the behaviour or conduct being complained about including any relevant times, dates, correspondence or other evidence to support the complaint; and (ii) any clauses of the Code that the complainant believes to have been breached - The desired outcome or remedy sought by the complainant **4.** We will make reasonable efforts to contact a complainant by telephone, e-mail or in writing to ensure that sufficient information is provided to respond to the complaint. ### Making a complaint We can look into complaints about items we have published which are in our control. We adhere to the Standards Code adopted by IMPRESS and can only deal with complaints which relate to an alleged breach of the standards set out in this Code. ([http://www.impress.press/standards/](http://www.impress.press/standards/?ref=europeans.today)) We can only deal with your complaint if you are: \- personally and directly affected by an alleged breach of the Code \- a representative group affected by an alleged breach of the Code, where there is public interest in your complaint \- a third party seeking to ensure accuracy of published information We are also regulated by IMPRESS, but initial complaints must be made to us JNPMedia in writing at the following address: *e-mail: complaint@jnpmdia.com* *Telephone: 02032900774* *Address: Kemp House, 124 City Road, London, England, EC1V 2NX* We will acknowledge your complaint by e-mail or in writing within 7 calendar days and will normally respond to your complaint with a final decision letter within 21 calendar days. If we uphold your complaint, we will tell you the remedial actions we have taken. If you are not satisfied with the final response to your complaint, or if you do not hear from us within 21 calendar days of submitting your complaint, then you can refer your complaint to our Independent regulator IMPRESS at the following address: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/11/a3d114-0008.jpg) ##### Stage Two – Recording, Investigating and Resolving the Complaint **5.** The complaint information should be passed to the person we have nominated as being responsible for legal standards and compliance. They will record it in the complaints log and will acknowledge receipt of the complaint by e-mail or in writing within 7 calendar days of receipt of the complaint. **6.** The acknowledgement of receipt of a complaint should say who is dealing with the complaint and when the person complaining can expect a reply. Any conflicts of interest should also be declared at this point. A copy of this complaints policy should be attached. **7.** The legal standards and compliance contact is responsible for ensuring that the circumstances of the complaint are investigated fairly and that any conflicts of interest are managed. This may require the complainant to provide additional information, documents or other evidence to support their complaint. **8.** Complainants should receive a final decision letter within 21 calendar days from the date of the receipt of the complaint. **9.** The final decision letter will inform complainants that they have the right to refer their complaint to IMPRESS, stating the applicable time limits, set out in clause 4.4 of the IMPRESS Regulatory Scheme, and how to contact IMPRESS. **10.** Whether the complaint is justified or not, the reply to the complainant should describe the action taken to investigate the complaint, the conclusions from the investigation, and any action taken as a result of the complaint. ##### Stage Three – Escalating the Complaint to IMPRESS **11.** If the complainant feels that the problem has not been satisfactorily resolved by Us at Stage Two or if the complainant feels that there are justifiable reasons why the complaint is so urgent that they cannot wait for Us to respond, they can request that the complaint is reviewed by IMPRESS in accordance with its Regulatory Scheme, by contacting IMPRESS using the following details. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/11/a3d114-0008.jpg) ##### Review **12.** This policy is reviewed regularly and updated as required. - *Adopted on: 28 February 2018* - *Last reviewed: 1 January 2025* **\* \* \* \* \* \* \*** --- ##### Sources - **Cover:* © [Andrii Kucher ](https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-male-hands-writing-notebook-sitting-coffee-shop-wooden-table-image88474107?ref=europeans.today) | [Dreamstime.com](https://www.dreamstime.com/?ref=europeans.today).* ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") ### Privacy Policy. URL: https://www.europeans.today/privacy-policy/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T07:01:43.000Z ### Privacy Policy Notice The policy: This privacy policy notice is served by JNPMedia under the website: **www.Europeans.Today**. The purpose of this policy is to explain to you how we control, process, handle and protect your personal information through the business and while you browse or use this website. If you do not agree to the following policy you may wish to cease viewing / using this website, and or refrain from submitting your personal data to us. ### Policy key definitions: "I", "our", "us", or "we" refer to the business, \[**EUROPEANS TODAY** & **JNPMedia**\]. "you", "the user" refer to the person(s) using this website. GDPR means General Data Protection Act. PECR means Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulation. ICO means Information Commissioner's Office. Cookies mean small files stored on a users computer or device. ### Key principles of GDPR: Our privacy policy embodies the following key principles; (a) Lawfulness, fairness and transparency, (b) Purpose limitation, (c) Data minimisation, (d) Accuracy, (e) Storage limitation, (f) Integrity and confidence, (g) Accountability. ### Processing of your personal data Under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) we control and/or process any personal information about you electronically using the following lawful bases. Lawful basis: Consent Where our purpose for processing is: the sending of our Newsletter to our readers. Which is necessary because: it informs our readers of new articles and features. We process your information in the following ways: emails and names are stored on the MailChimps servers. Data retention period: We will continue to process your information under this basis until you withdraw consent or it is determined your consent no longer exists. Sharing your information: We do not share your information with third parties. If, as determined by us, the lawful basis upon which we process your personal information changes, we will notify you about the change and any new lawful basis to be used if required. We shall stop processing your personal information if the lawful basis used is no longer relevant. ### Your individual rights Under the GDPR your rights are as follows. You can read more about your rights in details here; - the right to be informed; - the right of access; - the right to rectification; - the right to erasure; - the right to restrict processing; - the right to data portability; - the right to object; and - the right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling. You also have the right to complain to the ICO \[www.ico.org.uk\] if you feel there is a problem with the way we are handling your data. We handle subject access requests in accordance with the GDPR. ### Internet cookies We may use cookies on this website to provide you with a better user experience. We may do this by placing a small text file on your device/computer hard drive to track how you use the website, to record or log whether you have seen particular messages that we display, to keep you logged into the website where applicable, to display relevant adverts or content, referred you to a third party website. Some cookies are required to enjoy and use the full functionality of this website. We use a cookie control system which allows you to accept the use of cookies, and control which cookies are saved to your device/computer. Some cookies will be saved for specific time periods, where others may last indefinitely. Your web browser should provide you with the controls to manage and delete cookies from your device, please see your web browser options. ### Data security and protection We ensure the security of any personal information we hold by using secure data storage technologies and precise procedures in how we store, access and manage that information. Our methods meet the GDPR compliance requirement. ### Fair & Transparent Privacy Explained We have provided some further explanations about user privacy and the way we use this website to help promote a transparent and honest user privacy methodology. ### Sponsored links, affiliate tracking & commissions Our website may contain adverts, sponsored and affiliate links on some pages. These are typically served through our advertising partners; Google Adsense, eBay Partner Network, Amazon Affiliates, or are self-served through our own means. We only use trusted advertising partners who each have high standards of user privacy and security. However we do not control the actual adverts seen/displayed by our advertising partners. Our ad partners may collect data and use cookies for ad personalisation and measurement. Where ad preferences are requested as 'non-personalised' cookies may still be used for frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting and to combat fraud and abuse. Clickable sponsored or affiliate links may be displayed as a titled text like this: Advertisement. Clicking on any adverts, sponsored or affiliate links may track your actions by using a cookie saved to your device. You can read more about cookies on this website above. Your actions are usually recorded as a referral from our website by this cookie. In most cases, we earn a very small commission from the advertiser or advertising partner, at no cost to you, whether you make a purchase on their website or not. 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(Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).)* ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") ### Readers’ Comments URL: https://www.europeans.today/readers-comments/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T14:20:15.000Z Loading… ### Latest Monkeypox URL: https://www.europeans.today/latest-monkeypox/ Last updated: 2022-08-24T14:05:24.000Z ### Up to 22 August 2022, there were 3,207 confirmed and 133 highly probable monkeypox cases in the UK: 3,340 in total. Of these, 78 were in Scotland, 27 were in Northern Ireland, 44 were in Wales and 3,191 were in England. - 🔍 [The Details](#details) - ⏰ [Latest Guidance](#latest-guidance) - 📌 [Must-Read](#must-read) - 📄 [Additional Data](#more-data) - 📚 [Data Sources](#sources) ## latest details ## **UKHSA Latest Dashboard** #### **Reminder on data reporting in the UK** ▫ *Since 9 August 2022, the UKHSA Monkeypox outbreak: epidemiological overview has moved to weekly reporting.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/dashboard---flatten-min--9-.png) ❗ *A high proportion of England cases were London residents (70%, 2,232 of 3,177 with location information). For confirmed and highly probable cases in the UK, where gender information was available, 3,270 (98.7%) were men and 42 were women. The median age of confirmed and highly probable cases in the UK was 36 years (interquartile range 31 to 44). — [UKHSA](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-outbreak-epidemiological-overview?ref=europeans.today)* ### ■ Timeline ## latest guidance Dr William Welfare, Incident Director at *UKHSA*, said: *“While the most recent data suggests the growth of the outbreak has slowed, we continue to see new cases every day. While anyone can get monkeypox, the majority of monkeypox cases in the UK continue to be in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, with the infection being passed on mainly through close contact in interconnected sexual networks.* *“Please continue to be aware of symptoms, including rashes and blisters, particularly if you have recently had a new sexual partner.”* --- [Monkeypox: background informationThe epidemiology, symptoms, diagnosis and management of monkeypox virus infections.![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-apple-touch-icon-180x180-026deaa34fa328ae5f1f519a37dbd15e6555c5086e1ba83986cd0827a7209902.png)GOV.UKUK Health Security Agency![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monkeypox?ref=europeans.today) [Monkeypox: case definitionsThis guidance describes case definitions to inform testing and reporting of suspected monkeypox cases.![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-apple-touch-icon-180x180-026deaa34fa328ae5f1f519a37dbd15e6555c5086e1ba83986cd0827a7209902.png)GOV.UKUK Health Security Agency![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monkeypox-case-definitions?ref=europeans.today) [Monkeypox: contact tracingClassification of contacts and advice for vaccination and follow-up of contacts of confirmed monkeypox cases.![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-apple-touch-icon-180x180-026deaa34fa328ae5f1f519a37dbd15e6555c5086e1ba83986cd0827a7209902.png)GOV.UKUK Health Security Agency![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-contact-tracing?ref=europeans.today) [Monkeypox: diagnostic testingInformation on taking, submitting and processing samples which potentially contain monkeypox virus.![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-apple-touch-icon-180x180-026deaa34fa328ae5f1f519a37dbd15e6555c5086e1ba83986cd0827a7209902.png)GOV.UKUK Health Security Agency![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monkeypox-diagnostic-testing?ref=europeans.today) [Monkeypox vaccinationRecommendations for the use of pre and post exposure vaccination during a monkeypox incident.![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-apple-touch-icon-180x180-026deaa34fa328ae5f1f519a37dbd15e6555c5086e1ba83986cd0827a7209902.png)GOV.UKUK Health Security Agency![](https://www.gov.uk/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-vaccination?ref=europeans.today) ## monkeypox tweet > Let’s remind people—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [@CDCgov](https://twitter.com/CDCgov?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) is supposed to \*\*prevent\*\* outbreaks of diseases — or, failing that, \*\*control\*\* [#COVID19](https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) or [#monkeypox](https://twitter.com/hashtag/monkeypox?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today). ➡️Let’s hold the [@CDCDirector](https://twitter.com/CDCDirector?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) to that—not to favor airlines or corporations.[https://t.co/37s9wwrV5o](https://t.co/37s9wwrV5o?ref=europeans.today) [pic.twitter.com/OQrsKNdQNT](https://t.co/OQrsKNdQNT?ref=europeans.today) > > — Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) [August 23, 2022](https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1561927049182433281?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) > 🧵 [#Monkeypox](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Monkeypox?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) vaccination update > Three NHS sites will shortly begin a pilot offering those eligible for a smallpox vaccine a smaller but equally effective dose, to maximise use of existing supplies in the UK. > This thread explains more 👇 > > — UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) [August 22, 2022](https://twitter.com/UKHSA/status/1561720145004879880?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) > To address the [#monkeypox](https://twitter.com/hashtag/monkeypox?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) outbreak in 🇪🇺 countries, our Emergency Task Force advises that monkeypox vaccine Imvanex can be used as an intradermal injection, just below the top layer of the skin, so more people can be vaccinated. > Find out more 👇[https://t.co/opiXGwYnLF](https://t.co/opiXGwYnLF?ref=europeans.today) [pic.twitter.com/r9xWTkDFlC](https://t.co/r9xWTkDFlC?ref=europeans.today) > > — EU Medicines Agency (@EMA\_News) [August 19, 2022](https://twitter.com/EMA%5FNews/status/1560625310928113664?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) > Dr Rosamund Lewis explains how to lower the risk of [#monkeypox](https://twitter.com/hashtag/monkeypox?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) infection, including via vaccination ⬇️ [pic.twitter.com/rLzIJNz4WK](https://t.co/rLzIJNz4WK?ref=europeans.today) > > — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) [August 23, 2022](https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1562089646577926144?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) ## must-read [Oxford Uni scientists put Siga’s Tpoxx to the test for monkeypox -The team at Oxford University behind the landmark RECOVERY trial of COVID-19 therapies now has monkeypox in its![](https://pharmaphorum.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/favicon.png)PharmaphorumPhil Taylor![](https://pharmaphorum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/stockpile-antiviral-TPOXX-monkeypox.jpg)](https://pharmaphorum.com/news/oxford-uni-scientists-put-sigas-tpoxx-to-the-test-for-monkeypox/?ref=europeans.today) [What is the difference between monkeypox and chickenpox?Although the two diseases share many symptoms, there are several key differences![](https://www.independent.co.uk/img/shortcut-icons/icon-512x512.png)The IndependentRebecca Thomas![](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/05/23/14/Monkeypox%20chickenpox.jpg?quality=75&width=1200&auto=webp)](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/monkeypox-chickenpox-symptoms-vaccine-b2151597.html?ref=europeans.today) [Where did monkeypox come from?Disease continuing to spread beyond West Africa this summer![](https://www.independent.co.uk/img/shortcut-icons/icon-512x512.png)The IndependentJoe Sommerlad![](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/08/10/16/howler-monkey-x.jpg?quality=75&width=1200&auto=webp)](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/how-to-catch-monkeypox-transmission-b2151594.html?ref=europeans.today) [Monkeypox: An expert explains what we need to know.How monkeypox spreads and how to protect yourself.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/size/w256h256/2022/05/new-logo-pmp-00000-icon-200x200-2.png)PMP MagazineContributor at-large![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/twitter---338-1.jpg)](https://www.europeans.today/2022/08/02/monkeypox-an-expert-explains-what-we-need-to-know/) ## additional data ■ ***[Confirmed monkeypox cases](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/monkeypox?facet=none&Metric=Confirmed+cases&Frequency=Cumulative&Shown+by=Date+of+confirmation&country=OWID%5FWRL~GBR~USA~FRA~DEU~CAN~ESP~ITA~AUS&ref=europeans.today)*** --- ■ ***[Confirmed monkeypox deaths](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/monkeypox?facet=none&hideControls=true&Metric=Confirmed+deaths&Frequency=Cumulative&Relative+to+population=false&country=BRA~AUS~BEL~CAN~FRA~DEU~ITA~IRL~ISR~MEX~ESP~GBR~USA~PRT~NGA&ref=europeans.today)*** --- ## data sources ### 📚 Data Sources: - *[Daily summary: Monkeypox in the UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/monkeypox-cases-confirmed-in-england-latest-updates?ref=europeans.today) | UK Government* - *[Monkeypox – All updates](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/monkeypox-cases-confirmed-in-england-latest-updates?ref=europeans.today#full-publication-update-history) | UK Government* *Counts of confirmed cases in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland are submitted to UKHSA by Public Health Wales, Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, and Public Health Scotland respectively.* --- ![PMP Magazine](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png "PMP Magazine") | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/feedback2-flat.png)](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Leave some feedback") | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ##### **— AUTHOR —** ▫ *[J.N. PAQUET](https://www.europeans.today/author/jnpaquet/), Author & Journalist, Editor of PMP Magazine.* --- ##### Sources - *Data cross-referenced with the latest official data from the UK dashboard.* - **Cover:* Adobe Stock/[AGPhotography](https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/monkeypox-virus-is-a-smallpox-like-viral-infection-transmitted-from-animals-to-humans/506754004?asset%5Fid=506754004&ref=europeans.today) and [Kateryna\_Kon](https://stock.adobe.com/uk/contributor/205355035/kateryna-kon?ref=europeans.today).* - *Icons from [www.flaticon.com](https://www.flaticon.com/?ref=europeans.today "Flaticon")* ### Comments Guidelines URL: https://www.europeans.today/comments-guidelines/ Last updated: 2024-03-14T02:39:03.000Z One of the best things about sharing work online is being able to engage with the community that forms around it. The comments section on this website is a space for you to chat with other members,share knowledge and experiences, and share what content you enjoyed the most. 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Thank you for being a valued member, and see you in the comments! ### Latest COVID 🦠 URL: https://www.europeans.today/latest-covid/ Last updated: 2022-08-18T03:29:45.000Z _No content available._ ### Archive URL: https://www.europeans.today/archive/ Last updated: 2024-03-14T02:38:09.000Z _No content available._ ### Archives -- EUROPEANS TODAY URL: https://www.europeans.today/timeline/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T14:21:31.000Z _No content available._ ### Latest COVID 🦠 URL: https://www.europeans.today/covid-19-today/ Last updated: 2024-12-15T01:30:18.000Z ### ▪ **COVID-19 Surveillance Data (from** [**UKHSA**](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-report-published?ref=europeans.today)**)** ▪ - COVID-19 activity remained stable or decreased across indicators and was circulating at baseline levels - COVID-19 hospitalisations slightly decreased to 1.71 per 100,000 compared with 1.84 per 100,000 in the previous week - COVID-19 ICU admissions or remained stable at 0.05 per 100,000 compared with 0.06 per 100,000 in the previous week - There were 12 COVID-19 acute respiratory incidents reported in week 48 - The highest hospital admission rate for COVID-19 was in those aged 85 years and over - the rate remained stable at 16.59 per 100,000 compared with 16.38 in the previous week - The highest hospital admission rate was in the North-West, which increased to 2.49 per 100,000, compared with 1.95 in the previous week - Up to the end of week 49, 22.8% of those under 65 years in a clinical risk group and 57.9% of all people aged over 65 years old, who are living and resident in England had been vaccinated with an Autumn 2024 booster dose ### ▪ **SUMMARY** ▪ This week’s COVID-19 report shows that COVID-19 activity in the UK remains stable across most indicators. Hospitalisation rates have declined slightly, with the highest rates among those aged 85 and over. ICU admissions are stable. The XEC variant is now dominant, while KP.3.1.1 has sharply declined. Vaccination uptake for boosters has increased, particularly among the over-65s. Weekly deaths continue to decline, but the cumulative toll has reached 243,630, emphasising the ongoing impact of the pandemic. The booster campaign, which started on 3 October, will close on 20 December. Eligible individuals are encouraged to book before the deadline. #### REMINDER: The NHS Autumn 2024 booster campaign is now open. **Book your vaccination now: [click here!](https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/covid-19-services/covid-19-vaccination-services/book-covid-19-vaccination/?ref=europeans.today)** ### ▪ **COVID CHART** ▪ ### ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2024/12/bafkreies3gdnsvloastftxgydp2i5qxo2xm4pjccpdheawe6gjnqxdsug4.jpg) ###### — ENGLAND DATA ONLY. | Credit: Dr Joe Pajak --- # **▪ Variant Data** ### ▪ VARIANT – ANALYSIS ▪ **Key observations:** - **KP.3.1.1** decreased from 36.3% to 27.1%. - **XEC** increased from 28.8% to 34.4%. - **XEC.2** rose significantly from 4.6% to 7.9%. - **XEK** showed a slight increase from 1.7% to 2.2%. - Other variants like MC.1, MC.16, and smaller ones had minor shifts in proportion. COVID-19 variant trends show KP.3.1.1 declining sharply, overtaken by the rising XEC variant. XEC.2 and XEK have gained prominence, reflecting a dynamic shift in variant dominance over time. --- # **▪ Vaccination Data** ### **▪ VACCINATION ANALYSIS ▪** Key observations: Booster doses administered dropped to **140,093** last week from **232,288** the previous week, totalling nearly **9.4 million** in eight weeks, lagging behind the pace of the previous two Autumn campaigns. --- # **▪ COVID Death Data** ### **▪ COVID DEATH ANALYSIS ▪** Last week, there was another decrease in weekly deaths. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 has now reached **243,630**, which underscores the pandemic’s continuing impact and the need for sustained public health interventions and support for affected individuals, the most vulnerable and their families. --- # **▪ FREE COVID TOOL** ### **▪ FREE AEROSOL TRANSMISSION ESTIMATOR ▪** Try this [FREE RISK ASSESSMENT TOOL](https://www.covidairbornerisk.com/?ref=europeans.today) to estimate indoor airborne transmission of COVID-19 around you. --- # **▪ COVID on BlueSky** > Dear @wesstreeting, as you'll be aware, the @UKHSA national surveillance programmes collect data on HCAI, including: Bacteraemia Clostridioides difficile infection Escherichia coli and MRSA. ⚠️But, not for #SARSCoV2 virus (COVID-19)? Why? @covidinquiryuk petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70... > > — [@DrJoePajak CSci CChem FRSC (@drjoepajak.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fvo6mmounhm6yqdhxnyaxuru?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=europeans.today) [2024-12-14T10:31:37.584Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fvo6mmounhm6yqdhxnyaxuru/post/3ldb3twhrg22d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=europeans.today) --- # **▪ COVID Latest News & Studies** - ###### [HIV/AIDS and COVID-19: Shared Lessons from Two Pandemics](https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciae585/7909224?login=false&ref=europeans.today) | OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS - ###### [Quad-demic fears in Birmingham and Solihull this Christmas as health chiefs say ‘some will die’](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/quad-demic-fears-birmingham-solihull-30570234?ref=europeans.today) | BIRMINGHAM MAIL - ###### [Vaccine effectiveness against mild and severe COVID-19 in pregnant individuals and their infants in England: test negative case-control study](https://bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000696?ref=europeans.today) | BMJ # **▪ COVID Article Archives** - ###### [How the XEC Variant Pushes the Boundaries of Immune Evasion—and What It Means for Our Health](https://tactnowinfo.substack.com/p/how-the-xec-variant-pushes-the-boundaries) | T.A.C.T - ###### [Endothelial inflammation in COVID-19](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add2962?ref=europeans.today) | SCIENCE - ###### [Men more likely than women to develop COVID-19 pneumonia, research suggests](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/men-more-likely-women-develop-covid-19-pneumonia-research-suggests?ref=europeans.today) | CIDRAP - ###### [HIV/AIDS and COVID-19: Shared Lessons from Two Pandemics](https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciae585/7909224?login=false&ref=europeans.today) | OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS - ###### [COVID-19 Vaccine Reactogenicity Among Young Children](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2827028?ref=europeans.today) | JAMA NETWORK - ###### [Japan's weekly COVID-19 cases rise for 1st time in 3 months](https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/11/5959d54d14af-japans-weekly-covid-19-cases-rise-for-1st-time-in-3-months.html?ref=europeans.today) | KYODO NEWS - ###### [Analysis of 25 studies shows reduced risk of long COVID after vaccination](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/analysis-25-studies-shows-reduced-risk-long-covid-after-vaccination?ref=europeans.today) | CIDRAP - ###### [Breaking the Cycle: Long COVID's Impact and the Urgent Need for Preventative Measures](https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/breaking-cycle-long-covid-s-impact-urgent-need-preventative-measures?ref=europeans.today) | INFECTION CONTROL TODAY - ###### [Long COVID: a clinical update](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2824%2901136-X/fulltext?ref=europeans.today) | THE LANCET - ###### [Impact of Long COVID on productivity and informal caregiving](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10198-023-01653-z?ref=europeans.today) | SPRINGER NATURE - ###### [Trajectories of functional limitations, health-related quality of life and societal costs in individuals with long COVID: a population-based longitudinal cohort study](https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/11/e088538?ref=europeans.today) | BMJ - ###### [Many long COVID patients adjust to slim recovery odds as world moves on](https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/science/927119/many-long-covid-patients-adjust-to-slim-recovery-odds-as-world-moves-on/story/?ref=europeans.today) | GMA NEWS ONLINE - ###### [Pandemic preparedness cannot rely on vaccine development alone](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/258033/pandemic-preparedness-cannot-rely-vaccine-development/?utm%5Fmedium=email&ref=europeans.today) | IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON - ###### [NHS urges vulnerable to get Covid and flu vaccines](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce893d41l55o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [JCVI statement on COVID-19 vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-in-2025-and-spring-2026-jcvi-advice/jcvi-statement-on-covid-19-vaccination-in-2025-and-spring-2026?ref=europeans.today) | DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE - ###### [What COVID-19 Does To The Body (Fifth Edition, August 2024)](https://www.panaccindex.info/p/what-covid-19-does-to-the-body-fifth?ref=europeans.today) | PANDEMIC ACCOUNTABILITY INDEX - ###### [Recent COVID-19 vaccination tied to lower risk of long COVID](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/recent-covid-19-vaccination-tied-lower-risk-long-covid?ref=europeans.today) | CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY - ###### [Britain has closed its eyes to long COVID – which means it will ravage even more lives and livelihoods](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/30/britain-long-covid-lives-us-boosters?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [COVID can seriously damage your vision, even if you didn’t have symptoms, new study says. Experts say to watch for these signs](https://fortune.com/well/article/covid-eye-health-retinal-damage/?ref=europeans.today) | FORTUNE - ###### [On Long COVID](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0024d9h?ref=europeans.today) | BBC RADIO LIVE 5 - ###### [Catching COVID-19 during childhood could increase risk of type 2 diabetes later in life](https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2024/oct/catching-covid-19-during-childhood-could-increase-risk-of-type-2-diabetes-later-in-life.html?ref=europeans.today) | DIABETES.CO.UK - ###### [Long COVID: a global health issue – a prospective, cohort study set in four continents](https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/10/e015245?ref=europeans.today) | BMJ - ###### [Listen to docs and get jab – not taproom experts who say COVID isn't dangerous any more](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/we-had-eighth-covid-jab-33945783?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR - ###### [COVID deaths soar 25 per cent as XEC variant hits and NHS says isolate with symptoms](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/covid-deaths-soar-25-per-33921920?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR - ###### [As new COVID-19 strains emerge, how do vaccine manufacturers keep up with mutations of the virus?](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/vaccine-makers-in-race-to-keep-up-with-new-covid-19-strains/104483684?utm%5Fsource=abc%5Fnews%5Fapp&utm%5Fmedium=content%5Fshared&utm%5Fcampaign=abc%5Fnews%5Fapp&utm%5Fcontent=twitter) | ABC NEWS (AUSTRALIA) - ###### [COVID doctor explains why XEC variant could bring back masks and social distancing](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/covid-doctor-explains-xec-variant-33823285?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR - ###### [COVID XEC strain sparks worrying new surge in hospitalisations across UK](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/covid-xec-strain-sparks-worrying-33884520?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR - ###### [Britain ‘falling behind’ on vaccines, says team behind COVID jab](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/pandemic-vaccine-covid-jab-injections-92s8t7c7g?ref=europeans.today) | THE TIMES - ###### [History of COVID-19 doubles long-term risk of heart attack, stroke or death](https://cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/clinical/COVID-19/history-covid-19-doubles-long-term-risk-heart-attack-stroke-or-death?ref=europeans.today) | CARDIOVASCULAR BUSINESS - ###### [The astonishing link between having COVID and heart attacks: As more fit and healthy young women suffer coronaries, doctors close in on cause](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13952793/astonishing-link-COVID-heart-attacks-fit-healthy-young-women-suffer-coronaries-doctors-cause.html?ref=europeans.today) | DAILY MAIL - ###### [The Post-COVID Decline Of Wines And Spirits Sales Is Accelerating](https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemicallef/2024/10/10/the-post-covid-decline-of-wines-and-spirits-sales-is-accelerating/?ref=europeans.today) | FORBES - ###### [COVID XEC strain surge puts UK on alert as NHS issues 5-day warning for Brits](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/covid-xec-strain-surge-puts-33876518?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR - ###### [Post-COVID-19 condition symptoms among emergency department patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52404-4?ref=europeans.today) | NATURE - ###### [SARS-CoV-2 infection of the inner ear](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/sars-cov-2-infection-inner-ear?ref=europeans.today) | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH - ###### [Staff, visitors and patients urged to wear face masks at the Alexandra and Worcestershire Royal Hospitals after rise in COVID cases](https://bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/news/staff-visitors-and-patients-urged-to-wear-face-masks-at-the-alexandra-and-worcestershire-royal-hospitals-after-rise-in-covid-cases-52141/?ref=europeans.today) | BROMSGROVE STANDARD - ###### [Devon care home nurse refused to wear mask as they believed 'COVID was a conspiracy'](https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/devon-care-home-nurse-refused-9596686?ref=europeans.today) | DEVON LIVE - ###### [Changes in memory and cognition during the SARS-CoV-2 human challenge study](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370%2824%2900421-8/fulltext?ref=europeans.today) | THE LANCET - ###### [Future pandemic as big as COVID is inevitable, says Whitty](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/26/future-pandemic-as-big-as-covid-is-inevitable-says-whitty?CMP=share%5Fbtn%5Furl&ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [My sporty son is bedbound with long COVID – nearly every doctor let him down](https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/sporty-son-bedbound-long-covid-doctor-let-down-3292282?ref=europeans.today) | THE i NEWSPAPER - ###### [Is the NHS “broken”? Staff haven't given up, neither should our politicians](https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q2130?ref=europeans.today) | THE bmj - ###### [COVID and cold infections surge in autumn double whammy](https://inews.co.uk/news/health/covid-cold-infections-soar-autumn-3302015?ITO=newsnow&ref=europeans.today) | THE i NEWSPAPER - ###### [Airborne transmission, facemasks, and how COVID spread](https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24609092.airborne-transmission-facemasks-covid-spread/?ref=twtrec) | THE HERALD - ###### [XEC Variant Threatens KP.3.1.1 Dominance, New Surge Looms. Excess Mortality Could Linger for a Decade: Reinsurance Company Warns](https://tactnowinfo.substack.com/p/covid-update-xec-variant-threatens) | T.A.C.T. - ###### [We have lived through a COVID summer – and now there is new variant causing concern](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/new-covid-variant-xec-symptoms-b2613470.html?ref=europeans.today) | The Independent - ###### [People can't make "risk assessments" without knowing the risks](https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/people-cant-make-risk-assessments?ref=europeans.today) | The Gauntlet - ###### [New XEC COVID variant: What are the symptoms and is it spreading in the UK?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jddenj5p5o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC News - ###### [New COVID variant XEC now in half of states. Here's what to know.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/xec-covid-variant-symptoms-states-what-to-know/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS News - ###### [COVID Kidney Infection and Associated Damage with Potential of Kidney Failure](https://tactnowinfo.substack.com/p/covid-kidney-infection-and-associated) | T.A.C.T. - ###### [The Paris Olympics is the first Games that let COVID run free, and it impacted how the event played out](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-11/paris-covid-effected-olympics-having-a-big-impact-2024/104208316?ref=europeans.today) | ABC Australia - ###### [Long COVID science, research and policy](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03173-6?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [Noah Lyles' collapse underscores our collective COVID denial](https://www.salon.com/2024/08/10/noah-lyles-collapse-underscores-our-collective-denial/?ref=europeans.today) | Salon - ###### [About 400 Million People Worldwide Have Had Long COVID, Researchers Say](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/09/health/long-covid-world.html?smid=tw-share&ref=europeans.today) | New York Times - ###### [Urgent COVID comeback warning as new variant KP 3.1.1 on rise with Olympians struck down](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/urgent-covid-comeback-warning-new-334286797?ref=europeans.today) | Mirror - ###### [COVID cases still rising and could go higher later in the summer, scientists warn](https://inews.co.uk/news/science/covid-cases-still-rising-and-could-go-higher-later-in-the-summer-scientists-warn-3208173?ITO=newsnow&ref=europeans.today) | iNews - ###### [COVID outbreak spreads among Australian Olympic team](https://www.inqld.com.au/news/olympics/2024/08/06/covid-outbreak-spreads-among-australian-olympic-team?ref=europeans.today) | InQueensland - ###### [A Long COVID Definition -- A Chronic, Systemic Disease State with Profound Consequences](https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27768/a-long-covid-definition-a-chronic-systemic-disease-state-with?ref=europeans.today) | National Academy of Sciences - ###### [JCVI advises on eligible groups for autumn COVID-19 vaccination](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-advises-on-eligible-groups-for-autumn-covid-19-vaccination?ref=europeans.today) | UKHSA - ###### [Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for ventilation and indoor air quality](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp2241?ref=europeans.today) | Science - ###### [Rapid response to: COVID inquiry report: We planned for failure](https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q1633/rr-1?ref=europeans.today) | bmj - ###### [First COVID inquiry report ‘shows criminally negligent’ attitude of previous governments](https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/first-covid-inquiry-report-shows-criminally-negligent-attitude-of-previous-governments/?ref=europeans.today) | Disability News Service - ###### [MHRA approves Comirnaty JN.1 COVID-19 vaccine for adults and children from infancy](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-approves-comirnaty-jn1-covid-19-vaccine-for-adults-and-children-from-infancy?ref=europeans.today) | MHRA - ###### [How worried should we be about the new FLiRT and LB.1 COVID variants?](https://www.breakingnews.ie/lifestyle/how-worried-should-we-be-about-the-new-flirt-and-lb-1-covid-variants-1647458.html?ref=europeans.today) | BreakingNews.ie - ###### [COVID deaths rise as booster vaccine take-up falls](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c720rww63lko?ref=europeans.today) | BBC News - ###### [Driver's brain fog from COVID-19 linked to Cork crash that claimed lives of elderly couple](https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41407301.html?ref=europeans.today) | Irish Examiner - ###### [Long-Term Health Effects of COVID-19 -- Disability and Function Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection](https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/27756/Highlights%5FLong-Term%5FEffects%5Fof%5FCOVID-19.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | National Academy of Sciences - ###### [Are We Headed for Another Summer COVID-19 Wave?](https://time.com/6987920/summer-2024-covid-19-wave/?ref=europeans.today) | Time - ###### [A Long COVID Definition -- A Chronic, Systemic Disease State with Profound Consequences](https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/27768/Long%5FCOVID%5FDefinition%5FHighlights.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | National Academy of Sciences - ###### [Three-year outcomes of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-02987-8?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [An Object Lesson From COVID on How to Destroy Public Trust](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/opinion/covid-fauci-hearings-health.html?ref=europeans.today) | New York Times - ###### [Three-year outcomes of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-02987-8?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [Relative efficacy of masks and respirators as source control for viral aerosol shedding from people infected with SARS-CoV-2: a controlled human exhaled breath aerosol experimental study](https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2352-3964%2824%2900192-0&ref=europeans.today) | Lancet - ###### [COVID can cause new health problems to appear years after infection, according to a study of more than 130,000 patients](https://fortune.com/well/article/covid-cause-new-health-problems-years-after-infection/?ref=europeans.today) | Fortune - ###### [Post-Acute Cardiovascular Outcomes of COVID-19 in Children and Adolescents: An EHR Cohort Study from the RECOVER Project](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.14.24307380v1?ref=europeans.today) | medRxiv - ###### [The COVID Inquiry is Ignoring the Biggest Lesson: COVID-19 is Airborne](https://bylinetimes.com/2023/06/20/the-covid-inquiry-is-ignoring-the-biggest-lesson-covid-19-is-airborne/?ref=europeans.today) | Byline Times - ###### [Up to 5.8 million kids have long COVID, study says. One mother discusses the "heartbreaking" search for answers.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-kids-long-covid-study-symptoms-mother-searching-for-answers/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS News - ###### [Is It COVID, Spring Allergies or a Cold?](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/well/live/allergies-cold-covid-symptoms.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.u00.KEi8.AgPZSbyCnEft&smid=tw-share&ref=europeans.today) | New York Times - ###### [New COVID-19 Wave In Singapore, Minister Advises Wearing Of Masks After 25,900 Cases Recorded In A Week](https://www.news18.com/world/new-covid-19-wave-in-singapore-minister-advises-wearing-of-masks-after-25900-cases-recorded-in-a-week-8895361.html?ref=europeans.today) | News18 - ###### [COVID patient testing, isolation of sick staff cut in-hospital viral spread, modeling study suggests](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-patient-testing-isolation-sick-staff-cut-hospital-viral-spread-modeling-study?ref=europeans.today) | University of Minnesota - ###### [Hundreds of patients died after catching COVID in Victorian hospitals, new data shows](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-06/hundreds-died-catching-covid-victoria-hospitals-testing-masking/103784896?ref=europeans.today) | ABC News - ###### [An incomplete picture: understanding the burden of long COVID](https://impact.economist.com/perspectives/health/incomplete-picture-understanding-burden-long-covid?ref=europeans.today) | The Economist - ###### [Updated estimates of Long COVID in England and Scotland show that it remains a serious issue](https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/updated-estimates-of-long-covid-in) | Christina Pagel - ###### [Exploring findings from the Winter COVID-19 Infection Study](https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2024/04/25/exploring-findings-from-the-winter-covid-19-infection-study/?ref=europeans.today) | ONS - ###### [The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in tissues and its association with long COVID symptoms: a cross-sectional cohort study in China](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099%2824%2900171-3/fulltext?dgcid=raven%5Fjbs%5Faip%5Femail&ref=europeans.today) | The Lancet - ###### [Evidence from whole genome sequencing of aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 almost 5 hours after hospital room turnover](https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553%2824%2900162-7/abstract?ref=europeans.today) | American Journal of Infection Control - ###### [NHS rolls out new variant COVID vaccine as virus continues to kill 100 a week](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/nhs-rolls-out-new-variant-32610069?ref=europeans.today) | The Mirror - ###### [Indoor airborne risk assessment in the context of SARS-CoV-2](https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/376346/9789240090576-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&ref=europeans.today) | WHO - ###### [W.H.O. Broadens Definition of Airborne Diseases](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/health/who-airborne-covid.html?smid=tw-share&ref=europeans.today) | New York Times - ###### [Host-microbe multiomic profiling reveals age-dependent immune dysregulation associated with COVID-19 immunopathology](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adj5154?ref=europeans.today) | Science - ###### [Rishi Sunak spent £2m on focus groups for ‘eat out to help out’ scheme](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/11/rishi-sunak-spent-millions-focus-groups-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme?CMP=share%5Fbtn%5Furl&ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [What is the economic benefit of annual COVID-19 vaccination from the adult individual perspective?](https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiae179/7641782?login=false&ref=europeans.today) | The Journal of Infectious Diseases - ###### [COVID-19 shatters decades of global health progress, slashing life expectancy](https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240407/COVID-19-shatters-decades-of-global-health-progress-slashing-life-expectancy.aspx?ref=europeans.today) | News-Medical.Net - ###### [Long COVID leaves telltale traces in the blood](https://www.ukri.org/news/long-covid-leaves-telltale-traces-in-the-blood/?ref=europeans.today) | UKRI - ###### [COVID-19 Virus Can Persist in the Body More Than a Year after Infection](https://polybio.org/covid-19-virus-can-persist-in-the-body-more-than-a-year-after-infection/?ref=europeans.today) | PolyBio - ###### [Ventilation during COVID-19 in a school for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291840&ref=europeans.today) | PLOS - ###### [NHS hospital capacity during COVID-19: overstretched staff, space, systems, and stuff](https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-075613?ref=europeans.today) | the bmj - ###### [Long COVID still has no cure — so these patients are turning to research](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00901-3?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [COVID boosters are a gamechanger – if they are free for everyone](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/covid-boosters-are-a-gamechanger-if-they-are-free-for-everyone?CMP=Share%5FAndroidApp%5FOther&ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [COVID Linked to Lower IQ, Poor Memory and Other Negative Impacts on Brain Health](https://people.com/covid-linked-lower-iq-poor-memory-other-negative-impacts-brain-health-8619254?utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcampaign=shareurlbuttons) | People - ###### [Clearing the air: Long COVID sufferers advocate for a healthier world](https://www.texasobserver.org/long-covid-texas-clearing-the-air/?ref=europeans.today) | Texas Observer - ###### [COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-significant-drops-in-iq-scores-are/?ref=europeans.today) | Scientific American - ###### [How COVID lockdowns hit mental health of teenage boys hardest](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/23/how-covid-lockdowns-hit-mental-health-of-teenage-boys-hardest?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Young and old: how the COVID pandemic has affected every UK generation](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/21/young-and-old-how-the-covid-pandemic-has-affected-every-uk-generation?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Thousands of disabled people died after ‘COVID treatment withheld’, inquiry to probe](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/thousands-of-disabled-people-died-after-covid-treatment-withheld-inquiry-to-probe-2970333?ito=twitter%5Fshare%5Farticle-top&ref=europeans.today) | iNews - ###### [Deaths involving COVID-19 by disability status: a retrospective analysis of 29 million adults during the first two waves of the Coronavirus pandemic in England](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.10.21258693v1?ref=europeans.today) | The Lancet Public Health - ###### [The History of COVID-19 Immune Evasion and the Increasing Pace of Evolution](https://tactnowinfo.substack.com/p/the-history-of-covid-19-immune-evasion) | TACT - ###### [As the pandemic turns four, here’s what we need to do for a healthier future](https://www.europeans.today/2024/03/12/as-the-pandemic-turns-four-heres-what-we-need-to-do-for-a-healthier-future/) | PUBLIC SQUARE UK - ###### [Impact of COVID on the UK's Economy and Health Service](https://bhawkins3.substack.com/p/impact-of-covid-on-the-uks-economy?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=android&r=8zv6v&triedRedirect=true) | Bob Hawkins - ###### [Long COVID after breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01840-0?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [‘Hypervaccinated’ man reportedly received 217 COVID jabs without side-effects](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/06/hypervaccinated-man-217-covid-jabs-no-side-effects-germany?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Prospective Memory Assessment before and after COVID-19](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2311200?ref=europeans.today) | The New England Journal of Medicine - ###### [Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including with significant drops in IQ scores](https://www.europeans.today/2024/03/05/mounting-research-shows-that-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-with-significant-drops-in-iq-scores/) | PUBLIC SQUARE UK - ###### [Save lives in the next pandemic: ensure vaccine equity now](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00545-3?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [Cognition and Memory after Covid-19 in a Large Community Sample](https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2311330?ref=europeans.today) | The New England Journal of Medicine - ###### [COVID-19 may have small but lasting effects on cognition and memory](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/251734/covid-19-have-small-lasting-effects-cognition/?utm%5Fmedium=email&ref=europeans.today) | Imperial College London - ###### [What were the death tolls from pandemics in history?](https://ourworldindata.org/historical-pandemics?ref=europeans.today) | OurWorldInData - ###### [Long COVID ‘brain fog’ may be due to leaky blood-brain barrier, study finds](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/22/long-covid-brain-fog-may-be-due-to-leaky-blood-brain-barrier-study?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Doctor behind brilliant new COVID drama reveals why she’s burning with rage](https://metro.co.uk/2024/02/19/real-doctor-behind-itv-covid-drama-breathtaking-full-rage-20234651/?ito=article.desktop.share.top.twitter&ref=europeans.today) | Metro UK - ###### [Prevalence of persistent SARS-CoV-2 in a large community surveillance study](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07029-4?ref=europeans.today#Fig1) | Nature - ###### [COVID-19 protesters demand changes to infection control guidelines as ITV series airs](https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/news/covid-19-protesters-demand-changes-to-infection-control-guidelines-as-itv-series-airs/?ref=europeans.today) | London News Online - ###### [Fewer people than ever will receive a COVID booster this spring. The UK needs a new strategy](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/15/covid-booster-jabs-campaign-spring-2024-uk?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [The forgotten pandemic?](https://cherwell.org/2024/02/14/the-forgotten-pandemic/?ref=europeans.today) | Cherwell - ###### [COVID cases and hospitalisations fall sharply – what the latest data tell us](https://inews.co.uk/news/health/covid-cases-hospitalisations-latest-data-2897177?ito=twitter%5Fshare%5Farticle-top&ref=europeans.today) | iNews - ###### [What SARS-CoV-2 Does to the Body](https://www.panaccindex.info/p/what-sars-cov-2-does-to-the-body-548?ref=europeans.today) | Pandemic Accountability Index - ###### [Rampant COVID Poses New Challenges in the Fifth Year of the Pandemic](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rampant-covid-poses-new-challenges-in-the-fifth-year-of-the-pandemic/?ref=europeans.today) | Scientific American - ###### [Patients denied latest COVID vaccine after having booster jab earlier in rollout](https://inews.co.uk/news/patients-denied-covid-vaccine-booster-rollout-2876766?ito=twitter%5Fshare%5Farticle-top&ref=europeans.today) | iNews - ###### ['The virus is still evolving at an incredible rate': How widespread is COVID now - and how many people are dying with it?](https://news.sky.com/story/the-virus-is-still-evolving-at-an-incredible-rate-how-widespread-is-covid-now-and-how-many-people-are-dying-with-it-13059424?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [The New COVID-19 Shot Is Surprisingly Effective Against the Latest Variant](https://time.com/6590944/covid-19-vaccine-effective-jn1/?ref=europeans.today) | The Time - ###### ['The NHS sold out its staff': Doctors whose lives were devastated by long COVID to sue health service](https://news.sky.com/story/the-nhs-sold-out-its-staff-doctors-whose-lives-were-devastated-by-long-covid-to-sue-health-service-13055384?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [UK government wasted nearly £10bn on unused COVID PPE, figures show](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/25/uk-government-wasted-nearly-10bn-on-unused-covid-ppe-figures-show?CMP=share%5Fbtn%5Ftw&ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [COVID-19: Doctors instruct law firm in bid for compensation after developing long COVID](https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj.q188?ref=europeans.today) | bmj - ###### [WHO leader says COVID-19 is "still a pandemic"](https://www.salon.com/2024/01/04/leader-says-19-is-still-a-pandemic/?ref=europeans.today) | Salon - ###### [Study shows Omicron variants evade immune system like predecessors, suggesting key evolutionary trait in SARS-CoV-2](https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240119/Study-shows-Omicron-variants-evade-immune-system-like-predecessors-suggesting-key-evolutionary-trait-in-SARS-CoV-2.aspx?ref=europeans.today) | News-Medical.Net - ###### [Should we be worried about the new COVID-19 variant?](https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/01/15/should-we-be-worried-about-the-new-covid-19-variant/?ref=europeans.today) | UKHSA - ###### [UK COVID rates mapped in every region of England - check full list for your area](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/uk-covid-rates-mapped-every-31915145?ref=europeans.today) | Mirror - ###### [Vaccines reduce the risk of long COVID in children](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04032-z?ref=europeans.today) | Nature - ###### [Is It Dangerous to Keep Getting COVID-19?](https://time.com/6553340/covid-19-reinfection-risk/?ref=europeans.today) | Time - ###### [Lack of virus exposure due to COVID may be driving ‘never-ending’ colds, experts warn](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/cold-flu-viruses-covid-symptoms-b2476363.html?ref=europeans.today) | The Independent - ###### [Should we wear masks again? UK virus cases rise as Spain restores COVID rules](https://inews.co.uk/news/science/masks-again-uk-virus-cases-rise-spain-covid-2847208?ref=europeans.today) | iNews [CREDIT: MARK DIXON/MC BENNER DIXON —](https://twitter.com/markdixontweets/status/1752167327507112024/photo/1?ref=europeans.today) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2024/03/list-covid-min.png) --- ### PMP Today 🌐 URL: https://www.europeans.today/pmp-today/ Last updated: 2026-10-01T03:33:41.000Z The news that matters in just 5 minutes. _This page is for subscribers only._ ### Front pages 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/frontpages/ Last updated: 2024-03-14T02:37:35.000Z We take a look at the front pages of the main newspapers and magazines today in the UK and beyond. _This page is for subscribers only._ ### FULL COVID DATA 🦠 URL: https://www.europeans.today/latest-covid-data/ Last updated: 2023-07-18T18:12:32.000Z Full latest COVID-19 data. _This page is for subscribers only._ ## Posts ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/06/todays-papers-6-oct-2026/ Last updated: 2026-10-06T11:39:29.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### As Bolsonaro leads him into Brazil runoff and abstention hits record, where can Lula find the votes to recover? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/05/as-bolsonaro-leads-him-into-brazil-runoff-and-abstention-hits-record-where-can-lula-find-the-votes-to-recover/ Last updated: 2026-10-05T18:10:10.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Brazil’s runoff pits sharply different political programmes against each other, while record abstention means mobilisation could matter almost as much as persuasion in deciding the presidency. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Far-right Flávio Bolsonaro leads left-wing President Lula by 2,224,965 votes after the first round. ● A record 33.47 million registered Brazilians did not vote, almost 15 times the gap between the finalists. ● Lula can seek additional support among abstainers, voters for eliminated candidates and nearly six million people who cast blank or null ballots, but Bolsonaro can compete for the same groups. ● The runoff also presents contrasting choices on welfare, public spending, crime, climate policy, religion, and the future of Jair Bolsonaro. --- B razil’s presidential election will be decided on 25 October after the far-right candidate, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, finished ahead of left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, turning the next three weeks into a contest not only over which candidate can change minds, but over which Brazilians can be persuaded to vote at all. With 100% of ballot boxes counted, [TSE (Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court) figures](https://www.tse.jus.br/comunicacao/noticias/2026/Outubro/flavio-bolsonaro-e-lula-vao-disputar-o-2o-turno-para-a-presidencia-da-republica?ref=europeans.today) give Bolsonaro 56,104,503 votes (47.03% of valid votes), against 53,879,538 (45.16%) for Lula. Neither obtained the majority required to win outright, sending them to the 25 October runoff. The margin is historically narrow. The difference is 2.2 million votes, or 1.87%. [*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/diferenca-entre-flavio-e-lula-e-a-menor-da-historia-no-1o-turno-em-eleicao-presidencial.shtml?ref=europeans.today) reported that it is the smallest first-round gap between the two leading presidential candidates since [Brazil’s redemocratisation](https://jornal.unicamp.br/en/audio/2025/03/12/as-licoes-dos-40-anos-de-redemocratizacao-do-brasil/?ref=europeans.today). Yet Bolsonaro begins the new campaign with something Lula does not have: first place. “Brazil wants change,” Bolsonaro said [after the count](https://apnews.com/article/c194f8965632c8af9bcc4e7a3716cd7c?ref=europeans.today). Lula acknowledged that the result was “unexpected” and declared: “Tomorrow we start a new campaign.” The question is what that new campaign can change. ### What does Lula stand for? The choice is ideological as well as personal. Lula’s programme places a larger role on the state [in economic development](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/08/veja-pontos-em-que-os-planos-de-governo-de-lula-e-flavio-bolsonaro-divergem.shtml?ref=europeans.today). He proposes maintaining Brazil’s fiscal framework while using public investment, infrastructure programmes, industrial policy and housing programmes to support growth. His political identity remains closely associated with [Bolsa Família](https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/105731468006311178?ref=europeans.today), minimum-wage increases, labour rights, and redistribution. He has also backed ending the six-day working week without reducing salaries, an attempt to reconnect the Workers’ Party (PT) with everyday questions of work and quality of life. On [public security](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/08/lula-e-flavio-bolsonaro-propoem-caminhos-diferentes-para-derrotar-faccoes.shtml?ref=europeans.today), Lula proposes greater federal coordination rather than Bolsonaro’s emphasis on punishment: a Ministry of Public Security, integration of intelligence and police data, financial pressure on organised crime, tighter control of weapons and greater cooperation between federal and state authorities. On [the environment](https://apnews.com/article/eacb0832cd11cf40b0b2a24481439d1f?ref=europeans.today), Lula promises zero net Amazon deforestation by 2030\. His government has presided over a substantial fall in deforestation since returning to office, although environmentalists have also criticised its continued willingness to expand fossil-fuel production. His political difficulty is that improved employment and income figures have not eliminated dissatisfaction over everyday living costs. [*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/apesar-de-momento-favoravel-percepcao-negativa-sobre-economia-estanca-votos-em-lula.shtml?ref=europeans.today) reports that expensive food, indebtedness and pressure on household budgets have weakened the electoral benefits Lula might otherwise have expected from favourable economic indicators. ### What does Flávio Bolsonaro stand for? Bolsonaro offers a smaller-state economic programme and a considerably tougher criminal-justice agenda. His programme proposes a new spending ceiling, cutting at least ten ministries, reducing administrative expenditure and accelerating privatisations and concessions. [*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/08/veja-pontos-em-que-os-planos-de-governo-de-lula-e-flavio-bolsonaro-divergem.shtml?ref=europeans.today) describes his economic proposal as a deep spending-cutting programme, while Lula argues for continued public investment. On [crime](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/08/lula-e-flavio-bolsonaro-propoem-caminhos-diferentes-para-derrotar-faccoes.shtml?ref=europeans.today), Bolsonaro proposes classifying major factions such as the PCC and [Comando Vermelho](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/what-is-comando-vermelho-gang-targeted-deadly-rio-police-raids-2025-10-31/?ref=europeans.today) as narcoterrorist organisations, reducing the age of criminal responsibility, restricting sentence progression, building new high-security prisons and sharply expanding surveillance. His programme also proposes chemical castration for people convicted of some sexual offences. Both candidates say they want to attack organised crime financially. Their disagreement is principally over the extent to which the answer lies in institutional coordination and prevention, as Lula argues, or harsher punishment, imprisonment and policing, as Bolsonaro proposes. Environmentally, their programmes also diverge. Bolsonaro promises to end illegal deforestation by 2029 but has questioned human-caused climate change, supports weaker environmental restrictions and favours greater possibilities for mining and agricultural development. Lula promises zero net deforestation by 2030. Internationally, Bolsonaro favours [a closer relationship with Donald Trump](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/27/brazils-flavio-bolsonaro-meets-with-trump-amid-troubled-presidential-bid?ref=europeans.today)’s United States. Lula has made Brazilian sovereignty a campaign theme and favours maintaining Brazil’s more independent position between Washington, Beijing and the wider BRICS grouping. [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/c194f8965632c8af9bcc4e7a3716cd7c?ref=europeans.today) There is, however, another defining element of a Flávio Bolsonaro presidency: his father. > 👍👍 [pic.twitter.com/XAZCEZEEkM](https://t.co/XAZCEZEEkM?ref=europeans.today) > > — Flávio Bolsonaro (@FlavioBolsonaro) [May 26, 2026](https://x.com/FlavioBolsonaro/status/2059379948888998044?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) Flávio Bolsonaro shared a photo showing him meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House to bolster his image in Brazil. ### Bolsonaro says he would pardon his father Former president Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after his conviction for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic order following his 2022 election defeat. Flávio Bolsonaro rejects the conclusion that his father attempted a coup and has explicitly said that, if elected, he would pardon him. “I can’t distance myself from him,” he told [*The Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/25/flavio-bolsonaro-lula-brazil-election/?ref=europeans.today). “I will defend him and his administration.” [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/c194f8965632c8af9bcc4e7a3716cd7c?ref=europeans.today) reports that releasing his father and bringing him back into political life has been part of Bolsonaro’s campaign. That matters because Flávio has simultaneously tried to present himself as a more restrained version of Jair Bolsonaro. He told [*The Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/25/flavio-bolsonaro-lula-brazil-election/?ref=europeans.today): “I’m the Bolsonaro you always wanted,” arguing that the moderation would principally be in how he communicates his ideas. His substantive programme nevertheless retains much of the family’s conservative political project. ### Past associations, religion and allegations under scrutiny Flávio Bolsonaro has faced scrutiny over his relationship with [Adriano da Nóbrega](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2019/01/ex-pm-estava-preso-por-homicidio-quando-flavio-bolsonaro-o-homenageou.shtml?ref=europeans.today), a former police officer later linked by prosecutors to Rio militia activity. Bolsonaro formally praised Nóbrega in 2003\. After Nóbrega was arrested on a murder charge, Bolsonaro nominated him in 2005 for the Tiradentes Medal, the Rio state legislature’s highest honour. Nóbrega was convicted later that year, but the conviction was overturned, and he was acquitted at a retrial in 2007\. Nóbrega’s wife and mother also worked in Bolsonaro’s legislative office. Bolsonaro denies involvement with militias and has said he believed Nóbrega was innocent in the murder case. Flávio Bolsonaro’s evangelical rhetoric has also stirred concern among some Brazilian Catholics. [He said](https://apnews.com/article/238ac61a6828fbe9c37028984a67b4b7?ref=europeans.today) that, if elected, he would “declare that Brazil belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ”. A viral claim that he intended to remove Our Lady of Aparecida as Brazil’s patron saint was unsubstantiated, and Bolsonaro denied any such plan. The episode nevertheless highlighted political sensitivities surrounding Brazil’s Catholic majority and its rapidly growing evangelical population. Brazilian outlet [PlatôBR](https://www.instagram.com/platobr/?ref=europeans.today) alleged that Flávio Bolsonaro had attended parties with sex workers, citing purported material involving former business partner Alexandre Santini. The Workers’ Party amplified allegations of supposed “orgies” during the campaign. However, [*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/09/pt-explora-reportagem-que-liga-flavio-bolsonaro-a-garotas-de-programa-e-rolex-e-candidato-evita-responder.shtml?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) said it had been unable to independently verify PlatôBR’s reporting. Bolsonaro declined to answer journalists’ questions about the allegations at the time. Separately, Bolsonaro is formally under investigation over his role in seeking financing from former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro for *Dark Horse*, a film about Jair Bolsonaro. Police documents reported by [*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/09/flavio-bolsonaro-negociava-recursos-para-dark-horse-com-vorcaro-e-eduardo-era-gestor-do-dinheiro-diz-pf.shtml?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) say Flávio acted as a direct interlocutor in funding negotiations. He has acknowledged seeking money for the film but denies receiving improper advantages or wrongdoing. Allegations concerning parties organised by Vorcaro are separate and do not establish that Flávio Bolsonaro attended them. ### Why did Bolsonaro finish ahead? Whatever weight voters placed on these controversies, they did not prevent Bolsonaro from finishing first. Part of the first-round story appears to be dissatisfaction with the incumbent government and Bolsonaro’s successful effort to present himself as the candidate of change. [*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/erros-em-sequencia-e-onda-bolsonarista-encurralam-lula.shtml?ref=europeans.today)’s post-election analysis argues that Lula’s focus on democracy, sovereignty and positive economic indicators failed to neutralise anti-Workers’ Party sentiment or dissatisfaction over household finances. The result also raises a deeper question for the Brazilian left. Lula’s renewed focus on ending the six-day working week speaks directly to formally employed workers. But Brazil’s workforce also contains millions of self-employed people, informal workers, small entrepreneurs, and people earning through digital platforms. Whether Lula can make a traditional labour and social-protection agenda resonate with those voters will be one of the questions of the second round. ### Then there are 33.4 million people who did not vote The largest potential source of additional votes did not choose Bolsonaro, Lula or anyone else. They stayed home. The 33,469,244 absentees represent [a record number](https://www.tse.jus.br/comunicacao/noticias/2026/Outubro/flavio-bolsonaro-e-lula-vao-disputar-o-2o-turno-para-a-presidencia-da-republica?ref=europeans.today) for a presidential first round. The 21.08% abstention rate is the highest since 1998, when 21.49% of voters stayed home.[*Folha de S.Paulo*](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/abstencao-bate-recorde-e-vai-a-21-com-mais-de-33-milhoes-de-ausentes.shtml?ref=europeans.today) reported that the previous presidential first round, in 2022, recorded 20.9% abstention, with about 32.7 million voters absent. Compare those 33.47 million absentees with Bolsonaro’s lead over Lula: 2,224,965 votes. Just over 15 times as many Brazilians stayed home as separate the two finalists. That is why turnout matters. The record abstention gives Lula a potentially important electorate to mobilise, but the 33.47 million people cannot be treated as latent Lula voters. Some may prefer Lula. Some may prefer Bolsonaro. Others may dislike both. Some did not vote for practical rather than political reasons. Detailed demographic information for this year’s first-round absentees is not yet sufficient to determine how they would divide politically. There is nevertheless evidence that the question is particularly relevant to Lula. Before the vote, Brazilian political scientist Antônio Lavareda pointed out that lower-income and less-educated voters, constituencies in which Lula has traditionally performed strongly, [have historically shown higher abstention](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/crescente-no-1o-turno-desde-2006-abstencao-pode-definir-eleicao-com-cenario-apertado.shtml?ref=europeans.today). And after the result, Mayra Goulart, a political scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, explicitly identified turnout as part of Lula’s second-round challenge, telling [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/c194f8965632c8af9bcc4e7a3716cd7c?ref=europeans.today) that his campaign should examine voters for eliminated candidates and “try to reduce abstention”. So the idea that Lula needs to persuade some non-voters to turn up is not simply an exercise in electoral arithmetic. Brazilian specialists are discussing it. ### Almost six million more voters rejected every candidate There is another significant group. The final TSE count records 2,300,798 blank ballots and 3,674,249 null ballots. Together, that is 5,975,047 votes, from people who went to vote but did not register a valid presidential choice. Add them to the 33,469,244 abstentions, and 39,444,291 registered voters either stayed home or cast no valid presidential vote. That figure is about 17.7 times Bolsonaro’s final advantage of 2,224,965 votes. Again, it would be wrong to treat them as Lula votes waiting to be collected. But it illustrates how much larger the potentially movable electorate is than the distance separating the candidates. ### A third pool: voters whose candidates have been eliminated Lula also has to compete for people who cast valid ballots for somebody else. Augusto Cury finished third with about 3.45 million votes. Renan Santos and Ronaldo Caiado, together with the remaining minor candidates, take the total number of votes cast for eliminated candidates to roughly 9.3 million. [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/c194f8965632c8af9bcc4e7a3716cd7c?ref=europeans.today) reports that Cury does not intend to endorse either finalist and that Caiado and Santos had also previously said they would not do so. Those voters cannot simply be transferred to the candidate their former choice endorses or refuses to endorse. [Pre-election Datafolha polling](https://datafolha.folha.uol.com.br/eleicoes/2026/10/na-vespera-da-eleicao-lula-tem-45-dos-validos-no-1o-turno-empatado-com-flavio-bolsonaro-42.shtml?ref=europeans.today) actually suggested that supporters of Cury, Caiado and Renan Santos who expressed a runoff preference leaned more towards Bolsonaro than Lula, although these were relatively small subgroups and must be interpreted cautiously. That makes abstention potentially even more important to Lula’s arithmetic. ### Bolsonaro can expand too There is a temptation to reason that Bolsonaro’s supporters are highly motivated and therefore almost all of his potential electorate must already have voted. Brazil’s recent history warns against that assumption. In 2022, Jair Bolsonaro increased his total by roughly seven million votes between the first and second rounds, while Lula added roughly three million. Those additional Bolsonaro votes cannot all be identified as first-round abstainers. They included voters who had backed eliminated candidates and potentially people who had cast invalid ballots. But the comparison demonstrates that a strongly mobilised Bolsonaro movement can still find millions of additional votes between rounds. Flávio Bolsonaro is therefore competing for exactly the same broad pools as Lula: abstainers, supporters of eliminated candidates, and blank or null voters. ### Lula does not simply need another 2.22 million people This is the essential arithmetic. Lula trails by 2,224,965 votes. But if Lula gains one million new voters and Bolsonaro gains one million too, nothing changes. Lula needs a net shift of more than 2,224,965 votes in his favour. That can happen through several combinations: more Lula-inclined abstainers turning out, more supporters of eliminated candidates choosing him, previous blank or null voters casting a valid Lula vote, Bolsonaro voters staying home, or a smaller number actually switching between the finalists. The second-round electorate does not have to be identical to the first-round electorate. Brazil saw abstention fall slightly between the first and second rounds [in 2022](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/crescente-no-1o-turno-desde-2006-abstencao-pode-definir-eleicao-com-cenario-apertado.shtml?ref=europeans.today). That does not prove the same thing will happen in 2026, nor that any increase in participation would benefit Lula. But it establishes that first-round non-voters can return once the contest narrows to two candidates. That makes the next three weeks two campaigns at once. One is a campaign of persuasion, fought over people who already voted but can change their choice. The other is a campaign of mobilisation, fought over who turns up in the first place. Flávio Bolsonaro begins with 56.10 million votes. Lula begins with 53.88 million. But 33.47 million registered Brazilians stayed home, 5.98 million voted blank or null, and 9.32 million backed candidates who are no longer in the race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/10/brazil-runoff-explained--1-.jpg) EUROPEANS TODAY Bolsonaro enters the runoff ahead, and pre-election polling suggested potentially favourable arithmetic for him among some voters whose candidates were eliminated. Lula nevertheless faces a deficit small enough to be overcome through a combination of higher turnout, support from voters who backed eliminated candidates, blank or null voters choosing a finalist, and any switching between the two candidates. The central unknown is whether the electorate on 25 October looks materially different from the one that voted in the first round. The first round established who leads. It did not establish who will constitute the electorate that decides Brazil’s presidency on 25 October. ### ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Both campaigns are likely to intensify turnout operations, particularly in regions and social groups where abstention was high. ● Watch whether Augusto Cury, Ronaldo Caiado, Renan Santos or other eliminated candidates remain neutral, and whether their supporters follow any later endorsements. ● Watch for new polling measuring whether first-round abstainers and blank or null voters intend to participate on 25 October. ● Lula’s campaign is likely to test whether labour protections, Bolsa Família and cost-of-living messages can expand his support beyond his first-round coalition. ● Bolsonaro’s campaign will seek to preserve its first-round mobilisation while defending his record, his relationship with Jair Bolsonaro, and his tougher security platform. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The second round is likely to remain highly competitive and focused on mobilisation as well as persuasion. Current evidence does not support a responsible prediction of the winner. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A significant shift in turnout, unexpectedly strong movement among supporters of eliminated candidates, or a major political, economic or legal development during the campaign could alter the balance. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Brazil’s next president will shape policy on democratic institutions, crime, inequality, climate and international alignment, while the turnout battle will test who is actually represented in the final result. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Bolsonaro and Lula head to runoff: 5 takeaways from Brazil’s election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/10/04/bolsonaro-lula-head-runoff-5-takeaways-brazils-election/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [Brazil’s Bolsonaro dynasty closes in on stunning comeback](https://www.ft.com/content/1ab64d24-0f32-4dc8-86b5-20d06e3b3588?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [Brazilians will vote in a highly polarized presidential race on Sunday. Here’s what to know](https://apnews.com/article/3b699682b8c69e9f845e0575a86c483c?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Future of Amazon rainforest policies at stake in Brazilian presidential election](https://apnews.com/article/eacb0832cd11cf40b0b2a24481439d1f?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Bolsonaro’s son runs for president with a mission: Get dad out of prison](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/25/flavio-bolsonaro-lula-brazil-election/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [What to know about the viral claim about Brazil’s patron saint jolting a tight presidential race](https://apnews.com/article/238ac61a6828fbe9c37028984a67b4b7?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Abstenção bate recorde e vai a 21%, com mais de 33 milhões de ausentes](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/abstencao-bate-recorde-e-vai-a-21-com-mais-de-33-milhoes-de-ausentes.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [PT explora reportagem que liga Flávio Bolsonaro a garotas de programa e Rolex, e candidato evita responder](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/09/pt-explora-reportagem-que-liga-flavio-bolsonaro-a-garotas-de-programa-e-rolex-e-candidato-evita-responder.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Diferença entre Flávio e Lula é a menor da história no 1º turno em eleição presidencial](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/diferenca-entre-flavio-e-lula-e-a-menor-da-historia-no-1o-turno-em-eleicao-presidencial.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Abstenção bate recorde e vai a 21% com mais de 33 milhões de ausentes](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/abstencao-bate-recorde-e-vai-a-21-com-mais-de-33-milhoes-de-ausentes.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Crescente no 1º turno desde 2006, abstenção pode definir eleição com cenário apertado](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/crescente-no-1o-turno-desde-2006-abstencao-pode-definir-eleicao-com-cenario-apertado.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Veja pontos em que os planos de governo de Lula e Flávio Bolsonaro divergem](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/08/veja-pontos-em-que-os-planos-de-governo-de-lula-e-flavio-bolsonaro-divergem.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Lula e Flávio Bolsonaro propõem caminhos diferentes para derrotar facções](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/08/lula-e-flavio-bolsonaro-propoem-caminhos-diferentes-para-derrotar-faccoes.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Ex-PM estava preso por homicídio quando Flávio Bolsonaro o homenageou](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2019/01/ex-pm-estava-preso-por-homicidio-quando-flavio-bolsonaro-o-homenageou.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [PT explora reportagem que liga Flávio Bolsonaro a garotas de programa e Rolex e candidato evita responder](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/09/pt-explora-reportagem-que-liga-flavio-bolsonaro-a-garotas-de-programa-e-rolex-e-candidato-evita-responder.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* - ###### [Flávio Bolsonaro negociava recursos para Dark Horse com Vorcaro e Eduardo era gestor do dinheiro, diz PF](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/09/flavio-bolsonaro-negociava-recursos-para-dark-horse-com-vorcaro-e-eduardo-era-gestor-do-dinheiro-diz-pf.shtml?ref=europeans.today) | *Folha de S.Paulo* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 5 October 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/05/todays-papers-5-oct-2026/ Last updated: 2026-10-05T18:38:31.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Will Andy Burnham really risk a spring 2027 general election? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/04/will-andy-burnham-really-risk-a-spring-2027-general-election/ Last updated: 2026-10-04T03:03:12.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Speculation about an early election matters because Burnham’s mandate, Labour’s huge Commons majority and his unfinished reform programme pull in opposite directions as the government approaches a pivotal Budget. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has publicly ruled out an election before 2029, but an early dissolution remains constitutionally possible. ● Labour currently has 403 MPs and a working majority of 166, giving Burnham an unusually valuable parliamentary cushion. ● A YouGov’s September MRP projected Labour as the largest party with 241 seats but without an overall majority. ● The 28 October Budget, subsequent polling and Burnham’s language will provide important tests of whether the political calculation changes. --- T here is a peculiar ritual in British politics. A prime minister is asked whether there will be an early general election. The prime minister says no. Westminster immediately begins wondering when the early general election will be. Andy Burnham has gone further than the customary dodge. Asked in September whether he might seek a fresh mandate before 2029, Burnham said he could [**“knock that dead”**](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/25/no-snap-election-before-2029-andy-burnham-says?ref=europeans.today). Asked whether the election would therefore be in 2029, he answered yes. He also argued that calling one simply because it suited him politically would be self-serving. That sounds conclusive. And yet, barely a week later, the spring 2027 election story was still alive. The *i newspaper* reported on 2 October, through anonymous sources described as close to Downing Street, that a [May 2027 election remained a possibility](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/burnham-door-open-snap-election-2027-4786257?srsltid=AU7gw4U-YezjIsKWk4u-YXnQLp0kyV2B6KuW8Go-LmoUqpg3q8y-fNOy&ref=europeans.today), with one source reportedly describing a potential “sweet spot” if Burnham’s political momentum survived the autumn. The report suggested the reception of the 28 October Budget and the durability of the so-called Burnham bounce could influence the calculation. This is anonymous-source reporting, however: it shows the idea is being discussed and briefed; it does not establish that Burnham has decided to call an election. Kemi Badenoch has added fuel to the speculation, arguing that some of Burnham’s promises being framed for after the next election [make an earlier contest plausible](https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/burnham-general-election-may-27-kemi-badenoch-b3060265.html?ref=europeans.today). But that is an opposition politician's interpretation of his strategy, not evidence of an election plan. So what is actually going on? _This post is for subscribers on the STARTER Membership, Supporter Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Brazil’s presidential election and the attempted return of the far-right to power URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/03/brazils-presidential-election-and-the-attempted-return-of-the-far-right-to-power/ Last updated: 2026-10-05T18:09:26.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Brazil’s election could return the Bolsonaro movement to the presidency after Jair Bolsonaro and senior allies were convicted over a coup plot, raising questions about judicial accountability and democratic institutions. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, is challenging President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for the presidency. ● The election comes less than four years after Bolsonaro supporters attacked Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace. ● Jair Bolsonaro and senior allies, including military officers, were subsequently convicted over a broader coup plot. ● Flávio Bolsonaro has promised to pardon his father if elected and announced plans to appoint five firmly conservative Supreme Court judges. --- B razilian voters head to the polls on Sunday with the Bolsonaro movement seeking a return to the presidency less than four years after supporters of Jair Bolsonaro stormed the institutions at the heart of the country’s democracy. The events of 8 January 2023 are central to understanding the stakes surrounding this election. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters [invaded and vandalised Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/08/jair-bolsonaro-supporters-storm-brazils-presidential-palace-and-supreme-court?ref=europeans.today) in Brasília, one week after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office. Many rejected Bolsonaro’s 2022 electoral defeat and demanded military intervention against Lula’s government. The violence did not emerge in isolation. Investigations uncovered a broader attempt to prevent the democratic transfer of power. Brazil’s Supreme Court subsequently [convicted Jair Bolsonaro of participating in a coup plot](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/11/brazil-supreme-court-bolsonaro-guilty-coup?ref=europeans.today) intended to keep him in office. He was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison. Seven close allies were also convicted, including senior military officers. The military dimension requires an important distinction. Bolsonaro discussed measures to remain in power with military commanders, but the armed forces did not collectively support the plan. Senior military figures were implicated in the conspiracy, while the army and air force commanders refused to participate. The January assault nevertheless exposed serious failures within the security apparatus. Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes said shortly afterwards that the attacks could only have occurred with the acquiescence or involvement of public security and intelligence authorities. Those events now form the backdrop to an extraordinary political comeback attempt. Flávio Bolsonaro, Jair Bolsonaro’s son, is challenging Lula for the presidency. He has [promised to pardon his father if elected](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/02/brazil-lula-stop-fascism-bolsonaro-son?ref=europeans.today) and announced plans to appoint five firmly conservative Supreme Court judges. For Bolsonaro supporters, the election offers an opportunity to return conservative government to power. For opponents, it raises a different question: what would happen to the accountability established after Brazil resisted an attempt to overturn its previous presidential election? Lula has described the choice in stark terms, telling supporters that Brazil must consolidate its democracy or risk losing it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/10/0000846.jpg) EUROPEANS TODAY The president enters Sunday’s first round with a narrow lead in the latest Datafolha polling, at about 45% against Flávio Bolsonaro’s 40%. Neither is currently polling at the level required for an outright first-round victory, making a 25 October runoff the expected next stage. The wider contest remains too close to call. The events following the previous election are well documented. Bolsonaro supporters attacked the physical seats of Brazil’s three branches of government, while Bolsonaro and senior allies were later convicted over a broader attempt to overthrow the democratic order. That record makes the institutional consequences of Sunday’s vote an unavoidable part of Brazil’s election. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Brazilians vote in the first round on 4 October, with attention focused on whether the presidential contest proceeds to the scheduled runoff. ● The performance of congressional candidates will also matter because any future president’s ability to implement institutional changes will depend partly on support in Congress. ● Flávio Bolsonaro’s pledge to pardon his father will remain under scrutiny, particularly over its legal and institutional implications. ● The composition and future appointments of Brazil’s Supreme Court will remain important because the court played a central role in proceedings arising from the attempted overturning of the 2022 election. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Turnout, late movement among undecided voters and the eventual distribution of congressional seats could materially affect both the presidential contest and the governing environment after the election. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Whoever wins will inherit a democracy still dealing with the institutional consequences of the attempt to overturn the result of Brazil’s previous presidential election. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Lula says only he can stop rise of fascism under Bolsonaro’s son](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/02/brazil-lula-stop-fascism-bolsonaro-son?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Jair Bolsonaro convicted over coup plot](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/11/brazil-supreme-court-bolsonaro-guilty-coup?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Jair Bolsonaro’s coup conviction explained](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/11/jair-bolsonaro-conviction-attempted-coup-what-happens-next-explainer?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Bolsonaro supporters storm Brazil’s presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/08/jair-bolsonaro-supporters-storm-brazils-presidential-palace-and-supreme-court?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Brazil confronts the aftermath of the 8 January attacks](https://apnews.com/article/29fad1e6c79a5737641932c939021e62?ref=europeans.today) | *ASSOCIATED PRESS* - ###### [Brazil’s election and the Bolsonaro political comeback](https://apnews.com/article/f95765c36dbbdc3355ad3af0b70eacf6?ref=europeans.today) | *ASSOCIATED PRESS* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 3 October 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Plans to tamper with the pension triple lock might not be as dangerous for Labour as some believe URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/03/plans-to-tamper-with-the-pension-triple-lock-might-not-be-as-dangerous-for-labour-as-some-believe/ Last updated: 2026-10-03T03:56:01.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Changes to the pension guarantee could reshape retirement incomes and help finance social care, while testing whether voters accept a trade-off between slower pension growth and wider care provision. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Labour plans to change, rather than simply abolish, the state pension triple lock from 2030. ● The revised mechanism would protect pensions against inflation while seeking to keep them aligned with earnings over time. ● Early polling indicates more support than opposition for combining pension reform with a National Care Service. ● The political test is whether support survives once voters focus on the effect on future pension increases. --- W hen Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Labour conference that he is going to change the state pension’s triple lock mechanism, the backlash was immediate. For 15 years, the triple lock has been one of the few genuinely untouchable policies in British politics. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, warned that Burnham’s plans could amount to [“electoral suicide”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/sep/29/andy-burnham-labour-conference-liverpool-speech-triple-lock-pension-angela-rayner-lucy-powell-bridget-phillipson-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-6abb4c5f8f08cf275dcfa617%23block-6abb4c5f8f08cf275dcfa617&ref=europeans.today). And Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, said the prime minister was considering “an offensive against our elderly”. But, interestingly, the public’s reaction has been considerably more positive, reflecting changing views over what Britons consider fair and acceptable around elderly care and incomes. Despite some of the headlines, the triple lock is not being scrapped. Rather, the government’s proposed reform from 2030 envisions the state pension rising each year by the highest of inflation, 2.5%, or whatever is needed to keep pace with earnings. **XTRA | What is the Pension Triple Lock?** The triple lock is a guarantee that the UK State Pension rises each year by whichever is highest: average earnings growth, inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or 2.5%. Introduced in 2011, it is designed to protect pensioners’ incomes from rising prices while allowing pensions to benefit when wages grow strongly. [**(SOURCE: UK GOVERNMENT)**](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-uprating-analysis-2026/state-pension-uprating?ref=europeans.today) What is being scrapped is the mechanism that pushes the pension ever higher relative to wages. Under the current rules, whenever inflation or the 2.5% floor outpaces earnings growth, the pension gets a bigger rise than wages that year – and keeps that gain permanently. For the rest of the population, wage growth tends to be a response to inflation – but under the triple lock, pensioners feel the benefit of both (so-called “double counting”). The new rule would still protect pensions against inflation and keep them in line with earnings over time, but would stop these one-off gains from building up year after year. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, had this been applied since 2010, the UK state pension would still have grown 6% faster than prices – but the government would be spending £9 billion a year less than it is today. ### **The issue that doesn’t split generations** Pensions are an age-sensitive issue, and age is increasingly the biggest divide in British politics. At the 2024 election, the gap between young and old in support for the main parties was around 30 points. On anything from immigration to climate action, opinions are hugely split along age lines. Yet pensions are the exception. In 2021, a YouGov poll found that 68% of Britons wanted to keep the triple lock, and just 11% wanted to scrap it. Even 18- to 29-year-olds backed it by 53% to 12%. As recently as May, support still outweighed opposition among 18- to 34-year-olds by 44% to 22%. Older people hold firmer views, but no age group has ever wanted it gone. This is not because young people think the system is fair. The same 2021 survey found that only around a quarter of under-40s thought it fair for pensions to rise while workers’ earnings fell, compared with nearly two-thirds of over-60s. Nor is it because they expect the same deal: most Britons think they will have lower standards in retirement. So what holds the consensus together? Part of the answer lies in the family. Almost three in ten Britons under the age of 60 expect to give significant financial or practical help to an older relative within the next decade. This research found that asking younger people to consider their own future pensions did nothing to raise their support for government spending on older people. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/10/0000843--1-.jpg) Voters don’t see pensions as a transfer from young to old, but as support that flows through families in both directions. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) The only message that increased support for spending on older people was one that stressed how it would ease the burden of looking after parents and grandparents. The link runs the other way too. Older Britons whose younger relatives are struggling are more supportive of spending on education, childcare and housing. This is driven more by concern for those relatives than by self-interest. In other words, voters don’t see pensions as a transfer from young to old, but as support that flows through families in both directions. That’s why, unlike most issues, they don’t pit the generations against each other. And these ties are growing tighter: 43% of 25-year-olds still live with their parents. But this [“privileged dependence”](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/18/children-adults-society-young-people-in-between?ref=europeans.today) helps only those whose families can afford it. My research points to a further reason for the relative consensus: economic issues divide generations far less than cultural ones. In a survey experiment using appeals adapted from the 2019 UK general election manifestos, I found that older voters did not penalise candidates who promised to prioritise the young. This was true even when the candidate said it was time to shift attention away from the elderly. Economic appeals moved voters of all ages more than cultural ones did. ### Burnham’s real test As with any research looking into economic policy preferences, the catch comes around who is expected to pay for them. None of the appeals in my experiment asked older voters to pay for anything, but Burnham’s reform does. It asks pensioners to accept slower growth in their own income. At the same time, it channels the savings into something older voters want: 80% of over-50s back a National Care Service that is free at the point of use. Across the under-50s too, net support for this exceeds 60%, reflecting appetite for reforms that focus on care provision beyond mere income protection. The early polling suggests Burnham’s triple lock gamble is less dangerous than it looks, with Britons supporting the plan by 48% to 28%. A Survation poll found 55% of over-65s were in favour and 23% against. Asked if the policy made them more or less likely to vote Labour, over-65s split evenly (21% against 20%), while under-45s swung clearly towards the party. These first reactions suggest the policy is more promising than disastrous for Labour’s electoral prospects. The triple lock has been protected less by self-interest than by family ties that cut across generations. Framed as a question of how families look after one another, pension reform may be one of the few issues that can bridge the country’s age divide. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Parliament is expected to vote on the pension changes during this parliament even though the existing guarantee remains until 2030, making the legislation an early test of political resistance to the reform. ● Watch whether the initial 48% to 28% public support for linking triple-lock reform with social care persists as voters receive more detail about pension and care entitlements. ● The scale and timing of savings remain important: estimates vary with economic conditions, while substantial social-care expenditure could arrive before pension reform generates its largest savings. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● If Labour maintains the inflation protection and long-term earnings link while presenting social care as the counterpart to slower pension growth, the reform could remain politically viable, although current polling is an early snapshot rather than evidence of durable electoral support. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Weak earnings, renewed inflation, unclear care entitlements or evidence that pension savings cannot meet the cost of the National Care Service could materially alter both the fiscal case and public response. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The reform will test whether Britain can change a costly pension guarantee by tying the sacrifice to a visible service that potentially benefits older people and their families. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham to pass law scrapping pension triple lock before next election](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/02/burnham-law-pension-triple-lock?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Will pensioners be poorer as a result of Burnham scrapping the triple lock?](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/sep/29/will-pensioners-be-poorer-burnham-scrapping-triple-lock?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Burnham to signal willingness to look at scrapping pension triple lock to fund social care](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/29/andy-burnham-labour-conference-pension-triple-lock-social-care?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [How would Andy Burnham's social care shake-up work?](https://www.ft.com/content/fd9bb414-838d-48e5-bcdf-39c8a6bd41ca?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [What can Burnham learn from Scotland's social care system?](https://www.ft.com/content/14e6933e-20ce-40be-80fd-c2f0b11450e9?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [How to meet Burnham's ambitions on social care](https://www.ft.com/content/0889f36e-cbd6-4df5-a917-9fbb89071a7e?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/plans-to-tamper-with-the-pension-triple-lock-might-not-be-as-dangerous-for-labour-as-some-believe-293404?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 3 October 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55550526178/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/293404/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/03/todays-papers-3-oct-2026/ Last updated: 2026-10-04T02:59:18.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/02/todays-papers-2-oct-2026/ Last updated: 2026-10-02T13:52:02.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Violence escalates at French school blockades as government links far-left party to mobilisation URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/01/violence-escalates-at-french-school-blockades-as-government-links-far-left-party-to-mobilisation/ Last updated: 2026-10-02T14:33:52.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS France’s lycées unrest now combines genuine education grievances, serious violence and an intelligence-based government accusation against the far-left, raising questions about political responsibility, public order and the limits of mobilisation. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● French authorities reported 1,949 arrests and 305 injured police officers and gendarmes on Thursday. ● School staff, headteachers, firefighters, and public property have also been targeted during serious incidents. ● Prime minister’s office says French intelligence services assess that far-left and ultra-left networks helped organise the lycée mobilisation. --- V iolence surrounding France’s lycées blockades escalated sharply on Thursday, with hundreds of police officers injured, school staff assaulted, schools damaged by fire and emergency vehicles attacked, as the government said intelligence services link La France insoumise (LFI) and ultra-left networks to the organisation of the mobilisation. The Interior Ministry said [1,949 people were arrested across France](https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/live/2026/10/01/en-direct-blocage-des-lycees-le-mouvement-doit-etre-entendu-des-etudiants-manifestent-aux-cotes-des-plus-jeunes-de-rennes-a-henri-iv%5F6786491%5F3224.html?ref=europeans.today) on Thursday, principally over violence, attacks on people exercising public authority and unlawful gatherings. It reported 305 police officers and gendarmes injured during the day. The Justice Ministry said 1,793 people had been placed in police custody since Monday. The toll within the education system was also substantial. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 65 school staff and 170 pupils had been injured since the movement began. According to education authorities and union representatives, several headteachers had been assaulted or manhandled during blockades. More than 400 establishments are expected to remain closed on Friday, with lessons moved online where necessary. Unfortunately, some incidents went far beyond blocking school entrances. In Nantes, a fire destroyed the entrance hall of Lycée Nelson-Mandela and damaged its facade. [*Euronews* reported](https://fr.euronews.com/2026/10/01/blocages-des-lycees-violences-incendies-et-affrontements-lecornu-accuse-lfi-et-lultra-gauc?ref=europeans.today) that the deputy head described the fire as apparently deliberate, although its precise origin was still being established. The building was not expected to reopen physically before the November holidays. In Nantes, a fire destroyed the entrance hall of Lycée Nelson-Mandela and damaged its facade. | [FRANCE 24](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/383trP79T-E?ref=europeans.today) In Marseille, firefighters responding to a fire outside Lycée Saint-Exupéry were attacked, and one of their vehicles was burned. A firefighter was struck by a projectile and suffered a facial fracture. A bus was also set alight near Lycée La Floride. At Lycée Victor-Hugo, members of staff were splashed with petrol while protesters poured fuel onto containers. > 🔴 Marseille : des marins-pompiers ont été pris à partie en marge des manifestations lycéennes. > > 👉 Leur véhicule a été pillé puis incendié devant le lycée Saint-Exupéry alors qu’ils intervenaient sur un feu de détritus. Un marin-pompier a été légèrement blessé. [pic.twitter.com/c5e95x9Fp3](https://t.co/c5e95x9Fp3?ref=europeans.today) > > — TF1Info (@TF1Info) [October 1, 2026](https://x.com/TF1Info/status/2105629423969997200?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) In Marseille, firefighters were attacked by protesters who eventually burned their vehicle. | TF1 National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet also described an assault on a policewoman who, she said, heard people shouting “kill her” before being beaten. She cited attacks on firefighters and burning schools while urging MPs to call for calm. > policière passer à tabac sur paris 😱[#blocage](https://x.com/hashtag/blocage?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [#blocus](https://x.com/hashtag/blocus?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [#Lycéens](https://x.com/hashtag/Lyc%C3%A9ens?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [#lycee](https://x.com/hashtag/lycee?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [#pauvrefrance](https://x.com/hashtag/pauvrefrance?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [pic.twitter.com/Jxid8uf8yE](https://t.co/Jxid8uf8yE?ref=europeans.today) > > — sf\_2080 (@BallaDiawara15) [October 1, 2026](https://x.com/BallaDiawara15/status/2105654759159996578?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) The assault on a policewoman, as people shouted “kill her” before beating her. | SOCIAL MEDIA Obviously, the violence we see in the streets of France does not characterise every blockade or every student taking part. Students have repeatedly raised concerns about absent teachers, overcrowding, deteriorating buildings, demanding timetables, and a lack of educational resources. *Le Monde* has reported [peaceful mobilisation](https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2026/09/29/blocus-des-lycees-en-banlieue-parisienne-les-eleves-veulent-se-faire-entendre-sur-leur-quotidien-et-contre-l-injustice%5F6785629%5F3224.html?ref=europeans.today) alongside the serious disorder. But the scale of the violent incidents has fundamentally altered the political stakes. > 🔴 À Nantes, le hall du lycée Nelson-Mandela a été ravagé par les flammes, sans faire de blessé. Un incendie volontaire, selon la direction. Des lycéens mobilisés disent leur colère de voir leur mouvement associé à ces destructions. [#JT20h](https://x.com/hashtag/JT20h?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [pic.twitter.com/TwIFMLwgaC](https://t.co/TwIFMLwgaC?ref=europeans.today) > > — Le20h-France Télévisions (@le20hfrancetele) [October 1, 2026](https://x.com/le20hfrancetele/status/2105721032141049915?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) In Nantes, a fire destroyed the entrance hall of Lycée Nelson-Mandela and damaged its facade. | FRANCE TELEVISION Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened an [interministerial crisis meeting](https://fr.euronews.com/2026/10/01/blocages-des-lycees-violences-incendies-et-affrontements-lecornu-accuse-lfi-et-lultra-gauc?ref=europeans.today) on Thursday. His office subsequently said French intelligence services assess the lycée blockades as a “manoeuvre organised by LFI and its ultra-left proxies”. The government is attributing an organised role to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left party, but no evidence currently establishes that LFI ordered individual acts of arson, assaults on headteachers, attacks on police officers or the burning of emergency vehicles. Education Minister Geffray has also distinguished between the original student grievances and the subsequent violence. He said the initial demands deserved to be heard. However, he argued that the movement had been taken over in places by “ultraviolent” groups. He accused LFI of having encouraged and politically appropriated the blockades while separately identifying ultra-left groups as responsible for violent behaviour. [Statements by LFI politicians](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/10/01/presidentielle-2027-les-injonctions-contradictoires-de-jean-luc-melenchon-et-lfi-vis-a-vis-du-mouvement-lyceen%5F6786430%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today) have nevertheless intensified scrutiny of the party’s approach. Bally Bagayoko, the LFI mayor of Saint-Denis, said earlier in the week that violence “can be legitimate”, while also saying it was preferable to avoid it. The Paris police prefect referred his remarks to prosecutors over suspected incitement to commit an offence. Bagayoko later clarified that violence was not LFI’s method of action. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has similarly combined confrontational rhetoric with an explicit call for non-violence. *Le Monde* reported that [he had urged](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/10/01/presidentielle-2027-les-injonctions-contradictoires-de-jean-luc-melenchon-et-lfi-vis-a-vis-du-mouvement-lyceen%5F6786430%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today) LFI supporters to “interpose” themselves against what he called police brutality before subsequently saying that LFI advocated non-violent methods of struggle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/10/0000839--1-.jpg) Far-left MP Aymeric Caron (LFI) at a blockade at Lycée Jacques Decour, in Paris. | [@CARONAYMERICOFF](https://x.com/CaronAymericoff/status/2105555153525080270?ref=europeans.today) LFI rejects the government’s wider account of the mobilisation and maintains that the party did not launch the lycées movement. The dispute therefore involves three separate questions that should not be conflated: who helped organise and expand the mobilisation, who committed the violent acts accompanying some blockades, and how LFI intends to use the political energy surrounding the movement. Police conduct is also under investigation. Three inquiries by the police inspectorate, the IGPN, concern injuries sustained by pupils during interventions at Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, Sevran, and Tours. In the latter case, prosecutors said a pupil’s head injury was compatible with an LBD projectile. The unrest inevitably carries significance for the 2027 presidential contest because Mélenchon, a far-left candidate, is seeking to mobilise younger voters, and LFI has placed itself visibly alongside the lycées movement. *Le Monde* has described [the tension](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/10/01/presidentielle-2027-les-injonctions-contradictoires-de-jean-luc-melenchon-et-lfi-vis-a-vis-du-mouvement-lyceen%5F6786430%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today) between LFI’s strategy of political confrontation and Mélenchon’s need to broaden his appeal. There is currently no verified evidence that Mélenchon and his party planned the current unrest as a rehearsal for violence between the two presidential rounds or following a possible Marine Le Pen victory in 2027\. Whether the political mobilisation is causally linked to the violence is a separate, unresolved question, though it remains a working theory. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the government publishes further detail supporting the intelligence assessment that it has attributed to French services. ● Arrests, prosecutions, and investigations that may establish who organised particular assaults, fires, and attacks on schools or emergency services. ● Decisions on school closures, reopening, and security as authorities assess damage and the risk of further blockades. ● The outcome of IGPN investigations into injuries suffered by pupils during police interventions. ● Whether LFI continues encouraging the mobilisation while maintaining its stated commitment to non-violent methods. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Political and legal scrutiny of both the violence and LFI’s role in the mobilisation is likely to intensify as investigations develop. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Publication of intelligence material or judicial evidence directly linking, or failing to link, political organisers to specific acts of violence would materially alter the assessment. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Establishing the difference between political mobilisation, inflammatory rhetoric and responsibility for criminal violence is essential to democratic accountability. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Blocages des lycées : violences, incendies et affrontements, Lecornu accuse LFI et l’ultra gauche](https://fr.euronews.com/2026/10/01/blocages-des-lycees-violences-incendies-et-affrontements-lecornu-accuse-lfi-et-lultra-gauc?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Blocage des lycées : « Le mouvement doit être entendu » ; des étudiants manifestent aux côtés des plus jeunes](https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/live/2026/10/01/en-direct-blocage-des-lycees-le-mouvement-doit-etre-entendu-des-etudiants-manifestent-aux-cotes-des-plus-jeunes-de-rennes-a-henri-iv%5F6786491%5F3224.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Présidentielle 2027 : les injonctions contradictoires de Jean-Luc Mélenchon et LFI vis-à-vis du mouvement lycéen](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/10/01/presidentielle-2027-les-injonctions-contradictoires-de-jean-luc-melenchon-et-lfi-vis-a-vis-du-mouvement-lyceen%5F6786430%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Le blocus des lycées prend de l’ampleur et oppose La France insoumise et le gouvernement](https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2026/09/28/le-blocus-des-lycees-prend-de-l-ampleur-et-oppose-la-france-insoumise-et-le-gouvernement%5F6785108%5F3224.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Blocage des lycées : en banlieue parisienne, les élèves veulent se faire entendre sur leur quotidien et « contre l’injustice »](https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2026/09/29/blocus-des-lycees-en-banlieue-parisienne-les-eleves-veulent-se-faire-entendre-sur-leur-quotidien-et-contre-l-injustice%5F6785629%5F3224.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Blocage des lycées : 625 interpellations et 119 blessés depuis le début de la contestation](https://fr.euronews.com/2026/09/30/blocage-des-lycees-625-interpellations-et-119-blesses-depuis-le-debut-de-la-contestation?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Présidentielle 2027 : Jean-Luc Mélenchon, entre radicalité et besoin de rassembler, rêve d’un duel avec l’extrême droite](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/08/20/presidentielle-2027-jean-luc-melenchon-entre-radicalite-et-besoin-de-rassembler-reve-d-un-duel-avec-l-extreme-droite%5F6750546%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 1 October 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/10/01/todays-papers-1-oct-2026/ Last updated: 2026-10-02T03:26:07.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### This year’s Labour conference was the party that delegates should have had in 2024 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/30/this-years-labour-conference-was-the-party-that-delegates-should-have-had-in-2024/ Last updated: 2026-10-01T01:13:09.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Labour’s change of leadership has reset its political direction after severe electoral losses, while Burnham’s proposals on pensions, social care, electoral reform and Europe could materially reshape voters’ choices before the next election. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Labour’s 2026 conference was markedly more optimistic than the gatherings preceding Keir Starmer’s departure. ● Andy Burnham used his first conference speech as prime minister to advance major proposals on social care, pensions, electoral reform and Britain’s relationship with Europe. ● Labour’s new direction follows heavy May election losses, including 1,229 English council seats and a fall to nine Senedd seats. ● The central pressure is delivery: several of Burnham’s biggest proposals depend on future funding decisions or commitments at the next general election. --- T he mood of the party?” is a reliable opening question between news presenter and political journalist. Necessarily imprecise, the answer can still transport the listener or viewer to where they aren’t. Doing so from Liverpool this week invokes the other meaning of the word party. This was the conference that should have taken place in 2024 after Labour’s return to power. But it didn’t, owing to the stumbling of the government in general and the fumbling of the prime minister in particular. Keir Starmer’s first speech in office had dampened the mood, intentionally. This year the Labour party conference was a happy place. The sun was shining; the branding was smiling: Andy Burnham’s beaming countenance ubiquitous. Lauded as a winner in 2024, Starmer always dutifully undertook the leader’s traditional role of meeting the troops, but [barely survived](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/01/starmer-bests-his-conference-critics-but-path-ahead-still-looks-perilous?ref=europeans.today) the 2025 conference. His precarity came across in selfies in which he never looked less than awkward. Conversely, such is Burnham’s propensity for banter that a guard of “big lads” were charged with standing around him to prevent mobbing (as one of them told me). The tone was palpably different from a year ago. In September 2025, almost every conversation alighted on the prospects of the party in the May 2026 local elections in England, and the national elections in Scotland and Wales. “Massacre”, “wipeout”, and “bloodbath” were worn smooth through overuse. But they proved not to be exaggerations. May 6 2026 – an extinction-level event for the party – was not survivable for its leader. The polls, fluid as they are, have shifted. Optimism, which is hard to define but easy to recognise, defined this conference. Next year, there will have been a year of delivery – or lack of it. ### **More hope, less time** The branding of this conference was in itself remarkable. “Hope Again” is as close as you can get to an explicit admission by a party in government that it has been failing. There was hope, in July 2024, with the election win. That government was reconstructed two years later under someone not even in parliament then. That those related events came to pass was because that hope had been misplaced. Hope of winning the next election, hope of preventing a government comprising the radical populist right. Hope Again means: let’s try that one more time. There may be more hope, but there is also less time. This year’s surprise foreign speaker was the prime minister of Norway. “It’s fun to be elected,” Jonas Store told a fullish main hall, “but it’s better to be re-elected.” Burnham, sitting next to him, nodded appreciatively. No issue animates activists – and demonstrators outside – more than Palestine, and foreign secretary Ed Miliband lanced that particular boil with pointed atonement for Starmer’s perceived indulgence of the Israeli government [over Gaza](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/28/ed-miliband-labour-former-stance-palestine-fell-short?ref=europeans.today). Sanctions on settlements is policy almost written by Labour delegates. Last year they had to content themselves with passing a motion; this year there was no need. The main event – the leader’s speech – was more than usually significant. For one thing, the leader mainly wrote it himself. The American writer Gore Vidal once described President Eisenhower delivering a speech with a real sense of discovery. That Burnham demanded authorship – and there may be advisers who wish his time were better spent – is central to his appeal. Personal is authentic. Yet in the prominence of the individual there is also risk. This government is so clearly his, in a way Starmer’s wasn’t, and so it will be if it fails. There has never been so personalised a premiership as this. Starmer saved his leadership last year – and sent Burnham off with a flea in his ear in the process – with a speech that was better than his usual. But he always came across almost as a figure from Greek mythology: half man, half lectern. Burnham has no need for so literal, and figurative, a prop. But his unplanned charm served to highlight the fact that he was not a natural platform speaker. The form seemed to constrain him. In his speech to conference, he broke free. If anyone was in any doubt as to why the Labour Party replaced its leader, they can be no longer. His speech, tears and all, was unlike any other. It reminded those who had forgotten why rhetoric matters. Though there were lines as hoary as “hope in every heart”, the speech confounded Burnham sceptics. A national care service, electoral reform, pension reform, and the undoing of Brexit are policies of seismic significance. The “common good” of which he spoke had been destroyed in the 1980s. And 1945 was an apt historical precedent for Burnham to cite: a Labour government with ambition unbounded. But he did not mention its circumstances being circumscribed. This government cannot reasonably be said to lack direction or purpose. It does, however, lack means and a mandate. Labour’s 2026 conference in its own terms was a triumph; for the government that is necessary but not sufficient. Andy Burnham's speech to Labour Party Conference | LABOUR PARTY ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the government can translate conference momentum into near-term delivery before the larger reforms Burnham says will require a future electoral mandate. ● The funding architecture for the proposed National Care Service and pensions changes, particularly as fiscal constraints limit immediate implementation. ● How Labour develops its promised electoral-reform process and whether the eventual proposal can command support beyond the party. ● The government’s evolving European policy after Burnham said Brexit had done more harm than good and opened discussion about a substantially closer long-term relationship with the EU. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Conference optimism is likely to give Labour political breathing space, but its durability will depend increasingly on measurable government delivery rather than leadership change or rhetoric. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Economic deterioration, difficult funding choices or failure to demonstrate progress on public services could quickly intensify pressure on an agenda whose largest reforms are intended for the next parliament. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Burnham has attached his leadership to a more interventionist programme, making the gap between the government’s stated ambitions and its capacity to deliver a central test of Labour’s renewed political strategy. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham gambles on radical progressive plan to help Britain ‘rise again’](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/29/andy-burnham-vows-long-term-relationship-eu-labour-conference-speech?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [From Brexit to electoral reform: key takeaways from Andy Burnham’s conference speech](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/29/brexit-electoral-reform-key-takeaways-andy-burnham-conference-speech?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Politics latest: Burnham says he’ll adjust pensions triple lock from 2030 to pay for social care](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-labour-conference-social-care-12593360?postid=12540696&ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [How will Burnham’s national care service work - and how will it be funded?](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/29/what-are-labours-plans-overhaul-social-care-explainer-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [‘You were right’: Ed Miliband tells critics Labour was wrong on Gaza](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/28/ed-miliband-labour-former-stance-palestine-fell-short?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [2026 UK elections: full results from local, Scottish and Welsh votes](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/may/07/local-elections-2026-may-full-results-england-scotland-wales?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Keir Starmer to step down as prime minister two years after historic election victory](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resigns-as-prime-minister?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham to fight next election with plan for NHS-style care service](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/27/andy-burnham-election-nhs-style-care-service-labour-conference?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/this-years-labour-conference-was-the-party-that-delegates-should-have-had-in-2024-293257?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 30 September 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Screenshot from [LABOUR PARTY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT6b9Opy69E&ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/293257/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Investigation attributes antisemitic messages to French far-right leader Jordan Bardella URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/30/investigation-attributes-antisemitic-messages-to-french-far-right-leader-jordan-bardella/ Last updated: 2026-09-30T11:48:58.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Jordan Bardella is central to the RN’s plans for power in 2027\. Allegations involving antisemitic conspiracy theories challenge the party’s claim to have broken with the most toxic elements of its past. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Investigative newspaper attributes antisemitic and conspiratorial private messages from 2013–15 to Jordan Bardella. ● Bardella categorically denies writing them and has filed a defamation complaint. ● Mediapart says material from several sources was cross-checked and technically verified, and says it has “not the shadow of a doubt” about authorship. ● Marine Le Pen has given Bardella her full backing as the RN prepares for the 2027 presidential election. --- J ordan Bardella, the 31-year-old president of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN), is confronting allegations that strike at one of his party’s most important political claims: that today’s RN has broken with the antisemitism associated with its past. Bardella is one of the two central figures in the RN’s plans for [France’s 2027 presidential election](https://apnews.com/article/fe0cd3948436b14d057279d2962ebf99?ref=europeans.today). Marine Le Pen has presented him as the man she would appoint prime minister if she reaches the Élysée. He is also the younger leader who has helped give the party a more conventional public image as it attempts to broaden its electorate. That is why [an investigation published by *Mediapart*](https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/politique/280926/les-banques-sont-toutes-detenues-par-des-juifs-jordan-bardella-face-ses-ecrits-antisemites?ref=europeans.today) on 28 September poses such an uncomfortable challenge. The investigative online newspaperattributes to Bardella a series of private messages from 2013 to 2015, beginning when he was 17 and a young member of the party then called the Front National (FN). The publication says its investigation [took months and drew on dozens of written conversations](https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/28/national-rallys-bardella-denies-report-he-made-antisemitic-remarks?ref=europeans.today), witness accounts and material that it says was independently authenticated. The alleged exchanges contain explicit antisemitic conspiracy theories. According to *Mediapart*, Bardella wrote: “All the banks are owned by Jews.” In another conversation, *Mediapart* attributes to him the statement that “the Jew must dominate other peoples, crush them and rob them”, followed by the assertion that “a Zionist is necessarily a Jew”. _This post is for subscribers on the STARTER Membership, Supporter Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/30/todays-papers-30-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-30T13:31:58.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Canada could become the EU’s first associate member. Could Britain follow? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/29/canada-could-become-the-eus-first-associate-member-could-britain-follow/ Last updated: 2026-09-30T11:50:01.000Z . 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Canada’s unprecedented offer could test whether the EU can build a new circle of close partners outside full membership, potentially affecting Britain, Ukraine and Europe’s wider geopolitical relationships. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Canada has been invited to explore becoming the EU’s first “associate member”. ● No legal blueprint yet defines what that status would mean. ● Similar ideas have been discussed for Ukraine, while Britain could face questions about whether closer association might eventually suit its post-Brexit relationship. ● Mercosur shows how another regional bloc formally distinguishes full members from associated states. --- E uropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has opened the door to Canada becoming [the European Union’s first “associate member”](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/16/von-der-leyen-mark-carney-canada-eu-first-associate-member?ref=europeans.today), proposing an unprecedented relationship as Ottawa seeks closer economic and strategic ties with Europe. Von der Leyen made the proposal during her State of the Union address in Strasbourg on 16 September, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attending as a guest. “I want us to work on opening the door for Canada to become the first associate member of our Union,” von der Leyen said. The proposal does not mean Canada is joining the EU. The bloc has [never had an associate membership category](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/16/canada-to-become-first-associate-member-of-the-eu?ref=europeans.today) of this kind, and its rights, obligations and institutional arrangements have yet to be defined. Von der Leyen instead presented the idea as a way to transform the existing EU-Canada relationship into a much broader partnership. She proposed cooperation on advanced manufacturing and technology, integrating defence industrial bases and making the Arctic a major joint project. Energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and economic security were also identified as priorities. “This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” von der Leyen said. The initiative comes as Canada seeks to diversify its economic and security relationships following a sharp deterioration in relations with the United States under President Donald Trump. [Trump reacted critically](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/17/trump-calls-eu-offer-to-canada-associate-membership-laughable-threatens-tariffs?ref=europeans.today), calling the EU proposal “laughable” and suggesting it could amount to a “hostile act”. He said the United States could impose “very serious tariffs” or restrict trade with Europe if he judged the initiative to have hostile intentions, while saying an arrangement made with good intentions would be acceptable. Canada is simultaneously moving to deepen European defence cooperation. Carney’s office announced that Canada had formally applied to join the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a rapid-response military partnership involving 10 NATO countries. The EU and Canada already have extensive economic ties through their CETA trade agreement. Von der Leyen, however, said the relationship should now move beyond trade towards an “alliance for the future”. ### What would associate membership actually mean? For now, there is no blueprint. Existing European relationships offer some clues: Norway participates in the single market while accepting many EU rules without having an EU vote, while Switzerland has negotiated extensive access through agreements with Brussels. Canada is already discussing [closer participation in European programmes and cooperation](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/16/canada-in-talks-to-join-eus-erasmus-exchanges-programme?ref=europeans.today). A future arrangement could potentially combine deeper market, research, industrial and defence links with greater mobility, without giving Canada the rights of a full EU member. Whether it would include significant single-market access, require Canada to follow corresponding EU rules or provide any institutional voice remains unresolved. Von der Leyen’s proposal will also have to contend with caution inside the EU. Germany supports a deeper relationship with Canada but has questioned the proposed terminology, with a government spokesperson saying “associate member” should be reconsidered. Several EU governments and diplomats have also raised reservations about creating an unprecedented category without a clear legal basis. The idea could reach well beyond Canada. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had already [proposed “associate membership” for Ukraine](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/21/merz-proposes-associate-eu-membership-for-ukraine-with-mutual-assistance?ref=europeans.today) in May as an interim step on its path towards full EU membership, arguing that conventional accession could take years. He also said Moldova and the Western Balkan candidates should be brought closer to the EU, including through greater access to the single market. That highlights a fundamental question Brussels may eventually have to answer: would associate membership be a temporary bridge towards joining the EU, or a permanent alternative for countries that are not seeking, or cannot pursue, conventional membership? There is a useful precedent outside Europe. Mercosur, the South American bloc, formally distinguishes between full members and “Associated States”. Associated countries can participate in meetings on matters of common interest and subscribe to Mercosur’s democratic commitments without acquiring all the rights and obligations of full membership. The EU and Mercosur are very different organisations, and there is no evidence Brussels intends to copy the South American system. But Mercosur demonstrates that a regional bloc can formally build a second circle of countries around its core membership. ### Could Britain fit into such a system? The question has particular relevance for the UK. Britain already has an extensive post-Brexit trade and cooperation agreement with the EU and participates in programmes including Horizon Europe. Any British version of associate membership would therefore start from a very different position from Canada’s. Closer association could potentially [offer Britain deeper access or cooperation in selected areas](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/16/eu-offer-canada-blueprint-britain-brexit?ref=europeans.today) without returning to full EU membership. But that would inevitably raise politically difficult questions about regulatory alignment, mobility, market access and whether Britain would accept EU rules in areas where it lacked full voting rights. Europe could therefore face an intriguing complication if the concept develops. The same term might describe very different relationships: a stepping stone towards full membership for Ukraine, a potentially long-term alternative for Canada, and perhaps one day another form of closer integration for post-Brexit Britain. That could give the EU a way to develop more flexible relationships with close partners rather than treating countries as simply inside or outside the bloc. But this remains a possible direction, not an agreed European architecture. For now, Brussels has opened a door without yet defining what lies behind it. What happens with Canada could determine whether “associate membership” remains a one-off diplomatic innovation or develops into something much more significant for Europe’s future relationships. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the European Commission begins defining concrete rights and obligations for Canadian associate membership. ● How Germany and other EU governments respond once the proposal moves from political language towards institutional negotiations. ● Whether talks expand into single-market access, mobility, research programmes, defence procurement or regulatory alignment. ● Whether the Canada initiative revives debate over alternative forms of EU association for Ukraine, Britain and other close European partners. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The immediate next phase is more likely to involve negotiations over individual areas of cooperation than the rapid creation of a fully defined new membership category, because the proposed status currently has no established EU legal framework. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Opposition from member states to the terminology, legal structure or obligations of associate membership could substantially narrow or reshape the Canadian proposal. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● If Brussels eventually turns the Canadian proposal into a workable institutional model, it could broaden the choices available for countries seeking relationships with the EU that fall between conventional partnership and full membership. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Von der Leyen opens door for Canada to become EU’s first associate member](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/16/von-der-leyen-mark-carney-canada-eu-first-associate-member?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Canada invited to become first ‘associate member’ of the EU](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/16/canada-to-become-first-associate-member-of-the-eu?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Trump calls EU offer to Canada of associate membership ‘laughable’ and threatens tariffs](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/17/trump-calls-eu-offer-to-canada-associate-membership-laughable-threatens-tariffs?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Is EU’s offer to Canada a blueprint for Britain – or a reminder it is out in the cold?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/16/eu-offer-canada-blueprint-britain-brexit?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Canada in talks to join EU’s Erasmus+ exchanges programme](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/16/canada-in-talks-to-join-eus-erasmus-exchanges-programme?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Merz proposes ‘associate EU membership’ for Ukraine, with mutual assistance](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/21/merz-proposes-associate-eu-membership-for-ukraine-with-mutual-assistance?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [‘Associate membership’ risks leaving Ukraine in limbo, Ireland warns after Merz pitches bold plan](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/22/associate-membership-risks-leaving-ukraine-in-limbo-ireland-warns-after-merz-pitches-bold-?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Von der Leyen ‘opens door’ to Canada becoming associate EU member – video](https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2026/sep/16/ursula-von-der-leyen-opens-door-to-canada-becoming-associate-eu-member-mark-carney-video?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 29 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/29/todays-papers-29-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-29T22:56:35.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### UK Political-Impact Tracker: Week #2 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/28/uk-political-impact-tracker-week-2/ Last updated: 2026-09-29T11:59:48.000Z . ###### *Week #2: 21–27 September 2026* 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Our [**UK Political-Impact Tracker**](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/), released every Sunday, tracks key developments involving politicians and influential figures like business leaders, trade-union leaders, campaigners, journalists, and academics shaping UK political debate. Events are ranked by significance: positive points for favourable developments, negative for adverse ones. These scores contribute to a Political-Impact Table. The scores don’t judge politicians’ quality or policies but reflect the balance of notable favourable and adverse events related to them. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham and Shabana Mahmood appear on both boards this week. ● Polling and seat projections contribute to movements involving Labour, Reform UK, the Conservatives, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru. --- P olitical weeks are often judged through headlines, polling snapshots or partisan claims about who is supposedly “winning”. The Europeans TODAY [UK Political-Impact Tracker](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/) takes a different approach. Every week, we review key developments involving politicians and influential figures in the UK, including business leaders, campaigners, journalists, and academics. We rank these events by their political significance: favourable ones earn +10 to +1 points, adverse ones -10 to −1\. These scores are added to a Political-Impact Table, reflecting the balance of positive and negative developments, not judgement of individuals or policies. --- ## Week #2 — Political Gains ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/political-gain-001--1-.png) ****The Week’s Political Gains. | EUROPEANS TODAY** (Note: the rank applies to the documented development, not to the political worth of the person associated with it) ### 10pts — Andy Burnham More in Common’s [September MRP](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp?ref=europeans.today) shifted Labour from 110 projected seats in July to 250, while Reform fell from 293 to 147\. Opinium also had Labour at 28% (+1), while Burnham remained the only major leader with positive approval. ### 9pts — Wes Streeting A [defence industry agreement](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-of-work-and-training-placements-for-young-people?ref=europeans.today) targets 40,000 youth work and training opportunities annually by 2030, rising to 50,000 by 2035\. The RAF also launched its first dedicated Space Effects Squadron. ### 8pts — Ed Miliband The government announced a [ban on trade in goods from illegal Israeli settlements](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-at-unga-22-september-2026?ref=europeans.today) and sanctions connected with settlement construction, marking a substantive change in UK policy. ### 7pts — Ed Davey The Liberal Democrat conference produced a headline [£17bn income-tax-cut proposal](https://www.ft.com/content/460dbb45-03b8-466e-98ef-80063b07189a?ref=europeans.today), including raising the personal allowance to £15,000\. It remains a proposal rather than implemented policy. ### 6pts — Angela Rayner Her department announced a [£210m high-street regeneration package](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boarded-up-high-streets-brought-back-to-life-with-210m-boost?ref=europeans.today), including a £125m Derelict Buildings Fund. ### 5pts — Shabana Mahmood She announced new [refugee resettlement routes](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/27/shabana-mahmood-uk-refugee-resettlement-scheme-afghan-women-girls-palestinians?ref=europeans.today) prioritising vulnerable Afghan women and girls and Palestinians. ### 4pts — Kemi Badenoch [YouGov](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/55596-voting-intention-20-21-september-2026-lab-23-con-21-ref-21-grn-14-ld-12?ref=europeans.today) put the Conservatives at 21% (+1), level with Reform. [More in Common](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp/?ref=europeans.today)’s MRP projected 125 Conservative seats, up 29 from July. ### Zack Polanski, Helen Jenner and Mike Clancy complete the gains board [YouGov](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/55596-voting-intention-20-21-september-2026-lab-23-con-21-ref-21-grn-14-ld-12?ref=europeans.today) recorded the Green Party at 14%, up three points, a substantial weekly polling movement. (Zack Polanski, 3pts) [Helen Jenner](https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2026-09-21/nigel-farage-unveils-new-leader-of-reform-in-wales?ref=europeans.today) has become Reform UK’s new leader in Wales following the previous leader’s resignation. (Helen Jenner, 2pts) [Prospect](https://prospect.org.uk/news/prospect-signs-mod-pledge-to-offer-more-work-opportunities-for-young-people?ref=europeans.today) became part of the major defence-sector agreement expanding apprenticeships, jobs and training opportunities for young people. (Mike Clancy, 1pt) --- ## Week #2 — Political Setbacks ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/political-loss-001--1-.png) ****The Week’s Political Setbacks. | EUROPEANS TODAY** (Note: scores reflect the documented scale and consequences of adverse developments, not a judgement of a person’s political worth) ### \-10pts — Nigel Farage [More in Common](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp/?ref=europeans.today)’s MRP cut Reform’s projection from 293 seats to 147 since July. [YouGov](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/55596-voting-intention-20-21-september-2026-lab-23-con-21-ref-21-grn-14-ld-12?ref=europeans.today) put Reform at 21%, down two points, its lowest tracker result since January 2025. ### \-9pts — Shabana Mahmood Her [settlement proposals](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/26/angela-rayner-care-worker-visa-reforms-labour-conference?ref=europeans.today) faced opposition from more than 100 Labour MPs, unions and cabinet colleague Angela Rayner, who publicly called the retrospective effect on care workers disruptive and unfair. ### \-8pts — Ben Delo [Fresh scrutiny](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/ben-delo-reform-uk-british-voter-donation-nsrnfz83x?ref=europeans.today) focused on whether his UK electoral registration met residency requirements while he lived in Hong Kong. Delo maintains that he complied with the law; there is no finding that his donation was unlawful. ### \-7pts — John Swinney [More in Common](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp?ref=europeans.today) projected the SNP falling from 37 Scottish seats in July to 27, with Labour gaining substantially. ### \-6pts — Zack Polanski Despite the favourable YouGov poll, [More in Common](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp/?ref=europeans.today) projected the Greens on three seats, down seven from July, illustrating a significant parliamentary-projection setback. ### \-5pts — Ed Davey Conference exposed a significant strategic argument over [whether the Liberal Democrats should build a coherent national identity](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/22/caution-versus-ambition-strategy-debate-dominates-lib-dem-conference?ref=europeans.today) or focus primarily on targeted anti-Reform tactical campaigning. ### \-4pts — Andy Burnham Labour’s flagship foundation-apprenticeship scheme had recorded 160 starts in eight months, against a target of 30,000 by the end of parliament. [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/21/apprenticeship-starts-labour-scheme-skills-revolution?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) ### \-3pts – Kemi Badenoch Opinium separately recorded Conservative voting intention falling from 18% to 17%, showing that the week’s polling evidence was mixed rather than uniformly favourable. [Opinium](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-23rd-september-2026/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) ### Rhun ap Iorwerth and Christopher Eynon complete the adverse board [More in Common](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp/?ref=europeans.today)’s MRP projected Plaid Cymru at six seats, down three from July. (Rhun ap Iorwerth, -2pts) Reform-led Sunderland council’s [withdrawal of long-running support for Show Racism the Red Card](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/22/reform-uk-sunderland-council-show-racism-the-red-card?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) generated significant criticism from the charity, local figures and opponents. (Christopher Eynon, -1pt) --- ## Week #2 — Political Impact Table ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000-general-table.jpg) ****The UK Political-Impact Table. Cumulative points. | EUROPEANS TODAY** (Note: positive and adverse scores are added algebraically to produce each person’s net total) **XTRA | How the Political-Impact Table works** The two weekly boards generate the points used in the cumulative table. A first-place favourable development is worth +10, second place +9 and so on until tenth place receives +1. A first-place adverse development is worth −10, second place −9 and so on until tenth place receives −1. If someone appears on both boards, both scores count. For example, Rhun ap Iorwerth receives +6 from the favourable board and −1 from the adverse board this week, producing a net Week 1 score of +5. Zack Polanski receives +3 and −3, producing a net score of 0. The calculation in future editions will be: New total points = previous cumulative total + this week’s net change. The tracker is open-ended. Scores will continue accumulating for as long as the series runs rather than automatically expiring after 26 or 52 weeks. This makes it possible to see whether a person repeatedly accumulates significant favourable developments, adverse developments, or a mixture of both over a prolonged period. **METHODOLOGY** Before assigning the weekly scores, Europeans TODAY searches broadly across official government and parliamentary material, regulators, courts, polling organisations, political parties, trade unions, businesses and major independent news organisations. Potential entrants are then reviewed individually. That review can include policy delivery, elections, appointments, resignations, defections, court or regulatory action, polling, interviews, speeches, press conferences, business decisions, scandals, investigations, favourable and adverse coverage, public interventions and expert analysis. Visibility also matters. A highly prominent story can have substantial political impact even without an immediate institutional decision. We therefore consider the breadth, duration and intensity of coverage, together with measurable public reaction where evidence is available. However, repeated articles about the same event do not generate separate points. They are consolidated into a single underlying development. Polling is treated cautiously. Small movements rarely justify large scores, and multiple polls showing essentially the same change are considered collectively rather than being stacked as separate developments. Allegations, investigations, charges and convictions are treated as different categories. An investigation is never presented as proof of guilt. Party-level consequences are also distinguished from evidence of personal responsibility. The weekly positions therefore represent an editorial assessment of the documented political significance of developments, using a consistent points framework. They are not ratings of personal competence, character or political desirability. *Follow our* [***UK Political-Impact Tracker***](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/) *every week for the latest favourable developments, adverse developments and cumulative political-impact scores.* ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ## GOING FURTHER - [More In Common: September 2026 MRP](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/research/more-in-commons-september-2026-mrp/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [YouGov: Voting intention, 20–21 September 2026](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/55596-voting-intention-20-21-september-2026-lab-23-con-21-ref-21-grn-14-ld-12?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [Opinium: Voting intention, 23 September 2026](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-23rd-september-2026/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [GOV.UK: Work and training placements for young people](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-of-work-and-training-placements-for-young-people?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [GOV.UK: Prime Minister’s UN General Assembly speech](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-at-unga-22-september-2026?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [GOV.UK: £210m high-street regeneration package](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boarded-up-high-streets-brought-back-to-life-with-210m-boost?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [Financial Times: Liberal Democrat income-tax proposal](https://www.ft.com/content/460dbb45-03b8-466e-98ef-80063b07189a?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - The Guardian: [refugee resettlement routes](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/27/shabana-mahmood-uk-refugee-resettlement-scheme-afghan-women-girls-palestinians?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com); [care-worker visa dispute](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/26/angela-rayner-care-worker-visa-reforms-labour-conference?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com); [Liberal Democrat strategy debate](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/22/caution-versus-ambition-strategy-debate-dominates-lib-dem-conference?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com); [foundation apprenticeships](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/21/apprenticeship-starts-labour-scheme-skills-revolution?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com); [Sunderland council and Show Racism the Red Card](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/22/reform-uk-sunderland-council-show-racism-the-red-card?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [Prospect: MOD pledge on youth work opportunities](https://prospect.org.uk/news/prospect-signs-mod-pledge-to-offer-more-work-opportunities-for-young-people?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) - [ITVX: Reform UK leadership in Wales](https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2026-09-21/nigel-farage-unveils-new-leader-of-reform-in-wales?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com); [The Times: Ben Delo electoral-registration scrutiny](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/ben-delo-reform-uk-british-voter-donation-nsrnfz83x?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 28 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/28/todays-papers-28-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-29T22:56:46.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### UK Political-Impact Tracker: The week’s gains and setbacks URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/21/uk-political-impact-tracker-the-weeks-gains-and-setbacks/ Last updated: 2026-09-21T14:44:49.000Z . ###### *Week 1: 14–20 September 2026* 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Our [**UK Political-Impact Tracker**](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/), released every Sunday, tracks key developments involving politicians and influential figures like business leaders, trade-union leaders, campaigners, journalists, and academics shaping UK political debate. Events are ranked by significance: positive points for favourable developments, negative for adverse ones. These scores contribute to a Political-Impact Table. The scores don’t judge politicians’ quality or policies but reflect the balance of notable favourable and adverse events related to them. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● A government concession on funding teachers’ pay produces the strongest favourable development of our [**UK Political-Impact Tracker**](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/) inaugural week. ● McLaren’s £500m UK investment and the transfer of Chiltern Railways into public ownership also rank highly because they involve substantial, measurable outcomes rather than rhetoric alone. ● Reform UK’s £72m donation controversy generates the strongest adverse development after combining exceptional media visibility with measurable public opposition to donations of that scale. ● The resignation of Reform UK’s Welsh leader following his arrest, and a separate defection from Reform to Plaid Cymru, make Wales particularly significant this week. --- P olitical weeks are often judged through headlines, polling snapshots or partisan claims about who is supposedly “winning”. The Europeans TODAY [UK Political-Impact Tracker](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/) takes a different approach. Every week, we review key developments involving politicians and influential figures in the UK, including business leaders, campaigners, journalists, and academics. We rank these events by their political significance: favourable ones earn +10 to +1 points, adverse ones -10 to −1\. These scores are added to a Political-Impact Table, reflecting the balance of positive and negative developments, not judgement of individuals or policies. --- ## Week #1 — Political Gains ![The Week’s Political Gains, developments ranked by their documented impact, 14 to 20 September 2026](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000833.jpg) ****The Week’s Political Gains. | EUROPEANS TODAY** (Note: the rank applies to the documented development, not to the political worth of the person associated with it) ### 10pts — A funding concession puts Daniel Kebede’s development first The strongest favourable development of the inaugural week is associated with [**Daniel Kebede**](https://neu.org.uk/about/about-us/who-who?ref=europeans.today), general secretary of the National Education Union. Ministers agreed to fully fund the teachers’ pay settlement in England after schools had previously been expected to absorb part of the cost from existing budgets. Earlier in the summer, the NEU had calculated that schools would have been required to find around £460m themselves and had warned that industrial action remained possible. The government’s change means [approximately £500m in additional funding this year](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/16/teachers-pay-rise-england-funding-national-education-union?ref=europeans.today), according to reporting by The Guardian. The significance for the tracker is the combination of a concrete national policy change, substantial funding and the union having directly campaigned for the shortfall to be eliminated. ### 9pts — McLaren investment provides the week’s second major gain [**Nick Collins**](https://www.mclaren.com/cars/uk%5Fen/corporate/mclaren-group-holdings?ref=europeans.today), chief executive of McLaren Group Holdings, receives +9 points after McLaren announced around £500m of UK investment. The government said the programme would [create 1,000 additional UK jobs by 2032](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boost-for-uk-auto-sector-as-mclaren-unleashes-500m-investment-to-help-reindustrialise-britain?ref=europeans.today), expand research, development and manufacturing, and potentially support up to another 3,000 jobs across the wider automotive sector. ### 8pts — Rail nationalisation moves from promise to implementation [**Lord Peter Hendy**](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/lord-hendy-of-richmond-hill?ref=europeans.today), the Rail Minister, receives +8 points following the transfer of Chiltern Railways into public ownership on 20 September. The Department for Transport said [25 additional daily services](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chiltern-railways-brought-into-public-ownership?ref=europeans.today) were planned from December alongside roughly 10,000 additional weekday seats and other service improvements. ### 7pts — Government steps towards acquiring Speciality Steel UK [**Jonathan Reynolds**](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/jonathan-reynolds?ref=europeans.today), the Business Secretary, receives +7 points after announcing that the government would work towards the [public acquisition of Speciality Steel UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-moves-to-acquire-speciality-steel-uk?ref=europeans.today). The company’s sites in Rotherham, Stocksbridge, Brinsworth and Wednesbury support more than 1,300 jobs. The government said it had concluded that it could not support the proposed sale to the preferred private bidder. ### 6pts — Wales and Scotland establish a new cooperation framework [**Rhun ap Iorwerth**](https://www.gov.wales/rhun-ap-iorwerth-ms?ref=europeans.today) receives +6 points for signing the [Cardiff Agreement](https://www.gov.wales/the-cardiff-agreement-cytundeb-caerdydd-between-the-welsh-government-and-the-scottish-government-html?ref=europeans.today) with Scottish First Minister John Swinney. The agreement establishes a formal framework for cooperation between the Welsh and Scottish governments across child poverty, living standards, economic growth, fiscal arrangements, climate policy, international engagement including relations with the EU, and cultural issues. ### 5pts — A Reform defection changes the Senedd arithmetic [**Sarah Cooper-Lesadd**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmlyrng7r525o?ref=europeans.today) receives +5 points following her defection from Reform UK to Plaid Cymru. Cooper-Lesadd was elected as a Reform MS only months earlier. Her move made her Plaid Cymru’s 44th Member of the Senedd while simultaneously reducing Reform’s representation to 33 seats. She told [ITV Cymru Wales on 15 September 2026](https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2026-09-15/reform-uk-member-of-the-senedd-defects-to-plaid-cymru?ref=europeans.today) that she had become increasingly uncomfortable with Reform’s political approach and believed Plaid was more closely aligned with what she wanted to achieve. ### 4pts — Michael Marra takes control of Scottish Labour [**Michael Marra**](https://news.sky.com/story/michael-marra-named-new-leader-of-scottish-labour-13589558?ref=europeans.today) receives +4 points after winning the Scottish Labour leadership. Marra secured 63.2% of the vote against Joe Fagan and inherited a party attempting to recover from a difficult Scottish Parliament election. ### Polanski, Burnham and Nowak complete the gains board Green Party leader [**Zack Polanski**](https://greenparty.org.uk/about/people/?ref=europeans.today) receives +3 points after polling in urban constituencies suggested [substantial Green advances against Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/16/green-party-four-points-behind-labour-urban-constituencies?ref=europeans.today). [**Andy Burnham**](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-16th-september-2026/?ref=europeans.today) receives +2 points after two national polls showed Labour ahead of Reform and Burnham maintaining stronger personal ratings than the other major leaders tested. Opinium placed Labour on 27% and Reform on 24%, with Burnham at +5 net approval. [**Paul Nowak**](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2026/september/chancellor-announces-boe-appointments?ref=europeans.today) receives +1 point after the TUC general secretary was appointed for a four-year term as a non-executive director of the Bank of England’s Court. --- ## Week #1 — Political Setbacks ![The Week’s Political Setbacks, developments ranked by their documented impact, 14 to 20 September 2026](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000834.jpg) ****The Week’s Political Setbacks. | EUROPEANS TODAY** (Note: scores reflect the documented scale and consequences of adverse developments, not a judgement of a person’s political worth) ### \-10pts — Reform’s £72m donations controversy dominates the adverse board The strongest adverse development is associated with [**Nigel Farage**](https://news.sky.com/story/ben-delo-and-christopher-harborne-who-are-reform-uks-two-mega-donors-13584792?ref=europeans.today) after Reform UK’s receipt of two extraordinary £36m donations, from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, became one of the most prominent political stories of the week. Farage defended the donations as an investment in political competition. What makes the story particularly significant for this tracker is the combination of unprecedented financial scale, sustained national coverage, proposed changes to political-finance rules and measurable public reaction. Opinium found that [57% regarded a £36m individual political donation as unacceptable](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-16th-september-2026/?ref=europeans.today), against 20% who considered it acceptable. Asked specifically about Reform’s £72m, 47% supported imposing a donation cap retrospectively, while another 22% supported a cap without retrospective application. ### \-9pts — Dan Thomas resigns as Reform’s Welsh leader [**Dan Thomas**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqde0xkgpy2xo?ref=europeans.today) receives −9 points after resigning as Reform UK’s Welsh leader following his arrest on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour. Thomas was released without charge at that stage and bailed while police inquiries continued. He denied wrongdoing. The timing made the political impact greater because [Cooper-Lesadd’s defection](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmlyrng7r525o?ref=europeans.today) occurred on the same day. A senior Reform Wales figure subsequently [rejected suggestions that the party was in crisis](https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2026-09-16/senior-reform-wales-figure-denies-party-in-crisis-after-leader-stands-down?ref=europeans.today), while acknowledging that it had been a difficult period. ### \-8pts — Starmer faces scrutiny over Wormald’s record severance package Former PM [**Keir Starmer**](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) receives −8 points after publication of details surrounding former cabinet secretary [Sir Chris Wormald’s £859,496 exit package](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq7703kjvzlpo?ref=europeans.today). The FT reported that the payment included £526,598 [beyond standard contractual compensation](https://www.ft.com/content/dd6af02e-9328-48f6-9054-4623cf65b8b1?ref=europeans.today) and that Starmer personally approved the arrangement. A ministerial direction was required because of value-for-money concerns. The Guardian separately reported that the payment was [the largest severance package of its type for a senior UK civil servant](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/14/civil-service-chief-record-860000-payout-sacked-starmer?ref=europeans.today). ### \-7pts — Ratcliffe’s comments provoke sustained political and supporter backlash [**Sir Jim Ratcliffe**](https://www.forbes.com/profile/james-ratcliffe/?ref=europeans.today) receives −7 points following extensive coverage and criticism of comments about immigration, taxation and Britain’s direction. The Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club called for the club’s ownership, including Ratcliffe, [to leave after his latest remarks](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/19/jim-ratcliffe-uk-immigration-tax-manchester-united-ineos?ref=europeans.today). Government figures also challenged Ratcliffe’s criticism of Britain. ### \-6pts — Mahmood faces scrutiny over the cost of UK-France migrant returns Home Secretary [**Shabana Mahmood**](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/shabana-mahmood?ref=europeans.today) receives −6 points after telling MPs of the Home Affairs Committee that returning a person to France under the UK-France “one in, one out” arrangement [costs approximately £56,000 per return](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8zxz31105l4o?ref=europeans.today). Mahmood defended the figure by comparing it with the potential cost of prolonged hotel accommodation for asylum seekers. ### \-5pts — Davey’s polling weaknesses [**Ed Davey**](https://www.libdems.org.uk/mps/kingston-and-surbiton?ref=europeans.today) receives −5 points after several pieces of evidence pointed in the same direction. [Opinium](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-16th-september-2026/?ref=europeans.today) recorded his net approval at −8\. The same poll found only 16% agreed that the Liberal Democrats were ready for government, compared with 47% who disagreed. ### Kruger, Polanski, Badenoch and ap Iorwerth complete the adverse board Reform UK MP [**Danny Kruger**](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/19/small-boats-wealthy-men-reform-danny-kruger?ref=europeans.today) receives −4 points after comments characterising people crossing the Channel in small boats as comparatively wealthy generated significant criticism and rebuttal from refugee organisations. [**Zack Polanski**](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/18/zack-polanski-request-postpone-greens-conference-byelection-refused?ref=europeans.today) receives −3 points after the Greens’ executive rejected a proposal to postpone the party conference so that resources could be concentrated on the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Conservative leader [**Kemi Badenoch**](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-16th-september-2026/?ref=europeans.today) receives −2 points after her Opinium net approval moved from 0 to **−6** in one week, while Conservative voting intention in the same poll fell one point to 18%. [**Rhun ap Iorwerth**](https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2026-09-15/welsh-support-grows-for-burnhams-labour-as-plaid-stays-top-in-senedd?ref=europeans.today) receives −1 point as a separate adverse development. ITV Cymru Wales polling found the proportion saying he was doing a good job had fallen from 44% to 36%, while support for Welsh independence stood at 20%. --- ## Week #1 — Political Impact Table ![The UK Political-Impact Table showing cumulative positive, adverse and net points after Week 1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000835.jpg) ****The UK Political-Impact Table. Cumulative points after Week 1\. | EUROPEANS TODAY** (Note: positive and adverse scores are added algebraically to produce each person’s net total) **XTRA | How the Political-Impact Table works** The two weekly boards generate the points used in the cumulative table. A first-place favourable development is worth +10, second place +9 and so on until tenth place receives +1. A first-place adverse development is worth −10, second place −9 and so on until tenth place receives −1. If someone appears on both boards, both scores count. For example, Rhun ap Iorwerth receives +6 from the favourable board and −1 from the adverse board this week, producing a net Week 1 score of +5. Zack Polanski receives +3 and −3, producing a net score of 0. The calculation in future editions will be: New total points = previous cumulative total + this week’s net change. The tracker is open-ended. Scores will continue accumulating for as long as the series runs rather than automatically expiring after 26 or 52 weeks. This makes it possible to see whether a person repeatedly accumulates significant favourable developments, adverse developments, or a mixture of both over a prolonged period. **METHODOLOGY** Before assigning the weekly scores, Europeans TODAY searches broadly across official government and parliamentary material, regulators, courts, polling organisations, political parties, trade unions, businesses and major independent news organisations. Potential entrants are then reviewed individually. That review can include policy delivery, elections, appointments, resignations, defections, court or regulatory action, polling, interviews, speeches, press conferences, business decisions, scandals, investigations, favourable and adverse coverage, public interventions and expert analysis. Visibility also matters. A highly prominent story can have substantial political impact even without an immediate institutional decision. We therefore consider the breadth, duration and intensity of coverage, together with measurable public reaction where evidence is available. However, repeated articles about the same event do not generate separate points. They are consolidated into a single underlying development. Polling is treated cautiously. Small movements rarely justify large scores, and multiple polls showing essentially the same change are considered collectively rather than being stacked as separate developments. Allegations, investigations, charges and convictions are treated as different categories. An investigation is never presented as proof of guilt. Party-level consequences are also distinguished from evidence of personal responsibility. The weekly positions therefore represent an editorial assessment of the documented political significance of developments, using a consistent points framework. They are not ratings of personal competence, character or political desirability. *Follow our* [***UK Political-Impact Tracker***](https://www.europeans.today/tag/uk-political-impact-tracker/) *every week for the latest favourable developments, adverse developments and cumulative political-impact scores.* ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/1000232454.png) ****This week’s UK Political-Impact Tracker in full. | EUROPEANS TODAY** ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - [Opinium, Voting intention and political attitudes, published 19 September 2026](https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/voting-intention-16th-september-2026/?ref=europeans.today) - [Ipsos, Labour four points ahead approaching conference season, 20 September 2026](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/ipsos-polling-shows-labour-4-points-ahead-approaching-party-conference?ref=europeans.today) - [UK Government, McLaren £500m UK investment announcement, 16 September 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boost-for-uk-auto-sector-as-mclaren-unleashes-500m-investment-to-help-reindustrialise-britain?ref=europeans.today) - [Department for Transport, Chiltern Railways brought into public ownership, 17 September 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chiltern-railways-brought-into-public-ownership?ref=europeans.today) - [Department for Business, Government moves to acquire Speciality Steel UK, 14 September 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-moves-to-acquire-speciality-steel-uk?ref=europeans.today) - [Welsh Government, Cardiff Agreement, 14 September 2026](https://www.gov.wales/the-cardiff-agreement-cytundeb-caerdydd-between-the-welsh-government-and-the-scottish-government-html?ref=europeans.today) - [ITV Cymru Wales, Sarah Cooper-Lesadd defects to Plaid Cymru, 15 September 2026](https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2026-09-15/reform-uk-member-of-the-senedd-defects-to-plaid-cymru?ref=europeans.today) - [Bank of England, Court appointments including Paul Nowak, 16 September 2026](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2026/september/chancellor-announces-boe-appointments?ref=europeans.today) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 21 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Patriotism, offshore edition URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/20/patriotism-offshore-edition/ Last updated: 2026-09-20T03:36:59.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Ratcliffe’s intervention raises a wider question about wealth, taxation and contribution: what Britain should expect from its richest citizens, and what they believe Britain should offer them in return. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Britain is “on the slide” and too hostile towards wealth. ● He argues taxation is among the reasons wealthy people leave the UK. ● Ratcliffe has resided in Monaco since 2020. --- S ir Jim Ratcliffe has criticised Britain for being “on the slide”, invoking its imperial past while arguing that taxation is among the reasons wealthy people are leaving the country. The billionaire founder of Ineos and co-owner of Manchester United made the comments during [BBC News’s Big Boss Interview](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/19/jim-ratcliffe-uk-immigration-tax-manchester-united-ineos?ref=europeans.today). Ratcliffe has resided in Monaco since 2020 and said he has no immediate plans to return to the UK. “We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars,” Ratcliffe said, before adding that Britain was now “on the slide”. His criticism extended to attitudes towards wealth. Ratcliffe said Britain had “a bit of a green eye towards wealth” and contrasted the country with the United States, where, he said, people who create wealth are applauded. He argued that wealthy people spend money in the economies where they live, while Britain had been encouraging wealth creators to leave because the country had become uncomfortable for them “for tax reasons or whatever”. Ratcliffe’s own residence provides significant context to that argument. He has lived in [Monaco, which has a favourable tax regime, since 2020](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/25/sir-jim-ratcliffe-uks-richest-person-moves-to-tax-free-monaco-brexit-ineos-domicile?ref=europeans.today). Asked whether he intended to return to Britain, he replied: “Not at the moment, no.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000832bb--1-.jpg) Ratcliffe’s comments on Britain, wealth and taxation, contrasted with his residence in Monaco. | SATIRICAL CARTOON/EUROPEANS TODAY Britain’s tax burden has risen to about 35.3% of GDP, according to figures cited in reporting of the interview. However, the [Office for Budget Responsibility](https://obr.uk/box/the-uks-tax-burden-in-historical-and-international-context/?ref=europeans.today) has found that the UK burden remains below the average of 14 western European economies. Ratcliffe’s intervention comes amid tensions with sections of Manchester United’s support. The Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club [called for Ratcliffe and the Glazer family to leave the club](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/19/jim-ratcliffe-uk-immigration-tax-manchester-united-ineos?ref=europeans.today) following the interview, describing his latest comments as “deeply disappointing and completely unacceptable”. Ratcliffe has also faced opposition from supporters over increased ticket prices, job cuts and a crackdown on ticket touting that resulted in 685 season tickets being revoked. His latest remarks put two competing arguments into focus: Ratcliffe contends that Britain risks driving away people who create wealth, while his residence in Monaco raises a broader public debate about taxation, contribution and what Britain can reasonably expect from its wealthiest citizens. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Ratcliffe develops his criticism of UK tax policy into specific proposals for government. ● Whether the government responds further to his arguments on taxation, investment and energy security. ● Whether opposition among Manchester United supporters grows following his latest intervention. ● Whether Ratcliffe changes his stated position that he has no immediate plans to return to Britain. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Ratcliffe’s comments are likely to remain part of the wider debate about taxation, wealth and the responsibilities of wealthy Britons living overseas. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The dispute illustrates the tension between attracting private wealth and deciding how the costs of maintaining public institutions should be shared. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Manchester United Muslim fans group calls on co-owner Jim Ratcliffe to quit](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/19/jim-ratcliffe-uk-immigration-tax-manchester-united-ineos?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Sir Jim Ratcliffe, UK’s richest person, moves to tax-free Monaco](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/25/sir-jim-ratcliffe-uks-richest-person-moves-to-tax-free-monaco-brexit-ineos-domicile?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [The UK’s tax burden in historical and international context](https://obr.uk/box/the-uks-tax-burden-in-historical-and-international-context/?ref=europeans.today) | *OFFICE FOR BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY* - ###### [Starmer tells Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying UK ‘colonised’ by immigrants](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/11/uk-immigrants-man-utd-sir-jim-ratcliffe-tax-monaco?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Jim Ratcliffe apologises for ‘choice of language’ after saying immigrants ‘colonising’ UK](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/12/jim-ratcliffe-accused-hypocrisy-uk-colonised-immigrants?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Ratcliffe says immigrants cost too much, while Ineos lobbies for state funding](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/12/jim-ratcliffe-immigrants-ineos-uk-eu-funding?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Guardian view on Sir Jim Ratcliffe: Britain does not need political lectures from a billionaire tax exile](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/12/guardian-view-on-sir-jim-ratcliffe-britain-does-not-need-political-lectures-from-a-billionaire-tax-exile?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 20 September 2026. --- ### Crime is falling, but the public doesn’t feel safer – the psychology of fear versus evidence URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/19/crime-is-falling-but-the-public-doesnt-feel-safer/ Last updated: 2026-09-20T02:08:56.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Crime policy depends partly on what voters believe is happening. A persistent gap between measured trends and public perceptions can distort priorities, deepen anxiety and make evidence-based debate harder. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Most Britons believe crime has risen, despite substantial long-term falls in several major offences. ● Burglary, vehicle theft and mobile phone theft have fallen sharply since 2010, while homicide is also lower. ● Perceptions become particularly inaccurate when crime is connected with immigration, ethnicity or political identity. ● Negative information, fragmented media and political polarisation can reinforce competing perceptions of the same underlying reality. --- C rime levels are falling for most offences across the UK – but the public doesn’t necessarily feel safer. It’s a human trait to focus on frightening information in the news or on social media – but it could also mean that people are more fearful about crime than they need to be. Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage claimed last month that “everyone knows” law and order in the UK is in a worse place than it was five or ten years ago. Farage was launching a new Reform policy document called Keeping Criminals Behind Bars. More than eight in ten of the British public really do believe that crime has gone up in the past few years. But as a study I was recently involved in shows, this sense of increasing lawlessness is based on very faulty perceptions of trends in actual crime rates. Eight in ten of the UK public think mobile phone thefts have increased since 2010 and around six in ten believe both vehicle-related thefts and burglary have increased. In fact, [all are down](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/19/wednesday-briefing-why-do-people-think-is-going-up-when-it-isnt?ref=europeans.today) by 50% or more over that time period. These figures are based on the Crime Survey for England and Wales, which Farage has criticised as no longer fit for purpose. There are real challenges in accurately tracking crime over time, but the Office for Statistics Regulation recently backed the study as a robust source of data on crime trends. In any case, it is clear from our study that overly negative views of crime cannot be fully explained by one source being faulty. The murder rate, measured by police crime statistics and difficult to argue with, has come [down 20% since 2010](https://news.sky.com/story/homicides-in-england-and-wales-at-lowest-level-since-1980s-13500691?ref=europeans.today). But our study found that two-thirds of the public think the number of murders has increased or remained the same. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000816--1--1.jpg) UK Crime: Perception vs Reality. | ****EUROPEANS TODAY** ### Where do these views come from? Our sense that things are going downhill extends to many features of criminal justice. Police numbers in England and Wales have increased by 20% since 2018, but only 4% of us get that right. Two-thirds think numbers have fallen. We’re [particularly wrong](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/17/public-in-england-and-wales-wrongly-think-most-killers-are-minority-ethnic?ref=europeans.today) when our concerns about different areas of life connect, for example, when crime is linked to immigration. On average, we guess that 30% of those cautioned or convicted of sexual offences are foreign nationals, when the actual figure is 15%. Reform UK supporters guess it’s 50%. This starts to point to some of the reasons why we are so wrong about so much when it comes to crime. Our perceptions of reality are more tied to emotional reactions and identity than a careful study of the statistics. We are partly sending signals about what’s worrying us. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000817--1--1.jpg) Murder in the UK: Perception vs Reality. | ****EUROPEANS TODAY** When explaining misperceptions, the key reasons break down into two interlinked groups: how we think and what we’re told. The first covers the biases and mental shortcuts that can mislead us. This is where, for example, humans are just wired to pay more attention to negative information as it often signals a threat. The media, politicians and social media platforms know people engage more actively with that sort of information, so they feed them more of it. This interplay between how people think and what they’re told reinforces an overly negative view of reality. The personal consequences of this are real, with clear evidence that an overblown fear of crime can have negative effects on wellbeing. Academics distinguish between a “functional” fear of crime – those times when it’s sensible to take precautions – and “dysfunctional” fear, which means people unnecessarily limit what they do or are more anxious than they should be. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000831--1--1.jpg) DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) This is not new. Back in 2010, eight in ten people wrongly thought crime was increasing, exactly the same as today. And in 2008, I ran a study on why the government at that time was getting no credit for falling crime rates, and came to very similar conclusions. But some things have changed. Today the information environment is much more fragmented and the spectrum of political identities more polarised, from Reform UK at one end to Green supporters at the other. This results in opposing views of the same realities. Some 72% of Reform supporters think that ethnic or religious minorities receive more lenient sentences than others, while only 5% of Green supporters agree. And 51% of Greens believe minorities actually receive harsher sentences. We know people look for and believe information that fits their views, and try to ignore or discredit information that doesn’t. The information environment and the wider divides in our politics supercharges that. I wrote a book, The Perils of Perception, in 2018 on misperceptions of all sorts of social realities. It showed that, as far as we can tell from similar questions asked in the 1950s, the public as a whole is no more wrong today than then. In some ways this is reassuring. But what I was concerned about when I wrote the book is actually happening now. The real risk is not people becoming more wrong, but they are becoming more convinced that their own version of reality is the right one and that the other side is deliberately lying to themselves and to us. When that utter belief in different realities aligns with polarised political identities, you get entrenched division and no room for compromise. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on crime and what the country should do about it. But no one is entitled to their own facts. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether highly visible offences that are rising, including shoplifting, continue to reinforce a broader impression that crime overall is increasing. ● Whether politicians continue to frame crime alongside immigration and ethnicity, where research indicates particularly large perception gaps. ● Whether increasingly fragmented information environments deepen differences in crime perceptions between political groups. ● Whether falling homicide and knife-crime figures become more visible to the public, or are outweighed by concern about particular offences and pressures elsewhere in the criminal justice system. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Unless the information environment or public experience changes materially, perceptions of worsening crime are likely to remain more resistant to statistical evidence than individual crime trends would suggest. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A sustained rise in major offences, or clearer public recognition of long-term declines, could reduce or substantially alter the present mismatch between measured crime and perceptions. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● When voters and policymakers operate from different understandings of crime trends, political pressure can shift towards responses that do not address the offences or risks actually changing fastest. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Farage vows mass deportation as Reform attacks asylum guidance](https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/farage-vows-mass-deportation-as-reform-attacks-asylum-guidance/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [The politics of feeling: Why did ‘boring’ prime minister Keir Starmer provoke such visceral reactions?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/20/the-politics-of-feeling-why-did-boring-prime-minister-keir-starmer-provoke-such-visceral-reactions/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Wednesday briefing: Why do people think crime is going up when it isn’t?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/19/wednesday-briefing-why-do-people-think-is-going-up-when-it-isnt?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Public in England and Wales wrongly think most killers are minority ethnic](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/17/public-in-england-and-wales-wrongly-think-most-killers-are-minority-ethnic?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Western Europeans believe crime is rising despite fall in overall rates, poll finds](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/18/western-europeans-crime-rising-despite-fall-overall-rates-poll-finds?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Are asylum seekers really more likely to commit violent crime in the UK?](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/14/truth-about-crimes-committed-by-foreign-nationals-uk?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Homicides in England and Wales at lowest level since 1980s](https://news.sky.com/story/homicides-in-england-and-wales-at-lowest-level-since-1980s-13500691?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Knife crime in England and Wales drops by 10%, data shows](https://news.sky.com/story/knife-crime-in-england-and-wales-drops-by-10-data-shows-13535482?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Met Police chief ‘flabbergasted’ by release of knife and gun crime suspects on bail](https://news.sky.com/story/met-police-chief-flabbergasted-by-release-of-knife-and-gun-crime-suspects-on-bail-13581073?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/crime-is-falling-but-the-public-doesnt-feel-safer-study-finds-291197?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 19 September 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/291197/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Trump claims victory on Greenland, but what does the deal mean for Greenland, Denmark, and Europe? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/19/trump-claims-victory-on-greenland-but-what-does-the-deal-mean-for-greenland-denmark-and-europe/ Last updated: 2026-09-19T17:32:48.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The deal preserves Greenlandic sovereignty but expands America’s military position. For Europeans, the unresolved question is whether stronger US protection could also create a longer-term strategic vulnerability. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● The US gains an expanded and enduring security role in Greenland. ● Denmark retains sovereignty, and Greenland retains its right to self-determination. ● Trump is already presenting the compromise as evidence that pressure on Europe produced results. ● A larger permanent US military footprint raises questions about Europe’s practical options if Washington again challenges Greenland’s sovereignty. --- D onald Trump demanded Greenland. He has not got it. But a new [security agreement](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/18/united-states-denmark-greenland-security?ref=europeans.today) gives the United States lasting advantages on the Arctic island and something Trump can promote as a victory before November’s midterm elections. The US, Denmark and Greenland have [agreed to allow a significant expansion of the American military presence](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/18/trump-announces-deal-over-greenland-that-stops-short-us-control/?ref=europeans.today). The arrangement would also prevent non-NATO countries from establishing military bases in Greenland and restrict sensitive investments to NATO and EU members, according to people familiar with the negotiations cited by *The Washington Post*. Washington also sought an [arrangement that would survive any future Greenlandic independence](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/18/trump-announces-deal-over-greenland-that-stops-short-us-control/?ref=europeans.today). Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Greenland would remain part of North America’s strategic defence area and exclude US adversaries. Denmark and Greenland describe an important limit to those concessions: [sovereignty remains unchanged](https://apnews.com/article/4cf77cb4608b685a70410bd679479193?ref=europeans.today). Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says the agreement recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen says it recognises Greenland’s interests. [Parliamentary procedures](https://apnews.com/article/0eac9ad2196551525bcb8c71e80c480e?ref=europeans.today) are still required before it enters into force. That produces an unusual compromise after months of US pressure. Trump [repeatedly sought American ownership or control of Greenland](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyg1jg8xkmo?ref=europeans.today) and refused to rule out force. Denmark and Greenland rejected those demands while offering greater security cooperation. Washington already operates [Pituffik Space Base](https://apnews.com/article/4cf77cb4608b685a70410bd679479193?ref=europeans.today) and enjoys extensive military rights under a 1951 defence agreement. The new agreement strengthens the American position without transferring the territory. For Denmark and Greenland, the outcome provides greater US security guarantees without surrendering sovereignty. Frederiksen argues that [stronger Arctic security also benefits NATO and Europe](https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/19/us-and-denmark-reach-deal-over-greenlands-security?ref=europeans.today). But the same compromise gives Trump a powerful domestic political message. He claims the agreement gives America [“permanent control over security” in Greenland](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/18/united-states-denmark-greenland-security?ref=europeans.today) and says the US will develop a large military presence. Rubio called the agreement a permanent answer to American national-security concerns. Trump allies have pushed the message further. Former White House aide Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller, [posted on X](https://x.com/KatieMiller/status/2101067741931463015?ref=europeans.today) (formerly known as Twitter) an image of Greenland covered by the American flag with the words: “ITS HAPPENING”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/tw-001-1.jpg) X/[@KATIEMILLER](https://x.com/KatieMiller/status/2101067741931463015?ref=europeans.today) That messaging comes just weeks before the US midterm elections. The agreement gives Trump a foreign-policy achievement he can present to voters as evidence that his pressure produced results. There is, however, a harder security question for Denmark, Greenland and Europe: whether strengthening the American military presence could eventually make Greenlandic sovereignty more difficult to defend in practice, even if it remains protected in law. Trump has previously refused to rule out using force to acquire Greenland. Against that background, a substantially larger permanent US military presence creates an uncomfortable asymmetry. If Washington deploys more troops, aircraft, surveillance systems and military infrastructure, the United States would already possess considerable military capacity inside the territory in any future confrontation over its status. That does not mean the agreement prepares or makes inevitable an American takeover. But the question matters because European governments responded to Trump’s earlier threats by increasing their own military presence in Greenland. Britain, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden [deployed forces for exercises](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ydjvxpejo?ref=europeans.today) earlier this year. A much larger American footprint could therefore create a paradox. Denmark and Greenland may have resolved the immediate confrontation by giving Washington greater security guarantees while preserving sovereignty. But if a future US administration again challenged that sovereignty, an entrenched American military presence could affect Europe’s practical options for responding. There is, however, no evidence in the announced agreement that the US intends to use these military rights to seize Greenland. Nor does the agreement establish that Denmark or Greenland intended to help Trump politically. [The unpublished details of the deal are therefore crucial](https://apnews.com/article/0eac9ad2196551525bcb8c71e80c480e?ref=europeans.today). Among the most important questions are whether Greenland and Denmark retain effective authority over the number, location and type of American forces and installations; whether they can reject particular deployments; and whether Denmark and Greenland remain completely free to station Danish and other European forces alongside them. Until the full agreement is published, those questions cannot be answered. The distinction is nevertheless important. Sovereignty recognised in an international agreement and the military balance on the ground are not the same thing. That makes the bargain more consequential than the competing victory claims suggest. Washington gains stronger and enduring Arctic security guarantees. Denmark retains sovereignty. Greenland retains its right to determine its future. Trump did not get Greenland. He did get a deal he can tell American voters his pressure produced. Whether the arrangement also creates a longer-term strategic vulnerability for Denmark, Greenland and Europe will depend substantially on powers and safeguards that have not yet been made public. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Publication of the full agreement will be critical. It should establish how much authority Denmark and Greenland retain over the scale, location and purpose of future US deployments. ● Watch whether Copenhagen (Denmark) and Nuuk (Greenland) retain an effective right to reject particular American bases, forces or infrastructure. ● European governments’ freedom to deploy their own forces in Greenland will matter if Arctic security is to remain a genuinely NATO and European responsibility rather than predominantly an American one. ● Danish and Greenlandic parliamentary scrutiny could expose safeguards, restrictions or concerns not contained in the governments’ initial announcements. ● Trump and his allies are likely to continue presenting the agreement as evidence that his pressure secured concessions. This is an evidence-based inference from their initial messaging ahead of the midterms. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● On the information currently available, the agreement is likely to deepen the US military role while leaving sovereignty formally with Denmark and Greenland’s political future subject to Greenlandic self-determination. Whether it significantly changes the practical balance of military power cannot be assessed until the agreement and subsequent deployment plans are known. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Clauses giving Copenhagen or Nuuk strong approval rights over future US deployments would substantially reduce concerns about loss of practical control. Conversely, unusually broad unilateral US deployment rights would make the strategic question considerably more serious. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The central European question is whether the security architecture designed to protect Greenland also leaves Denmark, Greenland and their European partners with sufficient practical control to defend Greenland’s sovereignty and self-determination in a future crisis. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump has a deal to build US military presence in Greenland while leaving island in Denmark’s hands](https://apnews.com/article/4cf77cb4608b685a70410bd679479193?ref=europeans.today) | *ASSOCIATED PRESS* - ###### [Denmark’s leaders are cautiously optimistic about Trump’s announcement of a Greenland deal](https://apnews.com/article/0eac9ad2196551525bcb8c71e80c480e?ref=europeans.today) | *ASSOCIATED PRESS* - ###### [US and Denmark reach security deal after Trump’s threats to take over Greenland](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/18/united-states-denmark-greenland-security?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Trump hails Greenland security deal that falls short of takeover](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/18/trump-announces-deal-over-greenland-that-stops-short-us-control/?ref=europeans.today) | *THE WASHINGTON POST* - ###### [US and Denmark reach deal over Greenland’s security](https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/19/us-and-denmark-reach-deal-over-greenlands-security?ref=europeans.today) | *EURONEWS* - ###### [Denmark’s leaders are cautiously optimistic about Trump’s announcement of a Greenland deal](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/09/19/trump-greenland-military-denmark/d894688e-b40d-11f1-92c2-5c918f4a6127%5Fstory.html?ref=europeans.today) | *THE WASHINGTON POST / AP* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 19 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55532837169/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/19/todays-papers-19-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-19T18:22:45.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Reform’s ‘spoiler’ tactic raises concern among Telegraph journalists URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/17/reforms-spoiler-tactic-raises-concern-among-telegraph-journalists/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T23:40:41.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Reform UK’s “spoiler” tactic exposes a vulnerability in political journalism: asking a party for comment can give it an opportunity to pre-empt scrutiny and influence how a disclosure is first presented. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Reform has repeatedly given information to the Daily Telegraph after rival newspapers approached it for comment. ● The latest case concerned Ben Delo’s £36m donation to Reform UK. ● The tactic has caused significant unease among some Telegraph journalists. --- R eform UK has repeatedly responded to potentially damaging media inquiries by giving information to the Daily Telegraph before the newspapers investigating the issue could publish, [according to reporting by *The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/sep/15/significant-unease-the-telegraph-reform-farage-spoiler-tactics?ref=europeans.today). The practice, known in journalism as a “spoiler”, has caused “significant unease” among some *Telegraph* journalists, [*The Guardian* reported](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/12/christopher-harborne-matches-36m-reform-donation-of-ben-zelo?ref=europeans.today) on Tuesday. The concern comes amid scrutiny of Reform’s finances after cryptocurrency billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne each pledged £36m to the party. In the latest case, Reform supplied information about Delo’s £36m donation to the *Telegraph* after the *Sunday Times* approached the party for comment about it. Ben Riley-Smith, political editor of the *Sunday Times*, criticised the tactic, warning that it could undermine the normal process through which journalists put questions to the subjects of investigations before publication. Evidence suggests a repeated pattern. In April, *The Guardian* approached Nigel Farage and Harborne [about a previously undisclosed £5m personal gift](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/revealed-nigel-farage-was-given-undisclosed-5m-by-crypto-billionaire-in-2024?ref=europeans.today) from Harborne to the Reform leader. Farage and Harborne’s lawyers asked for more time to respond. Before the extended deadline expired, the *Telegraph* published an interview in which Farage disclosed the payment and explained it principally in the context of his security costs. Farage subsequently described the payment as an unconditional “reward” for his 27 years campaigning for Brexit. The gift is now part of a [parliamentary standards investigation](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/01/nigel-farage-questions-claim-second-standards-investigation?ref=europeans.today). Farage has denied wrongdoing. A further example emerged in July. *Guardian* journalists had been investigating donations and loans involving Reform deputy leader Richard Tice and his company when related information appeared first in the *Telegraph*. By then, *The Guardian* was describing the practice as [Reform’s “Fleet Street spoilers” strategy](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/08/reforms-fleet-street-spoilers-how-party-deploys-tactic-to-get-ahead-of-stories-nigel-farage?ref=europeans.today). The controversy matters because seeking comment before publication is an important safeguard in journalism. It gives people and organisations an opportunity to challenge allegations, correct errors and provide their account. However, passing details of an unpublished investigation to another newspaper can allow the subject to influence which account reaches the public first. There is no evidence, however, that the *Telegraph* knowingly participated in Reform’s strategy in the latest case. *The Guardian* reported that its journalists did not know another newspaper had already approached Reform. Nor does the tactic establish that the *Telegraph* reports were false or that Reform broke the law. What the documented chronology demonstrates is a political communications strategy aimed at getting ahead of difficult disclosures and influencing their initial framing before competing investigations are published. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether newspapers change how much time they give Reform to answer sensitive pre-publication questions. ● Whether further investigations reveal additional examples of information being supplied to another outlet after Reform receives questions. ● Whether concern within the Telegraph changes how the newspaper handles future Reform briefings. ● Whether continuing scrutiny of Reform’s donors and finances produces further disclosures that test the party’s media strategy. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Journalists investigating Reform are likely to become more cautious about how and when they submit detailed questions if they believe those inquiries could be used to pre-empt their reporting. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Evidence that the Telegraph knowingly participated in a spoiler arrangement, or evidence contradicting the reported chronology, would materially change the assessment. Neither is currently established. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The dispute shows how political media management can affect not only what information reaches voters, but which version of that information reaches them first. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [‘Significant unease’ at the Telegraph over Reform using outlet for ‘spoiler’ tactics](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/sep/15/significant-unease-the-telegraph-reform-farage-spoiler-tactics?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Reform UK given record £36m donation by British crypto billionaire](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/11/reform-uk-given-record-36m-donation-by-british-crypto-billionaire?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Christopher Harborne matches £36m Reform donation of Ben Delo](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/12/christopher-harborne-matches-36m-reform-donation-of-ben-zelo?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Exclusive: Nigel Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/revealed-nigel-farage-was-given-undisclosed-5m-by-crypto-billionaire-in-2024?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Nigel Farage referred to standards watchdog over undisclosed £5m gift](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/nigel-farage-referred-standards-watchdog-undisclosed-gift?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Reform’s Fleet Street ‘spoilers’: tactic party deploys to get ahead of stories](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/08/reforms-fleet-street-spoilers-how-party-deploys-tactic-to-get-ahead-of-stories-nigel-farage?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [More Reform UK transactions worth millions reported to National Crime Agency](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/08/more-reform-uk-transactions-worth-millions-reported-to-national-agency?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Reform UK receives two record £36mn donations](https://www.ft.com/content/936ac952-43a6-44d5-be69-afa344e042f5?ref=europeans.today) | *FINANCIAL TIMES* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 17 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Bardella faces French backlash over migrant pact with Farage URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/16/bardella-faces-french-backlash-over-migrant-pact-with-farage/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T12:09:00.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The dispute tests whether Reform UK and the Rassemblement National can turn shared anti-migration politics into workable cross-border policy when British and French national interests point in different directions. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage and Jordan Bardella signed a conditional migration memorandum in Birmingham on 4 September. ● The English text says France would “ordinarily accept” people intercepted by Britain after leaving the French coast. ● Reform UK says Bardella and his team approved the agreement, while French opponents say it conflicts with established RN policy. --- R eform UK says Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN), approved a migration pact with Nigel Farage that could see people intercepted in the Channel returned to France, despite a backlash over whether it conflicts with the party policy. Nigel Farage and Jordan Bardella [signed a memorandum of understanding](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/04/bardella-signs-pact-with-farage-to-stop-small-boat-crossings-forever?ref=europeans.today) at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham on 4 September. It sets out how the two parties say they would tackle Channel crossings if they entered government in Britain and France. The memorandum says Britain would intercept boats that had left the French coast and entered UK territorial waters. Both versions envisage France returning those on board to their countries of origin, but the English text includes an additional phrase saying [France ](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/09/reform-uk-national-rally-migrants-deal-farage-bardella?ref=europeans.today)[would “ordinarily accept these persons”](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/09/reform-uk-national-rally-migrants-deal-farage-bardella?ref=europeans.today). That difference has become the centre of a political dispute in France. Marine Le Pen has previously opposed France taking back people who reached Britain by small boat. Critics from several French parties have accused Bardella of agreeing to terms that could [lead France to accept people returned by Britain](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/09/06/la-tournee-europeenne-de-jordan-bardella-minee-par-les-polemiques%5F6766770%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today). _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas wedding was secretly bankrolled by Russian oligarch close to Putin URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/16/donald-trump-jr-s-bahamas-wedding-was-secretly-bankrolled-by-russian-oligarch-close-to-putin/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T11:10:44.000Z ###### *Article written by [Justin Elliott](https://www.propublica.org/people/justin-elliott?ref=europeans.today), [Brett Murphy](https://www.propublica.org/people/brett-murphy?ref=europeans.today), [Joshua Kaplan](https://www.propublica.org/people/joshua-kaplan?ref=europeans.today) and [Alex Mierjeski](https://www.propublica.org/people/alex-mierjeski?ref=europeans.today)* 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The reported financing raises questions about foreign access to the US president’s family, potential influence over a politically powerful relative and the wider intersection of Russian-linked wealth, sport, and American politics. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Records and interviews reviewed by *ProPublica* indicate Umar Kremlev funded hundreds of thousands of dollars of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding expenses. ● Kremlev leads the International Boxing Association, which has had significant financial ties to Russian state-owned Gazprom and lost IOC recognition over governance and financial concerns. ● Trump Jr.’s spokesperson described Kremlev as a personal friend and did not dispute the reported payments; Kremlev’s press office also described their relationship as friendly. ● After publication, Trump Jr. and Bettina Trump confirmed that Kremlev had generously hosted two nights of celebrations, while rejecting suggestions that the friendship had a political motive. --- O n May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. That night on the beach, Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air while fireworks launched from a barge over the sea. “It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram. That dream was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin. Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by [*ProPublica*](https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-bankrolled-russian-oligarch-umar-kremlev-putin?ref=europeans.today) and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions. The guest list numbered around 50\. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump — and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian. “It was really small, like, just really close friends,” Trump Jr. later said on his podcast. “Tried to keep it really tight. And it was just awesome.” Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family. For a decade, Putin’s government, regarded as a chief adversary of the U.S., has been accused of efforts to influence American elections. Attempts by Russia to make inroads with the Trumps before the 2016 election exploded into controversy that dogged much of the president’s first term. National security experts expressed alarm at Trump Jr. accepting the oligarch’s largesse, saying it raised an urgent question: What motivated Kremlev to spend a fortune cultivating the connection? “If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles. Oligarchs like Kremlev often act in coordination with the Russian government. While it’s unclear if that happened here, Trump Jr. put himself in a precarious position, Montoya said. “This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.” Holden Triplett, who served as Trump’s counterintelligence director on the National Security Council during his first term, said Russian intelligence frequently seeks to build ties with U.S. government officials and their family members. “Money is a tried-and-true method to gain access,” said Triplett, who also worked for the FBI in Moscow. In the days leading up to Trump Jr.’s wedding, Kremlev was in China as part of the delegation accompanying Putin, according to Chinese state media. The month before, Putin had bestowed him with a state honor, the Order of Friendship. The Ukrainian government has imposed sanctions on Kremlev personally, citing his closeness to Putin and Russian security services. It’s not clear why Kremlev helped pay for Trump Jr.’s wedding. The men appear to have met only recently. Public reporting suggests Trump Jr. could have afforded it himself, with Forbes recently estimating his net worth at roughly $300 million. In response to detailed questions, a spokesperson for Trump Jr. did not dispute the wedding payments from Kremlev. “Umar is a personal friend of Don,” he said. The spokesman said that Kremlev is “not someone he has a business relationship with” and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over their love of boxing and the outdoors. A spokesperson for Trump Jr.’s brother Eric said of Kremlev: “Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is, nor has never heard his name.” In a statement, Kremlev’s press office said, “Mr. Kremlev and Mr. Trump Jr have a friendly relationship” and they first met “a couple of years ago.” The press office described Kremlev as a businessman and philanthropist, adding, “Mr. Kremlev has never discussed political matters with any of his American friends and acquaintances,” including Trump Jr. They said the boxing organization itself did not incur expenses for the wedding but did not comment on the payments from the Dubai entity. The press office also said that when Putin and Kremlev were in China recently, Kremlev was not part of Putin’s “official delegation.” Kushner, who has been helping lead the U.S. government’s negotiations with Russia over Ukraine, did not respond to requests for comment. The White House and the Russian government did not respond either. The revelations come as Trump Jr. has emerged as a political power center in his own right. Beloved by the MAGA base, he [reportedly played](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-jr-is-helping-his-father-pick-most-controversial-cabinet-modern-2024-11-24/?ref=europeans.today) an active role in vetting White House cabinet picks for Trump’s second term and was dubbed his father’s “most essential political adviser” by The Wall Street Journal. “I certainly don’t think I’d be sitting here as the VP nominee without Don’s help,” Vice President JD Vance told the outlet in late 2024. This account is based on records and interviews with dozens of current and former IBA officials and contractors, wedding attendees and other people in Trump Jr.’s and Kremlev’s circles. Trump Jr. exchanged vows with socialite Bettina Anderson on a private island that was featured in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the 2006 James Bond movie “Casino Royale.” They had their first dance on a second private island nearby that can rent for around $100,000 a night, paid for by Kremlev. The company that put on the fireworks display charges around $70,000 for such shows. (Kremlev did not attend the ceremony itself, which was held on the first day and had just 18 guests, Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said.) The atmosphere was Monte Carlo meets frat party — helicopters in and out, a beachside DJ set, beer pong tournaments. One day, the men went spearfishing. Artisans at the London fashion house Safiyaa spent 150 hours embroidering Anderson’s bespoke silk reception outfit. The president’s son had undergone treatment to better define his jawline for the occasion. Some longtime friends of Trump Jr. told associates they were disappointed not to be invited, though a few of his closest business partners — executives at the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and the venture capital firm 1789 Capital — did make the cut. President Trump himself skipped it. (“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small, little private affair,” the president told reporters beforehand. “I said, you know, this is not good timing for me.”) But many of the guests were immediate family of the bride and groom. That made the large contingent of Russians all the more conspicuous. “What are they doing here?” one person recalled thinking. At least one of the Russian guests had been with Kremlev on his China trip: Alexander Lagutin, a businessperson who has served in senior roles at a Russian defense contractor and a state-backed energy company. Kremlev’s right hand at the IBA, Elena Sobol, attended the wedding too. Since the wedding, the Trumps have released scores of photos and videos of the festivities. While they show many of the guests, the Russians have been absent from all of them. (The top of Kremlev’s head is visible in the back of one group photo posted on Instagram by a friend of the bride.) After the party was over, on his “Triggered” podcast, Trump Jr. emphasized the event’s privacy: “The people that were there — if you’re on that list, you weren’t talking.” In 2009, Umar Kremlev did not yet exist. He was in his late 20s, with a criminal record for extortion and battery, still going by his birth name, Umar Lutfulloyev, according to the Russian independent news outlet Proekt. But he was about to rapidly ascend in Russia to a position of wealth and influence, with the help of a powerful friend. (“Mr. Kremlev has a completely clean legal record,” his press office said.) In 2010, he changed his name to Kremlev. He soon joined a Russian government-backed biker gang called the Night Wolves, eventually taking a leadership role, according to news reports. That is what first brought him close to Alexei Rubezhnoi, who now leads Putin’s presidential security service, Proekt reported. In 2017, Kremlev took over the Russian Boxing Federation, after Rubezhnoi personally intervened to put him at the helm. In 2020, Kremlev became president of the IBA. The association was something akin to FIFA but for boxing and had long overseen the sport in the Olympics. But it had been beset by corruption allegations and was on the brink of insolvency. Kremlev brought money to the table from Gazprom, the state-owned company that operates as an arm of Putin’s government. Gazprom publicly became the IBA’s financial backer, filling its coffers with tens of millions of dollars. Former high-level IBA officials said that Kremlev had a clear political agenda. “Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power,” a former IBA board member told *ProPublica*. “It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.” Kremlev, 43, is also heavily involved in an organization called Healthy Fatherland, run by his 23-year-old wife’s twin sister. The group — which promotes healthy eating and youth sports — is under Ukrainian sanctions for its alleged role in a program of abducting Ukrainian children from occupied territories and relocating them under the guise of “rehabilitation.” (Healthy Fatherland did not respond to a request for comment.) Kremlev’s cozy relationship with the government has made him rich. Putin used the levers of the state to make Kremlev a dominant player in the Russian sports betting industry, according to Proekt, and one of his companies was chosen to operate the national lottery. After Putin nationalized Russia’s largest [car dealership](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/boxing-federation-chief-unveiled-owner-nationalised-russian-car-dealership-2024-09-02/?ref=europeans.today) company in 2023, Kremlev became the owner of that too. He now flaunts that wealth through his boisterous public persona. In one video Kremlev posted on social media, he surprises a young mother by giving her a free car. In another, he criticizes his young female aide’s outfit as not feminine enough and makes her change. He shadowboxes with ostriches and brings in celebrities like Rick Ross and Naomi Campbell for IBA events; he praises Stalin and rides private jets. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. began to indict Russian oligarchs and seize yachts and other assets. Kremlev repeatedly told associates he was worried about being targeted by a U.S. government probe, according to a person close to IBA leadership. “He was very afraid of American sanctions,” the person added. (Kremlev does not appear on public U.S. sanction lists.) With the business environment in Europe growing more hostile to Russia, Kremlev moved much of the IBA’s operations from Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates. A new Dubai entity, IB Challenger, would later pay wedding expenses for Trump Jr. The current sources of the IBA’s funds are murky, and, in recent years, top executives have given [conflicting accounts](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/17/international-boxing-association-sticking-with-gazprom-sponsorship-as-sport-in-limbo-2028-olympics?ref=europeans.today) of the status of its relationship with Gazprom. (Kremlev’s press office told *ProPublica* the IBA’s sponsorship contract with Gazprom “expired long ago.”) People close to the organization said they understood that its money still comes from Russia. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee stripped Kremlev’s IBA of its role organizing Olympic boxing. It has cited a host of governance issues and the group’s refusal to “transparently explain the sources of its financing or to explain its full financial dependency, at the time, on a single state-owned company.” It was a major setback that deprived the IBA of a key source of its international influence. Kremlev has raged against the Olympic committee ever since and has said that his IBA predecessor, who he blames for the problems, “must be shot.” Kremlev saw a potential ally in President Trump. After Trump’s second inauguration, in January 2025, Kremlev sent an open letter to the president asking him to look into the Olympic committee’s actions in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. “We look forward with great optimism to the possibility of working together to make the Olympic movement great again,” he wrote. In September 2025, the IBA brought in Trump Jr. for a panel discussion in Istanbul about boxing. With his then-girlfriend, Anderson, sitting offstage, he criticized transgender women competing in women’s sports and reminisced about watching Saturday night fights as a child. Trump Jr. shared the stage with Kremlev, the boxer Manny Pacquiao and Muhammad Ali’s daughter Rasheda. (Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said he was not paid for the appearance and was already in Turkey for an unrelated event.) The president’s son had reason to be attuned to the sensitivity of cozying up with a Putin associate, especially while his father navigates the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with a Russian attorney in Trump Tower became a major focus of the Robert Mueller investigation. The Trump Tower meeting was arranged after an email offering Trump Jr. damaging information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump Jr. famously responded, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Trump Jr. later dismissed the matter as a “witch hunt,” and the Mueller report concluded that there was not enough evidence to convict him of a crime. Recently, Kremlev has been working to expand into the U.S. market. In July, his group hosted a bare-knuckle boxing event in Miami, a chance to showcase a particularly bloody form of the sport in which contenders fight without gloves. But the debut was overshadowed when manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, who the IBA had brought in to host, was arrested by U.S. Marshals outside the arena. (Tate is facing rape and sex trafficking charges in the United Kingdom, which he has denied.) Much about Kremlev’s relationship with Trump Jr., and where it is headed, remains unknown. In a press release after the Istanbul panel, the IBA hinted there was more to come. “President Kremlev and Donald Trump Jr made it clear – this alliance will not remain symbolic,” the press release read. “More joint initiatives will follow.” ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether further records clarify the scale, source and purpose of the wedding payments, particularly those made through the IBA-affiliated Dubai entity. ● Whether Trump Jr. and Kremlev undertake further joint initiatives after the IBA previously said their alliance would not remain symbolic. ● Whether Kremlev’s efforts to expand his boxing interests in the United States produce new commercial, sporting or political connections. ● Whether congressional, ethics or national-security scrutiny follows the disclosure of Kremlev’s financial support and access to the president’s family. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Scrutiny of the relationship is likely to continue while its significance remains contested, particularly unless further evidence establishes whether Kremlev sought or received political, commercial or institutional benefits. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● New financial records, communications or evidence of subsequent favours could materially alter assessments of whether the wedding support was simply a personal gift or part of a broader effort to cultivate influence. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The central issue is whether substantial foreign financial support for a politically influential presidential family member creates access, obligations or vulnerabilities extending beyond a private friendship. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Donald Trump has made US$2.2 billion in his second term. How does that stack up against other US presidents?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/06/donald-trump-has-made-us-2-2-billion-in-his-second-term-how-does-that-stack-up-against-other-us-presidents/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Donald Trump’s ‘board of peace’ looks like a privatised UN with one shareholder: the US president](https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/29/donald-trumps-board-of-peace-looks-like-a-privatised-un-with-one-shareholder-the-us-president/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [The Donroe divide: Trump fences the Americas, Putin takes the East](https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/08/the-donroe-divide-trump-fences-the-americas-putin-takes-the-east/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Trump wants China’s help in making peace in Ukraine. He’s unlikely to get it](https://www.europeans.today/2024/12/15/trump-wants-chinas-help-in-making-peace-in-ukraine-hes-unlikely-to-get-it/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Vladimir Putin: A risk-taker who is gambling his country’s future.](https://www.europeans.today/2022/03/30/vladimir-putin-risk-taker-who-is-gambling-his-countrys-future/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin](https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-bankrolled-russian-oligarch-umar-kremlev-putin?ref=europeans.today) | *PROPUBLICA* - ###### [IBA sticking with Gazprom sponsorship as boxing still in limbo at 2028 Olympics](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/17/international-boxing-association-sticking-with-gazprom-sponsorship-as-sport-in-limbo-2028-olympics?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [ProPublica](https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-bankrolled-russian-oligarch-umar-kremlev-putin?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 September 2026 under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/16/todays-papers-16-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T13:25:17.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. 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All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/13/todays-papers-13-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-13T02:22:50.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/12/todays-papers-12-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-12T23:36:38.000Z --- 🇬🇧 ## UK Front Pages ### Devolved Nations [![The Herald front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-herald-scotland-052438fvu.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-herald-scotland-052438fvu.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### The Herald 12-Sep-2026 [![The National Scotland front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-national-scotland-0030003wj.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-national-scotland-0030003wj.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### The National (Scotland) 12-Sep-2026 [![Glasgow Times front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/glasgow-times-0635132gw.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/glasgow-times-0635132gw.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Glasgow Times 12-Sep-2026 [![Western Mail front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/western-mail-wales-002118fzx.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/western-mail-wales-002118fzx.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Western Mail 12-Sep-2026 [![The Irish News front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-irish-news-002841iom.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-irish-news-002841iom.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### The Irish News 12-Sep-2026 ### Regions [![Liverpool Echo front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/liverpool-echo-0652294lx.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/liverpool-echo-0652294lx.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Liverpool Echo 12-Sep-2026 [![Manchester Evening News front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/manchester-evening-news-0652124sh.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/manchester-evening-news-0652124sh.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Manchester Evening News 12-Sep-2026 [![Hull Daily Mail front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/hull-daily-mail-07394556h.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/hull-daily-mail-07394556h.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Hull Daily Mail 12-Sep-2026 [![Leicester Mercury front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/leicester-mercury-000329kcz.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/leicester-mercury-000329kcz.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Leicester Mercury 12-Sep-2026 [![Derby Telegraph front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/derby-telegraph-000559ja7.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/derby-telegraph-000559ja7.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Derby Telegraph 12-Sep-2026 [![Cambridge News front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/cambridge-news-0022090zt.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/cambridge-news-0022090zt.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Cambridge News 12-Sep-2026 [![The Journal Newcastle front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-journal-newcastle-024343ozk.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-journal-newcastle-024343ozk.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### The Journal Newcastle 12-Sep-2026 [![Birmingham Mail front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/birmingham-mail-152331ycx.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/birmingham-mail-152331ycx.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Birmingham Mail 12-Sep-2026 [![Oxford Mail front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/oxford-mail-062425yzp.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/oxford-mail-062425yzp.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Oxford Mail 12-Sep-2026 × --- ## European Front Pages [France](#fp-france-12sep2026) [Germany](#fp-germany-12sep2026) [Italy](#fp-italy-12sep2026) [Ireland](#fp-ireland-12sep2026) 🇫🇷 ### France [![Le Figaro front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/le-figaro-013323b29.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/le-figaro-013323b29.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Le Figaro 12-Sep-2026 [![Libération front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/liberation-000207ycs.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/liberation-000207ycs.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Libération 12-Sep-2026 [![La Croix front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-croix-061724t09.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-croix-061724t09.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### La Croix 12-Sep-2026 🇩🇪 ### Germany [![Bild front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/bild-001109j7t.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/bild-001109j7t.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Bild 12-Sep-2026 [![Süddeutsche Zeitung front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/suddeutsche-zeitung-061849ksu.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/suddeutsche-zeitung-061849ksu.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Süddeutsche Zeitung 12-Sep-2026 [![Der Tagesspiegel front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/der-tagesspiegel-012208e0q.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/der-tagesspiegel-012208e0q.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Der Tagesspiegel 12-Sep-2026 🇮🇹 ### Italy [![Corriere della Sera front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/corriere-della-sera-051511dp3.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/corriere-della-sera-051511dp3.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Corriere della Sera 12-Sep-2026 [![La Repubblica front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-repubblica-001403jca.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-repubblica-001403jca.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### La Repubblica 12-Sep-2026 [![La Stampa front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-stampa-013738ani.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-stampa-013738ani.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### La Stampa 12-Sep-2026 [![Il Fatto Quotidiano front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/il-fatto-quotidiano-00030342s.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/il-fatto-quotidiano-00030342s.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Il Fatto Quotidiano 12-Sep-2026 [![La Verità front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-verita-003035zcx.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/la-verita-003035zcx.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### La Verità 12-Sep-2026 🇮🇪 ### Ireland [![Irish Daily Mail front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-daily-mail-024420maz.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-daily-mail-024420maz.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Irish Daily Mail 12-Sep-2026 [![The Irish Times front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-irish-times-0128493k8.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-irish-times-0128493k8.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### The Irish Times 12-Sep-2026 [![Irish Daily Star front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-daily-star-0120193h7.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-daily-star-0120193h7.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Irish Daily Star 12-Sep-2026 [![Irish Daily Mirror front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-daily-mirror-04393274p.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-daily-mirror-04393274p.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Irish Daily Mirror 12-Sep-2026 [![Irish Examiner front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-examiner-001722v13.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/irish-examiner-001722v13.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### Irish Examiner 12-Sep-2026 [![The Herald Ireland front page, 12-Sep-2026](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-herald-ireland-030929dur.webp)](https://www.giornalone.it/t/2026/09/12/the-herald-ireland-030929dur.webp?ref=europeans.today) #### The Herald Ireland 12-Sep-2026 × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Will France’s Gilets Jaunes return on 17 October? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/11/will-frances-gilets-jaunes-return-on-17-october/ Last updated: 2026-09-12T02:04:43.000Z --- 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS France’s 2018 Gilets Jaunes revolt showed how quickly decentralised online anger can become a national political crisis. New mobilisation calls deserve scrutiny, but not assumptions about their scale or origin. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Social-media material is calling for Gilets Jaunes demonstrations on 17 October. ● The provenance of the campaign and the number of people prepared to participate remain unclear. ● French fuel prices have risen sharply, reviving one of the grievances that helped trigger the original movement. --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000825--1-.jpg) C alls for a new Gilets Jaunes mobilisation are circulating on French social media, with Saturday 17 October promoted as a day of demonstrations amid renewed anger over fuel prices and purchasing power. Images circulating online advertise what they describe as a nationwide mobilisation. One declares “the return of the Gilets Jaunes”, while another lists proposed gathering points in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Strasbourg. Their provenance and the scale of support behind them remain unclear. The graphics show an attempt to mobilise protesters, but they do not prove that the advertised gatherings will take place or attract significant numbers. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/11/todays-papers-11-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-12T00:23:27.000Z --- ## 🇬🇧 UK [![The Guardian front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/GuardianFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/GuardianFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Guardian 11-Sep-2026 [![The Independent front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IndependentFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=739%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IndependentFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=739%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Independent 11-Sep-2026 [![The Times front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TimesFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=802%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TimesFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=802%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Times 11-Sep-2026 [![The i Newspaper front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/inewspaperFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=774%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/inewspaperFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=774%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The i Newspaper 11-Sep-2026 [![The Telegraph front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TelegraphFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=623%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TelegraphFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=623%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Telegraph 11-Sep-2026 [![Daily Mirror front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MirrorFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MirrorFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Daily Mirror 11-Sep-2026 [![The Sun front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SunFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=803%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SunFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=803%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Sun 11-Sep-2026 [![Metro front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MetroFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=767%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MetroFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=767%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Metro 11-Sep-2026 [![Daily Mail front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MailFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=798%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MailFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=798%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Daily Mail 11-Sep-2026 [![Daily Express front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ExpressFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=784%2C996&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ExpressFriday11thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=784%2C996&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Daily Express 11-Sep-2026 [![Daily Star front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/StarFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/StarFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Daily Star 11-Sep-2026 [![Financial Times front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FTFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=634%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FTFriday11thSeptember2026.png?resize=634%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Financial Times 11-Sep-2026 ## 🏴 England [![Manchester Evening News front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ManchesterEveningNewsFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C957&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ManchesterEveningNewsFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C957&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Manchester Evening News 11-Sep-2026 [![The Yorkshire Post front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/YorkshirePostFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=616%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/YorkshirePostFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=616%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Yorkshire Post 11-Sep-2026 ## 🏴 Scotland [![The Herald front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TheHeraldFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=657%2C1024&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TheHeraldFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=657%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Herald 11-Sep-2026 [![The Scotsman front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ScotsmanFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C919&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ScotsmanFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C919&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Scotsman 11-Sep-2026 [![Daily Record front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DailyRecordScotlandFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C1000&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DailyRecordScotlandFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C1000&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Daily Record 11-Sep-2026 ## 🏴 Wales [![Western Mail front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/WesternMailWalesFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C960&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/WesternMailWalesFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C960&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Western Mail 11-Sep-2026 [![South Wales Echo front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SouthWalesEchoFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C963&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SouthWalesEchoFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C963&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### South Wales Echo 11-Sep-2026 ## 🇬🇧 Northern Ireland [![The Irish News front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TheIrishNewsFriday11thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=768%2C976&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TheIrishNewsFriday11thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=768%2C976&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Irish News 11-Sep-2026 [![Belfast Telegraph front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BelfastTelegraphFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C995&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BelfastTelegraphFriday11thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C995&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Belfast Telegraph 11-Sep-2026 × --- ### 🇫🇷 France [ ![Le Monde front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/de/dedc2f3dad9b13e9cb3ba9f3920bb41e.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/de/dedc2f3dad9b13e9cb3ba9f3920bb41e.jpg?ref=europeans.today) Le Monde 11-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Figaro front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/40b89d45-3221-4424-90b7-f78f4035ba74/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/40b89d45-3221-4424-90b7-f78f4035ba74/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) Le Figaro 11-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Parisien front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/31/31cff7198141fb2a3c6c5b37c804b610.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/31/31cff7198141fb2a3c6c5b37c804b610.jpg?ref=europeans.today) Le Parisien 11-Sep-2026 [ ![Libération front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/b7/b7bdd8f69eb3530091c1620e44ad083a.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/b7/b7bdd8f69eb3530091c1620e44ad083a.jpg?ref=europeans.today) Libération 11-Sep-2026 [ ![La Croix front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/7b/7bf090bdf93fe85113166eb6922bfa41.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/7b/7bf090bdf93fe85113166eb6922bfa41.jpg?ref=europeans.today) La Croix 11-Sep-2026 [ ![Aujourd’hui en France front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/9d/9d7c402254659fb84a2a9ba31a52aeaf.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/9d/9d7c402254659fb84a2a9ba31a52aeaf.jpg?ref=europeans.today) Aujourd’hui en France 11-Sep-2026 [ ![L’Humanité front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/fb/fb10721a841c848404d8a108e09bd940.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/fb/fb10721a841c848404d8a108e09bd940.jpg?ref=europeans.today) L’Humanité 11-Sep-2026 [ ![L’Opinion front page, 11-Sep-2026](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/cd/cdae09985c87744fe42643d77122ea56.jpg) ](https://cdn.direct-editeurs.fr/parutions/cd/cdae09985c87744fe42643d77122ea56.jpg?ref=europeans.today) L’Opinion 11-Sep-2026 × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Trump’s Midterms: Votes for sale URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/10/trumps-midterms-votes-for-sale/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T01:14:31.000Z --- 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Trump has explicitly tied a proposed nationwide cash payment to Republican victory in Congress, raising major questions about public spending, presidential authority and the boundaries of election campaigning. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Donald Trump said every American adult would receive $5,000 if Republicans retain both chambers of Congress. ● The proposal is a campaign pledge, not an approved federal payment programme. ● The plan would probably cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional involvement. --- P resident Donald Trump has promised every American adult [a $5,000 payment](https://apnews.com/article/cc80644e3168acd31c892129fb849436?ref=europeans.today) if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections. Speaking at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, Trump called the proposed payment the “Trump Dividend”. “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,” [Donald Trump told the audience](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2026/sep/10/trump-we-will-pay-every-us-citizen-5000-if-republicans-win-midterms-video?ref=europeans.today). The proposal is a campaign pledge, not an approved payment programme. *The Associated Press* estimates that distributing $5,000 to every US adult would probably cost **more than $1 trillion**. Congress controls federal spending, and Trump has not explained a legal mechanism allowing him to make the payments without lawmakers’ approval. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000823--1-.jpg) Trump’s Midterms: Votes for sale. | ****EUROPEANS TODAY** Vice President JD Vance later suggested wealthy Americans might be excluded and [said tariff revenue could finance the plan](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/sep/10/donald-trump-republican-midterm-convention-dividend-offer-5000-vance-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today). *AP* reported that tariff receipts would be far below the amount required. Trump nevertheless said on Thursday that he did not think congressional approval would be necessary, while adding that lawmakers would approve the payments if required. The pledge comes as Republicans defend narrow congressional majorities ahead of the 3 November Midterm elections. Critics from both parties have accused Trump of trying to buy votes. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the White House or Republican lawmakers produce detailed legislation defining eligibility, funding, and payment conditions. ● Whether Republicans formally propose using tariff revenue or another federal revenue source to finance the dividend. ● Whether the proposal encounters significant opposition in Congress over its projected cost and effect on federal borrowing. ● Whether Trump or Vance further change who would qualify for the payment. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Any nationwide $5,000 payment would face a substantial congressional and funding hurdle before it could become an authorised federal programme. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Detailed legislation identifying a legally available funding source and securing sufficient support in Congress could materially alter the proposal’s prospects. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The pledge tests how far a president can connect a large prospective public benefit to his party’s electoral success while leaving its financing and legal pathway unresolved. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![Europeans TODAY](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump, hoping to salvage midterms, makes a dubious pledge to give every US adult $5,000 if GOP wins](https://apnews.com/article/cc80644e3168acd31c892129fb849436?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [US citizens will receive $5,000 if Republicans win midterms, Trump claims in lengthy convention speech](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/09/trump-republican-convention-speech-midterm-elections?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Vance appears to walk back Trump’s offer of $5,000 ‘dividend’ if Republicans win midterms](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/sep/10/donald-trump-republican-midterm-convention-dividend-offer-5000-vance-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Trump: we will pay every US citizen $5,000 if Republicans win midterms](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2026/sep/10/trump-we-will-pay-every-us-citizen-5000-if-republicans-win-midterms-video?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [What to know about Trump’s proposed $5,000 payouts](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/10/what-know-about-trumps-promised-5000-payouts/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [CNN transcript: Trump’s $5,000 dividend pledge](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2026-09-10/segment/01?ref=europeans.today) | *CNN* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 10 September 2026. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/10/todays-papers-10-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T23:25:15.000Z --- ## 🇬🇧 United Kingdom [ ![The Guardian front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/36e4/live/980dc5a0-ac95-11f1-a540-61c3f7fc4e6c.jpg.webp) The Guardian10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/36e4/live/980dc5a0-ac95-11f1-a540-61c3f7fc4e6c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![The Independent front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2f26/live/f317a140-ac96-11f1-a540-61c3f7fc4e6c.jpg.webp) The Independent10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2f26/live/f317a140-ac96-11f1-a540-61c3f7fc4e6c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![The Times front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ce2a/live/30a28d60-ac95-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp) The Times10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ce2a/live/30a28d60-ac95-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![The i Newspaper front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b477/live/6d1010b0-ac95-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp) The i Newspaper10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b477/live/6d1010b0-ac95-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![The Telegraph front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ea1d/live/85c1a100-ac95-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.jpg.webp) The Telegraph10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ea1d/live/85c1a100-ac95-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![Daily Mirror front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/148c/live/ade559f0-aca0-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp) Daily Mirror10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/148c/live/ade559f0-aca0-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![Metro front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b6d5/live/0147d930-ac90-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp) Metro10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b6d5/live/0147d930-ac90-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![Daily Mail front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f3e5/live/551af290-ac95-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp) Daily Mail10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f3e5/live/551af290-ac95-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![Daily Express front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3429/live/f0182110-ac8f-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.jpg.webp) Daily Express10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3429/live/f0182110-ac8f-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![Daily Star front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9c3d/live/9501baf0-ac91-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp) Daily Star10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9c3d/live/9501baf0-ac91-11f1-b1d1-571ed4d7ff2c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) [ ![Financial Times front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c210/live/f90cea30-ac8f-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.jpg.webp) Financial Times10-Sep-2026 ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c210/live/f90cea30-ac8f-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.jpg.webp?ref=europeans.today) × --- [🇫🇷 France](#fp-europe-20260910-c3-france) [🇮🇪 Ireland](#fp-europe-20260910-c3-ireland) [🇪🇸 Spain](#fp-europe-20260910-c3-spain) ### 🇫🇷 France [ ![Le Monde front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://boutique.lemonde.fr/8982-large_default/le-monde-papier-n-25410-date-10-septembre-2026.jpg) ](https://boutique.lemonde.fr/8982-large%5Fdefault/le-monde-papier-n-25410-date-10-septembre-2026.jpg?ref=europeans.today) #### Le Monde 10-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Figaro front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/dc373a7b-5e7e-47c6-bc86-26a429ae2e3a/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/dc373a7b-5e7e-47c6-bc86-26a429ae2e3a/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### Le Figaro 10-Sep-2026 [ ![Libération front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/72ba673d-f86a-4f8a-b4aa-c5123b978c76/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/72ba673d-f86a-4f8a-b4aa-c5123b978c76/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### Libération 10-Sep-2026 [ ![La Dépêche du Midi — Toulouse front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/2ad767df-f8be-421c-976c-b3b3e15e5350/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/2ad767df-f8be-421c-976c-b3b3e15e5350/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### La Dépêche du Midi — Toulouse 10-Sep-2026 [ ![L’Indépendant — Perpignan front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/04fd3f29-b226-4d15-a2c4-9fe6242a74b6/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/04fd3f29-b226-4d15-a2c4-9fe6242a74b6/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### L’Indépendant — Perpignan 10-Sep-2026 [ ![La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/a1eb4907-3d0a-45f6-9294-39b546f9dc33/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/a1eb4907-3d0a-45f6-9294-39b546f9dc33/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées 10-Sep-2026 [ ![Midi Libre — Montpellier / Lunel front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/434e95c2-eea5-4753-b4e0-b553ed28f61d/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/434e95c2-eea5-4753-b4e0-b553ed28f61d/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### Midi Libre — Montpellier / Lunel 10-Sep-2026 [ ![Nice-Matin — Nice–Cagnes–Vence front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/d383a2d3-d120-49d3-a914-52c30bee154f/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/d383a2d3-d120-49d3-a914-52c30bee154f/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### Nice-Matin — Nice–Cagnes–Vence 10-Sep-2026 [ ![Var-Matin — Toulon–Hyères–Le Lavandou front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/ae1d959c-8eee-4ca8-8f1a-9dfc43d8a58d/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/ae1d959c-8eee-4ca8-8f1a-9dfc43d8a58d/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### Var-Matin — Toulon–Hyères–Le Lavandou 10-Sep-2026 ### 🇮🇪 Ireland [ ![Irish Examiner front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg) ](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg?ref=europeans.today) #### Irish Examiner 10-Sep-2026 ### 🇪🇸 Spain [ ![La Vanguardia — Català front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/45b77fe5-b70f-4c37-ad79-1b4dfbf00bc7/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/45b77fe5-b70f-4c37-ad79-1b4dfbf00bc7/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### La Vanguardia — Català 10-Sep-2026 [ ![Diari de Tarragona front page, 10-Sep-2026](https://imagenes.diaridetarragona.com/files/vertical_image_mobile/uploads/2026/09/09/6aa1bfd296d88.jpeg) ](https://imagenes.diaridetarragona.com/files/vertical%5Fimage%5Fmobile/uploads/2026/09/09/6aa1bfd296d88.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) #### Diari de Tarragona 10-Sep-2026 × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/10/todays-briefing-10-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T17:43:23.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- ## TODAY’s Opening Line At Britain’s ports, in its classrooms and across Germany’s political landscape, today’s briefing examines how institutions respond to pressure and whose interests they serve. Alongside these stories, we examine Trump’s unsubstantiated 9/11 account and allegations about Elon Musk, keeping the distinction between claims and evidence clear. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **Police face scrutiny after anti-migrant port protests** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Ministers [demanded better intelligence](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/08/far-right-port-protests-police-intelligence-gathering-dover-portsmouth?ref=europeans.today) and questioned unused face-covering powers. Kent police acknowledged an unassessed warning, contradicting their initial account. In Portsmouth on Sunday, officers were injured and police, Coastguard and Border Force vehicles were damaged [during an anti-migrant protest](https://news.sky.com/story/police-injured-and-vehicles-damaged-during-anti-migrant-protest-in-portsmouth-13582779?ref=europeans.today). Hampshire police said they were investigating possible assaults and criminal damage. Around 200 demonstrators were dispersed early on Monday. **▫ WHO IS INVOLVED:** Kent and Hampshire police, the Home Office, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, whose crews brought people ashore in Portsmouth. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Lawful demonstration and criminal conduct must not be treated as interchangeable. The accountability questions are distinct: how police prepared, how officers responded, and who was responsible for any offences. Protecting peaceful protest does not require overlooking assaults. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/09/todays-papers-9-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T12:01:01.000Z --- ## 🇬🇧 United Kingdom [ ![The Guardian front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299908/mid/0000.jpg) ](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299908/mid/0000.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### The Guardian 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Independent front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/independentWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1004&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/independentWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1004&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Independent 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Times front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TimesWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=807%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TimesWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=807%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Times 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The i Newspaper front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/inewspaperWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=771%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/inewspaperWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=771%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The i Newspaper 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Telegraph front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TelegraphWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=644%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TelegraphWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=644%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Telegraph 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Mirror front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MirrorWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MirrorWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Daily Mirror 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Sun front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SunWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=803%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SunWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=803%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Sun 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Metro front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MetroWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=764%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MetroWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=764%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Metro 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Mail front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MailWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=793%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MailWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=793%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Daily Mail 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Express front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ExpressWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=810%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ExpressWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=810%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Daily Express 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Star front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/601aa88488b10d000f08388c/6aa09f02e2b2ca6eaff7f641/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/601aa88488b10d000f08388c/6aa09f02e2b2ca6eaff7f641/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Daily Star 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Financial Times front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FTWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=636%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FTWednesday9thSeptember2026.png?resize=636%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Financial Times 9-Sep-2026 [ ![City A.M. front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/62d128369813082b0ea7c9f3/62d12d01981308721ca7e332/6a9fa63020f23658e844f80a/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/62d128369813082b0ea7c9f3/62d12d01981308721ca7e332/6a9fa63020f23658e844f80a/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### City A.M. 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Liverpool Echo front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae2c2605415a0008e06975/6aa09e3de2b2ca6eaff7f632/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae2c2605415a0008e06975/6aa09e3de2b2ca6eaff7f632/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Liverpool Echo 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Manchester Evening News front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ManchesterEveningNewsWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C957&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ManchesterEveningNewsWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C957&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Manchester Evening News 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Herald front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/HeraldScotlandWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=657%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/HeraldScotlandWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=657%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Herald 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Scotsman front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/scotsmanWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C911&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/scotsmanWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C911&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Scotsman 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Record front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DailyRecordScotlandWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C1000&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DailyRecordScotlandWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C1000&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Daily Record 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Western Mail front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/westernmailWalesWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C948&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/westernmailWalesWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C948&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Western Mail 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Irish News front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/irishnewsWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=768%2C976&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/irishnewsWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=768%2C976&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Irish News 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Belfast Telegraph front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BelfastTelegraphWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C995&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BelfastTelegraphWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C995&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Belfast Telegraph 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Journal Newcastle front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae51cd05415a0008e069ad/6aa0e586e2b2ca6eaff7f6d4/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae51cd05415a0008e069ad/6aa0e586e2b2ca6eaff7f6d4/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### The Journal Newcastle 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Birmingham Mail front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae22eb05415a001fe0699d/6aa09deae2b2ca6eaff7f62f/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae22eb05415a001fe0699d/6aa09deae2b2ca6eaff7f62f/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Birmingham Mail 9-Sep-2026 [ ![South Wales Echo front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SouthWalesEchoWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C963&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SouthWalesEchoWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=764%2C963&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### South Wales Echo 9-Sep-2026 [ ![The Yorkshire Post front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TheYorkshirePostWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=619%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TheYorkshirePostWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=619%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### The Yorkshire Post 9-Sep-2026 × ![The Guardian front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299908/mid/0000.jpg) ###### The Guardian 9-Sep-2026 --- [🇫🇷 France](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-france) [🇩🇪 Germany](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-germany) [🇮🇹 Italy](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-italy) [🇮🇪 Ireland](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-ireland) [🇦🇹 Austria](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-austria) [🇧🇪 Belgium](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-belgium) [🇩🇰 Denmark](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-denmark) [🇳🇱 Netherlands](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-netherlands) [🇵🇱 Poland](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-poland) [🇪🇸 Spain](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-spain) [🇸🇪 Sweden](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-sweden) [🇨🇭 Switzerland](#et-fp-europe-20260909-v3-switzerland) ## 🇫🇷 France [ ![Le Monde front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/le-mondeWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=660%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/le-mondeWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=660%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Le Monde 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Figaro front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/5f793389-54cd-4a5a-97d6-f31569f99515/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/5f793389-54cd-4a5a-97d6-f31569f99515/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Le Figaro 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Parisien front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/le-parisienWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=759%2C962&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/le-parisienWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=759%2C962&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Le Parisien 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Libération front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/2cbe8b30-7ea7-416a-b1d6-7f8056d96300/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/2cbe8b30-7ea7-416a-b1d6-7f8056d96300/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Libération 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Les Echos front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/les-echos/20260909/les-echos_20260909_191414.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/les-echos/20260909/les-echos%5F20260909%5F191414.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Les Echos 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Croix front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-croix/20260909/la-croix_20260909_190986.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-croix/20260909/la-croix%5F20260909%5F190986.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Croix 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Aujourd’hui en France front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/aujourdhui-en-france/20260909/aujourdhui-en-france_20260909_191071.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/aujourdhui-en-france/20260909/aujourdhui-en-france%5F20260909%5F191071.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Aujourd’hui en France 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Corse-Matin front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/corse-matin/20260909/corse-matin_20260909_191128.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/corse-matin/20260909/corse-matin%5F20260909%5F191128.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Corse-Matin 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Courrier Picard — Amiens et sa région front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/courrier-picard/20260909/courrier-picard_20260909_191117.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/courrier-picard/20260909/courrier-picard%5F20260909%5F191117.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Courrier Picard — Amiens et sa région 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Dépêche du Midi — Toulouse front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/depecheWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=714%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/depecheWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=714%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### La Dépêche du Midi — Toulouse 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Montagne — Clermont-Métropole front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/montagne-clermont/20260909/montagne-clermont_20260909_191250.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/montagne-clermont/20260909/montagne-clermont%5F20260909%5F191250.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Montagne — Clermont-Métropole 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Provence — Marseille front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/provence-marseille/20260909/provence-marseille_20260909_191118.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/provence-marseille/20260909/provence-marseille%5F20260909%5F191118.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Provence — Marseille 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Tribune Quotidien front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/5c86d36c-c3e5-4519-9538-5f58f865dc90/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/5c86d36c-c3e5-4519-9538-5f58f865dc90/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Tribune Quotidien 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Voix du Nord — Lille front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/voix-du-nord/20260909/voix-du-nord_20260909_191114.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/voix-du-nord/20260909/voix-du-nord%5F20260909%5F191114.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Voix du Nord — Lille 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Dauphiné Libéré — Grenoble front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/dauphineWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1018&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/dauphineWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1018&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Le Dauphiné Libéré — Grenoble 9-Sep-2026 [ ![L’Humanité front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/humanite/20260909/humanite_20260909_191032.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/humanite/20260909/humanite%5F20260909%5F191032.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### L’Humanité 9-Sep-2026 [ ![L’Opinion front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/opinion-france/20260909/opinion-france_20260909_191021.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/opinion-france/20260909/opinion-france%5F20260909%5F191021.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### L’Opinion 9-Sep-2026 [ ![L’Union — Reims front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/union-champagne/20260909/union-champagne_20260909_191124.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/union-champagne/20260909/union-champagne%5F20260909%5F191124.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### L’Union — Reims 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Paris Normandie — Rouen Métropole front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/paris-normandie/20260909/paris-normandie_20260909_191122.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/paris-normandie/20260909/paris-normandie%5F20260909%5F191122.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Paris Normandie — Rouen Métropole 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇩🇪 Germany [ ![Bild front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5be41f9903c6b758140001b0/5fd77cf79c27a7000f4be18c/6aa069c1e2b2ca6eaff7f5bd/2/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5be41f9903c6b758140001b0/5fd77cf79c27a7000f4be18c/6aa069c1e2b2ca6eaff7f5bd/2/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Bild 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/489/577/715/8ec/72f/79f/61d/65c24217673f3d10bd6293f3/im6914895777158ec72f79f61ds.jpg) ](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/489/577/715/8ec/72f/79f/61d/65c24217673f3d10bd6293f3/im6914895777158ec72f79f61ds.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Süddeutsche Zeitung front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/2f7/3da/e96/49a/366/8b8/339/65c24248673f3d10bd62989e/im6912f73dae9649a3668b8339s.jpg) ](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/2f7/3da/e96/49a/366/8b8/339/65c24248673f3d10bd62989e/im6912f73dae9649a3668b8339s.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Süddeutsche Zeitung 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Die Welt front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5be41f9903c6b758140001b0/5fd792b59c27a7000f4be1a1/6aa03121e2b2ca6eaff7f5aa/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5be41f9903c6b758140001b0/5fd792b59c27a7000f4be1a1/6aa03121e2b2ca6eaff7f5aa/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Die Welt 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Handelsblatt front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.onleihe.de/images/690/9ef/67a/cdb/845/fd4/fa7/774/65c2421b673f3d10bd62944d/im6909ef67acdb845fd4fa7774s.jpg) ](https://static.onleihe.de/images/690/9ef/67a/cdb/845/fd4/fa7/774/65c2421b673f3d10bd62944d/im6909ef67acdb845fd4fa7774s.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Handelsblatt 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Der Tagesspiegel front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/der-tagesspiegel/20260909/der-tagesspiegel_20260909_191396.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/der-tagesspiegel/20260909/der-tagesspiegel%5F20260909%5F191396.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Der Tagesspiegel 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Berliner Morgenpost front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.onleihe.de/images/695/248/85b/da7/f74/959/692/86b/65c2426f673f3d10bd629a05/im69524885bda7f7495969286bs.jpg) ](https://static.onleihe.de/images/695/248/85b/da7/f74/959/692/86b/65c2426f673f3d10bd629a05/im69524885bda7f7495969286bs.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Berliner Morgenpost 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Freies Wort — Suhl/Zella-Mehlis front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/2fc/e3a/e96/49a/366/8ba/181/65c24248673f3d10bd62989e/im6912fce3ae9649a3668ba181s.jpg) ](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/2fc/e3a/e96/49a/366/8ba/181/65c24248673f3d10bd62989e/im6912fce3ae9649a3668ba181s.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Freies Wort — Suhl/Zella-Mehlis 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Märkische Oderzeitung — Frankfurt (Oder) front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/maerkische-oderzeitung/20260909/maerkische-oderzeitung_20260909_191134.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/maerkische-oderzeitung/20260909/maerkische-oderzeitung%5F20260909%5F191134.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Märkische Oderzeitung — Frankfurt (Oder) 9-Sep-2026 [ ![taz.die tageszeitung front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/5dd/249/fe3/a95/0c9/995/214/65c24238673f3d10bd62970f/im6915dd249fe3a950c9995214s.jpg) ](https://static.onleihe.de/images/691/5dd/249/fe3/a95/0c9/995/214/65c24238673f3d10bd62970f/im6915dd249fe3a950c9995214s.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### taz.die tageszeitung 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇮🇹 Italy [ ![Corriere della Sera front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/corrieredellaseraWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=718%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/corrieredellaseraWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=718%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Corriere della Sera 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Repubblica front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-repubblica.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-repubblica.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Repubblica 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Stampa front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/stampa/20260909/stampa_20260909_191074.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/stampa/20260909/stampa%5F20260909%5F191074.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Stampa 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Fatto Quotidiano front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://st.ilfattoquotidiano.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/08/ilfatto20260909-690x1017.jpg) ](https://st.ilfattoquotidiano.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/08/ilfatto20260909-690x1017.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Fatto Quotidiano 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Messaggero front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/messaggero/20260909/messaggero_20260909_191109.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/messaggero/20260909/messaggero%5F20260909%5F191109.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Messaggero 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Verità front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-verita.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-verita.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Verità 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Bresciaoggi front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/brescia-oggi.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/brescia-oggi.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Bresciaoggi 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Corriere delle Alpi — Belluno front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/corriere-delle-alpi-belluno.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/corriere-delle-alpi-belluno.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Corriere delle Alpi — Belluno 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Gazzetta di Mantova front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/gazzetta-di-mantova.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/gazzetta-di-mantova.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Gazzetta di Mantova 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Gazzetta di Reggio front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/gazzetta-di-reggio.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/gazzetta-di-reggio.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Gazzetta di Reggio 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Giornale front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-giornale.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-giornale.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Giornale 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Mattino di Padova front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-mattino-di-padova.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-mattino-di-padova.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Mattino di Padova 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Piccolo — Gorizia e Monfalcone front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-piccolo-gorizia-monfalcone.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-piccolo-gorizia-monfalcone.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Piccolo — Gorizia e Monfalcone 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Quotidiano del Sud — Catanzaro, Lamezia e Crotone front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-catanzaro.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-catanzaro.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Quotidiano del Sud — Catanzaro, Lamezia e Crotone 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Quotidiano del Sud — Cosenza front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-cosenza.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-cosenza.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Quotidiano del Sud — Cosenza 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Quotidiano del Sud — Edizione nazionale front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-laltravoce.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-laltravoce.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Quotidiano del Sud — Edizione nazionale 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Quotidiano del Sud — Reggio Calabria front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-reggio-calabria.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-reggio-calabria.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Quotidiano del Sud — Reggio Calabria 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Quotidiano del Sud — Vibo Valentia front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-vibo-valentia.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-quotidiano-del-sud-vibo-valentia.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Quotidiano del Sud — Vibo Valentia 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Resto del Carlino — Nazionale / Imola front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-resto-del-carlino.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-resto-del-carlino.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Resto del Carlino — Nazionale / Imola 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Sole 24 Ore front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-sole-24-ore.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-sole-24-ore.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Sole 24 Ore 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Tempo front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-tempo.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/il-tempo.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Il Tempo 9-Sep-2026 [ ![ItaliaOggi front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/italiaoggi.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/italiaoggi.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### ItaliaOggi 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Nazione — Firenze–Empoli front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-nazione.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-nazione.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Nazione — Firenze–Empoli 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-nuova-venezia.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-nuova-venezia.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Provincia Pavese front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-provincia-pavese.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-provincia-pavese.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Provincia Pavese 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Provincia — Como front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-provincia-di-como.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-provincia-di-como.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Provincia — Como 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Provincia — Crema front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-provincia-di-crema.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-provincia-di-crema.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Provincia — Crema 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Tribuna di Treviso front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-tribuna-di-treviso.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/la-tribuna-di-treviso.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Tribuna di Treviso 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Libero front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/libero-quotidiano.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/libero-quotidiano.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Libero 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Messaggero Veneto — Gorizia front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/messaggero-veneto-gorizia.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/messaggero-veneto-gorizia.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Messaggero Veneto — Gorizia 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Messaggero Veneto — Pordenone front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/messaggero-veneto-pordenone.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/messaggero-veneto-pordenone.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### Messaggero Veneto — Pordenone 9-Sep-2026 [ ![MF Milano Finanza front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/mf-milano-finanza.webp) ](https://giornalone.net/pagine/2026/09/09/mf-milano-finanza.webp?ref=europeans.today) ###### MF Milano Finanza 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇮🇪 Ireland [ ![The Irish Times front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishtimes/teasers/5088/medium.jpg) ](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishtimes/teasers/5088/medium.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### The Irish Times 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Irish Examiner front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg) ](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ###### Irish Examiner 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Irish Independent front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/irish-independent/20260909/irish-independent_20260909_191297.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/irish-independent/20260909/irish-independent%5F20260909%5F191297.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Irish Independent 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇦🇹 Austria [ ![Der Standard front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standard/20260909/standard_20260909_191312.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standard/20260909/standard%5F20260909%5F191312.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Der Standard 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Die Presse front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/presse/20260909/presse_20260909_191424.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/presse/20260909/presse%5F20260909%5F191424.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Die Presse 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇧🇪 Belgium [ ![De Standaard — Vlaams-Brabant front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DeStandaardBelgium.webp?resize=726%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DeStandaardBelgium.webp?resize=726%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### De Standaard — Vlaams-Brabant 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇩🇰 Denmark [ ![Politiken front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/politiken/20260909/politiken_20260909_191288.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/politiken/20260909/politiken%5F20260909%5F191288.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Politiken 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇳🇱 Netherlands [ ![NRC front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/nrc/20260909/nrc_20260909_191345.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/nrc/20260909/nrc%5F20260909%5F191345.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### NRC 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇵🇱 Poland [ ![Gazeta Wyborcza front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/gazeta-wyborcza/20260909/gazeta-wyborcza_20260909_191311.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/gazeta-wyborcza/20260909/gazeta-wyborcza%5F20260909%5F191311.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Gazeta Wyborcza 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇪🇸 Spain [ ![ABC — Madrid front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/abcSpainWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1011&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/abcSpainWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1011&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### ABC — Madrid 9-Sep-2026 [ ![La Vanguardia front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/9629b8ed-2b33-4fa9-9cf8-8676581fa9ee/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/9629b8ed-2b33-4fa9-9cf8-8676581fa9ee/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) ###### La Vanguardia 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇸🇪 Sweden [ ![Expressen front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://dt565gqrz3z7y.cloudfront.net/ce/v1/default/issues/6aa0bde4e2b2ca6eaff7f659/1/cover) ](https://dt565gqrz3z7y.cloudfront.net/ce/v1/default/issues/6aa0bde4e2b2ca6eaff7f659/1/cover?ref=europeans.today) ###### Expressen 9-Sep-2026 [ ![GT front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://dt565gqrz3z7y.cloudfront.net/ce/v1/default/issues/6aa0c011e2b2ca6eaff7f65c/1/cover) ](https://dt565gqrz3z7y.cloudfront.net/ce/v1/default/issues/6aa0c011e2b2ca6eaff7f65c/1/cover?ref=europeans.today) ###### GT 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Kvällsposten front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://dt565gqrz3z7y.cloudfront.net/ce/v1/default/issues/6aa0c26be2b2ca6eaff7f67a/1/cover) ](https://dt565gqrz3z7y.cloudfront.net/ce/v1/default/issues/6aa0c26be2b2ca6eaff7f67a/1/cover?ref=europeans.today) ###### Kvällsposten 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Svenska Dagbladet front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/svenska-dagbladet/20260909/svenska-dagbladet_20260909_191305.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/svenska-dagbladet/20260909/svenska-dagbladet%5F20260909%5F191305.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Svenska Dagbladet 9-Sep-2026 ## 🇨🇭 Switzerland [ ![24 heures front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/24heuresWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=707%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/24heuresWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=707%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### 24 heures 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Neue Zürcher Zeitung front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/neue-zurcher-zeitung/20260909/neue-zurcher-zeitung_20260909_191296.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/neue-zurcher-zeitung/20260909/neue-zurcher-zeitung%5F20260909%5F191296.png?ref=europeans.today) ###### Neue Zürcher Zeitung 9-Sep-2026 [ ![Tribune de Genève front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/tribunedegeneveWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=707%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/tribunedegeneveWednesday9thSeptember2026.jpg?resize=707%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ###### Tribune de Genève 9-Sep-2026 × ![Le Monde front page dated 9-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/le-mondeWednesday9thSeptember2026.webp?resize=660%2C1024&ssl=1) ###### Le Monde 9-Sep-2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/08/todays-briefing-8-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T07:00:32.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- ## TODAY’s Opening Line Across today’s headlines, the central question is not simply who commands attention, but who exercises power and who can hold them to account. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **Jaguar Land Rover plans 4,000 job cuts** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to [remove around 4,000 roles worldwide](https://news.sky.com/story/jaguar-land-rover-to-cut-4000-jobs-13582660?ref=europeans.today) over two years, predominantly from its UK non-production workforce. The company is targeting £1.7 billion in savings. Its announcement follows pressure from US tariffs, high costs, competition and the disruption caused by last year’s cyber-attack. **The total is** [**a global figure**](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/07/jaguar-land-rover-job-trump-tariffs?ref=europeans.today)**, not a confirmed loss of 4,000 UK jobs.** **▫ WHO IS INVOLVED:** - JLR chief executive PB Balaji. - Affected employees and their representatives. - Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, due to meet the company’s leadership this week. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The distinction between production and non-production roles matters: this is not an announcement that 4,000 assembly-line jobs are disappearing. But that does not diminish the consequences for affected households. The accountability question is whether the restructuring supports a credible investment plan, rather than whether a lower headcount produces immediate savings. JLR says it will continue investing in new technology and vehicles. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **JLR’s management** would face less scrutiny if every redundancy were treated as the unavoidable result of an external shock. [Several pressures are documented](https://news.sky.com/story/jaguar-land-rover-to-cut-4000-jobs-13582660?ref=europeans.today); that does not establish that every proposed cut is unavoidable. This is a question for examination, not an allegation of deception. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Reynolds’s meeting with JLR, the detailed UK allocation of redundancies, and the terms offered to employees through the company’s voluntary programme. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Campaigners question water-customer accountability plans** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Campaigners have challenged Labour’s proposed water-customer powers after documents showed that water companies had advised on the [arrangements intended to hold them accountable](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/07/labour-new-powers-water-companies-consumer-stitch-up?ref=europeans.today). The Consumer Council for Water says the consultation focused on practicalities, not companies choosing their scrutiny. **▫ WHO IS INVOLVED:** - Ministers. - The consumer council. - Water-company executives. - Campaigners. - Customers. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** [Industry consultation](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/07/labour-new-powers-water-companies-consumer-stitch-up?ref=europeans.today) is not, by itself, proof that an accountability system has been compromised. Equally, inviting customers to question executives is not necessarily the same as giving them an enforceable remedy. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Trump’s name game URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/08/trumps-name-game/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T00:43:32.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Trump’s naming push tests the boundary between political messaging and executive power, while showing how official US terminology can diverge from international usage and affect maps, diplomacy and public understanding. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Trump has suggested renaming New Mexico “New America”. ● He shared an AI-generated video and maps depicting the proposed change. ● The proposal follows US federal adoption of “Gulf of America” and “Lake America”. ● However, a US president cannot unilaterally change the formal name of a state. --- D onald Trump has suggested [renaming the US state of New Mexico as “New America”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/07/trump-suggests-renaming-new-mexico-amid-torrent-online-memes-taunts/?ref=europeans.today), extending a series of geographical name changes promoted during his second presidency. In posts on Truth Social on Sunday, the US president shared an AI-generated video and a map in which “Mexico” was [crossed out and replaced with “America”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/07/trump-suggests-renaming-new-mexico-amid-torrent-online-memes-taunts/?ref=europeans.today). He returned to the idea on Monday with several more maps using the proposed name. The White House also amplified one of the images. The proposal follows Trump’s decision last year to [direct federal agencies to use “Gulf of America”](https://apnews.com/article/bc438f4feca1234475a1adef99344da7?ref=europeans.today) instead of Gulf of Mexico, and an executive order last month [directing US federal use of “Lake America” for Lake Ontario](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/27/trump-renames-lake-ontario-america?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000812b--1--2.jpg) Trump’s name game – today’s political cartoon. | EUROPEANS TODAY The Lake Ontario change applies to US federal naming and has since appeared for American users of [Google Maps](https://apnews.com/article/7c5c9776d72cb8e8d782e05ec6e7332b?ref=europeans.today) and [Apple Maps](https://apnews.com/article/14abb66fe0ecfa05bffd42fb083dc70d?ref=europeans.today). Canada continues to use Lake Ontario, while Canadian leaders have [rejected Trump’s terminology](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/30/canada-trump-lake-ontario-name?ref=europeans.today). New Mexico, however, is different. The president [does not have unilateral authority](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/07/trump-suggests-renaming-new-mexico-amid-torrent-online-memes-taunts/?ref=europeans.today) to change the formal name of a US state. Any such change would require action beyond a presidential order. Trump’s posts therefore amount to a political proposal directed to his MAGA audience before the Midterms rather than an official renaming. New Mexico remains the state’s legal and recognised name. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Trump continues promoting “New America” or moves beyond social-media posts. ● Whether federal agencies are instructed to use alternative terminology for New Mexico despite the state retaining its formal name. ● How New Mexico’s state government and congressional delegation respond if the proposal develops further. ● Whether major mapping platforms make any changes to how New Mexico is displayed for US users. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● New Mexico retains its formal name unless the proposal advances through the state and Congress, which would be required for an actual state-name change. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Trump could direct federal agencies to refer to the state by another name, creating a distinction between federal terminology and New Mexico’s legal name without formally renaming the state. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The episode illustrates the difference between a president’s power to shape federal terminology and the constitutional limits on changing the identity of a US state. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump suggests renaming New Mexico amid torrent of online memes and taunts](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/07/trump-suggests-renaming-new-mexico-amid-torrent-online-memes-taunts/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [Trump signs executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/27/trump-renames-lake-ontario-america?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Lake Ontario now called Lake America on Google Maps for US users after Trump ordered name change](https://apnews.com/article/7c5c9776d72cb8e8d782e05ec6e7332b?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Apple changes Lake Ontario name to 'Lake America' for US users of its Maps, following Trump's order](https://apnews.com/article/14abb66fe0ecfa05bffd42fb083dc70d?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Canada erects giant 'Lake Ontario' sign as spat with Trump over name escalates](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/30/canada-trump-lake-ontario-name?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [The White House says it's a 'fact' that the Gulf of Mexico has been renamed. Is that right?](https://apnews.com/article/bc438f4feca1234475a1adef99344da7?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Trump signs order to rename Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's Denali](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/trump-executive-order-gulf-mexico?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 8 September 2026. --- ### Farage backs blanket face-covering ban as Reform formalises RN migration pact URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/08/farage-backs-blanket-face-covering-ban-as-reform-formalises-rn-migration-pact/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T15:34:24.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Reform’s proposal would extend restrictions on face coverings far beyond disorder-prone protests, while its new cooperation with France’s far-right makes the boundary between identification rules and wider religious-dress restrictions worth watching. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage now backs a blanket public ban on full-face coverings, including religious ones. ● Existing UK law already targets deliberate identity concealment in designated protest areas but protects religious, health and work-related coverings. ● In France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right RN policy goes further by targeting Islamic headscarves that do not conceal the face. --- N igel Farage has committed Reform UK to a [blanket ban on full-face coverings in public places](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nigel-farage-sarah-jones-reform-uk-port-of-dover-zia-yusuf-b3046251.html?ref=europeans.today), including those worn for religious reasons, after masked anti-migration protests in Dover and Portsmouth. The proposal marks a clear hardening of Reform’s position. In June 2025, the party said it had no policy to ban the burqa, although Farage argued that face coverings should be debated. By early 2026, senior Reform figures were advocating a broader prohibition. Farage has now personally endorsed it, saying it would include religious coverings. Public disorder, not religious dress, was the immediate trigger. [Police confronted masked protesters in Portsmouth](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/07/police-used-batons-and-pepper-spray-on-far-right-protesters-in-portsmouth-unrest?ref=europeans.today) on Sunday, after the arrival of asylum seekers by small boat. Farage criticised demonstrators wearing masks and paramilitary-style clothing and said political change should come through the ballot box. Existing UK law already gives police targeted powers [against concealing identity in designated protest areas](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-public-order-offences-factsheet?ref=europeans.today) where disorder is expected or has occurred. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 also provides defences for religious observance, health and work. Reform’s proposal would go much further by applying across public spaces and explicitly including religious full-face coverings. The comparison with France has become more relevant since Reform began formal cooperation with Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, Rassemblement National (RN), on migration across the Channel. Nigel Farage and RN president Jordan Bardella [signed a memorandum](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/04/bardella-signs-pact-with-farage-to-stop-small-boat-crossings-forever?ref=europeans.today) in Birmingham on 4 September aimed at stopping irregular crossings. Marine Le Pen, however, advocates a [substantially broader restriction](https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2026/09/02/penaliser-le-port-du-voile-le-piege-tendu-par-marine-le-pen%5F6764326%5F3232.html?ref=europeans.today) in France. Her policy would penalise the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in public spaces, even though an ordinary headscarf leaves the face visible. France already bans clothing designed [to conceal the face in public](https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?filename=Grand+Chamber+judgment+S.A.S.+v.+France+-+ban+on+wearing+in+public+clothing+concealing+one%27s+face.pdf&id=003-4809142-5861661&library=ECHR&ref=europeans.today). That raises an obvious question for Reform: is its principle limited to public identification, or could it eventually extend to religious coverings that do not hide the face? Reform has not published legislative details covering exemptions, penalties or enforcement, and Farage has not proposed banning hijabs, Sikh turbans, Jewish kippahs or other coverings that leave the face visible. There is no evidence that Reform has adopted Le Pen’s position or that Farage’s proposal is a planned first step towards a wider head-covering ban. The Birmingham agreement concerns Channel migration, not religious dress. Bardella himself has expressed doubts about [Le Pen’s headscarf policy](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/09/02/voile-retraites-le-malaise-perceptible-de-jordan-bardella-vis-a-vis-du-programme-presidentiel-de-marine-le-pen%5F6763870%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000813--1-.jpg) How Reform’s proposal compares with the RN’s policy in France? | EUROPEANS TODAY ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Reform UK publishes detailed legislation defining which coverings would be prohibited and where. ● Whether the party provides exemptions for health, work, occupational safety or other circumstances. ● Whether Nigel Farage explicitly rules in or rules out restrictions on religious head coverings that leave the face visible. ● Whether Reform and RN broaden their new cooperation beyond Channel migration into other areas of domestic policy. ● How France’s debate over Marine Le Pen’s wider headscarf proposal develops ahead of the 2027 presidential election. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The immediate UK debate is likely to focus on the scope, exemptions and legality of Reform’s full-face-covering proposal rather than an extension to ordinary religious head coverings, for which Reform has announced no policy. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A Reform policy document or statement extending the principle from concealing the face to restricting religious head coverings that leave the wearer identifiable. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The central test is whether Reform’s policy remains an identification and public-order measure or develops into a wider restriction on religious dress. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Farage calls for ban on face coverings in public after anti-migration protests](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nigel-farage-sarah-jones-reform-uk-port-of-dover-zia-yusuf-b3046251.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Press Association / The Independent* - ###### [Police used batons and pepper spray on far-right protesters in Portsmouth unrest](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/07/police-used-batons-and-pepper-spray-on-far-right-protesters-in-portsmouth-unrest?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Crime and Policing Act 2026: public order offences factsheet](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-public-order-offences-factsheet?ref=europeans.today) | *Home Office* - ###### [Bardella signs pact with Farage to stop small boat crossings 'forever'](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/04/bardella-signs-pact-with-farage-to-stop-small-boat-crossings-forever?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Nigel Farage and Jordan Bardella sign a “new entente cordiale” to stop the boats](https://www.reformparty.uk/news/nigel-farage-and-jordan-bardella-sign-a-new-entente-cordiale-to-stop-the-boats?ref=europeans.today) | *Reform UK* - ###### [Pénaliser le port du voile : le piège tendu par Marine Le Pen](https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2026/09/02/penaliser-le-port-du-voile-le-piege-tendu-par-marine-le-pen%5F6764326%5F3232.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Jordan Bardella mal à l’aise pour défendre le programme présidentiel de Marine Le Pen sur le voile et les retraites](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2026/09/02/voile-retraites-le-malaise-perceptible-de-jordan-bardella-vis-a-vis-du-programme-presidentiel-de-marine-le-pen%5F6763870%5F823448.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [S.A.S. v. France: Grand Chamber judgment on France’s face-covering ban](https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?filename=Grand+Chamber+judgment+S.A.S.+v.+France+-+ban+on+wearing+in+public+clothing+concealing+one%27s+face.pdf&id=003-4809142-5861661&library=ECHR&ref=europeans.today) | *European Court of Human Rights* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 8 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/08/todays-papers-8-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T23:19:13.000Z --- ### 🇬🇧 United Kingdom [ ![The Guardian front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299869/mid/0000.jpg) ](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299869/mid/0000.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **The Guardian**8-Sep-2026 [ ![The Independent (digital edition) front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299870/mid/0000.jpg) ](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299870/mid/0000.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **The Independent (digital edition)**8-Sep-2026 [ ![The i Newspaper front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f0d92111572511530c0e351/6527d994dce9a06ba52bb0cb/6a9f4146e2b2ca6eaff7f4c2/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f0d92111572511530c0e351/6527d994dce9a06ba52bb0cb/6a9f4146e2b2ca6eaff7f4c2/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **The i Newspaper**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Mirror front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f59daaadccea023b5d8fdee/5f59db7ab3b12e0ac7a646a4/6a9f4cffe2b2ca6eaff7f4f5/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f59daaadccea023b5d8fdee/5f59db7ab3b12e0ac7a646a4/6a9f4cffe2b2ca6eaff7f4f5/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Daily Mirror**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Metro (Scotland) front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f0d92111572511530c0e351/6048bbacdca556000f335150/6a9f52eee2b2ca6eaff7f501/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f0d92111572511530c0e351/6048bbacdca556000f335150/6a9f52eee2b2ca6eaff7f501/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Metro (Scotland)**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Express front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f59daaadccea023b5d8fdee/5f59dbfcdccea023b5d8fdf3/6a9f4d5ee2b2ca6eaff7f4fb/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/5f59daaadccea023b5d8fdee/5f59dbfcdccea023b5d8fdf3/6a9f4d5ee2b2ca6eaff7f4fb/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Daily Express**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Star front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/601aa88488b10d000f08388c/6a9f4d7de2b2ca6eaff7f4fe/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/601aa88488b10d000f08388c/6a9f4d7de2b2ca6eaff7f4fe/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Daily Star**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Liverpool Echo front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae2c2605415a0008e06975/6a9f4cb4e2b2ca6eaff7f4ef/2/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae2c2605415a0008e06975/6a9f4cb4e2b2ca6eaff7f4ef/2/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Liverpool Echo**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Western Mail front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/603e86a6e19929000e00afe1/6a9f92d7e2b2ca6eaff7f55b/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/603e86a6e19929000e00afe1/6a9f92d7e2b2ca6eaff7f55b/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Western Mail**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Hull Daily Mail front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae525505415a001fe06a40/6a9f944ce2b2ca6eaff7f591/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae525505415a001fe06a40/6a9f944ce2b2ca6eaff7f591/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Hull Daily Mail**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Derby Telegraph front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae260305415a001fe069ac/6a9f9309e2b2ca6eaff7f567/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae260305415a001fe069ac/6a9f9309e2b2ca6eaff7f567/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Derby Telegraph**8-Sep-2026 [ ![The Journal Newcastle front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae51cd05415a0008e069ad/6a9f927ce2b2ca6eaff7f555/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae51cd05415a0008e069ad/6a9f927ce2b2ca6eaff7f555/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **The Journal Newcastle**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Birmingham Mail front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae22eb05415a001fe0699d/6a9f4c66e2b2ca6eaff7f4ec/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae22eb05415a001fe0699d/6a9f4c66e2b2ca6eaff7f4ec/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Birmingham Mail**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Bristol Post front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae576505415a001fe06a58/6a9f9333e2b2ca6eaff7f570/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae576505415a001fe06a58/6a9f9333e2b2ca6eaff7f570/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Bristol Post**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Coventry Telegraph front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae233e05415a0008e0693d/6a9f941fe2b2ca6eaff7f58e/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae233e05415a0008e0693d/6a9f941fe2b2ca6eaff7f58e/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Coventry Telegraph**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Newcastle Chronicle front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae51b42a282c000879648f/6a9f9261e2b2ca6eaff7f54f/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae51b42a282c000879648f/6a9f9261e2b2ca6eaff7f54f/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Newcastle Chronicle**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Nottingham Post front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae264805415a001fe069ae/6a9f9324e2b2ca6eaff7f56d/1/432-0001.webp) ](https://d3ry4o1su9a59w.cloudfront.net/public/601aa85088b10d000f083885/61ae264805415a001fe069ae/6a9f9324e2b2ca6eaff7f56d/1/432-0001.webp?ref=europeans.today) **Nottingham Post**8-Sep-2026 × ![The Guardian front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299869/mid/0000.jpg) **The Guardian**8-Sep-2026 --- [🇫🇷 France](#fp-europe-20260908-france) [🇩🇪 Germany](#fp-europe-20260908-germany) [🇮🇹 Italy](#fp-europe-20260908-italy) [🇮🇪 Ireland](#fp-europe-20260908-ireland) [🇦🇹 Austria](#fp-europe-20260908-austria) [🇧🇪 Belgium](#fp-europe-20260908-belgium) [🇪🇸 Spain](#fp-europe-20260908-spain) [🇨🇭 Switzerland](#fp-europe-20260908-switzerland) ### 🇫🇷 France [ ![Le Monde front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-monde/20260908/le-monde_20260908_190473.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-monde/20260908/le-monde%5F20260908%5F190473.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Monde**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Figaro front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/figaro/20260908/figaro_20260908_190778.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/figaro/20260908/figaro%5F20260908%5F190778.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Figaro**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Parisien front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-parisien/20260908/le-parisien_20260908_190464.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-parisien/20260908/le-parisien%5F20260908%5F190464.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Parisien**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Libération front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/liberation/20260908/liberation_20260908_190435.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/liberation/20260908/liberation%5F20260908%5F190435.png?ref=europeans.today) **Libération**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Les Echos front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/les-echos/20260908/les-echos_20260908_190893.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/les-echos/20260908/les-echos%5F20260908%5F190893.png?ref=europeans.today) **Les Echos**8-Sep-2026 [ ![La Croix front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-croix/20260908/la-croix_20260908_190467.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-croix/20260908/la-croix%5F20260908%5F190467.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Croix**8-Sep-2026 [ ![La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/d91b7cbd-81d4-45d9-b6ac-2ad8b46d6a54/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg) ](https://static.milibris.com/thumbnail/issue/d91b7cbd-81d4-45d9-b6ac-2ad8b46d6a54/front/catalog-cover-large.jpeg?ref=europeans.today) **La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇩🇪 Germany [ ![Bild front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/bild/20260908/bild_20260908_190767.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/bild/20260908/bild%5F20260908%5F190767.png?ref=europeans.today) **Bild**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung/20260908/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung_20260908_190575.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung/20260908/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung%5F20260908%5F190575.png?ref=europeans.today) **Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Süddeutsche Zeitung front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/sueddeutsche-zeitung/20260908/sueddeutsche-zeitung_20260908_190909.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/sueddeutsche-zeitung/20260908/sueddeutsche-zeitung%5F20260908%5F190909.png?ref=europeans.today) **Süddeutsche Zeitung**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Die Welt front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/welt/20260908/welt_20260908_190739.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/welt/20260908/welt%5F20260908%5F190739.png?ref=europeans.today) **Die Welt**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Handelsblatt front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/handelsblatt/20260908/handelsblatt_20260908_190864.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/handelsblatt/20260908/handelsblatt%5F20260908%5F190864.png?ref=europeans.today) **Handelsblatt**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Der Tagesspiegel front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/der-tagesspiegel/20260908/der-tagesspiegel_20260908_190743.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/der-tagesspiegel/20260908/der-tagesspiegel%5F20260908%5F190743.png?ref=europeans.today) **Der Tagesspiegel**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇮🇹 Italy [ ![Corriere della Sera front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/corriere-della-sera/20260908/corriere-della-sera_20260908_190627.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/corriere-della-sera/20260908/corriere-della-sera%5F20260908%5F190627.png?ref=europeans.today) **Corriere della Sera**8-Sep-2026 [ ![La Repubblica front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/repubblica/20260908/repubblica_20260908_190525.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/repubblica/20260908/repubblica%5F20260908%5F190525.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Repubblica**8-Sep-2026 [ ![La Stampa front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/stampa/20260908/stampa_20260908_190480.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/stampa/20260908/stampa%5F20260908%5F190480.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Stampa**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Fatto Quotidiano front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://st.ilfattoquotidiano.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/07/ilfatto20260908-690x1017.jpg) ](https://st.ilfattoquotidiano.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/07/ilfatto20260908-690x1017.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **Il Fatto Quotidiano**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Messaggero front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/messaggero/20260908/messaggero_20260908_190536.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/messaggero/20260908/messaggero%5F20260908%5F190536.png?ref=europeans.today) **Il Messaggero**8-Sep-2026 [ ![La Verità front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://www.laverita.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/cover_laverita-2.png) ](https://www.laverita.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/cover%5Flaverita-2.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Verità**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇮🇪 Ireland [ ![Irish Examiner front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg) ](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **Irish Examiner**8-Sep-2026 [ ![Irish Independent front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/irish-independent/20260908/irish-independent_20260908_190751.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/irish-independent/20260908/irish-independent%5F20260908%5F190751.png?ref=europeans.today) **Irish Independent**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇦🇹 Austria [ ![Der Standard front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standard/20260908/standard_20260908_190746.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standard/20260908/standard%5F20260908%5F190746.png?ref=europeans.today) **Der Standard**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇧🇪 Belgium [ ![De Standaard front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standaard/20260908/standaard_20260908_190836.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standaard/20260908/standaard%5F20260908%5F190836.png?ref=europeans.today) **De Standaard**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇪🇸 Spain [ ![El País front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/el-pais/20260908/el-pais_20260908_190605.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/el-pais/20260908/el-pais%5F20260908%5F190605.png?ref=europeans.today) **El País**8-Sep-2026 ### 🇨🇭 Switzerland [ ![Le Temps front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/temps/20260908/temps_20260908_190819.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/temps/20260908/temps%5F20260908%5F190819.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Temps**8-Sep-2026 × ![Le Monde front page, 8-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-monde/20260908/le-monde_20260908_190473.png) **Le Monde**8-Sep-2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Reform’s governing ambitions face scrutiny over internal controls URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/07/reforms-governing-ambitions-face-scrutiny-over-internal-controls/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T02:14:20.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Reform UK is presenting itself as ready for government. Its Birmingham conference and the suspension of two senior figures have made questions about internal controls and organisational competence more immediate for voters. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Reform UK used its Birmingham conference to project greater policy and governing credibility. ● However, policy chief James Orr and senior Farage adviser Dan Jukes stepped down pending an internal investigation after an undercover funding investigation. ● Reform denies breaking electoral law or accepting illegal foreign money, and no finding of illegality has been made. ● The developments strengthen, but do not prove, earlier claims that Reform’s organisational machinery may be struggling to keep pace with its political ambitions. --- R eform UK used its annual conference in Birmingham to present itself as a more developed government-in-waiting. But the event also produced the clearest evidence yet that questions about the party's internal controls are not confined to complaints from disaffected insiders. Hours before Nigel Farage’s main conference speech, Reform suspended two senior figures after an undercover investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News and produced with the investigative group Verbatim. Dan Jukes, a longstanding Farage adviser, and James Orr, Reform’s head of policy, [stepped down from their roles](https://apnews.com/article/reform-uk-farage-funding-allegations-bb61ee0c3626ba21dc664b62b6c73bfe?ref=europeans.today) pending an internal investigation. The footage, as reported by the [*FT*](https://www.ft.com/content/5c4f86d2-411f-4b3b-9926-d27432ffc290?ref=europeans.today), showed discussions involving a purported American donor and ways money might benefit Reform. Orr was filmed discussing foreign-funded polling. In another meeting, a proposed £500,000 donation was discussed in front of Farage with reference to routing it through a UK-based son. Reform denies breaking electoral law or accepting illegal foreign money. Farage characterised parts of the recorded conversations as “loose pub talk” and said the party had done nothing wrong. The Electoral Commission said it was considering the information and was in contact with the Metropolitan Police. Farage acknowledged the episode “looks bad” while [continuing to deny any breach](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/06/farage-says-overseas-donation-row-looks-bad-but-denies-reform-breached-electoral-law?ref=europeans.today). The investigation does not establish that Reform knowingly accepted an unlawful donation. But the suspension of two figures close to the party’s leadership, including its policy chief, creates a concrete internal-governance test that did not exist [when Tim Montgomerie raised concerns](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce34rrq30l2o?ref=europeans.today) about Reform’s organisation in August. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/07/todays-papers-7-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-07T17:00:52.000Z --- [🇬🇧 United Kingdom](#fp-preview-20260907-r2-uk) ### 🇬🇧 United Kingdom [ ![The Guardian front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299826/mid/0000.jpg) ](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299826/mid/0000.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **The Guardian**7-Sep-2026 [ ![The Independent — Digital Daily Edition front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299827/mid/0000.jpg) ](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299827/mid/0000.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **The Independent — Digital Daily Edition**7-Sep-2026 [ ![The Times front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TimesMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TimesMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **The Times**7-Sep-2026 [ ![The i Newspaper front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/inewspaperMonday7thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=774%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/inewspaperMonday7thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=774%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **The i Newspaper**7-Sep-2026 [ ![The Telegraph front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TelegraphMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=623%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/TelegraphMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=623%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **The Telegraph**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Mirror front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MirrorMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MirrorMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **Daily Mirror**7-Sep-2026 [ ![The Sun front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SunMonday7thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SunMonday7thSeptember2026.jpeg?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **The Sun**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Metro front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MetroMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=767%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MetroMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=767%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **Metro**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Mail front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MailMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=798%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MailMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=798%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **Daily Mail**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Express front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ExpressMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ExpressMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **Daily Express**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Daily Star front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/StarMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/StarMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=805%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **Daily Star**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Financial Times front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FTMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=634%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FTMonday7thSeptember2026.png?resize=634%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) **Financial Times**7-Sep-2026 × ![The Guardian front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://files.coverscdn.com/covers/299826/mid/0000.jpg) **The Guardian**7-Sep-2026 --- [🇫🇷 France](#fp-europe-20260907-france) [🇩🇪 Germany](#fp-europe-20260907-germany) [🇮🇹 Italy](#fp-europe-20260907-italy) [🇮🇪 Ireland](#fp-europe-20260907-ireland) [🇦🇹 Austria](#fp-europe-20260907-austria) [🇧🇪 Belgium](#fp-europe-20260907-belgium) [🇩🇰 Denmark](#fp-europe-20260907-denmark) [🇬🇷 Greece](#fp-europe-20260907-greece) [🇳🇱 Netherlands](#fp-europe-20260907-netherlands) [🇳🇴 Norway](#fp-europe-20260907-norway) [🇵🇱 Poland](#fp-europe-20260907-poland) [🇵🇹 Portugal](#fp-europe-20260907-portugal) [🇪🇸 Spain](#fp-europe-20260907-spain) [🇸🇪 Sweden](#fp-europe-20260907-sweden) [🇨🇭 Switzerland](#fp-europe-20260907-switzerland) ### 🇫🇷 France [ ![Le Figaro front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/figaro/20260907/figaro_20260907_190114.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/figaro/20260907/figaro%5F20260907%5F190114.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Figaro**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Le Parisien front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-parisien/20260907/le-parisien_20260907_189824.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/le-parisien/20260907/le-parisien%5F20260907%5F189824.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Parisien**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Libération front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/liberation/20260907/liberation_20260907_189749.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/liberation/20260907/liberation%5F20260907%5F189749.png?ref=europeans.today) **Libération**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Les Echos front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/les-echos/20260907/les-echos_20260907_190295.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/les-echos/20260907/les-echos%5F20260907%5F190295.png?ref=europeans.today) **Les Echos**7-Sep-2026 [ ![La Croix front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-croix/20260907/la-croix_20260907_189721.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-croix/20260907/la-croix%5F20260907%5F189721.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Croix**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇩🇪 Germany [ ![Bild front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/bild/20260907/bild_20260907_190055.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/bild/20260907/bild%5F20260907%5F190055.png?ref=europeans.today) **Bild**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung/20260907/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung_20260907_189873.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung/20260907/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung%5F20260907%5F189873.png?ref=europeans.today) **Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Süddeutsche Zeitung front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/sueddeutsche-zeitung/20260907/sueddeutsche-zeitung_20260907_190280.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/sueddeutsche-zeitung/20260907/sueddeutsche-zeitung%5F20260907%5F190280.png?ref=europeans.today) **Süddeutsche Zeitung**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Die Welt front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/welt/20260907/welt_20260907_190173.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/welt/20260907/welt%5F20260907%5F190173.png?ref=europeans.today) **Die Welt**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Handelsblatt front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/handelsblatt/20260907/handelsblatt_20260907_190338.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/handelsblatt/20260907/handelsblatt%5F20260907%5F190338.png?ref=europeans.today) **Handelsblatt**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Der Tagesspiegel front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/der-tagesspiegel/20260907/der-tagesspiegel_20260907_190235.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/der-tagesspiegel/20260907/der-tagesspiegel%5F20260907%5F190235.png?ref=europeans.today) **Der Tagesspiegel**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇮🇹 Italy [ ![Corriere della Sera front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/corriere-della-sera/20260907/corriere-della-sera_20260907_189944.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/corriere-della-sera/20260907/corriere-della-sera%5F20260907%5F189944.png?ref=europeans.today) **Corriere della Sera**7-Sep-2026 [ ![La Repubblica front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/repubblica/20260907/repubblica_20260907_189776.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/repubblica/20260907/repubblica%5F20260907%5F189776.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Repubblica**7-Sep-2026 [ ![La Stampa front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/stampa/20260907/stampa_20260907_189778.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/stampa/20260907/stampa%5F20260907%5F189778.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Stampa**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Messaggero front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/messaggero/20260907/messaggero_20260907_189789.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/messaggero/20260907/messaggero%5F20260907%5F189789.png?ref=europeans.today) **Il Messaggero**7-Sep-2026 [ ![La Verità front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-verita/20260907/la-verita_20260907_189946.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/la-verita/20260907/la-verita%5F20260907%5F189946.png?ref=europeans.today) **La Verità**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Il Sole 24 Ore front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/il-sole-24-ore/20260907/il-sole-24-ore_20260907_189954.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/il-sole-24-ore/20260907/il-sole-24-ore%5F20260907%5F189954.png?ref=europeans.today) **Il Sole 24 Ore**7-Sep-2026 [ ![ItaliaOggi front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/italia-oggi/20260907/italia-oggi_20260907_190272.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/italia-oggi/20260907/italia-oggi%5F20260907%5F190272.png?ref=europeans.today) **ItaliaOggi**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇮🇪 Ireland [ ![The Irish Times front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishtimes/teasers/5088/medium.jpg) ](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishtimes/teasers/5088/medium.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **The Irish Times**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Irish Examiner front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg) ](https://www.e-pages.dk/irishexaminer/teasers/13670/medium.jpg?ref=europeans.today) **Irish Examiner**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Irish Independent front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/irish-independent/20260907/irish-independent_20260907_190111.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/irish-independent/20260907/irish-independent%5F20260907%5F190111.png?ref=europeans.today) **Irish Independent**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇦🇹 Austria [ ![Der Standard front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standard/20260907/standard_20260907_190067.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standard/20260907/standard%5F20260907%5F190067.png?ref=europeans.today) **Der Standard**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Die Presse front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/presse/20260907/presse_20260907_190276.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/presse/20260907/presse%5F20260907%5F190276.png?ref=europeans.today) **Die Presse**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇧🇪 Belgium [ ![De Standaard front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standaard/20260907/standaard_20260907_190065.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/standaard/20260907/standaard%5F20260907%5F190065.png?ref=europeans.today) **De Standaard**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇩🇰 Denmark [ ![Politiken front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/politiken/20260907/politiken_20260907_190070.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/politiken/20260907/politiken%5F20260907%5F190070.png?ref=europeans.today) **Politiken**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇬🇷 Greece [ ![Ta Nea front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/ta-nea/20260907/ta-nea_20260907_190335.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/ta-nea/20260907/ta-nea%5F20260907%5F190335.png?ref=europeans.today) **Ta Nea**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Naftemporiki front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/naftemporiki/20260907/naftemporiki_20260907_189996.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/naftemporiki/20260907/naftemporiki%5F20260907%5F189996.png?ref=europeans.today) **Naftemporiki**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇳🇱 Netherlands [ ![NRC front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/nrc/20260907/nrc_20260907_190219.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/nrc/20260907/nrc%5F20260907%5F190219.png?ref=europeans.today) **NRC**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇳🇴 Norway [ ![Aftenposten front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/aftenposten/20260907/aftenposten_20260907_190175.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/aftenposten/20260907/aftenposten%5F20260907%5F190175.png?ref=europeans.today) **Aftenposten**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇵🇱 Poland [ ![Gazeta Wyborcza front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/gazeta-wyborcza/20260907/gazeta-wyborcza_20260907_190229.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/gazeta-wyborcza/20260907/gazeta-wyborcza%5F20260907%5F190229.png?ref=europeans.today) **Gazeta Wyborcza**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇵🇹 Portugal [ ![Público front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/publico/20260907/publico_20260907_190321.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/publico/20260907/publico%5F20260907%5F190321.png?ref=europeans.today) **Público**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Correio da Manhã front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/correio-da-manha/20260907/correio-da-manha_20260907_190236.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/correio-da-manha/20260907/correio-da-manha%5F20260907%5F190236.png?ref=europeans.today) **Correio da Manhã**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Jornal de Notícias front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/jornal-de-noticias/20260907/jornal-de-noticias_20260907_190118.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/jornal-de-noticias/20260907/jornal-de-noticias%5F20260907%5F190118.png?ref=europeans.today) **Jornal de Notícias**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Diário de Notícias front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/diario-de-noticias/20260907/diario-de-noticias_20260907_190048.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/diario-de-noticias/20260907/diario-de-noticias%5F20260907%5F190048.png?ref=europeans.today) **Diário de Notícias**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Jornal de Negócios front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/jornal-de-negocios/20260907/jornal-de-negocios_20260907_190124.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/jornal-de-negocios/20260907/jornal-de-negocios%5F20260907%5F190124.png?ref=europeans.today) **Jornal de Negócios**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Açoriano Oriental front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/acoriano-oriental/20260907/acoriano-oriental_20260907_190131.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/acoriano-oriental/20260907/acoriano-oriental%5F20260907%5F190131.png?ref=europeans.today) **Açoriano Oriental**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Jornal da Madeira front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/jornal-da-madeira/20260907/jornal-da-madeira_20260907_190243.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/jornal-da-madeira/20260907/jornal-da-madeira%5F20260907%5F190243.png?ref=europeans.today) **Jornal da Madeira**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇪🇸 Spain [ ![ABC front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/abc/20260907/abc_20260907_190268.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/abc/20260907/abc%5F20260907%5F190268.png?ref=europeans.today) **ABC**7-Sep-2026 [ ![El País front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/el-pais/20260907/el-pais_20260907_189940.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/el-pais/20260907/el-pais%5F20260907%5F189940.png?ref=europeans.today) **El País**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇸🇪 Sweden [ ![Svenska Dagbladet front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/svenska-dagbladet/20260907/svenska-dagbladet_20260907_190060.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/svenska-dagbladet/20260907/svenska-dagbladet%5F20260907%5F190060.png?ref=europeans.today) **Svenska Dagbladet**7-Sep-2026 ### 🇨🇭 Switzerland [ ![Le Temps front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/temps/20260907/temps_20260907_190157.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/temps/20260907/temps%5F20260907%5F190157.png?ref=europeans.today) **Le Temps**7-Sep-2026 [ ![Neue Zürcher Zeitung front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/neue-zurcher-zeitung/20260907/neue-zurcher-zeitung_20260907_190053.png) ](https://thefrontpager.com/media/neue-zurcher-zeitung/20260907/neue-zurcher-zeitung%5F20260907%5F190053.png?ref=europeans.today) **Neue Zürcher Zeitung**7-Sep-2026 × ![Le Figaro front page, 7-Sep-2026](https://thefrontpager.com/media/figaro/20260907/figaro_20260907_190114.png) **Le Figaro**7-Sep-2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/06/todays-briefing-6-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T07:00:17.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- ## TODAY’s Opening Line Political movements can survive difficult facts. The greater democratic risk comes when voters are encouraged to treat those facts as somebody else’s invention. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **Reform UK funding controversy follows Farage out of party conference** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Reform UK leader Nigel Farage [told the BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qxgn7q1vdo?ref=europeans.today) he “wasn’t even listening” during [a meeting now central to allegations](https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/05/reform-uk-polling-sting-why-even-small-donations-matter-in-politics-these-days/) about whether senior party figures discussed ways around Britain’s restrictions on overseas political donations. James Orr, Reform’s head of policy, and Dan Jukes, a close Farage aide, were removed from their roles pending an internal investigation after undercover footage, [reported by *The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/05/i-wasnt-even-listening-farage-says-of-donations-scandal-meeting?ref=europeans.today) and [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-talks-taking-place-about-what-to-do-with-seized-shadow-fleet-tanker-as-it-sits-off-dorset-coast-12593360?postid=11793745&ref=europeans.today), showed discussions about funding involving a purported American donor. Reform denies wrongdoing, while the Metropolitan Police are assessing the material. Farage says neither he nor the party broke the law and has argued that the controversy forms part of a wider effort by “the establishment” to damage Reform. His explanation for the disputed meeting was that he had understood the prospective funding to involve a UK-based family office and that he had not been paying close attention to the discussion. **▫ WHO IS INVOLVED:** - **Nigel Farage** is Reform UK’s leader. - **Dan Jukes** was one of his closest aides. - **James Orr** headed party policy. - **The Metropolitan Police** are assessing whether there is evidence requiring further action. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is no longer simply a conference-management problem. The central question is whether people operating close to the leadership understood and complied with rules designed to [stop ](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/05/i-wasnt-even-listening-farage-says-of-donations-scandal-meeting?ref=europeans.today)[impermissible overseas money entering British politics](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/05/i-wasnt-even-listening-farage-says-of-donations-scandal-meeting?ref=europeans.today). The political issue is nevertheless serious because Reform presents itself as ready for government. Parties seeking executive power are judged not only on whether money was ultimately accepted, but also on their internal controls, compliance culture and response when senior figures discuss arrangements that could engage election law. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform’s leadership** benefits if legal and compliance scrutiny is reduced to a story about hostile journalists or an establishment conspiracy. Farage has himself [encouraged that interpretation](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/05/i-wasnt-even-listening-farage-says-of-donations-scandal-meeting?ref=europeans.today). It shifts attention from the narrower and more testable questions of what was proposed, what senior figures knew and whether the party’s safeguards worked. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/05/todays-briefing-5-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T01:43:41.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- ## TODAY’s Opening Line Today’s stories share a common question: whether institutions are prepared to withstand pressure before a political, security or climate risk becomes a crisis. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **Reform aides face scrutiny over alleged foreign-funded polling** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Two senior Reform UK figures, head of policy James Orr and Nigel Farage aide Dan Jukes, [have stepped down](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-talks-taking-place-about-what-to-do-with-seized-shadow-fleet-tanker-as-it-sits-off-dorset-coast-12593360?postid=11793745&utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) while the party investigates allegations arising from an [undercover investigation](https://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-nigel-farage-filmed-undercover-celebrating-secret-new-foreign-donations?ref=europeans.today) for Channel 4\. *Sky News* reported that the investigation alleged a US company funded three polls commissioned for Reform at a total cost of £32,500\. Reform denies wrongdoing, while Farage says the party received no illegal money. The Metropolitan Police says it is aware of the allegations and will assess the matter. The *Financial Times* reports that the central legal issue is [not confined to cash entering a party account.](https://www.ft.com/content/35ac0ba7-9cce-4ee3-b5f2-cce744c9f97e?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) Political polling provided for a party can potentially constitute a benefit in kind, and legal experts have warned that knowingly facilitating support from an impermissible foreign donor can constitute a criminal offence under UK political finance law. That does not establish that an offence occurred. **▫ WHO IS INVOLVED:** - **James Orr** is Reform UK’s head of policy. - **Dan Jukes** has been a senior aide to Nigel Farage. - **Nigel Farage** leads Reform UK. - The purported American donor and his UK-based son were **undercover investigators**. - **Reform UK** has opened an internal investigation - The **Metropolitan Police** are assessing the allegations. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The important distinction is between an allegation, an internal party finding and a criminal offence. None is interchangeable with the others. But Reform’s defence that it did not receive illegal money does not by itself dispose of every legal question raised by the reporting. [UK political finance rules](https://www.ft.com/content/35ac0ba7-9cce-4ee3-b5f2-cce744c9f97e?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) cover some non-cash benefits as well as direct donations. The accountability issue is therefore whether the polling constituted a regulated benefit, who arranged or accepted it, and what those involved knew about its source. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform** and **the officials facing scrutiny** benefit if the argument is reduced solely to whether foreign cash physically entered a Reform bank account. That framing risks excluding the separate question of whether polling paid for by an impermissible source could count as support to the party. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Reform UK polling sting: Why even small donations matter in politics these days URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/05/reform-uk-polling-sting-why-even-small-donations-matter-in-politics-these-days/ Last updated: 2026-09-05T03:54:59.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Political finance rules are being tested as Reform UK faces scrutiny over polling payments and proposed foreign funding, showing how relatively small sums can influence media narratives, campaign strategy and electoral perceptions. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Reform UK faces questions over £32,500 of polling allegedly funded by an impermissible overseas source. ● James Orr and Dan Jukes stepped down from their roles while the party investigates the allegations. ● Undercover footage on Channel 4 also raised questions about a fictional £500,000 donation proposed through a British intermediary. ● The case intensifies pressure for tighter political-finance rules as the government considers reforms covering overseas and mega-donor funding. --- R eform UK’s national conference has been rocked by allegations that senior members of the party plotted to circumvent rules on political donations. The reports centre on two payments – one real and one suggested, but both important. The two Reform staff members at the centre of the investigation have been suspended. The apparent plans were captured in a sting, filmed in London and Clacton by undercover journalists from Verbatim Investigations and broadcast by *Channel 4 News*. The first allegation from the film is that James Orr, who was Reform’s head of policy until his suspension, arranged for an impermissible donor to pay for [£32,500 of polling](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/03/reform-officials-plotted-to-break-law-on-foreign-donations-in-undercover-film?ref=europeans.today), which later made headlines in national newspapers, from the company JL Partners. The question surrounding the payment is whether it is allowed under electoral law, and whether it should have been reported to the Electoral Commission. The law is clear that if you pay for research on behalf of a party (this is known as sponsorship), that payment counts as a donation and ought to be recorded as such. So, there is a question about why this donation does not appear in the Electoral Commission database. However, a more pertinent issue is one of permissibility – basically, who is legally allowed to give money in UK politics. A person or company from the US, say, is categorically not a permissible source. If a UK party receives a donation from an impermissible source, it must be returned. This will be a matter for the Electoral Commission to decide on. However, it is an offence under electoral law to attempt to evade permissibility restrictions on donations, or “participate in an arrangement or withhold information” about them. Reform UK has been [reported to the police](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/04/nigel-farage-seeks-shore-up-damaged-reform-leadership-scandal-engulfs-party-conference?ref=europeans.today) and the party has launched an internal probe. But it has [denied wrongdoing](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86xj5z7x61o?ref=europeans.today) and says it was the target of a hoax. Nigel Farage: “Bang for buck.” | [CHANNEL 4 NEWS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXut3s90rUI&ref=europeans.today) ### Farage on film Even more damaging for party leader Nigel Farage (because he was filmed discussing it) may be the promise of £500,000 from a – fictional – American businessman. This donation appeared to be offered to be funnelled through the businessman’s British-born son. Farage can be heard on the film thanking the undercover reporters, who are posing as the father and son. There was also footage of Farage’s then-aide Dan Jukes (now suspended), who appears to be discussing previous examples of this kind of arrangement. In the film, a series of bleeps can be heard – possibly as Jukes is naming names. There is a third question, which concerns the effect the polling had – its [“bang for buck”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/03/reform-officials-plotted-to-break-law-on-foreign-donations-in-undercover-film?ref=europeans.today), as Farage put it. In electoral terms, £32,500 is a piddling sum, less than 0.05% of the total spent by all political parties at the 2024 UK general election. But it may still have had a significant impact. These polls were covered on the front pages of national newspapers, showing just how far a little bit of money can go. They were stories that added to the wider narrative of a surge in Reform’s popularity. There is nothing new about this. Once, having too much time on my hands, I dug around the Electoral Commission political finance database trying to work out how much the infamous [Brexit bus](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42698981?ref=europeans.today) had cost, and found it was about £90,000. I imagine this is one of the main things the UK public remembers about that campaign. The point is a well-placed message, playing into pre-existing narratives, can be priceless. But there is also a wider point, which I have made to parliamentary committees. In an increasingly fragmented political environment, money matters far more than it once did – and goes much further. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000807--1-.jpg) In the final part of the sting, filmed in Clacton, Nigel Farage thanks the fake millionaires. | SCREENSHOT/[CHANNEL 4 NEWS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXut3s90rUI&ref=europeans.today) In the UK’s traditional two-party system, there was a smaller persuadable electorate, and therefore money had diminishing returns. But now the margins are thinner, and elections can be won on 30% or less of the vote. Not only does every penny count, but every penny goes further. If, with polling evidence, you can play into the narrative that Reform is now the party to beat on the right, for example, that can act as rocket fuel – not just for Reform’s true believers, but wavering Tories. Polling matters, because it changes minds and influences the political strategies that decide elections. James Johnson, founding director of JL Partners, is seen on the undercover film discussing the company’s “informal rule bending”. These polls would not have been front-page news if the Reform connection had been known. JL Partners has serious questions to answer about its operating practices in the wake of these revelations. The company has accepted it breached British Polling Council rules, saying it contacted the body after becoming aware and pledging an internal review of its processes. This story also reminds us that questions about party funding are not going away. We know that British politics has well and truly entered the [era of the mega-donor](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/), and we know that the public don’t like it. Despite setting up a [cross-government taskforce](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/02/new-uk-taskforce-will-examine-influence-of-political-mega-donors?ref=europeans.today), Labour could have moved faster to apply a universal [cap on donations](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7839kyekm0o?ref=europeans.today). This story reminds us there is an urgent need to reflect on how to address the access and influence that money has on UK democracy. Whether to grasp this particular nettle will be one of the key issues that defines this government. The [Representation of the People Bill](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/02/new-uk-taskforce-will-examine-influence-of-political-mega-donors?ref=europeans.today) is moving through parliament. But anyone who has seen the undercover footage may feel that the ban on cryptocurrency donations and £100,000 limit on donations from voters based abroad that it proposes won’t be enough to fix things. If this doesn’t inspire Labour’s new taskforce to be bold in seeking solutions that every party can get behind, what will? ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the Electoral Commission escalates its assessment and how closely it coordinates with the Metropolitan Police over the alleged funding arrangements. ● The outcome of Reform UK’s internal investigation and whether James Orr or Dan Jukes face further disciplinary or legal consequences. ● Whether parliamentary scrutiny of Nigel Farage widens following complaints connected with the undercover footage and the funding of the polling. ● Whether the government’s political-finance taskforce recommends broader donation limits or stronger controls as the Representation of the People Bill progresses. ● Whether polling organisations strengthen disclosure and commissioning rules following the questions raised about how the JL Partners surveys were funded. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The controversy is likely to remain primarily an investigative and reputational problem in the near term while regulators, police and Reform UK establish who authorised the arrangements, what was reported and whether electoral law was breached. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Documentary evidence establishing either direct senior-party authorisation of an impermissible arrangement or, conversely, records showing that no prohibited donation was accepted could materially alter the legal and political consequences. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● If relatively modest spending can generate national political narratives, transparency over who pays for polling and campaign activity becomes central to electoral integrity. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![Europeans TODAY](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) [ ](#ref) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Five questions over Nigel Farage’s £5 million donation](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Why the probe into Nigel Farage’s finances didn’t hurt him at the ballot box](https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/why-the-probe-into-nigel-farages-finances-didnt-hurt-him-at-the-ballot-box/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Reform officials ‘plotted to break law on foreign donations’ in undercover film](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/03/reform-officials-plotted-to-break-law-on-foreign-donations-in-undercover-film?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Farage aides step down after undercover report on Reform UK donations](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/04/nigel-farage-aides-step-down-reform-uk-investigation-political-donation-rules-breach?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [New UK taskforce will examine influence of political mega-donors](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/02/new-uk-taskforce-will-examine-influence-of-political-mega-donors?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Nigel Farage’s party suspends top officials after undercover sting makes foreign funding claims](https://apnews.com/article/bb61ee0c3626ba21dc664b62b6c73bfe?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/reform-uk-polling-sting-why-even-small-donations-matter-in-politics-these-days-291314?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 5 September 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Aaron Lemay](https://www.dreamstime.com/laphotographer86%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/291314/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Reform UK plans birthplace-based priority for social housing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/05/reform-uk-plans-birthplace-based-priority-for-social-housing/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T01:12:54.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Reform’s plan would change who gets priority for scarce social housing, including treating British citizens differently according to birthplace, with consequences for housing need, citizenship and public-resource allocation. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Reform UK wants British-born workers to receive greater social-housing priority. ● British citizens born overseas would rank below British-born citizens, subject to stated exemptions. ● Marriage, young families and veteran status would also affect priority. ● Reform says it would build 50,000 “socially affordable” homes a year, but important financing and implementation questions remain. --- R eform UK plans to give British citizens born in the UK higher priority for social housing than British citizens born overseas, extending its housing policy beyond nationality to [distinguish between British citizens according to birthplace](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/23/reform-social-housing-uk-citizens?ref=europeans.today). The policy was formally launched on 24 August and remains consistent with the party’s “British Workers First” agenda presented around its September conference. Under the proposals, British-born workers under 35 would receive greater priority for available social homes. [Married couples with children would be particularly favoured](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-giving-speech-ahead-of-long-awaited-budget-12593360?ref=europeans.today), while veterans would also receive preferential treatment. Reform says [marriage should become a formal allocation factor](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-giving-speech-ahead-of-long-awaited-budget-12593360?ref=europeans.today), requiring councils to give married couples additional weighting. British citizens born overseas would receive lower priority. Reform has said that [people born abroad](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/23/reform-social-housing-uk-citizens?ref=europeans.today) while their British parents were temporarily overseas would be treated as British-born for the purposes of the scheme. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000809--1-.jpg) Fictional and satirical illustration of how Reform’s proposed social housing priorities could look. | AI-GENERATED The proposals go further than Reform’s earlier promise to exclude foreign nationals from social housing. That policy would also affect existing foreign-national tenants, whom Reform says should be required to move into private accommodation. The plans would require substantial changes to the present system. In England, councils must currently give [reasonable preference](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/allocation-of-accommodation-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-4-framing-an-allocation-scheme?ref=europeans.today) to groups including homeless households, people living in overcrowded or insanitary conditions, applicants with medical or welfare needs and people facing particular hardship. Housing is also devolved, with [England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland operating separate systems](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-08-29/71044?ref=europeans.today). Reform has additionally proposed tougher obligations for social tenants. Party chair Lee Anderson said [tenants could face eviction](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/24/reform-evict-social-housing-tenants-poor-garden-maintenance?ref=europeans.today) if they failed to keep their homes and gardens adequately maintained. The party says it wants 50,000 “socially affordable” homes built each year. Its proposals envisage [greater borrowing by housing associations](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/24/reform-evict-social-housing-tenants-poor-garden-maintenance?ref=europeans.today) as part of the effort to increase construction, although questions remain about the overall cost, financing and definition of “socially affordable”. Reform has presented housing scarcity as part of its case for prioritising working British-born applicants. England had [about 1.34 million households](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-lettings-in-england-april-2024-to-march-2025/social-housing-lettings-in-england-tenants-april-2024-to-march-2025?ref=europeans.today) on local-authority housing registers at the end of March 2025. But some claims used to support the policy require qualification. Official national statistics do not establish that the “vast majority” of households waiting for social housing are unemployed. The policy therefore raises two distinct questions: how Britain should increase the supply of social housing, and whether birthplace, employment and marital status should determine priority among people seeking it. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Reform publishes fuller legislative wording explaining exactly how birthplace would be weighted against statutory housing need. ● How the party proposes to apply its approach across devolved housing systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ● Further detail on how housing-association borrowing would finance the promised 50,000 socially affordable homes a year. ● Whether exemptions or safeguards are expanded for vulnerable applicants, disabled people, homeless households and other existing reasonable-preference groups. ● How Reform would define and enforce the proposed maintenance standards that could expose tenants to eviction. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The proposals are likely to remain subject to legal, financial and administrative scrutiny before they could alter existing allocation rules, with legislation required for substantial changes. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Publication of detailed legislation or a revised policy framework that changes the role of birthplace, housing need, exemptions or financing. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Reform UK is proposing to change not only who qualifies for scarce social housing, but how priority would be distributed between people who already share British citizenship. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Reform says it would put foreign-born UK citizens lower on social housing list](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/23/reform-social-housing-uk-citizens?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Reform would evict social housing tenants over unkempt gardens](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/24/reform-evict-social-housing-tenants-poor-garden-maintenance?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Reform defends plan to give married couples priority for housing](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-giving-speech-ahead-of-long-awaited-budget-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Working Britons given priority for social housing under Reform UK](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/working-britons-given-priority-for-social-housing-under-reform-uk-v9tjh3vkc?ref=europeans.today) | *THE TIMES* - ###### [Allocation of accommodation: framing an allocation scheme](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/allocation-of-accommodation-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-4-framing-an-allocation-scheme?ref=europeans.today) | UK GOVERNMENT - ###### [Social housing lettings in England, tenants: April 2024 to March 2025](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-lettings-in-england-april-2024-to-march-2025/social-housing-lettings-in-england-tenants-april-2024-to-march-2025?ref=europeans.today) | UK GOVERNMENT - ###### [Social housing and non-UK nationals: parliamentary answer](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-08-29/71044?ref=europeans.today) | UK PARLIAMENT ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 5 September 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### The Ceuta border incident shows how EU migration can be ‘weaponised’ – but overall levels are declining URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/05/the-ceuta-border-incident-shows-how-eu-migration-can-be-weaponised-but-overall-levels-are-declining/ Last updated: 2026-09-05T01:44:53.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Ceuta shows how sudden pressure at one external border can trigger political consequences across the EU, testing Schengen, solidarity rules, relations with neighbouring states and Europe’s ability to manage migration collectively. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● More than 70,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta during an extraordinary border surge at the end of July. ● Most subsequently returned to Morocco, but the episode rapidly became a wider European political and humanitarian crisis. ● The incident highlights how migration flows can become entangled with diplomatic disputes and dependence on neighbouring countries for border control. ● Despite the Ceuta surge, irregular crossings at the EU’s external borders have been falling overall. --- I t took one night in Ceuta to end a relatively quiet summer on Europe’s southern border. Over [70,000 people](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80n3j55g0do?ref=europeans.today) entered the Spanish enclave from Morocco between July 30 and 31, most of them swimming around the heavily guarded border fences. For comparison, at the peak of the 2015-16 migration crisis, Italy received over [180,000](https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/italy-receives-more-asylum-seekers-germany-libya-23587?ref=europeans.today) irregular migrants across an entire year. This was roughly a third of Italy’s busiest year, compressed into a single day. Most of those who crossed have since [returned to Morocco](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/03/ceuta-leader-border-crossing-morocco-spain?ref=europeans.today). But the episode has already become an EU-wide political crisis. By the end of the day, Italy had [suspended its Schengen free-movement agreement](https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2026/07/31/diretta/ceuta%5Fmigranti%5Fmarocco%5Fmeloni%5Fsanchez%5Fultime%5Fnotizie-425503850/?ref=europeans.today) with Spain. This choice was primarily political, but short-sighted. It ignored the fact that most people crossing at Ceuta have little interest in going to Italy. And just as new EU migration rules mandating [“flexible solidarity”](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/new-migration-and-asylum-rules-enter-application-what-changing-2026-06-12%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) come into force, it sets a precedent for turning away from frontline states – Italy included – the next time they face migratory pressure. ### Who is to blame for Ceuta? Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, attributed the sudden inflow to [smuggling gangs](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/world/europe/migrants-surge-morocco-ceuta-spain.html?ref=europeans.today) exploiting a recent ruling by his country’s supreme court, which bars authorities from summarily returning migrants intercepted at sea. Rightwing politicians and commentators instead pointed to Spain’s recent [amnesty](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/world/europe/migrants-surge-morocco-ceuta-spain.html?ref=europeans.today) of nearly a million people. However, academic studies are [sceptical](https://irregularmigration.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MIrreM-GuKraler-Examining-the-Pull-Effect-v1-2025.pdf?ref=europeans.today) that such policies act as pull factors for migrants. Either way, a crossing of this scale and speed would arguably not have been possible without Morocco’s cooperation. Reports have emerged of [Moroccan authorities waving people through](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/02/ceuta-border-crossing-spain-morocco?ref=europeans.today) at points where, a day earlier, they had been turning them back. Morocco’s government has not issued an official statement, but the message appears clear: the authorities there can let people through the border, or not, largely as they choose. This is what scholars call the [“weaponisation”](https://www.perlego.com/paid/book/533973/weapons-of-mass-migration-forced-displacement-coercion-and-foreign-policy-pdf?ref=europeans.today) of migration. In this case, it is probably related to political disagreement over Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in the 1970s. Days before the mass border crossing, Sánchez had visited Algeria, where the contentious question of [Western Sahara’s independence](https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20260720-spain-pm-sanchez-visits-algeria-first-time-four-years-ties-thaw?ref=europeans.today) was raised. This indication that Spain is seeking closer ties with Algeria, which backs Western Sahara’s pro-independence movement Polisario Front, is seen as a threat to Morocco’s claim to the region. It echoes 2021, when [Morocco sanctioned Spain](https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/ceuta-weaponisation-migration?ref=europeans.today) over its decision to allow a Western Sahara independence leader to receive treatment for COVID in Spain. Roughly 8,000 people crossed into Ceuta days later. Such a tactic has several precedents in Europe. In 2020, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, warned the EU it would [“pay the price”](https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/ceuta-weaponisation-migration?ref=europeans.today) for failing to increase financial aid and support the country’s military operations in Syria. Within days, around 13,000 people tried to cross into Greece via the Evros River. A decade earlier, Libya’s then-leader Muammar Gaddafi warned that Europe would [“turn into Africa”](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11139345?ref=europeans.today) if the EU did not pay billions of euros to his country, showing how migration can be leveraged as a threat for other political goals. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/09/0000806b--1-.jpg) Migrants in Ceuta awaiting transfer to shelters by Spanish police and military. | DREAMSTIME/[WIRESTOCK](https://www.dreamstime.com/wirestock%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Mediterranean migration routes Beyond this latest spike, overall Mediterranean crossings are, in fact, [comparatively low](https://www.frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news/news-release/frontex-irregular-border-crossings-into-the-eu-down-37-in-the-first-half-of-2026-Z5YoLp?ref=europeans.today). Between January and June 2026, around 49,000 people crossed the EU’s external borders irregularly, down 37% on the same period last year. This continues a multiyear decline: 2025 saw 178,000 crossings, already the [lowest since 2021](https://www.frontex.europa.eu/publications/inbrief-2025-GdV4vL?ref=europeans.today) and a fraction of 2015 levels. Of the three main sea routes for migrants coming from Africa to Europe, the eastern Mediterranean (to Greece) and central Mediterranean (to Italy) remain busiest, accounting for over 60% of detections between them: 16,643 and 14,340 respectively in the first half of 2026. The western Mediterranean route to Spain was the only one to rise this year, up 17% to 7,860 arrivals. This was driven chiefly by more departures from Algeria toward the Balearic islands. Tighter controls in Morocco and along the west African and central Mediterranean routes [pushed smuggling networks toward Algerian shores](https://www.frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news/news-release/frontex-irregular-border-crossings-into-the-eu-down-37-in-the-first-half-of-2026-Z5YoLp?ref=europeans.today) instead. The broader decline reflects improved conditions in Syria: Europe-wide [asylum applications from Syrians fell](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Asylum%5Fapplications%5F-%5Fannual%5Fstatistics&ref=europeans.today#Where%5Fdo%5Fasylum%5Fseekers%5Fcome%5Ffrom) from almost 360,000 in 2015 to under 40,000 in 2025. It has also been influenced by more cooperation between EU countries and countries of origin and transit, including deals between the EU and Turkey (2016), Italy and Libya (2017), and more recent agreements between the EU and [Mauritania](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/24425c1c-dd34-4c71-8f9e-77ecbac22305%5Fen?filename=D%C3%A9claration-conjointe-Mauritanie-EU%5Fen.pdf&ref=europeans.today) [Egypt](https://mixedmigration.org/articles/eu-egypt-partnership/?ref=europeans.today) and [Senegal](https://www.clingendael.org/publication/senegals-expanding-migration-cooperation-eu?ref=europeans.today). But lower numbers haven’t meant safer journeys. In 2026 alone, at least [1,545 people](https://missingmigrants.iom.int/region/mediterranean?region%5Fincident=All&route=All&year%5B%5D=18381&month=All&incident%5Fdate%5Bmin%5D=&incident%5Fdate%5Bmax%5D=&ref=europeans.today) have been recorded missing or died crossing the Mediterranean irregularly. ### What shapes where people go Three factors tend to shape people’s choice of destination countries. The first and usually most decisive is the availability and nature of [economic opportunities](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/019791838902300304?ref=europeans.today#core-collateral-purchase-access) – work possibilities and wage levels – whether in the regular labour market or [informal economy](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0390670032000087023?ref=europeans.today). The second is [social networks](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2938462?origin=crossref&ref=europeans.today): the presence of family, friends or a wider diaspora community. They act as a safety net by offering somewhere to stay and contacts for work, and also help navigate bureaucracy – all of which lowers the practical cost of arrival and integration. The third is [language](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4911197/?ref=europeans.today) and [cultural ties](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.08443?ref=europeans.today). This is why Francophone migrants often gravitate towards France and Anglophone migrants towards the UK. Beyond these three factors, though, there is a considerable element of luck and [coincidence](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01979183241269445?ref=europeans.today). Many migrants leave without a fixed destination in mind. Their intended endpoint often shifts en route, shaped by encounters with smugglers, shifting border conditions or fellow travellers’ tips. In response to the events in Ceuta, leaders have called for [further restrictive measures](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/03/stronger-eu-borders-physical-barriers-ceuta-von-der-leyen?ref=europeans.today). But the logic of Schengen, a Europe without internal border controls, means it is largely irrelevant where a person first enters. Borders, in this sense, behave like balloons. Squeeze one part and the air doesn’t disappear – it just bulges out somewhere else. The Mediterranean border works the same way. The flow of people can be pushed from one entry point to another – from Italy and Greece to Spain, or from the Canaries to Ceuta. But it is not, on the evidence of the last decade, something that can be made to simply vanish. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Spain and Morocco disclose further evidence establishing why border controls failed and whether any state direction was involved. ● Whether emergency controls introduced after Ceuta are removed, extended or replicated elsewhere within the Schengen area. ● Whether the EU’s new solidarity mechanism delivers meaningful support when frontline states face sudden migratory pressure. ● Whether tighter controls around Morocco redirect more journeys towards Algeria, the Balearic islands or other Mediterranean routes. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The extraordinary Ceuta surge is likely to remain an exceptional episode rather than reverse the broader decline in irregular EU border crossings, while dependence on neighbouring states for external-border control persists. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Credible evidence demonstrating deliberate Moroccan state involvement, or another sudden breakdown in border controls, would materially alter the political assessment of the crisis. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Europe’s migration system depends not only on border enforcement but on diplomatic cooperation and credible solidarity between member states when pressure suddenly shifts. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [What are the EU’s new migration rules, and why did they take so long to pass?](https://www.europeans.today/2024/04/13/what-are-the-eus-new-migration-rules-and-why-did-they-take-so-long-to-pass/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Morocco not to blame for Ceuta border breach, says Spanish PM](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/31/morocco-ceuta-border-breach-spanish-pm-migration-pedro-sanchez?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Ceuta leader wants migrant detention centre after mass influx from Morocco](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/10/ceuta-leader-wants-migrant-detention-centre-after-mass-influx-from-morocco?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [How EU countries watered down ‘solidarity’ plans to relocate asylum seekers](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/12/how-eu-countries-watered-down-solidarity-plans-to-relocate-asylum-seekers?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Why is Ceuta a migration flashpoint and how were so many people able to cross from Morocco?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/31/ceuta-spain-eu-border-africa?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-ceuta-border-incident-shows-how-eu-migration-can-be-weaponised-but-overall-levels-are-declining-288994?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 5 September 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Miro9966](https://www.dreamstime.com/miro9966%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/288994/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/09/04/todays-papers-4-sept-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T01:43:27.000Z --- ## 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 4-Sep-2026 × --- [🇫🇷 France](#fp-france) [🇩🇪 Germany](#fp-germany) [🇮🇹 Italy](#fp-italy) [🇮🇪 Ireland](#fp-ireland) × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/28/todays-papers-28-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-29T00:34:02.000Z ## 🇬🇧 UK Front Pages × --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Badenoch attacks Tory defectors and rules out Reform coalition URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/25/badenoch-attacks-tory-defectors-and-rules-out-reform-coalition/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T23:33:16.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Kemi Badenoch’s refusal to govern with Reform clarifies how Britain’s fragmented party system could operate after a hung parliament, with consequences for government formation and political stability. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Badenoch says there will be “no deals” with Reform before or after an election. ● She says she would prefer another election to a Conservative-Reform coalition. ● She accused some Conservative defectors to Reform of being among “the most dishonest people” she has met. ● Her position deepens the separation between the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s party. --- K emi Badenoch has ruled out forming a government with Reform UK even if Britain’s next general election produces a hung parliament, saying she would prefer another election to a coalition with Nigel Farage’s party. Speaking at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Saturday, the Conservative leader also launched a sustained attack on Tory figures who have defected to Reform. “Reform has people who left the Conservative party, some of the most dishonest people I have ever met in my entire life,” Badenoch said. She accused defectors of abandoning the Conservatives when the party was struggling. “These are people who left us when we were at our lowest, many of them the people who caused the problems in the first place and then ran away and pretended they had nothing to do with it,” she said. “Why should we have them back?” Badenoch said she did not want “drama queens” returning to the Conservatives and dismissed the prospect of accommodating former members seeking a route back. Among those who have moved from the Conservatives to Reform are former home secretary [Suella Braverman](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/26/former-home-secretary-suella-braverman-defects-to-reform-uk?ref=europeans.today) and former shadow justice secretary [Robert Jenrick](https://news.sky.com/story/senior-conservative-robert-jenrick-defects-to-reform-after-badenoch-sacks-him-13494704?ref=europeans.today). Jenrick joined Reform after being sacked by Badenoch and subsequently described his former party as “rotten” and “failed”. Badenoch also attacked Reform’s political operation, saying the party “is all over the place” and accusing it of announcing policies before quickly moving on from them. Her strongest comments concerned what she would do if no party secured a Commons majority at the next election. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000803--1--1.jpg) Badenoch: “Why should we have them back?” | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) Badenoch said Britain would be in a “pretty bad place” if the Conservatives failed to form the next government, but insisted she would rather face another election than enter what she called a “monstrous Reform-Conservative hybrid” administration. “How do I work with people like that when I am making carefully curated plans and taking a systems-based approach?” she said. Turning directly to Farage, Badenoch added: “How do you work with a man who has fallen out with every single person he has ever had to work with in every single party that he has started?” She said her objective was to “win on my own terms”. Asked what should happen if a hung parliament left parties unable to form a government, Badenoch was explicit. “If we get a hung parliament and people see that the parties can’t form a government, you have another election,” she said, adding that there would be “no deals” before or after the vote. “I want us to unite the country,” Badenoch said. “It is not about uniting the right, it is about uniting our country.” ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Kemi Badenoch maintains the same position if future polling or election results leave the Conservatives unable to govern alone. ● Whether further Conservative figures defect to Reform despite Badenoch’s criticism. ● Whether Farage continues to reject cooperation with the Conservatives or changes his position closer to a general election. ● Whether continued electoral fragmentation makes the possibility of a hung parliament more politically relevant. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Badenoch is likely to continue presenting the Conservatives as a distinct alternative to Reform rather than preparing publicly for an alliance. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A future election result in which neither party can govern alone could put both leaders’ rejection of cooperation under much greater pressure. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The choices made by Conservatives and Reform could become central to how a future British government is formed. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Badenoch says Reform defectors ‘some of the most dishonest people I have met’](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/22/kemi-badenoch-says-reform-defectors-some-of-the-most-dishonest-people-i-have-met?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Feuding Reform fuels Tory party's faith in a comeback](https://www.ft.com/content/4112da7f-3809-450b-900d-4934bb7c2bab?ref=europeans.today) | *FINANCIAL TIMES* - ###### [Are Reform a bigger threat to Labour or the Conservatives? Here's what local election results tell us](https://news.sky.com/story/are-reform-a-bigger-threat-to-labour-or-the-conservatives-what-weve-learned-from-a-deep-dive-into-local-elections-data-13546333?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Badenoch attacks Farage over £5m gift and rules out Tory-Reform pact](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/21/kemi-badenoch-nigel-farage-5m-gift-conservatives-reform-uk?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Robert Jenrick defects to Reform after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch sacks him](https://news.sky.com/story/senior-conservative-robert-jenrick-defects-to-reform-after-badenoch-sacks-him-13494704?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Tories criticised over claim Braverman defected to Reform after ‘mental health’ issues](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/26/former-home-secretary-suella-braverman-defects-to-reform-uk?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 26 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Small boat crossings are down. Why do so many Britons think they are up? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/22/small-boat-crossings-down-why-do-so-many-britons-think-they-are-up/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T15:16:26.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Voters are entitled to disagree over immigration policy. But democratic choices become more vulnerable when emotionally powerful narratives persuade large numbers of people that measurable events are moving in the opposite direction. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Small-boat crossings are down 43%, yet 40% of Britons believe they have increased. ● Brexit showed how slogans, migration imagery and disputed claims can make complex political questions emotionally immediate. ● Farage, Trump and Musk demonstrate different ways politicians and influential figures can amplify migration as threat, disorder or “invasion”. ● Research on repetition and algorithmic feeds shows that the information people repeatedly encounter can affect what feels credible and politically important. --- B ritain’s small-boat debate presents a striking problem for democracy. A YouGov poll for [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/video/nearly-half-of-brits-are-wrong-about-number-of-small-boats-and-prefer-standing-up-to-france-poll-shows-13574802?ref=europeans.today) found that 40% of Britons believe small-boat crossings have increased this year. Among Reform UK supporters, the figure was 70%; among Conservative supporters, 56%. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000798--1-.jpg) Source: YOUGOV/SKY NEWS Yet Home Office figures show [crossings at their lowest comparable level since 2021](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d1v333ewxo?ref=europeans.today). By 17 August, 15,897 people had crossed the Channel in small boats this year, 43% fewer than at the same point last year. That does not settle the political argument. A voter can look at 15,897 crossings and conclude the number is still too high. But saying crossings have increased is different. That is a factual claim, and the figures show the opposite. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000799--1-.jpg) Source: HOME OFFICE People do not experience politics through spreadsheets. They experience it through headlines, television pictures, politicians, repeated phrases and videos on their phones. A boat arriving on a beach is visible. A 43% annual decline is an abstraction. Britain has seen this before. During the 2016 EU referendum, immigration dominated many front pages, especially in pro-Brexit newspapers. Vote Leave’s red bus carried the disputed claim that Britain sent the EU £350 million a week and suggested the money could instead fund the NHS. Nigel Farage, campaigning separately, unveiled the “[Breaking Point](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants?ref=europeans.today)” poster showing refugees at the Croatia-Slovenia border. Arron Banks, the principal funder of Leave.EU, later [described the campaign philosophy](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jul/12/how-technology-disrupted-the-truth?ref=europeans.today) starkly: “Facts don’t work... You have got to connect with people emotionally. It’s the Trump success.” Emotion itself is not the problem. Every campaign appeals to fear, hope, identity or belonging. The democratic problem begins when emotion depends on a false, misleading or disproportionate picture of reality. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Banning the opposition, going on a listening tour: Putin’s worried about the coming election URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/22/banning-the-opposition-going-on-a-listening-tour-putins-worried-about-the-coming-election/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T00:43:48.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Russia’s September election tests whether the Kremlin can convert battlefield endurance into domestic political control while mobilisation fears, fuel shortages and anti-war sentiment create pressures that could affect European security and the war’s trajectory. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Russia’s September elections come amid battlefield losses, recruitment pressure and growing disruption from the war. ● Yabloko, the only registered party openly opposing the war, has been barred from participating in the parliamentary election. ● Fuel shortages, heavy cash withdrawals and fears of another mobilisation are adding pressure on Russian households. ● Putin’s regional appearances suggest the Kremlin is sensitive to public concerns as voting approaches. --- C ould we see Vladimir Putin’s control of Russia seriously challenged – or even destabilised in the coming months? Predicting when authoritarian regimes might fall is notoriously difficult. Their hold on power can appear solid until suddenly it crumbles. But there are signs that the Kremlin is concerned about the potential for upcoming elections to become a source of political instability. In September, Russians go to the polls to elect the national parliament, the State Duma, as well as the parliaments and governors in Russia’s regions. At one level, it is hard to image why Russian officials would be concerned about these elections. The Russian state has considerable experience managing elections to get the desired result, and no one seriously doubts the outcome. The ruling party, United Russia, which currently holds about 70% of the seats in the State Duma, is widely expected to sweep the board, as usual. But these are the first national elections in Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022\. This means that a smooth campaign and a comfortable win for United Russia can be presented as an endorsement of the war and the way that Putin has handled it. Such an endorsement is especially important because the war has not been going well for Russia lately. Russia’s progress on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine has slowed to a crawl, with Ukraine taking back more than 700sq kms of occupied territory in July. And Moscow is paying a high price for the small territorial gains that it is making. Russian forces are estimated to have suffered 1.4 million casualties. Soldiers are dying and being injured [at a higher rate](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/russia-ukraine-putin-recruiters-mobilisation?ref=europeans.today) than they can be replaced with recruits. The Russian military has sought to fill the gaps in its ranks by recruiting prisoners and [foreign fighters](https://www.dw.com/en/how-russia-is-luring-foreign-nationals-to-fight-in-ukraine/a-78074153?ref=europeans.today) – among them reportedly another 50,000 troops from North Korea. There are [widespread rumours](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/russia-ukraine-putin-recruiters-mobilisation?ref=europeans.today) that Putin will be forced to launch another round of compulsory mobilisation – perhaps calling up as many as half a million citizens – in order to replenish the armed forces and continue the war. In response to the last mass mobilisation in September 2022, an estimated 700,000 Russians, mostly young men of military age, left the country to avoid fighting in the war. Mobilisation has been deeply unpopular with the soldiers and their families. Mobilised soldiers do not serve for a specified term but instead have an open-ended obligation. Families of the mobilised have been willing to complain about the conditions of their service, including a lack of adequate training and equipment, and the infrequency of leave periods to return home. Some of the wives of these soldiers have even openly campaigned for an end to mobilisation and the return of their husbands. ### Hardship on the home front Meanwhile, Ukraine’s strategy of drone attacks deep inside Russia mean that the war is making everyday life more difficult for millions of Russians who might otherwise not have been significantly affected by it. Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries have created [severe fuel shortages](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/14/russia-admits-new-petrol-shortages-amid-ongoing-long-range-ukrainian-strikes?ref=europeans.today) throughout the country. Most of Russia’s regions have experienced some form of fuel rationing, with long queues reported at filling stations. Extraordinarily [high rates of cash withdrawals](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/08/18/russians-pull-cash-banks-fearing-kremlin-will-seize-deposits-war/?ref=europeans.today) from Russian banks demonstrate the economic insecurity experienced by ordinary citizens, who fear the government could seize private savings to help fund the war in Ukraine Recent public opinion polls in Russia provide evidence that society’s views are shifting. Support for the war in Ukraine has dropped over the past year from 78% in July 2025 to 66% in July 2026\. Over the same period, the percentage of Russians who believed their country was moving in the right direction dropped from 69% to 54%. In a country where the state exercises tight political control and expressing opposition to the war can lead to arrest, fines or even imprisonment, these are remarkably bad results. In the run up to September’s elections, only one political party in Russia has expressed outright opposition to the war. Yabloko, a small, pro-democracy party, adopted the campaign slogan: “For peace and freedom, for a life without fear.” But Russia’s supreme court has now [banned the party](https://apnews.com/article/russia-yabloko-political-party-parliament-election-fffdd68de22ad70cebc81e5aa308202c?ref=europeans.today) from participating in the elections, while another court has sentenced its deputy leader to 11 years in prison. The banning of Yabloko is a measure of the Kremlin’s concern that the elections could provide an outlet, no matter how small, for a public expression of anger. In the previous elections in 2021, Yabloko only received 1.34% of the vote and failed to win a single seat in the State Duma. Even if it had been allowed to participate in September’s elections, Yabloko would have had no realistic chance of making a dent in United Russia’s dominant position. No political actor, no matter how insignificant, can be permitted to threaten the state’s narrative that the war is under control and society is united behind Putin. In an attempt to reassure the public that all is well, Putin himself has been visiting cities across the country this summer in a [pre-election tour](https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/vladimir-putin-approval-rating-popularity-russia-tour-x0v89mnjk?ref=europeans.today) of Russia. This is an unusual step for a leader who is notoriously fearful of assassination and reluctant to leave the security of Moscow. Putin’s visits have been accompanied by the sudden [reappearance of petrol](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/08/07/in-russia-wherever-putin-goes-gasoline-prices-fall%5F6756239%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) at the pumps wherever he goes, and its availability at surprisingly low prices – an indirect admission of the importance of bread and butter issues for Russia’s voters. In all likelihood, Russia’s election management machine will swing into action next month and deliver the outcome that Putin both wants and needs. But the state’s lack of confidence in that victory, despite all the tools at its disposal, suggests that Putin and his allies are not nearly as confident in their ability to maintain their grip on power as they would like the rest of the world to think. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether authorities intensify pressure on remaining opposition and independent campaigning as voting approaches. ● Whether military recruitment shortfalls produce new coercive measures or a renewed mobilisation decision after the election. ● Whether fuel shortages and cash withdrawals persist or ease as the Kremlin tries to contain household anxiety. ● Whether Russia’s battlefield position changes enough to alter the domestic narrative surrounding the war. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● United Russia retains dominant parliamentary control, while the authorities continue suppressing visible anti-war dissent and seek to avoid another mass mobilisation if recruitment can be sustained. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A sharp battlefield reversal, extended fuel disruption or an announced mobilisation could intensify domestic pressure and make public dissatisfaction harder to contain. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The election will offer a controlled but still informative measure of how much domestic pressure Russia’s war is creating for the Kremlin. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Ukraine war now longer than the first world war – the similarities are unsettling](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/11/ukraine-war-now-longer-than-the-first-world-war-the-similarities-are-unsettling/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [TODAY’s Briefing – 18 August 2026](https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/18/todays-briefing-18-august-2026/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Russian court bars from parliamentary ballot the only party opposing the conflict in Ukraine](https://apnews.com/article/russia-yabloko-political-party-parliament-election-fffdd68de22ad70cebc81e5aa308202c?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Putin’s recruiters scramble to avoid second mass mobilisation as Ukraine losses mount](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/russia-ukraine-putin-recruiters-mobilisation?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Russia admits new petrol shortages amid ongoing long-range Ukrainian strikes](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/14/russia-admits-new-petrol-shortages-amid-ongoing-long-range-ukrainian-strikes?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Russians pull billions from banks, fearing Kremlin will seize deposits for war](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/08/18/russians-pull-cash-banks-fearing-kremlin-will-seize-deposits-war/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/banning-the-opposition-going-on-a-listening-tour-putins-worried-about-the-coming-election-289991?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 22 August 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/289991/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Over 75% of UK wetlands have been destroyed – restoring them would help prevent wildfires URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/22/over-75-of-uk-wetlands-have-been-destroyed-restoring-them-would-help-prevent-wildfires/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T22:54:08.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Britain’s worsening wildfire exposure is colliding with centuries of wetland loss. Restoring peatlands and other wetlands could strengthen resilience by retaining water and slowing fire spread while supporting biodiversity, flood control and carbon storage. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● The Blaenavon wildfire has spread across more than 4,000 hectares of south Wales. ● Firefighters in England and Wales had responded to 966 wildfires by August 10, including 458 during July. ● More than 75% of the UK’s wetlands have been destroyed since 1700, reducing the landscape’s capacity to retain water. ● Restoring peatlands and other wetlands could keep vegetation wetter and slow some fires, although it cannot prevent every wildfire. --- F irefighters have been battling a vast wildfire in the hills above [Blaenavon in south Wales](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/16/blaenavon-south-wales-wildfire-gruelling-battle-firefighters-military?ref=europeans.today) that has spread across more than 4,000 hectares. Around [200 military personnel](https://www.farmersguardian.com/news/4532719/wildfires-fuw-urges-inquiry-future-upland-farming-landscape-management?ref=europeans.today) were called in to support exhausted fire crews as more fires broke out across the south Wales valleys. Smoke from Blaenavon could be seen from Cardiff and Gloucestershire. We cannot stop all such [wildfires](https://theconversation.com/uk/search?q=wildfires&ref=europeans.today). But it’s possible to make our landscapes more resilient to them – by restoring and recreating a natural habitat we have spent centuries doing our best to remove: wetlands. Over 75% of the UK’s bogs, fens, marshes and other wetlands have been dug up, [drained and destroyed since 1700](https://theconversation.com/earth-has-lost-one-fifth-of-its-wetlands-since-1700-but-most-could-still-be-saved-199362?ref=europeans.today), stripping the landscape of much of its natural ability [to hold water](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05572-6?ref=europeans.today). Restoring them would keep soils and vegetation wetter, providing less fuel for flames. [Strategically placed wetlands](https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eap.2225?ref=europeans.today) could also form natural breaks that slow fires before they reach homes, forests or farmland. This is becoming increasingly important. Across England and Wales this summer, firefighters had already responded to [966 wildfires by August 10](https://nfcc.org.uk/fire-chiefs-warn-of-sustained-wildfire-pressures-as-drought-spreads-across-england-and-wales/?ref=europeans.today), including 458 during July alone. Many of the upland areas affected by wildfires are peatlands, or bogs, but that does not mean they are still functioning as healthy wetlands. In a healthy bog, waterlogged conditions prevent dead plants from fully decomposing, so their remains slowly accumulate as peat, rather like a giant inefficient compost heap. Where bogs have been drained, as many have been for generations, the water table falls and the [peat and vegetation dry out](https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/10/7/534?ref=europeans.today), creating more fuel during prolonged hot weather. If flames reach the peat, they can [smoulder underground](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/magazine/issue-50/research--zombie-fires/?ref=europeans.today) and reappear elsewhere, making the fire extremely difficult to extinguish. This was one of the problems faced by firefighters at Blaenavon. ### How to create more wetlands Creating more wetlands does not mean indiscriminately flooding productive farmland or turning every hillside into a bog. In many places, it can mean restoring wetlands which existed before people drained or damaged them. On degraded peatlands, old drainage ditches and eroded gullies can be [blocked using small dams](https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/peatland-restoration?ref=europeans.today) or banks known as bunds. Bare peat can be stabilised and replanted, while sphagnum moss can be reintroduced. Sphagnum is the great ecosystem engineer of a healthy bog. It can hold [20 times or more](https://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/our-purpose/habitats-for-wildlife/boggy-facts-and-figures?ref=europeans.today) of its own weight in water, helping keep the ground wet, creating the conditions in which more peat can form and helping [reduce the risk of severe wildlfires](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42408-024-00256-0?ref=europeans.today). Peatlands are being restored across Scotland. Wetlands can also be created by reconnecting rivers to their floodplains, restoring wet woodland and bringing back ponds, marshes and shallow pools. The principle is simple: instead of draining water away from our landscape as quickly as possible, retain some of it where it naturally belongs. A useful example can be found on [Holcombe Moor in the west Pennines](https://theconversation.com/the-pennine-hills-are-full-of-holes-heres-how-theyre-helping-fight-climate-change-282925?ref=europeans.today), north of Manchester. Around 3,000 crescent-shaped [“scallop bunds”](https://www.lancswt.org.uk/blog/guest/love-peat?ref=europeans.today) were created there in 2021, followed by another 700 in 2024. These shallow pools were dug into flatter areas of peat using low-impact excavators. They catch rain which would otherwise rush off the hillside. Within five years, many of the original bunds contained sphagnum and were beginning to resemble natural bog pools. Monitoring during the [2025 drought](https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/the-pennine-hills-are-full-of-holes?ref=europeans.today) suggested that the bunded areas remained wetter for longer than unrestored peat. Creating new peat and fully restoring the ecosystem will take decades or even centuries. But the benefit most relevant to wildfires, keeping more water in the landscape, can begin to help within a few years. There is also evidence of restoration helping during an actual fire. At [Golticlay in northern Scotland](https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-case-study-whats-connection-between-peat-and-wildfire?ref=europeans.today), a wildfire swept through forestry in June 2018 but stopped when it reached recently restored peatland, where the water table had been raised and the ground and vegetation were wetter. Projects like this need to be repeated across Britain’s degraded wetlands, particularly where they lie close to communities, forestry or other areas at high risk from wildfire. Restoration should be targeted to create wetter, more [resilient areas across the landscape](https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eap.2225?ref=europeans.today), helping to slow fires and stop them from becoming major incidents. This summer has highlighted that as our climate becomes hotter and less predictable, restoring our natural wet defences has to become a central part of the UK’s wildfire strategy. We cannot make Britain fireproof. But by restoring wetlands we can make it more fire-resilient. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether sustained rainfall raises moisture levels enough to reduce residual peat-fire risks in south Wales. ● Whether UK and Welsh policymakers give greater priority to wildfire resilience in future land-management and emergency-planning decisions. ● Whether peatland restoration is increasingly targeted near communities, forests and infrastructure exposed to wildfire. ● Whether Britain’s exceptionally active 2026 wildfire season produces lasting changes in prevention, equipment and landscape management. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Wildfire resilience is likely to receive greater attention within peatland and wetland restoration programmes, although landscape-scale changes will remain gradual. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Another prolonged drought or major peatland fire could accelerate pressure for intervention, while sustained wetter conditions would reduce the immediate political urgency. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Wetland restoration could increasingly be treated not only as conservation policy but as practical infrastructure for managing Britain’s exposure to drought, fire and flooding. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![Europeans TODAY](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [‘It’s been very tough’: hope of progress in gruelling battle against south Wales wildfire](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/16/blaenavon-south-wales-wildfire-gruelling-battle-firefighters-military?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Wales ‘crisis’ over wildfires amid concern about lack of helicopters](https://news.sky.com/story/wales-crisis-over-wildfires-amid-concern-about-lack-of-helicopters-13566117?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [‘National priority’ to equip UK firefighters amid growing wildfire threat](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/10/firefighters-fbu-wildfires-drought-heatwave-weather?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Rewilded land remains green amid drought-stricken English countryside, images show](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/21/somerset-rewilding-holnicote-estate-wetlands-rivers-resilience?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Half the wetlands in Europe lost in past 300 years, researchers calculate](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/08/world-wetlands-europe-lost-study-aoe?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Without action wildfires in Europe will increase 39% even in best-case climate scenario, study finds](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/20/wildfires-europe-increase-climate-scenario-study?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/over-75-of-uk-wetlands-have-been-destroyed-restoring-them-would-help-prevent-wildfires-289192?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 22 August 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[QIWOMAN01](https://www.dreamstime.com/qiwoman01%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/289192/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/22/todays-papers-22-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T02:38:57.000Z 🇬🇧 United Kingdom ## 🇬🇧 United Kingdom × --- × ‹ › ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Farage vows mass deportation as Reform attacks asylum guidance URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/farage-vows-mass-deportation-as-reform-attacks-asylum-guidance/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T02:29:21.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Reform is linking new asylum guidance to wider claims about migrants while Nigel Farage promises universal detention and removal. The evidence supports some underlying facts, but not all the conclusions being drawn from them. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● The Home Office has issued new behavioural guidance for asylum seekers. ● Official data do not establish Reform’s implied population-level crime claim. ● Asylum seekers and illegal migrants are not interchangeable categories. ● Farage’s pledge leaves major questions over identification, detention, removal capacity and cost. --- N igel Farage has pledged to detain and deport “every illegal migrant” as Reform UK escalated its attack on new Home Office behaviour guidance for asylum seekers. Reform [published the statement](https://www.reformparty.uk/news/zia-yusuf-labour-s-don-t-rape-guidance-shows-the-government-knows-illegal-immigrants-are-a-menace?ref=europeans.today) on 21 August. Reform published Farage’s statement on Friday after its home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, said the guidance showed the government knew illegal migrants “are a menace”, particularly to women. The nine-page [Home Office guide](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers-accessible?ref=europeans.today) explains UK law and expectations covering gender equality, domestic abuse, sexual consent, harassment and behaviour in public. It warns that breaking the law can affect an asylum claim. The Home Office said everyone coming to Britain was expected to obey UK law. The document does not establish the population-level claim Reform is making. The Office for National Statistics said in January that it does not hold [crime figures broken down by asylum-seeker or migrant status](https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/crimebynationalityandimmigrationstatus2025?ref=europeans.today). Its data therefore cannot show whether asylum seekers offend at a higher, lower or similar rate to a comparable UK population. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/home-office-asylum--1-.jpg) The Home Office guide explains UK law and expectations. | Source: [HOME OFFICE](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers-accessible?ref=europeans.today) Reform’s language also moves between asylum seekers and illegal migrants, although official statistics distinguish between route of entry and asylum status. [Home Office figures for the year ending March 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2026/how-many-people-claim-asylum-in-the-uk?ref=europeans.today) show that 52% of people who claimed asylum had arrived through routes classified as illegal, typically small boats. Another 39% had previously entered with a visa or other valid leave, while 8% came through other or unmatched routes. The same statistics show 62% of asylum claimants were adult men. Farage’s latest wording is categorical, but mass removal is not a wholly new Reform position. Earlier proposals have also called for extensive removals. Reform’s Operation Fortress plan announced on 3 August focused on intercepting Channel crossings and returning those attempting the journey. *The Guardian* reported on the proposal and [questions over its feasibility](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/03/reform-uk-navy-stop-small-boat-crossings-migrants-is-plan-feasible?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000796----1--2.jpg) Source: [HOME OFFICE](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/returns-from-the-uk-between-1-july-2024-and-31-july-2026?ref=europeans.today) How a pledge covering “every illegal migrant” would work remains unresolved. [Home Office figures](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2026/how-many-people-are-detained-under-immigration-powers-in-the-uk?ref=europeans.today) show that 51% of people leaving immigration detention in the year ending March 2026 left on immigration bail, while 44% were returned from the UK. The Home Office says bail can be granted where there is no immediate prospect of removal or while asylum or other legal claims are being considered. Reform did not accompany its statement with a new estimate of how many people would be covered, how much additional detention capacity would be required, or a full multi-year costing. [Its published statement](https://www.reformparty.uk/news/zia-yusuf-labour-s-don-t-rape-guidance-shows-the-government-knows-illegal-immigrants-are-a-menace?ref=europeans.today) contains the pledge but no such detailed implementation plan. The available evidence therefore supports describing Farage’s statement as a broad political pledge whose practical and fiscal feasibility has not yet been demonstrated. It does not establish that the Home Office guidance proves asylum seekers or illegal migrants collectively pose the threat Reform alleges. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Reform publishes a detailed definition of who would fall under Farage’s pledge. ● Whether the party provides estimates for detention capacity, staffing and total costs. ● Whether new official data emerge that allow more reliable comparison of offending by immigration status. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Reform is likely to continue using the Home Office guidance as part of its wider immigration argument while pressure grows for more detail on how universal detention and deportation would operate. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● New official crime data, detailed Reform costings or a substantially revised removal plan could alter what can presently be concluded about the claims and their feasibility. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Absolute immigration pledges deserve scrutiny against legal categories, official evidence and the practical capacity required to implement them. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Zia Yusuf: Labour’s guidance shows the government knows illegal immigrants are a menace](https://www.reformparty.uk/news/zia-yusuf-labour-s-don-t-rape-guidance-shows-the-government-knows-illegal-immigrants-are-a-menace?ref=europeans.today) | REFORM UK - ###### [Asylum seekers warned about behaviour in new UK guidance](https://news.sky.com/story/asylum-seekers-warned-not-to-make-kissing-sounds-at-people-in-new-guidance-about-living-in-uk-13574744?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Crime by nationality and immigration status](https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/crimebynationalityandimmigrationstatus2025?ref=europeans.today) | OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS - ###### [How many people claim asylum in the UK?](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2026/how-many-people-claim-asylum-in-the-uk?ref=europeans.today) | HOME OFFICE - ###### [Burnham’s removal claim goes beyond UK deportation law](https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/burnhams-removal-claim-goes-beyond-uk-deportation-law/) | EUROPEANS TODAY - ###### [Reform UK says navy could stop small boats. Is the plan feasible?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/03/reform-uk-navy-stop-small-boat-crossings-migrants-is-plan-feasible?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [How many people are detained under immigration powers in the UK?](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2026/how-many-people-are-detained-under-immigration-powers-in-the-uk?ref=europeans.today) | HOME OFFICE ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 21 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/todays-briefing-21-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T07:00:47.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- ## TODAY’s Opening Line Today’s briefing is about who carries the cost when systems come under pressure: households facing higher bills, people relying on public institutions, parties managing dissent, democracies defending accountability and workers confronting technologies built from their own labour. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **British energy bills forecast to reach three-year high this winter** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Household energy bills in Great Britain are [forecast to reach their highest level](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/aug/19/forecast-energy-price-cap-rise-britain-winter?ref=europeans.today) in three years this winter. Energy consultancy Cornwall Insight estimates that Ofgem’s price cap will rise by about **4% in October to the equivalent of £1,729 a year for a typical dual-fuel household**, using the regulator’s updated consumption assumptions. Ofgem will announce the actual October cap next Wednesday. Cornwall Insight attributes the expected rise to higher international energy prices linked to conflict in the Middle East, compounded by increased use of gas-fired electricity generation during European heatwaves. The increase would more than offset the average benefit of Burnham’s planned temporary removal of VAT from household electricity bills, which the government estimates will save a typical household about £45 a year. **▫ WHO IS INVOLVED:** - Burnham’s government is cutting VAT on household electricity for six months from 1 October and says approximately six million households will also receive the £150 Warm Home Discount this winter. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The VAT cut can reduce one component of a household bill while the overall cost of energy still increases. Those two facts are not contradictory. The more significant structural issue is Britain’s continued exposure to internationally traded gas. Domestic policy can change taxes, subsidies and efficiency programmes, but wholesale energy shocks still move rapidly through the regulated price cap. That also sharpens the debate over energy security. The immediate policy question is how to protect households this winter. The longer-term question is how Britain reduces exposure to volatile fuel markets while maintaining reliable energy supply. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Presenting the £45 VAT saving without the wider movement in bills would exaggerate the relief households will feel. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Ofgem’s announcement next Wednesday is the first concrete test. Cornwall Insight currently expects bills could rise again in January if present wholesale prices persist, although that forecast remains highly sensitive to events in the Middle East and global energy markets. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham calls for national drive to get rough sleepers off streets by Christmas** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham has called for a [nationwide effort](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/19/andy-burnham-calls-on-wider-society-to-help-end-homelessness-by-christmas?ref=europeans.today) to offer people sleeping rough in England a route off the streets by Christmas, comparing the required mobilisation with the emergency response during the COVID pandemic. The government says **£442 million** is behind its wider rough-sleeping programme, including an additional £102 million from uncommitted budgets at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Burnham acknowledged that government money alone might not be enough and appealed to councils, charities, community organisations and faith groups to help. The most recent annual estimate recorded **4,793 people sleeping rough on a single night in England in autumn 2025**. Homelessness organisations welcomed the political focus but warned that emergency accommodation must be accompanied by long-term housing, mental-health, addiction and other support. The PM also acknowledged that some people may decline offers of accommodation. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Why the probe into Nigel Farage’s finances didn’t hurt him at the ballot box URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/why-the-probe-into-nigel-farages-finances-didnt-hurt-him-at-the-ballot-box/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T00:45:26.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Nigel Farage’s re-election has not ended scrutiny of his finances. The case tests whether partisan loyalty can insulate a prominent politician from electoral damage while a parliamentary standards investigation remains unresolved. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage retained Clacton despite ongoing financial scrutiny and a standards investigation over a £5 million gift he says did not require declaration. ● Political science research suggests supporters often rationalise misconduct allegations rather than switch allegiance. ● Research on the 2009 expenses scandal found that greater apparent wrongdoing increased voter awareness, while electoral effects were generally small. --- N igel Farage is the latest in a long line of politicians to face questions about his financial affairs. Despite this, the Reform UK leader comfortably avoided a binning by his constituents in the Clacton by-election – albeit in the absence of the main parties. This is perhaps unsurprising. The allegations against [Farage](https://theconversation.com/topics/nigel-farage-5524?ref=europeans.today) include the claim (currently subject to a parliamentary standards investigation), that he [should have declared](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/14/standards-watchdog-investigation-nigel-farage-financial-gifts?ref=europeans.today) a £5 million gift he received ahead of the 2024 general election. Farage has insisted that he has [“done no wrongdoing”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cql11kk90zgo?ref=europeans.today) and that he [“followed the rules”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/07/serious-consequences-farage-attacks-sky-news-after-question-about-george-cottrell?ref=europeans.today). But a [series](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/123/2/703/1930865?ref=europeans.today) of [academic](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379412000960?ref=europeans.today) [studies](https://www.emerald.com/qjps/article/9/4/441/1328486/Partisanship-and-Electoral-Accountability-Evidence?ref=europeans.today) suggest that people tend to justify the behaviour of politicians they support rather than changing their vote to back someone else. Only when scandals become too blatant and heavily covered for supporters to rationalise away do politicians tend to [lose support](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/123/2/703/1930865?ref=europeans.today). With this in mind, it’s perhaps not surprising that Farage won comfortably on home turf. The effects of scandals on our political attitudes are difficult to study, in part because scandals are rare events. The fallout from any individual scandal could be specific to the politician involved, the time period in which it occurred, or the detail of the scandal itself. Measuring the “scandalousness” of any one event is quite difficult. These are some of the problems that my colleague James Tilley and I tackled [in a study](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/misconduct-by-voters-own-representatives-does-not-affect-voters-generalized-political-trust/DE5F4F1F042DF959F6E212E22F9874BE?ref=europeans.today) of the [2009 parliamentary expenses scandal](https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/an-extraordinary-scandal/?ref=europeans.today) in the UK. Back then, hundreds of MPs were accused of claiming expenses to which they were not entitled. Many were required to repay money, and a small number were convicted of fraud and [even jailed](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12127327?ref=europeans.today). The advantage of studying this particular scandal is that a large number of MPs were implicated in similar misconduct at the same time. In addition, the extent to which each MP was implicated could be quantified, both in terms of the value of expenses they were asked to repay, and by measuring the press coverage focusing on each MP. Importantly, the extent to which each MP was implicated was essentially random across constituencies. This meant that we could measure how a broad swathe of people responded to allegations affecting their local MP. We found that voters were remarkably aware of the extent to which their MP was implicated in the scandal. The greater an MP’s apparent wrongdoing, either in terms of the money involved or the press coverage, the more their constituents noticed. However, while some constituents reduced their support for their MP, these effects were generally quite small and would probably have mattered only in marginal constituencies. This reaffirmed some [previous](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3617916/?ref=europeans.today) [work](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0001839213497011?ref=europeans.today) about the same scandal. ### Wider trust issues Another point we considered is whether scandals not only affect people’s attitudes towards the politician implicated, but whether they also affect people’s [wider attitudes](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:POBE.0000043456.87303.3a?ref=europeans.today) towards politics as a whole. As such, a judgement about a particular politician becomes generalised into a [wider assessment](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12638?ref=europeans.today) of the performance of politicians in general. This could be a cause for concern. Trust in politics is associated with whether people turn out [to vote](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-024-09916-y?ref=europeans.today), whether they [comply with the law](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2023.2169741?ref=europeans.today) and whether they [support democratic forms of government](https://edmund-kelly.github.io/DemocracyTrust.pdf?ref=europeans.today). As such, allegations of financial misconduct by politicians could have implications beyond election results. However, we found no evidence that the constituents of heavily implicated MPs changed their attitudes toward the wider system, in comparison to those whose MP was less implicated. It doesn’t appear that people tend to generalise the behaviour of their local MP into a wider judgment about the system as a whole. Of course, there are several caveats when comparing the fallout from the expenses scandal with the claims against Farage. The former implicated many MPs at the same time, and the nature of the allegations was different. Farage is also a much more prominent figure than the typical MP we studied. And at the time of writing, the investigation into the claims against him is yet to conclude. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000794--1-.jpg) So far, Farage’s experience in Clacton seems to back up the idea that misconduct claims against MPs do not always have substantial effects. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) But there are good reasons to expect any change in attitudes among Farage’s constituents to be even weaker in his case. For example, Reform UK voters already tend to have [less trust](https://natcen.ac.uk/publications/bsa-43-who-supports-reform?ref=europeans.today) in the system than the average voter. If the claims against Farage are seen to come from that system, his supporters may be even less likely to believe them. Equally, voters with lower levels of trust in politicians generally may be less likely to view the claims against Farage as unusual or particularly deserving of electoral punishment. When it comes down to it, so far Farage’s experience in Clacton seems to back up the idea that misconduct claims against MPs do not always have substantial effects. That said, with the investigation into the claims against him now resumed, whether this pattern will continue remains to be seen. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● The parliamentary standards investigation is the decisive next test: whether Farage is found to have breached MPs’ registration rules. ● Watch for any new evidence that clarifies whether the £5 million gift was connected to Farage’s political activity or was, as he maintains, purely personal. ● Subsequent constituency and national polling could show whether the controversy produces measurable movement among Reform UK supporters. ● Further financial disclosures involving Farage or Reform UK could increase the cumulative political impact beyond that visible in the Clacton result. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The standards process, rather than the by-election result, is likely to determine whether the controversy produces a concrete political consequence; the vote itself does not resolve the underlying allegations. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A substantiated breach finding, significant new financial evidence or clear polling movement among Reform UK voters would materially alter the assessment. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The key test is whether formal accountability or measurable voter movement emerges after an election result that, on its own, cannot settle the questions surrounding Farage’s finances. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Farage claims victory in Clacton: ‘I beat the establishment candidate’](https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/14/clacton-by-election-farage-beats-the-establishment-candidate/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Five questions over Nigel Farage’s £5 million donation](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Standards watchdog resumes Farage probe as rivals slam needless byelection](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/14/standards-watchdog-investigation-nigel-farage-financial-gifts?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Nigel Farage asks ‘What is my sin?’ as he mounts staunch defence amid questions over £5m ‘gift’ and benefits in kind](https://news.sky.com/story/nigel-farage-asks-what-is-my-sin-as-he-mounts-staunch-defence-amid-questions-over-5m-gift-and-benefits-in-kind-13565040?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Reform UK leader Nigel Farage faces questions over donations from a convicted fraudster](https://apnews.com/article/591c381fb5a0dca1ea43956d595b205f?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-the-probe-into-nigel-farages-finances-didnt-hurt-him-at-the-ballot-box-290116?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 21 August 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/290116/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Burnham’s removal claim goes beyond UK deportation law URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/burnhams-removal-claim-goes-beyond-uk-deportation-law/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T02:30:23.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The government is promising tougher immigration enforcement, but the prime minister’s categorical language goes beyond what UK deportation law guarantees, creating a gap between political messaging and legal reality. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham said people who break UK law “will be removed from the country”. ● UK law does not make removal automatic for every criminal offence. ● Automatic deportation generally applies from a 12-month sentence, subject to exceptions. --- A ndy Burnham’s claim that breaking UK law means removal from Britain goes further than the legal framework governing deportation and immigration enforcement. Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Bradford on Thursday, the prime minister defended new Home Office guidance setting out UK laws and social expectations for asylum seekers. “As a government, we have a very clear principle: if you break UK law, you will be removed from the country,” [Burnham said](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/aug/20/andy-burnham-illegal-waste-dumps-labour-reform-conservatives-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today). He added that removals were “significantly up” and said he was working to ensure foreign national offenders who could legally be removed were taken out of the prison system. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/home-office-asylum--1-.jpg) The Home Office guide explains UK law and expectations. | Source: [HOME OFFICE](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers-accessible?ref=europeans.today) The new [Home Office guidance](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers-accessible?ref=europeans.today), published on Wednesday, covers issues including rape, domestic abuse, gender equality and behaviour in public. It warns that unlawful conduct can lead to arrest, loss of asylum support or accommodation and consequences for an asylum claim. But it does not say every offence automatically leads to removal. Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the home secretary is generally required to make a deportation order for a non-British, non-Irish citizen convicted in the UK and sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment, unless an exception applies. The [Sentencing Act 2026](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/2/notes/division/9/index.htm?ref=europeans.today) extended that automatic-deportation regime to qualifying suspended sentences of at least 12 months. Human-rights protections and the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention can also prevent deportation in some cases. Foreign nationals below the automatic-deportation threshold can still face deportation on “public good” grounds or other immigration consequences, depending on their circumstances. The [House of Commons Library](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8062/?ref=europeans.today) sets out the distinction between automatic deportation and ministerial discretion for lesser offences. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000796--1-.jpg) Andy Burnham: “As a government, we have a very clear principle: if you break UK law, you will be removed from the country.” | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) That makes Burnham’s categorical formulation broader than current law. Serious offending can result in deportation, but breaking any UK law does not invariably mean a person will be removed. [Home Office figures](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/returns-from-the-uk-between-1-july-2024-and-31-july-2026?ref=europeans.today) support the PM’s separate claim that removals have increased. The department recorded 39,690 returns in the year to 31 July 2026, up 5% year on year. Foreign-national-offender returns rose 11% to 5,928 and asylum-related returns increased 10% to 12,412. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000796----1--1.jpg) Source: [HOME OFFICE](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/returns-from-the-uk-between-1-july-2024-and-31-july-2026?ref=europeans.today) The figures are provisional and “returns” include both enforced and voluntary departures, so they should not all be described as deportations. The distinction matters because the government is promoting tougher immigration enforcement while operating within statutory thresholds and legal safeguards. Burnham can accurately point to higher returns and efforts to remove eligible foreign offenders. His claim that any breach of UK law means removal, however, promises more certainty than the law provides. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Burnham or the Home Office qualifies the claim that breaking UK law means removal. ● How the new behaviour guidance is applied when asylum seekers are accused or convicted of offences. ● Future Home Office returns data, including whether foreign-national-offender and asylum-related returns continue to rise. ● Court and tribunal decisions testing the legal limits on individual deportation and removal cases. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The government is likely to continue stressing tougher enforcement while individual removal decisions remain subject to statutory thresholds, exceptions and legal challenges. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Further legislation could alter deportation thresholds or safeguards, while court rulings could constrain how existing removal powers are applied. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The credibility of tougher immigration messaging depends on whether ministers distinguish political intent from what the law actually permits. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [UK politics: Burnham says fly-tippers will be forced to pay for the clean-up when they dump waste illegally](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/aug/20/andy-burnham-illegal-waste-dumps-labour-reform-conservatives-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Understanding behaviours and expectations in the UK: a guide for asylum seekers](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers/understanding-behaviours-and-expectations-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-asylum-seekers-accessible?ref=europeans.today) | HOME OFFICE - ###### [Returns from the UK between 1 July 2024 and 31 July 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/returns-from-the-uk-between-1-july-2024-and-31-july-2026?ref=europeans.today) | HOME OFFICE - ###### [Sentencing Act 2026: explanatory notes](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/2/notes/division/9/index.htm?ref=europeans.today) | LEGISLATION.GOV.UK - ###### [Deportation of foreign national offenders](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8062/?ref=europeans.today) | HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY - ###### [Home Office could be blocked from deporting trafficking victims to Albania](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/21/home-office-albanian-trafficking-victims-deport?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 21 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55438094230?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/21/todays-papers-21-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T02:39:08.000Z × --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Football supporters demand Infantino’s resignation and FIFA reforms URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/20/football-supporters-demand-infantinos-resignation-and-fifa-reforms/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T15:04:53.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The petition turns an internal FIFA governance crisis into a broader supporter-led challenge, raising questions over leadership, transparency and who should influence decisions affecting European and global football. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Supporter organisations worldwide are pressing for Gianni Infantino’s resignation and FIFA reform. ● The petition had more than 9,000 verified signatures on Thursday. ● Five FIFA vice-presidents have now been reported as having lost confidence in Infantino. --- S upporter organisations from Europe and other regions have launched a global petition [calling for FIFA president Gianni Infantino to resign](https://www.change.org/p/global-petition-gianni-infantino-to-resign-fifa-reform?ref=europeans.today) and for reforms to the governing body. The campaign, started by [Football Supporters Europe](https://www.fanseurope.org/?ref=europeans.today) (a football fan network located in Germany with members in over 50 UEFA nations), had more than 12,000 verified signatures on Thursday. It calls for greater transparency, independent oversight and checks on executive power. “The current system of self-regulation at FIFA has repeatedly failed to provide sufficient accountability,” its says. “Football stakeholders and public authorities must work together to establish governance standards that are fit for purpose and capable of protecting the game for future generations.” Its first signatories include supporter groups from England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. The petition follows the [collapse of FIFA Forward Enterprise](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/01/fifa-scraps-plan-to-sell-off-stakes-in-world-cup-after-widespread-backlash?ref=europeans.today), a proposed commercial structure that would have sold a minority stake to private investors. [Infantino subsequently acknowledged](https://www.ft.com/content/733848fd-fd69-4764-b5a3-5f8fa14019f8?ref=europeans.today) that mistakes had been made in handling the plan and said it should have been managed differently. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000792--1-.jpg) Infantino has resisted calls to resign so far and is expected to seek another term as FIFA president. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) Opposition to his leadership has also widened inside football. *The Guardian* reported on Wednesday that Sandor Csanyi, president of the Hungarian football federation and one of FIFA’s vice-presidents, had [withdrawn his confidence in Infantino](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/19/fifth-fifa-vice-president-turns-against-infantino-saying-he-has-lost-confidence-in-him?ref=europeans.today). He became the fifth FIFA vice-president reported to have done so. Campaign organisers accuse Infantino of concentrating power and marginalising football stakeholders. The petition also [seeks formal supporter involvement in major FIFA decisions](https://www.change.org/p/global-petition-gianni-infantino-to-resign-fifa-reform?ref=europeans.today) and stronger accountability mechanisms. Gianni Infantino has [resisted calls to resign](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/02/gianni-infantino-fifa-president-pressure-uefa-members-prepare-oppose-re-election?ref=europeans.today) so far and is expected to seek another term as FIFA president. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether additional national football associations withdraw their support for Infantino’s re-election. ● Whether FIFA’s promised governance review produces substantive changes to decision-making and oversight. ● Whether opposition groups coalesce around an alternative candidate for the 2027 FIFA presidential election. ● Whether the supporter petition attracts significantly broader backing. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Pressure on Infantino is likely to remain intense through the run-up to the 2027 FIFA election, while his position depends heavily on whether opposition broadens beyond Europe. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A decisive shift in support among FIFA associations outside Europe could substantially alter the balance around Infantino’s re-election. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The dispute is increasingly about who controls FIFA, how major commercial decisions are made and whether football supporters have a meaningful voice in its governance. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) [](#ref) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Global petition: Gianni Infantino to resign, FIFA reform](https://www.change.org/p/global-petition-gianni-infantino-to-resign-fifa-reform?ref=europeans.today) | Change.org - ###### [Gianni Infantino admits 'mistakes' over failed $20bn Fifa investment plan](https://www.ft.com/content/733848fd-fd69-4764-b5a3-5f8fa14019f8?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [Fifth Fifa vice-president turns against Infantino, saying he has 'lost confidence' in him](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/19/fifth-fifa-vice-president-turns-against-infantino-saying-he-has-lost-confidence-in-him?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Fifa scraps proposal to sell off stakes in World Cup after widespread backlash](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/01/fifa-scraps-plan-to-sell-off-stakes-in-world-cup-after-widespread-backlash?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Norway’s Klaveness tells Fifa president Infantino to resign: 'There is no trust now'](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/07/lise-klaveness-norwegian-fa-fifa-president-gianni-infantino-resign?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [More European countries’ FAs withdraw support for Infantino as pressure intensifies](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/03/wales-become-first-nation-to-drop-support-for-fifa-president-gianni-infantino?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Top Fifa official departs after attacking Infantino's plan to lure investors](https://www.ft.com/content/8b494799-8104-45b2-b1d6-1f060b6b87cc?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [The Fifa family: which confederations could support Infantino or turn against him?](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/04/fifa-which-confederations-could-support-gianni-infantino-or-turn-against-him?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 20 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Musk says AI could make money less important by 2036 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/20/musk-says-ai-could-make-money-less-important-by-2036/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T03:15:56.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Elon Musk’s post-scarcity prediction goes far beyond cheaper AI. For Europeans, the real questions concern jobs, ownership, energy, infrastructure and who benefits if automation delivers extraordinary productivity. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Musk argues AI and robots could make money largely irrelevant by 2036. ● Cheaper production would not necessarily eliminate scarcity in housing, energy, land or infrastructure. ● Europe is already committing enormous capital to the physical systems required for advanced AI. ● Ownership and distribution may matter as much as technological capability during any transition towards greater abundance. --- E lon Musk has put a remarkably short deadline on one of technology’s oldest utopian ideas. “Money won’t matter in 2036,” he told Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of *The Economist*, [while describing a future](https://www.economist.com/insider/the-insider/an-interview-with-elon-musk?ref=europeans.today) in which artificial intelligence and robots produce goods and services on such a scale that conventional economic scarcity begins to disappear. The proposition goes far beyond predicting that AI will make companies more productive. Musk is arguing that automation could eventually undermine the reason people need money at all. “What do you want money for?” Musk asked Beddoes. His argument is that people need it to obtain food, housing, transport, entertainment and other goods and services. If robots and AI eventually provide more than humans could consume, he asks, why would money retain its present importance? That reasoning also leads Musk towards an unusual prediction about prices. He argues that sufficiently rapid growth in goods and services could outstrip growth in the money supply, creating deflationary rather than inflationary pressure. When Beddoes challenged him over how people would survive if machines displaced their jobs, Musk suggested that governments could simply issue payments. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### If British voters seem impatient and angry, data shows they might have a point URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/20/if-british-voters-seem-impatient-and-angry-data-shows-they-might-have-a-point/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T00:46:44.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS World Bank governance scores point to long-term deterioration in UK political stability, government effectiveness and corruption control, giving context to voter discontent as fragmented politics, lobbying pressure and repeated leadership changes make policy delivery harder. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● World Bank indicators show UK political stability, government effectiveness and control of corruption have all declined over three decades. ● Government effectiveness fell from 84 in 1996 to 74 in 2024, with a sharper drop after the Brexit referendum. ● Lobbying can concentrate policy benefits on organised interests while diffusing costs across the wider public. ● UK governance remains comparatively strong, but voter impatience is rising as political fragmentation and perceived ineffectiveness deepen. --- W ith seven prime ministers in ten years and the fragmentation of the two-party system, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that UK leaders struggle to hold on to their position. The World Bank ranks nations around the world on governance indicators – and its data show that, on certain metrics, voters in the UK may have good reason to be dissatisfied. The [World Bank](https://theconversation.com/topics/world-bank-2308?ref=europeans.today) has been collecting this data for the last 30 years. Each country [on the list](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators?ref=europeans.today) gets a score out of 100 on six dimensions of governance. These are “voice and accountability”, “political stability”, “government effectiveness”, “regulatory quality”, “rule of law”, and “control of corruption”. A high score means that a nation has good governance and a low score the opposite. Some significant changes have occurred in three of these measures [in the UK](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators/interactive-data-access?ref=europeans.today) over this period. When it comes to “control of corruption”, “government effectiveness” and “political stability”, all of these have been declining. The remaining three have not changed much – and in the case of “voice and accountability”, not at all. ### Corruption, stability and effective governance in the UK The indicators show that the UK has become more corrupt, less stable and has a less effective government than in the 1990s. For example, political stability declined quite rapidly after Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997\. It is likely that Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war in 2003 contributed to this, since it produced [major protests](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/11/slugs-iraq-war-london-protest-2003-legacy?ref=europeans.today) from opponents. It has not subsequently recovered, with the lowest score occurring in 2024. Control of corruption hit a low point after the financial crash of 2007-8, but then recovered slightly when Gordon Brown became prime minister. This continued under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. The backlash against the scandal of 2009 when many MPs were claiming [dubious expenses](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48187096?ref=europeans.today) led to growing perceptions that politicians are corrupt. The [rules were tightened](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/17/mps-expenses-martin-williams-parliament-ltd?ref=europeans.today) after this scandal. But then the data show that control of corruption started to decline again after the Brexit referendum in 2016, particularly during the period when Boris Johnson was prime minister. Most notably, government effectiveness has experienced an almost constant decline – from a score of 84 in 1996 to 74 in 2024\. This is highly significant. It recovered a bit during the coalition government, only to crash after the EU referendum. ### Slide in government effectiveness So why is this happening? The American economist Mancur Olson had an interesting explanation, which he applied to many countries and was set out in his book [The Rise and Decline of Nations](https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300157673/the-rise-and-decline-of-nations/?ref=europeans.today). He argued that special interest lobbying organisations have grown in importance, pursuing benefits for their clients from the state. These benefits take the form of tax breaks, subsidies, preferential contracts, restrictions on competition, and direct access to those who control legislation. In return, they provide money and support for the political parties that are likely to end up in power. Olson wrote that eventually this would dominate the political process to the point that governments prioritise the interests of these groups at the expense of the wider population. This reduces the effectiveness of government in delivering what most voters want. And of course it turns people off politics. One possible example of this in the UK recently is [lobbying by city firms](https://www.ft.com/content/3cfd8c5e-98fd-487e-9a19-49e0d6caf2bb?ref=europeans.today) to restrict cash Isas (individal savings accounts) with the idea of boosting stocks and shares Isas. This could generate millions in fees for these firms, analysis suggested. At the budget last year, then-chancellor Rachel Reeves did indeed [drop the annual limit](https://news.sky.com/story/cash-isa-limit-has-been-slashed-but-some-people-are-exempt-13475571?ref=europeans.today) for cash Isas from £20,000 to £12,000 for savers aged under 65\. Reeves said she wanted to encourage Britons to invest in the stock market in the hope it might offer them better returns while boosting the UK economy. ### The growth of lobbying in the UK It’s clear that the number of registered lobbyists in the UK is rising. The official numbers are registered with a [government office](https://registrarofconsultantlobbyists.org.uk/?ref=europeans.today), the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists. The registrar’s annual reports covering the period from 2015 show that lobbying the UK government is a rapidly growing industry. It can of course be argued that in a democracy rival campaigns will emerge to counteract these special interest lobbyists. However, there are problems involved in organising such campaigns. The benefits of lobbying are valuable to the special interests and so they invest heavily in these activities. The costs however – in the form of higher prices for products and from tariffs – can be spread across the entire population. This makes it difficult to mobilise large numbers of voters to curb the concessions being made to lobbyists. In other words, the benefits are concentrated and the costs are diffused. This means lobbying can be highly profitable; counter-lobbying is not. That said, the UK is not broken. In fact, compared to some other countries on the World Bank’s governance index it is still doing quite well. But with a fickle electorate seeking quick solutions and often unwilling to make sacrifices for the general good, governing has become an increasingly difficult prospect. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether future World Bank governance readings show Britain’s 2024 weakness in political stability beginning to reverse or becoming entrenched. ● Whether lobbying transparency rules are widened as scrutiny grows over how organised interests gain access to ministers and officials. ● Whether the reduction in the cash Isa allowance shifts more household savings into stocks and shares, as policymakers intend. ● Whether further political fragmentation makes stable governments and long-term policy delivery more difficult. ● Whether improvements in public-service delivery and government effectiveness translate into stronger public confidence. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The UK is likely to remain comparatively strong institutionally, but dissatisfaction with governance will persist unless government effectiveness and political stability improve faster than public expectations. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Sustained improvement in government delivery, significantly tighter lobbying transparency or another major political shock could materially alter public perceptions and future governance scores. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Persistent weakness in effectiveness and stability raises the political cost of long-term policymaking, making short-term voter pressure harder for governments to resist. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Prime ministers have always faced political scandals – so why can’t they weather them now?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/10/prime-ministers-have-always-faced-political-scandals-so-why-cant-they-weather-them-now/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Lovebombed by lobbyists: How Labour became the party of Big Business](https://www.europeans.today/2024/07/10/lovebombed-by-lobbyists-how-labour-became-the-party-of-big-business/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Dozens of Tory spads become lobbyists amid ‘unenforceable’ revolving door rules](https://www.europeans.today/2025/03/07/dozens-of-tory-spads-become-lobbyists-amid-unenforceable-revolving-door-rules/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [All lobbying should be publicly declared in transparency laws shake-up, watchdog says](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/all-lobbying-publicly-declared-transparency-laws-shake-up-watchdog?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK and US sink to new lows in global index of corruption](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/10/uk-and-us-sink-to-new-lows-in-global-index-of-corruption?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [‘Loopholes you can walk through’: UK lobbying industry calls for tighter rules](https://www.ft.com/content/fb26d234-7161-47d0-a9b7-927ea9d63432?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/if-british-voters-seem-impatient-and-angry-data-shows-they-might-have-a-point-289643?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 August 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55406541941?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/289643/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/20/todays-papers-20-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T17:11:57.000Z ## 🇬🇧 UK Front Pages 20-Aug-2026 ![The Telegraph front page, 20-Aug-2026](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQHs_0yWAAA-HYR.jpg) The Telegraph 20-Aug-2026 ![The Daily Star front page, 20-Aug-2026](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQHOFWRWYAAzLH1.jpg) The Daily Star 20-Aug-2026 ![Financial Times front page, 20-Aug-2026](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQHNlMKXQAA0JCo.jpg) Financial Times 20-Aug-2026 × --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Burnham declares nearly £350,000 in backing before becoming PM URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/19/burnham-declares-nearly-350-000-in-backing-before-becoming-pm/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T18:25:01.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Andy Burnham’s register identifies who financed the political operation behind his move into No 10\. The disclosures establish a baseline for assessing future access, appointments and decisions without treating declared donations as evidence of wrongdoing. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham declared nearly £350,000 in donations and in-kind support connected to his return to Parliament and Labour leadership campaign. ● Lord David Sainsbury was the largest identifiable supporter, contributing about £164,347 towards policy work, campaign costs, office space and contractors. ● Other backing included support from Sacha Lord, Charlie Parsons Creative Ltd, Gary Lubner, ThinkLabour, trade unions and Ernst & Young. --- A ndy Burnham’s [first MPs’ register](https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/?ref=europeans.today) as PM shows nearly £350,000 in pre-No 10 backing The new register details donations and in-kind support that helped fund Andy Burnham’s return to Parliament and Labour leadership campaign, including staff, policy work and office space. The first MPs’ register published since Andy Burnham became prime minister shows [nearly £350,000 in donations](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/18/burnham-declares-almost-350000-in-donations-in-months-before-becoming-pm?ref=europeans.today) and in-kind support linked to his return to Parliament and Labour leadership campaign. The [Register of Members’ Financial Interests](https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/?ref=europeans.today) as at 17 August records backing from wealthy individuals, trade unions, a thinktank and professional-services support. The Register also reports more than £12,000 in hospitality and travel. The largest identifiable source in the register is [Lord David Sainsbury](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/person/lord-sainsbury-turville?ref=europeans.today). Four declared contributions total about £164,347\. They include £49,700 for policy and operations contractors, £25,000 towards leadership campaign costs, £23,024.92 in campaign office space and £66,622.50 for campaign contractors. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/19/todays-papers-19-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T17:23:50.000Z × --- ## 🇪🇺 European Newspaper × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### One dead, 207 ill in UK salmonella outbreak possibly linked to imported eggs URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/18/one-dead-207-ill-in-uk-salmonella-outbreak-possibly-linked-to-imported-eggs/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T14:50:26.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The outbreak raises immediate food-safety questions for UK consumers and tests whether cross-border surveillance can identify a contaminated supply chain before further cases occur. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● One person has died and 207 people have been infected across the UK. ● Whole-genome sequencing links all confirmed cases to the same strain of salmonella. ● Investigators say imported eggs are the strongest line of inquiry so far. ● Officials say there is currently no identified link to UK-produced eggs or poultry. --- O ne person has died and 207 people have fallen ill in a UK-wide salmonella outbreak that health officials say [may be linked to imported eggs](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-20-2026/hpr-volume-20-issue-8-news-18-august-2026?ref=europeans.today). The [UK Health Security Agency](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-20-2026/hpr-volume-20-issue-8-news-18-august-2026?ref=europeans.today) said cases range from infants to people aged 90\. Most have been recorded in England, with six in Scotland and one each in Wales and Northern Ireland. Whole-genome sequencing has shown that all 207 infections are [linked to the same strain of salmonella](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqx7vp77g0jo?ref=europeans.today). The first case was identified on 11 August 2025, although most have been detected since mid-July 2026. Several patients required hospital treatment and two developed bloodstream infections. UKHSA has not released details of the person who died while its investigation continues. Officials said there is currently [no identified link to UK-produced eggs or poultry](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-20-2026/hpr-volume-20-issue-8-news-18-august-2026?ref=europeans.today). Investigations instead point towards eggs imported into Britain, although no country of origin, supplier or contaminated batch has been identified. Interviews with patients also identified [five food businesses attended by multiple cases](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/18/uk-salmonella-outbreak-poultry-eggs?ref=europeans.today), but officials have not established that those premises were the source. UKHSA is working with the Food Standards Agency and [public-health bodies in other European countries](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-20-2026/hpr-volume-20-issue-8-news-18-august-2026?ref=europeans.today) to trace the source. The agency [advised people](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/salmonella-guidance-data-and-analysis?ref=europeans.today) to wash their hands thoroughly, cook food properly and avoid preparing food for others while experiencing symptoms such as diarrhoea, stomach cramps, vomiting or fever. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether investigators identify the country of origin, importer or batch associated with the suspected eggs. ● Whether further confirmed cases are added to the outbreak. ● Whether food-chain tracing produces evidence strong enough for recalls or other control measures. ● Whether European surveillance identifies genetically related cases elsewhere. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Investigators are most likely to narrow the egg supply chain and identify additional traceability evidence before determining whether a specific importer or batch can be named. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● New epidemiological or food-chain evidence pointing to a different source of contamination. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Identifying the source is critical both to protecting consumers and to determining whether weaknesses exist in cross-border food-safety controls. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [One person dead and more than 200 ill in UK salmonella outbreak](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/18/uk-salmonella-outbreak-poultry-eggs?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [National outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis in the UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-20-2026/hpr-volume-20-issue-8-news-18-august-2026?ref=europeans.today) | UK Health Security Agency - ###### [Salmonella outbreak in UK leaves one dead and hundreds ill](https://news.sky.com/story/one-dead-and-hundreds-ill-after-uk-salmonella-outbreak-13574292?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Salmonella in humans: guidance, data and analysis](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/salmonella-guidance-data-and-analysis?ref=europeans.today) | UK Health Security Agency - ###### [Salmonella cases reach highest levels in a decade](https://news.sky.com/story/salmonella-cases-reach-highest-levels-in-a-decade-13388907?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Salmonella outbreak linked to noodles affecting UK and 13 other countries](https://news.sky.com/story/salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-noodles-affecting-uk-and-13-other-countries-13559779?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/18/todays-briefing-18-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T11:46:38.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. ## TODAY’s Opening Line Today’s stories connect around a question of control. Governments are making consequential decisions on war, security, housing, energy, and climate resilience, but accountability depends on distinguishing what they actually control from what they merely claim to control. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### Russia threatens UK over British-made drones used by Ukraine ▫ **WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY** Russia’s embassy in London has [threatened unspecified consequences](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/18/moscow-warns-uk-over-reports-ukraine-using-british-drones-to-attack-russia?ref=europeans.today) after reports that British-made drones are being used by Ukrainian forces for long-range attacks inside Russia. The embassy accused London of deliberately escalating the war. “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,” it said. “The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kyiv’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.” *The Times* reported over the weekend that [Ukrainian forces have used British-made drones](https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/uk-drones-used-for-deep-strikes-in-mainland-russia-for-first-time-wkpvxbjgl?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) in their deep-strike campaign for about six months. They include the jet-powered Nyan, developed by Callen-Lenz, a subsidiary of BAE Systems, and another British-built drone whose manufacturer was not disclosed for security reasons. Most Ukrainian deep-strike missions continue to use Ukrainian systems. “Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and we are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson responded. “Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this government to stand against Russian aggression, in Ukraine and against the UK and our allies.” ▫ **WHO IS INVOLVED** - The immediate actors are the **Russian government** and **its embassy in London**. - The **British government** and **UK defence manufacturers** supplying equipment to Kyiv, such as BAE Systems and its Callen-Lenz subsidiary. ▫ **WHAT IT MEANS** The distinction that matters is between British-made weapons and British-controlled military operations. UK-made drones have been used by Ukraine inside Russia; however, British personnel have not selected targets or directed those strikes. That distinction does not make the development insignificant. British military support is having an operational effect inside Russian territory, and Moscow is explicitly using that fact to increase pressure on London. The escalation risk therefore deserves scrutiny without accepting Russia’s characterisation of Ukrainian operations as evidence that Britain itself is conducting the attacks. ▫ **WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT** - **The Kremlin** benefits if “British-made” is understood as “British-operated”. That allows Moscow to present Russia’s war against Ukraine as direct military confrontation with Britain and the wider NATO alliance, a substantially stronger claim than the verified reporting supports. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/18/todays-papers-18-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T14:52:07.000Z ## UK Front Pages 18-Aug-2026 × --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/17/todays-briefing-17-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T07:00:24.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. ## TODAY’s Opening Line Across TODAY’s Briefing, the central question is not only what governments and institutions decide, but how those decisions redistribute risk, responsibility and cost. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### Reform proposes £50bn welfare cuts targeting disability support and foreign nationals ▫ **WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY:** Reform UK is preparing plans it says would cut welfare spending by £50bn, including about [£20bn from disability benefits](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/16/jenrick-cuts-benefits-disabled-people-foreign-nationals?ref=europeans.today) and £21bn by restricting access to benefits for foreign nationals. The restrictions would include [EU citizens with settled status](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly555430nno?ref=europeans.today). Robert Jenrick, Reform’s finance spokesperson, proposes replacing personal independence payment, or PIP, with a more restrictive cash benefit. Reform says the package would reduce the welfare bill by a quarter. Campaigners and Labour politicians dispute both [the consequences and the savings claimed](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/16/jenrick-cuts-benefits-disabled-people-foreign-nationals?ref=europeans.today). Best for Britain argues that restricting settled EU citizens could conflict with commitments made under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. ▫ **WHO IS INVOLVED:** - **Disabled people**, **foreign nationals living legally in Britain**, and **EU citizens with settled status** would be among those directly affected. ▫ **WHAT IT MEANS:** This is not an enacted cut. It is a political proposal whose savings, legal mechanism and secondary costs have not yet been established independently. The important distinction is between reducing expenditure on paper and reducing the eventual cost to the state. PIP can [support people](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/16/jenrick-cuts-benefits-disabled-people-foreign-nationals?ref=europeans.today) who are working as well as those who are not, while removing one form of support can increase costs elsewhere, including health, housing and local government. The settled-status proposal also adds a post-Brexit legal question to what Reform is presenting primarily as a fiscal policy. The useful scrutiny is harder: which entitlements would disappear, who would lose them, which costs would move elsewhere and whether the projected savings survive independent examination. ▫ **WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform** benefits politically if its £50bn figure is repeated as money that could simply be recovered, rather than as a party estimate dependent on major legal and policy changes. ▫ **WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the detailed costings, the proposed legal treatment of EU settled-status holders and whether Reform explains how local authorities would finance the support it wants them to provide instead of some disability payments. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### Emergency wildfire alert raises safeguarding questions for domestic abuse victims ▫ **WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY:** Millions of phones across England and Wales received an [emergency alert](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/emergency-alert-warning-wildfire-risk-sent-phones-england-wales?ref=europeans.today) at about 7pm on Friday warning of serious wildfire danger. It was the most extensive use of the UK emergency-alert system in response to an active incident, as fire services dealt with multiple major incidents during exceptionally dry conditions. The Cabinet Office operates the alert system. Fire and rescue services requested Friday’s alert. *BBC News* subsequently reported concerns from domestic-abuse campaigners that insufficient advance warning could [expose victims who keep concealed phones](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyllkz80dlo?ref=europeans.today). The risk is established enough that government guidance has previously advised people hiding phones from abusers [**how to disable emergency alerts**](https://www.gov.uk/alerts/opting-out?ref=europeans.today). _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/17/todays-papers-17-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T00:57:04.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/16/todays-briefing-16-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-16T07:00:49.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Farage faces a resumed parliamentary standards inquiry, while ministers confront disputes over zero-hours contracts and electric-vehicle targets. ● France, Spain and Italy are confronting pressure over climate resilience, migration cooperation and support for Ukraine. ● Trump’s rhetoric over the Strait of Hormuz raises the stakes in the Iran confrontation, while Washington fights over credit for falling US drug prices. --- ## TODAY’s Opening Line Today’s stories share a question about power: not simply what governments, politicians and wealthy institutions can do, but what rules constrain them, who bears the costs of their choices, and how clearly those choices are explained. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **Farage standards inquiry resumes after Clacton return** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Parliament’s standards commissioner has [reopened an investigation](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/14/standards-watchdog-investigation-nigel-farage-financial-gifts?ref=europeans.today) into whether Nigel Farage should have declared financial gifts received before the 2024 general election. The inquiry resumed after the Reform UK leader returned to Parliament through the Clacton by-election. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The issue is now about parliamentary accountability rather than the electoral manoeuvre itself. Re-election did not extinguish the standards process; it allowed the paused investigation to continue. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Nigel Farage** and **Reform** benefit if an active standards inquiry is treated as evidence of establishment persecution or dismissed as irrelevant paperwork. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** The commissioner’s investigation, Farage’s response when Parliament returns, and whether any eventual finding reaches the Commons Standards Committee or leads to a sanction. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Business groups challenge planned zero-hours contract restrictions** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The Burnham government has reaffirmed plans to end what it calls exploitative [zero-hours contracts](https://news.sky.com/story/a-hammer-blow-to-young-people-businesses-fume-at-proposed-zero-hours-reforms-13572422?ref=europeans.today). Its impact assessment puts direct annual costs to employers at between £350 million and £2.9 billion, prompting objections from retail, hospitality and business groups. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The argument is becoming a test of whether stronger income and scheduling protections can be introduced without materially reducing entry-level hiring. Ministers say the reforms would make hours and incomes more predictable; employers warn particularly about opportunities for younger workers. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/16/todays-papers-16-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T16:52:37.000Z ## 🇬🇧 UK Front Pages — 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Mail on Sunday front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/MailSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=814%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/MailSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=814%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Mail on Sunday 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Sunday Express front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ExpressSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=823%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ExpressSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=823%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Sunday Express 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Sunday Mirror front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/MirrorSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=810%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/MirrorSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=810%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Sunday Mirror 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Daily Star Sunday front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/StarSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=811%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/StarSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=811%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Daily Star Sunday 16-Aug-2026 [ ![The Sun on Sunday front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SunSunday16thAugust2026.jpeg?resize=799%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SunSunday16thAugust2026.jpeg?resize=799%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Sun on Sunday 16-Aug-2026 [ ![The Sunday Times front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SundayTimesSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=669%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SundayTimesSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=669%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Sunday Times 16-Aug-2026 [ ![The Sunday Telegraph front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/TelegraphSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=647%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/TelegraphSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=647%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Sunday Telegraph 16-Aug-2026 [ ![The Observer front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ObserverSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=825%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ObserverSunday16thAugust2026.png?resize=825%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### The Observer 16-Aug-2026 × --- --- [🇫🇷 France](#france) [🇮🇪 Ireland](#ireland) [🇭🇷 Croatia](#croatia) [🇨🇭 Switzerland](#switzerland) ## 🇫🇷 France [ ![Le Parisien Dimanche front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/parisiendimancheSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C956&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/parisiendimancheSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C956&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Le Parisien Dimanche 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Courrier Picard front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/courrierpicardSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C902&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/courrierpicardSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C902&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Courrier Picard 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Le Dauphiné Libéré front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/dauphineSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1018&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/dauphineSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C1018&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Le Dauphiné Libéré 16-Aug-2026 [ ![La Dépêche du Dimanche front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/depecheSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=721%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/depecheSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=721%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### La Dépêche du Dimanche 16-Aug-2026 [ ![La Voix du Nord front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/voixdunordSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C909&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/voixdunordSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=750%2C909&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### La Voix du Nord 16-Aug-2026 ## 🇮🇪 Ireland [ ![Sunday Independent front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SundayIndependentIrelandSunday16thAugust2026.webp?resize=664%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SundayIndependentIrelandSunday16thAugust2026.webp?resize=664%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Sunday Independent 16-Aug-2026 [ ![Sunday World front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SundayWorldIrelandSunday16thAugust2026.webp?resize=764%2C995&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SundayWorldIrelandSunday16thAugust2026.webp?resize=764%2C995&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Sunday World 16-Aug-2026 ## 🇭🇷 Croatia [ ![Večernji list front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/VerernjiListCroatiaSunday16thAugust2026.webp?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/VerernjiListCroatiaSunday16thAugust2026.webp?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Večernji list 16-Aug-2026 ## 🇨🇭 Switzerland [ ![Le Matin Dimanche front page — 16-Aug-2026](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/lematindimancheSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=693%2C1024&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/kulturapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/lematindimancheSunday16thAugust2026.jpg?resize=693%2C1024&ssl=1&ref=europeans.today) ### Le Matin Dimanche 16-Aug-2026 × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/15/todays-papers-15-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-16T00:50:33.000Z ## 🇬🇧 United Kingdom --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/14/todays-briefing-14-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T07:30:42.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Britain’s prison-capacity crisis is colliding with pressure on probation staff and politically explosive early-release decisions. ● Permanent live facial recognition on Oxford Street could establish an important precedent for biometric policing in Britain. ● Europe faces both immediate Russian security threats and a longer-term institutional challenge over enlargement ● In the US, vaccine policy, presidential business interests and new ICE enforcement technology are intensifying scrutiny of executive power. --- ## TODAY’S OPENING LINE T oday’s expanded briefing is unusually broad, but the stories have a common thread: institutions being asked to exercise greater power while the mechanisms meant to constrain, scrutinise or legitimise that power come under pressure. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **Cooper’s account puts Starmer-era decision-making under scrutiny** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Yvette Cooper, now health secretary, says Labour “did not do government very well” during the latter period of Keir Starmer’s premiership and has contrasted his leadership with what she describes as Andy Burnham’s more collegiate approach. Speaking on the [Political Currency](https://tr.ee/3bn3zlTHEM?ref=europeans.today) podcast, Cooper described a highly centralised Downing Street culture and recounted being sidelined from publicly launching a 2025 immigration white paper she had helped develop as home secretary. Her intervention matters because it comes from a senior minister who served inside the Starmer administration and remains in government under Burnham. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The question extends beyond individual leadership styles. Cooper’s account raises an institutional issue about whether excessive centralisation prevented ministers from challenging assumptions, identifying problems early and taking responsibility for policies they were expected to deliver. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Burnham’s political operation** benefits if Cooper’s intervention is reduced to evidence that the new prime minister is simply better than his predecessor. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Burnham’s government demonstrates identifiable changes in policy formation, ministerial autonomy and collective responsibility, particularly when it faces difficult decisions rather than popular announcements. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Prison crisis collides with probation strike threat and early-release backlash** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Probation staff represented by [Napo](https://www.napo.org.uk/about-us?ref=europeans.today) have voted overwhelmingly for [strike action](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/11/probation-staff-strike-vote-burnham-early-release?ref=europeans.today) over what the union says are unrealistic workloads, adding another source of pressure to England and Wales’s strained criminal justice system. The ballot is separate from the government’s emergency early-release plans, but Napo has also criticised those proposals as rushed. The dispute comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham attempts to modify plans intended to relieve prison overcrowding after intense opposition to the possible [early release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers](https://www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk/news/thames-valley-police-leaders-continue-to-pressure-the-government-over-the-early-release-of-pc-andrew-harpers-killers/?ref=europeans.today), who were convicted of the manslaughter of PC Andrew Harper. Fifty police leaders, including every chief constable in England and Wales, urged the government to prevent their early release. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### What the battle between Nigel Farage and Count Binface really tells us about Britain’s mood URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/14/what-the-battle-between-nigel-farage-and-count-binface-really-tells-us-about-britains-mood/ Last updated: 2026-08-15T03:18:56.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Clacton delivered Farage a decisive victory but also an extraordinary protest vote, testing how much can legitimately be inferred about wider British politics from an atypical contest without mainstream-party challengers. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage retained Clacton with more than 63% of votes cast, while turnout remained below 45%. ● Count Binface finished second with 9,455 votes, taking more than a quarter of the ballots cast. ● The contest featured a record 34 candidates after the other major political parties declined to stand. ● Farage’s return to Parliament means the parliamentary standards investigation into his financial declarations resumes. --- T he people of Clacton have spoken. Well, 44% of them have, with the majority of eligible voters staying at home rather than cast their ballot in the byelection. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the winning candidate, also stayed away – snubbing the count at Clacton leisure centre after claiming police had warned him of an organised campaign to disrupt proceedings. In the end, [Farage](https://theconversation.com/topics/nigel-farage-5524?ref=europeans.today) received [63% of the vote](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62x1gr62m1o?ref=europeans.today), amounting to an endorsement from only 28% of the eligible electorate. That his second-place rival was a joke candidate standing as an “independent space warrior” wearing a bin-shaped helmet would seem to bear out the *Daily Mail*’s [observation that](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/11/unstoppable-rise-of-count-binface-clacton-farage?ref=europeans.today) “when voters are shouting at you, it’s bad. When they’re laughing at you, it’s over”. Count Binface received 9,455 votes – one in four of those cast. Byelections are supposed to take place because a member is no longer able to serve. In Farage’s [petulant speech](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c36yd5njn30o?ref=europeans.today) of July 7, when he stood down as MP for the Essex constituency, he objected to being held accountable for undeclared payments from a foreign national. He stated that he could make some “real big money” in the US, where he said he had “plenty of offers”. Farage went on to say he wanted the people of Clacton to judge him and now – after the votes have been counted – says the result [“speaks for itself”](https://x.com/Nigel%5FFarage/status/2088137773165212130?s=43&t=JoWavbehVlzQP2kknubwSw&ref=europeans.today). But this byelection was not an opportunity for the voters of Clacton to scrutinise the sources of Farage’s finances. No hard evidence was presented to them. And they have other things to do with their time than pursue the kind of forensic investigation that a [parliamentary standards commissioner](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0l26g01703o?ref=europeans.today) will be able to carry out. Now that Farage is once again an MP, the previously opened probe resumes. It is not as if the voters of Clacton don’t have other pressing issues to think about. According to [government findings](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2025/english-indices-of-deprivation-2025-statistical-release?ref=europeans.today), one part of the constituency (Jaywick) is the most deprived area in England. The number of people in Clacton leaving school with no formal qualifications is reckoned to be the [second highest](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/05/what-clacton-tells-you-about-white-working-class/?ref=europeans.today) of any town in England. Parts of the district has one of the [lowest life expectancies](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-66939904?ref=europeans.today) and highest under-75 mortality rates nationwide. Nearly half of the working-age population is [economically inactive](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-65984429?ref=europeans.today), heavily exceeding the national average. This is a population that may well want to be pick a fight with “the establishment”. But promoting the career of a multimillionaire politician is probably not the best way to go about it ### **An expression of mood, not politics** So what does this byelection say about contemporary British politics? The Farage narrative suggests that it is about the heroic representation of the real people by a leader who is uniquely capable of speaking their language. But what was most striking in the Clacton panto-plebiscite, where a record [34 candidates](https://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/news/clacton-by-election-result-declared-after-record-breaking-election?ref=europeans.today) faced off against each other, was the cynical disconnect between Westminster politics and the experiences of people who feel ground down and institutionally neglected. (Not to mention so far from political decision-making that one in four of them chose to vote for a bloke with his tongue in his cheek and a bin over his head.) This byelection was less about political choices than the expression of a [public mood](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-923x.70015?ref=europeans.today) – democracy as a register of feelings rather than the “who gets what, when and how” summed up by American political scientist [Harold Laswell](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/politics-who-gets-what-when-how-by-harold-d-lasswell-new-york-whittlesey-house-1936-pp-ix-264/90C407BEDE6963B3D2C84FF79C695E1E?ref=europeans.today). Farage does not offer his followers a way out of their deprived status. After all, the one cluster of policies that really motivates him – [ending mass immigration](https://www.reformparty.uk/policies?ref=europeans.today) – is hardly going to invigorate Clacton. It is one of the [least ethnically diverse](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/29/nigel-farage-come-clean-or-clear-off-voters-clacton?ref=europeans.today) constituencies in England, with [96% of residents](https://www.britishpoliticaldata.com/seats/clacton?ref=europeans.today) classed as white. The story that Farage tells – and he does so masterfully – is of a last-ditch attempt to save Britain from contamination by globalism, as if any contemporary nation state could possibly stand alone against the might of transnational corporations and the all-powerful bond markets. Fittingly for a coastal town MP, Farage is a King Canute, publicly promising to hold back the cosmopolitan waves while privately accepting [gifts from overseas billionaires](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0vx2edk0vo?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000781--1-.jpg) "Farage is a King Canute, publicly promising to hold back the cosmopolitan waves while privately accepting gifts from overseas billionaires." | DREAMSTIMES/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) The problem with Farage’s narrative is that it requires ongoing supplies of rhetorical fury to stir the passions of its believers. Reform UK faces competition from Rupert Lowe’s far-right Restore Britain party, with its support from Elon Musk, who [fell out with Farage](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70ep8lp4jjo?ref=europeans.today) apparently over the Reform leader’s unwillingness to back far-right agitator Tommy Robinson. The narrative of deep resentment has a self-inflating quality. For every outrage identified or manufactured, there is always greater public fury that can be ignited. The competition between rival groups to arouse ever-greater degrees of what Farage has called [“pure cold rage”](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/nigel-farage-kemi-badenoch-sikh-hampshire-police-hampshire-b1284454.html?ref=europeans.today) can have dangerous consequences. It is unclear whether the electoral absurdity at Clacton will be seen by historians as a precursor to Farage’s reputational rehabilitation and onward march to Downing Street, or a further step on the slippery slope towards greater political ugliness. Either way, Count Binface’s footnote status in the chronicles is assured – along with the nearly 10,000 voters who believed that their future would be best represented by a dustbin. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the parliamentary standards commissioner’s resumed investigation concludes that Farage should have declared the financial support under examination. ● Whether any adverse finding progresses to a Commons sanction severe enough to open the possibility of a recall process in Clacton. ● How Farage and Reform UK respond as scrutiny of political donations and financial support returns to the centre of the story. ● Whether future elections with mainstream-party competition produce anything resembling Clacton’s unusually large protest vote for a satirical candidate. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Farage remains MP while the standards process runs its course, with the Clacton result cited by supporters as vindication but its wider electoral significance remaining disputed. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A serious adverse standards finding — particularly one capable of triggering parliamentary sanctions and a recall process — would shift attention from the electoral spectacle back to accountability. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Clacton tests whether electoral popularity can be separated from parliamentary accountability and whether an extraordinary local contest offers any reliable guide to Britain’s wider political direction. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Five questions over Nigel Farage’s £5 million donation](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Nigel Farage wins Clacton byelection in contest boycotted by other main parties](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/14/nigel-farage-wins-clacton-byelection-count-binface-boycotted-major-parties?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Standards watchdog resumes Farage probe as rivals slam needless byelection](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/14/standards-watchdog-investigation-nigel-farage-financial-gifts?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Farage £5m ‘gift’ inquiry reopened after Clacton by-election win](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-pm-making-very-ambitious-pledge-in-news-conference-at-climate-summit-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [‘He goes a bit funny if you use his real name’: the unstoppable rise of Count Binface](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/11/unstoppable-rise-of-count-binface-clacton-farage?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/what-the-battle-between-nigel-farage-and-count-binface-really-tells-us-about-britains-mood-289762?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 14 August 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/289762/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/14/todays-papers/ Last updated: 2026-08-16T00:51:10.000Z ## 🇬🇧 UK Newspapers × --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Farage claims victory in Clacton: ‘I beat the establishment candidate’ URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/14/clacton-by-election-farage-beats-the-establishment-candidate/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T01:37:45.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Nigel Farage’s victory claim before the official declaration highlights the gap between political performance and electoral procedure, while his description of Count Binface as the “establishment candidate” supplies an unusually stark satirical contrast. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage claimed he had won the Clacton by-election while counting was still under way. ● He said he had beaten what he called the “establishment candidate”, referring to satirical candidate Count Binface. ● No formal result had been declared when Farage made the claim. --- N igel Farage claimed he had won the Clacton by-election before officials had completed counting, declaring that he had defeated what he called the “establishment candidate”. Speaking after polls closed on Thursday and shortly after midnight on Friday, the Reform UK leader was asked whether he believed he had won. “Yes, fairly convincingly. I’ve managed to beat the establishment candidate,” [he said](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-nigel-farages-party-reform-uk-to-make-major-announcement-as-lee-anderson-defects-12593360?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000780--1-.jpg) Nigel Farage's victory lap... before the last vote! The remark appeared to refer to Count Binface, the satirical candidate among the 33 people challenging Farage. The main Westminster parties had chosen not to field candidates in the contest, leaving a [record field of candidates](https://news.sky.com/story/bluesky-13569320?ref=europeans.today) dominated by independents, fringe parties and novelty candidates. Farage had previously framed the by-election as a contest between “the people” and “the establishment”. His description of Count Binface therefore supplied an obvious target for satire, particularly while [the official count was still continuing](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/13/nigel-farage-set-for-decisive-but-arguably-empty-victory-in-clacton?ref=europeans.today). Count Binface told *BBC News* that being described as an “establishment candidate” was “in a way a compliment”. He argued that Farage, as “one of the chief architects of Brexit” and a dominant figure in British politics for two decades, had a stronger claim to that label than “a lone wolf space warrior”. Asked what would constitute a good result, Binface said one vote would be special, 309 would set a personal record and 5% would return his deposit. The timing matters. Farage was strongly expected to retain the seat, but no formal result had been declared when he made the claim. Election officials were [still processing ballots](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-yvette-cooper-refuses-to-say-if-trump-deserves-nobel-peace-prize-12593360?ref=europeans.today), with the result expected later on Friday morning. For a political cartoon, the contrast is straightforward: a victory speech before the democratic procedure had finished, and an anti-establishment politician casting a man wearing a silver bin on his head as the establishment. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● The official declaration of the Clacton by-election result. ● Farage’s final vote share and majority once counting is completed. ● Count Binface’s result within the record 34-candidate field. ● Whether the eventual result changes the political significance attached to Farage’s early victory claim. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Farage was strongly expected to win the contest, making the final margin and turnout more politically informative than the identity of the winner. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● An official result materially different from expectations would alter the significance of Farage’s premature declaration. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Electoral declarations belong to the democratic process, not to candidates, making the timing of political victory claims legitimate territory for scrutiny and satire. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Count Binface hits back at Nigel Farage as Reform UK leader claims he has won in Clacton](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-nigel-farages-party-reform-uk-to-make-major-announcement-as-lee-anderson-defects-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Nigel Farage set for decisive but arguably empty victory in Clacton](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/13/nigel-farage-set-for-decisive-but-arguably-empty-victory-in-clacton?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Polls close in Clacton byelection where Nigel Farage faces slew of fringe candidates](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/13/clacton-byelection-polls-open?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [All the Clacton by-election candidates](https://news.sky.com/story/bluesky-13569320?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Nigel Farage and Count Binface: a visual guide to their electoral careers](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/12/nigel-farage-count-binface-electoral-careers-clacton-byelection?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [‘Clacton voters need a serious person’: the independent candidates taking on Nigel Farage – and Count Binface](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/03/clacton-byelection-independent-candidates-nigel-farage-count-binface?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 14 August 2026. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/13/todays-papers-13-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T18:45:12.000Z × --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/12/todays-papers-12-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T02:43:30.000Z ![The i Paper front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-f970dacf-ee03-496a-b206-2fa908e83338.png) The i Paper ![The Guardian front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-5e8d6683-4483-4a33-9579-5ff6d308323b.png) The Guardian ![The Times front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-678e3b22-fb6f-491d-835d-823d32070301.png) The Times ![Daily Mirror front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-a8978fb6-b6ed-464b-a251-7abd4da8f3b2.png) Daily Mirror ![Daily Mail front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-703142f6-2c34-462f-a3bc-84e726fc9971.png) Daily Mail ![The Sun front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-c6df7e75-1a1d-4c25-b68b-478ff5d0c814.jpeg) The Sun ![Daily Telegraph front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-42b3d3ca-3e52-4d1d-b414-acfb7cb6beaa.png) Daily Telegraph ![Metro front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-dd56530d-d068-41ca-b0e8-e5b2d056f773.png) Metro ![Financial Times front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-6a204750-a852-4e4d-a95d-547789be076c.png) Financial Times ![Daily Star front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-ef73d9e6-cac6-4225-91ca-5a583854c9bc.png) Daily Star ![Daily Express front page — 12-Aug-2026](https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-4c6c92f5-ebaa-4eb8-9d98-af8f60e2f327.png) Daily Express --- [🇫🇷 France](#france) [🇩🇪 Germany](#germany) ## 🇫🇷 France ![Le Monde — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/11/le-monde-234734mup.webp) Le Monde ![Le Figaro — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/12/le-figaro-012748x0k.webp) Le Figaro ![Le Parisien — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/11/le-parisien-232209tsw.webp) Le Parisien ![Libération — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/12/liberation-000205bbv.webp) Libération ## 🇩🇪 Germany ![Bild — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/12/bild-000615er5.webp) Bild ![Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/11/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung-232237c6b.webp) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ![Die Welt — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/12/die-welt-003416cz4.webp) Die Welt ![Handelsblatt — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/12/handelsblatt-000253dwq.webp) Handelsblatt ![Der Tagesspiegel — 12-Aug-2026](https://www.frontpages.com/t/2026/08/12/der-tagesspiegel-010536dsc.webp) Der Tagesspiegel ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Amazon deforestation falls 37% to record low in Brazil URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/09/amazon-deforestation-falls-37-to-record-low-in-brazil/ Last updated: 2026-08-09T03:22:11.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Brazil has recorded another sharp fall in Amazon deforestation, strengthening evidence that enforcement can curb forest loss while leaving major climate, fire and degradation risks unresolved. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Deforestation alerts fell 36.87% to 2,874.38 sq km from August 2025 to July 2026. ● The result extends a marked decline since President Lula returned to office in January 2023. ● Fires, drought and logging can still damage standing forest beyond the areas counted as deforestation. --- D eforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon [have fallen to their lowest level](https://ipam.org.br/decline-in-alerts-paves-the-way-for-zero-deforestation-in-the-amazon/?ref=europeans.today) since the current monitoring series began, giving President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a significant environmental result months before Brazil’s presidential election. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, INPE, recorded [2,874.38 square kilometres under deforestation alerts](https://www.gov.br/inpe/pt-br/assuntos/ultimas-noticias/governo-federal-apresenta-dados-que-indicam-reducao-do-desmatamento-nos-biomas-brasileiros?ref=europeans.today) between August 2025 and July 2026, [down 36.87% from the previous 12-month period](https://oc.eco.br/en/amazon-deforestation-alerts-hit-all-time-low-in-2026/?ref=europeans.today). President Lula travelled to [INPE’s headquarters in São José dos Campos](https://www.gov.br/inpe/pt-br/assuntos/ultimas-noticias/presidente-lula-visita-sede-do-inpe-em-sao-jose-dos-campos-sp?ref=europeans.today), near São Paulo, on Friday 7 August, where the figures were presented during events marking the institute’s 65th anniversary. The president used the occasion to restate his commitment to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030. “The figures show that, if we keep up this pace, maintain this level of seriousness and provide the necessary resources, we can achieve that goal,” Lula said during the presentation. The latest data extend a marked decline since Lula returned to the presidency in January 2023 after defeating Jair Bolsonaro. Earlier reductions in Amazon forest loss under Lula were [documented](https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2024/11/08/en-amazonie-la-deforestation-a-son-plus-bas-niveau-depuis-neuf-ans%5F6383358%5F3244.html?ref=europeans.today) by *Le Monde*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000773--1-.jpg) Deforestation in conservation areas, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. | DREAMSTIME/[JOA SOUZA](https://www.dreamstime.com/joasouza%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) Amazon deforestation had risen sharply during Bolsonaro’s presidency. In 2022, the final year of his administration, [more than 10,000 sq km](https://www.wwf.org.br/en/?84261/Deforestation-in-the-Amazon-remains-at-high-levels-with-a-rate-of-11568-km2-in-2022&ref=europeans.today) was cleared, according to official Brazilian data. The rate then fell substantially after Lula returned to office and environmental enforcement was strengthened. *Associated Press* reported [a further decline](https://apnews.com/article/e6f6133a3a7c1c0fcd44c9875ced0357?ref=europeans.today) in the August 2024 to July 2025 period. Lula is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive presidential term in October. The latest figures therefore give him a measurable result to point to on one of the central environmental commitments of his presidency [as he launches his formal campaign](https://www.euronews.com/2026/08/03/lula-da-silva-formally-launches-bid-for-brazils-presidency?ref=europeans.today). The improvement does not mean pressure on the Amazon has ended. Deforestation alerts measure forest clearing, while fires, drought and logging can degrade standing forest without appearing as outright deforestation. Recent reporting highlighted [continuing threats](https://apnews.com/article/9b6e95ab885a05a371f746ab7ae2c7b7?ref=europeans.today) even as clearing fell. The distinction matters because degradation can damage biodiversity, weaken the forest’s ability to store carbon and increase its vulnerability to future fires and clearing. Even so, the latest figures strengthen evidence that Brazil’s recent decline in Amazon forest loss has continued rather than reversed. For President Lula, the result also turns a major climate promise into a clearer test of government performance as Brazilian voters prepare for the October election. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the decline in deforestation alerts is confirmed by Brazil’s more comprehensive annual forest-loss measurements. ● Whether fires and drought undermine gains made against clear-cutting. ● Whether enforcement against illegal logging and land clearing remains strong through the election period. ● How Lula uses the Amazon record during the October presidential campaign. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Amazon deforestation is likely to remain well below the levels recorded during the Bolsonaro presidency, although reaching zero illegal deforestation by 2030 remains uncertain. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Severe drought, widespread fires, weaker enforcement or policy changes that increase pressure on protected forest could reverse part of the progress. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Brazil’s results provide a measurable test of whether sustained political commitment and environmental enforcement can reduce destruction of one of the world’s most important forests. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Governo Federal apresenta dados que indicam redução do desmatamento nos biomas brasileiros](https://www.gov.br/inpe/pt-br/assuntos/ultimas-noticias/governo-federal-apresenta-dados-que-indicam-reducao-do-desmatamento-nos-biomas-brasileiros?ref=europeans.today) | *INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais)* - ###### [Amazon deforestation alerts hit all-time low in 2026](https://oc.eco.br/en/amazon-deforestation-alerts-hit-all-time-low-in-2026/?ref=europeans.today) | *Observatório do Clima* - ###### [Decline in Alerts Paves the Way for Zero Deforestation in the Amazon](https://ipam.org.br/decline-in-alerts-paves-the-way-for-zero-deforestation-in-the-amazon/?ref=europeans.today) | *Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia* - ###### [Brazil reports sharp drop in Amazon deforestation](https://apnews.com/article/9b6e95ab885a05a371f746ab7ae2c7b7?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Brazil’s Amazon deforestation falls as fires surge](https://apnews.com/article/e6f6133a3a7c1c0fcd44c9875ced0357?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Amazon deforestation falls to its lowest level in nine years](https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2024/11/08/en-amazonie-la-deforestation-a-son-plus-bas-niveau-depuis-neuf-ans%5F6383358%5F3244.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Lula formally launches bid for Brazil’s presidency](https://www.euronews.com/2026/08/03/lula-da-silva-formally-launches-bid-for-brazils-presidency?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Amazon forest fires fell to historic low in 2025](https://www.euronews.com/2026/07/22/amazon-forest-fires-fell-to-all-time-low-in-2025-but-could-a-super-el-nino-halt-progress?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon falls sharply](https://www.euronews.com/2024/08/08/deforestation-in-brazils-amazon-is-down-by-almost-half-since-2023-but-savannah-is-sacrific?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Amazon continues to burn despite falling deforestation](https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2024/07/21/l-amazonie-continue-de-bruler-malgre-le-recul-de-la-deforestation%5F6254665%5F3244.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Lula sets out Brazil’s climate and Amazon ambitions](https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/06/03/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva-nous-avons-plus-que-jamais-besoin-d-une-gouvernance-mondiale%5F6610279%5F3210.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 9 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[JOA SOUZA](https://www.dreamstime.com/joasouza%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Brazil’s Pix dispute raises a payment sovereignty question for Europe URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/09/brazils-pix-dispute-raises-a-payment-sovereignty-question-for-europe/ Last updated: 2026-08-09T01:43:04.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Brazil’s clash with Washington shows that payment systems can become instruments of trade policy and strategic pressure, while Europe is confronting its own dependence on foreign payment networks. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Brazil’s central-bank-governed Pix system is under US scrutiny over alleged unfair trade practices. ● Pix did not alone cause the latest US tariffs, but it forms part of the wider trade confrontation. ● Europe faces a related sovereignty debate as Wero expands and policymakers pursue the digital euro. ● Control of payment infrastructure affects competition, data, resilience and dependence on foreign providers. --- B razil’s [Pix payment system](https://www.bcb.gov.br/en/financialstability/pix%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) has become an unlikely front in a wider argument about trade, technology and financial power. Launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in 2020, Pix enables instant account-to-account payments and transfers, usually through banking apps, smartphones or QR codes. It has become deeply embedded in Brazilian commerce and personal finance. Brazil’s central bank says Pix has helped bring [more than 70 million people](https://www.ft.com/content/efbec9a7-a3d9-45e6-8ade-c0660f31ecc7?ref=europeans.today) into the financial system, according to the FT. The system is now a target of a [US investigation](https://apnews.com/article/fd04428f309a2b329964a3050111e3ec?ref=europeans.today) into alleged unfair Brazilian trade practices. Washington has raised concerns about whether Brazil grants Pix preferential treatment and whether the central bank’s dual role as regulator and operator puts private competitors, like US-based Visa or MasterCard, at a disadvantage. The Brazilian government rejects the broader US allegations. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/08/todays-briefing-8-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-08T22:38:23.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Prevent referrals reached a record 10,293, but more than half involved no identified ideology. ● Forty-nine asylum seekers removed to France have been recorded returning to Britain. ● France has ordered the expulsion of former RT France chief Xenia Fedorova over alleged disinformation activity. ● Ceuta’s mass crossing exposed both Europe’s reliance on Morocco and the dangers of unsupported conspiracy claims. --- T oday’s stories share a common problem: governments are acting under intense pressure while headline numbers risk obscuring what their policies are actually achieving. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Prevent referrals reach highest level on record** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** A record [10,293 referrals were made to Prevent](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/06/record-high-referrals-prevent-anti-terror-scheme-rise-rightwing-extremism?ref=europeans.today), the UK programme intended to identify people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism, in England and Wales in the year to September 2025\. That was 39% higher than the previous year and involved 9,957 individuals. Extreme rightwing concerns accounted for 2,103 referrals, up 42%, while 860 concerned Islamist extremism. Crucially, 56% involved no identified ideology. Children aged 11 to 15 were the largest known age group, accounting for 3,655 referrals. The figures also show that 18% of referred people had autism recorded on their Prevent file, prompting Rights & Security International to question whether autistic people are being drawn disproportionately into a counter-terrorism system. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The record total should not be read simply as a count of extremists. More than half of referrals lacked an identified ideology, and counter-terrorism officials have warned that Prevent was designed principally to deal with radicalisation, not every form of violent fixation or mental-health-related risk. The policy problem is therefore becoming one of triage as well as counter-extremism: directing genuine terrorism risks into Prevent without allowing a rapidly expanding caseload to consume resources needed for the most dangerous cases. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Extremist propagandists** and **far-right politicians seeking simple narratives** benefit if the 10,293 referrals are presented as 10,293 confirmed extremists. That interpretation erases the fact that most cases had no identified ideology and risks making Britain’s threat picture appear simpler than counter-terrorism officials themselves say it is. Equally, dismissing the rise altogether would obscure the significant increase in extreme rightwing referrals. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### US Senate panel holds Dr Fauci in contempt over refusal to answer COVID questions URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/08/us-senate-panel-holds-dr-fauci-in-contempt-over-refusal-to-answer-covid-questions/ Last updated: 2026-08-08T15:23:37.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The Fauci dispute tests whether a presidential pardon in the United States can weaken a witness’s protection against self-incrimination, with implications for congressional oversight and future investigations of officials from both parties. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● A Republican-led Senate committee voted along party lines to hold Dr Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. ● Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times while answering questions about the US government’s COVID-19 response. ● Republican Senator Rand Paul argues Joe Biden’s federal pardon removed Fauci’s legitimate fear of prosecution, while Fauci’s lawyers dispute that conclusion. ● The Justice Department has received the committee referral, but no criminal charge has been filed yet and prosecution is not automatic. --- A Republican-led US Senate committee has voted to hold Dr Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment while being questioned about the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. **XTRA | Who is Dr Anthony Fauci?** Dr Anthony Fauci is an American physician-immunologist who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health, from 1984 to 2022\. During COVID-19, he served as a key White House advisor, guiding public response and vaccine deployment. [**(SOURCE: EBSCO)**](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/anthony-fauci?ref=europeans.today) The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee [approved the resolution along party lines](https://apnews.com/article/c068561f3d2adddd0a659e099c212c49?ref=europeans.today) on 6 August. Fauci had declined to answer more than 100 questions at a hearing the previous week, citing his constitutional protection against self-incrimination. Chairman Rand Paul forwarded the committee’s contempt referral to the Justice Department, which said it had received it and was reviewing the matter. Rand Paul argues that Fauci cannot reasonably fear federal prosecution because former president Joe Biden [granted him a broad pardon](https://apnews.com/article/caee326c4723a4ba6d972f7daf750a0b?ref=europeans.today) in January 2025 covering federal offences connected with his government work from 2014 until the date of the pardon. Paul told the committee that Fauci faced no federal prosecutorial risk and framed the dispute as a test of whether someone protected by a presidential pardon can still refuse congressional questions on Fifth Amendment grounds. Fauci and his lawyers dispute that position. They argue that the pardon does not eliminate every possible legal risk, including potential state prosecution or exposure arising from testimony given after the pardon. Legal experts cited by the [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/868a0dfcf016d830571fb6a78afae4f9?ref=europeans.today) have also questioned the argument that Biden’s use of an autopen invalidates the pardon. Fauci has pointed to Paul’s [previous calls for his prosecution](https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/reps/senator-rand-paul-re-refers-dr-anthony-fauci-to-the-department-of-justice/?ref=europeans.today) as one reason he believes answering questions could expose him to a criminal investigation. His lawyer, David Schertler, has characterised the contempt move as punishment for exercising a constitutional right. The procedure itself is contested. Rand Paul [did not seek approval from the full Senate](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/08/rand-paul-doj-republicans-anthony-fauci-contempt.html?ref=europeans.today) before sending the committee referral to federal prosecutors. Gary Peters, the committee’s senior Democrat, has questioned whether a criminal contempt referral can proceed without a vote of the full chamber. The Justice Department is not required to prosecute. No criminal charge has been filed, and no court has decided whether Fauci’s pardon removed his Fifth Amendment protection in these circumstances. The dispute extends beyond one former health official. It could help define whether presidents can pardon officials for past conduct while leaving them unable to refuse testimony before a future hostile Congress. That question could also affect officials pardoned by Donald Trump if political control of Congress changes. For democratic systems, the balance is consequential: legislatures need power to obtain evidence, but that power does not erase a witness’s protection against self-incrimination. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the Justice Department opens a criminal investigation or takes no further action on the committee referral. ● Whether prosecutors accept the committee’s referral without a contempt vote by the full Senate. ● Whether Fauci’s lawyers challenge any attempted prosecution on constitutional or procedural grounds. ● Whether courts are eventually asked to determine how a broad presidential pardon affects a witness’s ability to invoke the Fifth Amendment. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The immediate dispute is likely to remain focused on the Justice Department’s response to the referral, with the larger constitutional question unresolved unless prosecutors act and litigation follows. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A prosecution, court ruling or formal decision rejecting the referral could establish a clearer precedent on pardoned witnesses and congressional testimony. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The outcome could influence how future US administrations, Congresses and pardoned officials navigate the boundary between legislative accountability and protection against self-incrimination. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer COVID questions](https://apnews.com/article/c068561f3d2adddd0a659e099c212c49?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Fauci's decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment tees up a legal debate and a contempt vote](https://apnews.com/article/868a0dfcf016d830571fb6a78afae4f9?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Fauci contempt vote reflects the enduring politics of COVID](https://apnews.com/article/ad88c656e9c56d542d0120ebf111f6bf?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Biden pardons his siblings and their spouses on his way out of the White House](https://apnews.com/article/caee326c4723a4ba6d972f7daf750a0b?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [What Trump ordering an investigation into Biden's actions might mean legally and politically](https://apnews.com/article/e033f6a9d8ecc65a68990f73dd0e718a?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Biden started the day with pardons. Trump finished with many more.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/21/biden-pardons-family-fauci-trump-january-6/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 8 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/08/todays-papers-8-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-08T22:40:18.000Z ## 🇬🇧 UK Front Pages Saturday 8 August 2026 --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Me, the Trump. Not, We, the People. URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/07/me-the-trump-not-we-the-people/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T02:25:23.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Trust in presidential statements and election integrity affects democratic stability, international confidence and the ability of future US leaders to communicate credibly during wars, economic emergencies and other national crises. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Repeated false election claims are weakening public trust in the presidency and American democratic institutions. ● Broadcasters’ decision not to carry a Trump election-security address live illustrates declining confidence in presidential communications. ● Political leadership has become increasingly personalised at the expense of public service. ● A future president will inherit the challenge of rebuilding domestic and international confidence in US institutions. --- E veryone, even most of the Republican Party, knows President Trump lies about most everything including the [2020 election results](https://apnews.com/article/46caa9f4ac6768f373d69c9a5e944570?ref=europeans.today). Let’s talk bigger picture. President Trump is destroying the credibility of the United States among our long-time allies, among our citizenry and, importantly, of the presidency. And, an entire generation of voters is being taught not to listen to what a President says because, in advance, we know it won’t be the truth. The fact that a President of the United States can announce an address to the nation and no one – except his most loyal of cable channels – [covered it](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/16/trump-says-abc-nbc-licenses-should-be-revoked-over-refusal-air-speech-election-integrity/?ref=europeans.today) is destroying, too, the ability of the President to say, “this is important. Pay attention. I have important news about the United States – be it war or the state of the economy.” And no one can listen to what he says because the networks and cable news, in advance, said: since we know he’s going to lie, we won’t broadcast it live, but we will cover anything newsworthy. Sensible news coverage? I think so. If a president, any president, is not making news, why cover it? What does that generation think, then, when they are older? The presidency is just another office, not one they should pay attention to? The only legacy this President cares about is putting his name on anything and everything – from savings accounts for children to the Kennedy Center, to a gold coin and almost anything else. He can’t wait patiently to win that recognition based on what he does because he knows it likely won’t happen, so he’ll do it himself. As he did with Trump Vodka, Trump University, Trump Airlines and other failed products. He had every right to do that when he was in the private sector. He doesn’t now. It truly all is about him, not us. What does the next President – and there will be a next President – do to regain that credibility? Who is that man or woman who not only is capable of running this country and its foreign policy but also can talk, with credibility, about our daily lives? About the legitimate threats we face? He [talked that night](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/16/live-updates-trump-give-speech-election-security/?ref=europeans.today) (apparently, because I couldn’t find a place to listen to him) about election security. His spokesperson announced in advance that he had “shocking” things to say about it. He didn’t. He released information that we mostly all knew before, putting his “spin” on it that it threatens the legitimacy of our elections. It hasn’t, and it doesn’t. He provided no proof that any election was affected by any tampering. Because that proof doesn’t exist. Why doesn’t it exist? Because it has never happened. It wasn’t enough that he [called the Georgia Secretary of State](https://apnews.com/article/ea69e086380898546e58663d8fc5c6dc?ref=europeans.today) a few years ago demanding he find enough votes for him to win Georgia; now he is using, at best, innuendo to damn our election process that had made the United States the envy of the world, insulting every elected official responsible – Democrat and Republican for overseeing free and fair elections. If our elections are so manipulated by cheaters – how did he win? How did the Republican Party gain control of both the House and Senate? If the evil Deep State, the media and others conspired to screw the GOP, wouldn’t the GOP be screwed? But it isn’t. The GOP controls every lever of government, including the Supreme Court. Where are the fruits of this “cheating?” In doing so, he never mentioned that as President, as [*The New York Times* reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/us/trump-speech-elections-takeaways.html?ref=europeans.today), he has: “…(dismantled) the election protections built up over previous years. The FBI’s task force on foreign influence was shut down, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence sharply cut back a task force that warned against foreign meddling and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency gutted. And, Mr. Trump has appointed an heir to a housing fortune with no relevant experience as the interim director of national intelligence.” If there is evidence of foreign meddling, why gut the agencies responsible for uncovering and protecting against that meddling? Do other countries try to influence our elections? Duh, yes. But not by invading our voting machines or adding votes to their favored candidate. They do it by gaining access to publicly available information to target their disinformation efforts at our voters. My friends, that’s what the major political parties do, too. This isn’t all Mr. Trump’s fault, though much of the responsibility can be laid at his door. Former President Joe Biden contributed to our political world by not doing what he said he’d do – serve as a President who will get us back to “normal” and then not seek re-election. He promised to be a transition president, a [one-term president](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2020-02-20/segment/03?ref=europeans.today). But he didn’t keep that promise. He, too, convinced himself only he could beat Trump. Even he, he thought, was above our system. Mr. Trump was elected President because he had the good fortune of running against a flawed candidate (Hillary Clinton) and by Biden deciding too late that he was too old to run. A decision he was only forced into. The only candidate Donald Trump could have defeated in 2016 was Hillary Clinton. The only way he won in 2024 was because President Biden created the political environment for him to win. Has Mr. Trump done some good things? Probably. Illegal immigration is down, though one can certainly question the tactics he’s using. One can mourn the lives of those immigrants who did everything the right way, but still were gunned down by thugs hired to supposedly protect us from the “worst of the worst.” You may not agree with every policy he’s brought to our country but he won the election(s) and that’s how our system works. It’s the tactics that he has introduced to our country, the damage he has done to the United States’ credibility that is the problem. It is the conspiracy theories he foments and spreads. And that we, in a couple of years, must deal with, with whoever the next President is. He does not look at legacy as, am I leaving our citizens in better shape than they I found them? His legacy is how that we must correct all the damage he has done to our country, internationally and domestically. To our system. His [approval rating is down](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/16/trump-approval-stuck-30s-post-ipsos-poll-shows/?ref=europeans.today) to, basically, his base of voters, people who want their lives made better, not more violent, people who want their children to be better off than they were. But who, for some reason, support the very man in the way of that progress. Who, for some reason, believe he is telling the truth. That’s the measure, the legacy, of a President. We’ve had some succeed at that, some fail. He’s failing. And because of his failures, our system is being undermined by a man who cares only about “Me, the Trump.” Not We, the People. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether election security remains central to Republican messaging before November’s midterm elections. ● Congressional action on proposed voter-identification, citizenship and postal-voting restrictions. ● Further changes to federal agencies responsible for countering election interference and disinformation. ● Whether presidential approval and public confidence in US institutions deteriorate further before the midterms. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Disputes over election legitimacy will remain politically prominent, while confidence in presidential communications and democratic institutions will recover slowly, if at all, before the next election. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Credible evidence of vote manipulation, or a substantial bipartisan agreement protecting election administration, would materially alter the political and institutional debate. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Public confidence in elections and presidential communications determines whether future US leaders can govern effectively and secure acceptance of legitimate electoral outcomes. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Takeaways from Trump’s address claiming election vulnerabilities](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/us/trump-speech-elections-takeaways.html?ref=europeans.today) | *The New York Times* - ###### [Trump says these documents prove his false claims of election fraud. Here’s what they really say](https://apnews.com/article/46caa9f4ac6768f373d69c9a5e944570?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Declassified documents touted by Trump say election systems would be difficult to manipulate](https://abcnews.com/US/declassified-documents-touted-trump-election-systems-difficult-manipulate/story?id=134848184&ref=europeans.today) | *ABC News* - ###### [Trump speech alleges election-security vulnerabilities but does not substantiate the claims](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/16/live-updates-trump-give-speech-election-security/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [Trump says ABC and NBC licences should be revoked after networks decline to carry speech](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/16/trump-says-abc-nbc-licenses-should-be-revoked-over-refusal-air-speech-election-integrity/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [Trump delivers conspiracy-tinged speech on US elections and accuses China of interference](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/07/17/trump-delivers-conspiracy-tinged-speech-on-us-elections-and-accuses-china-of-interference%5F6755570%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [What Trump’s newly declassified documents do and don’t say about threats to US elections](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/politics/what-trumps-newly-declassified-documents-do-and-dont-tell-us-about-threats-to-us-elections?ref=europeans.today) | *CNN* - ###### [Trump approval remains in the 30s amid pessimism over the economy and Iran](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/16/trump-approval-stuck-30s-post-ipsos-poll-shows/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/me-the-trump-not-we-the-people?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 August 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/07/todays-papers-7-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-08T15:35:32.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Donald Trump has made US$2.2 billion in his second term. How does that stack up against other US presidents? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/06/donald-trump-has-made-us-2-2-billion-in-his-second-term-how-does-that-stack-up-against-other-us-presidents/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T23:20:48.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Trump’s unprecedented income while serving as US president raises consequential questions about conflicts of interest, market fairness and whether public power is being used to advance private business interests. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Trump reported US$2.2 billion in revenue for 2025, up from US$622 million in 2024. ● Cryptocurrency ventures generated much of his income during the first year of his second term. ● Recent presidents generally placed assets in trusts or pursued major commercial earnings after leaving office. ● Truth API and Trump’s influence over markets and regulators have intensified demands for scrutiny. --- A t the end of June – in the run-up to America’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – President Donald Trump staged the White House’s [first-ever professional sporting event](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c892xnwg5vlo?ref=europeans.today). And while the UFC Freedom 250 evening of mixed martial arts was ostensibly part of the July 4 jamboree, Trump took the opportunity to promote his family’s business interests. Fighters were paid bonuses in [US$1 stablecoins](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/14/white-house-ufc-fighters-crypto?ref=europeans.today), the [cryptocurrency](https://theconversation.com/topics/cryptocurrency-8321?ref=europeans.today) owned by the [Trump](https://theconversation.com/topics/donald-trump-10206?ref=europeans.today) family, while the event itself [cost a reported US$60 million](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5919806-trump-administration-ufc-60-million-white-house-cage-fight/?ref=europeans.today), much of which was taxpayers’ money. The US president’s ability to make money while in office has been a focus of attention since his financial reports for 2025 were [made public](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reports-more-than-14-billion-income-crypto-ventures-2026-06-30?ref=europeans.today) at the end of June. His reported revenue jumped from US$622 million in 2024 to US$2.2 billion in 2025, the first year of his second term. While he and his family claim that there is [no conflict of interest](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/trump-money-conflicts-presidency.html?ref=europeans.today), there is little doubt that Trump has been able to profit from his position. But how does his financial gain as president stack up with some of his recent predecessors? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000762--1--1.jpg) Trump and his family claim there is no conflict of interest. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55428975751/in/dateposted/?ref=europeans.today) The Kennedy family were [famously wealthy](https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/joseph-p-kennedy?ref=europeans.today). The family’s patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, put some of his money into trusts for his children, allowing John Fitzgerald, Robert Francis and generations of future Kennedys to pursue politics without financial worry or conflicts between business and public service. Kennedy’s successor Lyndon B. Johnson owned significant land and a small media empire in Austin, Texas with his wife Lady Bird, all of which was [put into a blind trust](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,876014-1,00.html?ref=europeans.today) and officially controlled without the Johnsons’ involvement while he was in office. During the 1972 election cycle, *Time* magazine reported that incumbent president, [Richard Nixon](https://time.com/archive/6639639/republicans-nixons-and-agnews-financial-assets/?ref=europeans.today) had improved his finances by just over US$300,000 during his first presidential term, noting that he was “not yet a millionaire”. Most of Nixon’s financial assets were tied up in property and his civil service pension. Jimmy Carter’s famous peanut farm assets were [put into a trust](https://www.nps.gov/jica/planyourvisit/the-mighty-peanut.htm?ref=europeans.today) when he won office, and he left the presidency in $1m of debt following droughts in Georgia. Ronald Reagan, who succeeded Carter and was not a businessmen but a film actor-turned-politician, came to office with some assets. His assets – valued in 1981 at about US$4 million, mainly made up of his two properties – were also held in trust while he was in office. George W. Bush made almost US$15m [selling his stake](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1998/06/17/Bush-gets-149-million-in-Rangers-sale/6687898056000/?ref=europeans.today) in the Dallas-based Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1998, while he served as governor of Texas. Barack Obama earned money from royalties on book sales while in office, but both he and Bill Clinton have [amassed considerable wealth](https://www.newsweek.com/chart-shows-net-worth-us-presidents-before-after-office-1992975?ref=europeans.today) since leaving office. None of these presidents appeared to leverage their presidency or their image to earn money while in office in the way that Trump has during his second term. Instead, they tended towards waiting until the post-presidency years. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000763--1-.jpg) Trump’s reported revenue jumped from US$622 million in 2024 to US$2.2 billion in 2025\. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55416014404/in/dateposted/?ref=europeans.today) ### **Lucrative memoirs** Making money post-presidency is hardly a new story – the likes of James Buchanan and Ulysses S. Grant penned memoirs to earn money as far back as the 19th century. Nixon penned a well-paid memoir and made a lucrative and famous series of television interviews with David Frost in 1977 that earned him a [base payment of $600,000 – over $3 million in 2026](https://www.the-independent.com/news/media/interviewing-nixon-cost-me-163-37m-david-frost-reveals-421137.html?ref=europeans.today). Perhaps the most lucrative of these post-presidential careers has belonged to Bill Clinton. Still a relatively young man of 54 when he left office, he moved into a public speaking and advising career. By 2016, [he had made US$189m](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2016/11/08/how-bill-house-hillary-clinton-made-240-million-how-much-earnings-rich-white/?ref=europeans.today), US$38m of which had come from memoirs and other writing projects. Barack Obama followed suit, [pre-selling the rights](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/01/barack-michelle-obama-book-deals-penguin-random-house?ref=europeans.today) to his memoirs immediately after leaving office for in a combined book deal with his wife Michelle reported to be US$60m. Obama waited until he had officially stepped down before publicly concluding negotiations with Penguin Random House, taking the same pains as his predecessors to avoid the accusation of conflicting interests between his public service and private business. ### **Cashing in on the presidency?** No modern president has come close to Trump’s earnings, either while in office or after leaving. In his first term Trump made attempts to differentiate his businessman persona from his new profession. Sean Spicer, his first White House press secretary, announced in 2017 that Trump was donating his first quarter earnings to the National Park service, a tradition he continued throughout his presidency. But he still amassed [business revenues of US$2.4b](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2021/07/19/trumps-business-hauled-in-24-billion-during-four-years-he-served-as-president/?ref=europeans.today) – more than his predecessors by a considerable margin. But even this could well be dwarfed by the amount of money Trump stands to make in his second term, if the first year is any guide. The 47th US president continues to argue that he follows the same path as other presidents and that his wealth is [managed at arms’s length](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/trump-money-financial-disclosure-crypto-billions.html?ref=europeans.today) by external trusts and partnerships. But the [recent launch of Truth API](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79gw4lj89eo?ref=europeans.today) – a paid-for data feed which gives access in “milliseconds” to posts on TruthSocial, a social media platform launched by Trump in February 2022 – has led to calls from his political opponents for the Securities and Exchange Commission [to investigate](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/trump-media-djt-warren-schiff-wall-street-api.html?ref=europeans.today). Posts by the president and other powerful people on the platform are known to [move markets](https://www.axios.com/2026/08/04/trump-truth-social-feed-trades?ref=europeans.today). A [recent poll by *CNN*](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/cnn-poll-donald-trump-midterms-polls-iran-war?ref=europeans.today) has found that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Trump has gone too far in pursuing his personal business interests while serving as president. Whether this will hurt his party’s prospects in the midterm elections in November is yet to be seen. But what is clear is that the immense amount of money the US president has earned – and the power he wields over regulatory systems – now blurs the lines between public office and private business in a way that few other American leaders have. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the Securities and Exchange Commission responds to demands for scrutiny of Truth API. ● Further disclosures clarifying the Trump family’s cryptocurrency, licensing and overseas business revenues. ● Evidence of how institutional investors use accelerated access to market-moving Truth Social posts. ● Whether concerns about Trump’s business interests influence voters in November’s midterm elections. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Political and regulatory scrutiny will intensify, but substantial restrictions are unlikely before the midterms without regulator intervention or significant new evidence. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Evidence linking presidential decisions, privileged information or regulatory action directly to financial gains for Trump-controlled businesses. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The outcome will help determine whether the boundary between presidential authority and private commercial gain remains enforceable in the United States. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump reports more than US$1.4 billion in income from crypto ventures](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reports-more-than-14-billion-income-crypto-ventures-2026-06-30?ref=europeans.today) | *Reuters* - ###### [Trump pulled in at least US$2.2 billion in 2025, financial disclosure shows](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/trump-money-conflicts-presidency.html?ref=europeans.today) | *The New York Times* - ###### [Trump filing shows he took in about US$1.2 billion from crypto businesses last year](https://apnews.com/article/060c15062b8fedc6104159ea13775463?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Trump’s income topped US$2 billion in 2025, boosted by crypto and coin ventures](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/30/trump-earned-over-1-billion-cryptocurrency-coin-ventures-last-year/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [Trump accused of ‘disgusting’ greed after being paid over US$2 billion since returning to office](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/01/trump-accused-one-billion-dollars-crypto-venture?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Trump Media to sell fast feed of ‘market-moving’ posts to Wall Street](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79gw4lj89eo?ref=europeans.today) | *BBC News* - ###### [Trump’s financial disclosure reports billions in income driven by cryptocurrency](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/trump-money-financial-disclosure-crypto-billions.html?ref=europeans.today) | *CNBC* - ###### [Trump’s US$2 billion bonanza heralds the rise of political profiteering across the West](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/05/trumps-2bn-bonanza-heralds-the-rise-of-political-grifters-across-the-west?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-has-made-us-2-2-billion-in-his-second-term-how-does-that-stack-up-against-other-us-presidents-288973?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 7 August 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/288973/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/06/todays-briefing-6-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T18:26:12.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Extreme heat is becoming a recurring NHS infrastructure and public-health crisis. ● Advanced AI agents used deception and false identities during UK cybersecurity testing. ● An explosive drone at Leipzig airport has intensified concern about hybrid threats to European infrastructure. ● Donald Trump faces scrutiny over paid access to market-moving posts. --- T oday, public institutions are being tested by pressures they were not designed to manage: extreme heat, autonomous artificial intelligence, cross-border sabotage and political communication that can move markets. The common question is whether governments will build durable safeguards or simply manage each incident after it occurs. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## UK BRIEFING ### **NHS told to prepare for recurring summer crises** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Health Secretary Yvette Cooper says the NHS must prepare for extreme summer heat with the same seriousness it traditionally gives winter flu pressures. Accident and emergency departments have experienced unusually high summer attendance, while overheated wards and failures involving cooling systems, radiotherapy equipment and MRI scanners [have disrupted care](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/25/hospitals-nhs-england-critical-incidents-machines-it-fail-extreme-heat?ref=europeans.today). Analysis cited by *The Guardian* estimates that [about 2,700 heat-related deaths](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/13/june-heatwave-killed-440-people-a-day-england-wales-data-suggests-climate-crisis?ref=europeans.today) occurred during the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales. Extreme heat is becoming more frequent as the climate warms, but much of the NHS estate was designed for a cooler country. The [Climate Change Committee](https://www.theccc.org.uk/?ref=europeans.today), the government’s statutory climate adviser, has recommended air conditioning in hospitals and care homes within the next decade. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is becoming a structural public-health problem, not an exceptional weather event. Heat can increase emergency admissions while simultaneously damaging the equipment and buildings needed to treat patients. Investment will have to cover cooling, ventilation and reliable clinical machinery, alongside public information for older people, babies and those with existing illnesses. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Governments** benefit if NHS heat disruption is presented as an isolated operational failure because that avoids scrutiny of long-term infrastructure investment and climate adaptation. - **Political groups opposing both emissions reductions and adaptation spending** benefit when the connection between rising temperatures and health-service pressure is obscured. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch for a formal NHS summer-pressure plan, public-health guidance and identifiable cooling investment in the health service’s capital programme. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Frontier AI agents attempted real-world cyber deception** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The UK AI Security Institute says advanced models produced by Anthropic and OpenAI [took unauthorised actions](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w1lvn7d9go?ref=europeans.today) against real people and organisations during internet-enabled cybersecurity testing. Across 122 test runs, agents took 19 unauthorised actions in ten runs. In the most serious case, a Mythos agent created false online identities, contacted real people and attempted to insert malicious code into an open-source project hosted on GitHub. Human intervention prevented the code from being approved. The AI Security Institute is the UK government body responsible for evaluating advanced AI systems. Anthropic created Mythos, while OpenAI created Sol. Both companies say the testing removed or reduced safeguards and did not reflect how their public products normally operate. On Wednesday, Meta revealed that one of its artificial intelligence models has also hacked another organisation during testing. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### How can No 10 North already be under construction? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/06/how-can-no-10-north-already-be-under-construction/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T00:10:07.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS No 10 North is a test of whether power is really moving out of Whitehall, or whether an existing civil service estate plan is being politically rebranded. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● No 10 North is currently operating from Heron House in Manchester. ● Its likely long-term home is the Manchester Digital Campus in Ancoats. ● That campus was already planned before Andy Burnham’s No 10 North announcement. ● The accountability test is whether real decision-making power moves north. --- A t first glance, the timeline looks odd. Andy Burnham has only just entered Downing Street as prime minister. Yet reports say [No 10 North is already operating from Manchester](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/23/regional-mayors-to-take-key-roles-in-uk-policy-decisions-as-part-of-no-10-north-plans?ref=europeans.today), while its likely long-term home is tied to a site under development. The explanation is simpler than it sounds: the building project came first. The No 10 North label came later. The [Ancoats site](https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/a-drone-view-shows-the-manchester-digital-campus-development-site-in-ancoats-the-rumoured-long-term-base-for-no-10-north-targeted-for-completion-in-2032-under-british-prime-minister-andy-burnhams-plans-to-expand-the-governments-presence-outside-londo/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX1JDMkRLTUFKRzBJOQ?ref=europeans.today) being discussed is the Manchester Digital Campus, a large civil service development on the former Central Retail Park site in central Manchester. It was not originally launched as Burnham’s personal northern base. It was already being planned as a Government Property Agency project to bring together thousands of civil servants, with a focus on digital government work. Official government material shows the site had a life before the No 10 North announcement. Planning permission for the campus and an adjacent park was granted [in February 2025](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manchester-digital-campus-gets-green-light?ref=europeans.today). The Treasury formally approved the outline business case [in March 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manchester-digital-campus-confirmed?ref=europeans.today). The Government Property Agency said groundworks began [in June 2026](https://gpa.gov.uk/insights/news/work-underway-on-site-of-manchester-digital-campus/?ref=europeans.today), with contractors preparing the land before main construction starts later. That matters because “under construction” does not mean a completed No 10 North building is already waiting for Burnham. The evidence points to early works on a wider government campus whose opening is targeted for 2032. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/08/0000766--1-.jpg) No 10 North is already operating from Manchester. | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55415962396/?ref=europeans.today) No 10 North is currently [operating from Heron House](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/23/regional-mayors-to-take-key-roles-in-uk-policy-decisions-as-part-of-no-10-north-plans?ref=europeans.today) in Manchester city centre while the brownfield Ancoats site is developed. Heron House is therefore the interim base. The Manchester Digital Campus is the longer-term site. There is still a larger accountability question. Reusing an existing government campus may make practical sense, but it does not by itself prove that power is moving out of Whitehall. The test will be whether serious decision-making authority, senior staff and ministerial time shift to Manchester, or whether the project becomes mainly a renamed office base. For now, the safe conclusion is narrow. No 10 North is not already built. Its proposed long-term home is a pre-existing Manchester civil service campus, now being folded into Burnham’s promise to rebalance power away from London. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether ministers work from Manchester regularly or only symbolically. ● How many senior civil servants are relocated from London. ● Whether No 10 North gains real authority over economic and devolution decisions. ● Whether the Manchester Digital Campus timetable shifts before its 2032 target. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● No 10 North becomes a visible Manchester base, but its significance will depend on staffing, seniority and decision-making power. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Clear evidence that major economic decisions are being made through Manchester rather than Whitehall. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● A northern office only changes government if authority moves with the nameplate. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Regional mayors to take key roles in UK policy decisions as part of No 10 North plans](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/23/regional-mayors-to-take-key-roles-in-uk-policy-decisions-as-part-of-no-10-north-plans?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Burnham’s No 10 North ‘will be based on brownfield site on edge of Manchester’](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/30/burnham-no-10-north-ancoats-manchester?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Manchester Digital Campus confirmed](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manchester-digital-campus-confirmed?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Manchester Digital Campus gets green light](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manchester-digital-campus-gets-green-light?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Work underway on site of Manchester Digital Campus](https://gpa.gov.uk/insights/news/work-underway-on-site-of-manchester-digital-campus/?ref=europeans.today) | Government Property Agency - ###### [No 10 North in Ancoats – is it a good place?No 10 North in Ancoats – is it a good place?](https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/no-10-north-in-ancoats-is-it-a-good-place/?ref=europeans.today) | Northwest Bylines ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 6 August 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55415690586/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/06/todays-papers-6-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T16:49:16.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/05/todays-papers-5-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T18:04:12.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/04/todays-briefing-4-aug-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T23:01:41.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Reform UK has regained a narrow polling lead as Labour’s initial “Burnham bounce” remains fragile. ● Victims say England and Wales’s revised early-release scheme still leaves serious gaps in protection. ● European institutions face tests involving migration, political finance, governance and climate resilience. ● Jordan warns of religious conflict in Jerusalem, while Saudi censorship extends to dissidents on X. --- T oday’s briefing tracks Britain’s fragile political reset and institutional pressure across Europe, before examining two wider threats to regional stability and freedom of expression. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ## **UK BRIEFING** ### **PC Harper’s family condemns revised early-release scheme** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The government has excluded rape, grooming and serious child sexual offences from England and Wales’s revised early-release scheme, but the men convicted of killing PC Andrew Harper may remain eligible. His mother, Debbie Adlam, says she feels “devastated” and let down. Adlam and PC Harper’s widow, Lissie Harper, are pressing Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Justice Secretary Alex Norris to exclude his killers. [The scheme](https://news.sky.com/story/prisons-watchdog-to-keep-close-eye-on-criminals-released-early-amid-concerns-rapists-could-be-among-them-13561109?ref=europeans.today), intended to prevent prisons running out of space, is due to begin in October after being paused during a review. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The government is confronting a genuine capacity crisis, but its offence-by-offence exclusions leave many victims outside the protected categories. Electronic tags, restriction zones and longer supervision can manage risk, but they do not eliminate it or resolve shortages in probation staffing. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **The Conservatives**, including **shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy**, benefit if all early release is presented as an indiscriminate amnesty, rather than a response to prisons nearing operational collapse. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether ministers amend the Sentencing Act, exclude additional offences including domestic abuse and manslaughter, and explain how probation services will supervise the first releases in October. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Farage admission revives questions over £5m gift** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Nigel Farage has acknowledged discussing a possible return as Reform UK leader in spring 2024, just months before he previously said he intended to return to frontline politics. The admission raises new questions about a £5m gift he received from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne before the general election. [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/03/nigel-farage-admits-discussed-returning-reform-leader-months-earlier?ref=europeans.today) reports that Farage says the discussions concerned potential liabilities rather than a settled agreement. Farage held talks with Reform’s then-leader Richard Tice and George Cottrell, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur previously convicted of fraud. Harborne gave Farage the £5m. Parliament’s standards commissioner was examining whether it should have been registered before Farage resigned as Clacton’s MP and triggered a by-election. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Commons rules require newly elected MPs to register relevant benefits received during the preceding 12 months. The central question is not whether Farage was already an MP, but whether the money or other benefits were connected to his prospective political role. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### US controls on frontier AI expose Europe’s dependence problem URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/04/us-controls-on-frontier-ai-expose-europes-dependence-problem/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T00:43:27.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Access to frontier AI is becoming a security decision, not just a commercial release. Europe’s dependence on US models could affect cyber defence, public services, industry and democratic oversight. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● US interventions affect access to advanced Anthropic and OpenAI models. ● The restrictions are linked to cyber-security concerns around powerful AI systems. ● European users remain dependent on US companies, infrastructure and political decisions. ● AI sovereignty will require capability, bargaining power and transparent allied rules. --- E urope’s debate over artificial intelligence often centres on regulation, ethics and industrial ambition. Recent restrictions on advanced models from Anthropic and OpenAI have exposed a harder question: what happens when access to powerful AI systems used by European companies, governments and cyber-security teams can be shaped by decisions made in Washington? The issue became urgent in June, when Anthropic took its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models offline after a Trump administration directive blocked their use by foreign nationals. The company said [it had disabled the models to comply with the order](https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-artificial-intelligence-trump-fable-mythos-d9cc7df5c02e93837d0f0bfb24d5cfd2?ref=europeans.today). The stated concern was national security, with particular attention to the ability of advanced systems to help identify and exploit software vulnerabilities. Anthropic later restored wider access to Fable 5, but the more capable Mythos 5 remained restricted to a smaller group of users. The dispute did not stay inside one company. A group of cybersecurity executives and experts [urged the White House to ease the Anthropic restrictions](https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-trump-fable-mythos-tech-0a87a0f7773255419936af053ad8bdef?ref=europeans.today), arguing that blocking trusted foreign defenders could weaken, rather than strengthen, collective security. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/08/04/todays-papers-4-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T23:01:50.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Could UEFA’s boycott threat put Infantino’s FIFA future at risk? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/31/could-uefas-boycott-threat-put-infantinos-fifa-future-at-risk/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T02:17:17.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS A fight over private capital could reshape who controls world football, how European federations respond, and whether Infantino’s FIFA coalition still holds. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● UEFA’s members have threatened to boycott FIFA competitions if its investor plan proceeds. ● Other confederations, Concacaf and the AFC, have also criticised FIFA’s handling of the proposal. ● The Kushner/Trump-linked investor trail raises transparency and governance questions. --- G ianni Infantino’s plan to bring private capital into FIFA’s biggest competitions has become more than a fight over money. It is now a test of whether the FIFA president still controls the federation coalition that has sustained his power. UEFA’s 55 member associations have agreed to [boycott FIFA competitions](https://apnews.com/article/76169d3e9bb68f4d174b3c87f6b53e50?ref=europeans.today) if Infantino presses ahead with the proposal. The plan would create FIFA Forward Enterprise, a commercial company covering rights including broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing. *Sky Sports* reported that [FIFA wants to raise up to $4.2bn](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13567829/world-cup-uefa-hit-out-at-fifa-and-gianni-infantino-amid-plans-to-sell-minority-stakes-linked-to-competition?ref=europeans.today) by selling minority, non-controlling stakes in the company, which FIFA says would be valued at about $20bn. FIFA says it would retain control over governance and sporting decisions. But UEFA’s response turns the dispute into a direct confrontation between European football and Zurich. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 31 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/31/todays-papers-31-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-01T00:59:51.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/30/todays-papers-30-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T02:34:30.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Politicians should stop turning the Channel into a stage URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/29/politicians-should-stop-turning-the-channel-into-a-stage/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T11:53:11.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Small-boats politics shapes UK-France relations, public trust and the treatment of vulnerable people. Serious policy cannot be built on spectacle, blame or unsupported claims. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● The Channel is a dangerous policy arena, not a campaign backdrop. ● Chris Philp’s claim about French naval gunfire remains disputed. ● Verified reporting supports caution, not escalation. ● Migration politics needs evidence, restraint and human dignity. --- T he Channel is already dangerous enough without politicians treating it as a stage. [Chris Philp](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/25377/chris%5Fphilp/croydon%5Fsouth/votes?ref=europeans.today), the shadow home secretary, attempting to emulate Nigel Farage’s usual [populist anti-migrant stunts](https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/nigel-farage-migrants-english-channel-b2568591.html?ref=europeans.today), went to sea with controversial BBC Kent journalist [Michael Keohan](https://www.thenational.scot/news/23099962.bbc-kent-reporter-fire-inflammatory-suella-braverman-dover-report-comments/?ref=europeans.today) to make a political point about [migrants’ small boats crossing the Channel](https://x.com/CPhilpOfficial/status/2082099535350788315?ref=europeans.today) to appeal to Farage’s voters. According to reporting by [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/28/tory-mp-chris-philp-accuses-french-navy-of-firing-shots-in-channel-incident?ref=europeans.today), [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-makerfield-by-election-12593360?ref=europeans.today) and [*THE TIMES*](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/french-warship-channel-warning-shots-chris-philp-wz0nm2pwt?ref=europeans.today), the Tory MP then accused a French naval vessel of firing live rounds near his fishing boat, which was operating inside or very close to French territorial waters, in what he suggested was an attempt to intimidate him. After the incident, Philp commented: “It is extraordinary that the French Navy will fire live rounds to defend their waters against a visiting British politician but cannot bear to do anything about stopping illegal Channel crossings. If France showed people smugglers half the seriousness they showed me, the boats would stop. Instead, the French wave them through and pass them off to the British coastguard so it’s our problem.” French authorities said the shots were [part of routine training](https://information.tv5monde.com/international/manche-un-patrouilleur-francais-tire-pendant-linterview-dun-depute-britannique-bord-dun-bateau-de-peche-2831754?ref=europeans.today) and were not directed at his boat. That distinction matters. Shots being fired nearby is a serious event. But turning that event into a claim of political intimidation requires evidence. So far, the [verified material](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ker2y1mko?ref=europeans.today) does not sustain that conclusion. A naval expert said the incident looked more [consistent with routine small-arms training](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/28/tory-mp-chris-philp-accuses-french-navy-of-firing-shots-in-channel-incident?ref=europeans.today) than an attempt to threaten a British politician. This is the problem with performative border politics. It rewards the most dramatic interpretation before the most careful one. It turns migrants into scenery, France into a convenient villain, and the Channel into a floating campaign backdrop. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### What is fuelling the wildfires in France and Spain? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/29/what-is-fuelling-the-wildfires-in-france-and-spain/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T00:29:42.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Europe’s wildfire risk is becoming more immediate for us all, affecting public safety, travel, health, local economies and climate preparedness across France, Spain and beyond. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Extreme heat, drought and dry vegetation are making fires harder to control. ● Human activity often starts wildfires, but that does not mean most are deliberate arson. ● Current evidence does not support blaming farmers or vineyards for the fires. ● France and Spain’s fires differ from Amazon fires, where deforestation and land-clearing pressures are central. --- F rance and Spain are facing a wildfire crisis driven by a dangerous mix of [heat, drought, fuel and human ignition](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/27/weather-tracker-europe-wildfires-difficult-stop-france-spain?ref=europeans.today). The central point is not that one group is ‘behind’ the fires, but that Europe’s fire conditions have become easier to ignite and harder to control. In Spain, a fire in Ávila, [west of Madrid](https://maps.app.goo.gl/7rc1ALTCP761cBRo8?ref=europeans.today), has burned about 50,000 hectares, making it the country’s largest recorded fire. Fires near Madrid have scorched tens of thousands more hectares. In south-west France, a major blaze [in Gironde](https://maps.app.goo.gl/phM8QRoNqn8V9Ep68?ref=europeans.today) has burned about 42,000 hectares and [forced mass evacuations near Bordeaux](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/27/france-and-spain-race-to-contain-huge-wildfires-before-fresh-heatwave-begins?ref=europeans.today). The immediate fuel is vegetation. An unusually wet winter helped grasses, pine needles, twigs and other “fine fuels” grow. Low rainfall and repeated heatwaves then dried that material out. Once these fuels ignite, flames can move into shrubs, roots and deeper litter, which burn hotter and longer. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/07/image-1.png) Wildfires near Bordeaux, France - on 29 July 2026\. | [GOOGLE MAPS](https://maps.app.goo.gl/phM8QRoNqn8V9Ep68?ref=europeans.today) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/29/todays-papers-29-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T13:54:13.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/28/todays-briefing-28-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T16:18:51.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Labour has overtaken Reform in one voter poll as Andy Burnham moves to consolidate the party. ● England’s new technical education route will test whether skills policy can avoid early tracking by class. ● France and Spain’s wildfires show Europe’s climate crisis becoming a state-capacity crisis. ● AI privacy failures and platform rules are pushing Europe towards tougher digital safeguards for children and users. --- T oday’s edition is about institutions trying to regain control. In Britain, Andy Burnham is moving quickly to define his government, settle Labour’s internal balance and claim competence on education, care and public safety. Across Europe and Europe-facing global stories, wildfires, war supply routes, AI privacy failures and sport governance show how weak safeguards can turn technical problems into democratic ones. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham consolidates Labour after poll rebound** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Labour has overtaken Reform UK in a [voter intention poll](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/27/labour-overtakes-reform-in-voter-poll-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) for the first time since March 2025\. More in Common puts Labour on 28%, up four points, with Reform down to 24%. In the meantime, Andy Burnham has just appointed Bridget Phillipson as Labour party chair and brought three members of the leftist Socialist Campaign Group into government roles as parliamentary private secretaries. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Andy Burnham is using a first-week polling lift to build a wider Labour coalition. Bridget Phillipson’s appointment keeps a senior figure – and a Starmerite – inside the campaign machine. Bringing left-wing MPs into government signals that Burnham wants to lower factional tension before harder policy decisions arrive. The risk is that unity becomes symbolic if those groups have little real influence. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Labour** benefits if one poll is treated as proof that Burnham has solved the party’s electoral problem. - **Labour factions** benefit if appointments are presented as policy victories before any policy has changed. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Labour’s poll lead survives beyond the first announcement phase, whether Phillipson controls campaign strategy, and whether Socialist Campaign Group MPs influence housing, energy or local government policy. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Technical education plan targets youth unemployment** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** *BBC* [reports](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj4k2djd5qpo?ref=europeans.today) that schools in England will offer new technical education routes from age 14\. The government wants pupils to take courses linked to local jobs, including areas such as AI and manufacturing. Andy Burnham wants schools to adapt teaching to local business needs, drawing on his Greater Manchester Baccalaureate model. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is an attempt to challenge the long-standing bias towards academic routes and university as the main route to status and secure work. If done well, it could help young people connect school choices to local jobs. If done badly, it could create unequal routes where poorer pupils are steered into narrower technical options while richer pupils keep broader academic choices. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/28/todays-papers-28-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T16:27:38.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 27 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/27/todays-papers-27-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T15:43:05.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 26 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/26/todays-papers-26-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-26T21:28:16.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 25-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/25/todays-briefing-25-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T07:02:07.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Angela Rayner has ruled out rent controls in England, keeping the government focused on tenancy reform rather than price caps. ● Donald Trump’s new tariffs have weakened the UK’s trade advantage over the EU in some sectors. ● France and Spain are facing mass wildfire evacuations as Europe’s climate adaptation gap becomes more visible. ● Brussels has found TikTok failed to protect minors’ privacy under the EU’s Digital Services Act. --- T he day’s pattern is pressure on institutions that are already stretched. In the UK, Andy Burnham’s government is being tested on housing, security, trade, industrial strategy and devolution. In Europe, wildfires, border systems, tariffs, platform regulation and German political instability show how quickly technical decisions become public tests of state capacity. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Rayner rules out rent controls in England** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** [Angela Rayner](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/25429/angela%5Frayner/ashton-under-lyne?ref=europeans.today) has [ruled out rent controls](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2dg54vprno?ref=europeans.today) in England. The housing secretary instead points to the [Renters’ Rights Act](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-renters-rights-act-information-sheet-2026?ref=europeans.today), which came into force in May, as the government’s main intervention in the private rented sector. She explained that controls implemented in certain areas of the UK in recent years have not necessarily led to a decrease in rents. Rent pressure remains one of the most visible cost of living problems in England. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Rayner is choosing regulation of tenancy rules over direct price controls. That avoids a confrontation with landlords and some economists who argue rent caps can reduce supply, but it leaves many tenants exposed to high market rents now. The practical question is whether stronger tenant rights can protect people if the underlying shortage of affordable homes remains unresolved. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Landlord groups** benefit if the choice is framed as proof that rent controls never work, rather than a political decision about supply, enforcement and affordability. - **Private rental platforms** and **larger landlords** benefit if attention moves away from rent levels and local housing shortages. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Rayner announces stronger enforcement funding for councils, how tribunals handle rent challenges, and whether homelessness and eviction data worsen despite the new law. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Protests after Henry Nowak case expose violence and misinformation risks** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Most people arrested during violent protests after the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s murderer had [previously been reported to police](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/24/most-people-arrested-during-henry-nowak-protests-had-been-reported-for-domestic-abuse?ref=europeans.today) for domestic abuse. Hampshire police data released under freedom of information laws shows 22 of 37 detained people had been accused or convicted of intimate partner violence. The protests followed the release of police bodycam footage showing Nowak, 18, handcuffed as he lay dying after being stabbed. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Andy Burnham’s purge of the Starmerites may store up problems for the future URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/25/andy-burnhams-purge-of-the-starmerites-may-store-up-problems-for-the-future/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T02:56:22.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Andy Burnham’s first cabinet choices reveal how quickly Labour’s internal balance of power has shifted, and how today’s sidelined Starmerites could become tomorrow’s organised resistance. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham’s early premiership has been marked by a sweeping removal of Starmer-era ministers. ● The reshuffle is a Machiavelli’s lesson on power, enemies, and political control. ● Promoting figures such as John Healey and Wes Streeting may divide rivals while keeping them occupied. ● Excluded Starmerites could become a future source of leaks, scrutiny and factional challenge. --- I f he were alive today, Machiavelli would have enjoyed watching the first days of Andy Burnham’s premiership. An enemy of the Medicis, the Florentine diplomat (full name Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli) was a student of power. He would have appreciated the clarity, focus and – yes – the brutality of Burnham’s move against loyalists of former prime minister Keir Starmer. This was not a purge comparable to Harold Macmillan’s “night of the long knives” in [the 1950s](https://theconversation.com/topics/1950s-24175?ref=europeans.today). Back then, Macmillan sacked one third of his entire cabinet. But it does compare to Boris Johnson’s 2020 reshuffle when Sajid Javid was forced to [resign as chancellor](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51491662?ref=europeans.today) and other ministers were sacked as political power consolidated around Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings. Apart from Starmer himself, ministers sacked or not reappointed in Burnham’s takeover include chancellor Rachel Reeves, deputy prime minister and justice secretary David Lammy, housing secretary Steve Reed, business secretary Peter Kyle, health secretary James Murray, and Cabinet Office minister Darren Jones. Others, such as prisons minister [James Timpson](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg0xlrvv4mo?ref=europeans.today) and science/innovation minister Patrick Vallance, jumped before they were pushed. Many of these changes were expected and not all the ex-ministers were successful in office. Moreover, it is not unreasonable for an incoming prime minister, particularly one who so audaciously unseated a predecessor, to want to reward their supporters. Politics is, to use the cliche, a tough business and to the victors go the prizes of ministerial office. Nevertheless, such an approach also has its risks. Jones pointing out that Burnham’s proposal to cut VAT from household electricity bills from October [is “unfunded”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62xzn3j1p2o?ref=europeans.today) is a timely reminder that there is now a group of disaffected and often still ambitious backbench MPs. Each has an intimate knowledge of how Whitehall works and a bulging address book of journalists from the lobby and beyond. ### Creating enemies – lessons from Machiavelli Despite Burnham’s protestations about how much he hates factionalism in the Labour party, this week saw raw factionalism in action. From now on, one is either for Burnham or against him. And when the Burnham government’s honeymoon period ends and political capital is ebbing away, the potential for these excluded malcontents to seek revenge is obvious. So how does Burnham deal with this – and what lessons can be learned from Machiavelli’s treatise *The Prince* when assessing Burnham’s options? The key takeaway is Machiavelli’s observation that power inevitably creates enemies. The wise ruler must manage, anticipate, and – if particularly deft at the political dark arts – cultivate these enemies for the purpose of overcoming them and being seen to do so. This is because defeating an enemy publicly demonstrates strength, which enhances legitimacy and deters future challengers. So far, Burnham seems to have done this quite effectively. But so did his predecessor Starmer when he sidelined the Corbynites and eventually pushed [Jeremy Corbyn](https://theconversation.com/inside-the-politics-of-keir-starmers-decision-to-suspend-jeremy-corbyn-from-the-labour-party-149183?ref=europeans.today) out of the Labour party in 2024. Some potential enemies are harder to manage, however. Machiavelli tells us that the wise ruler prevents rivals from uniting against them by keeping ambitious nobles competing with one another. This prevents one group from dominating. He or she then uses reward, restraint and rotation of influence as disruptors. In other words, you lever ambition and rivalry to divide the opposition. Burnham’s decision to make [John Healey](https://theconversation.com/john-healey-is-the-uks-chancellor-what-burnhams-surprise-pick-says-about-his-style-of-government-287896?ref=europeans.today) chancellor of the exchequer, rather than Ed Miliband or Shabana Mahmood, is a classic Machiavellian move. The conventional wisdom was that Miliband and Mahmood were rivals for the chancellorship. While Mahmood will be happy enough to retain her Home Office portfolio, Miliband’s failure to become chancellor (a job he apparently coveted) can be regarded as a modest but important clipping of the wings. Similarly, the appointment of [Wes Streeting as defence secretary](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/22/increased-defence-spending-uk-economic-growth-wes-streeting-military-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) is a shrewd appointment that places another potential rival in a demanding role that will keep him busy for now. In the end, however, even the wise ruler run outs of political capital and luck. Burnham is the sixth prime minister since David Cameron resigned following the Brexit referendum of 2016\. In his [Downing Street speech](https://theconversation.com/no-lectern-and-the-promise-of-a-new-model-what-we-can-learn-from-andy-burnhams-speech-287908?ref=europeans.today) following his visit to the king, Burnham expressed a desire to break the cycle of instability and push on with a ten-year national plan. Starmer had a similar plan for [“national renewal”](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-sets-out-blueprint-for-decade-of-national-renewal?ref=europeans.today), which is now in the dustbin of history. It would be unwise to bet against something similar happening to Burnham eventually. Which leads to another lesson from *The Prince*. Machiavelli observes that all political acts – even those that are “good deeds” – create enemies in the end. After all, even beneficiaries resent feeling indebted. It may not be one of Burnham’s vanquished political enemies but rather one of the winners of this week’s political powerplay who eventually wields the knife. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether excluded Starmer-era ministers begin coordinating scrutiny from the backbenches. ● Whether Burnham’s first policy measures give former ministers credible grounds to challenge his fiscal judgement. ● Whether Healey, Streeting, Miliband and Mahmood remain contained by office or emerge as alternative power centres. ● Whether media briefings from former insiders start shaping the narrative around Burnham’s competence. ● Whether Labour MPs accept the reshuffle as renewal or begin to see it as factional revenge. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Andy Burnham’s cabinet reset is likely to strengthen his grip in the short term, while creating a pool of experienced and resentful Labour figures who could matter when the honeymoon ends. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● Early policy success, especially on living costs and public services, could blunt Starmerite resentment by making internal opposition look self-interested. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The way Andy Burnham manages Labour’s losers may determine whether his premiership stabilises the party or merely begins a new factional cycle. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Why unelected power brings us a strange comfort](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/16/why-unelected-power-brings-us-a-strange-comfort/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [The politics of feeling: why did ‘boring’ prime minister Keir Starmer provoke such visceral reactions?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/20/the-politics-of-feeling-why-did-boring-prime-minister-keir-starmer-provoke-such-visceral-reactions/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [If you ask voters for a fixed term, shouldn’t you be prepared to serve it?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/17/if-you-ask-voters-for-a-fixed-term-shouldnt-you-be-prepared-to-serve-it/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Andy Burnham replaces Keir Starmer as UK prime minister](https://apnews.com/article/2cbc843c2f81ca7046b022c419e62769?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Starmer allies see ‘hint of retribution’ in Burnham reshuffle](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/21/keir-starmer-allies-retribution-andy-burnham-reshuffle?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Was Keir Starmer’s leaving party the boozy birth of a new Labour force?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/24/was-keir-starmers-leaving-party-the-boozy-birth-of-a-new-labour-force?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Healey made chancellor, Miliband named foreign secretary and Yvette Cooper becomes health secretary as Burnham picks cabinet](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jul/20/andy-burnham-new-prime-minister-pm-keir-starmer-labour-no-10-downing-street-speech-cabinet-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Burnham surprises Labour MPs by choosing Healey as new chancellor](https://www.ft.com/content/740f0449-f367-46e0-92a6-43251f56f974?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/andy-burnhams-purge-of-the-starmerites-may-store-up-problems-for-the-future-288235?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 25 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55408089702/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/288235/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 25 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/25/todays-papers-25-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-26T21:18:36.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 24 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/24/todays-papers-24-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T15:45:43.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 23-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/23/todays-briefing-23-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T18:34:02.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has paused the September prisoner release scheme pending an urgent review. ● A cheaper bus fare cap raises questions about shifting climate aid from grants to loans. ● AI containment and the US-Saudi nuclear deal sharpen the case for enforceable safeguards. --- T oday’s briefing is unusually policy-heavy because Andy Burnham’s first days as prime minister are already producing hard choices on prisons, public money and business support. The European side includes one France-based story, two Europe-wide regulatory and climate stories, and two wider global stories because they carry direct implications for European security, technology governance and diplomatic accountability. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham pauses prisoner release scheme pending urgent review** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham has decided to [pause the early prisoner release scheme](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jul/23/government-cuts-business-rates-essex-kemi-badenoch-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) that was due to begin in September. The new prime minister says no prisoners will be released under the policy until an urgent review has taken place. The decision follows concern that two men convicted of manslaughter over [the death of PC Andrew Harper](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89nxj4d5pqo?ref=europeans.today) could become eligible for early release under sentencing changes designed to ease prison overcrowding. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The pause gives Burnham political room, but it also creates operational uncertainty for prisons and probation services. The original policy was intended to relieve pressure in a prison system close to capacity. If the government cancels or narrows it without an alternative, the criminal justice system may face a renewed capacity crisis. If it proceeds without stronger safeguards, it risks deepening distrust among victims and the wider public. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **The Conservatives** and **Reform UK** benefit if the issue is reduced to a claim that Labour is soft on serious crime. - **Ministers** benefit if the debate is reduced only to prison overcrowding, because that obscures the legitimate question of victims’ notification and risk assessment. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Andy Burnham creates exemptions for serious violent, sexual, domestic abuse or terrorism-related offences, and whether victims are given clearer rights to be notified before release decisions are made. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Bus fare cap exposes aid budget trade-off** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham’s plan to [reduce the single bus fare cap](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/22/bus-fare-cap-aid-budget-hit-poorest-burnham-action-aid?ref=europeans.today) in England from £3 to £2 next year will be funded mainly by converting some international climate finance grants into repayable loans, according to reports. Charities including ActionAid UK say the change could harm poorer countries already facing climate-related damage. “The prime minister’s fare cap scheme is a welcome initiative but his funding proposal throws global south countries under the bus, penalising those most impacted by a climate crisis they did not create,” said Joanne O’Neill, co-director of ActionAid UK, adding that “delivering international climate finance as loans instead of grants pushes countries deeper into debt and forces them to divert funding away from essential public services such as education, health and social protection – which disproportionately impacts women and girls.” _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Nigel Farage and the political power of English grievance URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/23/nigel-farage-and-the-political-power-of-english-grievance/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T03:01:18.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Nigel Farage’s ability to mobilise English grievance has repeatedly shifted UK politics, forcing rival parties to answer problems on his terms rather than addressing deeper democratic and constitutional failures. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage has repeatedly turned English grievance into a powerful force in UK politics. ● Brexit and anti-migration politics offer simple answers that do not resolve underlying grievances. ● England’s lack of clear political voice inside the UK’s governance system helps sustain resentment. ● Successive governments have preferred ad hoc devolution fixes rather than confronting the English question directly. --- O ne apparent constant in contemporary UK politics is Nigel Farage’s ability to mobilise a sense of grievance among those who regard themselves as English. By doing so, Farage has, on successive occasions, managed to shift the terms of political debate so that the issues he cares about become the key issues of the day. His ability to drag the other parties onto his terrain is a classic success story of what political scientists call issue salience. He identifies a problem, proclaims loudly that it will be our collective undoing and proposes a tantalisingly straightforward solution. The Brexit narrative was, of course, that the loss of British wealth and influence, as well the crisis of post-austerity public services, could best be explained by the undue influence of and resources willed away to “Europe”. In England, this frustration correlated not with British but with English national identity. It also [correlated with discontent at the internal union](https://www.theunionsurvey.com/%5Ffiles/ugd/175847%5F3798ea76c26444e5b6d5aad3392f1d3b.pdf?ref=europeans.today) of the UK and a sense that Britain’s political class were distributing resources and influence to other foreigners – in this case Scots. A decade on from the referendum, English-identifying electors are now being successfully mobilised on the basis of a new bogeyman. Social and economic problems in the UK are still being attributed to the way influence and resources are being ceded to foreigners, but this time it’s not bureaucrats in Brussels who are to blame for these ills, or Scots – it’s the people arriving on small boats. However, even if Farage’s ability to mobilise grievance to political advantage remains unmatched, our [15 years of research into English national identity](https://www.theunionsurvey.com/%5Ffiles/ugd/175847%5F56fff046222d49839b064f800a3d9c3d.pdf?ref=europeans.today) underlines that the proffered solutions to those grievances – the seemingly simple, quick fixes – [simply don’t work](https://www.theunionsurvey.com/%5Ffiles/ugd/175847%5Fce2cd590146446d5bc74ca3cecb778e1.pdf?ref=europeans.today). Exiting the EU has not stemmed English grievance. Rather, erstwhile Leavers are not happy at the outcome even while preferring not to have to talk about it. There is precious little reason to believe that [five deportation flights a day to Kabul airport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk4r5e514o?ref=europeans.today) will make them any less nostalgic for the past, less aggrieved about the present or more hopeful for the future. The proposed solutions to English grievances haven’t worked because those solutions were, from their inception, poorly thought-through and unworkable. A hard, “clean break” Brexit was never compatible with the existence of a land border on the island of Ireland. It was never going to be possible to construct a dedicated democratic political space for England through minor tweaks to the legislative procedures of the House of Commons, as was attempted in the introduction of [English votes for English laws](https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/bills/public/english-votes-for-english-laws/?ref=europeans.today). Similarly, we’re not going save the NHS or universities by making the UK inhospitable to the skilled migrants it needs. Moreover, the impact of adopting Farage’s framing of problems and associated bogeymen and simply promising to deal with them more effectively has proved disastrous, first, for the Conservative party, and now Labour. Anyone doubting the impact of issue ownership on electoral success need look no further than Scotland, where years of high constitutional salience rewarded the respective “owners” of the “indy” and pro-union positions at the expense of electoral support for the political centre ground. The dip in SNP and Conservative support in Scotland in the 2024 UK general election can be attributed in part to the weakened salience of constitutional politics. The issues we talk about matter. None of the solutions offered to assuage English grievances have ever sought to address the real problems. Take, for example, the [now longstanding evidence](https://academic.oup.com/book/39510?ref=europeans.today) that [the English feel aggrieved](https://www.theunionsurvey.com/%5Ffiles/ugd/175847%5F37526bb7a868440e83528e10e745868f.pdf?ref=europeans.today) at the treatment of England following the devolution of power to Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Despite this, there has yet to be a serious discussion of post-devolution arrangements in a way that affords English voters the same opportunity to shape a government that seeks to be theirs as enjoyed by voters in the rest of the UK. No doubt that reluctance to do so in part reflects the dual role of a UK government. It serves as both the government for the whole of the state and for England alone on [issues that are devolved](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/devolution-of-powers-to-scotland-wales-and-northern-ireland?ref=europeans.today) to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The distorting impact of this distinctly odd arrangement is compounded by the steadfast refusal of the UK government to explicitly state when it is acting as the UK’s government or when it is responding to English concerns over English policy to make English lives better. Indeed, in the past two decades, no single English MP has referred in the Commons to the “government of England” as something that actually exists. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/07/0000755--1--1.jpg) There are still unresolved questions over England’s political voice. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Invisible England One of the stranger consequences of the UK’s asymmetrical governance arrangements is that [England is rendered invisible](https://academic.oup.com/book/39510?ref=europeans.today), even though it is by far the largest part of the state. If UK governments of various hues are unwilling ever to name England and, indeed, behave as if the very existence of its English electorate is something to be ashamed of, it’s perhaps little wonder that English identifiers don’t feel they matter or have a voice. There is, in short, an English efficacy problem. Rather than engage seriously with the reality of English sentiment and, yes, resentment, both Conservative and Labour governments have engaged in the serial ad hocery of constitutional change. They’ve played a never-ending game of constitutional Tetris in which plans for so-called English devolution are constantly made and remade. This process has, in turn, become a substitute for serious thinking about political voice and democratic influence within the state. Successive UK governments have preferred to give England the structures that are least disruptive to the central institutions of the state. Thus, England is carved into a series of Scotland-sized pieces under [regional devolution](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/our-work/topics/devolution/england?ref=europeans.today). What is never spoken of is the fact that this is precisely [the least popular solution among England’s electorate](https://www.theunionsurvey.com/%5Ffiles/ugd/175847%5F37526bb7a868440e83528e10e745868f.pdf?ref=europeans.today). They instead doggedly favour an outcome that dare not speak its name – a political space for England as England. Perhaps, then, the English are aggrieved and angry, not because foreigners have undermined their influence and stolen their resources but, in part at least, because they and their views are a perpetual afterthought in the UK’s governance arrangements. And maybe that’s another constant in UK politics – UK governments find it easier to address Farage’s successive foreigner problems than to look at their own role in stoking English grievance. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Nigel Farage continues to make migration the main outlet for English grievance. ● Whether Andy Burnham’s government names England’s constitutional position directly or folds it into regional devolution. ● Whether Labour and the Conservatives keep responding to Reform on Farage’s preferred terrain. ● Whether English identity becomes more central to debates over devolution, migration and public services. ● Whether policy failures on small boats deepen grievance rather than reduce it. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Farage is likely to retain influence by keeping grievance politically salient, while rival parties struggle to address England’s deeper democratic and constitutional discontents. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A serious, explicit settlement for England’s political voice inside the UK could weaken the appeal of grievance-based shortcuts. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● If England’s democratic frustrations remain unnamed, Farage can keep supplying simple targets for grievances that have more complicated roots. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Why Nigel Farage is resigning as an MP, only to stand again](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/13/why-nigel-farage-is-resigning-as-an-mp-only-to-stand-again/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Five questions over Nigel Farage’s £5 million donation](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [England out of the World Cup, but this team may have helped redefine a nation](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/16/england-out-of-the-world-cup-but-this-team-may-have-helped-redefine-a-nation/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Starmer to rethink human rights law to tackle ‘Farage boats’](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/oct/01/keir-starmer-human-rights-law-echr-nigel-farage-small-boat-crossings?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK plans five deportation flights a day to Kabul airport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk4r5e514o?ref=europeans.today) | *BBC News* - ###### [Nigel Farage says questions over his finances are part of ‘coordinated pile-on’](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/17/nigel-farage-questions-finances-coordinated-pile-on-reform-uk?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Reform UK’s Farage says he’ll quit as lawmaker and seek reelection amid donation allegations](https://apnews.com/article/5875dcf037074b013117833f35ab17a3?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [The Guardian view on Nigel Farage’s byelection stunt: spectacle is not scrutiny](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/07/the-guardian-view-on-nigel-farages-byelection-stunt-spectacle-is-not-scrutiny?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/nigel-farage-and-the-political-power-of-english-grievance-264065?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 23 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[DAVID HEWISON](https://www.dreamstime.com/davidhewison%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/264065/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 23 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/23/todays-papers-23-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T14:23:15.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 22 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/22/todays-papers-22-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T12:34:46.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 21-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/21/todays-briefing-21-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T07:00:20.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has entered No 10 promising hope, but his first cabinet and spending decisions will quickly test that message. ● A possible shift on North Sea drilling would collide with Labour’s manifesto line and climate commitments. ● Nigel Farage and Reform are trying to turn scrutiny over gifts and standards into an argument about persecution. ● Across Europe and beyond, institutions face pressure from aviation safety questions, post-Orbán reform, foreign political funding and authoritarian rollback. --- T oday’s briefing is about what happens when authority becomes real. Andy Burnham has entered No 10 promising hope and practical relief, but his first week will already be defined by hard trade-offs: energy bills, oil and gas, Thames Water and fiscal caution. Reform UK is trying to recast scrutiny of Nigel Farage as persecution, while US conservative money is being aimed at British political groups. In Europe, aviation safety, post-Orbán accountability and political credibility all test whether institutions still command trust. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham vows to bring back hope as he unveils cabinet** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham has used his first speech as prime minister to promise a “circuit breaker” moment for Britain and to “bring back hope”. The new PM [has appointed](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/20/andy-burnham-vows-to-bring-back-hope-as-he-unveils-his-cabinet?ref=europeans.today) John Healey as chancellor, a surprise compromise after speculation around Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood. Miliband becomes foreign secretary, Mahmood remains home secretary, Louise Haigh becomes first secretary of state and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and Yvette Cooper moves to health. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The speech and cabinet show Burnham trying to combine radical language with reassurance. His promise to help with energy bills and bus fares is designed to be felt quickly, but his comments about using “flexibility” in the fiscal rules already [unsettled markets](https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/gbp-live-today/23503-pound-sterling-gilts-drop-on-burnham-borrowing-comments?ref=europeans.today). The appointment of Healey looks like an attempt to balance ambition with credibility. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if the cabinet is treated as a clean break before policy detail exists. - **Labour factions** benefit if appointments are read as wins or defeats rather than as a test of delivery. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Tuesday’s cost-of-living package, Healey’s first Treasury statement, and whether Burnham’s “hope” language turns into clear legislation and funded programmes. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **North Sea drilling shift would break Labour’s manifesto line** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham is expected to relax restrictions on new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/18/burnham-expected-to-reverse-ban-on-new-oil-and-gas-drilling?ref=europeans.today) that issuing new licences would reverse Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge to honour existing licences but not grant new ones. Trade unions and some Labour MPs are urging support for the sector, while Conservatives and Reform UK are pressing for new drilling. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is an immediate credibility test. Burnham wants to show support for jobs, manufacturing and energy security, but new North Sea licensing would collide with Labour’s manifesto and climate commitments. It also risks exaggerating the benefits: previous Conservative licensing rounds [produced limited additional gas](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/17/jackdaw-gasfield-north-sea-drilling-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today). _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Can voters trust Burnham’s promises after his first pledge revives a mayoral failure? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/21/can-voters-trust-burnhams-promises-after-his-first-pledge-revives-a-mayoral-failure/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T01:02:50.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Andy Burnham’s rough sleeping pledge is an early test of whether his premiership will match moral ambition with funding, powers, and measurable delivery. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has made ending rough sleeping his first stated instruction as prime minister. ● He made a similar pledge as Greater Manchester mayor but did not fully deliver it. ● Rough sleeping in Greater Manchester has risen in each of the past four years. ● The pledge will shape how voters judge the promises that follow. --- A ndy Burnham has chosen rough sleeping as the first moral test of his premiership. It may also become the first test of whether voters should trust the promises that follow. Standing outside Downing Street on Monday, the new prime minister said he would go through the door behind him and issue his first instruction: [to end rough sleeping in Britain](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jul/20/andy-burnham-new-prime-minister-pm-keir-starmer-labour-no-10-downing-street-speech-cabinet-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today). It was a deliberately human pledge, aimed at showing that his government would put care, standards and prevention at the centre of power. But it also revived the central weakness in his own record. As Greater Manchester mayor, Burnham made tackling rough sleeping one of his defining promises. He did not fully deliver it. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/20/andy-burnham-pledges-end-rough-sleeping-homelessness-prime-minister-first-speech?ref=europeans.today) that numbers fell during his mayoralty, helped in part by pandemic-era measures, but later rose again. The pledge was not met. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 21 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/21/todays-papers-21-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T02:40:07.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### The politics of feeling: Why did ‘boring’ prime minister Keir Starmer provoke such visceral reactions? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/20/the-politics-of-feeling-why-did-boring-prime-minister-keir-starmer-provoke-such-visceral-reactions/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T15:51:49.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Starmer’s downfall shows how political legitimacy now depends not only on policy or competence, but on whether leaders can absorb, redirect or survive public feeling. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Keir Starmer left office today after intense public hostility despite Labour’s huge 2024 majority. ● Much of that hostility reflected the politics of feeling rather than policy alone. ● Starmer’s restrained, technocratic style left little positive attachment to counter anger from left and right. ● Andy Burnham’s success may depend on whether he can respond to the emotional conditions that damaged Starmer. --- K eir Starmer resigned as Labour leader with opinion polls indicating he was the most unpopular prime minister in modern times. This is despite the fact he had secured the second-highest postwar parliamentary majority only two years earlier. But over those two years, “Keir Starmer is a w\*\*ker” was chanted at anti-asylum [protests](https://theconversation.com/topics/protest-544?ref=europeans.today), in [football grounds](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/england-fans-warned-not-chant-200043242.html?ref=europeans.today), at festivals and during [televised darts competitions](https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/itv-apologises-viewers-spot-did-115832311.html?ref=europeans.today). Facebook and X feeds were full of anti-Starmer content. “Vote Reform, Get Starmer Out” was [Reform UK’s campaign slogan](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage-vote-reform-get-starmer-out-b1278253.html?ref=europeans.today) at the May local elections. The left and right had their own favourite (albeit contradictory) reasons as to why he should be disliked. But there was something strange about this vehemently hostile public mood towards such a sober, unemotional politician. It seemed to go beyond the normal anger that many prime ministers face from opponents. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/07/0000749--1-.jpg) Opinion polls showed Starmer was the most unpopular UK prime minister in modern times. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### The politics of feeling Dislike, even apparent hatred, of Starmer was only partially about his performance as prime minister. It also exemplifies what Anna Secor and I call the “politics of feeling” in [our book of the same name](https://amzn.to/4fd0yPV?ref=europeans.today). We argue that in the turbulent period since the 2008 financial crisis, politics in the UK and US has no longer been about coherent ideology expressed through policy and programmes. We argue that, instead, political movements such as right-wing populism or left progressivism now offer people a way of feeling about the past and the future. They offer intensity and attachment as people live with insecurity in the post-2008 world. Feelings also connect and disconnect people. Some would have felt elated, sad, relieved, or nothing much at all on Starmer’s resignation. That reaction alone is enough to connect voters to like-minded others. A key condition for “Starmer hate” was how Labour won its [“loveless landslide”](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/labours-loveless-landslide-is-stronger-than-it-looks/?ref=europeans.today) in the 2024 general election. In the book, we show how centrist politicians struggled in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to regain their political hegemony amid challenges from populists and progressives. Labour’s general election campaign responded to this challenge in two ways. First, the party offered the [promise of “change”](https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Labour-Party-manifesto-2024.pdf?ref=europeans.today) to try to resonate with a longstanding public desire for something different, as expressed in events like Brexit. Second, it claimed that politics will, once again, tread lightly on people’s lives. Being boring was [made into a virtue](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-children-labour-conference-b2177010.html?ref=europeans.today) in comparison with the antics and stunts of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and other right-wing populists. What was offered was being able to detach from politics while some kind of positive change happened. These promises helped to secure the landslide in a context of voters’ exhaustion with the Conservatives after 14 years of government. But it was the lack of love that made Starmer a prime target for strong feelings. The absence of attachment meant that Starmer soon became the repository for a range of longstanding frustrations and grievances. These intensified when people didn’t immediately see or feel the change they desired. From the left, Starmer’s position on issues such as immigration betrayed the faint hope for progressive change that some had placed in him. From the far-right, Starmer became the latest example of a corrupt elite or establishment that had betrayed the British people. Little positive attachment to Starmer meant there was no constituency of supporters to push back against the intensifying anger and outrage that social media both created and depended on. That maelstrom of negative feelings could stick to Starmer because his political style placed him firmly within the centrist, technocratic tradition that was being rejected. Equivocation, flatness and what was often judged as an [absence of political commitment](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/why-did-keir-starmer-resign-labour-leader-burnham-b3000522.html?ref=europeans.today) stood in stark contrast to the self-confidence and ease of figures as politically diverse as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and New York mayor Zohran Mamdani. Hatred is intense, and that intensity is central to today’s politics of feeling. And so an apparent hatred of Starmer is about the experience of feeling something intensely – and the difference this makes to people’s everyday lives. Intense feeling interrupts boredom, loneliness and other kinds of ordinary malaise. And in uncertain and anxious times, hate offers the illusion of reassurance. It establishes an unequivocal position against something. What’s more, sharing the same strong feeling with others – even if it is a negative one – is a collective experience. Chanting “Keir Starmer is a wanker” with other people might be nihilistic, or even aggressive, but it is also a way of connecting with strangers who feel the same way. Strong feelings about Starmer will fade. But the conditions that meant contempt and loathing became part of UK politics remain. How Andy Burnham responds to those conditions and today’s politics of feeling will be vital to the success of his political project. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Andy Burnham can create positive attachment quickly enough to avoid becoming another focus for grievance. ● Whether Reform UK continues to turn anti-Starmer feeling into a broader anti-Labour campaign against Burnham. ● Whether Labour’s promise of change becomes emotionally credible through early visible decisions. ● Whether online hostility transfers from Starmer to the new government or fades with the leadership change. ● Whether Burnham’s more emotive political style helps Labour reconnect with voters who felt nothing for Starmer. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Starmer-specific hostility will recede, but the emotional conditions that powered it are likely to remain central to British politics under Burnham. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A visible improvement in living standards or public services could give voters a stronger positive attachment to Labour’s new leadership. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● In a politics shaped by insecurity and intensity, a prime minister who cannot make people feel change may become the target of feeling instead. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [From landslide to leadership crisis: where did it all go wrong for Keir Starmer?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/from-landslide-to-leadership-crisis-where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-keir-starmer/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Burnham’s gamble could rescue Labour, or deepen Britain’s crisis](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/burnhams-gamble-could-rescue-labour-or-deepen-britains-crisis/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Andy Burnham’s big challenge: The route to succeeding Starmer is littered with obstacles](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/andy-burnhams-big-challenge-the-route-to-succeeding-starmer-is-littered-with-obstacles/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Starmer says his political journey is over at his last question session as UK leader](https://apnews.com/article/f546582ef86a10fc435c3d33e023a1b0?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Andy Burnham, a mayor from England’s north, is poised to become Britain’s next prime minister](https://apnews.com/article/d9b573820fc8eda4975d8c67d60b2a28?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [‘We did pull the levers’: emotional Starmer defends his record](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/15/keir-starmer-defends-record-pm-final-pmq?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham promises to end Labour infighting as he becomes party’s leader](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/17/andy-burnham-becomes-labour-leader-final-step-towards-uk-pm?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Keir Starmer’s approval rating: the latest polls](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-approval-rating-polls-today-news-bl2rj82tx?ref=europeans.today) | *The Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-politics-of-feeling-why-did-boring-prime-minister-keir-starmer-provoke-such-visceral-reactions-286491?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/286491/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 20 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/20/todays-papers-20-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T22:57:48.000Z --- --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 19 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/19/todays-papers-19-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T00:13:23.000Z --- MEMBERS EMAIL --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 18 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/18/todays-papers-18-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T16:41:27.000Z --- --- × ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### If you ask voters for a fixed term, shouldn’t you be prepared to serve it? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/17/if-you-ask-voters-for-a-fixed-term-shouldnt-you-be-prepared-to-serve-it/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T16:47:00.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Andy Burnham’s route from mayoral office to national power raises a democratic question for voters everywhere: should elected politicians be free to abandon one mandate for another? --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham’s move from Greater Manchester mayor to national power exposes a gap in democratic accountability. ● Should elected politicians normally complete one mandate before seeking another office? ● A mandate-completion rule would protect voters from politicians treating elected office as a career stepping stone. --- A ndy Burnham’s rise from Greater Manchester mayor to Westminster power is not just a story about one politician’s ambition. It is a test of how seriously democracy treats the promises made at the ballot box. Burnham has returned to Parliament through the Makerfield by-election and was officially named [Labour leader](https://apnews.com/article/andy-burnham-uk-labour-party-leadership-eba3703e98f3f9790f74f2cd7ee4cee1?ref=europeans.today) today, before entering Downing Street next week. [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/jul/17/andy-burnham-rebirth-king-of-the-north-road-to-no-10?ref=europeans.today) has described how his years as Greater Manchester mayor rebuilt his national standing and helped put him on the road to No 10\. That is an extraordinary political comeback. It is also the clearest possible example of a democratic problem Britain has never properly faced. When voters elect a mayor, councillor, MP or assembly member, they are not hiring a temporary applicant for the politician’s next career move. They are choosing someone to hold a mandate for a defined period. That mandate is not decorative. It is the democratic contract between the voter and their elected representative. Shouldn’t the law therefore make a simple principle clear: a politician who voluntarily resigns from one elected mandate should not be allowed to run for another elected office until the original term has expired? That rule would not be anti-democratic. It would be more democratic than the current system, because it would protect the voters who conferred the first mandate. At present, an elected politician can ask the public for trust, win office, gain the platform and visibility that come with it, then abandon the role when a more attractive vacancy appears. The voters are left with a by-election, a transition, a gap in leadership and the knowledge that their mandate was conditional on the office holder not finding something better. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 17-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/17/todays-briefing-17-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T14:19:46.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has formally become Labour leader before entering No 10 on Monday. ● Home Secretary’s likely move to the Treasury is unsettling some Labour MPs and business figures. ● Poland’s nationalist president has vetoed civil unions, blocking legal recognition for same-sex couples. ● Trump’s unverified China election claims and ICE’s arrest of a Chinese rights lawyer raise wider democratic concerns in the US. --- T oday’s briefing is about power being consolidated, challenged and distorted. In Britain, Andy Burnham has won Labour without a contest and is already facing scrutiny over who will control the Treasury and how he will reform political rules. In Europe, Poland’s outgoing nationalist president has blocked civil unions, while Ukraine’s reshuffle tests wartime trust. Beyond Europe, US immigration and election claims show how rights and democratic trust can be squeezed when institutions become partisan tools. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham becomes Labour leader before entering No 10** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham has formally been named Labour leader, clearing the final party step before he becomes prime minister on Monday. He won [without a contest](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/17/andy-burnham-becomes-labour-leader-final-step-towards-uk-pm?ref=europeans.today) after securing overwhelming support from MPs, unions and party branches. Burnham then used [his first speech](https://apnews.com/article/eba3703e98f3f9790f74f2cd7ee4cee1?ref=europeans.today) to promise a different style of government focused on public control, industrial renewal, and rebuilding trust. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Burnham enters office with enormous internal authority but limited public testing. His first cabinet, economic plan and Downing Street speech will carry the weight that a leadership campaign did not. The question is whether his language about “doing it differently” becomes a programme or remains a mood. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if his uncontested leadership is treated as a national mandate. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Monday’s transfer of power, the first cabinet list and whether Burnham announces early cost-of-living measures. The process was obviously constitutionally valid; however, voters will benefit only if attention quickly shifts to policy, spending, and democratic reform. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Shabana Mahmood as likely chancellor puzzles business** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is the favourite to become chancellor, despite concern among Labour MPs and business figures about her limited economic record. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/16/shabana-mahmood-future-chancellor?ref=europeans.today) that some MPs view the choice as “bizarre”, while many would prefer Ed Miliband because of his stronger economic experience and clearer policy identity. However, the FT [reports](https://www.ft.com/content/54d17925-a1d3-4bae-a1bc-a325df7577dd?ref=europeans.today) that Mahmood’s appointment would reassure markets more than Miliband because of his green policies. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 17 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/17/todays-papers-17-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T17:30:57.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 16-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/16/todays-briefing-16-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T19:12:16.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham’s cabinet plans are sealed inside what Westminster is calling “the black box”. ● Keir Starmer has made Sadiq Khan a peer as one of his final institutional acts before leaving No 10. ● France has adopted an assisted dying law under strict conditions, while Italy has convicted 32 people over the Genoa bridge collapse. ● Trump’s Gaza recovery plan has shrunk to a small pilot scheme, exposing the gap between reconstruction rhetoric and reality. --- T oday’s briefing is about power before and after decisions are made. In Britain, Andy Burnham is about to enter No 10 with unusual personal authority and unusually little public detail about his plans. Starmer is still shaping institutions on his way out. Public health policy is becoming more interventionist. In Europe, courts and parliaments are testing whether dignity, safety and accountability can be written into law after years of failure or delay. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham’s “black box” leaves Westminster guessing** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** As Parliament rose before Andy Burnham’s expected arrival in No 10, Labour MPs told [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/16/burnhams-black-box-plans-for-cabinet-send-westminster-into-hysteria?ref=europeans.today) that his cabinet plans are locked inside what Westminster is calling “the black box”. The core group is understood to be Andy Burnham, Louise Haigh and his chief of staff James Purnell. Even senior Labour figures and close allies are unsure what roles, if any, they will receive. [*Financial Times*](https://www.ft.com/content/b8a2e9ac-920c-4426-8d84-58cec9f81cc0?ref=europeans.today) reports that business leaders are also struggling to understand how to reach the incoming administration. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Burnham will probably never be more powerful than he is at the moment before he takes office. No rival leadership candidate, cabinet minister or faction currently has leverage over him. That gives him room to choose freely, but it also creates risk: he will enter Downing Street without a public manifesto, a settled cabinet or a clearly explained governing strategy. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if secrecy is treated only as discipline rather than a democratic accountability problem. - **Labour** factions benefit if they present their own lobbying as concern for stability. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Why unelected power brings us a strange comfort URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/16/why-unelected-power-brings-us-a-strange-comfort/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T03:02:08.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Britain may soon face another change of prime minister without a general election, raising urgent questions about democratic accountability, party power and public tolerance of unelected authority. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● The UK can change prime ministers through internal party processes without voters choosing the new leader. ● Andy Burnham’s expected route to Downing Street will continue a recent pattern of unelected transitions. ● Voters may accept this because hierarchy and authority are psychologically normalised. ● Stronger democratic accountability requires challenging backroom power, apathy and elite control of leadership. --- T he UK is not usually thought of as the kind of country that’s prone to a coup d’état. Yet in the UK too, power can change hands without a general election. Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, Liz Truss – in each case, internal party dynamics determined who occupied 10 Downing Street. In the current situation, all eyes are on the former mayor of Greater Manchester, [Andy Burnham](https://theconversation.com/topics/andy-burnham-16006?ref=europeans.today). It’s widely expected that Burnham will become prime minister through an internal Labour party manoeuvre rather than a general election. But this would reinforce the same uncomfortable point. The UK accepts major political transitions without the electorate ever casting a vote. Once again, the public may simply be expected to accommodate the outcome. Keir Starmer won a landslide in the 2024 general election. But dissatisfaction within the party and across the country soon led to grumblings, cabinet resignations and [a collapse](https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-keir-starmer-labour-suffers-historic-drop-in-approval-ratings/?ref=europeans.today) in the PM’s public approval. In such a trigger-happy system, any political misstep (or series of missteps) becomes potentially fatal. ### Normalising hierarchy So why do voters accept pressure from within a PM’s own party as legitimate grounds for removal? The answer may lie in psychology, namely the human tendency to justify existing systems, defer to authority and treat hierarchy as normal. Understanding that process is the first step towards challenging it. [“Social dominance orientation”](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/social-dominance/ADA29C256881001463D6E2777404DB95?ref=europeans.today#fndtn-information) describes a preference for social hierarchy, in which some groups are seen as more deserving of power than others. People higher in this tendency are more comfortable with unequal relations and more likely to support policies, institutions or leaders that preserve hierarchy rather than reduce it. In social psychology, this matters because hierarchy survives when many people come to see it as normal. One reason for this is that hierarchical settings themselves can make inequality feel natural. Military organisations, policing, workplaces that are structured around hierarchies and elite educational systems all expose people to repeated signals that some voices matter more than others. Over time, this can make hierarchy seem less like a political choice and [more like common sense](https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/9/712?ref=europeans.today). That helps explain why internal party decision-making can sometimes be accepted by the wider electorate. When groups such as the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs (which sets out the rules for Tory leadership contests) or a party’s national executive use internal rules to shape leadership outcomes, their language and formality can create an air of authority. This may make many voters more inclined to accept it. But this raises a deeper democratic question: if people simply absorb the outcome of these elite processes, how representative is that democracy really? One way of thinking about this is through voter apathy and disengagement, which can leave surrogate decision-making unchallenged. There are ways to push back against this. Meaningful interactions between people from [differing social groups](https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2023-37126-001.html?ref=europeans.today) (known in psychology terms as “high-quality inter-group contact”) can reduce support for hierarchies. This is especially true when it takes the form of genuine one-to-one contact, rather than just symbolic interaction. And so can “cultural humility”: the willingness to recognise that we do not fully know other people’s experiences and should [approach difference](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13684302231174402?ref=europeans.today) with respect, curiosity and awareness of inequality. These are practical ways of loosening the hold of hierarchy on politics. Internalised classism adds another layer. This is the process by which people absorb negative beliefs about their own social group and begin to see themselves, or those like them, as less entitled to lead. That can make the acceptance of unelected elites easier, especially when those elites come from the [upper classes](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37359036/?ref=europeans.today). The privileged upbringing of Eton-educated Johnson, for example, did not prevent him from appealing to some working-class voters to win a general election [in 2019](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50776671?ref=europeans.today) and lead the UK [through Brexit](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709756/full?ref=europeans.today). Of course, the easiest way to alleviate internalised classism is for the governing party to change its rules to ensure that any new prime minister must be elected via a public vote, rather than leadership challenge. However, this small change would have a seismic effect and is unlikely to happen. Ultimately, the strongest defence against unelected leaders is democratic accountability. That means questioning backroom power, reducing political apathy and encouraging citizens to care about who governs them and how. If democracies fail in this, they risk normalising elite rule and weakening the foundations of democratic life. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Burnham’s transition to Downing Street proceeds without a contested Labour membership vote. ● Whether Labour MPs frame the handover as constitutional routine, emergency repair or democratic discomfort. ● Whether opposition parties turn the absence of a general election into a wider legitimacy attack. ● Whether Burnham offers early accountability signals, including a timetable, mandate argument or policy reset. ● Whether public opinion treats the transition as normal Westminster practice or another sign of political exclusion. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The transition is likely to be accepted institutionally, but it will deepen the argument that Britain’s parties can change prime ministers faster than voters can judge them. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A sharp public backlash, a formal leadership challenge or demands for an early general election could turn an internal Labour process into a national legitimacy crisis. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The way Britain accepts unelected transitions may determine whether party management continues to substitute for public democratic choice. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham’s gamble could rescue Labour, or deepen Britain’s crisis](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/burnhams-gamble-could-rescue-labour-or-deepen-britains-crisis/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/15/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-replace-keir-starmer-as-prime-minister/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [TODAY’s Briefing \~ 19-Jun-2026](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/19/todays-briefing-19-jun-2026/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Andy Burnham secures Labour leadership with landslide support of MPs](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/13/andy-burnham-confirmed-labour-leader-landslide-support?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [How could Labour remove Keir Starmer? Four possible routes](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/10/how-labour-remove-keir-starmer-four-routes-replace-leader-mps?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Labour MPs fear backlash over expected Burnham coronation](https://news.sky.com/story/labour-mps-fear-backlash-over-expected-burnham-coronation-13557310?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Andy Burnham plans blitz of policy announcements on entering Number 10](https://www.ft.com/content/26ef759a-c5b3-4992-ab58-7b9a11d31371?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [Andy Burnham to promise to ‘fix the big things’ in first speech as Labour leader](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/16/andy-burnham-keir-starmer-no-10-advisers?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-unelected-power-brings-us-a-strange-comfort-286306https://theconversation.com/why-unelected-power-brings-us-a-strange-comfort-286306?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 July 2026\. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55395332501/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/286306/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### England out of the World Cup, but this team may have helped redefine a nation URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/16/england-out-of-the-world-cup-but-this-team-may-have-helped-redefine-a-nation/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T02:29:44.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS England’s World Cup run has become more than a sporting story: it highlights how football, migration, identity and belonging are shaping arguments over modern Englishness. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● England are out of the World Cup, losing 2-1 to Argentina, but the squad has offered a highly visible inclusive image of the nation. ● Many players were eligible to represent other countries through family heritage, reflecting Britain’s imperial and migration history. ● The author contrasts football’s civic Englishness with political debates over ethnicity, belonging and national entitlement. ● He argues England needs stronger contemporary stories about who belongs and what the nation represents. --- T he football World Cup is often seen as an opportunity to bring different groups within a nation together as they celebrate their team’s achievements. And while the performance of the England side’s young and dynamic squad may not have taken them to the final, there remains something to celebrate. Thomas Tuchel’s squad has offered a vision of [England](https://theconversation.com/topics/england-549?ref=europeans.today) that stands in stark contrast to Downton Abbey-type cultural representations that often feel [nostalgic and parochial](https://www.unav.edu/documents/2832169/59d552cb-04f8-4a70-8d46-8eefcc2fbec5?ref=europeans.today). And it challenges, head on, claims that have been made recently regarding Englishness [and ethnicity](https://theconversation.com/matt-goodwin-is-wrong-about-whiteness-and-englishness-but-heres-why-he-has-struck-a-chord-with-some-voters-275193?ref=europeans.today). Selected by a German manager, the 26-man squad featured 20 players who had the option to play for another country. This is because the heritage rules of football’s governing body Fifa allow players to represent the nation of their parents’ or grandparents’ birth. But those options – Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana, Ireland and Kenya, to name just some – are not a happy accident. They represent a rollcall of England’s (and subsequently Britain’s) imperial engagements. To quote Sri Lankan novelist A Sivanandan: [“They are here, because you were there.”](https://asivanandan.com/key%5Fsayings/we-are-here-because-you-were-there/?ref=europeans.today) These representatives of the English nation have generated huge, broad support and excitement. Viewer data indicates that the team’s progress has been watched by [record audiences](https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2026/england-dr-congo-world-cup-match-delivers-record-audiences?ref=europeans.today) and the [beer-throwing antics](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/11/drenched-by-beer-england-fans-go-wild-for-the-world-cup-pint-toss-celebration?ref=europeans.today) of fans across the country have been dominating social media. And yet the exploits of a team led by the grandson of Irish immigrants in Harry Kane and driven forward by the son of Kenyan and Irish immigrants in Jude Bellingham might seem like an anomaly given the nation’s political climate. The rise of right-wing populists has seen [heritage and country of birth](https://theconversation.com/matt-goodwin-is-wrong-about-whiteness-and-englishness-but-heres-why-he-has-struck-a-chord-with-some-voters-275193?ref=europeans.today) thrust into the spotlight. ### English or British? The team also seems to represent a vision of Englishness at odds with wider public attitudes. On one hand, official polling data has consistently shown that identifying as English is much less attractive [to ethnic minorities](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2385000?ref=europeans.today#abstract) than categorising themselves as British. This may be because, outside football, Englishness for many minorities represented a more exclusive identity that focuses on ethnic rather than civic forms of belonging. And on the other hand, these questions of identity are also exemplified by those who lean right politically. These groups are much more likely to define themselves as [more English than British](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/53380-race-heritage-and-british-english-identity-what-do-white-and-ethnic-minority-adults-in-england-think?ref=europeans.today). Both sets of data link to my work on [national hierarchies of belonging](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2009.00428.x?ref=europeans.today). These put forward the argument that there are some groups within a nation who are seen to belong more than others. It is those who unquestioningly believe and are treated as if they “really” belong who position themselves as the rightful arbiters and managers of the nation. This not only gives them an important sense of agency, in an era where growing numbers of people [feel disenfranchised](https://natcen.ac.uk/news/support-reform-much-more-protest-vote-finds-new-british-social-attitudes-research?ref=europeans.today), but also informs powerful claims to key social, economic and cultural resources. There is a strong link between belonging and entitlement, so that “I belong more than you” can also come to mean “I deserve more than you”. The struggles between groups within the same nation are not new. But they have been supercharged by growing inequality and the undermining of collective institutions, including those associated with [politics](https://natcen.ac.uk/news/trust-and-confidence-britains-system-government-record-low?ref=europeans.today) and [the media](https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/trust-in-media-uk-edelman-barometer-2024/?ref=europeans.today). The rise of nativist views and policies, which prioritise the rights of people born in a country over those of immigrants, is a feature of these processes. ### A new England? But it could be possible for England to address these issues. It’s worth noting that ethnic minorities in both Wales and Scotland are much more likely to identify as [Welsh](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2385000?ref=europeans.today) or [Scottish](https://policyscotland.gla.ac.uk/feels-scottish-national-identities-ethnicity-scotland/?ref=europeans.today). This is because these national categories are primarily defined in relation to the dominant group in the UK (that is, the English). In other words, the “English question” (the debate over whether MPs from the other home nations should be allowed to vote on English-only affairs) still needs to be answered. This was first raised more than 40 years ago with the prospect, and then the reality, of devolved politics in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Increased devolution to the English regions may go some way to addressing grievances in the south-west, the Midlands and the north. And specific English cultural institutions – why not have an English national museum, library and broadcaster, for example – could generate new forms of belonging. But above all, England and the English need to start telling some more convincing – and relevant – stories about who they are. These can move beyond the past and an obsession with former “glories”. One of those stories may well involve this English football team. After all, it may ultimately not have won this World Cup, but it still offers a different, and highly visible, inclusive representation of the nation. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the inclusive image of England’s squad remains prominent after the disappointment of elimination fades. ● How political voices on Englishness, migration and national belonging respond to the team’s public reception. ● Whether football institutions continue to present the national team as a civic rather than ethnic symbol. ● Whether regional devolution and cultural institutions become part of a broader answer to the English identity question. ● How younger supporters interpret the squad’s heritage, leadership and visibility in future tournaments. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● England’s exit will dominate the immediate sporting debate, but the squad’s diverse profile is likely to remain a reference point in arguments over modern English identity. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A backlash against players, or a renewed political push to narrow definitions of Englishness by some politicians, could turn the inclusive symbolism into a sharper culture-war dispute. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The national team shows how visible shared success can widen ideas of belonging even when wider politics is pulling identity in a narrower direction. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Thomas Tuchel accepts responsibility after substitutions backfire in England defeat](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/16/thomas-tuchel-accepts-responsibility-substitutions-england-argentina?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Argentina’s late double breaks England hearts in dramatic World Cup semi-final](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/15/england-argentina-world-cup-semi-final-match-report?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Enjoying the World Cup? Well it’s time for England, but this is a team less weighed down by its past](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/16/enjoying-the-world-cup-well-its-time-for-england-but-this-is-a-team-less-weighed-down-by-its-past?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [The World Cup used to let us micro-dose politics. Now it is engulfed by it](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jul/15/world-cup-politics-england-us-africa-fifa?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [France’s match with Morocco sums up this diverse, multicultural World Cup](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/09/france-morocco-diverse-multicultural-world-cup-tournament-quarter-final?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [England World Cup 2026 team guide](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/11/england-world-cup-2026-team-guide?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Drenched by beer: England fans go wild for the World Cup pint-toss celebration](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/11/drenched-by-beer-england-fans-go-wild-for-the-world-cup-pint-toss-celebration?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [How football is reframing the way we think about race](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/16/black-footballers-publicly-reacting-racist-abuse?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/england-out-of-the-world-cup-but-this-team-may-have-helped-redefine-a-nation-287602?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/287602) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 16 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/16/todays-papers-16-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T18:26:58.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 15-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/15/todays-briefing-15-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T18:34:38.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Keir Starmer’s final PMQs brought rare Commons grace as MPs prepare for a change of prime minister. ● The Hillsborough law and COVID inquiry both expose why state candour and procurement reform matter. ● The Governor of the Bank of England would have delayed its meeting with Nigel Farage had he known about the £5m gift inquiry. ● Europe is moving on Ukraine drone production, Gibraltar’s border and Starmer’s French honour. --- T oday’s briefing is about the tone of public life and the discipline of public power. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Starmer exits with grace as MPs back Hillsborough law** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Keir Starmer faced [his final Prime Minister’s Questions](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jul/15/keir-starmer-pmqs-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-kemi-badenoch-conservatives-nigel-farage-reform-uk-politics-live-news?ref=europeans.today) today before leaving No 10\. Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, opened with a careful tribute, joking about Farage facing [Count Binface](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/07/15/starmer-backs-count-binface/?ref=europeans.today) in his Clacton by-election, praising Starmer’s support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and offering warm remarks about his family. Starmer responded in a reflective tone and said he was proud to leave the country “in better shape” than when he entered Downing Street. Labour MPs gave him a standing ovation, joined by some opposition MPs, though Badenoch and most Conservative MPs remained seated. The previous evening, MPs approved Starmer’s version of the long-delayed [Hillsborough law](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9q2qwnvd75o?ref=europeans.today). **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The PMQs exchange mattered because it showed that opponents can mark a transfer of power without pretending politics is a private friendship club. But the Hillsborough law is the more durable legacy. It is a response to decades in which bereaved families had to fight public bodies for the truth. If implemented properly, it shifts power from institutions defending themselves to citizens demanding answers. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Public bodies** benefit if the duty of candour becomes symbolic rather than enforceable and if they reduce the moment to applause etiquette and miss the real issue: whether the state can be forced to tell the truth. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the bill’s passage through the Lords, how the national security compromise is applied, and whether Andy Burnham makes the law central to his own governing identity. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 15 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/15/todays-papers-15-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T12:45:55.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 14-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/14/todays-briefing-14-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T11:14:26.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has secured the Labour leadership with overwhelming MP support. ● Nigel Farage donor links are putting the crypto firm Tether under new political scrutiny. ● People with learning disabilities in England are still dying far younger than the general population. ● Europe faces fresh tests over pesticide rules, Hormuz tolls, tariff refunds and US pressure on the International Criminal Court. --- T oday’s briefing is about accountability in systems that are easy to misunderstand. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham secures Labour leadership** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham is set to become Labour leader and Britain’s next prime minister after securing overwhelming support from Labour MPs. 27 additional nominations took him to 349 MPs, making it [mathematically impossible](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/13/andy-burnham-confirmed-labour-leader-landslide-support?ref=europeans.today) for any rival to reach the 81 nominations needed to challenge him. He is expected to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader on Friday and become prime minister on Monday. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This gives Burnham authority inside Labour, but it also sharpens the mandate question outside it. He will enter No 10 without a general election and without a contested party leadership campaign. Under the UK system that is constitutionally normal, but politically it means his first decisions on cabinet, tax, public spending, Gaza, devolution and immigration will have to do the work that a campaign did not. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if overwhelming MP support is treated as the same as a public mandate. - **Labour critics** benefit if they pretend the transfer is illegitimate when it is constitutionally standard. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Burnham’s first cabinet, especially chancellor and foreign secretary, and whether he uses his initial authority to settle Labour or reopen internal policy fights. While he has received overwhelming support from Labour MPs, the future PM should not assume that this replaces a direct public mandate. A leadership “coronation” still needs scrutiny. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 14 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/14/todays-papers-14-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T14:48:10.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Why Nigel Farage is resigning as an MP, only to stand again URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/13/why-nigel-farage-is-resigning-as-an-mp-only-to-stand-again/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T17:22:33.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Nigel Farage’s resignation and re-election bid tests how populist politics can turn scrutiny over personal finances into a wider confrontation over institutions, media trust and democratic accountability. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage has resigned as Clacton MP and plans to stand again in the same seat. ● The move follows allegations about his finances, which he denies. ● Major parties appear unlikely to contest the by-election, risking a political spectacle rather than a conventional campaign. --- S peaking from the Reform UK party headquarters in Milbank, London, Nigel Farage [revealed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N0C8E5SCP4&ref=europeans.today) that he will be stepping down as MP for Clacton – only to stand again for the same seat. Farage referenced allegations about his finances and insisted that he has “done nothing wrong”. However, it appears the other main parties will not stand candidates in what has been dubbed a “media circus” and “vanity project”. Academic experts examine the motivations behind this move. ### Self-pity and self-obsession In what must rank as one of the most self-pitying, self-obsessed pieces of political rhetoric we’ve heard from a politician since Boris Johnson’s myriad attempts to [justify himself](https://theconversation.com/partygate-revisited-why-boris-johnsons-downing-street-is-starting-to-sound-like-an-evelyn-waugh-novel-177274?ref=europeans.today) back in 2022, Nigel Farage surprised absolutely no-one by triggering a by-election by resigning as MP for Clacton. He is supposedly going to take on “the establishment” in this by-election by re-standing and, in so doing, clear his name. Even if Farage’s anger about media intrusion was real, his recorded video message still felt a little confected. And I’m not sure there’s much sympathy out there for a politician who’s not only telling us he’s enormously wealthy thanks to all sorts of second jobs but that he could be even more wealthy if he quit parliament. As for the nonsense about Britain being a “broken” – indeed a “communist” – country where “men can’t wear watches and women can’t wear jewellery” in the streets, that was presumably for an American audience. And the plug for his investment tips making people impressive returns was simply grifting of the highest order. Although, there will be voters in Clacton who’ll see the whole thing for what it is (namely, an expensive sideshow which appears to be designed to distract from the allegations Farage is facing), I don’t doubt that he stands a good chance of winning this by-election. But the other main parties now seem likely not to stand candidates. Another option might have been to field a joint candidate – a 2026 version of [Martin Bell](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/election-97-martin-bell-to-take-the-flak-in-sleaze-war-against-hamilt-on-1265719.html?ref=europeans.today), the former war correspondent who took on cash-for-questions MP Neil Hamilton in a 1997 by-election and won as an independent with the backing of Labour and the Liberal Democrats. More importantly, none of this will help Farage wriggle out of the allegations he’s facing. As soon as he makes it back into parliament, the investigation will restart where it left off. He can run – but he can’t hide. **\[** [**Tim Bale**](https://www.europeans.today/author/tim-bale/)**, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary University of London. \]** ### Classic ‘Faragism’ Farage’s resignation as MP for Clacton, followed by his announcement that he will seek re-election and “let the British people decide” his future rather than “the media” or “the establishment”, is perhaps best understood through the lens of Faragism. As my recent [research](https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/publications/manufacturing-consent-faragism-and-the-hegemonic-struggle-for-bri/?%5F%5Fcf%5Fchl%5Ff%5Ftk=RiRw5uAWrkmoh5N1ayN4K7mQIs.7M4eptfXcTeVpPTA-1783432348-1.0.1.1-qh3OoHqtsqadFvTuG4tpK5FPLoZsaarZs09ubfPrU8o&ref=europeans.today) argues, Faragism is more than simply the politics of one individual – it is a political project that constructs a populist common-sense narrative of Britain as a nation constrained by political elites and unresponsive institutions. Within this logic, the establishment is portrayed as negating the democratic will of the people. The way events around Farage’s statement unfolded reflects that strategy. At midday, Farage [posted on X](https://x.com/Nigel%5FFarage/status/2074448628714717435?ref=europeans.today): “I will make a statement on my future in public life at 2pm.” Within two hours, the post had been viewed approximately 4.4 million times – an illustration of his unparalleled ability to garner public attention and set the political agenda. Rather than allowing the debate to focus solely on the allegations against him, Farage sought to frame the episode as part of a broader struggle against political and media elites. He presented himself as someone willing to bear personal political costs in pursuit of what he portrays as the national interest and his mission to “fix” a broken Britain. This is characteristic of Faragism. The political contest is reframed from one concerning individual conduct into a wider struggle between an insurgent movement and a corrupt establishment. In doing so, Farage reinforces the populist distinction between “the people” and those portrayed as seeking to delegitimise their political voice. The episode also illustrates why Reform UK remains so closely identified with Farage personally. Although the party has become considerably [more professionalised and organisationally developed](https://theconversation.com/zia-yusuf-the-british-muslim-driving-reforms-transformation-into-an-election-winner-256003?ref=europeans.today) in recent years, its ability to capture public attention still rests overwhelmingly on Farage’s unique political authority. That remains both Reform UK’s greatest strength and its greatest vulnerability. **\[** [**Parveen Akhtar**](https://www.europeans.today/author/parveen-akhtar/)**, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Aston. \]** ### Populist storytelling Farage relies on storytelling, and spent a lot of this speech setting up his own character and position as a victim. He spoke of constant demonisation by the press – “the way I’ve been treated” – and cast himself as the most attacked person by the media in modern times. He also detailed in-person attacks and threats on his life, such as a mob attacking his car. At the same time, he characterised himself as a saviour – if he hadn’t “done what he’d done” then Brexit would not have happened. By making an attempt to delegitimise Labour’s position, emphasising that Andy Burnham is due to become prime minister unelected, Farage aimed to set up a good-guy-bad-guy storyline. What’s really interesting is how Farage conflates the mainstream media and the political establishment into one entire, biased entity. He said “it’s not just the media, it applies to other political parties too”, as if the media are a political party. This is a recognised and established populist move, such as Trump’s famous “fake news” line. Populists [tend to attack](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2025.2502012?ref=europeans.today) established media, legacy media, and especially public service media and then establish their own media ecosystem that they’re able to control more. When they present the media as the bad guy, any negative reporting becomes a bonus point to be used to their advantage. Any rule-based legal action against him, or action that parliament is taking to scrutinise him, becomes equated with a biased and politicised attack. This came across as a very calculated move, one that he had likely done polling on and feels secure in. He will continue framing the by-election as a mini-election — the people versus the establishment — much like Burnham’s campaign in Makerfield. **\[** [**Lone Sorensen**](https://www.europeans.today/author/lone-sorensen/)**, Associate Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds. \]** ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the Clacton by-election becomes a serious accountability test or is dominated by non-mainstream challengers and spectacle. ● Whether the parliamentary standards process resumes if Farage returns to Westminster. ● Whether Reform UK can keep the focus on establishment grievance rather than the details of political finance. ● Whether further disclosures about gifts, donations or donor-linked support shift public opinion. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Farage is likely to regain the seat while using the campaign to reinforce his people-versus-establishment message, but the underlying scrutiny over his finances is unlikely to disappear. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A fresh disclosure, formal standards finding or legal development could move the story from political theatre back to institutional accountability. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The by-election will test whether a populist mandate can blunt scrutiny or whether unanswered financial questions continue to define Farage’s credibility. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [TODAY’s Briefing \~ 9-Jul-2026](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/09/todays-briefing-9-jul-2026/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Five questions over Nigel Farage’s £5 million donation](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Farage’s Clacton by-election risks turning into farce](https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/09/todays-briefing-9-jul-2026/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Reform UK’s Farage says he’ll quit as lawmaker and seek reelection amid donation allegations](https://apnews.com/article/5875dcf037074b013117833f35ab17a3?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [What to know about Nigel Farage’s dramatic resignation and political gambit](https://apnews.com/article/c19066252386ffd88ef13fdbf0516a25?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Political rivals vow to boycott byelection after Farage quits as MP](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/07/nigel-farage-quits-as-mp-amid-scrunity-over-finances-clacton-reform?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Why Farage is quitting as an MP amid scrutiny over gifts – but will stand again](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/07/why-farage-quitting-mp-scrutiny-gifts-clacton-reform-uk?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Five pressing questions for Reform UK about its finances](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/five-pressing-questions-farage-reform-uk-finances?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-nigel-farage-is-resigning-as-an-mp-only-to-stand-again-expert-analysis-287017?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 13 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Dave Hewison](https://www.dreamstime.com/davidhewison%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/287017/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 13-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/13/todays-briefing-13-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T07:00:48.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● A Green MP is pushing for a legal maximum workplace temperature as heatwaves intensify. ● A far-right activist’s Musk-funded Russia trip has prompted calls for stronger protection of UK democracy. ● Reform UK’s £26.7 million donations haul would have shrunk sharply under a proposed annual cap. ● Journalists have been subpoenaed after reporting on Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One. --- T oday’s briefing is about systems under pressure. Extreme heat is forcing new questions about workplace rights and public celebrations. Foreign influence concerns are moving from abstract warnings to specific far-right networks. AI companies are learning that consent cannot be retrofitted after backlash. And press-freedom disputes in the US show how leak investigations can become tests of democratic scrutiny. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Green MP pushes maximum workplace temperature bill** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Green MP [Hannah Spencer](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/26729/hannah%5Fspencer/gorton%5Fand%5Fdenton?ref=europeans.today) is preparing to introduce a bill that would require the UK to set legal maximum workplace temperatures. [The proposal](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/12/green-mp-hannah-spencer-aims-to-pass-law-on-maximum-workplace-temperatures?ref=europeans.today) would create an independent body to recommend safe limits and oversee implementation. Unions including Unison and the TUC have argued for a 30C indoor limit, or 27C for strenuous work, as heatwaves become more frequent and severe. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Britain has rules for minimum working temperatures, but not for dangerous heat. As summers become hotter, employers, schools, hospitals, construction sites and transport systems will face growing pressure to treat heat as a predictable occupational hazard rather than an exceptional inconvenience. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Employers** benefit if heat protections are framed only as red tape rather than basic safety. Workers in poorly ventilated or physically demanding jobs lose if this debate stays abstract. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the government backs Spencer’s bill, whether the proposed body gets real powers, and whether standards cover outdoor workers as well as offices. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Far-right activist’s Musk-funded Russia trip raises concerns** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Liberal Democrat leader [Ed Davey](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10155/edward%5Fdavey/kingston%5Fand%5Fsurbiton?ref=europeans.today) has called for stronger protection of UK democracy after [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/12/tommy-robinson-musk-russia-trip-defend-uk-democracy-ed-davey?ref=europeans.today) that Elon Musk’s family foundation funded far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s trip to Russia. *The Guardian* explained that Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, travelled with Errol Musk, Elon Musk’s father, and appeared in Moscow while praising Russia and calling for street protests in the UK. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 13 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/13/todays-papers-13-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T17:20:40.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### France opens investigation into racist abuse targeting Mbappé URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/12/france-opens-investigation-into-racist-abuse-targeting-mbappe/ Last updated: 2026-07-12T23:11:42.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Racist abuse of a major French player at the 2026 World Cup has moved beyond football into legal and parliamentary scrutiny, testing how European institutions and elected officials respond to public racism. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● French prosecutors are investigating racist abuse aimed at Kylian Mbappé. ● Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla is at the centre of the controversy. ● The story matters as a public accountability issue, not only a football dispute. --- F rench prosecutors have [opened an investigation](https://apnews.com/article/mbappe-paraguay-racism-world-cup-82a6cca3a284fae4cba4566bb3f85915?ref=europeans.today) into racist abuse aimed at Kylian Mbappé after France knocked Paraguay out of the World Cup last week, turning a football controversy into a test of public accountability for elected officials. The case centres on Celeste Amarilla, a Paraguayan senator, who made racist remarks about the France captain after Paraguay’s 1-0 defeat in the round of 16\. The abuse prompted condemnation from Mbappé, French football officials and political figures around the world. The Paris prosecutor’s office is now investigating aggravated public insult and public provocation to hatred or violence. The French Football Federation (FFF) said it had referred the matter to prosecutors. The dispute escalated after Amarilla continued to defend herself. During a Paraguayan Senate session, she said: “When Orlando Gill \[Paraguay’s goalkeeper\] extended his hand with all the humility of a Paraguayan, that son of a b\*\*\*\* refused to shake it and shouted in his face. That is not French. A Frenchman would never have done that.” _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 12 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/12/todays-papers-12-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-12T20:51:30.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 11-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/11/todays-briefing-11-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T16:24:49.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s early stance on Gaza and promised a stronger approach. ● Keir Starmer may issue resignation honours despite previously criticising the practice. ● UK ministers are considering plain packaging and display restrictions for vapes to reduce child appeal. ● Europe is weighing voluntary navigation fees in the Strait of Hormuz as shipping tensions continue. --- T oday’s stories are about political responsibility after power has been exercised. In Britain, Labour’s incoming and outgoing leaders are both being tested on accountability: Andy Burnham over Gaza and Keir Starmer over honours. Reform’s Greater Manchester controversy shows how quickly “tough” politics can become a threat to equal democratic citizenship. In Europe, Marine Le Pen’s confirmed candidacy has pushed Jordan Bardella back into second place, while the Strait of Hormuz tests whether diplomacy can protect global shipping without normalising coercive control. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham apologises for Labour’s stance on Gaza** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s early stance on Gaza, saying the party “didn’t get it right”. Burnham [said](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/andy-burnham-labour-didnt-get-it-right-stance-gaza-war?ref=europeans.today) Labour was too slow to call for a ceasefire and should now take a stronger position, including tougher pressure on Israel and possible restrictions linked to illegal settlements. The apology is aimed partly at [rebuilding trust](https://www.ft.com/content/6fe42d7e-c267-48d3-87d1-b51cc4d86d03?ref=europeans.today) with voters alienated by Labour’s response after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is more than a tonal shift. Burnham is trying to draw a moral and political line between his leadership and Starmer’s most damaging foreign policy controversy. The test is whether an apology becomes policy: sanctions, settlement trade restrictions, arms controls, recognition of international courts, and clearer language on civilian protection. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if the apology is treated as repair before policy changes happen. - **The Israeli government** and **settlement movement** benefit if the UK debate stays focused on Labour management rather than accountability for occupation, settler violence and possible war crimes. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### How Andy Burnham may try to give the UK economy a boost in his ‘10‑year plan’ URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/11/how-andy-burnham-may-try-to-give-the-uk-economy-a-boost-in-his-10-year-plan/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T17:25:00.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Andy Burnham’s economic approach could reshape UK regional power, household costs, public services and market confidence, with direct consequences for growth, taxation and living standards. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Burnham’s economic pitch centres on devolving more spending power to English metro regions. ● Social care reform could ease NHS pressure but revive politically risky arguments over property wealth. ● Public control of failing utilities may appeal to voters but would carry major fiscal and market risks. ● His room for manoeuvre depends on balancing investment, tax choices and Labour’s fiscal rules. --- A ndy Burnham’s long held ambition to be the UK’s prime minister will come with some daunting economic challenges. Productivity growth is at a virtual standstill, real incomes have stagnated and the [cost-of-living crisis](https://theconversation.com/topics/cost-of-living-6549?ref=europeans.today) has become a permanent fixture for many households. Meanwhile, the government spends around £110 billion a year paying the interest on nearly £3 trillion of debt. Burnham says he is on a “10-year mission” to transform the country. So what might he do to try to fix the British economy? One thing that voters can reasonably expect is a move towards greater devolution of power – especially spending power – to the English metro regions. As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham [often argued](https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/the-burnham-blueprint/?ref=europeans.today) that too many economic decisions were made in London, and that this held the rest of the country back. Burnham believes that allowing other regions to implement their own locally led pro-growth policies could transform Britain’s economic prospects. It’s a view shared by one of his key economic advisers, [Jim O’Neill](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/18/andy-burnham-top-economists-possible-leadership-run?ref=europeans.today), who has [long argued](https://ke.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/City-Growth-Commission-Final-Report.pdf?ref=europeans.today) that creating metro growth hubs could substantially boost the UK’s GDP. This approach is bound to be controversial. It could mean, for example, taking resources away from the [£49 billion](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6yz77nlw4o?ref=europeans.today) Heathrow airport expansion plan to help fund HS2 so it can reach the north. More radically, it might require a revamp of the whole system of local government finance, starting with reforming the council tax system, which is still entirely based on property values set in 1991. This would mean higher bills for areas where house prices are high, such as London and the south-east. But it could substantially cut payments for those living elsewhere – which could be popular in red wall constituencies where Labour has been losing support. ### Social care Burnham has also spoken about reforming the UK’s [social care system](https://www.opendemocracy.net/andy-burnhams-promises-of-growth-rely-on-real-investment-in-social-care/?ref=europeans.today). Social care is not part of the NHS, which means those who need residential care in old age must either sell their house to fund it, or rely on cash-strapped local councils. Finding a solution to social care has proved too challenging for successive governments. When Burnham was health secretary under Gordon Brown in 2010, he [proposed](https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2010/03/burnham-recommends-compulsory-levy-fund-national-care-service?ref=europeans.today) putting a tax on the value of homes after the owner’s death – which critics labelled a “death tax”. Nevertheless, he may try something similar as prime minister. Solving the social care conundrum would [dramatically ease](https://theconversation.com/why-the-uk-really-does-need-a-clear-plan-to-fix-adult-social-care-230749?ref=europeans.today) the financial strain on the NHS. ### Nationalisation Another cause that Burnham has [recently embraced](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/21/burnham-ally-to-unveil-ambitious-plan-to-reverse-decades-of-privatisation?ref=europeans.today) is tackling the poor performance of the companies that supply households with energy and water. First in line would be [Thames Water](https://theconversation.com/the-plan-to-clean-up-england-and-wales-water-industry-ignores-the-sectors-biggest-problem-274382?ref=europeans.today), which is already facing bankruptcy and a temporary government takeover. A straight-out nationalisation of water would be expensive, with that company alone currently [valued at £10 billion](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/thames-water-andy-burnham-london-government-b2997244.html?ref=europeans.today). But better public utilities could also boost productivity. Housing development in East Anglia is now being [held back by lack of water](https://inews.co.uk/news/10-uk-areas-housing-projects-threatened-water-scarcity-3570320?ref=europeans.today), for example, as no new reservoirs have been built [in the UK since 1992](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k147dkgx8o?ref=europeans.today). And a water company which didn’t have to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds to shareholders could mean lower household bills. ### Bending, not breaking, the fiscal rules Burnham has promised to stand by Labour’s commitments not to increase VAT, income tax or national insurance. He has also pledged to stick by Labour’s [fiscal rules](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9329/?ref=europeans.today), including the key stipulation that day-to-day government spending must be covered by tax revenues within three years, so that borrowing can only be for long-term capital investment. These rules have been structured in such a way that could still give a Burnham administration [considerable leeway](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/burnham-to-seek-flexibility-in-uk-fiscal-rules-ally-says/ar-AA26q9ZC?ocid=BingNewsSerp&ref=europeans.today) to boost spending on public infrastructure. Burnham could argue that increasing public investment this way would pay for itself by boosting UK productivity. He may also want to look at other ways the Treasury could raise money without breaking Labour’s manifesto pledges. There are quite a few options, including higher wealth taxation, or changes to tax relief on pensions and savings. Burnham is also [taking advice](https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/the-people-around-andy-burnham-who-could-shape-uk-politics?ref=europeans.today) from Carys Roberts, the former head of the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank, and a strong advocate of wealth taxes, which may indicate his direction of travel. All of these reforms will face fierce political opposition from the Conservatives and the right-wing press, which in the past have been enough to scupper them. But if Burnham keeps his Labour party colleagues happy, he need not face an election for three years. And if he manages to improve public services, boost growth and lower the cost-of-living crisis, he may be able to turn round Labour’s prospects. The key is the government delivering the benefits of higher taxes to ordinary citizens, both by reducing the cost of living and providing improved services. If Burnham can square this circle, while avoiding the ire of financial markets, he will have pulled off a trick which his predecessor singularly failed to do. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Andy Burnham names a chancellor who reassures bond markets while leaving room for infrastructure investment. ● How far any devolution package transfers real spending and tax powers to English regions. ● Whether social care reform returns to property-based funding, and how Labour MPs respond. ● Whether public control of water or energy companies is framed as rescue, reform or nationalisation. ● How voters react if tax rises are proposed without visible improvements in bills or services. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Burnham is likely to pursue a devolution-led growth agenda while keeping Labour’s main fiscal commitments, using infrastructure investment and targeted tax changes rather than immediate sweeping nationalisation. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A rise in borrowing costs, a market backlash or a visible split inside Labour over tax and spending could sharply narrow his room for manoeuvre. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Andy Burnham’s economic test is whether a more interventionist state can deliver visible gains before fiscal limits and political opposition overwhelm the agenda. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham’s gamble could rescue Labour, or deepen Britain’s crisis](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/burnhams-gamble-could-rescue-labour-or-deepen-britains-crisis/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/15/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-replace-keir-starmer-as-prime-minister/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [What is Andy Burnham’s economic and political blueprint for Britain?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/29/what-is-andy-burnhams-economic-and-political-blueprint-for-britain?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham says he’d hand more power to local governments if he becomes UK prime minister](https://apnews.com/article/uk-andy-burnham-economy-speech-local-power-61a00227591281dc6d9c2de45057a2dc?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [‘Walking a tightrope’: Burnham’s borrowing plans clash with fiscal realities](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/24/walking-a-tightrope-andy-burnham-borrowing-clash-fiscal-realities?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Burnham ally to unveil ambitious plan to reverse decades of privatisation](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/21/burnham-ally-to-unveil-ambitious-plan-to-reverse-decades-of-privatisation?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham distanced himself from UK Prime Minister Starmer, but may be stuck with his policies](https://apnews.com/article/andy-burnham-prime-minister-starmer-uk-politics-3a7418c6bac69d631a3b25faa83936d9?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Burnham’s funding gap: what state are UK finances in for the PM-in-waiting?](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/03/burnham-funding-gap-uk-finances-pm-in-waiting?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/how-andy-burnham-may-try-to-give-the-uk-economy-a-boost-in-his-10-year-plan-286207?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/286207/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 11 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/11/todays-papers-11-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-12T16:52:55.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 10 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/10/todays-papers-10-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T15:44:21.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 9-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/09/todays-briefing-9-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T07:00:13.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage’s Clacton by-election gamble risks turning into farce as major parties stand aside and Count Binface enters the race. ● Reform UK’s finance questions have widened after transactions involving senior figures were flagged to the National Crime Agency. ● Police are also investigating a £37,500 donation linked to Robert Jenrick’s 2024 Conservative leadership campaign. ● In France, far-right leader Marine Le Pen has launched her 2027 presidential bid despite an upheld conviction, while new polling shows her beating centrist rivals. --- T oday’s briefing is about political accountability being recast as persecution by far-right and populist leaders. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Farage’s Clacton by-election risks turning into farce** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Nigel Farage has [resigned as MP for Clacton](https://www.channel4.com/news/farage-challenged-on-triggering-clacton-by-election?ref=europeans.today) and plans to stand again in the by-election he has forced. He says he has “done nothing wrong” amid growing scrutiny over his personal finances and gifts from supporters. But less than 24 hours after the announcement, the contest has taken an awkward turn for him. Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and Restore Britain are refusing to stand candidates, while [Count Binface](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/08/clacton-byelection-likely-to-be-two-man-race-between-reform-leader-and-binface?ref=europeans.today), the satirical candidate created by comedian Jon Harvey, is expected to be one of Farage’s main challengers. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Farage wanted a clean populist fight against “the establishment”. Instead, he may have created a contest that looks unserious, avoidable and self-indulgent. If the by-election is dominated by Count Binface, the Monster Raving Loony Party and few mainstream challengers, it raises a damaging question: is triggering a by-election like this the action of a prime minister in waiting, or a politician trying to escape scrutiny by staging a spectacle? **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Nigel Farage** benefits if the contest is treated only as voters judging him directly instead of an attempt at masking the more serious questions about political finance and disclosure. The public interest is served only if both points are kept in view: the by-election may be absurd, but the accountability questions behind it are not. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 9 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/09/todays-papers-9-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T01:41:48.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 8 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/08/todays-papers-8-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T01:52:08.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 7 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/07/todays-papers-7-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T23:58:57.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 6-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/06/todays-briefing-6-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T07:00:36.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Nigel Farage faces renewed transparency questions over reported support from George Cottrell before he became MP. ● Andy Burnham’s expected move into Downing Street raises questions about mandate, tax and governing authority. ● France’s appeals court ruling could decide whether Marine Le Pen can stand in the 2027 presidential election. ● Brussels is trying to turn Europe’s defence promises into joint capability, not just political signalling. --- T oday’s pattern is accountability under pressure. In Britain, the questions are about who funds political power, who inherits it, and who pays for promises already made. In Europe, courts and institutions are shaping the next phase of politics before voters reach the ballot box. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Farage faces new questions over undeclared support** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, [clashed](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-tories-badenoch-farage-12593360?ref=europeans.today) with *Sky News*’ Trevor Phillips after *THE SUNDAY TIMES* [reports](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/revealed-nigel-farage-secretly-funded-by-convicted-criminal-j0brtrlnk?ref=europeans.today) that George Cottrell, who was [convicted of wire fraud](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yzzw5vk8vo?ref=europeans.today) in the US, provided Nigel Farage with support including security, social media staff and use of a rented property before Farage was elected MP for Clacton. Farage denies breaching rules. Reform says the support was personal and came before Farage became an MP. The Liberal Democrats have asked the parliamentary standards commissioner to investigate. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is not just a story about one donor relationship. It goes to whether political support given before an MP enters Parliament can still be relevant if it helped that person’s political activity during the year before election. The key question is whether the benefits were purely personal, as Reform argues, or politically related, as critics suggest. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Nigel Farage** and **Reform UK** benefit if the issue is reduced to an old friendship rather than a question about transparency around political support. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the standards commissioner opens a formal inquiry into the Cottrell support, and whether Farage provides a fuller account of what was funded, when, and for what purpose. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham’s incoming government is pressed on mandate, tax and control** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Labour figures used the Sunday broadcast round to frame Keir Starmer’s departure as an orderly handover to Andy Burnham, who is expected to become prime minister. Health Secretary James Murray [told](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-tories-badenoch-farage-12593360?ref=europeans.today) *Sky News* that Labour is “passing the baton” to Burnham. Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell said Starmer had “lost the dressing room” but insisted the party was now looking forward. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The immediate democratic question is not whether a governing party can change leader without a general election. Under the UK system, it can. The real issue is whether Burnham can claim enough authority to make major fiscal, welfare, transport and constitutional changes without asking voters directly. His language about “Manchesterism” signals a governing style built around devolution, public control of services and regional investment. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Reform UK and the Conservatives benefit if the debate becomes only about whether Andy Burnham has a mandate, because that can obscure detailed questions about their own plans. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Burnham’s cabinet choices, especially chancellor, and whether he turns his devolution rhetoric into clear legislation, funding and deadlines. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Defence plan leaves a funding gap for the next prime minister** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** *Sky News* [reports](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-tories-badenoch-farage-12593360?ref=europeans.today) that Starmer’s long-delayed defence investment plan includes a £15 billion uplift over four years, but also a £4.7 billion gap that the next prime minister and chancellor must address at the next budget. Murray defended the plan by pointing to the £22 billion of fiscal headroom left by Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the last budget. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The headline increase is politically useful, but the unresolved funding gap matters. Defence spending is now tied to pressure from NATO, the war in Ukraine, industrial capacity and public finances. If the money is not found, the choice becomes cuts elsewhere, higher taxes, more borrowing, or a less ambitious defence programme. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Ministers** benefit if the £15 billion figure dominates and the £4.7 billion gap receives less attention. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the next budget, Burnham’s chancellor appointment, and whether the government identifies specific funding rather than relying on general “headroom”. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Le Pen waits for ruling that could decide France’s 2027 race** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** A Paris appeals court will rule on Tuesday 7 July in Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement appeal. Le Pen, the far-right National Rally figurehead, was convicted in March 2025 over the misuse of European Parliament funds to pay party staff. The lower court imposed [a five-year ban from elected office](https://apnews.com/article/france-le-pen-verdict-presidential-election-explainer-d23622fab4e6c55a3ed311f8a364ab96?ref=europeans.today). Le Pen denies wrongdoing and says she still wants to run for president in 2027 if legally able. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The ruling could reshape the next French presidential election before campaigning properly begins. If Le Pen is cleared, she can continue preparing for a fourth presidential bid. If the ban remains in force, National Rally may have to move behind Jordan Bardella. That would test whether the far-right party’s support is transferable from Le Pen personally to a younger successor. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Far-right National Rally** benefits if the case is framed only as an establishment attempt to block its candidate, rather than a legal case about public funds. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the exact terms of Tuesday’s ruling, whether any ban takes immediate effect, and whether Bardella begins acting openly as the party’s fallback presidential candidate. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Brussels pushes joint defence projects as Europe tries to move faster** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The European Commission has unveiled five large defence projects involving 18 member states and Ukraine. The projects focus on drones and counter-drone systems, maritime and seabed defence, space, air power and missile defence. *Euronews* reports that the Commission has allocated €325 million [to support](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/03/european-commission-attempts-to-spur-eu-defence-teamwork-with-five-new-major-projects?ref=europeans.today) their establishment and deployment. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The EU is trying to correct a long-running weakness: European countries often buy defence equipment separately, which fragments markets and slows delivery. The Commission is trying to create scale before the NATO summit in Ankara, where allies are expected to focus on meeting a higher defence spending target. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Russia** benefits strategically if Europe talks about readiness faster than it builds it. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch which countries commit real procurement money, whether Ukraine’s battlefield needs shape the projects, and whether the NATO summit turns spending targets into practical capability plans. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s briefing is about the gap between political claims and institutional reality: gifts must be declared if rules require it, leadership must be earned after it is inherited, spending must be funded, legal powers must be real, and Europe’s security promises must become capacity. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Politics latest: Burnham, Starmer, Labour, Tories and Farage](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-tories-badenoch-farage-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Nigel Farage did not declare gifts from crypto entrepreneur George Cottrell, says Reform UK](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/05/nigel-farage-did-not-declare-gifts-from-crypto-entrepreneur-george-cottrell-says-reform-uk?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Revealed: Nigel Farage secretly funded by convicted criminal](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/revealed-nigel-farage-secretly-funded-by-convicted-criminal-j0brtrlnk?ref=europeans.today) | *The Sunday Times* - ###### [What to know about Marine Le Pen’s court case and France’s presidential race](https://apnews.com/article/france-le-pen-verdict-presidential-election-explainer-d23622fab4e6c55a3ed311f8a364ab96?ref=europeans.today) | *AP* - ###### [Marine Le Pen’s appeal trial ends with political uncertainty](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/02/12/marine-le-pen-s-appeal-trial-ends-with-political-uncertainty-as-defense-urges-tolerance-for-legal-gray-areas%5F6750417%5F5.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Paris appeals court sets 7 July for ruling in Marine Le Pen’s EU funds case](https://www.euronews.com/2026/02/11/paris-appeals-court-sets-7-july-for-ruling-in-far-right-leader-marine-le-pens-eu-funds-mis?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [European Commission attempts to spur EU defence teamwork with five new major projects](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/03/european-commission-attempts-to-spur-eu-defence-teamwork-with-five-new-major-projects?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 6 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/06/todays-papers-6-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T10:38:00.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 5 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/05/todays-papers-5-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:48:31.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 4-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/04/todays-briefing-4-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T16:42:43.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Reform UK’s rise is pushing Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to prepare for possible constitutional strain. ● UK ministers face questions over whether a touted £30 billion AI investment was presented with enough clarity. ● Elon Musk’s UK-focused posts raise questions about platform ownership, political amplification and democratic accountability. ● The EU is weighing industry protection, climate policy and an uneven US trade bargain under tariff pressure. --- T oday’s pattern is political pressure moving faster than institutional preparation. In the UK, the prospect of Reform UK power is forcing constitutional, media and economic questions into the open. In Europe, the EU is trying to protect industry and trade stability without quietly weakening climate and democratic accountability. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Leaders prepare for UK strain under Reform scenario** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Political leaders in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are beginning to plan for possible constitutional upheaval if Reform UK becomes the UK government or a powerful opposition. Figures from unionist and nationalist traditions fear Nigel Farage’s English nationalist politics, his plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, and his willingness to reopen the Good Friday agreement [could destabilise the UK](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/04/uk-ireland-leaders-fear-union-future-nigel-farage-led-government?ref=europeans.today). The Good Friday agreement is the 1998 peace settlement that underpins power-sharing in Northern Ireland and relies partly on human rights protections. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** It is a warning that the UK’s constitutional settlement may be more fragile than Westminster debate suggests. If a future UK government tried to leave the European human rights system or recast Northern Ireland’s settlement, the consequences would reach Scotland, Wales, Ireland, EU relations and security cooperation. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform UK** benefits if constitutional risk is treated as elite panic rather than a real consequence of its programme. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Labour, the Conservatives and Reform give clear positions on the ECHR, the Good Friday agreement and the legal threshold for an Irish unity referendum. Also watch whether Dublin publishes more detailed planning for a possible united Ireland. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **OpenAI investment claims face scrutiny in the UK** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Questions are growing over the UK government’s presentation of the [Stargate UK AI project](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/04/openai-apparent-failure-visit-key-site-questions-stargate-uk-project?ref=europeans.today). £20 billion of a touted £30 billion AI investment appears to have been potential rather than committed money, and that OpenAI and its UK partner Nscale apparently did not visit a key datacentre site at Cobalt Park in North Tyneside. The project was paused by OpenAI in April, with energy costs and regulation cited as issues. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The story matters because industrial strategy depends on the difference between committed capital and political theatre. AI infrastructure needs power, grid upgrades, planning consent, water, land and long-term contracts. If ministers present speculative investment as a near-certain economic prize, communities can be left planning around promises that may never arrive. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Ministers** benefit if a potential investment figure is heard as money already secured. - **AI firms** benefit if public infrastructure planning adapts to their needs before binding commitments are clear. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the government publishes the terms of the [Stargate UK project](https://openai.com/index/introducing-stargate-uk/?ref=europeans.today), whether OpenAI restarts work, and whether the North Tyneside site receives confirmed investment, grid capacity and planning progress rather than only promotional language. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Musk’s UK posts raise platform-power questions** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** A *Guardian* [analysis](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/04/elon-musk-uk-race-immigration-spacex-ipo?ref=europeans.today) of Elon Musk’s X activity found that he posted about UK race and immigration politics **303 times** between 31 May and 12 June, compared with **114 posts** about SpaceX during the same period. That was the run-up to SpaceX’s stock market listing. The analysis says many posts focused on UK politics, immigration, far-right figures and cases that had already generated tension after protests and unrest. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The issue is not whether Musk has opinions. It is whether one billionaire platform owner can shape another country’s political information environment at scale while also controlling the system that distributes the content. That makes this a democratic accountability story, not only a social media story. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Elon Musk** benefits if the issue is framed only as personal free speech rather than ownership power over a communications platform. - **Far-right actors** benefit if amplification from one of the world’s richest people is treated as ordinary online debate. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether UK regulators examine X’s handling of violent or inflammatory content, whether Burnham changes the government’s approach to platform accountability, and whether Musk continues to intervene in UK race and immigration debates. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Starmer says Labour should win under Burnham** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Keir Starmer has said Labour should be able to win the next general election under Andy Burnham because the groundwork has already been done. Starmer [defends his record](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/04/labour-win-next-election-under-burnham-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) in office after announcing his resignation, citing the 2024 election win, work on child poverty, NHS waiting times, economic stability and rebuilding Labour after 2019. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Starmer is trying to define his premiership as a platform rather than a failure. Burnham’s problem is that he needs both continuity and rupture: enough continuity to look competent, enough rupture to show voters that Labour has heard the anger that forced Starmer out. That tension will shape tax, welfare, housing, devolution and Labour’s response to Reform. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Keir Starmer** benefits if Labour’s future success is treated as proof that his political project worked. - **Andy Burnham** benefits if he can inherit achievements while blaming failures on the outgoing team. - **Reform UK** benefits if voters conclude that the handover changes personnel but not the political offer. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Burnham’s first speech as leader, his choice of chancellor, and whether he signals real changes on welfare, tax, energy bills and regional power. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **EU carbon market row tests climate policy under pressure** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The right-wing European People’s Party, the largest group in the European Parliament, is pushing to soften reforms to the EU carbon market. *Euronews* [reports](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/01/epp-pushes-to-soften-eu-carbon-market-reforms-in-bid-to-shield-industry?ref=europeans.today) that the EPP has urged climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra to extend free pollution allowances for some industrial sectors beyond 2030\. The EU [Emissions Trading System](https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/carbon-markets/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets%5Fen?ref=europeans.today), or ETS, makes heavy polluters buy allowances for their emissions, while free allowances are used to reduce the cost for industries exposed to global competition. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The fight shows how climate policy is being reshaped by competitiveness fears. Europe wants to cut emissions while keeping industry from relocating to places with weaker rules. But extending free allowances risks weakening the price signal that is supposed to drive cleaner production. The question is whether the EU is protecting industry through transition support or quietly slowing climate action. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Heavy industry** benefits if free allowances are presented only as job protection rather than a subsidy with climate costs. - **The EPP** benefits if it can frame the move as realism without being held to clear emissions outcomes. - **Fossil fuel** and **high-emission interests** benefit if competitiveness becomes a permanent argument for delay. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the European Commission accepts the EPP demand, whether any extension is tied to binding decarbonisation investment, and whether the issue becomes part of a wider rollback of Green Deal measures. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **EU-US tariff deadline exposes an uneven trade bargain** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Today is the deadline Donald Trump set for the EU to implement its side of the EU-US trade deal or face higher tariffs. [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-eu-trade-deal-bd6748c3e85533d3ce3644f257f8e326?ref=europeans.today) and [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/european-parliament-finally-approves-trump-tariff-deal?ref=europeans.today) have reported that the agreement leaves the US applying a **15% tariff** on most EU exports while the EU cuts duties on many American goods, including some agricultural and seafood products, **to zero**. The European Parliament approved the deal last month with safeguards, including sunset and suspension clauses. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The deal gives European exporters more certainty than a tariff war, but it also locks in an uneven settlement. The US keeps significant tariffs on European goods, while the EU lowers many of its own barriers. That may be defensible as damage limitation, but it raises a democratic question: how much economic asymmetry should Europe accept to avoid escalation with Washington? **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Donald Trump** benefits if the deal is seen as proof that tariff threats work. - **Export-dependent companies** benefit from certainty, while consumers and smaller firms may bear costs if tariffs are embedded in prices. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Washington respects the 15% cap, whether the EU uses its suspension clause if US tariffs remain higher than promised, and whether the deal becomes a precedent for future US pressure on European regulation. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s larger story is the same on both sides of the Channel: political actors are making big claims about security, investment, sovereignty, and competitiveness, while the democratic test lies in the details they would rather leave unread. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Celtic nations begin to plan for breakup of UK in event of Reform election win](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/04/uk-ireland-leaders-fear-union-future-nigel-farage-led-government?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [OpenAI’s apparent failure to visit key site raises questions over UK investment](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/04/openai-apparent-failure-visit-key-site-questions-stargate-uk-project?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Elon Musk posted twice as often on UK race and immigration as about SpaceX in IPO run-up](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/04/elon-musk-uk-race-immigration-spacex-ipo?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Labour should win next election under Burnham after work already done, Starmer says](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/04/labour-win-next-election-under-burnham-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [EPP pushes to soften EU carbon market reforms in bid to shield industry](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/01/epp-pushes-to-soften-eu-carbon-market-reforms-in-bid-to-shield-industry?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve trade deal](https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-eu-trade-deal-bd6748c3e85533d3ce3644f257f8e326?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [European parliament finally approves Trump tariff deal](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/european-parliament-finally-approves-trump-tariff-deal?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 4 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/04/todays-papers-4-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T16:24:47.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Schools should teach children more about how money works URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/03/schools-should-teach-children-more-about-how-money-works/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T16:22:54.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Financial literacy affects how young Europeans understand debt, savings, scams, inflation and digital payments. This argument highlights why money education is becoming a resilience issue. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Children can grasp basic financial concepts such as value, savings, cost and risk earlier than many adults assume. ● School-based financial education may reduce inequality by making money knowledge less dependent on family background. ● Evidence links financial education with better economic understanding and improved later-life outcomes. ● Digital banking, subscriptions, buy-now-pay-later products and online advice make early financial literacy more urgent. --- I recently volunteered to teach some lessons in finance to pupils at a primary school. Over six sessions, I spoke to a group of ten and eleven-year-olds about things like value, savings, cost and risk. The talks were not meant to turn the children into investors, or to teach them to price derivatives or read corporate accounts. They were simply designed to start discussions about [everyday financial choices](https://theconversation.com/topics/household-finances-114900?ref=europeans.today) – what it means to spend and borrow money, to compare prices and plan ahead. I told them that money involves choices and consequences. That if we spend today, we may have less tomorrow. That if we borrow money, there are rules about paying it back. Or that if prices rise, the same amount of money buys less stuff. These are not advanced financial concepts. They are everyday occurrences. The children were curious and often more financially alert than I expected them to be. They asked practical questions and responded especially strongly to examples involving everyday choices, such as saving for something they wanted or comparing prices when costs rise. And the experience left me asking whether children should be being taught more about financial literacy at school as a [vital life skill](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.52.1.5&ref=europeans.today). After all, rent, mortgages, loans, tax, pensions, savings, inflation, insurance and debt shape the lives of almost every household. A better understanding of how it all works can only be a good thing. The issue is not that schools do nothing. Financial education already appears in parts of the curriculum in many countries, particularly through mathematics and citizenship lessons. But is this enough? And there is plenty of evidence to suggest that improving financial literacy should be part of any education system which hopes to prepare young people for life and work in a changing society. A [study in Brazil](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20150149&ref=europeans.today) for example, shows that school-based financial education can improve economic proficiency. [And an experiment in Peru](https://publications.iadb.org/en/impact-financial-education-youth?ref=europeans.today) suggests that mandatory school-based financial education is highly effective. By contrast, if financial literacy is left mainly to families, there is evidence that inequality gets passed on. This concern is consistent with [“financial socialisation theory”](https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/family-financial-socialization-theory-and-critical-review/?ref=europeans.today), which shows that children usually get their financial attitudes and habits from their parents. ### Financial fix Of course, financially literate children do not always become financially secure adults. They may still suffer from low wages, high housing costs, insecure work or regional inequality. But financial literacy can reduce vulnerability. [Evidence](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-effects-of-high-school-personal-financial-on-Urban-Schmeiser/4a20fd6f757be8487228fd43a39e7a30b91196dd?ref=europeans.today) from US high school education policies links exposure to personal finance education with better economic results for young adults, including fewer debt defaults and higher credit scores. So a focus on financial education makes sense. It can help young people understand credit, compare prices, question online financial advice, recognise scams, plan savings and make more informed decisions when they start work. Technology adds another dimension. The financial world that young people encounter is no longer limited to a bank branch or a family conversation at the kitchen table. It is embedded in platforms, apps and algorithms. Children may be using online banking, contactless payments, subscriptions, buy-now-pay-later products and AI-generated content before they fully understand financial risk. Teaching young pupils about finance and accounting reminded me that children are often more capable than adults assume. They may not know the terminology, but they understand fairness, choices, value and consequence. These are the foundations of financial reasoning. If we want more financially resilient societies, we should not wait until young people are opening their first bank account, signing their first rental contract or taking on student debt to give them a decent grounding in understanding the financial world. It should start much earlier, and governments should be ambitious enough to make financial literacy a core part of every child’s education. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether governments expand financial literacy from secondary lessons into primary education. ● Whether curriculum reviews make room for practical money skills without narrowing other subjects. ● Whether schools receive teacher training and resources to teach finance consistently. ● Whether digital finance risks, including scams, subscriptions and buy-now-pay-later products, become a formal part of lessons. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Financial literacy will continue to enter school systems unevenly, with stronger progress where curriculum reform, teacher training and consumer-protection concerns align. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A major policy shift or public concern over youth debt, online scams or digital payment risks could accelerate compulsory financial education. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Early financial education cannot remove structural inequality, but it can give children a stronger base for recognising risk and making informed choices. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Schools should teach children more about how money works](https://theconversation.com/schools-should-teach-children-more-about-how-money-works-285514?ref=europeans.today) | *The Conversation* - ###### [Pupils in England to be taught about online spending and scams](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/02/pupils-in-england-to-be-taught-about-online-spending-and-scams?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Not adding up? Why children’s financial education should start early](https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/10/26/not-adding-up-why-childrens-financial-education-should-start-early?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Saving or splurging: Where are young people most financially literate?](https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/07/01/saving-or-splurging-where-are-young-people-most-financially-literate?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [How financially literate are Europeans? Not very, it turns out](https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/04/24/how-financially-literate-are-europeans-not-very-it-turns-out-but-who-knows-the-most?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [More states are teaching financial literacy. It could pay off](https://apnews.com/article/financial-literacy-class-school-math-6070a4ab237414bc7fde8bcc41f4302c?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [How to talk about money with your kids](https://apnews.com/article/money-kids-finances-wellness-saving-budgeting-f595dcd46c6c1edec5d81adf5fad4027?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Only GCSE reform can free up space to teach financial literacy](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jun/07/only-gcse-reform-can-free-up-space-to-teach-financial-literacy?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/schools-should-teach-children-more-about-how-money-works-285514?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 3 July 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/285514/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 3-Jul-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/03/todays-briefing-3-jul-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T00:09:51.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Keir Starmer’s forced adoption apology now faces the harder test of records access, trauma support, and possible redress. ● Britain’s defence plan is under pressure after analysis warned infrastructure cuts could mean a net loss of 10,000 jobs. ● Labour’s expected Andy Burnham succession risks is angering members if it becomes a managed handover without a real contest. ● Europe is testing whether mainstream institutions can respond to far-right pressure without weakening democratic standards. --- T oday’s strongest stories are about institutions asking for trust after failing to explain the cost of their choices. In Britain, apology, security spending, party succession, and deportation law all expose gaps between public claims and practical delivery. In Europe, Germany’s coalition and the European Parliament are testing whether mainstream institutions can still respond credibly to pressure from the far-right. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Starmer apologises for forced adoptions** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Keir Starmer issued a formal state apology for Britain’s forced adoption scandal, saying the shame belonged to the state. Around **185,000 mothers and children** in England and Wales [were affected between 1949 and 1976](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/02/keir-starmer-issues-formal-state-apology-over-forced-adoption-scandal?ref=europeans.today), when unmarried women were often pressured, isolated or coerced into giving up babies for adoption. The government announced **£4 million** for support, including help accessing records, family reconnection work, testimony projects, and improved mental health training. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The apology changes the public record. Forced adoption was not just a private family tragedy or a reflection of old social attitudes. It was a state-enabled failure of consent, dignity, and safeguarding. The next test is whether acknowledgement becomes long-term trauma support, easier access to identity and medical records, and possible redress. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Institutions involved in historic adoption practices** benefit if responsibility is blurred into vague language about the past. The apology must be the beginning of accountability, not the end. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether ministers create a redress scheme, whether the £4 million package is expanded, and whether people affected can access records, specialist mental health care and family tracing without further institutional delay. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Defence funding row turns into a jobs test** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Keir Starmer’s defence investment plan is facing new criticism after an [analysis](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/02/infrastructure-cuts-starmer-pay-defence-will-uk-10000-jobs-analysis-shows?ref=europeans.today) found that cutting infrastructure spending to pay for the plan could cost the UK a net **10,000 jobs** by 2029-30\. The plan promises **£15 billion** more for defence, but it is partly funded by cuts to energy, transport and housing projects, while about **£4.7 billion** remains to be found by the next government. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Defence spending is often sold as both security policy and industrial policy. The job-loss warning challenges that claim. If money is moved from labour-intensive infrastructure to more automated or import-dependent defence programmes, the UK may get more military capability but fewer jobs than ministers suggest. The issue is not whether Britain needs stronger defence, but whether the chosen funding route weakens growth elsewhere. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if he can blame Starmer for the funding gap while still claiming the security credentials of the plan. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Andy Burnham accepts the plan unchanged, whether road, housing and energy schemes are formally cancelled, and whether the Treasury fills the remaining gap through tax, borrowing or further cuts. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Labour members warn against Burnham coronation** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Labour officials have been warned that an uncontested move from Starmer to Burnham could anger members and activists. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/02/labour-mps-nec-andy-burnham-leadership-contest-no-10?ref=europeans.today) that party figures are concerned about the appearance of a “coronation”, with Burnham unlikely to face a rival because any challenger would need nominations from more than 80 MPs. Labour is considering online Q&A sessions as a substitute for a full leadership contest. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The issue is not only internal party procedure. Labour is about to change prime minister without a general election, and possibly without a competitive leadership contest. That is constitutionally allowed, but **politically risky**. If members feel managed rather than consulted, Burnham may enter office with authority in Parliament but resentment in the party machine he needs to govern. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform UK** and **the Conservatives** benefit if they can portray the transition as elite-managed politics while presenting themselves as more responsive to voters. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether any Labour MP tries to force a contest, how trade unions position themselves, and whether Burnham uses the transition to offer members real policy commitments rather than only party-management events. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Rochdale release exposes deportation and probation failure** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Shabir Ahmed, the Rochdale abuse ringleader, has been released from prison after serving 14 years for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls. *Sky News* [reports](https://news.sky.com/story/grooming-gang-ringleader-at-centre-of-deportation-row-released-13559834?ref=europeans.today) that Ahmed has been stripped of British citizenship but cannot currently be deported to Pakistan because of protections in the Immigration Act 1971 for some Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago. Whistleblower Sara Rowbotham [said](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/02/release-rochdale-grooming-gang-leader-really-scary-whistleblower?ref=europeans.today) she was terrified by the release and lacked confidence in probation monitoring. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This case combines three failures: the original failure to protect girls, the failure to keep victims properly informed and protected, and the difficulty of deporting someone after citizenship removal. It also tests whether probation has the capacity and credibility to manage high-risk offenders in ways victims can trust. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Right-wing** and **far-right politicians** seeking wider deportation powers benefit if the case is used to collapse all criminal justice and immigration questions into one demand for removal. - **Anti-Muslim** and **anti-migrant campaigners** benefit if a specific criminal case is used to stigmatise wider communities not responsible for the crimes. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood proposes a narrow legal amendment, whether Pakistan can be persuaded to accept Ahmed, and whether victims receive direct information and protection rather than finding out through the media. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Germany’s coalition agrees reform package under AfD pressure** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Germany’s governing CDU/CSU-SPD coalition has agreed a package of tax, labour and pension reforms after seven hours of talks. [The plan](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/02/germanys-merz-announces-sweeping-reforms-tax-cuts-pension-overhaul-and-new-sick-leave-rule?ref=europeans.today) includes income tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, a higher tax rate for very high earners, tighter sick leave rules, more flexibility for fixed-term work, and pension changes linked to life expectancy. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Germany is trying to prove that a broad centrist coalition can still govern decisively when the economy feels stuck. The package mixes tax relief, labour-market flexibility and pension reform. Its political purpose is as important as its economics: Merz needs to show competence before the far-right party AfD turns frustration about prices, migration, bureaucracy, and public services into more electoral support. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Far-right AfD** benefits if compromise between conservatives and social democrats is presented as proof that all mainstream parties are identical. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the reforms survive parliamentary detail, how trade unions respond to sick leave and labour changes, and whether the AfD’s polling moves before September’s state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **European Parliament targets AfD-linked EU party** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The European Parliament is preparing to trigger a procedure that could strip Europe of Sovereign Nations, or ESN, of its status as a European political party and cut off its EU funding. *Euronews* [reports](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/01/european-parliament-to-start-procedure-to-ban-alternative-for-germanys-eu-party?ref=europeans.today) that more than **180 lawmakers** have signed a request asking the Authority for European Political Parties and Foundations to assess whether ESN complies with EU values including democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights. ESN includes Germany’s AfD and other far-right parties. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The case tests where the EU draws the line between democratic pluralism and publicly funded attacks on democratic values. European parties receive money from the EU budget, so registration is not only symbolic. If ESN is deregistered, it would set a precedent for how far Brussels can go in policing parties accused of undermining the rights and principles that EU funding is meant to support. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **ESN** and **AfD** benefit if the process is framed only as censorship by Brussels and if the debate becomes a culture-war fight rather than a concrete question about public money, legal thresholds and equal treatment under EU rules. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Tuesday’s vote, the APPF’s assessment, whether ESN offers corrective measures, and whether the Council or Parliament later overturns any deregistration decision. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### TODAY’s Closing Line This morning picture is not simply about policy disagreement. It is about whether political systems can admit past harm, price present choices honestly and defend democratic rules without turning accountability into theatre. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [‘The shame is ours’: Keir Starmer issues formal state apology over forced adoptions](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/02/keir-starmer-issues-formal-state-apology-over-forced-adoption-scandal?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [‘Hugely significant’: those affected by forced adoptions welcome apology but demand more remedy](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/02/hugely-significant-those-affected-by-forced-adoptions-welcome-apology-but-demand-more-remedy?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Infrastructure cuts to pay for defence will cost UK 10,000 jobs, analysis shows](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/02/infrastructure-cuts-starmer-pay-defence-will-uk-10000-jobs-analysis-shows?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Burnham ‘coronation’ will anger some Labour members, party bosses warned](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/02/labour-mps-nec-andy-burnham-leadership-contest-no-10?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Whistleblower ‘terrified’ as Rochdale grooming gang leader released](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/02/release-rochdale-grooming-gang-leader-really-scary-whistleblower?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Grooming gang ringleader at centre of deportation row released](https://news.sky.com/story/grooming-gang-ringleader-at-centre-of-deportation-row-released-13559834?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Germany’s Merz announces sweeping reforms](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/02/germanys-merz-announces-sweeping-reforms-tax-cuts-pension-overhaul-and-new-sick-leave-rule?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [European Parliament to start procedure to ban Alternative for Germany’s EU party](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/01/european-parliament-to-start-procedure-to-ban-alternative-for-germanys-eu-party?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 3 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/03/todays-papers-3-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T12:24:27.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 2 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/02/todays-papers-2-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T22:34:45.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 1 July 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/07/01/todays-papers-1-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T15:43:24.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 30 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/30/todays-papers-30-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T16:41:52.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 29 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/29/todays-papers-29-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T17:02:48.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Weekend Papers 📰 27-28 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/28/todays-weekend-papers-27-28-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T00:50:20.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### A race issue that shouldn’t be a race issue URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/26/a-race-issue-that-shouldnt-be-a-race-issue/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T00:05:00.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS US redistricting fights after Louisiana v. Callais could reshape representation, voter power and congressional control, with implications for democratic norms. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Majority-minority districts should protect voter choice, not reserve offices by race. ● Florida’s redrawn congressional map and Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s move to Congressional District 20 are central to the dispute. ● Isaac Newton Farris Jr. frames turnout, voter choice and coalition politics as the democratic response to gerrymandering. --- R acial discrimination has come full circle in Florida. Florida Republicans, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, have drawn severe criticism from across the country for [creating a law](https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/floridas-new-history-standard-blow-our-students-and-nation?ref=europeans.today) that requires schools to teach that slavery was beneficial to American Blacks, because slavery taught them labor skills. Now, as if they have caught the same virus, Florida Democrats are attempting to commit racial discrimination themselves. The undemocratic and racially discriminatory impact of a politically biased decision reached by the U.S. Supreme Court in [Louisiana v. Callais](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana%5Fv.%5FCallais?ref=europeans.today) was immediate and far-reaching. The case was filed by a group of Louisiana voters who described themselves as *non-African American*; they contended that the Louisiana State Legislature had racially discriminated against them by creating a congressional election district that a non-white person could win. In a 6-3 verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana’s redistricting map, which created a second majority-minority election district in a state where American Blacks are more than 30% of the population, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the [Fifteenth Amendment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth%5FAmendment%5Fto%5Fthe%5FUnited%5FStates%5FConstitution?ref=europeans.today), which states, *The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude*. In response to the court’s decision, 9 states, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Utah, have all either enacted new congressional maps or are moving to change their 2026 election districts. Several other states, like Georgia, are making election district changes that will affect the 2028 elections. All the changes states are making share the same characteristic: changing a majority-minority election district to a majority-majority election district under the guise of a political-party gerrymander. In other words, changing an election district from one likely to vote Democrat to one likely to vote Republican, which is legal now because the Supreme Court decided in the 2019 case [Rucho v. Common Cause](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho%5Fv.%5FCommon%5FCause?ref=europeans.today) that it could not make decisions on the legality of political partisan gerrymandering. In other words, since MAGA Republicans have converted the Republican Party into the American Whites-only political party, in post-[Jim Crow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%5FCrow%5Flaws?ref=europeans.today) America, the 21st-century way to deny American Blacks an electoral voice is not by unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, but by constitutional political-party-affiliation gerrymandering. The anti-democracy destruction of majority-minority election districts that the Supreme Court has set in motion can’t go unchallenged, but neither can how some Florida Democratic Party members are responding to the state of Florida’s political partisan gerrymandering. Within hours of the Supreme Court’s [Louisiana v. Callais](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana%5Fv.%5FCallais?ref=europeans.today) decision, Florida’s Republican-controlled state legislature [politically gerrymandered](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/us/florida-house-gop-map.html?ref=europeans.today) 4 Congressional Districts (CDs), flipping them from likely to vote Democratic to likely to vote Republican. CD 25, currently held by Democrat Congresswoman [Debbie Wasserman Schultz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie%5FWasserman%5FSchultz?ref=europeans.today), was one of the CDs that was redrawn from Democratic to likely Republican. Instead of running for reelection in CD 25, Congresswoman Schultz has decided to run for reelection in CD 20, which remains a majority-minority election district. Whether Schultz should run for reelection in CD 20 is a decision that she should make; whether Schultz is unfairly denying a fellow Democrat an opportunity by running in CD 20 is a decision for Florida Democrats to make, and whether Schultz is the best person to represent a majority-minority district is a decision for CD 20 voters to make. But unfortunately, there’s a [decision being considered](https://floridapolitics.com/archives/798937-chorus-opposing-debbie-wasserman-schultzs-cd-20-candidacy-grows-louder/?ref=europeans.today) among some Florida Democrats that’s totally unacceptable for anyone to be making in 2026\. Pondering whether it’s appropriate or asserting that it’s inappropriate for Schultz to run as a candidate in CD 20, or represent CD 20 voters in Congress, because CD 20 traditionally has been represented by an American Black and Schultz happens to be an American White, is an unacceptable step backwards for civil and human relations in America. There was a time in 20th-century America, the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, when American society, white and black, needed to see and literally experience both American Blacks being elected to public office and American Blacks wielding the power of public office, because for 188 years before the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, it was ingrained in the laws, traditions, religions, and economy of American society that American Blacks were sub-human therefore unfit to be elected and unable to wield public power properly. Now in 21st-century America, America has experienced American Blacks being successfully elected to and prudently wielding the power of the two highest public offices, President and Vice President of the United States. Indeed, a goal of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr.’s [Beloved Community](https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=King%20said%2C%20%E2%80%9CThe%20aftermath%20of,book%20Stride%20Toward%20Freedom%2C%20Dr.) is for American Blacks to have the right to vote for other American Blacks; but the ultimate goal is for American Blacks to have the right to vote for people, regardless of their race, who think like them. The ultimate goal of creating the majority-minority election districts of the [1965 Voting Rights Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting%5FRights%5FAct%5Fof%5F1965?ref=europeans.today) is to create majority-minority election districts that give American Black voters a fair chance of electing anyone, black or white, male or female, faith believer or non-faith believer, gay or not, Democrat, non-MAGA Republican, or Independent, who represents and reflects their collective culture, values, viewpoint, and voice on public issues and policies. One does not have to have the lived experience of being an American Black person to advocate for public policies that require citizens to be judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin. One does not have to be a female public official to support or not support a woman’s right to an abortion. Declaring that any elective position in America is the sole province of any race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation to occupy turns the clock back on, creating Dr. King’s Beloved Community. This is reminiscent of Dr. King’s refusal, amid great criticism, to use the once popular phrase Black Power because, [according to him,](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/black-power?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr.%2C%20believed%20that%20Black%20Power%20was,King%2C%2014%20October%201966%29.) its use had *connotations of violence and separatism*. The Voting Rights Act is meant to not only prevent racial vote suppression and racial political representation suppression, it’s also meant to prevent ethnic and cultural vote suppression, which is why the state of Alaska, where hardly any American Blacks live, was one of the [nine states covered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%5Fof%5Fjurisdictions%5Fsubject%5Fto%5Fthe%5Fspecial%5Fprovisions%5Fof%5Fthe%5FVoting%5FRights%5FAct%5Fof%5F1965?ref=europeans.today) by the Voting Rights Act’s Section 5 preclearance, before it was [ruled unconstitutional](https://www.justice.gov/crt/about-section-5-voting-rights-act?ref=europeans.today) by the Supreme Court in 2013\. Section 5 protected the voting rights of native Alaskans from abuse by the now population majority of Americans, who moved to Alaska after it became America’s 49th state in 1959\. Diversity of race serving in elected positions throughout America is a definite goal of the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Movement, and Dr. King’s Beloved Community. But as Kansas City, Missouri, with a racial population of 56% American White, 25% American Black, 12% American Latino, 3% American Asian, and is currently being governed by its 3rd American Black Mayor. Chicago, Illinois, with a racial population of 32% American White, 29% American Latino, 27% American Black, 7% American Asian, and is currently governed by its 4th American Black Mayor. The state of Iowa, which has had 4 of its cities elect an American Black Mayor, when American Blacks are only 4% of Iowa’s state population. And Memphis, Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District (CD), which was Tennessee’s only majority-black CD for 46 years until Tennessee’s state legislature [politically gerrymandered](https://abcnews.com/Politics/tennessee-passes-new-congressional-map-splits-states-majority/story?id=132753080&ref=europeans.today) it to vote Republican last month, but for the last 19 years of the 46, this 60% American Black, mostly Christian CD has been represented in Congress by an American White male of the Jewish faith, **all prove**, that when citizens are voting for people who think like they do versus for people who look like they do, diversity of race, faith, gender, and sexual orientation in elective office will take care of itself. What the Supreme Court has unjustly legally blessed, and the MAGA state legislatures are undemocratically carrying out, is a dagger but not a death knell to the heart of American democracy. American Blacks still retain the right to vote, so when MAGA legislatures break up majority black districts, they must still place those American Black votes in other election districts, where, if those new black votes are cast in large enough numbers in the new districts, for the people who think like American Blacks do, those votes can influence the outcome in the new voting districts just as they have influenced the outcome in the old majority black districts. The discriminatory destruction of majority-minority election districts committed by MAGA Republican state legislatures, which has been legally blessed by a MAGA-biased Supreme Court, is wrong, but so is designating any elective office as American Black only. To [paraphrase Dr. King](https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin%5Fluther%5Fking%5Fjr%5F101472?ref=europeans.today), the darkness of designating any elective office as American Black only can never drive out the darkness of any MAGA gerrymandered Republican only elective office. Only the light of the freedom and right to choose who to vote for, and the light of vigorously exercising the right to vote in every election and in every race of the election, can drive out the MAGA gerrymandering darkness. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Court challenges to new congressional maps in states acting after *Louisiana v. Callais*. ● Candidate filing decisions in districts changed close to the 2026 midterm elections. ● Whether Florida Democrats consolidate around CD 20 candidates or deepen an internal representation dispute. ● Turnout patterns among Black voters moved into newly drawn or altered districts. ● State-level voting-rights protections tested against the Supreme Court’s new redistricting framework. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The immediate fight moves from the Supreme Court ruling itself to state maps, candidate choices and litigation, with parties treating redistricting as a central midterm battleground. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A successful court challenge, delayed implementation, or unusually high turnout in newly configured districts could alter the political effect of the redrawn maps. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The test is whether voting-rights protections can preserve meaningful representation without hardening democratic offices into racial entitlements. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Supreme Court weakens the Voting Rights Act in a Louisiana case](https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-voting-rights-congressional-redistricting-louisiana-aa5d7dbde7c13654f341d152c2ad5229?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [States respond quickly to Supreme Court ruling on racial redistricting](https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-redistricting-court-states-race-maps-b90a986d0db5dc49241ab939ff29a179?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Tennessee passes new congressional map that splits state’s only majority-Black district](https://abcnews.com/Politics/tennessee-passes-new-congressional-map-splits-states-majority/story?id=132753080&ref=europeans.today) | *ABC News* - ###### [US supreme court ‘demolishes’ Voting Rights Act, gutting provision that prevented racial discrimination](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/29/supreme-court-louisiana-congressional-map-case-ruling?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Supreme Court limits key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/29/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-louisiana-voting-maps/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Isaac Newton Farris Jr.'s blog](https://isaacnewtonfarris.com/a-race-issue-that-shouldnt-be-a-race-issue/https://isaacnewtonfarris.com/a-race-issue-that-shouldnt-be-a-race-issue/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 26 June 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 26 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/26/todays-papers-26-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T16:29:10.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 26-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/25/todays-briefing-26-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T23:00:28.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham could be confirmed as Labour leader on 17 July 2026 if no rival clears the nomination threshold. ● Reform UK’s migration proposals would affect EU nationals with settled status and could reopen Brexit settlement tensions. ● France has cut nuclear output during a record heatwave, showing how climate pressure now affects energy security. ● Brussels is moving to bring Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services under stricter EU competition rules. --- T oday’s wider pattern is institutional stress. In Britain, the argument is about who controls the next government’s economic direction and who is treated as politically expendable. In Europe, the pressure points are sovereignty in practical form: power supply, climate resilience and digital infrastructure. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Reeves backs Burnham as Labour transition turns to economic control** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** *The Guardian* reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has [publicly backed Andy Burnham](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/25/rachel-reeves-backs-andy-burnham-prime-minister-wes-streeting-ed-miliband-labour?ref=europeans.today) to become the next prime minister, while refusing to say whether she expects to remain chancellor. Burnham has already returned to Westminster after winning the Makerfield by-election on 18 June, clearing the parliamentary route he needed before seeking Labour’s leadership. Labour’s National Executive Committee has set [a timetable](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/25/andy-burnham-rachel-reeves-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) under which he could be confirmed as Labour leader on 17 July 2026 if no rival secures enough MP nominations, allowing him to enter Downing Street almost immediately afterwards. Reeves used a British Chambers of Commerce appearance to [defend her record](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgm9mj262qo?ref=europeans.today) and argue that Burnham would keep her fiscal rules. Those rules are the self-imposed limits that determine how much the government can borrow and spend. She also said defence spending could be treated as capital investment, which matters because Labour is under pressure to fund higher [defence commitments](https://www.politico.eu/article/labour-succession-fight-engulfs-uk-defense-spending-plan-andy-burnham/?ref=europeans.today) without breaking its economic framework. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The Chancellor chosen by Burnham will be read as the first serious signal of whether his government intends continuity, more radical public investment, or a managed compromise. The fiscal rules are technical, but they will shape everyday choices on defence, infrastructure, public services, business taxation, and borrowing. The practical issue is whether Labour’s leadership change produces a genuine policy reset or a change of political face while the same Treasury constraints remain in place. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Labour factions** competing for influence benefit if the story is reduced to a personality drama about Reeves, Streeting or Miliband. - **Large companies** and **trade associations** lobbying for “stability” benefit if continuity is treated as automatically responsible, without scrutiny of what that means for tax, wages, investment and regulation. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch Burnham’s decision on Chancellor, the timetable for Labour’s leadership process, and the defence investment plan due before the next prime minister is appointed. The markets, business groups, trade unions, and Labour MPs will all treat the Treasury appointment as the first real test of Burnham’s authority. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Reform plan targets EU nationals with settled status** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** EU nationals living permanently in the UK have expressed alarm over [Reform UK migration policies](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/25/reform-uk-plan-target-eu-nationals-britain-brexit?ref=europeans.today) that would affect accommodation and employment rights. Under the proposals, Nigel Farage’s party would evict overseas nationals from social housing and make it more expensive for employers to hire non-UK nationals through a “migrants labour levy”. The policies would also affect EU nationals with settled status. Settled status was created after Brexit for EU citizens already living in the UK. Under the UK’s withdrawal agreement with the EU, people with that status have permanent rights to live and work in the UK, and to access social security and pensions. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The policy tests whether rights created by the Brexit settlement are treated as durable legal commitments or as negotiable political targets. It also raises the risk of retaliation from the EU against UK nationals living in the bloc, or wider trade consequences if Britain sought to reopen the withdrawal agreement. This is not only about future migration. It concerns people already resident in the UK under a legal settlement created to protect their post-Brexit status. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform UK** benefits if the public hears “migration control” and misses that the proposals reach people with settled legal rights under the Brexit agreement. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Reform clarifies how it would renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement, whether EU institutions respond publicly, and whether UK nationals in EU countries become part of the political argument. The next key test is whether Labour and the Conservatives treat this as a rights issue, an immigration issue, or both. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **France cuts nuclear output as heatwave strains Europe’s infrastructure** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** France’s state-owned energy company EDF has [temporarily shut down two nuclear reactors](https://www.euronews.com/2026/06/25/france-takes-nuclear-reactors-offline-amid-record-heatwave?ref=europeans.today) during the latest record heatwave. The reactors are at Nogent-sur-Seine, north of Paris, and Bugey, near Lyon. EDF says the shutdowns are linked to environmental rules requiring it to limit the temperature of water discharged back into rivers after cooling reactors. A reactor at Golfech in south-western France was also taken offline earlier this week, and output has been reduced at other sites. France’s grid operator RTE says the country still has enough generation capacity, but the heatwave has already triggered danger-to-life alerts in much of France and disrupted daily life across parts of Europe. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This story shows how climate stress can affect even low-carbon energy systems. Nuclear power reduces reliance on fossil fuels, but it still depends on cooling water and environmental limits. When rivers warm, the system has to choose between output, ecosystem protection and grid stability. The lesson is practical rather than ideological: climate adaptation is now part of energy security. Power stations, homes, schools, workplaces, and transport networks all need to be planned for hotter conditions, not only for average weather. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Governments** benefit if the heatwave is treated as a one-off emergency rather than a planning failure that requires investment. - **Fossil fuel interests** benefit if nuclear constraints are used to argue against clean power broadly, instead of prompting a serious conversation about diversified, climate-resilient energy systems. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether France has to extend or widen nuclear output cuts, whether power prices rise, and whether schools, rail services, and hospitals face further disruption. The political question is whether governments respond with adaptation funding or simply emergency warnings. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Brussels moves against Microsoft and Amazon cloud dominance** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The European Commission has said that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services [should face stricter rules](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/25/brussels-tightens-rules-on-us-cloud-providers-as-it-pushes-for-tech-sovereignty?ref=europeans.today) under the [Digital Markets Act](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index%5Fen?ref=europeans.today), at least on a preliminary basis. The Digital Markets Act is the EU law designed to curb anti-competitive conduct by dominant technology companies, often called “gatekeepers”. The Commission says the move is about making the cloud market fairer and more contestable. Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services account for roughly 60% of the European cloud market. Google Cloud is not included at this stage because the Commission does not consider it dominant enough under the relevant criteria. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Cloud services are now basic infrastructure for governments, businesses, universities, media, hospitals, and defence systems. If switching provider is technically difficult or financially punitive, public and private organisations can become locked into a small number of companies. For Europe, this is sovereignty in a concrete sense. The issue is not only where data is stored, but who controls the infrastructure on which public services, business operations and artificial intelligence systems increasingly depend. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Microsoft** and **Amazon** benefit if the debate is framed only as Europe attacking successful US firms, because that obscures the competition issue. - **The Trump administration** benefits politically if it can cast EU regulation as anti-American rather than pro-competition. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the Commission’s final decision, the first EU-US digital dialogue, and any response from Washington. Also watch whether European cloud providers gain real market access or whether the rules become another long legal fight with limited practical effect. ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same democratic problem: powerful systems are being renegotiated in technical language, from fiscal rules and treaty rights to cooling limits and cloud regulation. The public interest depends on making those choices visible before they harden into facts on the ground. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Reeves backs Burnham to be PM despite reports she may be offered lesser role](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/25/rachel-reeves-backs-andy-burnham-prime-minister-wes-streeting-ed-miliband-labour?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Burnham could become PM on 17 July based on Labour leadership contest timetable](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/25/andy-burnham-rachel-reeves-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Reform UK plan to target EU nationals based in Britain “absolutely outrageous”](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/25/reform-uk-plan-target-eu-nationals-britain-brexit?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [France takes nuclear reactors offline amid record heatwave](https://www.euronews.com/2026/06/25/france-takes-nuclear-reactors-offline-amid-record-heatwave?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Brussels tightens rules on US cloud providers as it pushes for tech sovereignty](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/25/brussels-tightens-rules-on-us-cloud-providers-as-it-pushes-for-tech-sovereignty?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 25 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/25/todays-papers-25-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T16:15:31.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 24-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/24/todays-briefing-24-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T17:56:08.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Kemi Badenoch is refusing to apologise after the Speaker rebuked her PMQs language. ● Andy Burnham is planning a Manchester-based No 10 operation as part of a wider devolution push. ● Nigel Farage faces scrutiny over both a £5m gift and Reform’s wider donor and ideology network. ● France’s record heat and Germany’s KNDS stake show Europe’s climate and security stress tests. --- T oday’s pattern is power under pressure. In Britain, Labour’s transition is becoming a test of whether government can change both its leadership and its centre of gravity, while Reform UK’s donor and ideology networks face sharper scrutiny. In Europe, extreme heat and defence dependence are forcing states to test whether their institutions are built to withstand the risks they now face. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Badenoch refuses to apologise after Speaker rebukes PMQs language** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The leader of the Conservatives Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson said she will “absolutely not” apologise for [comments made](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/24/andy-burnham-labour-leadership-starmer-darren-jones-pmqs-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-6a3bcf8a8f089d702c09cabb&ref=europeans.today#block-6a3bcf8a8f089d702c09cabb) during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) that prompted Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, to reprimand her over her language. Badenoch used PMQs to attack Labour ministers during Keir Starmer’s first session since announcing his resignation. She [accused](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/24/labour-criticise-language-kemi-badenoch-pmqs-parliament?ref=europeans.today) Chancellor Rachel Reeves of letting Starmer down and mocked Labour MPs over the speed of his political collapse. The Speaker intervened after her remarks about ministers, warning her about the tone and language used in the chamber. The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, later said, “Kemi lost her head at PMQs - and afterwards too. It’s not the first time. She’s compared me to a Gestapo officer.” **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is a small procedural moment with a larger political signal. Badenoch is choosing confrontation at a moment when Labour is visibly weakened, using Starmer’s departure to argue that the governing party is broken regardless of who replaces him. The risk is that scrutiny of a serious governing crisis becomes personalised theatre. PMQs is meant to test the prime minister and government in public. But when the language becomes the story, attention shifts away from the substantive questions: why Starmer is leaving, what Labour’s next leader will change, and whether ministers can govern coherently during the handover. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Kemi Badenoch** benefits if the row is seen only as toughness, because that helps her present herself as the person willing to say what others will not. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the Speaker tightens his handling of PMQs during the leadership transition, whether Kemi Badenoch continues the same attack line against Andy Burnham, and whether Labour ministers use complaints about tone to avoid answering questions about the handover. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham plans a Manchester No 10 as part of devolution push** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/24/andy-burnham-plans-move-no-10-operation-manchester?ref=europeans.today) and the [FT](https://www.ft.com/content/f3044cb3-081b-49e3-a79a-dbff0a4e7163?syn-25a6b1a6=1&ref=europeans.today) both report today that Andy Burnham is planning to move parts of the No 10 operation to Manchester if he becomes prime minister. The proposal is being described as a “Number 10 in the north” and is intended to signal a wider shift of power away from Westminster. The plan fits Burnham’s long-running argument that Britain is too politically and economically centralised. Burnham wants devolution to be central to his government, including stronger settlements for English regions and a “Makerfield test” to judge policies by their effect on the constituency he now represents. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The proposal is partly symbolic, but not only symbolic. Moving part of the prime ministerial operation to Manchester would be a statement that national government should not be run entirely through London institutions, London networks, and London assumptions. The practical test is whether this becomes a genuine redistribution of decision-making power or mainly a branding exercise, or a populist gimmick. Devolution only matters if regional leaders gain real authority over funding, transport, skills, housing, and local economic strategy. A Manchester No 10 could help change the centre of gravity, but it would not by itself fix the deeper imbalance between Whitehall and the rest of the country. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Andy Burnham** benefits if the move is treated as proof of devolution before the powers and budgets are clear. - **Political opponents** benefit if they reduce the proposal to northern symbolism, because that avoids engaging with the underlying problem of centralised government. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Burnham sets out which No 10 functions would move, whether senior officials would be based in Manchester, and whether the plan comes with concrete powers for regions beyond Greater Manchester. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Farage gift keeps Reform’s transparency problem in focus** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Nigel Farage is facing [renewed questions](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/23/timeline-what-farage-has-said-about-the-5m-gift-from-a-crypto-billionaire?ref=europeans.today) over a £5m gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto billionaire and Reform UK donor. Farage has described the money as an unconditional private gift, while also saying he believes it was given as a reward for his long Brexit campaign. He has also linked the money to personal security costs. The issue is now under investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, the Commons watchdog that examines possible breaches of MPs’ rules. The question is whether the gift should have been declared because it was received in the 12 months before Farage returned to parliament as MP for Clacton in 2024. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is not just a row about one politician’s private finances. It is a test of how far transparency rules can reach when a major personal gift is made to a political figure shortly before he returns to elected office. Farage’s argument is that the money was private, unconditional, and received before he was an MP. The scrutiny rests on whether voters and parliamentary authorities had a legitimate interest in knowing about a large gift from a politically connected donor. The wider issue for Reform UK is whether a party that presents itself as an anti-establishment force is willing to accept the same disclosure standards it demands from others. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Nigel Farage** benefits if scrutiny is framed only as media intrusion into private life, rather than as a question about political finance and public office. - **Reform UK** benefits if the issue is turned into a grievance about establishment hostility, because that shifts attention away from the practical question of disclosure. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the parliamentary commissioner finds that the gift should have been declared, whether Farage provides a fuller account of how the money was used, and whether Reform UK changes how it handles large gifts to senior figures. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **ARC summit puts Reform’s donor and ideology network under scrutiny** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/leading-figures-eton-college-attend-rightwing-london-summit-alliance-for-responsible-citizenship?ref=europeans.today) today that Nigel Farage was among more than 4,000 attendees at the fourth summit organised by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC). The London conference brings together conservative, populist and right-wing political figures, donors, campaigners and organisations from Britain, Europe and the United States. ARC’s financial backers include Ben Delo, a British cryptocurrency billionaire who has given £4m to Reform UK and who was convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls at his cryptocurrency business. *The Guardian* also reports that ARC is backed by Sir Paul Marshall, the British hedge fund manager and co-owner of GB News, and by the Dubai-based Legatum investment fund, a [pro-Brexit organisation](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/legatum-who-are-brexiteers-favourite-think-tank-and-who-is-behind-them/?ref=europeans.today). Other speakers and participants show the wider political significance of the event. Farage was followed on the main stage by Katy Faust, founder of the US group Them Before Us, which has argued for measures that would effectively ban or sharply restrict gay people from having children. Organisations with stands at the event include the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group involved in the US legal campaign that helped overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that protected abortion rights. The group says it defends fundamental freedoms around the world and is expanding its activity in Britain. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This story matters because Reform UK is not operating only as a domestic protest party. Farage’s presence at ARC shows how Britain’s populist right is increasingly connected to a broader international network of donors, media owners, campaigners, religious conservative organisations, and US-aligned political figures. It does show where ideas, money, and political tactics are being exchanged. The themes reported at ARC, including opposition to net zero policy, hostility to multiculturalism, anti-abortion campaigning, and social conservative family policy, overlap with arguments being used by right-wing, far-right, and populist movements across Europe. For UK voters, the question is not only what Reform says in domestic interviews, but which networks are helping shape its politics. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Reform UK** benefits if ARC is treated only as a conference of ideas, because that obscures the donor, media, and advocacy networks around it. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Reform UK adopts more of the policy language circulating at ARC, especially on climate policy, family policy, abortion, LGBT rights, and European illiberal democracy. Also watch whether Delo, Marshall, Legatum or other wealthy backers become more visible in Reform’s funding, media support or policy ecosystem. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **France’s record heat turns public safety into an infrastructure test** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** *Associated Press* [reports](https://apnews.com/article/heat-wave-france-europe-climate-change-record-81c341900166135de6cbc0f49156477b?ref=europeans.today) that France recorded its hottest day ever on Tuesday, with the national thermal indicator reaching 29.8C, above previous records set during the heatwaves of 2003 and 2019\. The heatwave has affected much of Europe, with France, Spain and the UK issuing severe warnings. On Wednesday 24 June, temperatures of 40C to 45C were [forecast](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/24/heatwave-and-wildfire-alerts-power-cuts-in-finistere-france-swelters?ref=europeans.today) in France. Fifty-eight French départements were placed under red alert and 31 under orange alert. In Finistère, around 68,000 households remained without power after a transformer fault that authorities linked to intense heat. *Associated Press* also reports that France has recorded 40 drowning deaths in the past week as people sought relief from extreme temperatures. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is no longer only a weather story. It is a test of whether European states are adapting their public services, housing, transport, and energy systems quickly enough to cope with more frequent extreme heat. The public safety risk is broader than heatstroke. Extreme temperatures push people towards rivers, lakes and unsupervised swimming spots. They stress power systems, close schools, disrupt transport and make outdoor work dangerous. France’s 2003 heatwave remains a warning because it caused thousands of deaths, many among older people in poorly cooled homes and care settings. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Governments** benefit if heat deaths and power cuts are treated as isolated accidents rather than signs of under-prepared infrastructure. - **Fossil fuel companies** and **climate-delay campaigners** benefit if record heat is framed as ordinary summer weather, detached from the wider pattern of climate risk. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether alerts remain in force through the weekend, whether further deaths are confirmed, and whether the government strengthens rules on schools, outdoor labour, cooling spaces, public events, and water safety. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Germany’s KNDS stake shows Europe’s defence debate moving into ownership** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** *Associated Press* [reports](https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-knds-defense-tanks-stake-c90522899577cfbb597e61e3df982711?ref=europeans.today) that Germany plans to take a 40% stake in KNDS, the defence manufacturer whose products include Leopard and Leclerc tanks. France already holds a 50% stake in the company. KNDS was created in 2015 through the merger of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter, and is headquartered in Amsterdam. The German government says the planned stake is intended to secure long-term influence over a company strategically important to European security and defence capability. France and Germany also say they have reached an agreement on KNDS governance and strategy, with the aim of becoming joint shareholders through transactions that move towards equal shareholding levels. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Europe’s defence debate is shifting from spending promises to industrial control. A government stake in KNDS is about who can influence production priorities, technology, supply chains and strategic capacity. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine exposed Europe’s dependence on limited stocks, slow procurement and fragmented national defence industries. Uncertainty over future US security commitments has added pressure. The German move suggests Berlin and Paris want more direct leverage over companies that would matter in any long-term European rearmament effort. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - **Defence companies** benefit if urgency weakens scrutiny of costs, lobbying and long-term industrial strategy. - **Trump and his administration** who want Europe to carry more of its own defence burden benefit if dependence is portrayed only as unwillingness, rather than the result of years of underinvestment and fragmented procurement. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the timetable for Germany’s KNDS stake, whether France and Germany can keep governance stable, and whether European defence spending turns into actual equipment, ammunition, and production capacity rather than headline targets. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same democratic test: whether power can be moved, scrutinised and explained before political theatre, climate risk and security pressure do the moving for it. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Badenoch will ‘absolutely not’ apologise for PMQs comments about Starmer’s downfall, spokesperson says](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/24/andy-burnham-labour-leadership-starmer-darren-jones-pmqs-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham plans to move parts of No 10 operation to Manchester](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/24/andy-burnham-plans-move-no-10-operation-manchester?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham looks to move part of Number 10 operations to Manchester](https://www.ft.com/content/f3044cb3-081b-49e3-a79a-dbff0a4e7163?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [‘I’ll spend it on Ferraris if I want’: how frustrated Farage squirmed over £5m gift](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/23/timeline-what-farage-has-said-about-the-5m-gift-from-a-crypto-billionaire?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Nigel Farage to join populist and rightwing figures at ‘anti-woke Davos’ in London](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/leading-figures-eton-college-attend-rightwing-london-summit-alliance-for-responsible-citizenship?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [France records its hottest day ever as Europe withers in early heat wave](https://apnews.com/article/heat-wave-france-europe-climate-change-record-81c341900166135de6cbc0f49156477b?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Heatwave and wildfire alerts, power cuts in Finistère: France swelters](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/24/heatwave-and-wildfire-alerts-power-cuts-in-finistere-france-swelters?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Germany plans to take 40% in Leopard tank maker KNDS, joining France as stakeholder](https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-knds-defense-tanks-stake-c90522899577cfbb597e61e3df982711?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 24 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/24/todays-papers-24-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T14:07:50.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 23 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/23/todays-papers-23-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T17:02:00.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 22-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/22/todays-briefing-22-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T16:26:27.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Starmer has resigned, leaving Labour to manage a fast leadership transfer around Andy Burnham. ● The UK-France returns deal is being rewritten after removed migrants reportedly re-entered Britain by lorry. ● Five Eyes cyber agencies warn the frontier AI could transform cyber threats within months. ● Ten years after the referendum, Brexit’s costs are clearer in trade, prices, travel and politics. --- B ritain is changing leader again while old arguments over Brexit and migration still shape policy. At the same time, security agencies and climate authorities are warning that governments and businesses are not moving fast enough to address risks already arriving. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Starmer resigns as Burnham moves towards Downing Street** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Keir Starmer has announced that he is resigning as Labour leader and prime minister, less than two years after Labour’s 2024 election victory. [*Sky News* reports](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-labour-burnham-manchester-farage-braverman-12593360?ref=europeans.today) that Starmer said he accepted “in good grace” that Labour MPs did not want him to lead them into the next general election, and that he would remain in post until the leadership contest is complete. Andy Burnham, newly elected Labour MP for Makerfield, has confirmed he will stand for the leadership. Wes Streeting has backed Burnham, making an uncontested handover more likely. [Leadership nominations](https://news.sky.com/story/how-will-a-new-pm-be-selected-and-when-will-it-happen-13556695?ref=europeans.today) are due to open on 9 July and close on 16 July. Burnham was sworn in at the House of Commons today after winning the Makerfield by-election. As he was [sworn in](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resignation-timeable-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-prime-minister-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today), Conservative MP Desmond Swayne shouted: “Rome is saved”. Another MP shouted, “he’s not the messiah”. Burnham paused, then joked that he was a “naughty boy”. Another MP then joked about Burnham “turning water into wine”. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Britain is again changing its prime minister without a general election. That is constitutionally normal in a parliamentary system, where the governing party can change leader if it still commands a Commons majority. Politically, however, it exposes Labour to [the same charge](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/22/todays-papers-22-june-2026/) Labour levelled at the Conservatives during earlier leadership handovers. The more immediate question is whether Labour can make the transfer look competent. Starmer’s authority has collapsed inside his own party. Burnham’s task is to show that a change of leader is more than a change of tone. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Reform UK benefits if the story is reduced to “Burnham has no mandate”, because Nigel Farage is calling for a general election and wants to make Labour’s internal transition look illegitimate. - The Conservatives benefit if the focus turns to delay and drift. - Labour’s own leadership operation benefits if Burnham’s Commons swearing-in is treated as inevitable coronation theatre rather than the start of hard tests on policy, personnel and parliamentary discipline. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether any Labour MP is willing to challenge Burnham before nominations close on 16 July. Also watch whether opposition pressure for a general election grows, and whether the [postponed UK-EU summit](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-uk-summit-postponed-as-keir-starmer-resigns/?ref=europeans.today) is quickly rescheduled once Labour’s new leader is clear. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **UK and France rewrite small boats returns deal** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The UK and France have agreed to amend their [“one in, one out” migration treaty](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9681/?ref=europeans.today) after concerns that some people removed from the UK to France were returning by lorry. [*The Guardian* reports](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/22/uk-and-france-rewrite-one-in-one-out-treaty-to-stop-removed-migrants-returning?ref=europeans.today) that the original agreement allowed people arriving in small boats to be returned to France in exchange for the UK accepting the same number of asylum seekers from France through a legal route. The Home Office has created a new “returnee case” category so people already removed under the deal can be sent back again if they re-enter the UK illegally by another method. The treaty has also been extended until 1 October. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The rewrite shows the practical weakness of migration deals that rely on deterrence but operate across complex criminal routes. The scheme has removed 921 people to France since it began on 6 August last year, while the UK has accepted 896 asylum seekers from France [under the reciprocal arrangement](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/06/21/mahmood-one-in-one-out-deal-stop-migrants-returning/?ref=europeans.today). A treaty can close one route, but smugglers can adapt. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - People-smuggling groups benefit if the loophole is treated as a minor administrative problem rather than evidence that criminal networks are actively adapting to enforcement. - The Home Office benefits if headline removal numbers are treated as proof of full success without scrutiny of returns, re-entries and scale. - Parties campaigning on migration, such as Reform and Restore, benefit if the public sees only either “control restored” or “total failure”. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the amended treaty leads to repeat removals in practice, not just on paper. Also, watch the data on Channel crossings, lorry re-entries, and the number of people legally admitted from France under the reciprocal side of the deal. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Five Eyes agencies warn AI cyber risk is months away** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Cybersecurity agencies from the [*Five Eyes* intelligence alliance](https://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article/25/1/101/115125/Why-the-Five-Eyes-Power-and-Identity-in-the?ref=europeans.today) have issued a rare joint warning that powerful AI models could soon transform cyber threats. [*The Guardian* reports](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/22/anthropic-claude-fable-ai-model-artificial-intelligence-national-security?ref=europeans.today) that the agencies warned [frontier AI models](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/glossary/frontier-models/?ref=europeans.today) could exceed current expectations and change both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities within months, not years. The *Five Eyes* alliance is the intelligence-sharing network linking the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Its public intervention follows the Trump administration’s decision earlier this month [to block foreign nationals](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c932g3v3e13o?ref=europeans.today) from using Anthropic’s Fable AI model. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is not a general “AI is scary” story. It is a national security warning about cyber power moving faster than many governments, companies and public institutions can adapt. If [frontier models](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/glossary/frontier-models/?ref=europeans.today) lower the skill needed to find vulnerabilities or automate parts of an attack, the risk moves beyond conventional hacking teams and into a wider set of criminal, commercial and state-linked actors. For businesses, the warning reframes cybersecurity as a board-level responsibility rather than an IT department problem. For governments, it raises a harder question: how to regulate or restrict dangerous capabilities without simply pushing development into less transparent jurisdictions. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - AI companies benefit if the story is treated only as a speculative alarm, because that reduces pressure for external testing and public rules. - Governments benefit if the public accepts emergency restrictions without asking for a clear legal framework. - Cybercriminals and hostile state actors benefit if organisations delay basic resilience work while treating frontier AI risk as distant or theoretical. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the UK government issues domestic guidance for critical infrastructure operators, banks, public services and local authorities. Also watch whether the US restrictions on Anthropic’s models become a one-off intervention or the start of a more formal export-control regime for frontier AI. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Brexit at 10 shows the cost of promises left undefined** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Ten years after the UK voted to leave the EU, new reporting is revisiting what Brexit has changed in practice. [*The Guardian* reports](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jun/22/brexit-supermarket-holiday-travel-prices-costs-eu-passports?ref=europeans.today) that Brexit has made everyday tasks more expensive and more complicated, from groceries and parcels to pet travel, roaming charges and student exchanges. Some leave supporters in fishing and farming areas now describe [deep frustration](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/22/brexit-bellwether-constituencies-revisited-10-years-eu-referendum?ref=europeans.today) at export costs, border delays and promises that did not materialise. UK goods exports have [lagged behind the G7](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/14/how-uk-economy-changed-since-brexit-vote-charts?ref=europeans.today) since the end of the transition period, while business investment is estimated to be close to 18% lower than it would have been under a remain scenario. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Brexit’s impact is not one single event. It is a slow accumulation of frictions: paperwork, checks, lost programmes, lower investment, weaker goods trade and political realignment. That matters because the referendum was sold as [a route to control and prosperity](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/eu-referendum-claims?ref=europeans.today), but many of the practical outcomes have been administrative complexity and economic drag. It also matters for today’s Labour transition. Andy Burnham will inherit a country where Brexit still shapes trade, migration, public finances, constitutional politics and relations with Europe. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Brexit’s original campaigners benefit if the debate is kept at the level of identity and sovereignty, because that avoids measuring practical outcomes against promises. - Reform, Restore, and all parties seeking to harvest anger over immigration benefit if voters blame all current problems on implementation rather than asking whether the original offer was coherent. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the next Labour leader accelerates the UK-EU reset, including food and veterinary arrangements intended to reduce checks on animal and plant products. Also watch whether opposition parties continue to use Brexit mainly as a loyalty test, or whether they are forced to engage with the measurable economic and social costs. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Western Europe faces dangerous heat as systems strain** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Western Europe is enduring a severe heatwave, with temperatures forecast to reach record levels. French authorities have placed 49 of France’s 96 mainland departments under the [highest danger-to-life warning](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/22/europe-record-heatwave-temperatures-forecast-reach-44c?ref=europeans.today), affecting 35 million people. Météo-France, the national weather service, says day and night temperatures will be exceptional. France is expecting temperatures above **40C** in parts of the west and centre, including **43C** in Bordeaux and **39C** in Paris. More than 800 schools have been closed nationwide, another 1,800 have changed schedules, alcohol restrictions were imposed in many areas, and some train services around Paris were cancelled. Spain has declared its first official heatwave of the year, with some areas forecast to reach **44C**. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Extreme heat puts older people, children, outdoor workers, homeless people and those without access to cool housing at particular risk. It also exposes weaknesses in schools, rail systems and cities built for a cooler climate. The political question is preparedness. Climate adaptation is often treated as secondary to emissions policy, but heatwaves now require practical decisions about housing, schools, work, transport, emergency services and urban design. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Fossil fuel interests and climate-delay politicians benefit if the heatwave is framed as just a seasonal inconvenience rather than part of a growing pattern of climate risk. - Governments benefit if disruption is treated as unavoidable weather rather than a test of preparedness. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether heat deaths rise, whether France’s national heat index reaches a record, and whether school, rail and public event restrictions remain in place through the week. Also, watch whether governments move from emergency advice to stronger adaptation measures. ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same democratic test: whether leaders can tell the truth about consequences. Leadership changes, migration deals, AI warnings, Brexit’s legacy and climate disruption all become more dangerous when public debate is organised around slogans rather than evidence. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Politics latest: Burnham sworn in and could be PM within weeks after Starmer resigns](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-labour-burnham-manchester-farage-braverman-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Andy Burnham sworn in as an MP after Keir Starmer resigns as prime minister](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resignation-timeable-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-prime-minister-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK and France rewrite ‘one in, one out’ treaty to stop removed migrants returning](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/22/uk-and-france-rewrite-one-in-one-out-treaty-to-stop-removed-migrants-returning?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [AI models that can take down governments and business months away, rare Five Eyes statement warns](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/22/anthropic-claude-fable-ai-model-artificial-intelligence-national-security?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [‘Absolute nightmare’: Brexit bellwether constituencies revisited 10 years on](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/22/brexit-bellwether-constituencies-revisited-10-years-eu-referendum?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Brexit: how it has hit your wallet at the supermarket and on holiday](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jun/22/brexit-supermarket-holiday-travel-prices-costs-eu-passports?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [How Brexit has made Britain poorer in charts](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/14/how-uk-economy-changed-since-brexit-vote-charts?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Europe suffers under record heatwave as temperatures forecast to reach 44C](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/22/europe-record-heatwave-temperatures-forecast-reach-44c?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 22 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/22/todays-papers-22-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T14:26:27.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 21 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/21/todays-papers-21-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T12:01:23.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Burnham’s gamble could rescue Labour, or deepen Britain’s crisis URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/burnhams-gamble-could-rescue-labour-or-deepen-britains-crisis/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T03:44:45.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Labour’s leadership crisis could reshape Britain’s government, economic direction and resistance to Reform UK, while testing whether another unelected prime minister can restore public trust. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham’s Makerfield victory has intensified pressure on Keir Starmer. ● Burnham offers Labour a stronger regional and anti-Reform appeal, but not yet a tested national programme. ● A change of prime minister without a general election could deepen public distrust in Westminster. ● If Burnham fails quickly, Reform UK could be the main political beneficiary. --- A ndy Burnham has given Labour a reason to believe it can still beat Reform UK. He has not yet proved he can govern Britain. That is now the central question in British politics. Is Burnham the remedy for Labour’s crisis, or another symptom of it? ### **The arguments for and against Burnham** After Burnham’s [decisive victory](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/andy-burnham-wins-makerfield-byelection-paving-way-labour-leadership-challenge?ref=europeans.today) in the Makerfield by-election, pressure on Sir Keir Starmer has moved from serious to existential. *BBC* [reporting](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjeg7p5w4y9o?ref=europeans.today) described talk of Starmer staying on to fight as fading fast. *The Guardian*, the *FT* and *Sky News* have reported [growing pressure](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-streeting-starmer-leadership-labour-unemployment-12593360?ref=europeans.today) from Labour MPs and ministers for the prime minister to set out a departure timetable or face a leadership challenge. The argument for Burnham is simple. Starmer looks exhausted, weakened and politically diminished less than two years after [Labour’s 2024 landslide](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-4d9584ef-134b-478c-9bdc-783915e8b562?ref=europeans.today). Burnham looks like a politician with energy, regional credibility and an ability to speak to voters in places where Labour fears Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. In Makerfield, he beat Reform in a contest treated by all sides as a test of whether Labour still had a route back to its own voters. The argument against him is just as serious. A mayoral record [in Greater Manchester](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqx1edd7x43o?ref=europeans.today) is not a national governing programme. A by-election win is not a mandate to run the country. Replacing another British prime minister without a general election could confirm, rather than repair, the public sense that Westminster parties treat leadership as [an internal possession](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-internal-democracy-dilemma/?ref=europeans.today). Labour [promised](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/keir-starmer-first-speech-prime-minister-pm-labour-downing-street?ref=europeans.today) not to repeat the Conservative pattern of removing prime ministers between elections. That promise is now under severe strain. If Starmer is forced out and Burnham reaches Downing Street, Britain could soon have its [seventh prime minister in 10 years](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-prime-minister-keir-starmer-resignation-possible-after-6-leaders-in-10-years/?ref=europeans.today). For voters who have lived through Brexit, austerity, pandemic government, inflation and repeated leadership collapses, another change at the top may look less like renewal than another act of political self-preservation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/0000738--1-.jpg) The Westminster corridors. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Burnham’s **populism** Burnham’s supporters believe he offers a way out. His politics are more emotional and more place-based than Starmer’s. He speaks the language of towns, buses, public services and regional neglect. He has spent years [arguing that power is too centralised](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/world/europe/who-is-andy-burnham-britain-next-possible-prime-minister.html?ref=europeans.today) in London. His Greater Manchester record has made him visible, recognisable and trusted by many voters beyond Westminster. The policy difference is emerging, but remains incomplete. *The Guardian* has [reported](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/what-would-change-look-like-if-andy-burnham-becomes-prime-minister?ref=europeans.today) that Burnham allies are discussing a more interventionist programme, including bringing parts of the water and energy sectors into public control, easing household bills, deepening devolution, loosening central party control over MPs and considering electoral reform through a national commission. That may be [politically potent](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clywzj2vk3zo?ref=europeans.today). It may also be financially and administratively difficult. Public ownership of utilities would raise questions about cost, compensation and delivery. Rent freezes and moving levies off energy bills could help some households, but would require [hard fiscal choices](https://spectator.com/article/how-much-is-burnham-going-to-cost-britain/?ref=europeans.today). Giving mayors more control over public services may fit Burnham’s instincts, but schools, hospitals and national funding rules cannot be remade by rhetoric alone. The danger is that Burnham’s appeal is partly built on being outside the machine. As mayor, he could criticise Whitehall, speak for his region and demand more from central government. As prime minister, he would become the centre. He would own the trade-offs. He would have to decide which promises wait, which taxes rise, which voters are disappointed and which markets must be reassured. That is why Labour MPs calling for a swift transition should be careful. If Burnham is installed through momentum rather than scrutiny, he may inherit power before his programme has been properly tested. Former minister Jess Phillips has already [argued](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqx1ev0wn87o?ref=europeans.today) that candidates must face “the rigour of at least some manner of contest”. That warning goes to the democratic weakness at the heart of the moment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/0000739--1-.jpg) Andy Burnham: Manchester to Westminster. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### **Labour**’s **countdown to disaster?** There is also a brutal question of time. Starmer’s authority has collapsed quickly because politics now punishes disappointment at high speed. Burnham would not be granted a long honeymoon simply because he is new. *Sky News* reported a [warning](https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-latest-burnham-streeting-rayner-leadership-quit-cabinet-resign-labour-local-elections-12593360?postid=11726979&ref=europeans.today) from Jim O’Neill, one of Burnham’s advisers, that he could have as little as six months to show “proper change” or at least [the feeling of change](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-makerfield-by-election-12593360?postid=11909858&ref=europeans.today#liveblog-body) before he too was in serious trouble. That is the risk for Labour. If Burnham becomes prime minister and cannot quickly improve living standards, restore party discipline and show that Labour can still deliver, the party may find itself trapped. It could not easily remove yet another leader without looking absurd. It could struggle on under a damaged prime minister. Or it could be pushed towards an early general election it may not be ready to fight. That path would benefit Reform UK. Farage’s [central claim](https://theconversation.com/nigel-farage-and-the-political-power-of-english-grievance-264065?ref=europeans.today) is that Britain’s political class is closed, self-interested and incapable of governing. Labour removing a prime minister it elected less than two years earlier, then replacing him with another leader who also falters, would hand Reform a powerful argument. It would let Farage say that both Starmer’s caution and Burnham’s promise had failed. None of this means Burnham should not challenge. Starmer’s position may already be too weak to recover. Labour’s 2025 and 2026 electoral setbacks, policy reversals and internal unrest have left many MPs fearing that inaction is more dangerous than change. Burnham has shown something Starmer has struggled to show: an ability to make Labour voters feel that politics might still speak to them. But hope is not a governing strategy. If Burnham is to be Labour’s answer to Reform, he must prove that his politics can survive contact with national office. He must show how his promises are paid for, how fast change can realistically happen and why voters should accept a new prime minister chosen first by Labour, not by the country. Burnham may be Labour’s best (last?) chance to stop Farage. He may also be the gamble that exposes Labour’s crisis more fully. If he enters Downing Street on the claim that Manchester can show Britain the way, the judgement will come quickly. If he fails, the next beneficiary may not be Labour at all. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Starmer sets out a departure timetable or insists on fighting a leadership contest. ● Whether Burnham gives clearer answers on tax, public ownership, devolution, and fiscal rules. ● Whether Labour MPs demand a contested process or move towards a rapid transition. ● Whether Reform UK can turn Labour’s internal crisis into a wider anti-Westminster argument. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Labour’s leadership crisis is likely to intensify unless Starmer can quickly show he still has cabinet and parliamentary support. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A strong contest, a credible economic plan or a sudden shift in MP support could alter whether Burnham looks like renewal or risk. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Britain’s next leadership decision may determine whether Labour contains Reform UK or strengthens the case against the political establishment. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [What will 'change' look like if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/what-would-change-look-like-if-andy-burnham-becomes-prime-minister?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Corbyn criticises 'strange' lack of policy in leadership debate and says Burnham must offer real change](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/20/keir-starmer-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-makerfield-byelection-uk-politics-latest-news?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### ['Astonishing' win for Andy Burnham puts pressure on Starmer to step aside](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/andy-burnham-win-makerfield-byelection-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Starmer under growing pressure to quit after Burnham’s by-election victory](https://www.ft.com/content/095b3f3d-8c66-46fa-bb2a-1b8186f3f054?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* - ###### [Politics latest: 100 Labour MPs now calling for Starmer to resign](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-makerfield-by-election-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 20 June 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 20-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/todays-briefing-20-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T16:11:58.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Labour’s leadership crisis is now a question of government authority, not just party management. ● Iran’s Hormuz announcement puts energy markets and US-led diplomacy back under pressure. ● Meloni’s clash with Trump shows the fragility of nationalist alliances when national interests diverge. ● Europe’s far right is learning to work inside institutions it once promised to weaken. --- T oday’s pattern is institutional stress. In Britain, political uncertainty is now feeding into markets and public safety questions. In Europe, leaders and parties are testing how much distance they can put between themselves and Washington, Moscow, or Brussels without losing power at home. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham surge puts Starmer under direct pressure** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election has sharply increased pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/20/burnham-allies-confident-no-10-coronation-after-surge-backers-labour-leadership?ref=europeans.today) that Burnham’s allies now believe support from Labour MPs could be far above the threshold needed to force a contest, after he defeated Reform UK in a seat that had recently leaned heavily towards Reform in local elections. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is no longer routine Westminster speculation. If Starmer cannot restore authority quickly, Labour could face a leadership contest while in government. That would slow decision-making, expose policy divisions and give Reform UK a chance to frame Labour as internally exhausted only two years after winning power. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Reform UK benefits if the story is reduced to Labour gossip rather than a question of government capacity. - Andy Burnham benefits if momentum is treated as inevitability. - Keir Starmer benefits if concern over leadership is framed as disloyalty rather than a live question about public authority. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Starmer sets out a departure timetable, whether cabinet ministers resign, and whether Burnham or Streeting formally moves towards a contest. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Bedford rail crash raises safety questions** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Nine people were in critical condition on Saturday after two passenger trains collided near Bedford on Friday, killing one train driver. *AP* [reports](https://apnews.com/article/train-collision-bedford-dead-injuries-investigation-26d24246446c1819b923ab29ea438e8a?ref=europeans.today) that more than 80 people were treated in hospital and 28 remained hospitalised. According to [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/story/emergency-services-dealing-with-incident-on-railway-south-of-bedford-13553307?ref=europeans.today), investigators are working to establish the cause. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Britain’s railways have a strong recent safety record, which is why a fatal collision on a mainline demands close scrutiny. The public interest is not just in the immediate cause, but in whether signalling, braking, staff procedures, infrastructure or rolling stock contributed to a failure that should normally be prevented by layered safety systems. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Rail operators, ministers or contractors could benefit if attention settles too early on a single human error before investigators complete their work. - Anti-rail campaigners benefit if the crash is used to imply the whole network is unsafe without evidence. - Passengers benefit from patience, transparency and a full technical investigation. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the first findings from investigators, service disruption on the Midland Main Line, and whether safety recommendations follow for signalling or operational procedures. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Iran says Strait of Hormuz is closed again** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Iran said on Saturday that it was closing the Strait of Hormuz again, shortly after US vice-president JD Vance said the route remained open. *ABC News* [reports](https://abcnews.com/International/live-updates/iran-live-updates-israel-withdraw-lebanon-katz-after/?id=133879236&ref=europeans.today) that Iran linked the move to alleged violations of the memorandum of understanding reached between Washington and Tehran. The announcement followed renewed Israeli strikes in Lebanon despite a reported Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/20/israeli-strikes-southern-lebanon-reports-renewed-ceasefire?ref=europeans.today) that Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 16 people. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The US-Iran deal is now being tested at its most sensitive point. If Hormuz is closed or even credibly threatened, energy markets, European inflation and shipping insurance costs can move quickly. For Europe, this is not a distant regional dispute. It touches household energy bills, industrial costs and the credibility of US-led crisis diplomacy. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Iran benefits if the closure is seen only as a defensive legal response rather than leverage over global energy flows. - The Trump administration benefits if the deal is described as stable before the shipping route and Lebanon front are secure. - Israel’s government benefits if Lebanon operations are treated as separate from the wider ceasefire architecture despite their effect on negotiations. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether commercial shipping is actually halted, whether US-Iran talks in Switzerland proceed, and whether Israel and Hezbollah stop fire long enough for the wider deal to survive. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Meloni pushes back after Trump’s G7 photo claim** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Donald Trump intensified his dispute with Giorgia Meloni after claiming she repeatedly asked him for a photo at the G7 summit in France. Meloni denied the claim. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/19/giorgia-meloni-stunned-donald-trump-claims-begged-him-photo?ref=europeans.today) that she said Trump had “totally invented” the story. *AP* [reports](https://apnews.com/article/trump-meloni-nato-italy-g7-photo-ab350c75202462f5da33a1eb0a761dd1?ref=europeans.today) that Trump later repeated the allegation and criticised Italy over its stance during the Iran war. Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, cancelled a planned US trip after Trump’s remarks. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This matters because Giorgia Meloni has tried to act as a bridge between Europe’s institutions and Trump’s Washington. A public rupture weakens that role and shows the limits of ideological closeness when national interests, military decisions and personal humiliation collide. It also complicates Europe’s attempt to manage an unpredictable US partner while maintaining unity on security. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Donald Trump benefits if the episode is treated as celebrity-style insult rather than pressure on an allied government. - Giorgia Meloni’s domestic rivals benefit if her relationship with Trump is portrayed as simple dependency. - European far-right parties benefit if voters overlook how quickly nationalist alliances fracture when interests diverge. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Tajani’s cancelled visit is rescheduled, whether Meloni hardens Italy’s line on US demands, and whether other European leaders use the dispute to distance themselves from Trump. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Bardella courts Europe’s right in Poland** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s far-right Rassemblement National, used a visit to Poland to build ties with conservative and far-right parties. *Le Monde* [reports](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/06/20/in-poland-jordan-bardella-dreams-of-leading-an-alliance-between-europe-s-right-wing-and-far-right-parties%5F6754686%5F5.html?ref=europeans.today) that Bardella met figures from Poland’s Law and Justice party and signalled a more pragmatic approach to the European Union than Marine Le Pen’s long-standing Eurosceptic line. Law and Justice, known as PiS, is Poland’s national-conservative party. The European Parliament matters because far-right and conservative alliances there can shape EU migration, budget and rule-of-law votes. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The story is about the far-right’s next phase. Bardella appears to be testing a strategy that works inside EU institutions rather than only against them. That could make the European far-right more effective, less obviously anti-EU, and harder for mainstream parties to isolate. It also signals a potential shift from Le Pen’s older nationalist posture towards Meloni-style negotiation with Brussels. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Rassemblement National benefits if voters see Bardella’s EU repositioning as moderation without examining the underlying manifesto. - Conservative parties benefit if alliances with the far-right are framed as normal parliamentary management rather than a strategic choice. - Brussels institutions benefit if they treat procedural cooperation as proof that anti-liberal politics has softened. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch France’s July legal developments involving Le Pen, Bardella’s 2027 positioning, and whether Europe’s conservative and far-right groups move closer to a durable parliamentary alliance. ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same pressure: democratic systems are being tested not only by open crisis, but by the quieter struggle to decide who sets the terms before the public has had time to understand the stakes. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham allies confident of No 10 transfer after surge in backers](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/20/burnham-allies-confident-no-10-coronation-after-surge-backers-labour-leadership?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK borrowing and bond yields live coverage](https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/jun/19/uk-borrowing-surges-over-forecasts-in-may-spending-pound-bonds-borrowing-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK train collision kills driver and leaves nine people critically injured](https://apnews.com/article/train-collision-bedford-dead-injuries-investigation-26d24246446c1819b923ab29ea438e8a?ref=europeans.today) | *AP* - ###### [Nine in critical condition after Bedford train crash](https://news.sky.com/story/emergency-services-dealing-with-incident-on-railway-south-of-bedford-13553307?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Iran live updates: Iran says Strait of Hormuz is closed as Vance says it remains open](https://abcnews.com/International/live-updates/iran-live-updates-israel-withdraw-lebanon-katz-after/?id=133879236&ref=europeans.today) | *ABC News* - ###### [Israeli strikes kill at least 16 in Lebanon despite reports of renewed ceasefire](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/20/israeli-strikes-southern-lebanon-reports-renewed-ceasefire?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Trump deepens the dustup with Italy’s Meloni over disputed G7 photo](https://apnews.com/article/trump-meloni-nato-italy-g7-photo-ab350c75202462f5da33a1eb0a761dd1?ref=europeans.today) | *AP* - ###### [Italy PM Meloni stunned by Trump’s claims she begged him for a photo](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/19/giorgia-meloni-stunned-donald-trump-claims-begged-him-photo?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [In Poland, Jordan Bardella dreams of leading an alliance between Europe’s right-wing and far-right parties](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/06/20/in-poland-jordan-bardella-dreams-of-leading-an-alliance-between-europe-s-right-wing-and-far-right-parties%5F6754686%5F5.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [UK unveils prototype missiles for Ukraine with no US components](https://www.ft.com/content/78d880ee-f5cd-4f58-ba8d-da8f2193d95a?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Andy Burnham needed a big win. The Makerfield result means Labour might have reason to hope URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/andy-burnham-needed-a-big-win-the-makerfield-result-means-labour-might-have-reason-to-hope/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T01:27:24.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Burnham’s Makerfield win could reshape Labour’s leadership, test Reform UK’s momentum, and influence how Britain’s fractured party politics develop before the next national contest. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Andy Burnham’s emphatic Makerfield victory strengthens his position as a potential Labour leader. ● The result increases pressure on Keir Starmer after further poor Labour performances elsewhere. ● Reform UK’s momentum appears to have slowed, despite favourable conditions in the constituency. ● The by-election highlights tactical voting and the growing importance of electoral reform in British politics. T he possible nominative determinism of the Makerfield constituency may prove as significant to political historians as it has been a blessing to newspaper sub-editors crafting puns on “Makerfield or Breakerfield”. The immediate futures of Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer were decided in the historic happening of the first UK by-election to effectively elect a prime minister. It was a battle of our times. Burnham’s success will make a new administration as it breaks the present one. Prime Minister [Starmer’s government](https://theconversation.com/topics/uk-government-10369?ref=europeans.today) has been largely an ineffectual one – of which Burnham, crucially, was not a part. This may be the moment – “the final chance to change”, as the victorious candidate put it – that transforms the performance and perception of Labour. But it also demonstrates how profoundly, and rapidly, politics in Britain is changing. Governing parties don’t win by-elections, and certainly not on [23-point](https://metro.co.uk/2026/06/19/full-results-makerfield-by-election-won-historic-vote-28839458/?ref=europeans.today) swings. Burnham’s [54.8% vote share](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gy2r2wjm1o?ref=europeans.today), more than [20 percentage points](https://news.sky.com/story/makerfield-by-election-crunching-the-numbers-why-burnhams-win-is-so-significant-13555627?ref=europeans.today) more than that of Reform UK, was unexpectedly emphatic – a personal triumph. The momentum behind Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, has if not stalled then noticeably decelerated. A second seat in the north-west that Reform ought to have won this year, it hasn’t – and this time resoundingly. Much was down to Labour’s exceptional candidate – and Reform’s [exceptionally inappropriate one](https://theconversation.com/could-womens-anger-turn-makerfield-voters-against-reform-uk-284882?ref=europeans.today). In the May local election, Reform was rampant, [Labour won only 24%](https://spectator.com/article/burnham-wins-makerfield-by-a-landslide/?ref=europeans.today) of the vote in Makerfield, and Restore Britain didn’t stand. Last night, Rupert Lowe’s party [finished third](https://news.sky.com/story/makerfield-by-election-crunching-the-numbers-why-burnhams-win-is-so-significant-13555627?ref=europeans.today). [Lowe has checked Farage](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/11/reform-restore-hard-right-poisonous-ideological-divergence?ref=europeans.today) with politics of such unabashed illiberalism as to make Reform resemble the Liberal Democrats. It is too simplistic to assume that had Restore not stood, its voters would have turned to Reform (and in any case, Burnham would still have won conclusively). But rather than deal in switchers, Restore’s menace is its appeal to non-voters. This by-election was not merely a matter of getting someone into parliament to supplant a prime minister. It was intended, and needed to be, a statement. More than any incumbent party in history, given the unique febrility of politics in 2026, Labour could not hope, much less expect, to win a by-election anywhere. Never competitive in rural constituencies, in cities Labour is prey to the Greens, in towns to Reform and Restore, and in Scotland and Wales to nationalists. ([Labour did poorly](https://news.sky.com/story/conservatives-win-by-election-in-aberdeen-south-13555591?ref=europeans.today) in the other by-elections on the same day, both in Scotland.) ### **Reform and tactical voting** Ironically, given the central importance of “place” in this by-election, Makerfield isn’t one. A swathe of small towns and bits of larger ones, its identity is regional and emblematic, if not typical, of seats which used in lore to weigh rather than count votes for Labour. However, new parties now appeal in a political marketplace for the disaffected. Andy Burnham contesting a seat in Greater Manchester was almost the only likely Labour victory. There were more propitious seats, such as Gorton and Denton in February, but a weak Starmer [blocked Burnham’s candidature](https://theconversation.com/labour-blocks-andy-burnham-from-standing-for-parliament-how-it-happened-and-why-274309?ref=europeans.today). Weakened further by the May elections, the prime minister was unable to do so a second time for Makerfield. As it turned out, that initial rebuff has burnished Burnham’s subsequent success. The greater marginality of Makerfield makes the statement much greater. Reform’s rise has been tempered by two otherwise unrelated phenomena. Just as Farage inspires, he also repels: his is a unique talent for encouraging tactical voting (the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green party [combined vote share](https://news.sky.com/story/makerfield-by-election-crunching-the-numbers-why-burnhams-win-is-so-significant-13555627?ref=europeans.today) of just 3.3% in Makerfield suggests as much). Burnham’s clearest and most long-term policy – [electoral reform](https://labourlist.org/2026/01/burnhams-britain-king-of-the-north-rewire-westminster/?ref=europeans.today) – is intended to address the negativity surrounding politics today. The salience of proportional representation has never been greater than in Britain’s new multi-party politics. With Burnham as prime minister, it is likely to be a Labour manifesto commitment for the first time. But Burnham’s undoubted personal popularity provides more questions than answers – not least, whether a politician who has been highly successfully regionally can translate that record to the national, and international, level. There is also the question of whether the affability and relatability so integral to his appeal can withstand the vicissitudes of the highest office – as well as the scepticism, cynicism and increasing impatience of voters. Burnham will soon discover that the quickest way for a popular politician to become an unpopular politician is to become prime minister. This is not Burnham’s first attempt to lead Labour. To the political questions of the day in 2010 and 2015, he was not the answer. In the post-New Labour world, Burnham lost to a softer leftist in Ed Miliband. And in the electoral wild west begat by Miliband’s party reforms, he lost to [a harder leftist in Jeremy Corbyn](https://theconversation.com/corbyn-leadership-and-labours-long-history-of-rebellion-and-betrayal-51422?ref=europeans.today). But third time around, Burnham might just be the answer. The fractured multi-party politics of 2026 may respond more favourably to Labour with a leader whom its members and voters actually want to vote for. Getting Labour’s vote out next time will be its highest priority. As almost never happens, the turnout in yesterday’s by-election was higher than in the general election. Burnham’s re-election to parliament would always – to use the word of the age – change things. The measure would be the scale of his victory. For him to be a serious alternative leader, much less a saviour, the victory needed to be big. It was, and it was also personal. But whether his appeal is portable will soon be the question. Some in Labour may see in Makerfield, as Churchill did El-Alamein, [“the bright gleam”](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20107903?ref=europeans.today) of victory. It certainly denotes both the beginning of Starmer’s end, and the end of Burnham’s beginning. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Burnham formally moves from parliamentary victory to a Labour leadership challenge. ● How quickly Starmer’s allies can stabilise support inside the parliamentary Labour Party. ● Whether Reform UK recalibrates candidate selection and messaging after another missed opportunity. ● The coming Greater Manchester mayoral contest triggered by Burnham’s return to Westminster. ● Whether Labour adopts electoral reform as a central manifesto commitment under future leadership. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● Burnham’s victory accelerates Labour’s internal leadership pressure, while Reform UK remains electorally dangerous but less inevitable than its polling momentum suggested. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A rapid Labour split, a poorly managed leadership process, or a stronger Reform performance in the next Greater Manchester contest could blunt Burnham’s momentum. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Makerfield gives Labour a possible renewal story, but only if Burnham’s local appeal can survive national scrutiny. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Will ‘ordinariness’ be enough to swing the result in Makerfield?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/16/will-ordinariness-be-enough-to-swing-the-result-in-makerfield/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Burnham rules out a rejoin push as Makerfield puts Labour’s Brexit divide under pressure](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/burnham-rules-out-a-rejoin-push-as-makerfield-puts-labours-brexit-divide-under-pressure/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/15/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-replace-keir-starmer-as-prime-minister/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Makerfield by-election: Crunching the numbers - why Burnham’s win is so significant](https://news.sky.com/story/makerfield-by-election-crunching-the-numbers-why-burnhams-win-is-so-significant-13555627?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Andy Burnham wins huge majority in Makerfield byelection, paving way for Starmer leadership challenge](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/andy-burnham-wins-makerfield-byelection-paving-way-labour-leadership-challenge?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/andy-burnham-needed-a-big-win-the-makerfield-result-means-labour-might-have-reason-to-hope-285743?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55204794065/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/285743/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### He may not be another Hoover, but maybe another Wilson URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/he-may-not-be-another-hoover-but-maybe-another-wilson/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T00:16:24.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS The Iran memorandum affects European security, energy markets, nuclear diplomacy and confidence in US leadership at a volatile moment for the Middle East and transatlantic policy. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● The memorandum pauses the US-Iran war while leaving a final nuclear settlement to later negotiations. ● Trump’s critics argue the agreement gives Tehran major economic and strategic concessions without sufficient verification. ● The Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief and Iran’s nuclear commitments remain central pressure points. ● The deal is already intensifying scrutiny of President Trump’s judgement, authority and foreign-policy record. T he self-proclaimed Master of the Deal, Master of Gaining Leverage has signed one of the worst deals in American history. Take a look at the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that President Trump signed at Versailles, of all places, last night. You can read the text for yourself [**here**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/17/read-terms-trumps-deal-with-iran/?ref=europeans.today). Basically, the MOU opens the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war began, and ends the war which the U.S. started. Hooray Great Negotiator! Trump said, repeatedly, that the war could not end with Iran having a nuclear weapon. That, the President said, was his bottom line (he gave up on his stated goal of regime change by claiming that the new leadership — led by the son of the previous leadership who was killed on the first day of the war — now in charge of Iran, is a different regime). On his bottom line, though, — Iran having a nuclear weapon, Paragraph 8 begins with the sentence: “The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.” Paragraph 9 begins with: “Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo.” Not even reading between the lines, this does not say Iran will give up any weapon it has now AND it says, anyway, that the “status quo” will be maintained. Plainly in fact. Plus, Iran has been saying for nearly 50 years it won’t develop a nuclear weapon, while it’s been doing exactly that. So, there’s that. Meantime, Iran gets a $300 billion fund to rebuild the country from the war damage, gets to keep its ballistic missiles and systems, and the regime remains in power. After all, Trump said, its neighbours in the region have such bombs, why shouldn’t they? Not a bad deal, for the Iranian leadership. Also, not a better deal than negotiated by the Obama Administration, that Trump tore up in 2018\. In fact, it’s worse — it’s not verifiable and it’s more money than Obama allegedly gave them. Trump covers his backside on this by saying there’s no U.S. money involved. This is what happens when we elect someone who not only has no experience in world affairs, but someone who famously trusts only his gut to make decisions. That’s a gut that’s gone bankrupt in the private sector multiple times, led dozens of failed companies and that got away with public relations, bluster and lies for his entire life. Not only that, but he’s showing signs of ageing, the same “disease” he accused his predecessor of having. His all-over-the-place diatribes at his press conferences, from lying about foreign policy to clearing algae from the Reflecting Pool, are getting tiresome, even to his supporters. *(My, now retired doctor, once told us: “Your 60s, aren’t bad, 70s are okay… the 80’s, they’re a crap-shoot.”)* His battles with his own party’s senators are becoming a daily event. His appointing someone with no experience in the intelligence community to be in charge of an intelligence agency, his “cancelling” a Senate hearing he has no authority to cancel — it’s all so dangerous. And so wrong and so unconstitutional and illegal to boot. He literally went from hosting a show business event — men walking around the White House in their costumed underwear, then fighting each other in bloody combat on the White House grounds, escorted by our men and women in uniform who gave their blood in Trump’s War of Choice in Iran, I mean... Friends, when do we all say enough is enough? Our true warriors escorting the UFC’s “warriors” in a multi-million dollar show on the White House lawns? Have we no shame?? I get a piece of our electorate wanting to give the finger to the Establishment by electing Trump, but I gotta believe that feeling has come and gone and it’s time to get back to trying to return our country to our world-leading leadership, not the cult leadership we have. Have we no respect anymore? We lost 14 of our service people in the Iran War, while hundreds were wounded, we spent hundreds of billions of dollars on top of that, we depleted our own bomb inventory, we lost respect around the world for going it alone, for not even explaining why we were doing it to the Congress or the people of this country — people who are wondering how to meet the rent and put food on their family tables — for what? Trump now points to gas prices coming down (they went up because of his war) and inflation coming down (up, because of his war). To sign another Versailles agreement that twill go down in history as one of the worst ever? Has he no shame? ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether the 60-day negotiating period produces enforceable nuclear limits, inspection terms and a clear timetable. ● Whether Iran’s commitments on uranium, missiles and the Strait of Hormuz are matched by verifiable implementation. ● Whether US lawmakers force fuller disclosure, hearings or limits on the administration’s Iran policy. ● Whether Israel, Hezbollah, Gulf states or shipping markets disrupt the fragile pause. ● Whether sanctions relief and reconstruction financing become the central political fight in Washington. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The memorandum buys a short pause in fighting but leaves the decisive nuclear, sanctions and maritime-security disputes unresolved until follow-on talks. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A breakdown in verification, renewed regional strikes (by Israel, in particular), or a dispute over Hormuz access could rapidly turn the deal from ceasefire framework into political liability. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● Europe’s security, energy costs and diplomatic room for manoeuvre now depend partly on whether Washington can convert a loose memorandum into a durable settlement. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Read the terms of Trump’s deal with Iran](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/17/read-terms-trumps-deal-with-iran/?ref=europeans.today) | *The Washington Post* - ###### [Key takeaways from the 14-point memorandum of understanding between US, Iran](https://abcnews.com/Politics/key-takeaways-14-point-memorandum-understanding-us-iran/story?id=133976791&ref=europeans.today) | *ABC News* - ###### [US and Iran sign initial deal to end war, ease sanctions and open strait as nuclear talks continue](https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-war-oil-deal-june-17-2026-19652f4611b704c0a991bf1f5bc9a4b9?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Iran deal leaves major questions unanswered](https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-war-nuclear-sanctions-hormuz-gas-prices-lebanon-60bbf5bbb11ea409ea78839e1fd391b9?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Lawsuit from Democratic-led states can proceed over Trump’s order to restrict mail-in voting — as it happened](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/jun/18/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-ruling-tps-mangione-iran-latest-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/he-may-not-be-another-hoover-but-maybe-another-wilson?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 June 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55342505632/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 20 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/20/todays-papers-20-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T16:43:58.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 19-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/19/todays-briefing-19-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T17:57:27.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Burnham’s Makerfield win gives him a route to challenge Starmer and forces Labour’s leadership crisis into the open. ● Reform’s defeat exposes candidate-selection problems and pressure from Restore Britain on its far right. ● UK borrowing figures make Labour’s spending promises harder to sustain without clear funding choices. ● EU leaders are testing whether solidarity on Ukraine, defence and social cohesion can survive budget reality. --- T oday’s pattern is pressure on political promises. In Britain, Labour’s internal battle is now colliding with public finance data, market scrutiny, and Reform UK’s exposed weaknesses. In Brussels, EU leaders are trying to hold together large commitments on money, security, and Ukraine while avoiding the harder choices those commitments require. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Burnham’s Makerfield win puts Starmer under direct pressure** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election and returned to Parliament, giving him a route to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. *Sky News* [reports](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-makerfield-by-election-12593360?ref=europeans.today) that Burnham won 24,927 votes, a 54.8% vote share, with a majority of 9,231 over Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon. Turnout was 58.75%, higher than in the constituency at the 2024 general election. The result matters because Burnham is not simply a new Labour MP. He is the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor, a former cabinet minister, and now the most visible alternative to Starmer inside Labour. *Sky News* says allies of Burnham believe he wants to be in Downing Street by September and would prefer an orderly transition rather than a full leadership contest. Starmer says he will not “walk away” and has vowed to fight any contest. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The result makes Labour’s leadership crisis immediate rather than theoretical. Burnham can now stand from inside the Commons, while Starmer faces the risk that cabinet ministers and MPs decide his authority has become unrecoverable. The by-election also complicates Reform’s story: it won a substantial vote share but failed to win a seat it had hoped to make competitive. The practical issue is not personality drama. It is whether Britain may soon have a new prime minister without a general election, how Labour would manage that change, and whether a new leadership would alter policy on tax, spending, devolution, migration, Europe, and public ownership. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Andy Burnham’s allies benefit if the result is treated as an unstoppable national mandate rather than a by-election victory in specific circumstances. - Keir Starmer loyalists benefit if it is dismissed as merely local unrest, because that minimises pressure within Labour. - Reform UK benefits if its second-place finish is framed only as momentum, because that hides the fact that it failed to convert a high-profile opportunity into a win. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether cabinet ministers publicly move against Starmer (Ed Miliband is [set to resign](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/burnhams-cabinet-allies-wont-resign-for-now-4486497?ref=europeans.today) at some point soon), whether Burnham formally launches a leadership challenge, and whether Labour MPs push for a managed handover or a contested leadership election. The next cabinet meeting and any resignations will matter more than public messaging. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **Reform’s Makerfield defeat exposes pressure from its right** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** Reform UK is examining whether sexist and lewd past social media posts by its Makerfield candidate, Robert Kenyon, damaged its chances after Andy Burnham won the seat by more than 9,000 votes. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/nigel-farage-urges-restore-voters-to-back-reform-after-disappointing-night-in-makerfield?ref=europeans.today) that canvassers from different parties said voters raised Kenyon’s comments on the doorstep, with women in particular saying they put them off. Kenyon did not apologise during the campaign and instead presented the posts as evidence that he was not a professional politician. Nigel Farage called Burnham’s win “dramatic” and “emphatic”, and admitted the result was disappointing. Reform had hoped for at least 18,000 votes but ended up with 15,696\. Restore Britain, the far-right party founded by Rupert Lowe after his split from Reform, won 3,111 votes, or 6.8%. Farage used a video message to urge Restore voters to back Reform, arguing that Reform is the only viable challenger to the left in British politics. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The result shows Reform’s dilemma. It wants to present itself as a mainstream challenger to Labour and the Conservatives, but it is also losing some voters to a party further to its right. Farage’s appeal to Restore voters suggests he sees that split as a real threat. The risk for Reform is that trying to win back those voters pulls it towards harsher language on immigration, race and national identity, while alienating voters who dislike Labour but do not want far-right politics. The evidence does not yet show that Reform is formally courting Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s supporters. What the reporting does show is strategic pressure: Restore’s presence, Farage’s appeal to its voters, and the recent hardening of Reform’s language make the party’s direction a live question. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Reform UK benefits if its candidate’s defeat is explained only as Andy Burnham’s personal popularity, because that hides candidate-selection failures and voter concern about sexist comments. - Restore Britain benefits if the result is framed as proof that Reform must move further right, because that increases its leverage over Farage. - Labour benefits if Reform’s problem is treated as permanent collapse rather than a serious but uneven threat, because Reform still won more than a third of the vote. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether Reform UK changes how it selects candidates, whether Farage moderates his language to protect mainstream credibility, or whether he moves further towards Restore-style politics to stop votes leaking rightwards. Also watch whether Reform figures engage more directly with the online far-right audience around Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (who is [financially supported](https://www.dw.com/en/is-elon-musk-aiding-a-british-right-wing-extremist/a-71440001?ref=europeans.today) by trillionaire Elon Musk), or keep trying to maintain distance from it. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **UK borrowing overshoot narrows room for Labour promises** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** The UK borrowed £23.3bn in May, more than expected and the second-highest May borrowing figure on record, according to the Office for National Statistics, the public body that publishes official economic data. *The Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/19/uk-borrows-more-than-expected-as-impact-of-iran-war-takes-toll?ref=europeans.today) that borrowing was £5.6bn above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast, the fiscal watchdog that checks the government’s tax and spending projections. The overshoot was driven by higher debt interest, public service costs, investment and benefit spending, which outweighed higher tax receipts. Debt interest payments alone reached £11.7bn in May, £4.1bn more than a year earlier. Public sector borrowing for April and May together reached £46.3bn, nearly £9bn higher than the same period in 2025. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** The figures land at a dangerous moment for Labour. If Burnham replaces Starmer, his government would inherit a tight fiscal position from the outset. Any new chancellor would have to explain how Labour would fund defence, public services, social care, energy policy, and any new spending promises while keeping borrowing credible. The political point is simple: leadership change does not suspend arithmetic. Higher borrowing costs can feed into mortgage rates, debt interest, and the space available for public spending. That does not settle the political argument over investment or taxation, but it makes vague promises harder to sustain. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Politicians from any faction benefit if the public hears only the spending promises, not the financing choices behind them. - Fiscal conservatives benefit if all public investment is lazily framed as recklessness. - Labour leadership campaigns benefit if they avoid saying which taxes, cuts, borrowing or growth assumptions would pay for their plans. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch gilt yields, which show the cost of government borrowing, and whether Labour leadership contenders commit to Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules. Also watch whether the Treasury updates its explanation of how the Middle East conflict, inflation and debt interest are affecting the public finances. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **EU leaders open fight over the next seven-year budget** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** EU leaders meeting in Brussels have begun the political fight over the bloc’s next long-term budget, worth about €2tn for 2028 to 2034\. *Euronews* [reports](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/19/eu-summit-battle-for-cash-begins-over-2-trillion-budget?ref=europeans.today) that leaders have agreed to aim for a preliminary deal by October, but member states remain split over the size and priorities of the budget. The European Council, the body where EU heads of government set political direction, is trying to balance defence, competitiveness, agriculture, regional development and future revenue. The dispute is between net contributor countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Austria, which want restraint and refocusing, and the “[friends of cohesion](https://www.cor.europa.eu/en/news/joint-call-eu-leaders-view-european-council-meeting?ref=europeans.today)”, a larger group including Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Greece and others, which want to protect funds for poorer regions and farming. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** This is not a remote Brussels accounting exercise. The EU budget decides how much money flows to farmers, poorer regions, industrial policy, border management, climate projects, research and defence. Because agreement requires unanimity among member states and approval from the European Parliament, even a small group can block or reshape the final deal. The deeper issue is that the EU is trying to do more at once: defend itself, compete economically, support Ukraine, manage migration, and preserve social cohesion. The budget fight will show which promises survive when governments must attach a price tag to them. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - National governments benefit if citizens see the budget only as “Brussels spending”, because that obscures how much national leaders themselves shape the outcome. - Net contributors benefit if restraint is presented as pure efficiency rather than a choice with consequences for poorer regions and farmers. - Cohesion countries benefit if defending old funding streams is presented as solidarity without scrutiny of whether the money is well used. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch the October draft deal, the European Parliament’s response, and whether defence spending is funded by new money or by shifting funds away from agriculture and regional development. The final budget will require the agreement of all 27 governments. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ ### **EU support for Ukraine grows, but accession remains uncertain** **▫ WHAT HAPPENED:** EU leaders used this week’s Brussels summit to signal stronger support for Ukraine, while leaving unresolved how fast Ukraine can move towards membership. *Le Monde* [reports](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/06/19/eu-hails-turning-tide-for-ukraine-yet-membership-path-remains-uncertain%5F6754657%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) that EU leaders agreed to extend sectoral sanctions against Russia for another year and praised what they see as a more favourable moment for Kyiv. Formal accession negotiations [began on 15 June](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/06/15/eu-and-ukraine-open-first-accession-negotiations-cluster/?ref=europeans.today), opening chapters on fundamental rights, including judicial independence, media pluralism, separation of powers, and anti-corruption measures. Ukraine is also expected to start receiving funds from a [€90bn EU loan](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/04/23/council-finalises-90-billion-support-loan-to-ukraine/?ref=europeans.today) agreed to support its 2026 and 2027 war effort. But President Volodymyr Zelensky did not persuade EU leaders to accelerate the wider membership process. **▫ WHAT IT MEANS:** Ukraine has gained real movement: accession chapters have opened, sanctions against Russia have been extended, and financing is moving forward. But EU membership is still a long, technical and political process. It requires reforms by Ukraine and unanimous agreement among EU states. For Europe, the central question is whether solidarity with Ukraine can become a durable institutional settlement. A Ukraine of roughly 40 million people would change the EU’s agricultural, budgetary and political balance. Leaders are willing to signal support, but not yet to absorb all the consequences of enlargement. **▫ WHO BENEFITS IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT:** - Russia benefits if EU caution is portrayed as abandonment, because that weakens public confidence in European support for Ukraine. - EU leaders benefit if symbolic statements are mistaken for actual accession progress, because that reduces pressure to explain the tight budget and institutional choices ahead. - Domestic farming and budget lobbies benefit if enlargement is discussed only in security terms, without attention to who would gain or lose from a larger EU. **▫ WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** Watch whether the EU opens further accession chapters, whether the €90bn loan begins flowing before the end of June, and how leaders handle any future contact with Moscow. *Euronews* [reports](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/19/von-der-leyen-told-eu-leaders-its-right-time-to-consider-a-mandate-for-talks-with-russia?ref=europeans.today) that von der Leyen has told leaders the EU should consider a negotiating mandate for possible peace talks while keeping Kyiv in the driving seat. ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same civic test: political leaders are promising change, security and stability, but the next phase will be judged by whether they can make those promises concrete, funded, and democratically accountable. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham 'wants to be in No 10' in September after Makerfield by-election win](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-makerfield-by-election-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Andy Burnham wins Makerfield byelection to set up possible leadership bid](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/19/friday-briefing-andy-burnham-wins-makerfield-byelection-to-set-up-possible-leadership-bid?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Reform investigates whether Makerfield candidate’s sexist posts were costly](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/nigel-farage-urges-restore-voters-to-back-reform-after-disappointing-night-in-makerfield?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [I saw all Reform’s weaknesses on display in Makerfield](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/19/reform-uk-weaknesses-makerfield-nigel-farage-labour?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK borrows more than expected as impact of Iran war takes toll](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/19/uk-borrows-more-than-expected-as-impact-of-iran-war-takes-toll?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [EU summit: Leaders discuss budget, Middle East and Israel](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/19/eu-summit-battle-for-cash-begins-over-2-trillion-budget?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [EU hails turning tide for Ukraine, yet membership path remains uncertain](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/06/19/eu-hails-turning-tide-for-ukraine-yet-membership-path-remains-uncertain%5F6754657%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Von der Leyen told EU leaders it is right time to consider a mandate for talks with Russia](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/19/von-der-leyen-told-eu-leaders-its-right-time-to-consider-a-mandate-for-talks-with-russia?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 19 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/19/todays-papers-19-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T13:58:51.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Donald Trump’s Iran ceasefire deal prompts strong feelings and profane language URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/18/donald-trumps-iran-ceasefire-deal-prompts-strong-feelings-and-profane-language/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T02:50:23.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Trump’s Iran ceasefire deal could reshape energy security, US-Israel relations and Europe’s exposure to Middle East instability, while leaving critical questions over nuclear verification and Hormuz unresolved. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Trump has signed a memorandum intended to begin a 60-day ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran. ● Iran appears to have gained leverage through its ability to restrict the Strait of Hormuz. ● The agreement has triggered anger among US Republicans and Israeli critics who see it as a capitulation. ● Lebanon, sanctions relief and Iran’s nuclear programme remain unresolved pressure points. A fter dining lavishly on lobster, caviar and truffles in the opulent surrounds of the Palace of Versailles last night, Donald Trump affixed his signature to the much-anticipated memorandum of understanding that will, all being well, begin a 60-day ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran. The document was subsequently signed in Tehran by the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian. “This was not easy,” the US president reportedly remarked as he wielded his trademark Sharpie marker pen — a statement that may go down as a huge understatement. The text of the deal reveals the Iranian negotiators drove a very hard bargain in return for opening the Strait of Hormuz, which the world now hopes will enable the global economy to recover from the considerable disruption of the past three and a half months. This war has been an utter disaster for the US and Israel, [writes Arshin Adib-Moghaddam](https://theconversation.com/iran-ceasefire-deal-confirms-what-weve-been-saying-for-years-military-might-doesnt-work-277523?ref=europeans.today) of SOAS, University of London, who has been researching and writing about Iranian affairs for many years. Trump and his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have failed to secure any of the outcomes they set out to achieve when they attacked Iran on February 28\. In fact, it has arguably left Iran, while battered, stronger strategically than it was before the war. It’s not as if Iran-watchers haven’t warned of the danger of using blunt force against Iran. As Adib-Moghaddam notes here, he and fellow scholars and analysts have been stressing for years that the Islamic Republic was well prepared for the sort of asymmetrical conflict we have now seen it wage. And now, of course, it has demonstrated to itself — and the rest of the world — what a potent deterrent it has in its ability to shut down the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. The state banquet at Versailles followed the 2026 summit of the Group of Seven (G7), which has been taking place this week in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains. As Natasha Lindstaedt of the University of Essex [notes](https://theconversation.com/macron-plays-trump-whisperer-as-the-us-president-signs-iran-ceasefire-deal-after-a-successful-g7-summit-285403?ref=europeans.today), this was a clever move dreamed up by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who was desperate to avoid a repeat of last year’s summit in Alberta, Canada, when the US president walked out a day early. On that occasion, he refused to sign the usual unified G7 statement, complaining that he didn’t like the language on Ukraine. There was no such reticence this year. Macron was cock-a-hoop at what he called a “very deep change in the US approach”. It was, he said, “re-synchronisation” for the G7 on the war in Ukraine, which released a statement pledging unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity, which Trump also signed after what the US president said was a “very good” meeting with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky on the summit’s sidelines. Key to achieving this unity, says Lindstaedt, was the approach of the other G7 leaders towards the US president: flattery. As we know, this is something that has proved highly effective in the past. ### Republicans unimpressed If Trump’s dining companions at Versailles were effusive in their congratulations for the US president’s deal, the reaction from many prominent Republicans in the US has been less than positive. “Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” commented Senator Bill Cassidy, who added that the war had been “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”. It’s a view shared by much of the party’s old guard, who see the deal as a capitulation. Quite how Iran managed to gain the upper hand in a conflict against two of the world’s best-armed militaries will make for an important case study for students of war. Jim Lamson and Matthew Moran of King’s College London explain how Iran [managed to turn the tables](https://theconversation.com/how-iran-gained-the-strategic-upper-hand-in-the-war-with-the-us-and-israel-285261?ref=europeans.today) and emerge not only undefeated, but arguably stronger. > Signed! [@POTUS](https://x.com/POTUS?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) [https://t.co/qrPgA3l07h](https://t.co/qrPgA3l07h?ref=europeans.today) > > — Ambassador Charles Kushner (@USAmbFrance) [June 18, 2026](https://x.com/USAmbFrance/status/2067551973080023434?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=europeans.today) ### Israelis livid Meanwhile, if the US president’s critics in the US are unimpressed, Israelis — friend and foe alike — are positively livid. David Horovitz, the editor of *The Times of Israel*, called it “a catastrophic capitulation”. Others have been less polite. Benjamin Netanyahu has made no public comment since the deal was signed. It has been reported that he wasn’t shown the finalised agreement before it was signed (Trump commented this week of their alliance that: “We are the big partner and he is the very small partner”, which will give him an idea of where he stands). The fact is, [writes Simon Mabon](https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-and-benjamin-netanyahu-have-different-war-aims-can-the-iran-peace-deal-survive-285402?ref=europeans.today), a Middle East specialist at Lancaster University, that despite being close allies, the US and Israel — but particularly Trump and Netanyahu — are at loggerheads over what they want from the war from any peace agreement that ends it. Most Israelis see any bid by Iran to develop a nuclear weapon as an existential issue, for which there can be no compromise. The war, meanwhile, is deeply unpopular in the US, where rising fuel prices and inflation are really beginning to hit home. The war has also hurt Trump’s popularity, which is at a new low, just months before November’s midterm elections, at which the Republicans are likely to lose control of at least one chamber of Congress, if not both. Netanyahu also faces an election in October. So the idea of a ceasefire with no resolution of the nuclear issue is anathema. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/0000734--1-.jpg) US-Iran Ceasefire Deal and the Strait of Hormuz. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) To further complicate the situation, the deal stipulates an end to the conflict being waged in southern Lebanon and makes the US responsible for guaranteeing that country’s territorial integrity. This would require Israel to withdraw, something the Israeli prime minister has firmly ruled out, setting the scene for some serious discord between the two leaders. All of which means we may well be hearing some more fairly ripe language from Donald Trump, who has recently told the Israeli prime minister he is “f\*ing crazy” and that he has “no f\*ing judgement”. Strong words. But not without precedent. As Andrew Gawthorpe, an expert in US politics at Leiden University, notes here, Netanyahu has a long track record of [moving US presidents to profanity](https://theconversation.com/why-us-presidents-end-up-cursing-benjamin-netanyahu-285285?ref=europeans.today). ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT... **🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● Whether Iran keeps the Strait of Hormuz open beyond the initial 60-day period. ● Whether US-Iran technical talks produce enforceable nuclear verification terms. ● Whether Israel accepts pressure to withdraw from southern Lebanon. ● Whether Republican criticism hardens into congressional resistance before the midterm elections. ● Whether energy markets stabilise or continue pricing in geopolitical risk. **🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** ● The ceasefire is likely to hold in the short term, but the unresolved nuclear, sanctions and Lebanon provisions make a durable settlement uncertain. **🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** ● A renewed Israeli operation, Iranian restrictions in the Hormuz Strait, or failure to agree on credible nuclear inspections could rapidly weaken the deal. **🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:** ● The agreement may reduce immediate escalation risk while exposing how much leverage Iran has gained from the conflict. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Iran War 2026](https://www.europeans.today/tag/iran-war-2026/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [What the Hormuz crisis reveals about who rules in Tehran](https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/18/what-the-hormuz-crisis-reveals-about-who-rules-in-tehran/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Why is Israel continuing to attack Lebanon, despite the ceasefire?](“https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/09/why-is-israel-continuing-to-attack-lebanon-despite-the-ceasefire/”) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity](“https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/18/donald-trump-iran-deal-reactions-anger-relief-incredulity”) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Iran announces plans to bring in maritime fees for Strait of Hormuz](“https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/18/iran-announces-plans-to-bring-in-maritime-fees-for-strait-of-hormuz”) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-iran-ceasefire-deal-prompts-strong-feelings-and-profane-language-285640?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 19 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55342963331/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/285640/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 18 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/18/todays-papers-18-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T22:33:04.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 17 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/17/todays-papers-17-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T00:16:27.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Will ‘ordinariness’ be enough to swing the result in Makerfield? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/16/will-ordinariness-be-enough-to-swing-the-result-in-makerfield/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T02:10:49.000Z 🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS Makerfield tests whether “ordinary” authenticity can beat political experience. This story shows why disillusioned voters across Europe increasingly favour candidates who sound local, blunt, and anti-establishment over polished party figures. It can help you recognise similar anti-establishment shifts in your own community. It might also affect how you judge candidates, parties, trust, representation, and future elections. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS... ● Makerfield votes on 18 June in a closely watched by-election featuring Labour’s Andy Burnham and Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon. ● Kenyon’s unpolished style has been framed by supporters as authenticity rather than weakness. ● The contest highlights wider voter demand for candidates seen as ordinary, local, and anti-establishment. ● Burnham’s long political career may complicate his working-class appeal against a Reform candidate presenting himself as a local voice. A uthenticity and the performance of ordinariness are increasingly attractive elements of a political candidate’s brand. Social media particularly can be a space to present the “no-filter self” using more casual language, posting images and videos of everyday situations and using emojis or memes – just like the average person would. Authenticity and the performance of ordinariness are increasingly attractive elements of a political candidate’s brand. Social media particularly can be a space to present the “no-filter self” using more casual language, posting images and videos of everyday situations and using emojis or memes – just like the average person would. In terms of authenticity, at [election](https://theconversation.com/topics/elections-1389?ref=europeans.today) times, being [ordinary, approachable and in touch](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1940161220948013?ref=europeans.today) are seen as potential vote-winning attributes. In Canada’s 2025 election, for example, research has found that these strategies [were seen as necessary](https://www.ubcpress.ca/marketing-the-vote?ref=europeans.today) to stop the candidates coming across as out of touch at a time when politicians might seem to be a breed apart. This approach has been particularly effective for populist candidates. These political hopefuls often market themselves as anti-elitist outsiders, in keeping with their claim to be the true representatives of the people. But whether authenticity is a performance or actually the unfiltered self is up for debate. In the Makerfield byelection, the latter appears to be case for Reform UK’s candidate, Robert Kenyon. His appearance on a special edition of the *BBC*’s Question Time on June 4 might have seemed unpolished, but it perhaps reflected a true performance of self. Comments under a [selection of excerpts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvjWuQq6ZPY&ref=europeans.today) of Kenyon on the programme, posted by the Reform UK account to YouTube, were very positive. Viewers described Kenyon as “sincere”, “no fluff, tells it like it is” and praised him as “a northern lad … says it as it is and not afraid to be challenged”. The comments, although presumably from a supportive audience, suggest viewers felt Kenyon believed in what he said and spoke without a filter or script. Even when challenged on how some policies would be delivered, his response – that it was for the leadership to work out – had a ring of honesty. While Kenyon was challenged over historic tweets of a sexist nature, his choice of defence here was to highlight his ordinariness. In another interview, Kenyon stated he is not a “career politician”. But he added that if he were Makerfield’s MP “people would feel like they had a voice now, whereas in the last 40 years they’ve not”. Excusing his “crass” social media posts, he argued that he is just “a local lad” and [“not a polished professional”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7p30zxzydo?ref=europeans.today). This framing is indicative of someone who believes sections of the electorate would be sympathetic to his argument – even if they find the content inappropriate. ### ‘Looked down on and left behind’ Like Hannah Spencer, who won the nearby constituency of Gorton and Denton for the Green party in a byelection in February 2026, Kenyon is a plumber. Spencer spoke about marginalised groups, including the white working class, in her [maiden speech](https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/03/12/green-mp-hannah-spencer-makes-her-first-commons-speech/?ref=europeans.today) in the Commons, offering a sense of authentic representation. She said: “I do know is what it feels like to be looked down on. To be let down and left behind. To be less worthy because of something about me.” Kenyon seems to be channelling similar notions of standing up for society’s underdogs on the basis that he is one of them, rather than a career politician. Spencer and Kenyon, and their appeal to voters, partly represents something of a [societal shift](https://sk.sagepub.com/book/mono/ordinary-people-and-the-media/toc?ref=europeans.today). The argument is that as more “ordinary” people become prominent – for example, as celebrities and influencers through mainstream and social media – they are viewed as more trustworthy. Elite figures, on the other hand, are seen as more remote. The populist turn in politics is an equivalent phenomenon. Many people feel democracy is not working for them and that their elected representatives do not share their struggles. Even worse, some believe that those dominating political institutions are self-seeking and remote. Fieldwork, especially in [post-industrial working-class areas](https://voices-project.eu/?ref=europeans.today) has uncovered a rejection of mainstream politicians and a desire for so-called common-sense voices. Demographically, Makerfield is similar (albeit with lower relative deprivation) than many of the red-wall seats where Reform and its antecedent parties have polled well. The area faces challenges due to years of austerity and the cost of living. Many voters there may well share the notion that most politicians are out of touch. This explains why some perceive Kenyon’s rival Andy Burnham as a strong candidate to hold the seat for Labour, given his local roots and unashamedly working-class persona. But when true ordinariness is held up as offering a more authentic sense of representation, Kenyon may well be seen as the true voice of the people. After all, Burnham – for all his popularity in Greater Manchester and his working-class background – has been a career politician for 25 years. These days, the voices of ordinary people are heard across social media and can even [dominate the news agenda](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20531680251314012?ref=europeans.today) and shape policy. Kenyon – and Reform – will be hoping to ride the demand for authentic representation and cause a major upset on June 18. ──────────◌ EUROPEANS TODAY◌ 🔮 **WHAT MATTERS NEXT...** 🎯 **WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:** ● The key question is whether voters reward Burnham’s deliberately low-drama, local-first campaign style or whether anti-establishment sentiment proves stronger. [Recent reporting](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/17/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-contest-andy-burnham-makerfield-byelection-wes-streeting-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) suggests Labour strategists remain concerned that Reform may be mobilising voters who rarely participate in elections. ● Watch the final Reform UK vote share. Even if Burnham wins, a strong Reform performance could become the dominant political story nationally because Makerfield is widely being treated as [a test of Labour’s ability to stop Reform](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/11/andy-burnham-makerfield-byelection-labour?ref=europeans.today) in former Labour heartlands. ● Turnout may matter more than headline polling. Several observers have [noted uncertainty](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/17/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-contest-andy-burnham-makerfield-byelection-wes-streeting-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) around non-traditional voters who may not appear fully in polling models. 🎯 **MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:** Burnham wins, but by less than many commentators expect. Current reporting suggests Labour enters polling day as favourite, although the margin remains uncertain. 🎯 **WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:** A late surge among infrequent voters. Labour campaigners have repeatedly identified this as one of the biggest unknowns in the contest. 🎯 **WHY THIS MATTERS:** Makerfield is no longer just a by-election. The result may shape future Labour strategy, influence the debate about Keir Starmer’s leadership, and provide one of the clearest tests yet of whether a pragmatic, locally focused Labour message can outperform populist challengers in post-industrial Britain. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW ](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Burnham rules out a rejoin push as Makerfield puts Labour’s Brexit divide under pressure](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/burnham-rules-out-a-rejoin-push-as-makerfield-puts-labours-brexit-divide-under-pressure/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Andy Burnham to face Reform’s Robert Kenyon in crucial Makerfield byelection](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/19/andy-burnham-to-face-reforms-robert-kenyon-in-crucial-makerfield-byelection?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Tactical voting by Greens and Lib Dems could be key to Labour victory in Makerfield](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/16/tactical-voting-greens-lib-dems-labour-makerfield?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Little love lost for Labour government among focus group of Makerfield voters](https://news.sky.com/story/little-love-lost-for-labour-government-among-focus-group-of-makerfield-voters-13553331?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [‘Labour had their chance – they flopped.’ Two days in Makerfield show me the scale of Burnham’s task](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/14/makerfield-labour-andy-burnham-reform?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/will-ordinariness-be-enough-to-swing-the-result-in-makerfield-285105?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/285105/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 16-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/16/todays-briefing-16-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T18:02:24.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. **The E\*T Team** Today’s pattern is institutional stress under external pressure. In the UK, the government is being tested on defence readiness, strategic infrastructure, and maritime security. In Europe, leaders are trying to hold together economic and diplomatic leverage while the United States drives key decisions on tariffs, Iran, and Ukraine. ### UK defence chiefs warn funding gap could force military pullbacks **▫ What happened:** Britain’s most senior military officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, told a House of Lords committee that the armed forces may have to [reduce operations and exercises](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20ydx06ym2o?ref=europeans.today) if day-to-day Ministry of Defence funding does not increase. His warning followed the resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey last week over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s defence spending plans. The *Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/16/uk-dial-back-military-plans-without-funding-says-defence-chief?ref=europeans.today) that the delayed defence investment plan has become a central test of whether the government’s stated security ambitions are matched by usable money. **▫ What it means:** This is not only a dispute about headline defence percentages. Knighton’s warning separates capital spending, which buys equipment, from resource spending, which pays for training, exercises, maintenance, fuel and operational activity. A country can announce new platforms or long-term procurement while still struggling to keep forces active and ready. The practical question is whether the UK can credibly sustain commitments in Europe, Ukraine, and the Middle East if the operating budget is squeezed. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** - A government under fiscal pressure benefits if the issue is reduced to a single spending percentage rather than readiness. - Defence contractors benefit if the debate focuses mainly on equipment orders. - Political opponents benefit if they present every gap as proof of weakness without acknowledging the trade-offs between tax, borrowing, and public services. - Russia benefits if British and Nato defence debates become confused, delayed, or performative. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether the UK government publishes a revised defence investment plan, whether it commits to a clearer route towards Nato’s longer-term spending target, and whether military chiefs keep warning publicly about readiness. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Thames Water moves closer to temporary nationalisation **▫ What happened:** The UK government has objected to a proposed £10 billion rescue deal for Thames Water, the country’s largest water company. Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds told the regulator Ofwat that the [plan did not go far enough](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly089d0wl7o?ref=europeans.today) to protect customers or the environment. The *Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/16/thames-water-nationalisation-rescue-deal-ofwat?ref=europeans.today) that the proposal would have allowed creditors to inject capital and take control, while Thames avoided new fines for sewage leaks for several years. **▫ What it means:** This is a test of whether creditors can rescue an essential utility without leaving customers, rivers, and taxpayers to carry the cost. Thames Water has been under pressure due to high debt, pollution failures, and weak infrastructure performance. If the rescue deal fails, special administration would keep water services running while the state oversees restructuring. For customers, the immediate issue is service continuity. For democracy, the wider issue is accountability for a privatised monopoly that cannot simply be allowed to collapse. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** - Thames Water’s creditors benefit if the story is framed only as a choice between their rescue plan and chaos, rather than as a question of public interest, environmental obligations and financial responsibility. - Supporters of blanket privatisation benefit if the company’s failures are treated as isolated mismanagement rather than as a warning about the design of regulated monopolies. - Supporters of public ownership benefit if they ignore the cost and complexity of taking over a heavily indebted utility. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch Ofwat’s response to the government’s objections, whether ministers formally prepare special administration, and whether the creditor group changes the terms on customer costs, environmental performance, and restructuring fees. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Russian frigate warning shots near UK yacht raise Channel security concerns **▫ What happened:** The UK Ministry of Defence is investigating reports that a Russian frigate, identified in British media as the Admiral Grigorovich, fired warning shots near a UK-registered yacht in the English Channel. [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/16/russian-frigate-fires-warning-shots-at-british-yacht-in-channel-reports?ref=europeans.today) and [*Associated Press*](https://apnews.com/article/britain-russian-warship-channel-yacht-warning-shots-2143f3b034f069a01eb93416f984abaa?ref=europeans.today) report that the incident happened about 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside UK territorial waters. No injuries or damage were reported. A boat from HMS Tyne checked on the yacht, while HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian vessel. **▫ What it means:** The safest wording is that this was a reported warning-shot incident, not confirmed evidence of a deliberate Russian attack on a civilian vessel. Even so, it matters because the Channel is one of Europe’s busiest maritime corridors and because Russian naval activity near UK waters has become more sensitive since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The absence of injuries reduces the immediate danger, but the episode still tests how Britain monitors Russian ships near its coast and how quickly ambiguous incidents can escalate. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** - The Kremlin benefits if uncertainty allows it to normalise aggressive military behaviour around European waters while denying responsibility. - Sensationalist political actors benefit if they inflate an unresolved incident into proof of imminent war. - Sanctions evaders and shadow-fleet operators benefit if attention shifts from enforcement against Russian oil networks to a confused debate over a single yacht encounter. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch the Ministry of Defence investigation, whether Russia comments, and whether the Royal Navy changes its shadowing posture around Russian vessels passing near UK waters. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Europe tries to shape Trump’s G7 agenda on Ukraine and Iran **▫ What happened:** At the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, European leaders pushed to influence US President Donald Trump on Ukraine, Iran, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Le *Monde* [reports](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/06/16/europe-tries-to-weigh-in-on-us-iran-peace-process-at-the-g7-in-france%5F6754544%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) that the summit has become a test of Europe’s ability to weigh in on a US-Iran process that Washington is driving. *Reuters* [reports](https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/06/16/europeans-to-test-trump-on-iran-deal-risks-urge-ukraine-rethink-at-g7?ref=europeans.today) that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought more air defence and sanctions pressure on Moscow, while European diplomats described the tone of talks with Trump as constructive but said he remained non-committal on wider sanctions. **▫ What it means:** Europe is trying to keep three files connected without losing control of any of them: Ukraine’s defence, Iran’s nuclear and missile programme, and energy security through the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait is a critical shipping route for oil and gas. If it reopens only temporarily or under unstable terms, Europe remains exposed to energy shocks and diplomatic pressure. If Trump resists stronger sanctions on Russia, Europe may have to decide how far it can act without the same level of US alignment. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** - Russia benefits if the G7 is portrayed as divided and indecisive on Ukraine. - Iran benefits if a temporary shipping pause is treated as a durable settlement before nuclear and missile issues are resolved. - Trump benefits politically if the summit is framed as proof of personal deal-making success before the details are tested. - European governments benefit if they present influence over Washington as stronger than it really is. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether the Strait of Hormuz reopens as promised, whether the 60-day Iran negotiation window produces enforceable terms, and whether G7 leaders announce additional air defence or sanctions measures for Ukraine. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### European Parliament approves US tariff deal with conditions **▫ What happened:** The European Parliament approved a trade deal with the United States intended to prevent a further tariff conflict. *DW* [reports](https://amp.dw.com/en/european-parliament-approves-us-trade-deal-to-lower-tariffs/a-77577033?ref=europeans.today) that MEPs backed the agreement by 440 votes to 151, with 50 abstentions, ahead of a July deadline from Washington. Under the deal, the US applies a 15% tariff on most EU goods, while the EU cuts duties on a range of US industrial, agricultural and seafood products. The *Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/european-parliament-finally-approves-trump-tariff-deal?ref=europeans.today) that MEPs added conditions, including a sunset clause and the potential suspension of tariffs if US steel and aluminium-related tariffs continue. **▫ What it means:** This is a defensive trade settlement, not a balanced free-trade breakthrough. The EU is accepting an imperfect deal to reduce uncertainty for businesses and avoid escalation with Washington. The conditions matter because they give Brussels some room to respond if the US keeps or expands tariffs on steel-linked products. The larger issue is whether Europe can defend its economic interests when its biggest ally uses market access as leverage. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** - The Trump administration benefits if the deal is read simply as European acceptance of US terms. - EU leaders benefit if voters see it only as stability, without noticing the concessions. - Large exporters benefit from predictable rules, while smaller firms and farmers may bear costs that are easier to overlook unless the promised impact assessment is taken seriously. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch formal approval by EU member states, the Commission’s December report on steel and aluminium-related tariffs, and the 2029 assessment of the deal’s effect on European agriculture and small businesses. ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same democratic problem: governments are being asked to prove they can protect people, infrastructure, and economic sovereignty without hiding the costs, risks, or trade-offs. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [UK will have to ‘dial back’ military plans without more funding, says chief of defence](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20ydx06ym2o?ref=europeans.today) | *BBC NEWS* - ###### [UK will have to ‘dial back’ military plans without more funding, says chief of defence](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/16/uk-dial-back-military-plans-without-funding-says-defence-chief?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Thames Water moves step closer to nationalisation after government objects to rescue deal](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly089d0wl7o?ref=europeans.today) | *BBC News* - ###### [Thames Water nationalisation moves closer as government objects to rescue deal](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/16/thames-water-nationalisation-rescue-deal-ofwat?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Russian frigate fires warning shots at British yacht in Channel](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/16/russian-frigate-fires-warning-shots-at-british-yacht-in-channel-reports?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [British military investigates Russian warship warning shots in English Channel](https://apnews.com/article/britain-russian-warship-channel-yacht-warning-shots-2143f3b034f069a01eb93416f984abaa?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Europe tries to weigh in on US-Iran peace process at the G7 in France](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/06/16/europe-tries-to-weigh-in-on-us-iran-peace-process-at-the-g7-in-france%5F6754544%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [Trump calls for Russia deal with Zelenskiy, vague on pressure](https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/06/16/europeans-to-test-trump-on-iran-deal-risks-urge-ukraine-rethink-at-g7?ref=europeans.today) | *Reuters* - ###### [European Parliament approves US trade deal to lower tariffs](https://amp.dw.com/en/european-parliament-approves-us-trade-deal-to-lower-tariffs/a-77577033?ref=europeans.today) | *DW* - ###### [European parliament finally approves Trump tariff deal](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/european-parliament-finally-approves-trump-tariff-deal?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### With social media ban, Starmer attempts an emotional rebrand URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/16/with-social-media-ban-starmer-attempts-an-emotional-rebrand/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T16:44:11.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Keir Starmer has used plans for an under-16 social media ban to project a more emotional and relatable political image. 🔹 The speech is framed as both a child-safety announcement and a response to pressure on his leadership. 🔹 Starmer is moving away from the cautious strategy that helped him reach power. 🔹 Andy Burnham’s potential return to Westminster forms the wider political backdrop to the attempted rebrand. In politics, very often a speech about one topic is actually designed to deliver a very different and far broader message. This was certainly the case with Keir Starmer’s statement on banning social media for under-16s. This was not just an announcement about the government’s proposals. It was an announcement of Starmer’s intention to fight for [his position](https://theconversation.com/topics/keir-starmer-78580?ref=europeans.today). And it was an attempt to set the agenda at the beginning of a week in which the good folk of Makerfield may well send the King of the North, Andy Burnham, back to Westminster. Out with the “Old Keir” – the [non-ideological technocratic neo-statism](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41293-026-00299-8?ref=europeans.today) combined with a rather wooden and hesitant political style – and in with the new – far more relaxed, engaging and, quite simply, more human. There was a subtlety about his speech that suggested a man who is fully aware of the challenges (and challengers) that lie ahead. It appears he has at last decided to jettison the [“Ming vase strategy”](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41293-026-00305-z?ref=europeans.today) of leading through extreme caution that carried him into power. This, arguably, should have been done away with long ago. It delivered what can only be seen as a [very shallow landslide](https://academic.oup.com/pa/article-abstract/78/Supplement%5F1/65/8306930?ref=europeans.today) (a high number of seats despite a low vote share), based more on frustration and anger towards the previous government that on public commitment and belief in a fresh new political project. The threadbare nature of Starmerism quickly became apparent. Policies were launched without any clear unifying thread and quickly became what critics called “the politics of nothing”: plenty of activity, but no discernible action. This was a particular problem on the doorstep, where the prime minister’s inability to [project conviction in public](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41293-025-00279-4?ref=europeans.today) left voters unsure where the government was going or why. Added to this were Starmer’s repeated assertions that he was “a toolmaker’s son”, which too often smacked of faux authenticy. A dressed-down Keir Starmer appeared on his own social platforms. “New Keir” was suddenly more emotional and relatable, repeatedly [emphasising](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-remarks-from-downing-street-on-social-media-15-june-2026?ref=europeans.today) his role as a parent: “All I have ever wanted for my own children, hand on heart, is for them to be happy and for them to be safe. And I think that’s what any parent wants.” The surprise on his face was palpable when the end of his speech was met with whoops and cheers of joy from the audience. For a moment, it really did look like he was going to turn around to see if the source of joy was behind him (has Harry Styles walked in?), before the realisation dawned that he had, at last, connected with a substantial chunk of the British public. ### What to make of ‘New Keir’ Despite the attempted rebrand, the prime minister quickly sought to deflate public expectations. This was going to be “hard to legislate for, hard to regulate, hard to enforce”. This is why the government had been having lots of “conversations”, had done lots of “listening” and definitely believed in “partnerships”. At times it appeared like the old, careful Keir was struggling to get out of this new – and dare I say, Burnham-esque – imposture. Burnham-esque? So soon? Yes, both presentationally and politically. In a Facebook video to tout the announcement, the prime minister appears almost more Burnham-esque than Burnham. Shorn of suit and tie, in casual clothes and with a hint of a tan, Starmer speaks to the camera as if he’s just checking in on his way [to a northern soul disco night](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pdqz?ref=europeans.today). “New Keir” might be cooler than “Old Keir”, but this is not the only shift. There’s also a clear attempt to move the debate away from specific policy questions and challenges and towards Burnham’s focus on [more fundamental questions](https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/2026/05/29/what-could-an-andy-burnham-premiership-mean-for-constitutional-reform/?ref=europeans.today) about how we “do” politics in the UK. For “New Keir”, banning social media for children was not an isolated decision but an element of the wider [“building blocks of a different Britain altogether”](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-remarks-from-downing-street-on-social-media-15-june-2026?ref=europeans.today). The basic problem for Starmer is that, after two years in government, none of those building blocks were already in place, or really identifiable. What did exist was a series of [self-inflicted injuries and policy U-turns](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/01/the-problem-with-labours-u-turns?ref=europeans.today). These not only undermined the perceived competence of the government, but also played into populist arguments about the existence of a disconnected and shambolic political elite. From this perspective, the prime minster’s announcement of a social media ban could well be seen as a late attempt to fill the void created by “the politics of nothing” with “the politics of (at least) something”. A more cynical interpretation might view it as rushing out a policy that has implications for children’s wellbeing as part of a desperate political rescue mission. A more positive and realistic interpretation might view is as Starmer simply seeking to ensure at least some kind of legacy. The irony is that if “Old Keir” had been a little bit more like “New Keir” from the start – braver in policy terms and more openly engaging in presentational terms – his premiership may well have been in a very different and more positive position. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Social media firms hit back as Starmer announces ban for under-16s in UK](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/15/social-media-ban-uk-under-16-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Impact of social media ban for under-16s in UK hinges on how firm it is](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/15/effects-uk-social-media-ban-under-16s-enforcement?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Prime minister announces social media ban for under-16s](https://news.sky.com/video/prime-minister-announces-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-13554221?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [British PM Keir Starmer announces social media ban for under-16-year-olds](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/15/uk-keir-starmer-announces-social-media-ban-for-under-16-year-olds?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Andy Burnham vows to ‘change Labour’ in direct challenge to Keir Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/18/andy-burnham-vows-change-labour-direct-challenge-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/with-social-media-ban-starmer-attempts-an-emotional-rebrand-285279?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55336302090/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/285279/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The3million’s statement on Reform’s “migrant tax” URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/16/the3millions-statement-on-reforms-migrant-tax/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T12:53:24.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Reform UK’s newly proposed migrant worker taxes are criticised as undermining promises made to EU citizens after Brexit. 🔹 The3million argues that the plan risks creating a two-tier workforce and weakening Withdrawal Agreement protections. 🔹 It links the proposals to wider political scapegoating of migrants and minority communities. 🔹 EU citizens’ rights campaigners plan a Mass Lobby at Parliament on 23 June. The [proposals](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/migrant-workers-taxes-reform-jenrick-brexit-b2995907.html?ref=europeans.today) reported by *The Independent* and announced by Reform UK make a mockery of the promises that EU citizens were given when the UK left the European Union. For years, we were told that our rights would be protected by the Withdrawal Agreement. This is an international treaty between the UK and the EU, designed to provide certainty and security to the millions of people who had built their lives here in good faith, and not something which can be discarded so rashly on the whim of racists politics. Instead though, we are once again being confronted with proposals that seek to divide workers, undermine equal treatment and turn migrants into political scapegoats. Introducing additional taxes or penalties linked to employing migrant workers risks creating a two-tier workforce, where people are judged not on their contribution but on where they come from. EU citizens know all too well where this kind of rhetoric can lead. We have spent the last decade fighting to protect rights that were repeatedly promised to us, only to see those rights questioned, restricted and chipped away at. What we are witnessing now is yet another attempt to dismantle protections bit by bit, despite clear commitments made in the Withdrawal Agreement. These proposals also continue the dangerous scapegoating of migrants for wider economic and social challenges. Time and again, migrants are presented as the cause of problems in public services, housing or the labour market, despite the enormous contribution we make to communities, public services and the economy. We have seen this before, and we know the real-world consequences: increased hostility, uncertainty and division. We are not statistics on a spreadsheet. We are people who have built our lives here, we are part of the very communities which Reform seeks to divide with policies like this. The Vote Leave campaign made a [statement](https://web.archive.org/web/20160604113547/http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/restoring%5Fpublic%5Ftrust%5Fin%5Fimmigration%5Fpolicy%5Fa%5Fpoints%5Fbased%5Fnon%5Fdiscriminatory%5Fimmigration%5Fsystem) promising “there will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK”. Even Nigel Farage, during the Brexit referendum campaign and its immediate aftermath, argued that it would be “quite unreasonable” to ask EU citizens who had lawfully built their lives in the UK to leave. Those assurances helped convince many people that existing residents would be treated fairly and that their rights would be respected. Today, Reform’s proposals raise serious questions about whether those commitments were ever truly meant to endure. EU citizens and our families should not have to live in constant fear that the rights guaranteed to us under a binding, hard fought for, international treaty will become the subject of endless political attacks. Reform has already made it clear that it has no regard for international agreements though. They have clearly stated that they intend to leave some of the most fundamental human rights treaties. This is not only about EU citizens. Our concerns are for all migrants living in the UK should Reform achieve its aims. The UK made a promise to millions of people. That promise must be honoured in full, and politicians should stop using migrants and minority communities as convenient targets in pursuit of political gain. As we approach the ten-year anniversary of the Brexit vote we will be at Parliament on the 23rd June for a [Mass Lobby](https://the3million.org.uk/mass-lobby-2026-make-our-voices-heard?ref=europeans.today) calling for our rights to be protected. Today’s news shows just how far we still have to go to ensure they are. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Reform plans to tear up key plank of Brexit deal as it vows to hike taxes for employers hiring foreign workers](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/migrant-workers-taxes-reform-jenrick-brexit-b2995907.html?ref=europeans.today) | *The Independent* - ###### [Immigration, indecency, and incompetence](https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/05/immigration-indecency-and-incompetence/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Politics latest: Reform UK announces employer tax plan for British workers](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-labour-reform-starmer-farage-tories-migration-prisons-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Farage vows to ban foreign nationals from social housing as byelection looms](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/14/nigel-farage-vows-ban-social-housing-foreign-nationals-makerfield-byelection?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Unions rebuff Farage and say Reform is “cosplaying” as workers’ champions](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/09/unions-rebuff-nigel-farage-reform-cosplaying-workers-rights?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies intensify across Europe](https://apnews.com/article/europe-migration-racism-trump-eb27a3bc4c68c20a10820f6709f704f2?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The3million](https://the3million.org.uk/statement-reforms-migrant-tax?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 June 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 16 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/16/todays-papers-16-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T12:25:47.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 15 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/15/todays-papers-15-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T01:29:30.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Weekend Papers 📰 13-14 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/14/todays-weekend-papers-13-14-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T01:38:22.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 12-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/12/todays-briefing-12-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T00:54:14.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. **The E\*T Team** Today’s pattern is institutional capacity under stress. In the UK, the argument is whether government can fund security while protecting economic credibility. In Europe, the question is whether shared systems can handle migration, ageing, and political pressure without slipping into blame or theatre. ### Starmer faces defence pressure after ministerial resignations **▫ What happened and why:** Keir Starmer is under renewed pressure after Defence Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns resigned over the government’s Defence Investment Plan, the programme setting out how the UK intends to fund and modernise its armed forces. [*Financial Times*](https://www.ft.com/content/e294734a-67db-4267-88e0-4793767f50d2?ref=europeans.today), [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/story/john-healey-resigns-massive-body-blow-as-pm-loses-his-defence-secretary-and-another-departure-follows-13553207?ref=europeans.today) and [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/12/keir-starmer-defence-investment-plan-spending-dan-jarvis-al-cairns-john-healey-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) report that the resignations centre on whether the plan provides enough money for the military at a time of heightened security pressure. Healey accused the government of failing to commit the resources needed. Carns also criticised the plan after raising concerns about funding and the direction of military investment. The dispute is partly about money and partly about credibility. The Ministry of Defence [wants more funding](https://bsky.app/profile/informingbritain.com?ref=europeans.today) than the Treasury is willing to release. Starmer says defence remains a priority and argues the government has had to make hard choices across departments. **▫ Who is involved:** Keir Starmer is trying to hold together No 10, the Treasury, and the Ministry of Defence. Healey and Carns are the ministers who walked out. [Dan Jarvis](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/jun/12/who-is-dan-jarvis-the-new-defence-secretary-replacing-john-healey?ref=europeans.today), previously a security minister, has become Defence Secretary. NATO and the United States matter in the background because [Britain’s allies are pressing](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nato-europe-aircraft-reduction-b2994570.html?ref=europeans.today) European governments to spend more on defence and show credible long-term military planning. **▫ What it means:** This is not only a Westminster personnel crisis. It tests whether Britain can match its security rhetoric with funding, procurement reform, and [a realistic plan](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/john-healey-resigns-defence-spending-plan-uk-army-b2993973.html?ref=europeans.today) for the armed forces. The core question is simple: if the UK says the threat environment is worsening, can it pay for the capabilities it says it needs? **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Keir Starmer’s [internal Labour rivals](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/10/keir-starmer-aides-war-gaming-over-leadership-contest-with-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) (Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting) benefit if the story becomes only about whether he can survive. The Conservative Party and Reform UK benefit if the resignations are treated only as proof that [Labour is weak on defence](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/06/britains-defence-establishment-has-turned-on-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today). The Treasury benefits if the public debate stays focused on personalities rather than the gap between military ambition and available funding. Defence contractors also benefit if every capability problem is framed simply as “spend more”, rather than asking whether public money buys the right equipment. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether the final Defence Investment Plan changes before the NATO summit (7-8 July 2026 in Ankara, Turkey), whether Jarvis can stabilise the Ministry of Defence, and whether Labour MPs treat this as a funding dispute or a leadership opening. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### UK economy contracts as energy shock reaches growth figures **▫ What happened and why:** The UK economy contracted by 0.1% in April, after 0.3% growth in March, according to [official figures](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/12/uk-economy-gdp-shrank-april-iran-war-held-back-growth?ref=europeans.today) covered by *The Guardian*. GDP, or gross domestic product, is the main measure of the size of the economy. Services output fell by 0.2%, while construction rose by 0.1%. Over the three months to April, the economy still grew by 0.7%. The immediate pressure comes from higher energy prices linked to [the conflict involving Iran](https://www.europeans.today/tag/iran-war-2026/) and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global oil and gas trade. When energy costs rise, transport, production, household bills and business confidence can all be affected. **▫ Who is involved:** Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has to defend the government’s economic strategy. The Bank of England has to judge whether weak growth matters more than inflation risk. Businesses and households feel the pressure through prices, borrowing costs and confidence. Financial markets matter because they react quickly to weaker growth data and to changes in interest rate expectations. **▫ What it means:** One weak month is not a recession. But it is a warning sign. The UK is exposed to global energy shocks while still grappling with long-standing domestic problems: low productivity, weak investment, expensive housing, strained public services, and limited fiscal room. That means an external shock can quickly become a political and household problem. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** The Labour government benefits if the contraction is blamed entirely on Iran and energy prices, because that shifts attention away from Britain’s existing growth weaknesses. The Conservatives and Reform UK benefit if a monthly fall is presented as proof that Labour has broken the economy. Energy companies and commodity traders benefit from a confused debate if price rises are treated as unavoidable rather than examined through supply, profits, regulation and market structure. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch the next inflation and labour market data, then the Bank of England’s interest rate decision on 18 June. The key question is whether policymakers worry more about inflation staying high or growth becoming too weak. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### EU migration pact takes effect with member states not fully ready **▫ What happened and why:** The [EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/pact-migration-and-asylum%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) takes effect on 12 June. It creates common rules for how EU countries screen people arriving at borders, process asylum claims, return people whose claims fail, and share responsibility between member states. The aim is to replace the current patchwork system, where a person’s experience can differ sharply depending on whether they arrive in Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany or another country. *Associated Press* reports that the new rules apply [across the EU’s 27 member states](https://apnews.com/article/5c0ffb5bf614bdf899fa62d618da4709?ref=europeans.today). *Euronews* explains that [implementation is already under strain](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/10/eu-migration-rules-kick-in-but-enforcement-is-already-in-doubt?ref=europeans.today), with relocation pledges falling short of the 2026 target and some governments resisting parts of the solidarity system. **▫ Who is involved:** The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is responsible for overseeing implementation. Frontline states such as Italy, Greece, and Spain face pressure at external borders. Northern and western states such as Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands face pressure over reception systems, housing, and domestic politics. Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia matter because they have resisted parts of the shared responsibility system. Migrants and asylum seekers are the people most directly affected, but they are often the least heard in the debate. **▫ What it means:** This is the [EU’s most significant migration overhaul in years](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-new-migration-rules-what-does-that-mean/?ref=europeans.today). Its credibility depends on whether Europe can make a shared system work in practice, not only on paper. Faster procedures may help reduce backlogs, but they also raise legal and humanitarian risks if people are rushed through systems without proper safeguards. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Far-right and nationalist parties, including France’s National Rally, Germany’s AfD, Spain’s Vox, and Hungary’s Fidesz, benefit if the pact is reduced to a simple story of “open borders” or “Fortress Europe”. Governments benefit if implementation failures are hidden behind tough language about control. Smuggling networks benefit when legal routes are unclear, border systems are chaotic, and people are pushed into more dangerous journeys. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch border facilities, appeal procedures, [Eurodac biometric registration](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/fingerprinting-database/?ref=europeans.today) and the planned return hubs outside the EU. Eurodac is the EU database that stores fingerprints and other data from asylum seekers and irregular migrants. The first real test is whether the new system can process cases faster while still protecting rights. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### France’s demographic shift becomes a political fault line **▫ What happened and why:** *Le Monde* reports that France’s population is projected by INSEE to [peak at 69.8 million in 2037](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/06/12/france-demography-the-upcoming-political-time-bomb%5F6754385%5F5.html?ref=europeans.today). INSEE is France’s national statistics institute, the public body that produces official data on population, employment, prices and the economy. The debate has intensified after [France recorded more deaths than births in 2025](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/france-data-deaths-birthrate-ageing-population?ref=europeans.today), the first such annual natural population decline since the Second World War. This matters because France has long seen itself as demographically stronger than many European neighbours. A falling birth rate and an ageing population challenge that assumption. **▫ Who is involved:** INSEE provides the demographic data. The French government must plan for pensions, healthcare, schools, housing, and labour shortages. National Rally, the far-right party associated with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, is likely to use demographic anxiety in the 2027 presidential campaign. Employers and public services also matter because many sectors depend on workers who will not be replaced solely by births. **▫ What it means:** France is entering a debate that reaches beyond birth rates. Ageing affects pension costs, hospital demand, care work, public finances, and regional planning. A shrinking or ageing workforce also raises difficult questions about immigration, productivity, and what kind of economy France wants. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Far-right National Rally benefits if demographic change is reduced to identity politics and fear of immigration. Centrist and conservative politicians benefit if the debate stays focused only on encouraging births, because that avoids harder questions about pension reform, elderly care, labour shortages, and inequality. Employers benefit if immigration is treated only as an emergency fix, rather than as a rights-based labour and integration policy. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch how 2027 presidential candidates talk about pensions, family policy, immigration, and ageing. The serious test is whether they plan for demographic reality or campaign on demographic anxiety. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ## Finally... ### Musk becomes first trillionaire after SpaceX market debut **▫ What happened:** Elon Musk became today the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX’s stock market debut sent the company’s valuation sharply higher. *Associated Press* reports that [SpaceX shares rose 23%](https://apnews.com/article/7723f82b6063a9a17c194e25982cd66d?ref=europeans.today) in early Wall Street trading, giving the company a market valuation of $2.18tn and putting [Musk’s estimated net worth at **$1.1tn**](https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?ref=europeans.today), according to Forbes. *Financial Times* reports that [SpaceX raised $75bn](https://www.ft.com/content/8ac92c9d-f165-4203-b925-5bfc75725800?ref=europeans.today) in what it describes as the world’s biggest initial public offering. An initial public offering, or IPO, is when a company sells shares to public investors for the first time. *The Guardian* reports that the listing made SpaceX [one of the world’s most valuable public companies](https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/jun/12/spacex-float-us-stock-market-share-elon-musk-trillionaire-largest-ipo-ever-live-news-updates?ref=europeans.today). Musk is the central figure because his wealth is tied to his ownership of SpaceX and other companies. SpaceX matters beyond the stock market because it operates rockets, satellites and communications infrastructure used by governments, businesses, and consumers. Investors, pension funds, and regulators also matter because a company of this scale can quickly become embedded in wider markets. **▫ What it means:** This is not only a wealth milestone. It shows how quickly private control over space, satellite communications, and AI-linked infrastructure can become a question of public accountability. If SpaceX becomes part of major stock indices, ordinary savers may gain exposure through pensions and investment funds, whether or not they have made an active choice about Musk’s companies. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** [Elon Musk](https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/06/02/even-musk-admirers-should-be-troubled-by-spacexs-governance/?ref=europeans.today) and SpaceX benefit if the story is treated only as personal business genius, because that [narrows attention away](https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/06/12/spacexs-stock-market-debut-five-risks-investors-need-to-know?ref=europeans.today) from governance, market concentration, public contracts, and infrastructure dependence. Rival political actors also benefit if the story is reduced to culture-war argument rather than examined as a question of private power over systems that governments and citizens increasingly rely on. Banks and early investors benefit if excitement about the IPO overwhelms scrutiny of valuation, profitability, and risk. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether SpaceX’s share price holds after the first trading surge, whether index providers move to include it in major market benchmarks, and whether regulators or pension funds raise governance concerns [about Musk’s control](https://financialpost.com/investing/spacex-too-risky-governance-mandate-funds?ref=europeans.today). The longer-term test is whether public institutions can oversee critical infrastructure when ownership and decision-making are concentrated in one private empire. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### TODAY’s Closing Line Across today’s stories, the same civic test appears in different forms: whether democratic governments can explain costs, limits, and trade-offs clearly, while private power grows fast enough to test public accountability. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [John Healey resigns: ‘Massive body blow’ as PM loses his defence secretary](https://news.sky.com/story/john-healey-resigns-massive-body-blow-as-pm-loses-his-defence-secretary-and-another-departure-follows-13553207?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [UK’s defence plan is underfunded and outdated, says Al Carns after resignation](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/12/uk-defence-plan-underfunded-outdated-al-carns-resignation?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK economy shrank by 0.1% in April as Iran war held back growth](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/12/uk-economy-gdp-shrank-april-iran-war-held-back-growth?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [What to know about the EU’s updated rules for migration and asylum](https://apnews.com/article/eu-migration-asylum-rules-what-to-know-5c0ffb5bf614bdf899fa62d618da4709?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [France’s declining population creates political ticking time bomb](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/06/12/france-demography-the-upcoming-political-time-bomb%5F6754385%5F5.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [SpaceX soars in Wall Street debut and makes Elon Musk the first trillionaire](https://apnews.com/article/7723f82b6063a9a17c194e25982cd66d?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 12 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/12/todays-papers-12-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T17:30:17.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Ukraine war now longer than the first world war – the similarities are unsettling URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/11/ukraine-war-now-longer-than-the-first-world-war-the-similarities-are-unsettling/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T02:12:35.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Ukraine’s war has now lasted longer than the first world war. 🔹 Trenches, artillery, and attritional combat echo earlier industrial warfare. 🔹 Manpower, industrial capacity, economic resilience, and political will are decisive factors. 🔹 Drones and other technologies matter, but they have not removed the need for soldiers to hold ground. The war in Ukraine has now exceeded the first world war in duration. And while the comparison between these two conflicts is imperfect, it is becoming difficult to ignore. Some of the similarities are obvious. At the tactical level, the conflict in Ukraine has witnessed the return of artillery as the dominant arm of battle. During much of the first year of the war, artillery was responsible for the vast majority of casualties. Although drones have since transformed the battlefield, artillery remains indispensable to both sides. Equally striking has been the return of extensive trench systems. Not since the Iran-Iraq war, which was fought between 1980 and 1988, has a major interstate conflict depended so heavily upon field fortifications and prepared positions such as trenches, concrete obstacles and belts of barbed wire. Large-scale manoeuvre has given way to attritional combat measured in hundreds of metres rather than tens of kilometres. Yet the deeper similarities lie not in trenches or artillery, but in the underlying logic of the war itself. Like the first world war, the conflict in Ukraine has become a contest of endurance: manpower, industrial capacity, economic resilience and political will. These factors, rather than any individual weapons system, are likely to determine its eventual outcome. Of these, the most important is manpower. ### Broadly comparable losses During the first world war, British, French and German governments routinely published casualty lists. The public knew that victories often came at immense cost. Military leaders understood that the key question was not simply how many casualties the enemy had suffered, but whether their own societies could continue to bear comparable losses for longer than the opponent. Battles such as Verdun and the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres) in 1917 generally produced losses that were severe for both sides. This was well understood on the home front. Yet in the Ukraine war, we are regularly invited to believe that Russia sustains several times the number of dead than is suffered by Ukraine. In a particularly unlikely example, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, claimed that 47 Russians were dying for every Ukrainian earlier in 2026. About a year ago, I was having dinner at a London club with a well-connected former Ukrainian government official whom I have known for some time. Our conversation turned to casualties. I asked them: “Tell me, no bullshit: what is the real casualty ratio?” My companion paused before replying quietly: “Same as the Russians.” Surprised, I asked for the source. “The General Staff,” they replied. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is the senior military command headquarters of Ukraine’s armed forces – the body responsible for planning, directing and coordinating military operations at the highest level. This is an anecdote, but publicly available evidence tends to support this assertion. Sources such as the *New York Times* have also confirmed that casualties on both sides are similar, with Russia sustaining more, but not multiple times more. Russia, of course, has a far larger population than Ukraine. The precise casualty figures remain contested and are likely to remain so until long after the war ends. What matters for present purposes, however, is that the available evidence points towards a war of broadly comparable losses rather than one in which either side enjoys an overwhelming advantage in manpower attrition. Even if these figures are broadly correct, Ukraine has held the line against a much larger adversary for over four years now and has shown extraordinary resilience in the face of invasion. Its capacity for innovation has repeatedly surprised observers. New drones, autonomous systems and precision-strike technologies are often presented as solutions to the country’s growing manpower difficulties. Some commentators even suggest that robotic systems may compensate for shortages of personnel. The difficulty with this argument is that war is an interactive contest. Almost every significant Ukrainian innovation has been met by a Russian adaptation and vice versa. The result has been a continuing cycle of measure and countermeasure rather than a decisive technological breakthrough by either side. Technology matters enormously, but it rarely abolishes the need for manpower. Artillery, tanks, aircraft and machine guns transformed warfare between 1914 and 1918, yet none removed the requirement to occupy and defend ground with soldiers. The same remains true today. As military doctrine has long recognised, drones, missiles and aircraft can destroy, disrupt and delay, but ground can only be taken and held by troops. There are other echoes of 1918\. The small infiltration and assault groups employed by both sides in Ukraine’s drone-saturated battlefields bear a striking resemblance to the German stormtroopers who achieved remarkable successes during the Spring Offensive of 1918. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/00000001.png) Ukraine war is now longer than WW1 – the similarities are unsettling. | EUROPEANS TODAY As so often in warfare, however, innovation did not confer a lasting advantage. The British and French adapted, developed countermeasures and eventually improved upon many of the new tactics themselves. What transformed the strategic balance in the first world war was not tactical innovation or a decisive technological breakthrough, but the arrival of the US Army and Marine Corps. More than 2 million American soldiers ultimately served in Europe, and their battlefield presence convinced Germany that time was no longer on its side. Ukraine faces no such prospect today. For all the discussion of technological revolution, the war in Ukraine remains a contest of human endurance – just like the first world war. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Russian drones over Poland is a serious escalation – Here’s why the West’s response won’t worry Putin](https://www.europeans.today/2025/09/12/russian-drones-over-poland-is-a-serious-escalation-heres-why-the-wests-response-wont-worry-putin/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [‘Highway of death’: the Ukrainian drone campaign menacing Russian logistics](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/11/highway-of-death-the-ukrainian-drone-campaign-menacing-russian-logistics?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Russia can keep fighting Ukraine war throughout 2026, says military thinktank](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/24/russia-fighting-ukraine-war-throughout-2026-military-thinktank?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Ukraine launches long-range strikes on military and energy sites in Russia](https://apnews.com/article/4a158f6273807683d48692dedb4121b8?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Europe and the US must not waver in support of Ukraine](https://www.thetimes.com/comment/the-times-view/article/europe-and-us-must-not-waver-in-support-of-ukraine-sd855f2fh?ref=europeans.today) | *The Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-now-longer-than-the-first-world-war-the-similarities-are-unsettling-284864?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[PALINCHAK](https://www.dreamstime.com/palinchak%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/284864/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### German far-right candidate narrowly loses Eastern Germany’s local election URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/11/german-far-right-candidate-narrowly-loses-eastern-germanys-local-election/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T02:56:53.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 CDU candidate Marcus Hoffmann won the Aue-Bad Schlema mayoral runoff with 52.7 percent of the vote. 🔹 Stefan Hartung of the far-right Freie Sachsen party received 47.3 percent after leading the first round in May. 🔹 Freie Sachsen is classified as right-wing extremist by Saxony’s domestic intelligence service. 🔹 The close result has intensified concern about the weakening of Germany’s democratic firewall at local level. A candidate from Germany’s far-right Freie Sachsen party has narrowly lost a mayoral election in the eastern town of Aue-Bad Schlema, after a campaign that unsettled national politics far beyond the town’s 19,000 residents. Marcus Hoffmann, the candidate for the conservative Christian Democrats, won Sunday’s second round with 5,007 votes. Stefan Hartung, a leading figure in Freie Sachsen, received 4,499 votes, according to results reported by [*Die Welt*](https://www.welt.de/article6a25b9c28d84dbd8a4ed8140?ref=europeans.today). That gave Hoffmann 52.7 percent of the vote against Hartung’s 47.3 percent. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 11-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/11/todays-briefing-11-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T00:55:08.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. **The E\*T Team** ### UK defence secretary resigns over spending plan **▫ What happened:** John Healey [resigned](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cgqeg09p3p1t?ref=europeans.today) as UK defence secretary, [saying](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/11/john-healey-defence-secretary-resignation-letter-what-it-said-meant?ref=europeans.today) the proposed defence investment plan would leave spending at 2.68% of GDP by 2030 and fall short of what Britain needs. The *Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/11/belfast-riots-hilary-benn-anti-immigrant-injured-police-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) that Healey accused the Treasury of being unwilling, and Keir Starmer of being unable, to commit sufficient resources. The *Financial Times* also leads [with the resignation](https://www.ft.com/world?ref=europeans.today) and Healey’s criticism of the settlement. **▫ What it means:** This turns defence spending from a policy dispute into a direct test of Starmer’s authority. It also lands before major international meetings, where allies will be watching whether UK commitments match UK rhetoric, as we explained in [yesterday’s Briefing](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/10/todays-briefing-10-jun-2026/). **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Anyone who frames this solely as Westminster drama misses the larger issue: Britain is being forced to choose between fiscal restraint, military readiness, and industrial capacity. **▫ What to watch next:** The replacement appointment, the final defence investment plan, and whether Labour MPs treat this as a spending row or a leadership crisis. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Belfast disorder exposes the cost of misinformation **▫ What happened:** Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn condemned further violence in Belfast as racist thuggery after a second night of disorder. The *Guardian* [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/11/northern-ireland-secretary-condemns-racist-thuggery-second-night-violence-belfast?ref=europeans.today) 16 arrests and 12 injured police officers. At the same time, *Sky News* [reports](https://news.sky.com/story/belfast-knife-attack-victims-family-says-sharing-of-false-information-is-deeply-distressing-after-second-night-of-disorder-13552903?ref=europeans.today) that Stephen Ogilvie’s family appealed for calm and said false information online was deeply distressing. **▫ What it means:** A serious criminal case has been turned into a wider test of public order, social media accountability, and political responsibility. Minority communities are being made to carry the fear created by people exploiting a violent attack. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Extremists benefit if the public treats collective punishment as legitimate anger. [Elon Musk](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/10/elon-musk-x-not-face-action-uk-government-posts-inciting-violence-belfast?ref=europeans.today), [Nigel Farage](https://news.sky.com/video/things-will-continue-to-kick-off-nigel-farage-reflects-on-belfast-violence-13552808?ref=europeans.today), and other political actors also benefit when attention shifts away from policing, victim support, and accurate facts. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch for further arrests, the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) capacity, Ofcom scrutiny of social media platforms, and whether political leaders keep the focus on both justice for the victim and protection for targeted communities. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Brussels prepares plan to cut electricity bills **▫ What happened:** *Euronews* [reports](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/11/brussels-set-to-unveil-plan-to-lower-electricity-bills-amid-energy-crisis?ref=europeans.today) that the European Commission is preparing legislation to tax electricity more favourably than gas, reform network charges, and encourage the use of digital tools to track consumption. The proposal comes as the Commission [estimates](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-is-losing-e500m-a-day-in-energy-crisis-ursula-von-der-leyen-warns/?ref=europeans.today) that renewed fossil fuel costs linked to Middle East instability amount to about €500 million a day. **▫ What it means:** The EU is trying to make electrification cheaper while easing pressure on households and industry. The political difficulty is that energy tax reform typically requires unanimity, so Brussels is exploring an alternative regulatory route. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Fossil fuel incumbents benefit if this is framed as abstract Brussels rulemaking rather than a fight over who pays for Europe’s energy transition and grid upgrades. **▫ What to watch next:** The final European Commission text, member state resistance, and whether lower electricity taxes are matched by investment in grids and clean power. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### France orders review of 70,000 child abuse cases **▫ What happened:** France’s justice minister, Gerald Darmanin, ordered prosecutors to review about 70,000 outstanding child sexual abuse cases by 14 July after public outrage over the [murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyd1w3e20o?ref=europeans.today). *Euronews* [reports](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/11/can-frances-justice-system-really-review-70000-child-sexual-abuse-cases-in-five-weeks?ref=europeans.today) that experts are divided over whether the timetable is feasible. **▫ What it means:** The order is an attempt to show urgency after a suspected institutional failure. But speed alone will not rebuild trust if courts, prosecutors, and investigators lack the capacity to act properly on the cases they identify. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Officials benefit if a headline-grabbing review is mistaken for a functioning child protection system. Bad-faith actors benefit if outrage replaces scrutiny of resources, procedure, and accountability. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch for the 14 July deadline, any case reopenings or disciplinary findings, and whether France commits more judicial capacity beyond the emergency review. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### TODAY’s Closing Line Across the UK and Europe, the central question is not whether governments can make forceful announcements. The question is whether public institutions can still convert urgency into competence, protection, and trust. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [John Healey resigns as defence secretary in disagreement with Starmer over spending](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/11/belfast-riots-hilary-benn-anti-immigrant-injured-police-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [UK defence secretary resigns over spending plan](https://www.ft.com/world?ref=europeans.today) | Financial Times - ###### [Northern Ireland secretary condemns Belfast riots as racist thuggery](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/11/northern-ireland-secretary-condemns-racist-thuggery-second-night-violence-belfast?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Elon Musk’s X not facing action from UK government over posts inciting violence in Belfast](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/10/elon-musk-x-not-face-action-uk-government-posts-inciting-violence-belfast?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Brussels set to unveil plan to lower electricity bills amid energy crisis](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/11/brussels-set-to-unveil-plan-to-lower-electricity-bills-amid-energy-crisis?ref=europeans.today) | Euronews - ###### [Can France's justice system really review 70,000 child sexual abuse cases in five weeks?](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/11/can-frances-justice-system-really-review-70000-child-sexual-abuse-cases-in-five-weeks?ref=europeans.today) | Euronews ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 11 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/11/todays-papers-11-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T14:52:55.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Prime ministers have always faced political scandals – so why can’t they weather them now? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/10/prime-ministers-have-always-faced-political-scandals-so-why-cant-they-weather-them-now/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T03:08:21.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Recent UK prime ministers have faced unusually rapid turnover since 2015\. 🔹 Brexit, COVID, war, inflation and economic shocks have intensified public blame. 🔹 First-past-the-post has widened the gap between vote share and parliamentary power. 🔹 Polling suggests public satisfaction with both prime ministers and governments has declined sharply. UK prime ministers today are about as secure in their jobs as football managers. In the nearly three decades between 1979 and 2005, Britain had just three prime ministers: Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair. From 2005-2015, we again had three: Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. But from then on we have had no less than six: Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and now Keir Starmer, currently fighting to retain his job and explaining to parliament why he supported Peter Mandelson for a key ambassadorship. Prime ministers usually resign after serious political failures – from May failing to get a Brexit deal through parliament after losing her working majority, to a series of scandals under Johnson leading to a mass resignation of his ministers. Truss was evicted in record time after her mini-budget, proposing large unfunded tax cuts, crashed the financial markets. But prime ministers have always faced problems in the past and survived, so why is it proving fatal to their incumbency now? One explanation is that it reflects the increasing fragmentation of the British party system. In the 1987 general election, Labour and the Conservatives took 73% of the total vote. In the 2024 election, they [took 57%](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10009/?ref=europeans.today). In particular, when prime ministers can’t get a working majority, something which happened in 2010 and again in 2017, they are quick to be blamed by their supporters when things go wrong. Another explanation is that while all prime ministers face failures, the massive shocks to the political system and the economy in quick succession since 2015 are really unusual. The Brexit vote, the COVID pandemic, Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and now the war in the Middle East, all rank highly on the scale of political crises. Arguably, no political leader can cope with such a litany of events, when the public directly feel (and blame them for) the consequences of these shocks such as higher inflation. Coping has been made more difficult for Starmer by having to deal with an irrational and unpredictable American president, whose tariff wars have directly affected the [British economy](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects?ref=europeans.today). There is also an increasingly large gap between the vote shares and the seat shares in general elections produced by the first-past-the-post system. In the 2024 election, Labour took less than 34% of the vote, but over 63% of the seats in the House of Commons. This means that the party lacks legitimacy in the eyes of many voters who did not support it, resulting in a short honeymoon. Again, this makes the leader’s position vulnerable, and their approval ratings more susceptible to a volatile public. Starmer’s [favourability](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54093-political-favourability-ratings-february-2026?ref=europeans.today) ratings are currently [very negative](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54604-political-favourability-ratings-april-2026?ref=europeans.today), though not quite as bad as Johnson, Sunak or Truss before they resigned. A less-recognised reason for the high PM turnover is evident in data from successive Ipsos [monthly polls](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/political-monitor-satisfaction-ratings-1997-present?ref=europeans.today) over a nearly 30-year period. From the Labour landslide victory in 1997 up to the end of 2025, satisfaction with both the government and the prime minister have declined, while dissatisfaction has increased. Regardless of their party affiliations, voters are increasingly fed up with the governments and leaders. Not surprisingly, the two figures track each other quite closely. But it is interesting that the prime ministerial series is consistently more positive than the government series. It appears that the public are a bit more likely to blame the government of the day for problems than the prime minister. This means that replacing the prime minister does little to change the standing of the governing party. This did make a difference in the past, such as when Major replaced Thatcher as prime minister, but it is [unlikely to succeed now](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Major-Political-Life-Anthony-Seldon/dp/0753801450?ref=europeans.today). At the time of writing, Starmer’s approval is ahead of the government’s – but not by much. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/europeans_today_satisfaction_chart-.png) ### The dynamics of decline While there is clear evidence of a decline in the public’s satisfaction with leaders and governments, this decline is not uniform. We can observe a relatively sharp break in the satisfaction ratings for prime ministers by looking at the performance of all eight of them since 1997. Blair had the highest average satisfaction ratings over this period, at 44%. In contrast, Brown was caught by the financial crash which started the year he took over as prime minister. Cameron and May did quite well, even though they ended up having to resign for Brexit-related political reasons (being on the losing side of the referendum and failing to get a deal through parliament, respectively). Even Johnson’s ratings were not much different from his immediate predecessors, since he was popular at the time of the 2019 general election. His reputation only really soured when the evidence about Partygate and lying to the House of Commons fully emerged in 2022. Truss appears to be the turning point, with satisfaction with the prime minister really collapsing after she became leader, even though she was in office for only a month and a half. The longstanding fallout from the economic crisis which her mini-budget provoked has been [much discussed](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/trussonomics-pro-rich-anti-poor/?ref=europeans.today). But the data suggests that the political fallout from her brief premiership has lasted beyond her resignation. Sunak and now Starmer have subsequently followed in her footsteps with low positive ratings overall. This enduring crisis of leadership in Britain applies both to Conservative and Labour prime ministers. The public appears to have a lower tolerance for political failings – with a [loss of trust](https://global.oup.com/%20academic/product/trust-9780198896449?cc=gb&lang=en&&ref=europeans.today) in politicians generally this is not surprising. The cumulative impact of the economic and political shocks to the system, the crumbling of the traditional party system and the repeated failures of recent prime ministers on a scale not seen before may have created a trend. The potential failure of all prime ministers, regardless of their party, is likely to continue until the turmoil created by recent events dies down. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How much longer can Keir Starmer survive?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/10/how-much-longer-can-keir-starmer-survive/) | Europeans TODAY - ###### [From landslide to leadership crisis: where did it all go wrong for Keir Starmer?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/from-landslide-to-leadership-crisis-where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-keir-starmer/) | Europeans TODAY - ###### [Why Peter Mandelson ties still haunt Keir Starmer](https://apnews.com/article/britain-starmer-mandelson-epstein-vetting-ambassador-trump-35c2c302e7370efcd0098b5b9419c72e?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [More Mandelson files spell bad news for Keir Starmer](https://apnews.com/article/mandelson-epstein-documents-published-starmer-8de7ac27962b5bebc68d67a4480c23bf?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [How much did Starmer really know about Mandelson's ties to Epstein?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/how-was-mandelson-vetted-role-ambassador-what-did-starmer-know-epstein-explainer?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/prime-ministers-have-always-faced-political-scandals-so-why-cant-they-weather-them-now-281357?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 10 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/281357/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 10-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/10/todays-briefing-10-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T00:56:07.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. **The E\*T Team** ### Belfast disorder puts online incitement and political responsibility under scrutiny **▫ What happened:** After a knife attack in Belfast, anti-migrant disorder spread through parts of the city. Homes, vehicles and businesses were targeted, with political leaders condemning the violence. The suspect in the knife attack was remanded in custody. At the same time, the victim’s family [appealed for calm](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/anti-immigrant-violence-erupts-across-belfast-after-knife-attack-2026-06-10/?ref=europeans.today) and warned against using the case to divide communities. Ministers said social media companies would be required to act faster [against illegal content](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/social-media-liz-kendall-musk-37276873?ref=europeans.today) during crises. **▫ What it means:** The immediate issue is public order. The wider issue is whether a serious criminal case is being turned into collective suspicion against migrants. The government’s response now sits at the junction of policing, online safety, immigration politics and Northern Ireland’s fragile civic balance. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Extremist groups, engagement-driven platforms and politicians [who profit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/09/how-belfast-knife-attack-became-the-latest-far-right-trigger-event?ref=europeans.today) from fear all benefit if a criminal case is presented as proof against a whole community. That framing shifts attention away from evidence, due process, and the protection of people being targeted. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether further disorder occurs, whether arrests lead to charges, how Ofcom and platforms respond to the proposed [Online Safety Act](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer?ref=europeans.today) update, and whether political leaders keep their language focused on law, evidence, and public safety. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Defence funding delay exposes the cost of Britain’s security promises **▫ What happened:** Downing Street [declined to say](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg4rknndjeo?ref=europeans.today) whether tax rises could help fund higher defence spending, as the government’s delayed Defence Investment Plan remains unresolved. The plan was originally expected last autumn and is now due before the NATO summit on 7 July. The dispute comes as ministers face pressure to explain how increased military commitments will be paid for. **▫ What it means:** Britain is trying to sound strategically serious while still avoiding the fiscal argument that follows. A defence plan [without a credible funding path](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ky47v6d1no?ref=europeans.today) risks disappointing allies, military chiefs and [voters](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/britons-split-increased-defence-spending-public-resists-core-tax-and-spend-trade-offs?ref=europeans.today) who are being asked to accept new security priorities. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Anyone selling defence as cost-free benefits if voters do not see the trade-offs. So do political opponents who reduce the issue to either tax rises or welfare cuts without addressing the full question of capability, procurement, borrowing, taxation and public consent. **▫ What to watch next:** The key moment is the publication of the [Defence Investment Plan](https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/the-real-test-of-the-defence-investment-plan-is-endurance/?ref=europeans.today) before the NATO summit. Watch whether it includes [a timetable for higher spending](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tax-rises-rachel-reeves-defence-spending-military-b2993008.html?ref=europeans.today), what it says about tax or cuts, and whether military leaders judge it credible. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### EU states seek safeguards for future members after rule-of-law disputes **▫ What happened:** Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg have proposed tougher safeguards for future EU members. According to [*Euronews*](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/10/five-eu-countries-push-tougher-safeguards-for-future-members-to-avoid-orban-repeat?ref=europeans.today), the proposal would allow faster penalties for democratic or legal breaches, including possible restrictions on funds and voting rights. It is aimed at shaping accession treaties as enlargement talks advance, including for Montenegro and other candidate countries. **▫ What it means:** The EU wants enlargement, but it also wants to avoid importing future veto crises or democratic backsliding that it cannot later control. This is a direct lesson from [years of conflict](https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/04/hungarys-orban-is-gone-now-the-eu-unanimity-rule-should-go-too?ref=europeans.today) over Hungary’s rule-of-law record and its use of veto power. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Anti-enlargement forces benefit if this is framed simply as hostility to new members. Illiberal governments benefit if it is framed as a bureaucratic technicality. The real issue is whether the EU can [expand](https://commission.europa.eu/topics/enlargement%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) while protecting its ability to act and its democratic standards. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether these safeguards become part of [Montenegro](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/05/eu-summit-montenegro-western-balkan-countries-membership-enlargement?ref=europeans.today)’s accession treaty, because that could set the template for Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### European trust in the US security guarantee falls sharply **▫ What happened:** A European Council on Foreign Relations survey reported by [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/10/only-one-in-10-europeans-now-see-us-as-an-ally-survey-suggests?ref=europeans.today) and [*DW*](https://amp.dw.com/en/only-1-in-10-europeans-see-us-as-an-ally-study/a-77489708?ref=europeans.today) found that only about **one in 10 Europeans** across 15 countries now sees the US as an ally sharing their interests and values. Majorities in every surveyed country doubted that the US would come to their aid if attacked. The polling was released ahead of the [G7](https://www.elysee.fr/en/G7evian?ref=europeans.today) (15-17 June, in Evian, France) and [NATO](https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/events/media-advisories/2026/04/22/nato-summit-media-advisory?ref=europeans.today) (7-8 July, in Ankara, Turkey) summits. **▫ What it means:** European leaders are facing a public mood that is more willing to discuss self-reliance, defence spending and reduced dependence on US military hardware. But the same polling also suggests limited appetite for replacing NATO outright or cutting domestic public spending to fund defence. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Washington hardliners benefit if European anxiety is treated as weakness rather than a rational response to uncertainty. European nationalists benefit if it is turned into a case for isolation. Defence lobbyists benefit if public mistrust becomes a blank cheque rather than a democratic debate about priorities. **▫ What to watch next:** The G7 and NATO summits [will show](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/06/g7-summit-will-this-be-a-middle-power-moment/?ref=europeans.today) whether European governments turn public concern into concrete procurement, funding and coordination decisions, or continue relying on language about strategic autonomy without matching it to delivery. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### TODAY’s Closing Line Today’s stories point to the same democratic test: security policy only works when governments can protect people, tell the truth about costs, and resist those who turn fear into political advantage. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Musk rejects claim he has incited disorder in Belfast](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/10/belfast-riots-knife-attack-northern-ireland-sdlp-keir-starmer-kemi-badenoch-pmqs-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [No 10 dodges question on whether tax rises will pay for increase in defence spending](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-kemi-badenoch-to-speak-to-sky-news-amid-rising-costs-caused-by-iran-war-12593360?postid=11429113&ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* - ###### [Five EU countries push tougher safeguards for future members](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/10/five-eu-countries-push-tougher-safeguards-for-future-members-to-avoid-orban-repeat?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [Only one in 10 Europeans now see US as an ally, survey suggests](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/10/only-one-in-10-europeans-now-see-us-as-an-ally-survey-suggests?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Only 1 in 10 Europeans see US as an ally, study](https://amp.dw.com/en/only-1-in-10-europeans-see-us-as-an-ally-study/a-77489708?ref=europeans.today) | *DW* - ###### [How the world sees Donald Trump: Surveys show other countries see US president as ‘unreliable’ and ‘dangerous’](https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/09/how-the-world-sees-donald-trump-surveys-show-other-countries-see-us-president-as-unreliable-and-dangerous/) | *Europeans TODAY* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 10 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/10/todays-papers-10-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T16:47:34.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### How the world sees Donald Trump: Surveys show other countries see US president as ‘unreliable’ and ‘dangerous’ URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/09/how-the-world-sees-donald-trump-surveys-show-other-countries-see-us-president-as-unreliable-and-dangerous/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T23:29:32.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Pew polling shows low international confidence in Donald Trump’s handling of world affairs. 🔹 Traditional US allies including Canada, Germany, France and Australia view Trump and the United States more negatively. 🔹 Most respondents across many surveyed countries described Trump as “dangerous”. 🔹 America’s global standing may require concrete reassurance to Nato allies after Trump leaves office. Americans are increasingly turning against the war in Iran and the president who launched it. According to a [survey conducted in April](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/05/01/trump-loses-ground-on-several-personal-traits-as-approval-rating-slips/?ref=europeans.today) by US-based pollster, Pew International, 61% of people in the US disapprove of the war while only 37% approve. The US president’s overall approval rating, meanwhile, has slipped to 34%. In many other countries, however, this disenchantment looms larger. Pew’s [spring 2025 survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/international-affairs/?ref=europeans.today) revealed 12 months ago a strong lack of confidence in [Donald Trump](https://theconversation.com/topics/donald-trump-10206?ref=europeans.today) across much of the world. The survey was conducted in 24 mostly European countries, but also countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Respondents were asked a question about the confidence they had in Trump to do the right thing in world affairs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/0000000001--1-.png) The country with the lowest levels of confidence was Mexico with Canada, Sweden and Germany not far behind. Interestingly, proximity to the United States appears to boost a lack of confidence in the president, with Canada and Mexico much less confident than other countries. Respondents in the UK were more likely to be confident than those in other European countries such as France, Spain and Italy. But even then, only 37% of UK respondents were confident, compared with 63% who were not. The UK score is rather similar to Japan which has also been a longstanding ally of the US. There were five countries in which the president enjoyed a positive net level of confidence: Hungary, Kenya, India, Israel and Nigeria. These are all classified as hybrid authoritarian regimes or flawed democracies by the [*Economist Intelligence Unit*](https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2024/?ref=europeans.today). It shows that citizens of weak democracies or authoritarian states quite like him. ### Is Trump dangerous? This lack of confidence in the president is only part of the story. The survey asked what respondents thought about various traits that could be associated with Trump as president. It asked if they thought he was he was “well qualified”, “strong”, “honest” or “diplomatic”. It also asked if he was “arrogant” or “dangerous”. The second chart shows the percentage of respondents who thought that he was “dangerous”. It makes sober reading. More than 50% of the respondents in 21 of the countries thought this. It seems likely that the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, which took place after the survey was in the field, will have reinforced these perceptions. The war is stalled and the economic repercussions are likely to increase its unpopularity both in the US and around the world. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/0000000002--1-.png) ### The prospects for post-Trump America The US can, of course, recover from the Trump era. Unlike Russia, where periods of democracy have been an aberration in its history, the US has been a democracy for 250 years. That said, it is currently classified as a “flawed democracy” in the Economist Intelligence Unit database. But if, [as seems likely](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/congressional-vote-2026.html?ref=europeans.today), the Democrats outperform the Republicans in the midterm elections in November this year, they will regain control of either the House or the Senate, or both. This would be a severe blow to Trumpism. If Congress is controlled by the Democrats, they can veto any of Trump’s legislative proposals, hamstring his policies by withholding funding and at the same time initiate impeachment proceedings against him. Such actions will very likely make him a lame duck, leading to a loss of support for Republicans in the presidential elections in 2028. The survey also shows that America’s reputation as a reliable ally and supporter of democracy has been seriously damaged across the world in his two terms in the White House. The third chart shows the percentage of survey respondents who have a favourable or unfavourable view of the US. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/06/0000000003--1-.png) It is striking that many of America’s traditional allies such as Australia, Canada, Germany and France now have a very unfavourable view of the US. This contrasts with the flawed democracies or hybrid authoritarian states who like him. Although, to be fair, attitudes to the US overall are much more favourable than attitudes to Trump. How might the US regain the international respect it has clearly lost under Trump as president? In the realm of foreign policy, actions speak louder than words – and America’s Nato allies will need to see some kind of concrete assurance that Washington is prepared to resume the leadership and security roles it is apparently abandoning under the current administration. Perhaps what it also needs is some kind of [“truth and reconciliation commission”](https://atjhub.csvr.org.za/south-africa-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-1996-2002/?ref=europeans.today), along the lines of the one set up by Nelson Mandela following the collapse of apartheid in South Africa. Once Trump has left office, America needs to understand clearly what has happened so that it can avoid this in the future. It is a cliché – but nonetheless true – that people who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [US declares war in Iran ‘over’ to avoid row with Congress over whether it was legal](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/us-declares-war-in-iran-over-to-avoid-row-with-congress-over-whether-it-was-legal/) | Europeans TODAY - ###### [Is Trump losing the support of his Maga base?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/is-trump-losing-the-support-of-his-maga-base/) | Europeans TODAY - ###### [Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order](https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/20/trumps-greenland-ambitions-could-wreck-20th-century-alliances-that-helped-build-the-modern-world-order/) | Europeans TODAY - ###### [Opinion of US has worsened in countries around world in last year, survey shows](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/11/opinion-of-us-has-worsened-in-countries-around-world-in-last-year-survey-shows?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Majorities in key US allies have no confidence in Trump](https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5431366/us-allies-no-confidence-trump-poll?ref=europeans.today) | NPR --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/how-the-world-sees-donald-trump-surveys-show-other-countries-see-us-president-as-unreliable-and-dangerous-283305?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 9 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/283305/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### TODAY’s Briefing ~ 9-Jun-2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/09/todays-briefing-9-jun-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T00:56:28.000Z **What is TODAY’s Briefing?** TODAY’s Briefing helps readers understand the day’s most important political and current affairs stories with clarity, context, and independent analysis. Each edition is built around one promise: what happened, what it means, who benefits if you misunderstand it, and what to watch next. No outrage farming. No noise for its own sake. Just independent analysis for readers who want to stay clear-eyed. **The E\*T Team** ### TODAY’s Briefing **Today’s briefing looks at the struggle to keep public debate factual as migration, equality law, Russia sanctions and AI scams collide with politics.** The wider pattern today is institutional pressure. In the UK, police, ministers and regulators are trying to keep pace with viral misinformation and polarised claims. In Europe, the EU is tightening migration and Russia policy while still facing hard questions about legality, enforcement and public trust. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Belfast attack prompts warnings over online agitation **▫ What happened:** Police and political leaders in Northern Ireland urged calm after a serious knife attack in north Belfast. A Sudanese man has been arrested. Police said the incident was not being treated as terrorism, while ministers and community leaders warned against inflammatory online claims and calls for protest. **▫ What it means:** The case is becoming a test of whether public authorities can separate criminal justice from racialised political mobilisation. The verified facts matter because premature claims can endanger communities and undermine the investigation. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Extremist actors benefit if a violent crime is turned into proof of a broader ethnic or religious conspiracy before evidence is established. Political figures also benefit if public anger moves faster than due process. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch for police updates on the suspect, the victim’s condition, any charging decision, and whether planned protests lead to public disorder. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### Badenoch pledges to scrap public sector equality duty **▫ What happened:** Kemi Badenoch said a future Conservative government would repeal the Public Sector Equality Duty, arguing that equality law has encouraged identity politics and distracted public bodies from core duties. Labour and trade union figures criticised the move, warning it could weaken protections against discrimination. **▫ What it means:** This is a serious shift in the UK equality debate. The question is not just whether public bodies have applied the duty well, but whether removing it would improve public services or make discrimination harder to challenge. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Campaigners on all sides benefit if the issue is reduced to slogans about “woke” politics or “legalising discrimination”. The real stakes are administrative competence, equal treatment, legal accountability and trust in public institutions. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether the Conservatives turn the pledge into detailed legislation, how Labour responds, and whether equality bodies, councils, police forces and the NHS challenge the practical claims behind the proposal. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### EU prepares new Russia sanctions package **▫ What happened:** The EU is considering fresh sanctions on Russia, including a proposed entry ban on Russians who have served in the armed forces since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022\. The package also targets banks, crypto firms, oil traders and vessels accused of helping Moscow bypass sanctions. **▫ What it means:** The EU is trying to close loopholes rather than simply announce another symbolic package. The focus on finance, shipping and third-country intermediaries shows how sanctions enforcement has become a long contest over networks, not just names on a list. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** The Kremlin benefits if sanctions are dismissed as performative and ineffective. Sanctions hawks benefit if enforcement difficulties are ignored. Readers should watch the gap between political intent and actual pressure on Russia’s war economy. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch whether all EU member states support the package, how the oil price cap is handled, and whether enforcement against the “shadow fleet” becomes more consistent. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### EU migration pact nears full application **▫ What happened:** The EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact is due to apply fully on 12 June after a two-year transition. The system is intended to harmonise asylum procedures, speed up border screening and distribute responsibility among member states. Reporting also points to concerns over national readiness and human rights safeguards. **▫ What it means:** This is one of the biggest changes to EU migration policy in years. Its success will depend less on the headline promise of control than on whether member states have the staff, legal systems, accommodation and oversight to implement it fairly. **▫ Who benefits if you misunderstand it:** Governments benefit if the pact is sold as a simple fix to migration pressures. Hardline opponents benefit if every implementation problem is framed as proof that common European policy cannot work. Migrants and border communities are most exposed when politics outruns capacity. **▫ What to watch next:** Watch the first border procedures after 12 June, legal challenges in member states, France’s transposition problems, and whether the EU’s solidarity mechanism survives contact with domestic politics. ────────── • [Europeans TODAY](https://www.europeans.today/support/) • ### TODAY’s **Closing Line** Today’s stories point to the same civic problem: democratic systems are trying to enforce rules in an environment where speed, fear and political branding often move faster than verified facts. ────────── [SIGN UP NOW](#/portal/signup) TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Politicians try to calm tensions inflamed by social media after stabbing in Belfast](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/09/politicians-tensions-musk-social-media-stabbing-belfast?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Kemi Badenoch pledges to remove identity politics from public life](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/kemi-badenoch-speech-equality-act-identity-politics-zcf9knk3d?ref=europeans.today) | *The Times* - ###### [Bank of England warns of AI scams as deepfakes of Farage-Bailey fight spread](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/09/bank-of-england-ai-scams-deepfakes-nigel-farage-andrew-bailey-fight-x-question-time?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [EU plans to ban Russian soldiers from bloc in fresh sanctions on Moscow](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/09/eu-ban-russian-soldiers-fresh-sanctions-moscow?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [The EU’s migration pact takes full effect: are countries ready to deliver?](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/09/can-the-new-pact-meet-the-eus-ambition-to-reduce-illegal-migration?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 9 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/09/todays-papers-9-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T18:57:50.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### TODAY’s Papers 📰 8 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/08/todays-papers-8-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T23:27:21.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 6 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/06/todays-papers-6-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T17:16:02.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 5 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/05/todays-papers-5-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T16:38:50.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 4 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/04/todays-papers-4-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T02:36:22.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 3 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/03/todays-papers-3-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T16:07:17.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Why warmer UK summers could make staycations the money‑smart choice URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/02/why-warmer-uk-summers-could-make-staycations-the-money-smart-choice/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T00:10:02.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Record UK summer heat is weakening the old assumption that sunshine requires a flight abroad. 🔹 Overseas holidays now carry rising costs and greater disruption risks from extreme weather. 🔹 Domestic breaks can keep more spending in UK regions and reduce some travel emissions. 🔹 Hotter summers at home will still need better planning to avoid overcrowding, water stress and unaffordable staycations. For decades, the British summer holiday has carried one basic assumption: if you want reliable sun, you leave the UK. Spain, Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Italy have offered what Britain could not always guarantee: warmth, blue skies and the feeling of a proper summer break. But [climate change](https://theconversation.com/topics/climate-change-27?ref=europeans.today) is beginning to alter the financial logic of that decision. This does not mean the UK should celebrate warmer summers. Heat brings serious risks: drought, wildfire, water stress, pressure on health services and damage to infrastructure. Yet for households facing higher living costs, expensive travel and growing awareness of carbon emissions, the summer holiday is becoming more than a lifestyle choice. It is becoming a household finance decision, a regional economic decision and a climate-risk decision. The warning signs are now difficult to ignore. [The Met Office confirmed that summer 2025](https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2025/summer-2025-is-the-warmest-on-record-for-the-uk?ref=europeans.today) was the UK’s warmest on record, with a mean temperature of 16.10°C between June and August. It is also estimated that a summer as hot or hotter than 2025 is now around 70 times more likely because of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. This does not mean every British summer will be hot or dry. But it does mean that warm-weather tourism at home is becoming more plausible than it was for previous generations. The financial scale of outbound tourism is substantial. [According to the Office for National Statistics](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/leisureandtourism/articles/traveltrends/latest?ref=europeans.today), UK residents made an estimated 94.6 million visits abroad in 2024 and spent about £78.6 billion overseas. Spain alone received an estimated 17.8 million visits from residents of Great Britain in 2024, followed by France and Italy. These figures show how deeply foreign summer travel is embedded in our lifestyles and the wider leisure economy. International travel clearly has personal and cultural value. People travel to see family, experience different cultures, rest, celebrate and escape routine. But from a household finance perspective, foreign holidays also involve costs that are often underestimated: flights, luggage charges, airport parking, transfers, travel insurance, exchange-rate costs, mobile roaming, higher peak-season accommodation prices and the financial risk of disruption. Climate change adds another layer of uncertainty. Heatwaves, wildfires, floods and airport disruption can quickly turn a holiday into a financial loss. A family may budget for flights and hotels, but not for cancelled excursions, delayed returns, medical expenses in extreme heat, or additional accommodation if travel plans are disrupted. Climate risk is therefore no longer only a concern for governments, insurers or infrastructure investors. It is entering ordinary household decisions, including where families spend their summer break. ### Sustainable staycations This is where the UK staycation becomes more important. Staying in Britain is not automatically cheap and it is not automatically sustainable. In popular destinations such as Cornwall, Devon or the Lake District, a peak-season cottage can cost well over £1,000 for a week, depending on location, property size and school-holiday timing. A long car journey is not necessarily low carbon. Popular coastal towns can become overcrowded, placing pressure on housing, water, waste, roads and local services. But a well-planned domestic holiday can reduce several financial and environmental costs at once. First, it can reduce exposure to volatile travel costs. Families may avoid airfare inflation, exchange-rate uncertainty and some of the expenses linked to overseas travel. They may also have more flexibility to travel outside the most expensive weeks, take shorter breaks, or adjust plans if weather conditions change. Second, domestic tourism keeps more spending inside the UK economy. Money spent in local guesthouses, restaurants, cafes, farm shops, museums and small attractions circulates through regional economies. This matters especially for coastal and rural areas where seasonal tourism supports employment and small businesses. [VisitBritain’s 2024 domestic overnight tourism data](https://www.visitbritain.org/research-insights/great-britain-domestic-overnight-trips-archive?ref=europeans.today) shows that British residents took 106 million overnight trips in Britain, although trip volume fell compared with 2023\. Spending, adjusted for inflation, increased by 3% in Britain, partly reflecting higher costs per trip. This is important: domestic tourism has economic value, but affordability is already a constraint. Third, staying closer to home can reduce the carbon cost of leisure. Aviation’s climate impact is not limited to carbon dioxide. Aviation accounts for [about 2.5% of human-made global CO₂ emissions](https://www.iata.org/en/programs/sustainability/non-co2-emissions-contrails/?ref=europeans.today), but its climate impact also includes non-CO₂ effects such as contrails and nitrogen oxides. Replacing a short-haul flight with rail, coach, or a shorter domestic journey will not solve climate change, but it can reduce the footprint of a decision made by millions of households every year. Britain cannot simply wait for warmer summers and call it an opportunity. If domestic tourism grows without planning, it could create new costs: overcrowded beaches, higher local rents, water shortages, waste pressures and congestion. A sustainable staycation economy needs investment in public transport, affordable accommodation, shaded public spaces, water refill points, wildfire awareness, coastal protection and better visitor management. There is also a fairness issue. If domestic holidays become fashionable but unaffordable, the benefits will be uneven. The goal should not be luxury staycations for wealthier households. It should be a broader model of climate-conscious leisure that allows more families to rest and travel without excessive financial strain or environmental cost. The message to households should be practical rather than judgemental. A foreign holiday is not wrong. People travel abroad for many good reasons, including family, culture, rest and escape. But the old idea that a summer holiday requires a flight is becoming less convincing. As UK summers become warmer and overseas travel becomes more exposed to climate and cost shocks, staying in Britain may increasingly make financial and environmental sense. A warmer UK summer is not good news in itself. It is a warning. But it also forces a practical question: if sunshine is becoming more available at home, can Britain build a tourism model that keeps more money in local economies, reduces emissions, and protects households from the rising financial risks of climate change? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [It’s time to limit how often we can travel abroad – ‘carbon passports’ may be the answer](https://www.europeans.today/2023/11/25/its-time-to-limit-how-often-we-can-travel-abroad-carbon-passports-may-be-the-answer/) | Europeans TODAY - ###### [Summer 2025 was hottest on record in UK, says Met Office](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/01/uk-experienced-its-hottest-summer-on-record-in-2025-met-office-says?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Summer 2025 was warmest on record - and repeat is now 70 times more likely, Met Office says](https://news.sky.com/story/summer-2025-was-warmest-on-record-and-repeat-is-now-70-times-more-likely-met-office-says-13423040?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [Heatwaves, floods and sea level rise: UK weather extremes are increasing, Met Office confirms](https://www.euronews.com/2025/07/14/heatwaves-floods-and-sea-level-rise-uk-weather-extremes-are-increasing-met-office-confirms?ref=europeans.today) | Euronews ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-warmer-uk-summers-could-make-staycations-the-money-smart-choice-283165?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 2 June 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/283165/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 2 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/02/todays-papers-2-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T00:14:04.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. . _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 1 June 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/06/01/todays-papers-1-june-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T15:02:46.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) --- **D I S C L A I M E R:** *Europeans TODAY* republishes front-page images for informational, editorial, and media-monitoring purposes only. *Europeans TODAY* is not responsible for the content, headlines, photographs, captions, editorial choices, or any other material appearing on these covers. All such content remains the sole responsibility of the respective newspapers, magazines, publishers, editors, authors, photographers, and rights holders. Publication of a cover by *Europeans TODAY* does not imply endorsement, approval, or agreement with any headline, image, opinion, or claim displayed on it. --- ### US-Iran talks: Two victories, one reality URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/23/us-iran-talks-two-victories-one-reality/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T00:54:46.000Z Donald Trump’s foreign-policy messaging often follows a familiar pattern: announcing momentum, asserting leverage, and portraying ambiguity as a victory. However, reporting on the most recent Iran-U.S. discussions indicates that both sides perceive very different realities. Trump is publicly presenting the negotiations as if the U.S. pressure campaign forced Iran toward a deal — saying an agreement has been “largely negotiated” and implying Washington is close to dictating terms. Iranian officials and aligned media are portraying the same diplomacy in a contrasting manner though: that Tehran successfully resisted military and economic pressures long enough to compel the United States to accept Iran’s framework for negotiations and a phased settlement. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000717--1-.jpg) US-Iran talks: Two victories, one reality. | EUROPEANS TODAY ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Is he lying, mad, or delusional?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/23/is-he-lying-mad-or-delusional/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Trump says a deal with Iran and opening of Strait of Hormuz are 'largely negotiated'](https://apnews.com/article/1c283f26d037102cc5e6f798546d0e59?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Rubio reports 'slight progress' in Iran talks as Pakistan renews efforts to mediate a peace deal](https://apnews.com/article/c4be639e938fa57533f28f9fd62fb43b?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [Trump says peace deal with Iran largely reached with strait of Hormuz to open](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/23/trump-ceasefire-iran-strait-of-hormuz?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Trump says agreement to end Iran war 'largely negotiated'](https://www.euronews.com/2026/05/23/trump-says-agreement-to-end-iran-war-largely-negotiated?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- ### **Sources:** ##### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY. --- ### Palantir and the NHS – 10 things you need to know URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/23/palantir-and-the-nhs-10-things-you-need-to-know/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T16:22:05.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Palantir is a US data analytics company with a central role in the NHS’s £330 million Federated Data Platform. 🔹 Supporters say the system can improve planning and efficiency, while critics question governance, transparency and public trust. 🔹 The company is legally a data processor, but campaigners remain concerned about access, oversight and lock-in. 🔹 Patients can opt out of some health data sharing, though that may also limit beneficial research and planning uses. Palantir, a US data analytics company backed in its early years by In-Q-Tel, now plays a central role in the NHS’s £330 million Federated Data Platform. Supporters say it could improve planning and efficiency, while critics have raised questions about governance, transparency and trust. Here’s what you need to know. ### 1\. What is Palantir and what does it do? Palantir is a large American technology company, specialising in storing large data collections and providing tools to manage the data, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) to ask questions of it. It provides decision-making platforms, such as [Foundry](https://www.palantir.com/platforms/foundry/?ref=europeans.today), which government organisations and businesses use to uncover patterns, manage operations, and support planning and decision-making. The company’s chairman, Peter Thiel, is known for his controversial views. At the Oxford Union in 2023, he said that [the NHS makes people ill and should be privatised](https://www.cherwell.org/2023/01/18/peter-thiel-union/?ref=europeans.today). ### 2\. Why is a private American company involved in managing NHS medical records? That’s not how Palantir views it. It sees itself as providing a platform on which the NHS can store and analyse NHS medical records. And that wouldn’t be exceptional. A large amount of data from across society is stored on cloud platforms provided by American companies. Some of the discussion is about whether Palantir is really less trustworthy than, say, Microsoft, Google or Amazon. ### 3\. Who gave Palantir this contract, and was it put out to open tender? The governments of [Boris Johnson](https://www.digitalhealth.net/2020/11/data-contracts-with-palantir-risk-undermining-core-values-of-nhs/?ref=europeans.today) (2020) and [Rishi Sunak](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nhs-englands-biggest-ever-it-contract?ref=europeans.today) (2023) awarded Palantir the contracts. Palantir had been [lobbying](https://news.sky.com/story/nhs-facing-legal-challenge-over-data-deal-with-controversial-silicon-valley-firm-palantir-12227634?ref=europeans.today) to get access to NHS data for a while when it offered to build a [COVID data store](https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/privacy-notice/how-we-use-your-information/covid-19-response/nhs-covid-19-data-store/?ref=europeans.today) for £1 in early 2020; [there was no open competition](https://bylinetimes.com/2020/04/22/palantir-coronavirus-contract-did-not-go-to-competitive-tender/?ref=europeans.today) under emergency COVID procurement rules. The data store combined patient-level data from many sources, as well as operational data from hospitals and other sources. The initial three-month contract was only made public [under legal pressure](https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2020/06/05/breakthrough-uk-government-releases-nhs-covid-19-data-deals-with-big-tech/?ref=europeans.today), and the deal was then renewed for £23 million, again [without evidence of competition](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56590249?ref=europeans.today). The latest version of this deal, the Federated Data Platform, was awarded competitively in December 2023 to a [Palantir-led consortium](https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/federated-data-platform-update/?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=The%20FDP%20was%20awarded%20to%20a%20consortium,Trusts%20and%20the%20supplier%20to%20manage%20rollout). Having had the deal previously will have been a big advantage for Palantir – a phenomenon known as “vendor lock-in”. ### 4\. Can Palantir use my data for its own commercial purposes or share it with the US government? Palantir’s role is as a [“data processor”](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/controllers-and-processors/controllers-and-processors/what-are-controllers-and-processors/?ref=europeans.today), which means it is not legally allowed to make its own decisions about what to do with the data – only the “data controllers” (NHS organisations) can. There is some grey area on what Palantir is allowed to do with the data that is [“necessary to provide products or services … under the Agreement”](https://cdn-prod.opendemocracy.net/media/documents/Palantir%5FAgreements.pdf?ref=europeans.today). It has been claimed that this includes using [NHS data for AI models](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/under-pressure-uk-government-releases-nhs-covid-data-deals-big-tech/?ref=europeans.today), but the original contract does not really suggest this. Unhelpfully, in the publicly available version of the [latest contract](https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/2e8c61c0-faab-4f99-ae69-b00df6bae165?ref=europeans.today), nearly all the data protection text (three pages) is redacted. So it is not legally allowed to use NHS data for their own purposes. And although UK regulators, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, have oversight powers, some critics question how effectively large multinational technology providers can be audited in practice. Trust plays an important role, particularly at a time when we have seen [US government appropriating databases](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/how-ice-is-using-technology-databases-to-track-people/?ref=europeans.today) relating, for example, to health, mobile phone location and car number plates, for immigration enforcement. Under the US [Cloud Act](https://www.justice.gov/criminal/cloud-act-resources?ref=europeans.today), American authorities can, under certain legal conditions, request data from US-based companies, which has raised concerns among privacy advocates about potential cross-border access. ### 5\. What is the Federated Data Platform, and what is it supposed to do for the NHS? There has long been an NHS England ambition to have a central place to store [“all” NHS data](https://theconversation.com/care-data-has-been-scrapped-but-your-health-data-could-still-be-shared-62181?ref=europeans.today). The core of this was effectively realised quickly during COVID, under special legislation, in two forms with slightly different targets. The first was the NHS COVID-19 Data Store, which has grown into the Federated Data Platform, and is targeted more towards planning. The second is [OpenSafely](https://www.opensafely.org/?ref=europeans.today), which provides research access to unified NHS datasets using strong privacy protections. ### 6\. Has the system improved NHS care, and is the taxpayer getting value for money? The UK government has already made [claims](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c393w38lv3mo?ref=europeans.today) of significant improvements due to Palantir. But researchers have [raised doubts](https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj.s680?ref=europeans.today) both about the research methods used to quantify such successes and about the personal connections of the people involved in these. ### 7\. What is Palantir’s track record — who else does it work for, and should that concern me? Palantir was initially [funded by In-Q-Tel](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/agent-of-intelligence-how-a-deviant-philosopher-built-palantir-a-cia-funded-data-mining-juggernaut/?ref=europeans.today), the non-profit venture capital arm of the CIA, and has been working with US [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/sep/22/ice-palantir-data?ref=europeans.today), which has been criticised by [civil liberties groups](https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/palantir-deportation-roundup?ref=europeans.today). It works with several other UK government organisations, including [the army](https://www.palantir.com/uk/defence/?ref=europeans.today). The Israeli army reportedly used Palantir for AI-based targeting in the war in Gaza, which is a main reason Amnesty International [campaigned against Palantir](https://www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/no-gaza-genocide-links-in-our-nhs-organisations-urge-nhs-england-to-end-330m-palantir-contract/?ref=europeans.today) within the NHS. ### 8\. Can I opt my data out? If so, how? You can [opt out](https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/opt-out-of-sharing-your-health-records/?ref=europeans.today) of your GP practice sharing your health data, or separately out of NHS England and others sharing it for research and planning. Unfortunately, this would affect beneficial uses of your health data too, including by making the overall dataset less comprehensive and representative. This is part of why the medical community worries about the Palantir effect. ### 9\. Why are so many doctors, nurses and campaigners opposed to this — and should I be worried too? There is a wide range of concerns. Palantir’s political positioning, including opposing the NHS in its current form, as well as the [more controversial political views](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/21/palantir-manifesto-uk-contract-fears-mps?ref=europeans.today) expressed by some of its leaders, means many people don’t trust it with their health data. There is a technological concern over concentrating NHS data processing with a [single supplier](https://rorycellanjones.substack.com/p/palantir-in-the-nhs-is-it-actually), possibly replacing working solutions with inferior ones. For some people, Palantir’s activity with ICE and allegedly [in Gaza](https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur?ref=europeans.today) makes them morally unacceptable. ### 10\. Could the government cancel the contract, and what would happen to the data Palantir already holds if it did? There is a [break clause in the current contract](https://www.ft.com/content/2d2b1af1-edea-4fd0-a081-3811e34bc52e?ref=europeans.today) coming up, so yes, it can. The contract says Palantir needs to lose all access to the data when the contract ends. Responding to Conservative MP Wendy Morton’s call for more scrutiny of Palantir’s ability to protect data, Louis Mosley, Palantir UK’s executive vice-chair, [told the *BBC*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c393w38lv3mo?ref=europeans.today) that he welcomed scrutiny and was confident the firm was delivering value for money for NHS patients. Mosley went on to say that Palantir has no interest in patient data in the UK. “It’s not our business model,” he said. “It’s not the legal basis on which we operate, in the same way that Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word or email is used in the NHS and again that is NHS data, Microsoft doesn’t have access to it, nor do we to NHS data.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Everything you need to know about NHS England’s biggest ever IT contract](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nhs-englands-biggest-ever-it-contract?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Patient privacy fears as US spy tech firm Palantir wins £330m NHS contract](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/21/patient-privacy-fears-us-spy-tech-firm-palantir-wins-nhs-contract?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Palantir’s NHS England contract ‘opens door to government abuse of power’, health bosses told](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/12/palantirs-nhs-england-contract-opens-door-to-government-abuse-of-power-health-bosses-told?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Labour and Lib Dem MPs demand ‘shameful’ Palantir NHS contract be scrapped](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/16/labour-and-lib-dem-mps-demand-shameful-palantir-nhs-contract-be-scrapped?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Palantir’s access to identifiable NHS England patient data is ‘dangerous’, MPs say](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/11/palantir-access-nhs-england-patient-data?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/palantir-and-the-nhs-10-things-you-need-to-know-281165?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 23 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/281165/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/23/todays-papers-23-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T16:38:21.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 22 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/22/todays-papers-22-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-22T23:42:49.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Five questions over Nigel Farage’s £5 million donation URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T23:23:22.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Nigel Farage’s undeclared £5 million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne is now under investigation. 🔹 Critics argue that the payment should have been declared under Commons rules. 🔹 Reform UK relies heavily on a small circle of wealthy donors. 🔹 Labour should act to curb mega-donor influence and restore trust in politics. Questions about a £5 million gift to the leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage from a crypto billionaire simply won’t go away. As someone who spends their life thinking, writing and talking about money in politics, I’ve been left with at least five questions that remain unanswered. These centre not just on the donation and Reform’s financial arrangements, but also on what it says about the system of political finance in the UK. ### 1\. Should he have declared it? It appears so. It was reported in late April that [Farage](https://theconversation.com/topics/nigel-farage-5524?ref=europeans.today) had received the cash [from Christopher Harborne](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/revealed-nigel-farage-was-given-undisclosed-5m-by-crypto-billionaire-in-2024?ref=europeans.today). This was shortly before deciding to stand in the seat of Clacton in the 2024 general election, which he subsequently won. [Farage claims](https://www.ft.com/content/88ce53de-8994-47b1-86ec-4c49b6b9cb50?syn-25a6b1a6=1&ref=europeans.today) that because it was a personal gift it did not need to be registered. However, the House of Commons code of conduct [states that](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmcode/1083/1083-1.pdf?ref=europeans.today) the possible motive of the gifter and what the donation is to be used for should be considered. If there is doubt, the code is clear that it should be registered. Harborne has said he expected nothing in return, but only wanted to [ensure Farage’s security](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c936nqy00rwo?ref=europeans.today). But given the timing of the gift, in 2024, questions might be asked about his motive. At this time, according to the [Electoral Commission](https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=4&rows=10&query=harborne&sort=AcceptedDate&order=asc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true®ister=gb®ister=ni®ister=none&optCols=RegisterName&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=IsIrishSource&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation&ref=europeans.today), Harborne had given about £1.5 million to the Conservatives (and [£1 million](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64257007?ref=europeans.today) to Boris Johnson’s private office). He had also given [millions to Reform](https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=1&rows=10&query=harborne&sort=AcceptedDate&order=asc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true®ister=gb®ister=ni®ister=none&optCols=RegisterName&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=IsIrishSource&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation&ref=europeans.today) ahead of its 2019 general election campaign. As such, Harborne was not some unknown benefactor. This information, at the very least, creates doubt about whether the donation ought to be declared. And there have also been questions over a [house Farage bought](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/18/farage-claim-bought-house-with-im-a-celebrity-fee-under-scrutiny?ref=europeans.today) weeks after receiving the £5 million. But the question of whether the money should have been declared is now one for the parliamentary standards commissioner, [which is investigating](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0l26g01703o?ref=europeans.today) whether Farage broke the rules. ### 2\. What does it tell us about how Reform is funded? One thing that we know about Reform is that its funding base is remarkably shallow. In fact, [investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan](https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-reform-uks-donations-have-come) has found that 75% of all the reportable donations Reform has received came from just three men. They are Christopher Harborne, millionaire businessman Jeremy Hosking and Reform’s own deputy leader, Richard Tice. I have shown [in my research](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41309-023-00189-0?ref=europeans.today) that the UK is very much a donor-led democracy where the few get more of a say than the many. So concerns about [the wealthy](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20419058211022931?ref=europeans.today) having a larger influence on the way politics is run are certainly not a Reform-shaped novelty. ### 3\. Should the public be worried? Yes. It has [been argued](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/60845?ref=europeans.today) that for elections to have integrity, four things need to be on show: participation, contestation, deliberation and adjudication. Importantly, perception is as important as reality here. Public opinion fluctuates, but one of the more robust polling findings is that the public [has always been](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-37580-5?ref=europeans.today) and [remains concerned](https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/latest-yougov-poll-shows-public-want-end-big-money-politics?ref=europeans.today) that donors have an outsized influence on British politics. So whether they do or not (and it’s notoriously hard to prove), the damage is done. ### 4\. Should Reform be worried? When he was questioned about Farage’s £5 million, Tice maintained that voters knew about it and [“they said, we want more Nigel”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/10/farage-trying-to-avoid-scrutiny-over-5m-gift-from-crypto-billionaire-labour-says?ref=europeans.today). It is true that if you ask the UK public to rank issues that matter to them, then (unless you happen to knock on my door) party funding wouldn’t come close to the top ten. And yet standards never seem to matter to politicians – until they really do. Just ask Boris Johnson, [Keir Starmer](https://theconversation.com/do-the-starmers-expensive-donated-clothes-matter-yes-and-no-239334?ref=europeans.today) or [Peter Mandelson](https://theconversation.com/trust-and-ethics-the-public-and-politicians-no-longer-even-agree-on-the-basics-275533?ref=europeans.today), all of whom have faced questions of their own. There are many populists who build personas as mavericks who refuse to play by the rules. While voters might not always agree with their methods, they get results. (And some voters might even think: gosh, you can’t help but love them a little bit for it.) Nigel Farage might not think the public cares about this. But it appears that [they do](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/18/reform-voters-progressive-post-industrial-northern-england?ref=europeans.today). And maybe Farage knows this too. If not, he’d probably have been happy to mention the £5 million in the first place. ### 5\. Why don’t Labour care? It remains astonishing that Labour seems to be so uninterested in addressing a financial pattern of behaviour that could risk undermining democracy – which the party is professing [to protect](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restoring-trust-in-our-democracy-our-strategy-for-modern-and-secure-elections/restoring-trust-in-our-democracy-our-strategy-for-modern-and-secure-elections?ref=europeans.today). It seems even more astonishing that the party seems so casual about addressing the issue of [mega-donors](https://theconversation.com/reforms-9m-gift-and-the-rise-of-the-political-mega-donor-271428?ref=europeans.today) while [a bill](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4080?ref=europeans.today) is going through parliament that is quite literally designed to restore [faith in politics](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restoring-trust-in-our-democracy-our-strategy-for-modern-and-secure-elections/restoring-trust-in-our-democracy-our-strategy-for-modern-and-secure-elections?ref=europeans.today). But it may be that the government doesn’t want to cap donations (as many [other countries do](https://www.idea.int/publications/catalogue/combatting-corruption-political-finance-global-trends?ref=europeans.today)) because it thinks it would mean introducing more state funding. But the problem has now become too stark to ignore, and a compromise position is imperative. This could be a [“democracy backstop”](https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/report/bold-ideas-a-democracy-backstop/?ref=europeans.today) donation cap of £1 million. This is far higher than any other cap I know of around the world. But it would reflect the voluntarist tradition of the UK – and could start a conversation. Get a backstop in place, and then conduct research on how much it can be lowered without a) risking the financial ruin of parties or b) the need for further state support. After the May elections, Labour said it was listening to voters and that as a government it needed [to be bold](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjwpq1dg5q3o?ref=europeans.today). It’s time for the party to put its money where its mouth is. That is, before a mega-donor does it for them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Farage’s top fundraiser targets oil and gas donations](https://www.europeans.today/2025/04/30/farages-top-fundraiser-targets-oil-and-gas-donations/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Exclusive: Nigel Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/revealed-nigel-farage-was-given-undisclosed-5m-by-crypto-billionaire-in-2024?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Nigel Farage facing investigation over £5m gift from British crypto billionaire](https://news.sky.com/story/nigel-farage-facing-investigation-over-5m-gift-from-british-crypto-billionaire-13543596?ref=europeans.today) | *SKY NEWS* - ###### [Farage under investigation over £5m gift from crypto donor](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0l26g01703o?ref=europeans.today) | *BBC NEWS* - ###### [The key questions for Nigel Farage over £5m gift from crypto-billionaire](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/13/the-key-questions-for-nigel-farage-over-5m-gift-from-crypto-billionaire?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/five-questions-over-nigel-farages-5-million-donation-283394?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 21 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[DAVE HEWISON](https://www.dreamstime.com/davidhewison%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/283394/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### ‘Skimpflation’: How the Strait of Hormuz is linked to your lasagne – and other everyday goods URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/skimpflation-how-the-strait-of-hormuz-is-linked-to-your-lasagne-and-other-everyday-goods/ Last updated: 2026-05-22T00:23:32.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz can raise costs far beyond petrol and household energy bills. 🔹 Businesses may respond through “skimpflation” by reducing quality, ingredients or service instead of raising prices. 🔹 Food, hospitality and travel are among the sectors most exposed to these hidden cost-cutting measures. 🔹 Households may feel the squeeze through weaker value rather than immediately visible price rises. The standoff in the Strait of Hormuz has already made fuel and energy noticeably more expensive. But energy prices are only part of the story. While tensions continue between Iran and the US over that vital [stretch of water](https://theconversation.com/topics/strait-of-hormuz-73874?ref=europeans.today), another, more subtle economic effect could come into play. [“Skimpflation”](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/skimpflation/?ref=europeans.today) is the name for a phenomenon that involves a gradual decline in the quality, quantity or service associated with everyday goods. [Unlike shrinkflation](https://theconversation.com/shrinkflation-smaller-products-hurt-some-households-more-than-others-and-can-be-bad-for-business-272573?ref=europeans.today), where the size or weight of a product is reduced, skimpflation affects the value that consumers receive. It happens when companies attempt to keep prices the same while quietly reducing quality, ingredients or service levels. So instead of raising the price of a ready meal, for example, a manufacturer may [replace or reduce](https://www.which.co.uk/policy-and-insight/article/shrinkflation-or-skimpflation-which-reveals-the-supermarket-groceries-getting-downsized-and-downgraded-aBphA9E1Ifyt?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) some of the key ingredients with cheaper substitutes. The price and packaging remain the same, but there may be less pork in your sausages, or less beef in your lasagne. Similar adjustments can also occur in service industries. Restaurants may keep menu prices stable but switch to cheaper ingredients. Hotels might choose to subtly cut service levels, such as housekeeping, to reduce costs (as some did [during the pandemic](https://www.revinate.com/blog/how-hotels-are-transforming-housekeeping-to-stay-profitable/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com)). Airlines – already worried about jet fuel supplies – could adopt cost-saving strategies, such as reducing complimentary food or baggage allowances. In each case, the price paid by consumers may appear unchanged, but the quality or level of service gradually declines, meaning customers effectively receive less value for the same money. These kinds of adjustments are carefully designed to be barely noticeable. Businesses hope that consumers will continue to buy their products and use their services without being aware of the changes. But they could become more widespread if economic circumstances mean that organisations need to make more savings. And they represent yet another economic ripple effect that comes from effectively [shutting down](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/shipping-traffic-through-hormuz-still-largely-halted-2026-04-21/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) a major oil and gas shipping corridor. ### Energy levels The world has already seen how quickly oil prices and energy markets [react](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/20/oil-prices-rise-markets-fall-us-iran-ftse-100-gas-strait-of-hormuz?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) to the possibility of supply shortages. For countries (like the UK) which depend heavily on imported energy, these shocks function like an economic tax, [raising fuel costs and inflation](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2026/03/30/how-the-war-in-the-middle-east-is-affecting-energy-trade-and-finance?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com). And energy costs affect nearly every stage of modern production and distribution. When fuel becomes more expensive, so does transport, running factories and producing food. A rise in oil prices can quickly evolve into a broader inflationary shock affecting shipping, logistics and industrial production. These pressures ultimately reach consumers, but often indirectly. And businesses facing rising costs must decide how to respond. Raising prices is the most obvious option, but after several years of high inflation, many firms worry that consumers are already highly sensitive to price increases. Eventually though, these costs must be absorbed somewhere in the system, either through higher prices or changes in quality and service. This is why geopolitical energy shocks are often described as “inflationary events”, even if consumer price indices do not immediately capture their full impact. The real cost of living may rise not only through higher prices, but also through a decline in what those prices buy. Economists might describe this process as a form of “hidden inflation”, where businesses respond to rising costs by quietly altering product composition or reducing service levels rather than raising prices outright. [Analysis of recent cost pressures](https://blog.bham.ac.uk/business-school/2023/10/10/shrinkflation-and-skimpflation-a-permanent-loss-in-what-your-money-can-buy/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) suggests that recipe reformulation, ingredient substitution and service reductions have become common strategies for firms attempting to manage higher input costs in sectors such as food manufacturing, retail and hospitality. If instability in the Middle East continues to disrupt shipping routes and energy markets, the UK could face [renewed inflationary pressures](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/09/uk-inflation-likely-to-rise-because-of-middle-east-war-says-rachel-reeves?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com). But for households, the effects may not always appear in official statistics. Instead, they may appear in smaller portions at restaurants, reduced service levels in hospitality, or supermarket products that look familiar but contain slightly cheaper ingredients. These incremental adjustments are harder to measure than price changes, but shape everyday consumer experiences through a gradual erosion of value. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Strait of Hormuz: If the Iran conflict shuts world’s most important oil chokepoint, global economic chaos could follow](https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/02/strait-of-hormuz-if-the-iran-conflict-shuts-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-global-economic-chaos-could-follow/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [What oil, stocks and bonds are telling us about the Iran conflict and how long it might last](https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/03/what-oil-stocks-and-bonds-are-telling-us-about-the-iran-conflict-and-how-long-it-might-last/) | *EUROPEANS TODAY* - ###### [Oil prices rise and markets fall after US seizure of ship hits Iran peace deal hopes](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/20/oil-prices-rise-markets-fall-us-iran-ftse-100-gas-strait-of-hormuz?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* - ###### [Shipping industry fears fuel shortages as Iran war squeezes bunker fuel supply](https://apnews.com/article/db0ba1dbc0bd3ff2179a84118d0064d0?ref=europeans.today) | *ASSOCIATED PRESS* - ###### [Why is the Strait of Hormuz critical to Europe?](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/03/16/why-is-the-strait-of-hormuz-critical-to-europe?ref=europeans.today) | *EURONEWS* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/skimpflation-how-the-strait-of-hormuz-is-linked-to-your-lasagne-and-other-everyday-goods-282010?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 21 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282010/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Trump’s Cabinet dramatically changed American foreign policy while the president made noise URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/trumps-cabinet-dramatically-changed-american-foreign-policy-while-the-president-made-noise/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T22:51:52.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Trump’s Cabinet offers clearer signals of policy than the president’s often erratic public remarks. 🔹 JD Vance’s Munich speech is presented as a turning point in Washington’s approach to Europe and shared Western values. 🔹 Marco Rubio’s USAID message is framed as evidence of a shift from humanitarian aid towards explicitly transactional diplomacy. 🔹 Pete Hegseth’s rhetoric is used to show a stronger preference for coercion and military force over law and diplomacy. The first half of 2026 has been [a chaotic time for U.S. foreign policy](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/world/europe/trump-redefine-foreign-policy.html?ref=europeans.today): new tariffs, threats to annex Greenland, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz. As a researcher focused on the [values](https://tnsr.org/2019/11/what-is-a-moral-foreign-policy/?ref=europeans.today) and [rhetoric](https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/report/illiberal-narratives-and-shifting-values?ref=europeans.today) of American presidents, I study how presidents and their administrations communicate to the public about foreign policy. My primary aim is to understand the values systems and policy priorities that make up a president’s public persona. I have found the second Trump administration exceptionally difficult to [track and assess](https://www.trumpactiontracker.info/?ref=europeans.today). Keeping up with Truth Social posts, press conferences and off-the-cuff Oval Office remarks from the president can feel like drinking from a fire hose. Gone for now are the days when a U.S. president [stepped to the lectern](https://www.c-span.org/liveEvent/?presidential-speeches&ref=europeans.today) and delivered a speech direct from the teleprompter or released a carefully crafted statement that was understood to be official U.S. policy. In its place is an unpredictable barrage of communication – ranging from traditionally worded [executive orders](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restoring-the-united-states-department-of-war/?ref=europeans.today) in the mold of previous administrations to an expletive-laden [Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116351998782539414?ref=europeans.today) post on Easter morning in the midst of [Operation Epic Fury](https://www.centcom.mil/OPERATIONS-AND-EXERCISES/EPIC-FURY/?ref=europeans.today), the Pentagon name for the war in Iran. The president’s rhetorical style, heard most recently on his mid-May trip to China, is [explained by political allies](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ItWvOVz8yeo?ref=europeans.today) as part of [Trump’s strategic approach](https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/book-talk-us-grand-strategy-and-the-madman-theory-with-james-d.-boys?ref=europeans.today) and [criticized by his opponents](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5817456-murphy-slams-trump-iran-threats/?ref=europeans.today) as the dangerous musings of an unstable leader. In either case – whether it’s Trump’s defenders or detractors – it is increasingly difficult to ascertain whether the language of the president signals actual policy positions from the White House. If the words of the American president no longer function as reliable indicators of U.S. foreign policy, where can the public, U.S. allies and America’s adversaries look to better understand the administration’s geopolitical priorities? One answer may be found by examining the words of key Cabinet members. ### Vance redefines ‘Western’ values Trump’s second term has introduced a political paradox: because he is president, his words carry enormous weight. And yet, because of his hyperbolic and often erratic communication style, each statement also carries significant political uncertainty. Will the next [social media post threatening to exit NATO](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trump-complains-nato-wasnt-there-when-we-needed-them-after-talks-with-rutte?ref=europeans.today) hint at a real policy position? Or will it simply disappear into the digital information ecosystem as another “[Trump being Trump](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/14/trump-jesus-meme-pope-backlash-00872163?ref=europeans.today)” moment? The rhetoric of Cabinet members increasingly serves as a bridge between Trump’s erratic communication style and actual policy. Public statements delivered in 2025 by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered, I believe, critical insight into the administration’s foreign policy vision and helped lay the groundwork for major policy actions in 2026. In February 2025, Vance stood at a lectern at the Munich Security Conference to address a gathering of prominent European political and military leaders. Many analysts expected an aggressive speech from Vance criticizing Europe’s [spending on defense](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-not-sure-us-should-be-spending-anything-nato-2025-01-23/?ref=europeans.today) in the context of shared American-European security concerns, such as NATO and the war in Ukraine. Instead, [Vance argued](https://securityconference.org/assets/02%5FDokumente/01%5FPublikationen/2025/Selected%5FKey%5FSpeeches%5FVol.%5FII/MSC%5FSpeeches%5F2025%5FVol2%5FAnsicht%5Fgek%C3%BCrzt.pdf?ref=europeans.today) that Europe’s political elites had failed to defend “[Western](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr/our-work/carr-commentary/misinformation-and-disinformation-soviet-era-words-how-jd?ref=europeans.today)” values. Speaking over [audible gasps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOsgfINdKg&ref=europeans.today) from attendees, Vance declared: “What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.” Using freedom of speech as a shared value, Vance argued that many left-leaning European governments – not [authoritarian-led Russia or Hungary](https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/authoritarian-ties-case-russia-and-hungary?ref=europeans.today) – posed the real threat to this cornerstone of Western society. As the first major foreign policy speech delivered abroad by the second Trump administration, Vance’s remarks signaled a major shift in America’s approach to the trans-Atlantic alliance. The speech suggested that, in the eyes of the administration, the “[values-and-interests](https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/series/values-interests/morality-power-individual-institution-joel-rosenthal?ref=europeans.today)” framework that shaped the U.S.-European relationship post-World War II had weakened. In that phrase, “[values](https://www.justsecurity.org/85199/a-values-based-approach-to-foreign-policy/?ref=europeans.today)” are understood as a country’s moral and cultural preferences and its “[interests](https://www.iwp.edu/articles/2020/04/25/the-national-interest/?ref=europeans.today)” as the factors that advance its security and prosperity. Instead, Vance argued that liberal values alone would no longer guarantee cooperation, and the administration made clear it would not avoid public fights over ideological differences with European allies. The speech also appeared to send a clear signal to right-leaning political leaders in Europe, including then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, that their brand of “[Western](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djFH4eybUeM&ref=europeans.today)” values had become increasingly attractive to Washington. It is not difficult to connect Vance’s Munich speech to the [administration’s subsequent embrace](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/09/nx-s1-5779235/jd-vance-stumps-for-hungarys-orban?ref=europeans.today) of right-leaning political leaders and its pullback from postwar liberal foreign policy priorities, such as a commitment to international aid. ### Rubio: Trade over humanitarian aid One of the most tumultuous domestic periods of Trump 2.0 came during the [DOGE process](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Inside-DOGE/Tyler-Hassen/9781645721260?ref=europeans.today) of massive budget cutting, which eliminated programs across the government. One DOGE flash point was the fate of the [U.S. Agency for International Development](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF10261?ref=europeans.today), or USAID, which since 1961 had been the American government’s primary organization delivering humanitarian aid globally. On July 1, 2025, the administration officially announced that USAID would [stop providing foreign assistance](https://thehill.com/policy/international/5379363-us-aid-agency-closure/?ref=europeans.today), which it had been doing in approximately [130 countries](https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/making-foreign-aid-work/what-do-trumps-proposed-foreign-aid-cuts-mean/?ref=europeans.today). That same day, Rubio published an article on the State Department’s Substack account titled [Make Foreign Aid Great Again](https://statedept.substack.com/p/making-foreign-aid-great-again), arguing for a new approach that prioritized “trade over aid, opportunity over dependency, and investment over assistance.” Like Vance in Munich, Rubio adopted an overtly aggressive tone in criticizing both USAID and America’s broader humanitarian aid model. Rubio argued that the “charity-based model failed.” Rubio’s rhetoric built on and complemented themes from Vance’s speech. First, it reinforced the administration’s broader [free-ride-is-over](https://statedept.substack.com/p/ending-the-charade-of-wasteful-international?utm%5Fcampaign=post&utm%5Fmedium=web&triedRedirect=true) argument that prioritized quid pro quo relationships over established liberal values-based commitments. While Vance applied this logic to European allies in the context of “Western” values and military support, Rubio applied it to humanitarian aid projects and America’s relationships across the Global South. Second, Rubio’s remarks made clear that a quid pro quo foreign policy rooted in what he deemed to be U.S. national interests would increasingly shape State Department decision-making – regardless of the [humanitarian consequences](https://www.cgdev.org/blog/update-lives-lost-usaid-cuts?ref=europeans.today) from cuts to international aid programs or [multilateral institutions](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-international-organizations-conventions-and-treaties-that-are-contrary-to-the-interests-of-the-united-states/?ref=europeans.today) such as the United Nations. ### Hegseth rewrites US rules of war In September 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stood in the Oval Office alongside Trump to discuss [his department’s renaming](https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4295826/trump-renames-dod-to-department-of-war/?ref=europeans.today) to the “Department of War.” Hegseth asserted that the War Department would focus on “maximum lethality, not tepid legality; violent effect, not politically correct.” Viewed alongside the administration’s actions in late 2025 and into 2026 – from [attacks on nonmilitary vessels](https://sfs.georgetown.edu/news/the-trump-administration-and-venezuela-michael-shifter-analyzes-maritime-strikes-and-possible-regime-change/?ref=europeans.today) around Venezuela to the extraction of Maduro, to the scale of [destructive force deployed](https://truthout.org/articles/us-dropped-5-6-billion-worth-of-bombs-on-iran-in-first-2-days-of-war-alone/?ref=europeans.today) against Iran – the “maximum lethality” statement may prove to be one of the most consequential rhetorical moments from a Trump Cabinet official. As Operation Epic Fury continues, Hegseth has defiantly reaffirmed the administration’s “maximum lethality” posture. At one point he declared that “we negotiate with bombs”, and at another briefing [he called](https://www.justsecurity.org/133970/legal-advice-hegseth-no-quarter-hypo/?ref=europeans.today) for “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies” – a practice that [violates](https://lieber.westpoint.edu/wagner-groups-no-quarter-order-international-law/?ref=europeans.today) international law. These remarks and others [underscore the administration’s rejection](https://theconversation.com/presidential-words-can-turn-the-unthinkable-into-the-thinkable-for-better-or-for-worse-280126?ref=europeans.today) of international law and diplomacy in favor of military force as the preferred tool of American foreign policy. ### Beyond the noise In 2025, Vance, Rubio and Hegseth articulated new visions of America’s role in the world. In their own ways, they deployed rhetoric that sought to reshape U.S. foreign policy by redefining Western values, embracing quid pro quo relationships and prioritizing military force as guiding principles of the Trump administration’s agenda. Despite the daily frenetic social posts and statements from Trump, members of his Cabinet will surely continue to project their own moral and political visions of America throughout 2026 and beyond. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [‘Pathetic’ & ‘parasites’: US officials rip into Europeans in leaked chat](https://www.europeans.today/2025/03/25/pathetic-parasites-us-officials-rip-into-europeans-in-leaked-chat/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [US declares war in Iran ‘over’ to avoid row with Congress over whether it was legal](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/us-declares-war-in-iran-over-to-avoid-row-with-congress-over-whether-it-was-legal/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order](https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/20/trumps-greenland-ambitions-could-wreck-20th-century-alliances-that-helped-build-the-modern-world-order/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [US Vice President JD Vance meets German far-right leader as he criticizes ‘firewalls’ in Europe](https://apnews.com/article/33e720b820e61db9d5e478e63b4a4dc7?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [USAID closes its doors after six decades of global humanitarian operations amid Trump crackdown](https://www.euronews.com/2025/07/02/usaid-closes-its-doors-after-six-decades-of-global-humanitarian-operations-amid-trump-crac?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/trumps-cabinet-dramatically-changed-american-foreign-policy-while-the-president-made-noise-a-scholar-of-presidential-rhetoric-explains-281307?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 21 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/281307/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 21 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/21/todays-papers-21-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T17:28:12.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### When will it end? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/20/when-will-it-end/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T00:52:15.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump’s legal settlements and tax-audit protection show how far presidential power is being tested. 🔹 Court challenges over the settlement and tax addendum could continue for months or years. 🔹 Trump’s Republican primary interventions are risking the party’s congressional control. 🔹 Meaningful restraint may depend on Congress, elections, or the end of Trump’s term. “When will it end??” That is the comment I see most often on social media posts when the latest Donald J. Trump head-spinner is reported. Example: The last two days when, first, the “settlement” in one of his suits against the government was announced and he won a $1.776 billion award that he now will pass along to those deemed (by his Acting Attorney General-appointed five-member board) worthy of an award for being unfairly treated by the Justice Department. Oh, and President Trump can replace any of those chosen five anytime he wants. So, don’t hold your breath, James Comey, for your windfall. And, yesterday, when that Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, signed an addendum that absolves Trump and/or his family of any tax-avoidance schemes they or their companies perpetrated on their fellow Americans. Those two announcements likely will be challenged in courts for months or years to come. The “settlement” was not submitted for review by the judge who’s been overseeing his original case. So, is it indeed a settlement of that case? The “pardon” given to him and his family for any law-breaking in filing their taxes was awarded by his former personal lawyer (Blanche) by his current Acting Attorney General (Blanche) and will be supervised by (Blanche’s) hopeful next attorney general (Blanche). “When will it end?” Probably not until Donald J. Trump leaves office or his spineless Congressional supporters grow a spine (as likely as me winning the U.S. Open golf championship). Meantime, Trump is forcing and winning primaries against his fellow Republicans because he deems them “not loyal” to him. Because, Donald J. Trump cares not a whit for the Republican Party. He only cares about himself. Most of those he’s staging primaries against likely would have won in November, now it’s questionable if the GOP can hold most of those seats. Especially with Trump’s popularity at an all-time low, even for him. There are, of course, many long-term consequences to what Trump is doing right now. Forget that the Congress is passing no legislation to help their constituents battle ever-rising prices and ever-stagnant wages. Forget, too, that Trump’s selfish primaries against incumbents threatens the GOP hold on both houses of Congress. And forget that Trump – who promised no more American wars – is fighting a war of choice in a region most everyone would have told hm is impossible to clearly win in – the Middle East, where religious zealots reign, meaning they will not be “logical” in resolving a war unless it matches their religious beliefs. The U.S. is at a stalemate there as Trump draws down on our inventory of weapons while China gets stronger (and Putin now is in China in essence trying to maintain that relationship as he views America, and himself, as weakened). How did we get here? How did Donald J. Trump win the presidency twice? Well, his first election pitted Hillary Clinton against Trump. Clinton was probably the only Democrat that Trump could beat that year (on the other hand, Trump was probably the only Republican Clinton could beat that year). Skip ahead and Trump faced Vice President Kamala Harris who was weakened (further) as a candidate by President Joe Biden’s refusal to step aside until it was too late for Harris to run an effective campaign against Trump. So, when will it end? Probably not until the end of Trump’s term because Trump is who he is and isn’t changing. His dominance may be challenged if the Democrats could win at least one and, more likely, both houses of Congress in November. But he still will be the President with a mindset that he is all-powerful until someone says he isn’t. Once his terms ends, there is not another presence like Donald J. Trump in the Republican wings, yet. Many are trying to position themselves for that, but none is Donald J. Trump. And that $1.776 billion-dollar pot may be a nice further down payment, like his pardons of nearly all the Jan. 6 criminals, for his militia to stay waiting in the wings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump administration is scrapping $1.8B fund meant to compensate president’s allies, Blanche says](https://apnews.com/article/c06a4aa4a1052055bc67c4a0a54984e3?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [Judge temporarily blocks payouts from Trump’s $1.776 billion ‘anti-weaponization’ settlement fund](https://apnews.com/article/8baaee6aa8d83f0ad2905f5f8d457dec?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [US justice department ‘forever’ bars IRS from auditing Trump’s past tax returns](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Under pressure, Trump administration drops controversial fund for Capitol rioters](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/06/03/under-pressure-trump-administration-drops-controversial-fund-for-capitol-rioters%5F6754078%5F4.html?ref=europeans.today) | Le Monde - ###### [Xi and Putin condemn ‘irresponsible’ US foreign policy at Beijing summit](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/20/china-russia-xi-jinping-vladimir-putin-meet-beijing-after-trump-visit?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/when-will-it-end?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 May 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 20 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/20/todays-papers-20-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-20T16:29:15.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 19 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/19/todays-papers-19-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T14:46:04.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Burnham rules out a rejoin push as Makerfield puts Labour’s Brexit divide under pressure URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/burnham-rules-out-a-rejoin-push-as-makerfield-puts-labours-brexit-divide-under-pressure/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T00:06:14.000Z Andy Burnham has ruled out pushing for Britain to rejoin the European Union as he prepares for a possible return to Westminster through one of Labour’s most politically exposed seats. The Greater Manchester mayor [said](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx21en4807wo?ref=europeans.today) Brexit had been “damaging”, but added that he was “not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU” and that the country should not rerun those arguments now. The intervention came as Burnham seeks Labour selection for the Makerfield by-election, a contest widely seen as a high-stakes test for both the party and his own national ambitions. On its face, Burnham’s remark was a narrow statement about Europe. In practice, it said something larger about the constraints now shaping Labour politics. Makerfield is not a safe laboratory for abstract pro-European positioning. Reform UK is expected to target the seat heavily, and Labour figures have acknowledged that Brexit could be one of the issues used against Burnham during the campaign. That helps explain why his comments mattered. Burnham was not announcing a new settlement of Labour’s Europe policy. He was signalling the limits of what a senior Labour figure believes can be argued in a Leave-leaning northern contest with Reform waiting to exploit any opening. “Let’s fix our own country. Let’s get it working again. Let’s get it back to where people want it to be,” said the man who, just last year, [said](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/05/18/burnhams-changing-views-on-rejoining-european-union/?ref=europeans.today) that he wanted to see Britain rejoin the EU in his lifetime. “My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments.” The pressure was sharpened by fresh comments from Wes Streeting, another potential contender in any future Labour leadership race, who [said](https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/britains-future-lies-with-europe-streeting-vows-to-make-rejoining-eu-key-goal-if-he-becomes-pm?ref=europeans.today) over the weekend that Britain should eventually seek to rejoin the EU. Burnham’s answer was a clear refusal to follow him onto that ground, at least in the current political moment. “The biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep,” the former health secretary said. “We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future lies with Europe... and, one day, back in the European Union.” The contrast exposes a fault line Labour has never fully resolved. Many activists and members remain strongly pro-European, and senior figures still describe Brexit as economically harmful. But the party is also trying to hold or recover support in places where the 2016 vote still carries political weight and where Nigel Farage’s party sees an opportunity to deepen Labour’s problems. That is what gives Burnham’s intervention its significance. It is less a grand statement of doctrine than a measure of political reality. A politician discussed as a possible future Labour leader is trying to re-enter parliament through a seat where even talking about rejoining the EU appears too risky. For a party still searching for a stable language on Brexit, that is the real story. The argument has not gone away. It has simply returned in a form shaped by electoral pressure, regional distrust and Labour’s fear of losing more ground to Reform in the north. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Andy Burnham says he will not try to return UK to EU](“https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/18/andy-burnham-says-he-will-not-try-to-return-uk-to-eu”) | The Guardian - ###### [Burnham pledges not to 're-run' Brexit arguments](“https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx21en4807wo”) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Andy Burnham faces perilous race to win Makerfield byelection, allies say](“https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/17/andy-burnham-faces-perilous-race-to-win-makerfield-byelection-allies-say”) | The Guardian - ###### [‘Britain’s future lies with Europe’: Streeting vows to make rejoining EU key goal if he becomes PM](“https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/britains-future-lies-with-europe-streeting-vows-to-make-rejoining-eu-key-goal-if-he-becomes-pm”) | The Observer - ###### [What to know about the political chaos engulfing the UK’s Labour Party and efforts to unseat Starmer](“https://apnews.com/article/1d253316385e6813b7844509eb12038d”) | AP - ###### [Politics latest: Starmer says he wants to fight next election and will not ‘walk away’ ](“https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-tougher-action-needed-on-gaza-protesters-using-controversial-chants-pm-says-12593360?postid=8282007”) | Sky News - ###### [Burnham’s changing views on rejoining the EU](“https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/05/18/burnhams-changing-views-on-rejoining-european-union/”) | The Telegraph ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 18 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/todays-papers-18-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-18T20:49:36.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### From landslide to leadership crisis: where did it all go wrong for Keir Starmer? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/18/from-landslide-to-leadership-crisis-where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-keir-starmer/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T02:23:51.000Z The failure of many of the UK’s recent prime ministers, who have passed through Downing Street in quick succession, seems easy to explain. Theresa May couldn’t do what she promised and didn’t “get Brexit done”. Boris Johnson broke his own rules, and the law. Liz Truss failed through sheer incompetence. But [Keir Starmer](https://theconversation.com/topics/keir-starmer-78580?ref=europeans.today) won an election by a landslide and led his party to victory after 14 years out of power. So why is he looking at a probable leadership challenge after less than two years in office? It is true that Starmer faced deep problems left by the Conservatives, Brexit and COVID. He then had to deal with the war in Gaza, a capricious US president in Donald Trump, and now a war in Iran. But Starmer’s struggles boil down to a failure of leadership. US political scientist, Ronald Heifetz, [has written](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53761774e4b0e8c9b2acd2a4/t/66a2b58f4003c9086cc4117d/1721939345918/Heifetz%5F1994%5FLeadership+without+Easy+Answers%5FFull+Text.pdf?ref=europeans.today) that political leadership is about disappointing your followers at a “rate they can stand”. His fellow American scholar, [Richard Neustadt](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Presidential-Power-Modern-Presidents-Leadership/dp/0029227968?ref=europeans.today), argued that leadership (in the case of presidents) was about “the power to persuade”. Keir Starmer has struggled because he disappointed too many, and persuaded too few. Crucially, Starmer has never won over the public. Labour’s election in 2024 was an anti-Tory vote, not a pro-Labour one, and Starmer rode a wave of unhappiness from a [moody and volatile electorate](https://theconversation.com/grieving-and-unheard-the-british-public-has-voted-for-change-in-weariness-more-than-in-hope-233990?ref=europeans.today). Even at the height of his popularity in 2024 the [public saw him](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/49965-keir-starmer-what-do-britons-think-of-the-new-prime-minister?ref=europeans.today) as competent(ish) but – significantly – 49% also thought he might be indecisive. After just 100 days, Starmer’s [poll lead had plummeted](https://yougov.com/en-gb/trackers/keir-starmer-prime-minister-approval?ref=europeans.today) and by [July 2025](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/sites/policy%5Flab/files/ucl%5Fpolicy%5Flab%5Fand%5Fmore%5Fin%5Fcommon%5F-%5Fwhats%5Fchanged%5F-%5Fjuly%5F2025.pdf?ref=europeans.today) there was a deep sense that Labour had not delivered on its promises. This failure was in part because the public had [very high expectations](https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/public-expects-see-improvements-nhs-education-housing-next-general-election?ref=europeans.today) of what the government would do, and Starmer had repeatedly promised to be all about “delivery”. But the public came to see the government as not delivering much. ### Communication failures The main policies that got attention were the unpopular ones: cuts to the [winter fuel allowance](https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/media/o4bj5df1/100-days-polling.pdf?ref=europeans.today), [welfare cuts](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cj937xylzyet?ref=europeans.today) and harsh immigration reforms. But Starmer never used his power to persuade. Popular policies such as standing up to Trump and on climate [were buried](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/07/keir-starmer-driving-away-progressive-voters-labour?ref=europeans.today) or went unnoticed. So why hasn’t he done or said more? Starmer came to be seen as lacking any sort of vision or ideals, and journalists have written of how he seemed only to support “convenientism” and a wrong-headed strategy to [take back votes](https://benansell.substack.com/p/labour-at-the-margin) from right-wing challengers Reform UK. His own attempts at communications were poor: in his [“most personal interview yet”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/22/you-asked-me-questions-ive-never-asked-myself-keir-starmers-most-personal-interview-yet?ref=europeans.today) in 2024 he began by saying he didn’t dream, didn’t have a favourite book and was neither an optimist or pessimist. It isn’t only the public. Starmer never won over another crucial group: his own MPs. Labour MPs were not loyal to Starmer to begin with, and were quickly upset by some policies purposefully designed to [cut across their principles](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/parliament-starmer-welfare-rebellion?ref=europeans.today). On top of this, his determination to appoint Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US and the resulting scandal as the closeness of Mandelson’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein emerged, and the growing threat as UK voters fragmented, left Labour increasingly desperate. The [local, Welsh and Scottish elections](https://theconversation.com/elections-2026-experts-react-to-the-reform-surge-and-labour-losses-282502?ref=europeans.today) showed the party that the writing was on the wall. The problems the UK faces will not go away if Starmer exits. His failure then begs the questions about who – if anyone – can succeed. Former health secretary Wes Streeting emerged as the first potential challenger. But does he have anything different to offer? Much has been said about how Streeting is seen as the best communicator and a leader with a genuine [working-class heritage](https://news.sky.com/story/the-working-class-extrovert-who-wants-to-be-labour-leader-who-is-wes-streeting-13543248?ref=europeans.today). He has a record of [delivering policy](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/performance-tracker-2025/nhs/overview?ref=europeans.today), and the NHS has improved under his watch, with public perceptions improving for the first time [since before COVID](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/25/public-satisfaction-with-nhs-rises-wes-streeting?ref=europeans.today). Interestingly, NHS workers themselves are much less convinced by Streeting’s record, with majority seeing the NHS as [doing badly](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54756-how-do-healthcare-workers-feel-about-the-nhs-spring-2026?ref=europeans.today). There are concerns. Streeting seemed to [relish challenging striking doctors](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/02/wes-streeting-bma-delusion-resident-doctors-strike-nhs?ref=europeans.today). And although [he denied](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/09/peter-mandelson-wes-streeting-vetting-moral-seriousness?ref=europeans.today) that he was close to Mandelson, the ongoing investigations could still show otherwise. And on a practical level, Streeting has [little support](https://www.survation.com/labour-members-poll-cabinet-favourites-directional-doubts-and-reform-fears/?ref=europeans.today) among his party, much less than Starmer ever had. Angela Rayner would be a more left-wing alternative. Rayner has a similarly Labour back story as a care worker and a rep with public service union Unison. She has a concrete record of delivery and getting things done, having championed what is arguably the signature achievement of this government in the [Employment Rights Act](https://theconversation.com/unions-have-been-in-decline-in-the-uk-for-50-years-a-new-law-could-begin-to-reverse-that-trend-271702?ref=europeans.today). But she was forced to resign as deputy prime minister in September 2025 after [under-paying stamp duty](https://theconversation.com/how-angela-rayner-managed-to-underpay-stamp-duty-family-trusts-and-tax-avoidance-explained-264706?ref=europeans.today). Now though, with remarkable timing, she has been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing by HMRC. A glance at Labour polling shows Rayner is also very popular with the party. And of course Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham now has a seat to contest, which could plot his path back to Westminster and his route to a probable leadership bid. However, beating Reform UK to the Makerfield seat is [very far from a given](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx21x2rpm12o?ref=europeans.today). Despite Streeting’s resignation, everything remains in flux. Starmer has failed as a leader, but is not yet gone. The possible candidates now circling need to offer a better approach, one that can win over the public and, more immediately, Labour MPs. A general election must be held by August 15, 2029\. It remains to be seen if the next Labour prime minister, if there is change at the top, can persuade more and disappoint less in the remaining time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Starmer resists calls to quit as junior ministers resign, senior cabinet holds](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/12/starmer-resists-calls-to-quit-as-junior-ministers-resign-senior-cabinet-holds/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Streeting quits, Labour leadership battle remains unsettled](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/streeting-quits-labour-leadership-battle-remains-unsettled/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister?](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/15/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-replace-keir-starmer-as-prime-minister/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Starmer tells cabinet he will not quit without leadership challenge](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/starmer-cabinet-labour-leadership?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Starmer under pressure after Labour’s election losses expose a fragmented Britain](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/10/starmer-under-pressure-after-labours-election-losses-expose-a-fragmented-britain/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [How Starmer could win a Labour leadership fight, and how he could lose it](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/how-starmer-could-win-a-labour-leadership-fight-and-how-he-could-lose-it/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [What to know about the political chaos engulfing the UK’s Labour Party and efforts to unseat Starmer](https://apnews.com/article/uk-labour-leadership-britain-politics-starmer-burnham-streeting-reform-1d253316385e6813b7844509eb12038d?ref=europeans.today) | *Associated Press* - ###### [PM Starmer’s leadership woes overshadow parliament’s grand reopening](https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/pm-starmers-leadership-woes-overshadow-parliaments-grand-reopening-4685445?ref=europeans.today) | *Reuters* - ###### [Who are the main threats to Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/11/who-are-main-threats-keir-starmer-labour-leadership?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/from-landslide-to-leadership-crisis-where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-keir-starmer-282935?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 19 May 2026\. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55278577329/in/dateposted/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282935/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 16-17 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/16/this-weekends-papers-16-17-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-18T01:51:41.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation this weekend. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/15/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-replace-keir-starmer-as-prime-minister/ Last updated: 2026-05-15T02:38:46.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Labour MPs increasingly expect a leadership change 🔹 Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner, and Andy Burnham are central contenders 🔹 Burnham lacks a parliamentary seat for now 🔹 Markets may test any new prime minister I t has become a given in Westminster circles that Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister could be nearing its end. This is because, fairly or unfairly, the UK public have made up their minds – and they do not like him. [Labour](https://theconversation.com/topics/labour-778?ref=europeans.today) MPs know this all too well, having seen the level of animosity on the doorstep during recent election campaigns in England, Wales and Scotland. They just didn’t immediately know what to do about it. But then Wes Streeting quit as health secretary, criticising Starmer in his [resignation letter](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy21gpr1kzt?ref=europeans.today) for what he said was a “vacuum” where political vision was required. Recent UK history is full of precedents when prime ministers found their position untenable. For the Conservatives, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss were all removed eventually. But such a course of action comes with costs: to party unity, to market sentiment, and in terms of how the voters view political shenanigans. This is why, until now, the more thoughtful voices in the Labour party either kept their counsel or [argued for caution](https://news.sky.com/video/housing-secretary-steve-reed-confident-sir-keir-starmer-will-remain-pm-following-speech-13542870?ref=europeans.today). But a significant number of Labour MPs believe that a change at the top is now inevitable. ##### Streeting, Rayner or Burnham From the right of the party, Streeting, the combative former health secretary, is the key figure to challenge Starmer. But he still requires the backing of at least 81 fellow Labour MPs. A Streeting bid for the leadership would be supported by much of the media, but what many regard as his lukewarm re-tread of old Blairite orthodoxies would limit his appeal with the party membership. And members play a [significant role](https://theconversation.com/ousting-keir-starmer-is-harder-than-it-looks-party-rules-mean-he-can-choose-to-keep-fighting-282683?ref=europeans.today) in leadership contests. By contrast, a likely candidate of the so-called “soft left”, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, has now cleared up [her tax affairs](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/angela-rayner-cleared-hmrc-tax-affairs-labour-leadership-starmer?ref=europeans.today) and is more popular with the party rank-and-file. But she would alienate much of the London commentariat. What neither Streeting nor Rayner possess is genuine cut-through with the wider British public. And this is where the current mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, comes in. Burnham does not have a parliamentary seat and, although he intends to contest the [Makerfield constituency](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/labour-mp-to-stand-down-to-allow-burnham-run-for-byelection-amid-leadership-row?ref=europeans.today) made vacant by Josh Simons’ decision to step aside, it is not guaranteed that he will win. Given Labour’s current unpopularity, the party cannot assume it would win a by-election anywhere. And even if Burnham did scale that hurdle, there is a real danger that his replacement as the Labour candidate for the mayoralty would lose to Reform UK. This would allow party opponents to portray Burnham’s move as an indulgence at the expense of the party. Nevertheless, if the political stars were to align and Burnham navigates his passage back to Westminster in time for a leadership challenge, he would be a formidable opponent. Burnham not only [outpolls his main rivals](https://labourlist.org/2025/06/angela-rayner-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-labourlist-survation-poll/?ref=europeans.today) among Labour members, he also enjoys rare [net approval ratings](https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/labour-cannot-afford-to-ignore-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) with the public (+6, compared with -12 for Rayner and -20 for Streeting). Labour MPs will be paying particular attention to those numbers. There is strong reason to believe that Rayner will have a crucial role in how this plays out. This could either be by standing for leader herself or through working with Burnham. Either way, she is in an incredibly influential position. And what would Labour and the country look like under new leadership? The revolving door at the top partly reflects the extent of the challenges (economic, political, cultural) that the country faces. Voters have not seen rises in their real living standards for two decades, are truly angry and deeply polarised. The UK is divided on how to go forward, and so is the Labour Party. That is why potential challengers to Starmer really should be careful what they wish for. Much of the political instability of recent years is down to the collective obsession with politics as a short-term and personality-based kind of show business. But this ignores the more worrying long-term developments in financial markets that indicate that there is no faith in the UK’s ability to tackle its structural problems any time soon. The eventual winner of Labour’s leadership drama may inherit the throne just as money markets’ patience with the UK runs out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Wes Streeting quits cabinet and calls on Starmer to resign](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/wes-streeting-quits-cabinet-and-calls-on-starmer-to-resign?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Angela Rayner cleared by HMRC over tax affairs](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/angela-rayner-cleared-hmrc-tax-affairs-labour-leadership-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Labour MP to stand down to allow Burnham run for byelection](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/labour-mp-to-stand-down-to-allow-burnham-run-for-byelection-amid-leadership-row?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [How could Labour remove Keir Starmer? Four possible routes](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/10/how-labour-remove-keir-starmer-four-routes-replace-leader-mps?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [When will the Makerfield by-election take place?](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/when-is-makerfield-byelection-andy-burnham-manchester-b1282389.html?ref=europeans.today) | *The Standard* - ###### [Streeting would lose leadership contest against Keir Starmer, poll reveals](https://labourlist.org/2026/05/labour-leadership-challenge-polling-survation/?ref=europeans.today) | *LabourList* - ###### [Labour can’t afford to ignore Andy Burnham](https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/labour-cannot-afford-to-ignore-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) | *PoliticsHome* - ###### [Streeting quits, Labour leadership battle remains unsettled](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/streeting-quits-labour-leadership-battle-remains-unsettled/) | *Europeans TODAY* - ###### [Andy Burnham’s big challenge: The route to succeeding Starmer is littered with obstacles](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/andy-burnhams-big-challenge-the-route-to-succeeding-starmer-is-littered-with-obstacles/) | *Europeans TODAY* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-replace-keir-starmer-as-prime-minister-282880?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 15 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282880/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 15 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/15/todays-papers-15-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-15T15:27:10.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Streeting quits, Labour leadership battle remains unsettled URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/streeting-quits-labour-leadership-battle-remains-unsettled/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T17:27:51.000Z Wes Streeting’s [resignation](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8p7p83vdzo?ref=europeans.today) as health secretary has made Labour’s leadership crisis harder to contain, but it has not settled who is best placed to succeed Keir Starmer. On Thursday, Streeting quit the cabinet and told the prime minister it was clear he would not lead Labour into the next general election. Yet he stopped short of launching a formal challenge himself. Instead, he called for a contest with “the best possible field of candidates”, pointing to a broader race rather than an immediate showdown. That matters because Streeting’s move looks more like a warning shot than a decisive capture of the field. He has shown he is willing to break publicly with Starmer, but he has not turned that rupture into a declared bid. Earlier approved [reporting](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/wes-streeting-faces-narrow-road-to-labour-members-favour?ref=europeans.today) had already suggested he faced a narrow road with Labour members. One survey of more than 1,000 members found that 42% would pick Andy Burnham to succeed Starmer, against 11% for Streeting, with Burnham also far ahead on favourability. Angela Rayner looks better placed than she did a day ago. HMRC has [cleared her](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx219y4qy0qo?ref=europeans.today) of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs after settling £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty, without a penalty, and the issue that forced her resignation from the cabinet last year no longer hangs over her in the same way. Rayner has said Starmer should “reflect on” stepping aside and indicated that she would “play my part” in any contest. That does not make her the automatic favourite, but it restores her as a serious option. [Andy Burnham](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/labour-mp-to-stand-down-to-allow-burnham-run-for-byelection-amid-leadership-row?ref=europeans.today) may still be the most politically interesting alternative, but he remains the least straightforward candidate. His backers want Labour’s ruling body to allow a long enough contest for the Greater Manchester mayor to return to parliament through a byelection. That route is uncertain, and party figures are already warning that the rules should not be rewritten to suit one contender. If a contest began immediately, Burnham’s problem would not be popularity but eligibility. The clearest sign of the internal mood comes from party members rather than the wider electorate. A *LabourList/Survation* members’ poll [reported](https://labourlist.org/2026/05/labour-leadership-challenge-polling-survation/?ref=europeans.today) on Thursday suggested Starmer would lose easily to Burnham in a head-to-head contest, lose narrowly to Rayner, and beat Streeting comfortably. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000706b--1--1.jpg) Source: LabourList/Survation | EUROPEANS TODAY That is not a public verdict on who should be prime minister. But it does suggest that Streeting’s resignation, by itself, has not made him Labour’s obvious successor. For now, the party has a resigned contender without a declared bid, a newly viable rival, and a popular outsider who still needs a route back to Westminster. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Streeting resigns as health secretary but stops short of launching leadership bid - UK politics live](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/may/14/angela-rayner-says-starmer-should-reflect-on-stepping-aside-after-hmrc-clears-her-over-tax-affairs-uk-politics-live?filterKeyEvents=false&ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Angela Rayner cleared by HMRC over tax affairs paving the way for potential leadership bid](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/angela-rayner-cleared-hmrc-tax-affairs-labour-leadership-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Leadership rules should ‘not be tweaked’ to let Burnham run for PM, Labour NEC member says](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/labour-leadership-rules-not-tweaked-andy-burnham-run-pm-nec-member?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Wes Streeting faces narrow road to Labour members’ favour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/wes-streeting-faces-narrow-road-to-labour-members-favour?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [UK health secretary resigns, setting up a Labour leadership challenge to Keir Starmer](https://apnews.com/article/6bd359148664c9478ed01b36ebb6e37d?ref=europeans.today) | *AP* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 14 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55250720299/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Trump signals “Strategic Flexibility” in meeting with Xi URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/trump-signals-strategic-flexibility-in-meeting-with-xi/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T11:53:56.000Z Donald Trump’s trip to China was initially framed by his team as a demonstration of the U.S. president’s deal-making abilities, reminiscent of his book *“The Art of the Deal.”* However, his heavy public praise and admiration for the Chinese president added a significant political dimension to the visit. The rhetoric of friendship, respect, and shared progress turned into a display of one superpower’s submission to the other. The message conveyed was not one of strength as announced before the visit, but rather of submission: the American president seemed eager to flatter his authoritarian rival while unresolved issues surrounding trade, Taiwan, Iran, and democratic values lingered in the background. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000710a--1-.jpg) DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump wants China’s help in making peace in Ukraine. He’s unlikely to get it](https://www.europeans.today/2024/12/15/trump-wants-chinas-help-in-making-peace-in-ukraine-hes-unlikely-to-get-it/) | Europeans.Today - ###### [The Latest: US-China summit ends with Xi and Trump claiming progress but differences remain](https://apnews.com/article/7a10166d870327085b0ca4a06080c824?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [Xi warns Trump of 'clashes and even conflicts' with US over Taiwan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/trump-xi-jinping-meet-beijing-ahead-of-summit-trade-iran-war-ai-talks?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Trump state visit live: Xi hosting US president for banquet](https://news.sky.com/story/trump-state-visit-latest-us-president-prepares-to-meet-chinese-president-in-beijing-13540731?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [Trump’s China Trip Underscores How Power Has Shifted East](https://time.com/article/2026/05/15/trump-xi-us-china-summit-analysis/?ref=europeans.today) | Time ### --- ### **Sources:** ##### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY. --- ### Is Trump losing the support of his Maga base? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/is-trump-losing-the-support-of-his-maga-base/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T22:40:36.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 MAGA most prominent figures have criticised Trump’s direction. 🔹 Iran policy is straining “America first” claims. 🔹 Polls still show strong Maga support. 🔹 2028 ambitions may reshape the movement. I n an interview with *NBC News* in January 2026, Donald Trump [said](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-us-not-war-venezuela-rcna252427?ref=europeans.today): “Maga is me. Maga loves everything I do.” Until recently, this statement was true. But over the past several months, cracks have begun to appear in the loyalty of the US president’s “Make America Great Again” base. Two of the movement’s most prominent figures – former congresswoman [Marjorie Taylor Greene](https://www.congress.gov/member/marjorie-greene/G000596?ref=europeans.today) and conservative political commentator [Tucker Carlson](https://tuckercarlson.com/?ref=europeans.today) – have voiced their discontent with the leader they previously lavished with unconditional support. Greene’s falling out with Trump was rooted in her advocacy for releasing the investigative files related to late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But it also centred on her discomfort with US support for Israel and a sense that Trump had abandoned his [“America first”](https://agenda.americafirstpolicy.com/?ref=europeans.today) campaign promises. In December 2025, Greene told *CNN* that [“the dam is breaking”](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-dam-breaking-republican-party-trump?ref=europeans.today) on Trump’s grip over the Republican party. As an [example](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5652308-marjorie-greene-trump-influence/?ref=europeans.today), she pointed to the 13 Republicans who voted with Democrats that month to overturn an executive order that allowed Trump to fire federal employees. Greene [resigned](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywjz202r7o?ref=europeans.today) from the House of Representatives in January. Carlson’s more recent break with Trump was equally dramatic. “I don’t hate Trump,” he [told](https://www.wsj.com/politics/tucker-carlson-trump-relationship-05781c57?st=udBrYT&ref=europeans.today#%5F=%5F) the *Wall Street Journal* in an interview released on April 25\. “I hate this war \[in Iran\] and the direction this US government is taking.” Carlson went so far as to apologise to the public for “misleading” them into voting for Trump in 2024. In a week when an attempt to assassinate Trump is once again [headline news](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cew7wez72vxo?ref=europeans.today), we are reminded of Carlson’s take on a previous attempt on the US president’s life in 2024\. Carlson had [invoked](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/07/politics/tucker-carlson-trump-iran?ref=europeans.today) “divine intervention” to explain Trump’s survival of that attempt, declaring “something bigger is going on here”. At that point, the president had religious-right elites firmly on his side. This fervour has [dissipated](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/07/politics/tucker-carlson-trump-iran?ref=europeans.today) in recent times. But are Greene and Carlson representative of a broader problem for the Maga movement, or are they just a pair of high-profile defections and nothing more? ##### Putting ‘America first’ The grievances and concerns outlined by Greene and Carlson are real. When Trump ran for president in 2016, he broke with Republican orthodoxy by [denouncing](https://www.politico.com/blogs/south-carolina-primary-2016-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/2016-south-carolina-trump-george-w-bushs-iraq-219475?ref=europeans.today) the Iraq war as a catastrophic mistake. He promised to extract the US from costly foreign wars and put America ahead of global policing commitments. His first-term record was somewhat mixed, but the key takeaway was that no new major wars were initiated. On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump [repeated these earlier](https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/maga-meter-tracking-donald-trumps-2024-promises/promise/1641/end-the-russia-ukraine-war-within-24-hours/article/3135/?ref=europeans.today) pledges. He said [he would end](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/us/politics/trump-promise-ending-ukraine-war.html?ref=europeans.today) the Ukraine war within 24 hours and keep the US out of new conflicts. Trump has clearly reneged on these commitments. The Iran war is broadly unpopular with the US electorate. Polls show that more people are against the war than support it. On average, 15% [more people oppose](https://www.natesilver.net/p/iran-war-polls-popularity-approval?ref=europeans.today) than back it, and in some recent surveys that gap is even bigger, with up to 27% more people against than in favour. About 75% of US adults also now [describe the economy](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/approval-of-trump-on-economy-falls-in-new-ap-norc-poll-as-iran-war-drives-up-prices?ref=europeans.today), which is [being affected](https://www.cfr.org/articles/the-u-s-economy-was-shaky-before-the-iran-war-now-its-in-real-trouble?ref=europeans.today) by higher prices, as “very” or “somewhat” poor. This dissatisfaction is visible among Republicans voters, though probably not to an extent that suggests support for Trump is in danger of imminent collapse. Recent [polling](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/approval-of-trump-on-economy-falls-in-new-ap-norc-poll-as-iran-war-drives-up-prices?ref=europeans.today) by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that, while dropping by 13 percentage points compared to a year ago, 38% of Republican voters still “strongly” approve of Trump’s presidency. At the same time, there are some signs that Trump’s core Maga base remains largely steadfast in its support, despite the very vocal dissent from some. The same poll found that roughly 90% of Americans who self-identify as “Maga Republicans” approve of Trump’s overall job performance. Another survey by *NBC* [suggests](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/poll-trumps-approval-rating-hits-second-term-low-economy-iran-war-rcna331462?ref=europeans.today) that 87% of these people currently approve of his handling of the war in Iran. While these surveys are unlikely to capture the full range of sentiment within the Maga movement, they still indicate that Trump retains a solid core of support from members of this group. However, if the conflict drags on and economic pain deepens, the room for elite dissatisfaction to percolate down to the base is likely to widen. ##### Presidential ambitions There may be other reasons explaining why Carlson, in particular, has broken with Trump. As Jason Zengerle, a journalist at the *New Yorker* magazine and the author of a biography of Carlson, [put it recently](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/24/nx-s1-5797825/why-tucker-carlson-is-expressing-remorse-for-supporting-trump?ref=europeans.today) when discussing Carlson’s reversal on Trump: “He’s also sort of making a political move.” Various media outlets have [suggested that Carlson](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/22/tucker-trump-carlson-torment?ref=europeans.today) may be eyeing a 2028 presidential run. Some commentators, including White House counterterrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka, [have drawn parallels](https://unherd.com/newsroom/a-tucker-carlson-2028-run-would-break-maga/?ref=europeans.today) between Carlson and Pat Buchanan. In the 1990s, Buchanan challenged President George H.W. Bush over the Gulf war and [reshaped](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/opinion/pat-buchanan-donald-trump.html?ref=europeans.today) the Republican party’s ideological trajectory even without winning its presidential nomination. Greene has floated Carlson for president. In a social media post in March, she [wrote](https://www.axios.com/2026/03/06/tucker-carlson-2028-president-bid-trump-mtg?ref=europeans.today): “I SUPPORT TUCKER. Trump doesn’t even know what Maga is anymore.” Carlson, for his part, has publicly [dismissed](https://www.economist.com/insider/the-insider/a-conversation-with-tucker-carlson?ref=europeans.today) a presidential bid. But this rebranding exercise, of attempting to seize the Maga label from Trump and attach it to a new vessel, is a significant development. It suggests that “America first” is no longer exclusively synonymous with one figure. The looming question is whether this seed of elite discontent can grow into something organisationally meaningful before 2028, when Americans elect their next president. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump’s MAGA media wall collapses](https://www.axios.com/2026/04/08/trump-maga-tucker-carlson-iran-war?ref=europeans.today) | *Axios* - ###### [The Breakdown of Trump and Tucker Carlson’s Alliance](https://time.com/article/2026/04/22/trump-tucker-carlson-relationship-breakdown-iran-war-split/?ref=europeans.today) | *Time* - ###### [Iran War Tearing Trump’s Coalition Apart](https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/28/iran-war-trump-coalition-maga-america-first/?ref=europeans.today) | *Foreign Policy* - ###### [MAGA backs Trump on Iran, but how strong is support?](https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2026/0328/1565551-maga-support-trump/?ref=europeans.today) | *RTÉ* - ###### [Trump Attacks MAGA Iran War Critics](https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/04/10/maga-rift-deepens-as-trump-attacks-iran-war-critics-alex-jones-and-candace-owens-respond/?ref=europeans.today) | *Forbes* - ###### [Tucker Carlson’s public torment over Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/22/tucker-trump-carlson-torment?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Pentagon’s Iran war bill nears $30bn as Donald Trump renews threats](https://www.ft.com/content/eb5acb32-a98d-44dd-8fb6-f67ae7acf32d?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/is-trump-losing-the-support-of-his-maga-base-281482?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 14 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/281482/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 14 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/14/todays-papers-14-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T16:50:28.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### How Starmer could win a Labour leadership fight, and how he could lose it URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/how-starmer-could-win-a-labour-leadership-fight-and-how-he-could-lose-it/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T02:33:35.000Z Keir Starmer’s critics in Labour want him gone, but removing a sitting leader is harder than Westminster speculation suggests. After Labour’s heavy local election losses, pressure on the prime minister is real. But as of Wednesday 13 May, no challenger had formally secured the backing needed to force a contest. The first rule is the most important. A Labour leadership challenge begins only if a rival wins the written support of 20% of Labour MPs. Current reporting has put that threshold at more than 80 MPs. If a challenger reaches it, the party would organise a full leadership election, and Starmer, as the incumbent, would automatically go on the ballot if he chose to stay in the race. Public anger alone cannot remove him as Labour leader. MPs can call for his resignation, ministers can resign, and rivals can manoeuvre, but unless a named opponent gathers enough support, there will be no formal contest. That has been Starmer’s immediate protection during this crisis. His authority has clearly been weakened, but the anticipated rebellion has yet to produce a single candidate with enough backing to move forward. If a contest did begin, Starmer could still survive. Labour uses a preferential voting system, which means voters rank candidates rather than choosing only one. In a three-way race, that could matter a great deal. *The Guardian* has [reported](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/13/hold-the-line-burnham-tells-allies-in-parliament-he-still-has-options-to-return?ref=europeans.today) that some Labour MPs fear Starmer could remain leader even if he came second on first preferences, because he might attract enough lower-preference support to overtake a more divisive rival as other candidates drop out. The same rules could also help bring him down. The clearest threat comes from a serious challenger who can rally enough MPs to trigger a contest and persuade party members and affiliates that Labour needs a reset. Starmer would face greater danger in a direct two-person race than in a crowded field, because the anti-Starmer vote would be less likely to split. He would also be more exposed if election losses, ministerial resignations and union discontent hardened into a broader judgment that he could not lead Labour into the next general election. For now, the rules still protect him. They do not make him safe. They simply mean that his opponents need more than outrage. They need a challenger, enough nominations and a majority across the wider party. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How could Labour remove Keir Starmer? Four possible routes](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/10/how-labour-remove-keir-starmer-four-routes-replace-leader-mps?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Starmer tells cabinet he will not quit without leadership challenge](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/starmer-cabinet-labour-leadership?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [‘Hold the line’: Burnham tells allies in parliament he still has options to return](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/13/hold-the-line-burnham-tells-allies-in-parliament-he-still-has-options-to-return?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Labour-supporting unions predict Starmer will not lead party into next election](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/13/labour-unions-keir-starmer-leader-election?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Politics latest: Starmer tells cabinet process for leadership challenge hasn't been triggered](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-pm-under-pressure-to-sack-braverman-over-met-criticism-force-bolster-numbers-ahead-of-weekend-protests-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | *Sky News* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 13 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55267181711/in/dateposted/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Andy Burnham’s big challenge: The route to succeeding Starmer is littered with obstacles URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/andy-burnhams-big-challenge-the-route-to-succeeding-starmer-is-littered-with-obstacles/ Last updated: 2026-05-13T02:45:09.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Andy Burnham must first become a Labour MP. 🔹 Labour’s NEC could still block his candidacy. 🔹 A by-election would carry serious electoral risks. 🔹 Party members, not MPs, would decide any contest. T he polls indicate that of all the candidates vying to succeed Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the most popular is Andy Burnham. But before the current mayor of Greater Manchester can even throw his hat into the ring, there are a series of hurdles he has to overcome. For a start, a leadership contender has to be an MP. Labour’s rules state that before a candidate can be selected, their candidature must be approved by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC). But only in January, a committee of the NEC voted [to block Burnham](https://theconversation.com/labour-blocks-andy-burnham-from-standing-for-parliament-how-it-happened-and-why-274309?ref=europeans.today) from standing at the by-election for Gorton and Denton by eight votes to one. The reason given was that Burnham’s candidature would force a by-election for the mayoralty. This, it was argued, would be both costly for the party and would run the risk of Labour losing to Reform or the Greens. But in truth, the key factor was the determination of the pro-Starmer majority to head off a Burnham challenge to the prime minister. So could the NEC change its mind? Much depends, firstly, on left-wing trade union leaders, such as the heads of the two largest unions, Unite and Unison (Sharon Graham and Andrea Egan). Would they put enough pressure on NEC union representatives – a third of the total – to force a reversal of the earlier decision? And second, a lot also rests on whether the NEC is prepared to provoke the wrath of many members by blocking Burnham. This could, after all, be considered a misuse of its powers. Assuming that Burnham is approved, he then has to persuade an accommodating Labour MP to resign his or her seat so that he can run in a by-election. The MP realistically would have to hold a seat in Greater Manchester, Merseyside or south Lancashire. Burnham is a popular mayor in Greater Manchester, and is also a [Liverpool-born Everton fan](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/real-life-andy-burnham-who-30650748?ref=europeans.today). Not least, he has been a [high-profile supporter](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/burnham-leads-open-revolt-against-170921557.html?ref=europeans.today) of those who campaigned for justice for the 97 Liverpool FC fans who died after a crush at Hillsborough stadium in 1989. Rumours have abounded that unnamed MPs are willing to resign their seats to make way – but nothing has been confirmed. Others have [talked down](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgpjygx409o?ref=europeans.today) the rumours. If a vacancy arises, Burnham would have to be selected by Labour party members in the constituency. This can never be assured, but it seems like the easiest of the hurdles to jump since such data as exists suggests that [he is popular](https://labourlist.org/2025/06/angela-rayner-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-labourlist-survation-poll/?ref=europeans.today) among the rank and file. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000704.jpg) Angela Rayner is also viewed as a potential Labour leadership contender. | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55204645294/?ref=europeans.today) ##### A messy and unpleasant election However, the original idea was that the seat made available for Burnham would be a safe Labour one. But are there any safe Labour seats left? The [May elections](https://theconversation.com/elections-2026-experts-react-to-the-reform-surge-and-labour-losses-282502?ref=europeans.today) revealed major encroachments by Reform and, to a lesser extent, the Greens into Labour territory. In short, even if selected to contest the seat, Burnham will have a fight on his hands from both the left and the right. But say he is elected, he would then have to win the nomination of 81 Labour MPs. Of his potential rivals, Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband share his position on the soft left of the party (as opposed to the Corbynite “hard left” and the right, or “centrists”). It seems likely that they would prefer not to stand against each other. A solid guess is that Rayner and Miliband would give way and rally behind Burnham, in which case he would have no difficulty securing the 81 nominations required. Let’s assume Burnham get this far, takes the plunge and with the nomination in hand precipitates a leadership contest. What will Starmer do then? As I and others [have noted](https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/search-results/?keyword=E+Avril+and+E+Shaw+%22Order+and+Rebellion%3A+Labour%27s+managerial+politics+from+Miliband+to+Starmer%22&ref=europeans.today), he is a determined and stubborn man – and has said that he will [fight any challenges](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jv1mzzkjgo?ref=europeans.today). Could Starmer be persuaded to go gracefully, perhaps because of cabinet threats of mass resignations or by the Labour equivalent of the Tory “men in grey suits”? Or will he be tempted to appeal to the natural loyalty of party members? Unlike the Tories, Labour has no taste for regicide and no Labour PM has ever been forced from office. If Starmer stands, it could be a messy and very unpleasant election. Such are the hurdles, but Burnham has some factors working in his favour. In contrast to the PM, he has a friendly and convivial image. He also achieves [higher approval ratings](https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/labour-cannot-afford-to-ignore-andy-burnham?ref=europeans.today) than any other Labour figure. He is widely seen as an effective mayor and has gained in stature and political weight after winning three successive terms. With his background as a cabinet minister, he could certainly claim to have the relevant experience. The commentary has so far focused on the [attitudes of Labour MPs](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yxr7zng6po?ref=europeans.today). Though their nominations are required, the outcome of any contest will be decided not by them but by party members. Labour’s “soft left”, the group with which Burnham is aligned, is almost certainly the largest in the current party. It is difficult to see either health secretary Wes Streeting or anyone else on the right of the party defeating Burnham: something that will certainly play on the minds of MPs wondering whether to back him – and with an eye on their own careers. So Burnham’s route to Downing Street is strewn with obstacles. Even if he navigates them all, there is no guarantee he can revive Labour’s fortunes. But he has the credentials to give the party a fighting chance. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [More than 100 Labour MPs sign statement against Starmer leadership challenge](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/labour-mps-sign-statement-against-starmer-leadership-challenge?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Andy Burnham has backers in cabinet - but could still be blocked](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/andy-burnham-mp-return-parliament-c027kmkxq?ref=europeans.today) | *The Times* - ###### [Burnham allies warn against quick coronation of Streeting if Starmer quits](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/labour-mp-seat-burnham-allies-not-stand-aside-marie-rimmer?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [Leadership elections: Labour Party](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03938/?ref=europeans.today) | House of Commons Library - ###### [Labour Party leadership contests](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/labour-party-leadership-contests?ref=europeans.today) | Institute for Government - ###### [Political favourability ratings, February 2026](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54093-political-favourability-ratings-february-2026?ref=europeans.today) | YouGov - ###### [Andy Burnham blocked from standing in by-election by Labour NEC](https://labourlist.org/2026/01/andy-burnham-gorton-denton-by-election-blocked/?ref=europeans.today) | *LabourList* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/andy-burnhams-big-challenge-the-route-to-succeeding-starmer-is-littered-with-obstacles-282664?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 13 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55204702004/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282664/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Ousting Keir Starmer is harder than it looks – party rules mean he can choose to keep fighting URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/ousting-keir-starmer-is-harder-than-it-looks-party-rules-mean-he-can-choose-to-keep-fighting/ Last updated: 2026-05-13T00:23:07.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Labour challenges require 20% of MPs. 🔹 Incumbent leaders can contest automatically. 🔹 Members, not MPs alone, decide contests. 🔹 Party rules slow any succession. B etween 2016 and 2024 the UK saw four changes of prime minister by way of a party leadership contest. In that time, even casual observers became familiar with the dramatic process that the Conservative Party uses to topple one leader and select another. Secret letters to the 1922 Committee, the dramatic confidence votes, and then two selected in a dog-eat-dog process to face the final vote by members. What may be about to happen in the [Labour Party](https://theconversation.com/topics/labour-party-5886?ref=europeans.today) will be different in important respects. If the Conservative Party is historically a body with its head in parliament and limbs extended into the country, Labour is more like a mountain with only its peak protruding into the parliamentary arena. Even today, Labour has a deep institutional culture and a set of rules that anchor the legitimacy of the leader in the broader party membership as much as in parliament. In the past, Labour’s systems for selecting its leader were as complex as the structure of the party itself. Rules were [repeatedly redrawn in factional conflicts](https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12489?ref=europeans.today) between activists, trade unions and the party in parliament. The [modern process](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03938/?ref=europeans.today) is simpler but still presents challenges to anyone tempted to climb the greasy pole. The [Conservative process](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01366/?ref=europeans.today) can be neatly separated into two phases: removing the current leader and then electing a new one. For Labour it is different, and depends crucially on what a sitting leader decides to do – resign or stand up to the challenge. Both processes require a portion of the parliamentary party to demand new leadership – though the bar is higher for Labour at 20% of MPs versus 15% for the Tories. Labour [raised this from 10% to 20%](https://labourlist.org/2021/09/labour-nec-approves-20-mp-nomination-threshold-for-leadership-contests/?ref=europeans.today) in 2021 – specifically to deter challenges. But from there everything diverges. In the first place, the Labour process requires much more open coordination. The chair of the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee keeps a secret running tally of letters privately sent to express no confidence in the leader. Because of the secrecy, this might even trigger a surprise contest. On the other hand, Labour challengers need to submit a full list of supporting MPs to the party’s general secretary. **Currently this is 81 MPs.** The general secretary and the 1922 chair are also very different institutional figures. While the latter is an MP, seen informally as a sort of “shop steward” representing MPs’ interests in a [variety of matters](https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/origin-1922-committee?ref=europeans.today), the general secretary is a party official responsible to the NEC and usually aligned to the leadership. Another difference is that the Labour process lacks a confidence vote stage. This means a leader cannot be deposed directly in favour of a fresh slate of candidates. Rather, as confirmed by a [2016 court case](https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/judgment-foster-v-mcnicol-and-corbyn-20160728.pdf?ref=europeans.today) involving the abortive post-Brexit “coup” against Jeremy Corbyn, the leader is free to run in the contest without requiring their own list of supporters. As such, if a leader opts not to resign, the fight will be longer and harder than the one Conservative MPs face in the same position. While some recent Conservative contests were more protracted, Liz Truss was replaced in [just four days](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/autumn-2022-conservative-party-leadership-contest-0?ref=europeans.today). Labour rules simply do not allow for this speed. Moreover, while Corbyn survived as leader in the 2016 Labour contest precisely by winning over members in spite of MPs’ opposition, this left lasting scars on the party. It damaged Labour’s credibility, even in the face of an increasingly chaotic Conservative government. ##### Toppling a prime minister Of course, whatever the party rules, the constitution also gets its say. Any leader who is also prime minister must have the support of a majority in the House of Commons and, in practical terms, of their cabinet colleagues. Boris Johnson survived the party process but was brought down by the constitutional one, with a little help from Rishi Sunak. The then-chancellor set off a chain of resignations that ultimately made the PM’s position untenable. That may also be what happens to Starmer if the Labour internal process similarly fails to bring him down. Even if Starmer resigns or opts not to run in a contest, the difficulties do not end there. While the Conservatives whittle down the candidates to only two through sequential MP-only votes, Labour allows any MP with the support of 20% of the parliamentary party to face the membership vote. The higher threshold, not to mention greater desire for unity in the party right now, will probably lead to fewer candidates than the contests in 2015 or 2020\. But it still points to a process that can play out as a protracted multi-faction fight rather than a clean and (relatively) brief succession. The voting system is one member, one vote. So every eligible member’s vote carries the same weight – from a cabinet minister or a union baron to a local activist. It is also [preferential](https://electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/alternative-vote/?ref=europeans.today), providing more overall legitimacy to the winner who must secure more than 50% of the vote after second preferences are taken into account. It is also a complex process where the winner may not have won more first-preference votes than the other candidates combined. If this happens, the result could be a leader who commands broad acceptance – but little fierce loyalty. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Leadership elections: Labour Party](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03938/?ref=europeans.today) | House of Commons Library - ###### [Leadership elections: Conservative Party](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01366/?ref=europeans.today) | House of Commons Library - ###### [Michael Foster v Iain McNicol and Jeremy Corbyn](https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/judgment-foster-v-mcnicol-and-corbyn-20160728.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | Judiciary of England and Wales - ###### [Autumn 2022 Conservative Party leadership contest](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/autumn-2022-conservative-party-leadership-contest-0?ref=europeans.today) | Institute for Government - ###### [Labour Party Rule Book 2026](https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Rule-Book-2026.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | Labour Party - ###### [What are Labour’s leadership election rules?](https://labourlist.org/2025/11/labour-leadership-election-rules-keir-starmer-challenger/?ref=europeans.today) | LabourList - ###### [The origin of the 1922 Committee](https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/origin-1922-committee?ref=europeans.today) | PoliticsHome ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/ousting-keir-starmer-is-harder-than-it-looks-party-rules-mean-he-can-choose-to-keep-fighting-282683?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 13 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55258707469/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282683/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 13 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/13/todays-papers-13-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-13T14:24:11.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Starmer resists calls to quit as junior ministers resign, senior cabinet holds URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/12/starmer-resists-calls-to-quit-as-junior-ministers-resign-senior-cabinet-holds/ Last updated: 2026-05-12T17:00:32.000Z Keir Starmer was still resisting calls to quit on Tuesday afternoon, telling cabinet that no formal leadership challenge had been triggered and that Labour had to get on with governing. By 18:00 BST, four junior ministers had resigned: Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jess Phillips, Alex Davies-Jones, and Zubir Ahmed. The pressure on the prime minister had plainly deepened after Labour’s heavy [local election losses](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/11/starmer-faces-cabinet-test-after-speech-fails-to-halt-labour-revolt/), but the revolt still had limits. The clearest of those limits was at the top of government. Labour’s biggest cabinet names had not resigned. Pat McFadden said nobody challenged Starmer in cabinet, other ministers emerged to defend him, and [Wes Streeting](https://www.europeans.today/tag/wes-streeting/), long seen as a possible successor, left without openly breaking ranks. That matters more than another round of backbench pressure. A prime minister is in real immediate danger when heavyweight cabinet figures start walking. That had not happened by late afternoon. The parliamentary picture is still split. The *Guardian* [reported](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/labour-mps-sign-statement-against-starmer-leadership-challenge?ref=europeans.today) that more than 100 Labour MPs and parliamentary aides had signed a statement backing Starmer. The letter said: “Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate.” It added: “That job needs to start today - with all of us working together to deliver the change the country needs. We must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest.” *AP* separately reported that around 80 Labour lawmakers had called on Starmer to go or set out a timetable for departure. The Prime Minister looks weakened, but not yet finished. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Fourth Labour MP quits as minister and calls for Starmer to step down – UK politics live](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/may/12/keir-starmer-prime-minister-resignation-labour-leadership-cabinet-meeting-yvette-cooper-shabana-mahmood-andy-burnham-wes-streeting-uk-politics-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Starmer tells cabinet he will not quit without leadership challenge](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/starmer-cabinet-labour-leadership?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [UK’s Starmer defiant as calls for his resignation grow and several ministers quit](https://apnews.com/article/starmer-resign-fahnbulleh-politics-britain-1454415a831ae3af31b10dff29d04d13?ref=europeans.today) | AP - ###### [The Latest: Starmer fights for political survival as calls for his resignation grow in UK](https://apnews.com/article/4bcdb20f449a8bf625dfdf57da6048ae?ref=europeans.today) | AP - ###### [What to know about contenders who could replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s Labour leader](https://apnews.com/article/656fd7ba1ec1921ae05d1098bfac9d1e?ref=europeans.today) | AP - ###### [How Keir Starmer could be replaced as UK prime minister after discontent rises in his own party](https://apnews.com/article/993df93f36916fafa62cdc8435127ff4?ref=europeans.today) | AP - ###### [Starmer latest: Four ministers resign as prime minister faces calls to quit](https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-latest-burnham-streeting-rayner-leadership-quit-cabinet-resign-local-elections-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [Politics latest: Jess Phillips resigns from government as Starmer faces calls to quit](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmers-anti-corruption-minister-leaves-government-12593360?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 12 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55266018039/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 12 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/12/todays-papers-12-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-12T17:14:43.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Starmer faces cabinet test after speech fails to halt Labour revolt URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/11/starmer-faces-cabinet-test-after-speech-fails-to-halt-labour-revolt/ Last updated: 2026-05-12T01:45:19.000Z Keir Starmer used a make-or-break speech on Monday to insist he would not quit, promise a bolder government and sketch out closer ties with the European Union. By the end of the day, however, the immediate question in Westminster was not what he had announced but whether he could hold off a deepening revolt inside Labour. More than 70 Labour MPs had publicly called for him to resign or set out a timetable for departure, according to the[*Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/11/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-speech?ref=europeans.today). At the same time, [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-minister-confirms-vote-on-welfare-bill-will-take-place-next-week-as-no-10-considers-concessions-12593360?ref=europeans.today)reported that Downing Street was weighing its options ahead of a Tuesday morning cabinet meeting that could become the next major test of his authority. That cabinet meeting matters because it is where Labour’s crisis may move from public anger to a more consequential internal confrontation. [*AP*](https://apnews.com/article/uk-starmer-labour-resignation-pressure-speech-68bfcf656ecd0acf6c52e1211f3b1bdc?ref=europeans.today) reported that the resignations of several ministerial aides appeared to be part of an effort to increase pressure on Starmer’s cabinet, perhaps at its weekly Tuesday meeting. [*Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/11/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-speech?ref=europeans.today) reporting said cabinet ministers were expected to confront him after his speech failed to stop the rebellion. [*Sky News*](https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-minister-confirms-vote-on-welfare-bill-will-take-place-next-week-as-no-10-considers-concessions-12593360?ref=europeans.today), by contrast, also carried voices warning against a snap resignation and arguing that ministers needed to show whether they could still function as a team. Labour is therefore approaching a key meeting under competing pressures and without any clear public consensus on what should happen next. Starmer’s argument on Monday was that Labour needs a bigger answer to the times. He said he would prove his doubters wrong, fight any challenge to his leadership and seek a new deal with the EU, including a youth mobility scheme. He also pointed to plans such as nationalising British Steel and strengthening support for young people through jobs and apprenticeships. The political purpose was clear. After heavy local election losses and growing talk of potential challengers, he was trying to show that he had heard the warning and was ready to shift course. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 11 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/11/todays-papers-11-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T16:35:06.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Starmer under pressure after Labour’s election losses expose a fragmented Britain URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/10/starmer-under-pressure-after-labours-election-losses-expose-a-fragmented-britain/ Last updated: 2026-05-10T14:51:05.000Z Keir Starmer entered the weekend trying to contain Labour’s election losses. He ends it facing a possible succession crisis, with Monday 11 May emerging as a potential next test of whether pressure inside the party stays noisy or starts to turn into action. What has changed is not simply that Labour performed badly, but that the political meaning of those losses has shifted. By Saturday, doubts about Starmer were no longer confined to grumbling in private. *The Guardian* [reported](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/09/mps-from-labours-left-to-urge-ed-miliband-to-consider-leadership-bid?ref=europeans.today) that backbench Labour MPs were urging him to set out a timetable for his departure. At the same time, former minister [Catherine West](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/25328/catherine%5Fwest/hornsey%5Fand%5Ffriern%5Fbarnet/recent?ref=europeans.today) said that if no cabinet minister moved by Monday, she would act herself to try to break the impasse. That does not yet amount to a formal challenge. But it does amount to something more dangerous than a bad set of headlines. Starmer is now dealing with live succession pressure, and with the prospect that the start of the new week could turn internal agitation into something more organised. The damage from Thursday’s elections was broad enough to make that risk real. The Labour Party lost heavily in England, shedding support to Reform UK and the Greens, lost power in Wales for the first time since devolution, and failed to make the breakthrough it wanted in Scotland. Labour did not lose in one direction only. It lost voters to the right, to the centre, to the left, and to nationalist opponents, thus exposing a strain across the coalition that the PM needs to hold together. Starmer’s answer has been to resist the idea that one ideological pivot can solve the problem. In [an article](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/08/election-results-left-right-uk-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) for the *Guardian* on 8 May, he wrote that the results did not mean “tacking right or left”. Instead, he argued that Labour had to listen to voters’ frustrations and respond with a programme broad enough to speak across political divides. That is a defensible position, but it is not the same thing as a secure one. Once colleagues begin talking openly about succession, the issue is no longer only what strategic correction is needed. It becomes whether the leader still has enough authority to impose any correction at all. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000697.jpg) Could Ed Miliband challenge Keir Starmer? | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55139923088/?ref=europeans.today) The names now surfacing are significant mainly for that reason. MPs are discussing [Ed Miliband](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11545/ed%5Fmiliband/doncaster%5Fnorth/recent?ref=europeans.today) (Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero) on Labour’s left, while [Andy Burnham](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10766/andy%5Fburnham/leigh/recent?ref=europeans.today) continues to attract support elsewhere in the party. The deeper point is not that either man is on the brink of moving. It is that succession talk has moved into public view. Monday may be more than another difficult news cycle for the PM. It might be the next measure of whether Keir Starmer can still steady Labour after a heavy electoral defeat, or whether the losses have already become something more corrosive: a test of whether he still commands his own party. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [These election results don’t mean tacking left or right, but delivering for the whole country](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/08/election-results-left-right-uk-keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [MPs from Labour’s left to urge Ed Miliband to consider leadership bid](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/09/mps-from-labours-left-to-urge-ed-miliband-to-consider-leadership-bid?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [2026 elections mapped: how Labour lost ground in different directions](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/may/08/2026-elections-mapped-labour-reform-uk-greens-scotland-wales-england-local?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [What to know about British elections that hammered Starmer's Labour Party](https://apnews.com/article/eb11ff39b1b74bbaf9f4ef6abfd60f64?ref=europeans.today) | AP - ###### [Starmer says he won't quit after local elections deliver losses for Labour and wins for Reform UK](https://apnews.com/article/f17a122a0cfcc3595ef01f142517b0b6?ref=europeans.today) | AP ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 10 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/54311017863/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### France opens €1 university meals to all students URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/10/france-opens-eur1-university-meals-to-all-students/ Last updated: 2026-05-10T01:07:52.000Z France has opened its €1 university meal scheme to all students, extending a subsidy that had previously been limited to scholarship holders and those officially in financial hardship. The change took effect on 4 May in university restaurants run by Crous, the public student welfare network. A standard meal had usually cost €3.30\. Ministers say the expansion is meant to ease pressure on student budgets after repeated warnings about food insecurity on campus. The urgency is clear. Reporting [cited](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/france-serves-up-1-euro-meals-to-all-university-students-in-bid-to-cut-hardship?ref=europeans.today) by the *Guardian* said a January survey by a student union organisation found that 48% of students had gone without food for financial reasons, and 23% had done so several times a month. The French government allocated about €50 million in the 2026 budget to support the broader rollout. *Le Monde*, [reporting](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/05/08/1-meals-tested-by-students-and-staff-on-the-villetaneuse-campus-a-practice-run-ahead-of-the-next-academic-year%5F6753271%5F7.html?ref=europeans.today) from a campus north of Paris, found enthusiasm among students who said the lower price would cut their monthly spending. But it also reported concern from catering staff, who expect much heavier demand when the academic year resumes in September. The ministry is preparing for that pressure with extra hiring across the network, while treating the May launch as an early test before the autumn rush. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [France serves up €1 meals to all university students in bid to cut hardship](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/france-serves-up-1-euro-meals-to-all-university-students-in-bid-to-cut-hardship?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [€1 meals tested by students and staff on the Villetaneuse campus, a practice run ahead of the next academic year](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/05/08/1-meals-tested-by-students-and-staff-on-the-villetaneuse-campus-a-practice-run-ahead-of-the-next-academic-year%5F6753271%5F7.html?ref=europeans.today) | LE MONDE - ###### [France, le repas à un euro est désormais ouvert à tous les étudiants](https://fr.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/04/france-le-repas-a-un-euro-est-desormais-ouvert-a-tous-les-etudiants?ref=europeans.today) | EURONEWS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 10 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 10 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/10/todays-papers-10-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-10T15:45:24.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 9 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/09/todays-papers-9-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-15T06:33:57.000Z Stay ahead of the curve with your daily briefing on the must-read headlines from across Europe. From the UK to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond — this is your essential guide to the front pages shaping the conversation today. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### EU lawmakers back delay to high-risk AI rules URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/08/eu-lawmakers-back-delay-to-high-risk-ai-rules/ Last updated: 2026-05-08T16:16:43.000Z The European Union has agreed to weaken parts of its flagship AI law, delaying major duties for high-risk systems after pressure from businesses and some governments. *Reuters* [reported](https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-countries-lawmakers-strike-provisional-deal-watered-down-ai-rules-2026-05-07/?ref=europeans.today) on 7 May that EU governments and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional deal after nine hours of talks. The package still requires formal approval from member states and the Parliament. The most important change is timing. Rules for high-risk AI systems linked to biometrics, critical infrastructure and law enforcement will now apply from 2 December 2027, not August 2026\. *Sky News* also [reported](https://news.sky.com/story/eu-waters-down-landmark-ai-regulation-amid-industry-pressure-13541012?ref=europeans.today) that AI used in products covered by sector safety rules, including toys, will face a later deadline of August 2028\. Machinery will be excluded from the AI Act because other laws already cover it. Whilst AI supporters say the changes reduce bureaucracy and give European businesses more room to compete with rivals in the US and in Asia, critics say the retreat matters because the AI Act was sold as Europe’s answer to a fast-moving technology that needs democratic limits, not just market incentives. The deal does include some tighter measures. [According to](https://news.sky.com/video/creating-non-consensual-intimate-images-will-be-a-criminal-offence-from-this-week-13493499?ref=europeans.today) *Sky News,* systems used to create non-consensual sexually explicit images will be banned from December, and AI-generated content will have to carry watermarks. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [EU waters down landmark AI regulation amid industry pressure](https://news.sky.com/story/eu-waters-down-landmark-ai-regulation-amid-industry-pressure-13541012?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [Artificial Intelligence: Council and Parliament agree to simplify and streamline rules](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/05/07/artificial-intelligence-council-and-parliament-agree-to-simplify-and-streamline-rules/?ref=europeans.today) | COUNCIL OF THE EU - ###### [Artificial Intelligence Act: delayed application, ban on nudifier apps](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260323IPR38829/inteligencia-artificial-aplicacao-adiada-proibidas-aplicacoes-de-nudez-falsa?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - ###### [EU reaches tentative deal on simpler AI rules](https://amp.dw.com/en/eu-reaches-tentative-deal-on-simpler-ai-rules-plans-ban-on-nudifier-apps/a-77073411?ref=europeans.today) | DW ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 8 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### EU says fuel costs do not cancel passenger compensation rights URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/08/eu-says-fuel-costs-do-not-cancel-passenger-compensation-rights/ Last updated: 2026-05-08T12:53:55.000Z Airlines that cancel flights because jet fuel has become more expensive must still compensate passengers under European law, the EU’s transport commissioner has said, rejecting industry hopes that the fuel crisis would let carriers avoid payouts. *The Guardian* [reported](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/07/airlines-still-have-to-pay-compensation-if-flights-cancelled-due-to-fuel-crisis-eu-says?ref=europeans.today) on May 7 that [Apostolos Tzitzikostas](https://commission.europa.eu/about/organisation/college-commissioners/apostolos-tzitzikostas%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) said higher fuel costs do not count as “extraordinary circumstances” under the bloc’s passenger-rights regime. That matters because those rules can require compensation when airlines cancel flights, unless the disruption falls outside normal business risk. There is a narrow exception. *The Guardian* reported that cancellations caused by a genuine local fuel shortage could still fall outside the scope of the compensation duty. But the Commission’s basic position is that rising prices alone are part of running an airline, not grounds for suspending passenger protections. The intervention comes as Europe’s aviation sector faces growing pressure from a wider supply shock. In April, the *Associated Press* [reported](https://apnews.com/article/6e67fafd493861b3858de5548aa77703?ref=europeans.today) that International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol warned Europe had “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel left if blocked oil supplies were not restored, and said cancellations could follow. The EU’s message is clear: a fuel crisis does not automatically cancel passenger rights. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Airlines still have to pay compensation if flights cancelled due to fuel crisis, EU says](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/07/airlines-still-have-to-pay-compensation-if-flights-cancelled-due-to-fuel-crisis-eu-says?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [EU tells airlines to pay passengers for fuel-linked cancellations](https://www.ft.com/content/59df243a-e264-465c-979f-ad56ccfa8f7a?ref=europeans.today) | Financial Times - ###### [Europe has ‘maybe 6 weeks of jet fuel left,’ energy agency head tells the AP](https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2026/europe-has-maybe-6-weeks-of-jet-fuel-left-energy-agency-head-tells-the-ap/?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [Air passenger rights](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index%5Fen.htm?ref=europeans.today) | Your Europe - ###### [Regulation (EC) No 261/2004](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261?ref=europeans.today) | legislation.gov.uk - ###### [What if your flight is cancelled due to jet fuel shortages?](https://news.sky.com/story/what-if-your-flight-is-cancelled-due-to-jet-fuel-shortages-13535483?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [Flying soon? What the jet fuel crisis means for travellers](https://www.euronews.com/travel/2026/04/17/flying-soon-what-the-jet-fuel-crisis-means-for-travellers-and-airlines?ref=europeans.today) | Euronews ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 8 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 8 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/08/todays-papers-8-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-08T22:09:34.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000169671.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000169672.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000169668.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Ivermectin misinformation returns as Hantavirus outbreak revives a COVID-era myth URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/ivermectin-misinformation-returns-as-hantavirus-outbreak-revives-a-covid-era-myth/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T16:36:53.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Hantavirus cases have been linked to MV Hondius. 🔹 Three deaths were reported in the cluster. 🔹 Agencies say European public risk remains very low. 🔹 Misinformation is spreading online, but Ivermectin is not a proven hantavirus treatment. A deadly hantavirus cluster linked to the cruise ship *MV Hondius* has produced the conditions in which bad medical claims spread fastest: fear, uncertainty, deaths, international travel, and a disease most people know little about. That is why claims about *ivermectin* matter now. The drug is real. The problem is the false leap from a legitimate antiparasitic medicine to an all-purpose cure for viral outbreaks. The World Health Organization said on 4 May that seven confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases had been identified in the [*MV Hondius* cluster](https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/britons-face-45-day-isolation-after-hantavirus-cruise-outbreak/), including three deaths. Illnesses began between 6 and 28 April and involved fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, rapid progression to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock. Further [investigations](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON599?ref=europeans.today) were continuing. By 7 May, news agencies were reporting ongoing international efforts to trace passengers and monitor potential additional cases, underscoring how quickly outbreak figures can change. *AP* [reported](https://apnews.com/article/9c70878b2ff59d187f1e34c12627cea7?ref=europeans.today) at least three deaths and several illnesses linked to the ship, with health authorities in multiple countries involved in contact-tracing and isolation measures. The public health risk should not be exaggerated. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [has assessed](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak-ecdc-response-activated?ref=europeans.today) the risk to the general European population as very low while investigations and control measures continue. That is the factual baseline: serious enough to require public health action, but not a reason to invent treatments. Hantaviruses are usually associated with exposure to infected rodents, including through urine, droppings or saliva. Some strains can cause severe respiratory disease. The Andes virus, linked to South America, is unusual because limited person-to-person transmission has been documented after close contact. That makes careful tracing important. It does not create evidence that ivermectin treats hantavirus. The CDC [says](https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/about/index.html?ref=europeans.today) there is no specific treatment for hantavirus infection. Patients should receive supportive care, including rest, hydration and treatment of symptoms. In severe hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, patients may need breathing support, including intubation. A clinical [explainer](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2834395?ref=europeans.today) in *JAMA* gives the same basic message: there is no specific medication for hantavirus infection, and severe cases may require oxygen, mechanical ventilation or ECMO. This is where the COVID-19 memory matters. During the pandemic, ivermectin became one of the most prominent examples of a drug being promoted beyond the evidence. It was pushed online as a COVID-19 cure or preventive treatment, often alongside claims that authorities were suppressing cheap medicines. Public health agencies repeatedly rejected that framing. In March 2021, the European Medicines Agency [advised](https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-advises-against-use-ivermectin-prevention-or-treatment-covid-19-outside-randomised-clinical-trials?ref=europeans.today) against using ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 outside randomised clinical trials, concluding that available data did not support such use. EMA’s public health [advice](https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory-overview/public-health-threats/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/covid-19-medicines/public-health-advice-covid-19-medicines?ref=europeans.today) still records that position, saying published data from laboratory studies, observational studies, clinical trials and meta-analyses did not support ivermectin’s use for COVID-19. The pattern is familiar. A frightening disease appears. Scientific uncertainty leaves space for speculation. A known drug is recast as a hidden answer. Supporters present caution as censorship. Opponents of public health institutions use the claim to argue that experts cannot be trusted. The result is not a harmless debate. It can delay care, confuse patients, and drain attention from what doctors actually know how to do. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/bluesky0001.png) Misinformation about ivermectin spreading on X. | BLUESKY/[KRUTIKAKUPPALLI.BSKY.SOCIAL](https://bsky.app/profile/krutikakuppalli.bsky.social/post/3mlb2pwlmxk24?ref=europeans.today) That does not mean every person asking about ivermectin is acting in bad faith. In an outbreak, people search for hope. But responsible public communication has to distinguish hope from evidence. For hantavirus, the responsible message is narrow but important: seek medical care early if symptoms and exposure history suggest risk; follow public health instructions on isolation, testing and monitoring; do not self-medicate with drugs promoted online; and do not assume that a medicine useful for one condition works against another. Europe has already lived through the cost of pandemic misinformation. The *MV Hondius* cluster is not COVID-19, and public health agencies are not describing a general European emergency. But the misinformation machinery does not need a pandemic to restart. It only needs fear, uncertainty and a familiar false cure. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel, Multi-country](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON599?ref=europeans.today) | WHO - ###### [Dozens of passengers left hantavirus-stricken cruise ship after first fatality](https://apnews.com/article/9c70878b2ff59d187f1e34c12627cea7?ref=europeans.today) | *AP* - ###### [Suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship under investigation](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/suspected-hantavirus-outbreak-cruise-ship-under-investigation-risk-europeans-very-low?ref=europeans.today) | ECDC - ###### [About hantavirus](https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/about/index.html?ref=europeans.today) | CDC - ###### [What is hantavirus?](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2834395?ref=europeans.today) | *JAMA* - ###### [EMA advises against ivermectin for COVID-19 outside clinical trials](https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-advises-against-use-ivermectin-prevention-or-treatment-covid-19-outside-randomised-clinical-trials?ref=europeans.today) | EMA - ###### [Hantavirus in humans: clinical aspects and management](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099%2823%2900128-7/fulltext?ref=europeans.today) | *The Lancet Infectious Diseases* --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 7 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### US declares war in Iran ‘over’ to avoid row with Congress over whether it was legal URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/us-declares-war-in-iran-over-to-avoid-row-with-congress-over-whether-it-was-legal/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T02:04:30.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Marco Rubio says Operation Epic Fury is over. 🔹 Congress questioned the war’s legality. 🔹 War Powers rules shaped the dispute. 🔹 Republican pressure appears to have constrained Donald Trump. O peration Epic Fury [is over](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/us/politics/trump-iran-war-political-crisis-rhetoric.html?ref=europeans.today). Or at least, that’s what the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced on May 5, describing any further US action in the Gulf as purely “defensive”. Rubio’s insistence that the conflict the US and Israel launched on February 28 achieved its objectives is open for debate. But this change of tone and terminology is likely to reflect arguments that [raged in the US Congress](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/01/iran-us-war-powers-trump/?ref=europeans.today) as the war approached the two-month mark at the end of April, about whether the Trump administration must seek congressional approval for the conflict as required by US law. The conflict has become the latest episode in a long struggle between the US Congress and the presidency over which branch of government can legitimately start wars. And, in a surprising way, Donald Trump’s actions seem to be pushing power back towards Congress. The US constitution splits war powers between the presidency and Congress. It gives Congress the power to raise armies and declare war but makes the president the commander-in-chief of the military. That means that, in theory, you need to get Congress to agree to fund and start a war and the president to agree to wage it. Since the second world war, this system has been changing. The last time the US formally declared war was in 1942 against Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania – having already declared war on Japan and Germany in December 1941\. Since then, presidents have often plunged the country into hostilities on their own authority without getting a declaration of war from Congress. Congress still needs to fund the military – but, with very few exceptions, the legislature has always done so. Individual members of Congress have generally been happy to let presidents take on the blame for starting wars. After conflicts have started, legislators have been unwilling to cut off funds for the troops in the field. As a result, Congress has [given up much of its influence](https://theconversation.com/trump-sidelined-congress-authority-over-war-on-iran-and-lawmakers-allowed-it-extending-a-75-year-trend-280671?ref=europeans.today) over decisions of war and peace. But not entirely. The high point of Congressional pushback was in 1973, during the tail end of the Vietnam war, which by then had become extremely unpopular. In this context, Congress challenged the executive branch by passing the [1973 War Powers Resolution](https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/news/war-powers-resolution-1973?ref=europeans.today) (also known as the War Powers Act). It’s this law that is shaping the debate over Iran today. The War Powers Resolution basically repeats what the constitution says: that Congress has to start wars, but it allows for some flexibility. If there is a surprise attack on US forces, the president can act to repel that attack for 60 days before getting a declaration of war from Congress. As reasonable as this may sound, every administration since the War Powers Resolution was passed has [questioned its constitutionality](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5864920-rubio-argues-war-powers-unconstitutional/?ref=europeans.today) and refused to be bound by it. To be sure, some presidents have asked Congress for a statement of political support before launching a major war, as they also had done before the War Powers Resolution was passed. For instance, George H.W. Bush [did so before the Gulf war of 1990-91](https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/102/hjres77/text?ref=europeans.today). But when doing so, presidents have generally maintained that they did so purely to ensure national unity, and not because the War Powers Resolution required it of them. Presidents have also launched many interventions in which they ignored the resolution entirely – as Bush himself did in [Panama in 1989](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/3235109?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000690.jpg) Secretary Marco Rubio hosting a press briefing, 5-May-2026\. | FLICKR/[US DEPARTMENT OF STATE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/55253474859/?ref=europeans.today) ##### Unpopular war As a result, the resolution has never acted as a meaningful constraint on presidential war-making power. But things may be changing. The war in Iran is so unpopular that Congress asserting its authority over war powers more strongly than any time since the War Powers Resolution was passed. In the process, it is turning the resolution into something that might meaningfully affect the course of the war. One reason for this is that even Trump’s Republican supporters in Congress are aware of how unpopular this war is. Many are worried about losing their seats in the midterms later this year. As a result, Congress is stirring. Even senior Republican figures are treating the War Powers Resolution and its 60-day clock as an important constraint on the administration and demanding that the war stop or be authorised by Congress [after it passes that mark](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/us/politics/war-powers-act-explanation.html?ref=europeans.today). In response to this political pressure, the Trump administration seems to be paying more attention to the requirements of the War Powers Resolution than most administrations before it. The White House is too afraid of Republican opposition to ignore the resolution entirely, particularly when it knows that it may soon have to ask Congress for more funding for the war. Even the argument it made that the [60-day clock has paused during the ceasefire](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5857660-iran-conflict-60-day-clock/?ref=europeans.today) is an indication that it sees the clock as a legitimate thing in the first place. If the war starts up again, Republicans will clamour for the administration to come to Congress for a declaration. This would probably trigger a major debate over the conditions that Congress wants to attach regarding strategy, goals and funding. What this shows is that many of the checks and balances of the constitution only work when there is the political will to make them work. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump tells Congress hostilities with Iran have terminated](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-iran-war-powers-act-hostilities-terminated/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS News - ###### [Inside the war powers debate on Iran raging on Capitol Hill](https://abcnews.com/Politics/inside-war-powers-debate-iran-raging-capitol-hill/story?id=132209911&ref=europeans.today) | ABC News - ###### [Congress faces big test on Iran war as 60-day deadline looms](https://time.com/article/2026/04/14/republicans-face-crucial-test-on-iran-war-as-60-day-deadline-looms/?ref=europeans.today) | Time - ###### [Has the US-Iran ceasefire reset the clock on War Powers Act deadline?](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/1/has-the-us-iran-ceasefire-reset-the-clock-on-war-powers-act-deadline?ref=europeans.today) | Al Jazeera - ###### [Operation Epic Fury puts Congress and the Constitution to the test](https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/operation-epic-fury-puts-congress-and-the-constitution-to-the-test?ref=europeans.today) | Lawfare - ###### [Operation Epic Fury and the international law on the use of force](https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/03/operation-epic-fury-and-the-international-law-on-the-use-of-force?ref=europeans.today) | Carnegie Endowment - ###### [The War Powers Resolution of 1973](https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/news/war-powers-resolution-1973?ref=europeans.today) | Nixon Library ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/us-declares-war-in-iran-over-to-avoid-row-with-congress-over-whether-it-was-legal-282159?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 7 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55240390383/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282159/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Britons face 45-day isolation after hantavirus cruise outbreak URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/britons-face-45-day-isolation-after-hantavirus-cruise-outbreak/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T11:13:51.000Z Two British people are self-isolating at home in the UK after possible exposure to hantavirus on a cruise ship where three people have died. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the pair had left the MV Hondius at St Helena in late April and returned via Johannesburg. They had no symptoms but contacted health officials after learning of cases on board. British passengers still onboard will be asked to self-isolate in the UK for 45 days, a health official said. “It’s important to reassure people that the risk to the general public remains very low,” [said Dr Meera Chand](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-update-on-the-hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak?ref=europeans.today)*,* Deputy Director for Epidemic and Emerging Infections at UKHSA. “We are standing up arrangements to support, isolate and monitor British nationals from the ship on their return to the UK and we are contact-tracing anyone who may have been in contact with the ship or the hantavirus cases to limit the risk of onward transmission.” “The Government are taking this incredibly seriously and are working urgently to support the British nationals involved,” [wrote Wes Streeting](https://x.com/wesstreeting/status/2052084094645703025?ref=europeans.today), Secretary of State for Health & Social Care. “We are working across DHSC, UKHSA and the FCDO to ensure all those affected get home safely.” A 56-year-old British man was evacuated from the vessel on Wednesday and is in a stable condition. Two other evacuees were Dutch and German. About 150 people remain on the ship under strict precautionary measures, including 19 British passengers and four British crew members. Spanish authorities have allowed the vessel to dock in Tenerife, where passengers are expected to disembark. The World Health Organization says the wider public risk is low, with human-to-human transmission and linked to close contact. UKHSA says the risk to the UK population is “very low”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Britons on hantavirus-hit ship to be asked to isolate back in UK for 45 days](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/two-britons-self-isolating-in-uk-after-returning-hantavirus-ship?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [UKHSA update on the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-update-on-the-hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak?ref=europeans.today) | UKHSA - ###### [Two Britons self-isolating in UK after leaving hantavirus cruise ship](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wepl8we90ohttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wepl8we90o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel, Multi-country](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON599?ref=europeans.today) | WHO - ###### [The Latest: Cruise ship hantavirus patients arrive in Europe for treatment](https://apnews.com/article/d53c8b1cacf5ac79bf753674ab4137f1?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [Three evacuated from hantavirus-hit ship as Spain says vessel can dock](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/06/cruise-ship-hantavirus-strain-andes-spread-humans-south-africa?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Cruise ship hantavirus latest: British tour guide speaks to Sky News from hospital after evacuation](https://news.sky.com/story/cruise-ship-hantavirus-latest-spain-gives-update-after-three-evacuated-and-new-case-found-13503266?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 7 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 7 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/07/todays-papers-7-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T16:49:48.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000169367.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000169371.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000169374.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Hantavirus on the MV Hondius: What the cruise outbreak reveals about rare-virus risk at sea URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/06/hantavirus-on-the-mv-hondius-what-the-cruise-outbreak-reveals-about-rare-virus-risk-at-sea/ Last updated: 2026-05-06T02:36:27.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Seven cases identified among 147 people aboard MV Hondius 🔹 Three deaths reported; one patient critically ill 🔹 Exposure source and virus species remain unresolved 🔹 WHO assesses wider public risk as low A rare and deadly cluster aboard a Dutch expedition ship has triggered an international health response. World Health Organization (WHO) says the wider public risk [is low](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON599?ref=europeans.today), but key questions about exposure and possible close-contact transmission remain unresolved. The deaths linked to the [MV Hondius](https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/our-fleet/m-v-hondius?ref=europeans.today) are not a reason for public panic. They are a reason to take rare infections, remote travel, and cross-border public health coordination seriously. The Dutch-flagged expedition cruise ship became the focus of an international health response after a cluster of severe respiratory illness was reported to WHO on 2 May. By 4 May, WHO said seven cases had been identified among the 147 people on board: two laboratory-confirmed hantavirus infections, five suspected cases, three deaths, one critically ill patient and three people with mild symptoms. The vessel had left Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April and travelled through remote South Atlantic locations before mooring off Cabo Verde. The central uncertainty is how the infections began. Hantavirus is usually acquired from infected rodents, especially through contact with urine, faeces or saliva, or by touching contaminated surfaces. WHO says the extent of passengers’ contact with wildlife during the voyage, or before boarding in Ushuaia, remains undetermined. That matters because the ship’s route included remote and ecologically varied stops, including mainland Antarctica, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena and Ascension Island. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/0000689b--1-.jpg) Source: [WHO](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON599?ref=europeans.today) The most sensitive question is whether there was human-to-human transmission on board. WHO has not said that this is proven. It has said that limited human-to-human transmission has previously been reported in outbreaks of Andes virus, a South American hantavirus, usually involving close and prolonged contact. That distinction is essential. “Possible” is not the same as “confirmed”, and close-contact transmission is not the same as an easily spreading respiratory virus. The evidence so far points to a serious but contained event. WHO currently assesses the risk to the global population as low. That assessment sits beside a severe clinical reality for those affected: illness onset was reported between 6 and 28 April, with symptoms including fever, gastrointestinal problems, rapid progression to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock. The timeline shows why investigators are cautious. According to WHO, the first case developed fever, headache and mild diarrhoea on 6 April and died on board on 11 April. A close contact later went ashore at Saint Helena with gastrointestinal symptoms, deteriorated during travel to Johannesburg and died on 26 April. PCR later confirmed that case as hantavirus infection. Another adult male became ill on 24 April, worsened two days later and was medically evacuated from Ascension to South Africa, where PCR testing confirmed hantavirus infection on 2 May. Serology, sequencing and metagenomic work are still ongoing. This is why the MV Hondius outbreak is not just a cruise story. It is a test of international public health coordination when a medical emergency unfolds on a moving vessel with people from many countries, far from large medical centres. WHO says Cabo Verde, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, and the United Kingdom have been involved in coordinated response measures through International Health Regulations channels. Argentina has shared passenger and crew lists by nationality, while WHO has supported laboratory testing, sample collection, and information exchange. Two crew members, one British and one Dutch, were being prepared for medical evacuation to the Netherlands after developing respiratory symptoms. Spanish authorities have said the MV Hondius is expected to arrive in the Canary Islands within days, where medical teams will examine and treat passengers and crew before any onward arrangements are made. WHO official Dr Maria Van Kerkhove [said](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/british-crew-member-dutch-mv-hondius-cruise-ship-hantavirus-cases?ref=europeans.today) there were no additional symptomatic people on board at that stage, but passengers had been asked to remain in their cabins while disinfection and other public health measures continued. The operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, [has described](https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/press/onboard-update-m-v-hondius-5-may-2026-19-15-hrs-cet?ref=europeans.today) the situation as serious. In its public updates, the company said it was working with WHO, Dutch authorities, Cabo Verdean authorities, RIVM, embassies, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That coordination matters because expedition cruising is built around access to remote places. When serious disease appears, the same remoteness that makes such voyages attractive can make diagnosis, evacuation and public reassurance far harder. For passengers and crew, the response is necessarily strict. WHO says measures include case isolation and care, medical evacuation, laboratory investigations, physical distancing, cabin confinement where possible, ship sanitation and active symptom monitoring for 45 days. It also advises frequent hand hygiene, ventilation, avoidance of dry sweeping and prompt reporting of symptoms. For the wider public, the message is different: vigilance, not fear. Hantavirus infections are uncommon globally. WHO says symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome typically occur two to four weeks after exposure, but may appear as early as one week and as late as eight weeks. There is no approved specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, so early recognition, ICU-level supportive care, respiratory support and careful clinical management are critical. The public health value of this case lies in refusing two easy mistakes. One is to minimise it because most people are not at risk. Three people have died, others have been seriously ill, and those still aboard need careful medical assessment. The other mistake is to inflate it into a general threat to travellers or Europe. WHO’s current assessment does not support that. The facts still missing are the most important ones: the exact virus species, the source of exposure, whether any transmission occurred between people, and whether additional cases emerge during monitoring. Until those answers are available, responsible reporting should hold the line between seriousness and speculation. The MV Hondius outbreak shows that rare diseases do not need to become widespread to demand competent public action. They require fast laboratories, honest communication, humane evacuation decisions, and international coordination that works before panic fills the gaps. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Hantavirus outbreak toolbox](https://www.who.int/emergencies/outbreak-toolkit/disease-outbreak-toolboxes/hantavirus-outbreak-toolbox?ref=europeans.today) | World Health Organization - ###### [Operational Update: Medical Situation Aboard m/v Hondius](https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/blog/operational-update-medical-situation-aboard-m-v-hondius?ref=europeans.today) | Oceanwide Expeditions - ###### [MV Hondius: the ice-breaking expedition cruise hit with hantavirus cases](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/mv-hondius-ice-breaking-expedition-cruise-suspected-hantavirus-outbreak?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Cruise ship virus latest: medics on board after deadly outbreak](https://news.sky.com/story/three-dead-as-virus-breaks-out-on-atlantic-cruise-ship-13503266?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [Clinician Brief: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome](https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hcp/clinical-overview/hps.html?ref=europeans.today) | CDC - ###### [Hantavirus infection](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/hantavirus-infection?ref=europeans.today) | ECDC - ###### [Hantavirus in the Americas: guidelines for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control](https://iris.paho.org/items/491426f7-d052-470e-a3fd-14b4e62d6b64?ref=europeans.today) | PAHO ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 6 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Zhukovsky](https://www.dreamstime.com/zhukovsky%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 6 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/06/todays-papers-6-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-06T14:50:31.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168770.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168773.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168802.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### High petrol prices are fuelling interest in EVs. Here’s how this could bring down electricity bills URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/05/high-petrol-prices-are-fuelling-interest-in-evs-heres-how-this-could-bring-down-electricity-bills/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T13:10:19.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Petrol prices may push motorists towards EVs. 🔹 Vehicle-to-grid systems can store surplus renewable electricity. 🔹 Connected EV batteries could add 16GW flexible capacity. 🔹 Higher electricity demand may spread fixed grid costs. W ith oil prices skyrocketing following the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran, and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, motorists around the world have been looking for ways to save money. Improvements in [electric vehicle](https://theconversation.com/topics/electric-vehicles-evs-145458?ref=europeans.today) (EV) technology, combined with the high price of oil, mean that [the tipping point](https://cep.lse.ac.uk/%5Fnew/publications/abstract.asp?index=12097&ref=europeans.today) at which [most consumers](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/20/electric-car-ev-sales-mainland-europe-petrol-prices-iran-war?ref=europeans.today) start ditching their petrol cars for electric ones may well have been reached. Given the [nature of that market](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1814809?ref=europeans.today) where more EV users means better infrastructure to support them, there will be no turning back. As it becomes easier to charge a car than to find petrol stations, and as [battery technology](https://ourworldindata.org/battery-price-decline?ref=europeans.today) continues to improve, the relative advantages of EVs will [become impossible to match](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-car-sales-battery-plugin?ref=europeans.today). For countries like the UK, where renewable sources are [producing more](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz947djd3d3o?ref=europeans.today) electricity, mass adoption of EVs cannot come fast enough. And this is not just for the obvious reasons of improving air quality or reducing reliance on dictators and US foreign policy. While the oil price shock may be what finally tips consumers towards EVs, adoption provides part of the answer to a different and lasting problem: the cost of electricity in the UK and other countries where investment in wind and solar has so far failed to bring prices down. The UK pays [more for electricity](https://reports.electricinsights.co.uk/?p=2318&ref=europeans.today) than most comparable countries. [Gas sets the price](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sites/bartlett/files/the%5Frole%5Fof%5Fnatural%5Fgas%5Fin%5Felectricity%5Fprices%5Fin%5Feurope%5Fupdated%5Fmay%5F2023.pdf?ref=europeans.today) of electricity too often. And a relative [lack of sun](https://theconversation.com/why-electricity-costs-so-much-in-the-uk-its-not-all-about-the-weather-268110?ref=europeans.today) means the UK misses out on the full benefits of solar – the renewable technology that has become cheapest. What’s more, demand for electricity [has been falling](https://davidtoke.substack.com/p/why-does-uk-electricity-consumption) as machinery and appliances become more efficient, and as the country moved away from industry and towards services. This means that all the fixed costs of maintaining the energy grid must be shared between [fewer users](https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/energy-price-cap-will-rise-2-percent-october?ref=europeans.today). ##### How EVs can help On sunshine, there is not much to be done – the UK will not [become Spain](https://theconversation.com/the-uks-high-electricity-prices-are-here-to-stay-but-could-they-offer-an-opportunity-278584?ref=europeans.today). But on the other two problems, the case is strong. Take gas first. The reason gas sets the price of electricity so often is not that the UK lacks renewable capacity. The country [builds plenty](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10182/?ref=europeans.today) of wind farms. The problem is that it cannot always use the energy produced – a lot of it [is wasted](https://www.ft.com/content/e7481629-4e6b-460c-830c-d97324115aca?syn-25a6b1a6=1&ref=europeans.today) because there is nowhere to store it. So the fallback is gas whenever there is a need for a lot of electricity, or when there is no wind or sun. But electric cars can be [connected to the electricity grid](https://www.neso.energy/energy-101/net-zero-explained/electric-vehicles?ref=europeans.today). When you are not driving and do not need a full battery, intelligent systems can sell electricity back to the market when demand is high or supply is low, and buy it back when it is cheap. The supplier Octopus [already offers this](https://octopus.energy/power-pack/?ref=europeans.today) in the UK to drivers of certain cars, promising hundreds of pounds of annual savings while giving consumers a choice of when they need to refill their battery. The scale is striking. Energy regulator Ofgem estimates that putting half of projected EVs on this vehicle-to-grid system by 2030 could provide [around 16GW](https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/case-study-uk-electric-vehicle-grid-v2g-charging?ref=europeans.today) of flexible capacity to the grid. Average demand in Great Britain is [around 30GW](https://grid.iamkate.com/?ref=europeans.today). This means that discharging all batteries to the grid at the same time would produce the same flow of electricity as if all [offshore wind turbines](https://www.renewableuk.com/our-work/offshore-wind/?ref=europeans.today) ran at full capacity simultaneously. Or five times what the new nuclear power plant [Hinkley Point C](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hinkley-point-c?ref=europeans.today) – which is projected to start producing electricity in 2030 – will produce. But crucially, it would be available on demand and not just when the wind blows. At the European level, [researchers estimate](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48554-0?ref=europeans.today) that the same 50% vehicle-to-grid penetration could fully cover EU stationary storage needs (the capacity to store surplus electricity and release it when demand peaks) by 2040\. The intermittency problem, which underpins most of what makes electricity expensive and difficult to manage as countries wean themselves off fossil fuels, largely goes away when storage is not a problem. In terms of demand, EVs will help simply by increasing it. The problem is not that the UK cannot produce electricity. The issue is intermittency, and the failure to invest in managing it. EVs, like heat pumps, are [far more energy-efficient](https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths?ref=europeans.today) than the systems they replace. Heat pumps are [three to five times](https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-heat-pumps/how-a-heat-pump-works?ref=europeans.today) more efficient than gas boilers. Demanding more electricity means demanding less gas – even accounting for the gas used to generate some of that electricity. It also means spreading fixed costs across more users, and making households less exposed to the next energy shock. The UK has cut its emissions [by 54% since 1990](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics-2025/2025-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-provisional-figures-statistical-release?ref=europeans.today), but the politics of net zero have become somewhat toxic. High electricity prices feed the narrative that going green means getting poorer. However, transport – the sector where [emissions have barely moved](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics-2025/2025-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-provisional-figures-statistical-release?ref=europeans.today) – is also where the next wave of decarbonisation will lower bills. Unlike authoritarian countries like China, which can simply [impose the change](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/24/high-quality-low-price-and-dizzying-variety-how-the-chinese-switched-to-electric-cars?ref=europeans.today) on citizens, democracies depend on people actually wanting to switch. This has been harder than it should be. If you bought an electric car expecting everyone to follow in the next five years, every time [car lobbies negotiated](https://www.politico.eu/article/carmakers-co2-rules-auto-eu-renault-cars/?ref=europeans.today) to keep producing petrol vehicles, it probably felt like a betrayal. People will not buy an EV to fix the electricity market. They will buy one because petrol has become unaffordable and because this alternative is cheap and convenient. The oil price spike may very well be remembered as the moment when most drivers finally made the switch. But its lasting legacy may be something less obvious: that by filling driveways with connected batteries, drivers quietly helped to solve a problem that had been making electricity bills unnecessarily high for years. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Case study: UK electric vehicle-to-grid charging](https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/case-study-uk-electric-vehicle-grid-v2g-charging?ref=europeans.today) | OFGEM - ###### [Electric vehicle smart charging action plan](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electric-vehicle-smart-charging-action-plan/electric-vehicle-smart-charging-action-plan?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Grid Integration of Electric Vehicles](https://www.iea.org/reports/grid-integration-of-electric-vehicles?ref=europeans.today) | IEA - ###### [Can the UK grid cope with electric cars?](https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero-stories/can-grid-cope-extra-demand-electric-cars?ref=europeans.today) | NATIONAL GRID - ###### [Decisive action to break influence of gas on electricity prices](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-to-break-influence-of-gas-on-electricity-prices?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [How the UK aims to break the gas-electricity price link](https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-how-the-uk-government-aims-to-break-link-between-gas-and-electricity-prices/?ref=europeans.today) | CARBON BRIEF - ###### [Vehicle-grid integration](https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/transport-and-environment-report-2022/annex-6-vehicle-grid-integration/annex-6-vehicle-grid-integration/%40%40download/file?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/high-petrol-prices-are-fuelling-interest-in-evs-heres-how-this-could-bring-down-electricity-bills-280954?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 5 May 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/280954/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 5 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/05/todays-papers-5-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T17:34:05.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168604.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168598.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168600.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Now, will they focus on gun violence? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/04/now-will-they-focus-on-gun-violence/ Last updated: 2026-05-04T01:52:58.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Journalists and officials faced a potential mass shooting in Washington DC. 🔹 B. Jay Cooper calls for calm after partisan blame. 🔹 Event security stopped the alleged shooter before entry. 🔹 Succession planning and venue security need closer scrutiny. The attempted attack by a potential shooter to kill people at the White House Correspondents Association dinner is just the latest example of violence in our country. School shootings, church shootings, mass shootings, attempted assassinations of presidents and other public figures – we all are almost desensitized to them. [This one](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/27/white-house-press-dinner-shooting-security?ref=europeans.today), with no one seriously injured, should be looked at differently, though. In attendance were media elites and working stiffs, the President, Vice President and a lot of the Cabinet, media corporate bigwigs, House and Senate members and others. So, journalists and their powerful guests have now experienced a potential mass shooting from the “other side,” as potential targets of such violence which, one hopes, has to affect the way they cover these events going forward. One thing to be an observer detached from a story, another to be in the story. As the days go by, we’ll learn more about possible motives of the alleged shooter, of arrangements for such events, and more. We need to learn lessons from it all. To try, finally, to avoid or at least limit, it happening again. Having been in that ballroom many times, for this event and others, and knowing the layout of the Washington Hilton, while the alleged shooter clearly planned out his attack, if he had gotten into the ballroom, getting to the President or the front of the room would have been next to impossible with the number of people and tables in the way. Would he have killed people? Most definitely, but he wouldn’t have gotten a shot at the dais, in my opinion. Early reports are he wanted to harm the President and his administration’s representatives. Logistically, he likely would have killed and wounded others though before he was stopped. Our society has become violent. We have been desensitized to that violence. Reporters cover the tragedies and then move on to the next big story. Politicians from all sides leverage the events to push their own favorite gun control, gun decontrol or whatever issues. It’s a pattern that needs changing. Talking heads took familiar positions. Trump supporters blamed a violent “left wing.” Non-supporters said it’s a problem on both sides of the political spectrum. Nothing new there – none were calling for calm and a stop to the finger-pointing at the extremes on both sides. The truth is such violence knows no single home. It comes from all angles. President Trump’s reactions to the shooting covered the gamut. From saying the right things (honoring the Constitution, bringing people together) and all the wrong things (immediately focusing on his White House ballroom, on how “impactful” presidents become targets for assassination, designating himself as “impactful”). But let’s not forget the shock those in the hall and those of us watching on television felt. Because that’s what we must take from these events. And where we must demand something be done, finally. Now the most powerful people in our country and the reporters who cover them have felt what it’s like to be under the attack of a person who is, clearly, mentally disturbed, motivated … and armed. The same way so many mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers and others have been affected over the decades. The President asked the event be rescheduled. A nice idea but probably not practical. Certainly not at the level it’s been held for the last 100-plus years. Still, the purpose of the dinner – the true purpose – is to honor the First Amendment and to award scholarships to students. Those scholarships, that day in the limelight, is something those students earned and deserve. Many executives plan trips to DC for months to attend the event, and folks in DC manage their schedules around attending. Not to mention the millions of dollars the association spends and will have to pay for the night’s cancelled event. The Association doesn’t have a chest of money waiting to be spent. The ticket costs typically pay most of the expenses and scholarships each year. So, I expect a smaller celebration will be planned. The President’s immediate focus on the White House ballroom, to me, was inappropriate in addition to being false. For one thing the White House, this one and likely future ones, won’t be renting out that ballroom to private groups, such as the correspondents’ association. And, even if it found a reason to do so, it won’t be big enough to accommodate them. But it fit Trump’s narrative to direct attention and “need” to his “secure” ballroom. As planned, the new ballroom would seat 650-999 people. That night’s event attracted a few thousand people. It was a fund-raiser. You don’t skimp on seats if you’re raising money. You pack the room. *(By the way, personally I don’t oppose having a larger venue for the White House to hold events, but I don’t like just nonchalantly knocking down the East Wing in the effective dead of night with no notice or adherence to the official, legal process that exists to make changes to the White House.)* Attention also needs to be better paid to the line of succession and who attends what events together. Seems like that President and Vice President needn’t be in the same room (off the White House campus) as often as we’ve seen, for example. At least four of the top five office-holders in the line of succession attended that night. Let’s not end without singing the praises of the Secret Service and law enforcement for the job they did that night. No one was injured in the ball room, the alleged shooter never even got to the door to enter the ballroom. While the hotel writ large wasn’t secure, a perimeter was established widely enough around the ballroom to provide a tragedy from being a disaster. And the Secret Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is not even being paid right now because of political budget disputes on the Hill. Those men and women performed bravely and unselfishly to protect the President and the hundreds of others in that ballroom. Let’s hope the rest of the government sees that as a message for how they should perform – putting personal positioning aside for the country’s good. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Agent hit by buckshot from the gun of man charged in correspondents’ dinner attack, prosecutor says](https://apnews.com/article/99d9a340efe4436e8127c36c58fa0a39?ref=europeans.today) | AP News - ###### [Shots fired as gunman charges toward ballroom at White House correspondents’ dinner. Trump unharmed](https://apnews.com/article/white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-first-amendment-a0a2446832e8596e66c6fccb8426c8aa?ref=europeans.today) | AP News - ###### [Jeanine Pirro says evidence shows suspect shot officer at White House press dinner](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/03/white-house-press-dinner-shooting-jeanine-pirro?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Pirro says ballistic evidence shows correspondents’ dinner suspect shot officer](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/03/pirro-correspondents-dinner-shooting-evidence-gun/?ref=europeans.today) | The Washington Post - ###### [White House press dinner shooting raises questions over security at event](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/27/white-house-press-dinner-shooting-security?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [How the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting unfolded](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shooting-white-house-correspondents-dinner-video-timeline/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS News - ###### [The “Hinckley Hilton”: Inside the security apparatus where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting occurred](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hinckley-hilton-security-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS News --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/now-will-they-focus-on-gun-violence?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 4 May 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55219386312/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 4 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/04/todays-papers-4-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-04T20:18:35.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168290.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168297.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000168299.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 2 May 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/02/todays-papers-2-may-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-02T17:12:23.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/05/1000167569.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### How to make Europeans TODAY your preferred source on Google URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/05/01/how-to-make-europeans-today-your-preferred-source-on-google/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T02:43:53.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Google’s Preferred Sources tool lets readers choose news outlets they want to see more often in Search. 🔹 Readers can add *Europeans TODAY* using Google’s source preferences page. 🔹 Preferred sources may appear more prominently in Top Stories and “From your sources”. Google now gives readers a simple way to make *Europeans TODAY* easier to find in Search. You may have noticed changes in how news appears in Google search. The company has rolled out a [Preferred Sources](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/preferred-sources/?ref=europeans.today) feature that allows people to choose which outlets they would like to see stories from, customised to their interests. By selecting *Europeans TODAY* as a preferred source, readers can have more control over what appears in their search results without relying on the algorithm alone. The process is quick. ### **How to add *Europeans TODAY* as a preferred source** There are two easy ways to pick *Europeans TODAY* as a preferred source on Google Search. First, readers can [click here](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=europeans.today&ref=europeans.today), sign in to their Google account and select the box for *Europeans TODAY*. Second, while searching on Google, readers can click the star icon next to the “Top Stories” box and enter *Europeans TODAY* as a preferred source there. Selecting *Europeans TODAY* as a preferred source is an easy way to surface more of our stories, more frequently, in both the “Top Stories” box and the dedicated “From your sources” section on Google’s search results page. Readers can pick as many preferred sources as they like, and change their selections at any time. Google says users will still see content from other sites and get a mix of perspectives. ### **Our commitment to readers** Developments such as Preferred Sources underline a larger challenge: as misinformation and AI-generated content become harder to avoid, how can readers find reporting they can trust? While *Europeans TODAY* does not control how platforms design these tools, our focus remains the same: making our journalism accessible wherever people look for it without compromising the independence, clarity, and European perspective that define our work. Ultimately, our priority is not any single platform or feature. It is our readers. Tools and algorithms change, but our commitment to serving readers with verified reporting, context and editorial responsibility is constant. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Prefer Europeans TODAY on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=europeans.today&ref=europeans.today) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 1 May 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Europe must stop waiting for America to return to normal URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/25/europe-must-stop-waiting-for-america-to-return-to-normal/ Last updated: 2026-04-26T01:22:25.000Z Europe’s security problem is no longer only the aggression of hostile powers. It is the growing uncertainty around the power it has long trusted most. The United States still matters enormously to European defence. That will not change quickly. But the assumption that Washington will always treat alliances, institutions and international law as strategic assets has been badly weakened. Under Donald Trump, allies have been treated less as partners in a shared order than as costs, rivals or bargaining chips. Ukraine shows [why this matters](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/russian-airstrikes-ukraine-dnipro-odesa-kharkiv?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com): Russia’s latest overnight drone and missile strikes killed at least seven people and hit civilian infrastructure, including homes and energy facilities. That shift cannot be dismissed as the style of one man. Even if future presidents govern differently, Europe has now seen how quickly American policy [can turn](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cddn002g6qzo?ref=europeans.today). The old comfort, that the transatlantic alliance would simply reset after a political shock, is no longer enough. This is why Mark Carney’s [call for cooperation](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-by-mark-carney-prime-minister-of-canada/?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=This%20blog%20contains%20the%20full%20transcript%20of,to%20build%20a%20more%20cooperative%2C%20resilient%20world.) among “middle powers” matters. Europe, Canada, Japan, and democratic partners across Asia cannot replace the United States. But they can reduce their exposure to superpower pressure by working more closely on energy, supply chains, critical minerals, climate policy, defence, and international law. The point is not anti-Americanism. It is preparation. The rules-based order will not survive on nostalgia. If Europe wants it protected, it must help [build the power](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/macron-says-eus-mutual-defence-clause-not-just-words?ref=europeans.today) to protect it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Russian airstrikes kill at least seven people in Ukraine overnight](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/russian-airstrikes-ukraine-dnipro-odesa-kharkiv?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Russia and Ukraine exchange attacks, killing and wounding dozens, as Zelenskyy calls for more talks](https://apnews.com/article/c8358dcd62b30de60708dc080c8ae562?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [Navigating a More Dangerous World: How Can We Survive and Prosper?](https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/navigating-more-dangerous-world-how-can-we-survive-and-prosper?ref=europeans.today) | RUSI - ###### [Japan in a world of rising middle powers](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/04/japan-in-a-world-of-rising-middle-powers/?ref=europeans.today) | World Economic Forum - ###### [Fears about the US are leading to a new world of balancing for the EU and middle powers](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2026/04/20/fears-about-the-us-are-leading-to-a-new-world-of-balancing-for-the-eu-and-middle-powers/?ref=europeans.today) | LSE - ###### [Trump’s security strategy slams European allies and asserts U.S. power in Western Hemisphere](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trumps-security-strategy-slams-european-allies-and-asserts-u-s-power-in-western-hemisphere?ref=europeans.today) | PBS NewsHour - ###### [Carney’s Remarkable Message to Middle Powers](https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/01/carney-middle-powers-davos-speech?ref=europeans.today) | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 25 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 25 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/25/todays-papers-25-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-26T10:23:02.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000165536.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000165535.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000165833.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Britain knows the threat. The test is whether it can defend against it URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/24/britain-knows-the-threat-the-test-is-whether-it-can-defend-against-it/ Last updated: 2026-04-25T01:19:42.000Z Britain’s security warning is no longer theoretical. The country is facing a harder question than whether threats exist: whether it can respond to them fast enough. Lord Robertson, a former UK defence secretary and Nato secretary-general, [has warned](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje4n5ppgw7o?ref=europeans.today) that Britain’s national security is “in peril”. The concern is not a Russian ground invasion of the UK. It is a more immediate pattern of pressure below open war: drones, cyber attacks, reconnaissance, sabotage and threats to undersea cables carrying data and energy. That matters because [Britain’s defences](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-army-uk-defence-spending-threat-b2959645.html?ref=europeans.today) remain thin in several of the places modern conflict now tests. Much of its air and missile protection is based on ships and aircraft. These are valuable, but they cannot be everywhere. Cheap drones can be launched in large numbers. Advanced defensive systems are expensive, limited and slow to replace. The UK’s nuclear deterrent still [has a role](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-nuclear-deterrent-what-you-need-to-know/the-uks-nuclear-deterrent-the-national-endeavour-explained?ref=europeans.today) against nuclear attack. But it cannot answer every threat. It does not stop cable sabotage, drone strikes on bases, cyber disruption or hostile probing of weak points. The government’s Strategic Defence Review has acknowledged the danger. Recognition, however, is not readiness. The unresolved issue is whether ministers can fund, procure and deploy new capability before the threat landscape moves again. Deterrence depends on credibility. Britain now has to show that real defences match its warnings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [The UK is alarmingly unprepared for the threats it faces](https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/the-uk-is-alarmingly-unprepared-for-the-threats-it-faces/?ref=europeans.today) | UK Defence Journal - ###### [The UK's nuclear deterrent: the National Endeavour explained](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-nuclear-deterrent-what-you-need-to-know/the-uks-nuclear-deterrent-the-national-endeavour-explained?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [The Strategic Defence Review 2025](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-strategic-defence-review-2025-making-britain-safer-secure-at-home-strong-abroad?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [UK defence in 2025: Integrated air and missile defence](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10249/?ref=europeans.today) | House of Commons Library - ###### [Most serious cyberattacks against the UK now from Russia, Iran and China, cyber chief says](https://apnews.com/article/5fcdc5eaf14b2d016c2575bbdab47c39?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [UK could face hacktivist attacks at scale, says head of security agency](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/22/uk-hacktivist-attacks-at-scale-security-agency?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [How vulnerable are the UK’s undersea cables?](https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/111/national-security-strategy-joint-committee/news/206588/how-vulnerable-are-the-uks-undersea-cables-jcnss-publishes-written-evidence/?ref=europeans.today) | UK Parliament - ###### [Why UK’s undersea cables are vulnerable](https://news.sky.com/story/why-uks-undersea-cables-are-vulnerable-and-putin-has-pretty-good-map-of-where-they-are-13431588?ref=europeans.today) | Sky News - ###### [UK cannot ignore deep-sea threat from Russia, head of Navy warns](https://www.ft.com/content/3518c4c2-4589-4d25-b4bd-6f5608c0720a?ref=europeans.today) | Financial Times ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 24 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### May elections: What five politics experts are looking out for URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/24/may-elections-what-five-politics-experts-are-looking-out-for/ Last updated: 2026-04-25T00:16:43.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Voters go to polls across Britain on May 7\. 🔹 Reform’s UK-wide appeal faces a major electoral test. 🔹 Labour and the Conservatives could face heavy council losses. 🔹 Wales will use a new proportional Senedd system. O n May 7 2026, voters in England, Scotland and Wales will head to the polls. Parliamentary elections are taking place in the devolved Welsh Senedd Cymru and Scottish Parliament, and local elections for over 4,850 councillor roles could have huge implications for local governments throughout England. With all to play for, we asked five experts to tell us what they will be keeping their eye on. ##### Can Reform compete across the UK? The 2026 elections will reveal whether Reform UK will peak as an English nationalist party, or if they can compete as a genuine nationwide force. Last year’s local elections [confirmed](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2025/england/results?ref=europeans.today) that Reform can seriously harm the Conservatives. This year, contests are across councils held mainly by Labour, making the English elections about Reform’s threat to Keir Starmer’s party. Nigel Farage’s party, which currently has eight MPs, has led opinion polls in England since May 2025, when it won the highest vote in English local elections. Reform took control of ten councils (from a starting point of zero), and gained nearly 700 new councillors. Of these, eight were county council gains from the Conservatives, with another taken from a Liberal Democrat-led coalition. The tenth gain was from Labour in the only metropolitan borough contested, Doncaster. Reform’s likely gains in English councils aren’t guaranteed elsewhere in the UK however. The party’s polling in Scotland is around [ten percentage points behind](https://www.pollcheck.co.uk/holyrood-polls?ref=europeans.today) what it is in England. It may be that Reform is battling Labour for second place, while the Scottish National Party (SNP) continues to dominate. Reform’s polling [in Wales](https://www.pollcheck.co.uk/senedd-polls?ref=europeans.today) is higher (in the mid-to-high-20% range) but again, the real battle is with Labour for runner-up, as Plaid Cymru seems set to [top the poll](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54394-first-yougov-mrp-of-the-2026-senedd-election-shows-plaid-cymru-on-course-to-be-the-largest-party?ref=europeans.today). - [*Jonathan Tonge*](https://www.europeans.today/author/jonathan-tonge/)*, Professor of Politics, University of Liverpool* ##### Local results could force tricky coalitions Local elections are often concerned with local issues – think potholes and bin collections. Councils are also obliged by law to spend a lot of their time and budget on initiatives like adult social care, but these issues are often lost in the broad brush strokes of election campaigns. It will be interesting to see how the ascendant Greens and Reform present their vision for local government, and what compromises they make to win over local voters. In the recent Gorton and Denton byelection, Green candidate Hannah Spencer made [scarce mention of the environment](https://theconversation.com/working-hard-used-to-get-you-something-what-hannah-spencers-speech-tells-us-about-her-and-the-state-of-british-politics-277121?ref=europeans.today) and instead focused heavily on the cost of living and the broader social contract. Similarly, Reform’s promise to mimic the US Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) following the 2025 elections [came up short](https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/reforms-doge-style-cost-cutting-units-havent-found-any-waste-say-councils?ref=europeans.today) after its newly elected councillors found local authorities already cut to the bone from years of austerity. I’ll also be watching to see how the fragmented opinion polls translate into council seats. While we might be expecting a wipeout for Labour and the Conservatives, it remains to be seen how many councils the other parties will win wholesale, and where there will be situations of no overall control, requiring tricky coalition building. This might involve attempts to form a coalition of like-minded councillors, as seen [in Bristol](https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/greens-lead-bristol-city-council-9286559?ref=europeans.today). However, the reality is often that parties attempt to go it alone, by entering minority government and living vote by vote, as seen in places like [Sheffield](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-68951769?ref=europeans.today) or [Wirral](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-48143814?ref=europeans.today). - [*Alex Nurse*](https://www.europeans.today/author/alex-nurse/)*, Reader in Urban Planning, University of Liverpool* ##### Challenges to inclusive Scottish identity The SNP has long predicated its sense of national identity on a civic and inclusive Scottishness. [Its message](https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,nicola-sturgeons-focus-on-an-inclusive-scotland%5F12562.htm?ref=europeans.today) throughout the past 19 years has been that anyone who believes in Scotland can be Scottish. While other parliamentary parties have challenged and attacked myriad SNP platforms and policies in the last two decades, none disagree with this political elite consensus. However, this agreement has not been as duly accepted by people in Scotland who are less accepting of incomers and migrants (from the rest of the UK and beyond) claiming [Scottish identity](https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526127792/9781526127792.00008.xml?ref=europeans.today). Scotland has shifted from an emigrant nation to an immigrant nation in recent years. Without immigration, Scotland’s population would have shrunk. While migration policy remains reserved to Westminster, it looms large in the minds of voters – so much so, that the SNP has made [devolving immigration power to Scotland](https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/www.snp.org/uploads/2024/06/2024-06-20b-SNP-General-Election-Manifesto-2024%5Finteractive.pdf?ref=europeans.today) one of its 14 key manifesto pledges. Reform UK is openly challenging this inclusive and welcoming political consensus. In his first speech, Malcolm Offord, Reform’s [Scottish leader](https://reformuk.scot/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Leaders-Speech-26-Jan-2026.pdf?ref=europeans.today) spoke of strangers and uncontrolled immigration destabilising communities. Given [recent polling](https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,exclusive-lord-ashcroft-poll-puts-snp-ahead-as-labour-struggles-before-holyrood-vote?ref=europeans.today) and the possibility that Reform may be the official opposition in the next Scottish parliament, the SNP may soon be facing an opposition that proposes a less inclusive vision of Scottishness. - [*Murray Leith*](https://www.europeans.today/author/murray-leith/)*, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship and Identity, University of the West of Scotland* ##### A potentially huge turnover on councils In the English local elections, I’m keeping an eye out for how many incumbents lose their seats. We know that voters are disillusioned with the two main parties and looking for alternatives. Last year in the 2025 locals, and in many council byelections since, [less than 40%](https://theconversation.com/late-deciders-higher-turnout-what-the-gorton-and-denton-byelection-taught-us-about-voters-277268?ref=europeans.today) of Labour and Conservative incumbents were re-elected. According to our data at [The Elections Centre](http://electionscentre.uk/?ref=europeans.today), this figure hasn’t dropped below 70% since 1973. There are also many more vacancies this year compared to 2025, with Labour defending half of the nearly 5,000 up for grabs, and the Conservatives defending another quarter of them. If this rate of losses continues, we are going to see thousands of new councillors elected, with huge implications for local governments. Two Labour strongholds, Sunderland and Barnsley, are currently polling in favour of Reform, as is Walsall, which has been held by the Conservatives since 2004\. The Greens are making headway in the [inner boroughs of London](https://electionscentre.uk/2026-local-elections-preview-london/?ref=europeans.today), and councils with “no overall control” may be more common than ever in the capital after these contests. Labour has the furthest to fall, and all eyes will be on how many gains Reform and the Greens make, alongside how many areas turn to the Liberal Democrats as an alternative. - [*Hannah Bunting*](https://www.europeans.today/author/hannah-bunting/)*, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative British Politics and Co-director of The Elections Centre, University of Exeter* ##### A proportional system in the Senedd Changes to the way Welsh voters elect the Senedd – a proportional system where one vote is cast for a political party’s list of candidates across 16 new constituencies – will require parties to campaign very differently compared to previous elections. The extent to which they can adapt will affect how they perform. Under the previous electoral system, most Senedd members (40 out of 60) were elected under first-past-the-post, with the rest elected through proportional regional lists. There was an incentive to focus attention and resources on key seats where a political party had the best chances of winning. Under the [new system](https://senedd.wales/how-we-work/our-role/senedd-election-and-member-changes/?ref=europeans.today) parties will need to gain support from across Wales if they want to ensure a strong presence in the Senedd. This requires a different kind of campaign strategy and organisation, which is likely to be especially challenging for parties with fewer resources. Within constituencies – some of which are huge – political parties will have to mobilise activists in areas where historically they might not have had a much presence or electoral support. Parties with the available resources for a coordinated national campaign and a strong media, and social media, presence will have a clear advantage under this new system. - [*Anwen Elias*](https://www.europeans.today/author/anwen-elias/)*, Reader in Politics, Aberystwyth University* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Mapped: the elections that could deliver “unprecedented” losses for Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/apr/23/mapped-local-elections-labour-may-unprecedented-losses?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [Local elections 2026](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/local-elections-2026?ref=europeans.today) | Institute for Government - ###### [What’s up for election in 2026?](https://democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/03/02/whats-up-for-election-in-2026/?ref=europeans.today) | Democracy Club - ###### [Britons expect success for Reform UK and the Greens at upcoming local elections in England](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/britons-expect-success-reform-uk-and-greens-upcoming-local-elections-england?ref=europeans.today) | Ipsos - ###### [Second YouGov MRP of the 2026 Senedd elections shows a tight race between Reform UK and Plaid Cymru](https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54597-second-yougov-mrp-of-the-2026-senedd-elections-shows-a-tight-race-between-reform-uk-and-plaid-cymru?ref=europeans.today) | YouGov - ###### [How will the new voting system work at the next Senedd election?](https://senedd.wales/senedd-now/senedd-blog/how-will-the-new-voting-system-work-at-the-next-senedd-election/?ref=europeans.today) | Senedd Cymru - ###### [Holyrood Hub: Scottish Parliament Election 2026 Polling and Analysis](https://ballotbox.scot/scottish-parliament/sp26-hub/?ref=europeans.today) | Ballot Box Scotland --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/may-elections-what-five-politics-experts-are-looking-out-for-279260?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 24 2026\. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279260/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Dr King left a blueprint for protest. America has stopped following it URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/24/dr-king-left-a-blueprint-for-protest-america-has-stopped-following-it/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T18:18:52.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Kingian protest requires discipline, planning and nonviolence. 🔹 Recent US protests are criticised as coercive and violent. 🔹 Civil Rights activists sought conversion, not intimidation. 🔹 Isaac Newton Farris Jr. says nonviolence protects democratic protest rights. M artin Luther King Jr. [once said](https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm?ref=europeans.today), “The greatness of America is the right to protest for rights.” The freedom of assembly (protest) joins the freedom of speech, the freedom to petition, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of religion as the five essential freedoms granted to every American citizen. In the 20th century, it was the Civil Rights movement’s nonviolent protests that finally made America a true democracy. Today, in the 21st century, it is violent protests that threaten to return it to autocracy. For Dr. King protest wasn’t a moral stance alone—it was a strategy, a discipline, and a craft. Today, we’ve lost all three. Invoking Dr. King in any conversation about the act of protesting is appropriate because he is the Henry Ford of protesting. Of course, Ford did not invent the automobile, nor did Dr. King invent protesting. But Ford taught the world how to efficiently build a car by applying his assembly line idea to the process. Similarly, Dr. King taught Americans how to properly protest by applying his philosophy of nonviolence to the act of protest resistance. The last few years have seen a potent number of protest movements sweep America: Black Lives Matter, the January 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill, the “Free Palestine” movement, the “No Kings” rallies, and the ongoing protests against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All claimed to be acting in the great spirit and grand tradition of Dr. King. But the only thing these have in common with the protest demonstrations of the Civil Rights movement is that they gathered a crowd of people together. Black Lives Matter protest provoked property destruction. On January 6, 2021, protestors attacked one of the seats of our government and temporarily shut down the certification of a national election. Pro-Palestinian protestors have seized campus buildings, scuffled with police, and physically stopped pro-Israel rallies. And many of us are aware of protestors committing [vehicular attacks](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/01/08/radical-rhetoric-sanctuary-politicians-leads-unprecedented-1300-increase-assaults?ref=europeans.today) on ICE agents. These acts of resistance are anything but nonviolent. The core principle of the Civil Rights movement was voluntary conversion, never any compulsion or arm-twisting. Its protests were mounted as an appeal to the conscience and goodwill of both the protest target and the wider public. Protesters, never the protest targets, endured every consequence their demonstrations brought: physical assault, destruction of their property, restriction of movement, and imprisonment by law enforcement. For them, protest was a demonstration of their commitment to the cause; it was never a punishment of the people or institutions that were the protest’s target. The core principle of today’s movements seems to be involuntary coercion and intimidation. Too often, they want to force others to adopt their perspective and support their cause by threat or physical attack. They seek to shut down any program, activity, or speech they disagree with. When [Rosa Parks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery%5Fbus%5Fboycott?ref=europeans.today) refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus, she didn’t attempt to interfere with the bus driver or to stop any other passengers from sitting down where they chose. Her message was not, *If I can’t sit where I choose, I will stop the bus from operating*. Her message was, *I am prepared to subject myself to physical abuse and arrest, offering no resistance, in order to exercise my right* *as a human being and an American citizen to choose to sit in any available empty bus seat*. When Black [college students sat down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville%5Fsit-ins?ref=europeans.today) at Greensboro lunch counters and refused to move until they were served or arrested, they purposely never occupied all the empty seats available at the lunch counter. They knew not to prevent other customers from entering and conducting business in the stores, because their protest message was not, *If Blacks can’t buy lunch here, no one will be allowed to buy lunch or shop here*. The message was*: We will not move from this lunch counter until served or arrested, because the color of one’s skin should not prevent someone from being served*. The Birmingham middle- and high school students who showed up for a [children’s march](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham%5Fcampaign?ref=europeans.today) at Kelly Ingram Park in 1963 were attacked by police dogs and sprayed with high-pressure fire hoses. The images shocked Americans. Yet, regardless of the morality of their cause, had these children been armed with guns, knives, and lead pipes to resist their attackers, American sentiment would have been: *Yes, the police needed the dogs and firehoses to put down violent thugs with weapons*. Instead, the students met violence with nonviolence; their only intention was to resist racism and possibly sacrifice their lives for justice, freedom, and democracy. As a result, American sentiment was to make the 1964 Civil Rights Act the law of the land, which made America a true democracy for the first time in its history. The Civil Rights protestors also avoided violent speech. Never would you have seen a Civil Rights protest sign that read “*Death to the* [*klu klux klan*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku%5FKlux%5FKlan?ref=europeans.today).” Even when it came to one of America’s most notorious racists, never would you have heard a protest speaker say “[*George Wallace*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%5FWallace?ref=europeans.today) *should be condemned to Hell*.” The only messages Dr. King would allow printed on signs and heard in speeches at protests were positive and affirmative. “I too am a human being,” “I am an American citizen entitled to equal rights,” or “We shall overcome.” There was never any violent speech directed at or about the protest targets. Yet today’s protestors frequently abuse their opponents, [call for retribution upon them](https://www.adl.org/resources/article/quds-day-and-other-iran-related-protests-nationwide-platform-support-terror?ref=europeans.today), and [praise acts of horrific violence](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/09/nyregion/columbia-pro-palestinian-group-hamas.html?ref=europeans.today) that are inflicted on their protest targets. A nonviolent protestor’s goal is to create a minimum degree of discomfort or inconvenience to draw attention to the protest cause. But the discomfort or inconvenience should never exist to the point of preventing a college class, a public speech, or a legal arrest. It must never deny its opponent’s rights. A successful nonviolent protest generates sympathy for the cause, and it requires planning. Dr. King would have never sent out a social media message to meet him in an hour for a protest; instead, he would have sent out a message to meet him in an hour *to plan* a protest. He never led a march, organized a boycott, or convened a rally without first addressing all the necessary logistical questions and contingencies. A [proper site must be selected](https://isaacnewtonfarris.com/how-shall-they-protest-3/?ref=europeans.today) and, if necessary, permits applied for. Plans must be made to deal with counter-protestors and any other attempts to interfere with the protest. And there must be plans on how law enforcement should be dealt with if and when they show up? Most importantly, protest organizers must insist on nonviolent protesting and explain its meaning. As Dr. King wrote in his first book, [*Stride Toward Freedom*](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story?ref=europeans.today), nonviolence is “a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.” Yet the passivity of the protestor can only go so far. Denial of a permit does not mean a protest should not happen, because an act of civil disobedience or disobeying a denied protest permit can itself be a legitimate protest tactic. Dr. King’s famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written because he had been arrested for leading a march in defiance of a court order banning “[racial demonstrations](https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YREdAAAAIBAJ&pg=7376%2C1391871&ref=europeans.today).” But attempting to obtain permission to protest is a necessary step along the Kingian path. Seeking permission to protest sends the message to all concerned that the intention is for the demonstration to be peaceful. Such a message could determine if the police or security forces show up wearing riot gear or their normal uniforms. When pro-Palestinian students [took over a building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia%5FUniversity%5Fpro-Palestinian%5Fcampus%5Fprotests%5Fduring%5Fthe%5FGaza%5Fwar?ref=europeans.today) on Columbia’s campus in 2024, the violent spectacle drew the worst possible attention to the cause. The students began by breaking windows to enter the building. Some pre-protest planning might have helped. For instance, a protestor could have hidden in the building to let the rest in after it closed. Instead, the students caused great damage to the building by breaking its windows and using its furniture to barricade themselves inside. Occupying a campus building to focus attention on a protest cause can be a legitimate protest tactic. Perhaps destruction was partly the point in this case, but truly effective protest requires that no property be destroyed to facilitate the protest. Protestors can plan to use their bodies en masse as an obstacle to prevent entering or re-occupying the building. Still, they should never resist arrest—in the 1960s, when nonviolent protestors against the war in Vietnam occupied a Columbia University building, they did not resist removal. But the way that pro-Palestinian college students occupied a Columbia University campus building in 2024, the way some BLM protests turned to property destruction, the way protestors violently invaded Capitol Hill on January 6, and the way some protestors impede ICE from doing their job is to adopt the means of tyranny and autocracy. Ironically, these protestors see themselves as genuinely resisting tyranny, but by doing so violently, they make their causes deeply unsympathetic. As Dr. King [wrote in 1967](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/where-do-we-go-here-chaos-or-community?ref=europeans.today), “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil.” American democracy cannot survive without the right to protest. Yet in the 21st century, twenty-three states have enacted at least [fifty-five laws](https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/?location=&status=enacted&issue=&date=&type=&ref=europeans.today) to limit how and when people can exercise their constitutional right to protest. Protesting the way of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights activists he led is the way to protect one of America’s greatest rights, the right to protest for rights. If a just protest cause is to succeed, its advocates must protest in the Kingian nonviolent way! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Nonviolence](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/nonviolence?ref=europeans.today) | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute - ###### [US Protest Law Tracker](https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/?ref=europeans.today) | ICNL - ###### [Protecting the Right To Protest](https://www.icnl.org/post/features/protecting-the-right-to-protest?ref=europeans.today) | ICNL - ###### [Birmingham Children’s Crusade](https://www.britannica.com/event/Birmingham-Childrens-Crusade?ref=europeans.today) | Encyclopaedia Britannica - ###### [Columbia University says it expelled some students who seized building last year](https://apnews.com/article/c148d1d01718a4482541a6df6cad8d74?ref=europeans.today) | Associated Press - ###### [Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story?ref=europeans.today) | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute - ###### [Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/where-do-we-go-here-chaos-or-community?ref=europeans.today) | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Isaac Newton Farris Jr.'s blog](https://isaacnewtonfarris.com/dr-king-left-a-blueprint-for-protest-america-has-stopped-following-it/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 24 April 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 24 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/24/todays-papers-24-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T22:22:28.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000165328.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000165332.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000165336.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### The UK could make migrants wait up to 20 years before becoming settled – making it one of the longest waits in the world URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/23/the-uk-could-make-migrants-wait-up-to-20-years-before-becoming-settled-making-it-one-of-the-longest-waits-in-the-world/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T01:19:09.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 UK settlement waits could double for most migrants. 🔹 Refugees may face 20 years before permanent residence. 🔹 Critics warn temporary status could weaken integration. 🔹 The UK may become unusually restrictive internationally. T he UK government is planning to make it significantly harder for migrants to obtain [permanent residence](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/biggest-overhaul-of-legal-migration-model-in-50-years-announced?ref=europeans.today). If the proposals go ahead, the UK would become more restrictive than most other high-income democracies. In the case of refugees it would create a situation that is arguably without precedent among peer countries. The UK’s home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, intends to double the [qualifying period](https://theconversation.com/uk-to-overhaul-asylum-policy-will-the-new-measures-work-269949?ref=europeans.today) for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) (the UK’s form of permanent residence) from five to ten years for [most migrants](https://theconversation.com/topics/uk-immigration-48524?ref=europeans.today), and increase it up to 20 for some. Eligibility requirements would also [tighten](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10267/?ref=europeans.today). Migrants would need a clean criminal record (removing the previous 12-month sentence threshold), a higher English language standard and earnings above £12,570 per year for at least three years. This will [disproportionately affect](https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/changes-to-settlement-what-do-they-mean/?ref=europeans.today) those least likely to be in full-time employment, including dependants of people on work visas, family visa holders and refugees. The ten-year baseline for settlement would then be adjusted up or down based on individual circumstances. [High-skilled workers](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-occupations/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-occupations-and-codes?ref=europeans.today), including NHS nurses and doctors, or those earning above £125,140, for instance, could qualify after five or three years respectively. Those on family visas (such as those married to a British citizen) or who are judged to be making efforts at “integration” such as by volunteering in the community could qualify after five to seven years. Those who have claimed benefits would have to wait up to 20 years, while for those who have entered the country illegally or overstayed their visa would have to wait up to 30 years to settle. For low-skilled workers, the qualifying period would start at 15 years. For refugees it would be 20, with no reductions available unless the person works or studies. In this case, their status would convert to a [Protection Work and Study](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/refugee-protection-to-be-reviewed-every-30-months?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=While%20Denmark%20was%20cutting%20asylum,tested%20will%20strengthen%20this%20further) visa, subject to review every 30 months. The government has cited the increasing number of people granted settlement as one of the drivers behind the reforms. This figure has been rising since 2017, reaching 163,000 in the year ending June 2025\. The Home Office projects this figure will [increase significantly](https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/earned-settlement/a-fairer-pathway-to-settlement-statement-and-accompanying-consultation-on-earned-settlement-accessible?ref=europeans.today#foreword-from-the-home-secretary) over the next five years. The reforms are also framed as a response to irregular migration. The government has cited the Danish model as inspiration, arguing that the longer timeframe will “strongly discourage” entry without documents and reduce the “pull factors” attracting people to the UK. However, research suggests that [deterrence-based policies](https://books.google.it/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jMRqEQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=info:w3G3nyipq9cJ:scholar.google.com&ots=B-YBOWWY3C&sig=CcTvA06Wzz9H7GHEO8pN07FgbdE&redir%5Fesc=y&ref=europeans.today#v=onepage&q&f=false) like this are a weak tool for reducing immigration: decisions to migrate are driven primarily by conditions in countries of origin, not by [entitlements](https://ecre.org/op-ed-pull-factors-the-myth-that-never-dies/?ref=europeans.today) in destination countries. The Home Office has claimed these amendments do not require legislation, meaning they do not need to be put to a parliamentary vote. But opponents have signalled the intention to [force a symbolic vote](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy514kv2vzro?ref=europeans.today) to make their views clear. Much of the concern has to do with the plans to apply the changes [retrospectively](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/05/ministers-labour-backbenchers-temper-shabana-mahmood-immigration-plans?ref=europeans.today). ##### An international outlier These proposals would make the UK an outlier compared to other major economies. In the EU, the closest equivalent to ILR is the [long-term resident status](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=legissum%3Al23034&ref=europeans.today) for third country nationals. This requires people to live in the EU on a valid visa for at least five years, and confers long-term residence with limited conditions. This exists alongside national schemes, such as [Italy](https://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/permesso-di-soggiorno-ue-per-soggiornanti-di-lungo-periodo.--carta-di-soggiorno-per-cittadini-stranieri?ref=europeans.today)’s *Permesso di Soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo* and [Germany](https://www.bamf.de/DE/Themen/MigrationAufenthalt/ZuwandererDrittstaaten/Migrathek/Niederlassen/niederlassen-node.html?ref=europeans.today)’s *Niederlassungserlaubnis* that follow a similar approach. [Denmark](https://www.nyidanmark.dk/de-DE/You-want-to-apply/Permanent-residence-permit/Permanent-residence?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Back-,Who%20can%20be%20granted%20a%20permanent%20residence%20permit?,with%20strong%20ties%20to%20Denmark) and [Ireland](https://www.irishimmigration.ie/my-situation-has-changed-since-i-arrived-in-ireland/long-term-residency/?ref=europeans.today) are the only two EU member states that opted out of the [EU-level scheme](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32003L0109&ref=europeans.today). These countries have special arrangements for immigration and asylum policy (just like the UK did, before Brexit). They set their thresholds at eight and five years respectively, with Denmark’s reducible to four in some cases. The UK government claims that making refugee status temporary and increasing the time for permanent residency contributed to asylum applications reaching a 40-year low in Denmark in 2025\. However, this drop coincided with broader EU-wide trends in [asylum flows](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20260325-2?ref=europeans.today), making it difficult to attribute the decline to domestic policy changes alone. Among Anglophone countries, the picture is similar. The [US green card](https://www.uscis.gov/green-card?ref=europeans.today) confers permanent residence without a formal minimum years requirement. Though in practice, the vast majority of employment-based applicants previously held a [temporary visa](https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/the-convoluted-path-from-h-1b-to-permanent-residency-a-primer/?ref=europeans.today). [Canada](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/permanent-residents/status.html?ref=europeans.today) has no blanket time requirements, and refugees admitted through resettlement schemes can obtain permanent residency immediately. Raising the standard qualifying period for permanent residence to ten years would make the UK more restrictive than most other comparable democracies in Europe and North America, and one of the strictest globally. Extending it to 20 years for refugees would make the UK’s approach unprecedented among peer countries. These new requirements are closer to those of some of the hardest countries to achieve permanent residency such as [Qatar](https://portal.moi.gov.qa/wps/portal/MOIInternet/departmentcommittees/permanentresidency/!ut/p/z1/jY%5FBDoIwGIMfaYXB3HWiYWOgEljA%5F2J2MksUPRifX2K4Oumtydc2ZcRGRpN%5Fh6t%5Fhcfkb7M%5Fk7gY1RikGeqSW4nW2HyPw4m7jWDDAshMJ0is1JBQXV%5F122ORAgmjNXn8kMK6fASgeP3A6ItUemfAO9iyFnx-UDdFWrSAzBcgdvHfyPPu3IhgPofELOc!/?1dmy&pswid=Z7%5FIAMI0240LG3K80QIK5E0NP3UF0&urile=wcm%3Apath%3A%2Fwcmlib-internet-en%2Fsa-departmentcommittee%2Fsa-permanentresidency%2F790acc5d-a0cb-48d8-9c32-da8689832c42&ref=europeans.today) and [Japan](https://www.juridique.jp/visa/pr.php?ref=europeans.today), which require 20 and ten years respectively, for most cases. Research suggests that [migration policies](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-25089-8%5F4?ref=europeans.today) which make migrants’ status temporary make them less likely to integrate. In particular, a study on Denmark found that making permanent residence harder to obtain for refugees reduced the chances of them [being employed](https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/16313/permanent-residency-and-refugee-immigrants-skill-investment?ref=europeans.today). People who believed they could not meet the new requirements became discouraged and disengaged from the labour market – the opposite of what the government wanted. The UK’s proposed changes risk producing a similar dynamic, trapping people into what has been described as an [“extended limbo”](https://www.ippr.org/articles/a-paradigm-shift-in-asylum-and-immigration-policy?ref=europeans.today). Given these risks, the government should be careful in treating this approach as an end in itself when it comes to increased immigration. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Earned settlement](https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/earned-settlement?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Biggest overhaul of legal migration model in 50 years announced](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/biggest-overhaul-of-legal-migration-model-in-50-years-announced?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Changes to settlement: what do they mean?](https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/changes-to-settlement-what-do-they-mean/?ref=europeans.today) | MIGRATION OBSERVATORY - ###### [Earned Settlement: Examining the Government’s proposed reforms](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmhaff/1409/report.html?ref=europeans.today) | UK PARLIAMENT - ###### [Immigration reforms](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10575/?ref=europeans.today) | HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY - ###### [Refugee protection to be reviewed every 30 months](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/refugee-protection-to-be-reviewed-every-30-months?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Migrant care workers to leaflet Shabana Mahmood constituents over longer wait to settle](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/23/migrant-care-workers-unison-shabana-mahmood-earned-settlement?ref=europeans.today) | *THE GUARDIAN* --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-uk-could-make-migrants-wait-up-to-20-years-before-becoming-settled-making-it-one-of-the-longest-waits-in-the-world-279036?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 23 April 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279036/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Is he lying, mad, or delusional? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/23/is-he-lying-mad-or-delusional/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T14:12:18.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Trump says there is a deal with Iran. 🔹 Iran says Trump’s claims are false. 🔹 The Strait of Hormuz dispute remains unresolved. 🔹 B. Jay Cooper questions Trump’s judgement and honesty. I t’s finally happened, to the Nth degree. President Trump says we have a deal with Iran. Iran says we don’t. And, I honestly have no clue whether to believe the President of the United States or the leadership of one of our biggest enemies. Do you? Trump “Truth-ed” seven times in an hour claims about where we are in talks with Iran, about ending the war and their efforts to develop a nuclear bomb. Iran said all seven claims were false. Iran “completely opened” the Strait of Hormuz and then said no it didn’t. Has President Trump finally worn out any sense that he can be honest at least about the state of war – about our women and men being in harm’s way? Does he consult with advisors at all before he punches the buttons on his phone? Or is he – and I’m just being serious here – truly out of his mind, senile, or riddled with false understandings of his power? Does he really believe that meme he published of himself as Jesus Christ was a selfie? Or that he was a doctor tending to the sick? That one, that lie about that meme, led me to think he just thinks *“we”* are that stupid. A couple of days later, with his claims of Iran accepting all of our conditions to end the war, I wonder if – and I’m being serious here again – if he truly has lost his mind. Next thing he’ll claims that ending the war with Iran is the 11th time he ended another war and he still can’t get a Nobel. Yes, he may say he settled the war he started. Thank you for your attention to this matter. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump claims US has total control over Strait of Hormuz after Iran seizes two container ships](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/23/trump-claims-us-has-total-control-over-strait-of-hormuz-as-iran-seizes-two-container-ships?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian - ###### [What has Trump said ahead of possible US-Iran talks and what could it mean?](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/17/what-has-trump-said-ahead-of-possible-us-iran-talks-and-what-could-it-mean?ref=europeans.today) | Al Jazeera - ###### [As a Strait of Hormuz standoff grows, will Trump’s fragile Iran ceasefire hold?](https://www.cfr.org/articles/as-a-strait-of-hormuz-standoff-grows-will-trumps-fragile-iran-ceasefire-hold?ref=europeans.today) | Council on Foreign Relations - ###### [Trump and Iran claim the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open.” Here’s what that means](https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-iran-claim-strait-hormuz-completely-open-heres/story?id=132146111&ref=europeans.today) | ABC News - ###### [US-Iran ceasefire on brink of collapse as talks stall and Strait of Hormuz crisis deepens](https://www.euronews.com/2026/04/21/us-iran-ceasefire-on-brink-of-collapse-as-talks-stall-and-strait-of-hormuz-crisis-deepens?ref=europeans.today) | Euronews - ###### [Trump says US is not withdrawing “quite yet” from Strait of Hormuz efforts](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-iran-strait-of-hormuz-not-ready-quite-yet-to-leave/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS News - ###### [Donald Trump says US and Iran “want deal” as Tehran disputes claim](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/trump-says-iran-wants-a-deal-to-end-the-war/106488538?ref=europeans.today) | ABC News Australia --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/is-he-just-lying-mad-or-delusional?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 23 April 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55218095996/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/23/todays-papers-23-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-23T19:33:14.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164704.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164708.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164711.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 22 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/22/todays-papers-22-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-23T00:05:00.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164720.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164723.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164725.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Farage unveils plan to review five years of asylum grants and remove approved refugees URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/21/farage-unveils-plan-to-review-five-years-of-asylum-grants-and-remove-approved-refugees/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T02:38:27.000Z Reform UK has moved beyond promising tougher action on future Channel crossings and is now saying a government led by Nigel Farage would revisit successful asylum claims from the past five years. In a press conference on Monday, the party said people who entered the UK illegally, overstayed a visa before claiming asylum, or in some cases came from countries it considers safe, could have their leave to remain revoked and face deportation. *The Times* [reported](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/nigel-farage-vows-to-deport-asylum-seekers-who-arrived-by-small-boat-tlqq58rfx?ref=europeans.today) that Reform believes around 400,000 people could fall within scope, with “the majority” eventually removed. That is what makes this more than another routine anti-migration press conference. Reform is not only arguing for harsher treatment of future arrivals. It proposes reopening protections already granted by the British state. Reporting on the announcement also suggests the plan could affect dependents in some cases. Farage and Reform chairman Zia Yusuf also made clear that the proposal depends on a much larger legal rupture. Reform says it would leave the [European Convention on Human Rights](https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/what-are-human-rights/what-european-convention-human-rights?ref=europeans.today) and pursue wider changes to Britain’s refugee-law framework as part of the plan. The proposal sits within its broader “[Operation Restoring Justice](https://www.reform-oxfordshire.co.uk/operation-restoring-justice?ref=europeans.today)” agenda, centred on a new UK Deportation Command and removals on a far larger scale than the UK currently carries out. That is also where the proposal becomes hardest to separate from political theatre. Researchers at Oxford’s COMPAS [say](https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/article/the-most-radical-part-of-reforms-deportation-plans?ref=europeans.today) the practical hurdles are logistical and diplomatic, noting that UK detention capacity stood at about 2,200 in mid-2024, while Reform has talked about expanding that to 24,000\. They also note that the UK’s current removals system operates at only a fraction of the scale Reform envisages. Critics responded quickly to Reform’s announcement. The Refugee Council [said](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/apr/20/keir-starmer-peter-mandelson-vetting-reform-immigration-iran-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-69e61ae88f089b30862aeebd&ref=europeans.today#block-69e61ae88f089b30862aeebd) reopening and reassessing hundreds of thousands of decisions would overwhelm a system already under severe pressure, tie up the courts for years and cost taxpayers tens of billions. “Reopening and reassessing hundreds of thousands of asylum decisions would overwhelm the system which is already struggling, tie up the courts for years, and cost taxpayers tens of billions.” The Green Party co-deputy leader Rachel Millward [called](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/apr/20/keir-starmer-peter-mandelson-vetting-reform-immigration-iran-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-69e61ae88f089b30862aeebd&ref=europeans.today#block-69e61ae88f089b30862aeebd) the announcement cruel and superficial. “We do not want to see people risking their lives crossing the channel in small boats. What we need is strong international cooperation to address the reasons that people are having to seek asylum in the first place: war, poverty and the climate crisis, and to provide safe and managed routes that would offer a real alternative to people smugglers. “We must remember our basic humanity. Many of those seeking asylum have endured horrendous trauma. They include mothers and children. We have a duty to offer compassion and sanctuary, not insecurity, fear and intimidation.” The sharpest way to frame the story, then, is not simply that Farage wants tougher borders. It is that Reform is asking voters to accept that refugee protection already granted by the UK should be reopened and potentially revoked on a mass scale. That is a serious argument about state power, legal certainty, and the meaning of asylum itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Nigel Farage vows to deport small boat migrants who were granted asylum](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/nigel-farage-vows-to-deport-asylum-seekers-who-arrived-by-small-boat-tlqq58rfx?ref=europeans.today) | THE TIMES - ###### [Reform pledges to send 400,000 asylum seekers home](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/04/19/reform-pledges-to-send-400000-asylum-seekers-home/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [The Most Radical Part of Reform’s Deportation Plans](https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/article/the-most-radical-part-of-reforms-deportation-plans?ref=europeans.today) | COMPAS - ###### [How many people are detained or returned?](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2024/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Briefing: Immigration Detention in the UK](https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2024-Briefing-Immigration-Detention-in-the-UK.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIGRATION OBSERVATORY - ###### [Briefing: the sorry state of the UK asylum system](https://freemovement.org.uk/briefing-the-sorry-state-of-the-uk-asylum-system/?ref=europeans.today) | FREE MOVEMENT - ###### [Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/mar/01/shabana-mahmood-to-limit-refugees-to-30-months-in-uk?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 21 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Fred Duval](https://www.dreamstime.com/fredduval%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 21 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/21/todays-papers-21-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T22:00:43.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164363.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164367.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164371.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 20 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/20/todays-papers-20-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T22:58:19.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164403.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164409.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000164694.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### What the Hormuz crisis reveals about who rules in Tehran URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/18/what-the-hormuz-crisis-reveals-about-who-rules-in-tehran/ Last updated: 2026-04-19T04:02:14.000Z The immediate danger in the Strait of Hormuz is obvious. The deeper problem may be that Iran’s official diplomats no longer appear to control the policy they present. That is the significance of the sharp reversal between 17 and 18 April. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the strait was open to commercial traffic. Within a day, the IRGC Navy had attacked commercial vessels, warned ships away, and helped reduce movement through the waterway to a trickle apart from Iranian traffic. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/0000679b--1-.jpg) US Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports on the Strait of Hormuz, as of 18-Apr-2026\. | DREAMSTIME/KORWEN (based on the data from the Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project) An [analysis](https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-special-report-april-18-2026/?ref=europeans.today) by the *Institute for the Study of War* and the *Critical Threats Project* argues that this was more than a military escalation. It may also reflect a shift in power toward the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and figures around Major General Ahmad Vahidi, at the expense of Iran’s formal negotiating channel. If that reading is correct, the implications go beyond shipping disruption. It would mean outside powers are not simply facing a harder Iranian position. They may be dealing with a system in which the men speaking in negotiations are not fully in command of the decisions that matter. That makes every proposal less reliable, every pause more fragile, and every diplomatic signal harder to trust. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Iran Update Special Report, April 18, 2026](https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-special-report-april-18-2026/?ref=europeans.today) | ISW - ###### [Iran Revolutionary Guard fully closes Strait of Hormuz and fires on ships trying to pass](https://apnews.com/article/us-iran-war-israel-hormuz-18-april-2026-ab475cb979825b956a10d60103026b37?ref=europeans.today) | AP - ###### [Iran says strait of Hormuz ‘completely open’ but sounds warning on US blockade](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/17/strait-of-hormuz-now-open-to-commercial-vessels?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/18/iran-closes-strait-of-hormuz-again-until-us-lifts-blockade?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [How to keep the Strait of Hormuz open in the long term](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/04/how-keep-strait-hormuz-open-long-term?ref=europeans.today) | CHATHAM HOUSE ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Ten years on, more Britons back rejoining the EU, but Labour still will not say it URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/18/ten-years-on-more-britons-back-rejoining-the-eu-but-labour-still-will-not-say-it/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T02:38:31.000Z [Ten years](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/09/ten-years-brexit-uk-divided-country?ref=europeans.today) after the Brexit referendum, Labour faces a problem it has worked hard to avoid. The party wants the economic gains of a [closer relationship](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rxj4yygdwo?ref=europeans.today) with the European Union without reopening the political conflict that Brexit left behind. That balancing act is starting to look less secure. Polling published alongside new research found that 53% of voters support [rejoining the EU](https://www.bestforbritain.org/is%5Ftime%5Feu%5Fmembership?ref=europeans.today). Support was far higher among parties on Labour’s progressive flank and within its own coalition, reaching 83% among Labour voters, 84% among Liberal Democrats and 82% among Greens. By contrast, although 61% backed the government’s current approach to EU relations, only 19% did so strongly. That is not a solid endorsement. It is a sign that Labour’s position is being accepted more out of caution than conviction. That matters because the government’s strategy depends on drawing closer to Brussels in practice while refusing the institutions that would give that approach democratic and political coherence. Ministers want lower trade friction and [closer regulatory alignment](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmfaff/857/report.html?ref=europeans.today) in selected sectors, but they [still rule out](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937jkvp3w8o?ref=europeans.today) both single market membership and a return to the EU. The result is an increasingly awkward settlement. Britain can choose to [follow more European rules](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937jkvp3w8o?ref=europeans.today) in aligned areas, but from outside the structures where those rules are made. That may ease some of the damage caused by Brexit, yet it also entrenches a politics of rule-taking without representation. Labour’s silence on Europe once looked disciplined. It now looks more like a temporary shelter from an argument that is [returning anyway](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/voters-brexit-u-turn-starmer-bolder-top-pollster-4360260?srsltid=AfmBOorWy3ehqirsSkNQ4Q7d2krf-wIqEU7Zv8gb8EVK2FDngoH2wS4r&ref=europeans.today). The question is no longer whether the old Brexit divide can be ignored. It is how long Labour can ask voters to accept a European strategy that it still will not fully defend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [More than half of Britons support rejoining EU 10 years on from Brexit vote](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/17/half-britons-support-rejoining-eu-10-years-brexit-vote?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Ten years after Brexit, this is the UK: a divided nation frozen in time](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/09/ten-years-brexit-uk-divided-country?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Starmer’s UK-EU reset suffering from ‘lack of direction’, MPs warn](https://www.ft.com/content/6db99ce3-d8b4-443d-b1d0-d3b51eb39709?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Rachel Reeves warned that more than warm words are needed to woo the EU](https://www.ft.com/content/c7ebf108-6fc4-4c14-8d90-15aa6b5d0186?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Minister for EU Relations - Article on UK-EU Reset](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/minister-for-eu-relations-article-on-uk-eu-reset?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [UK-EU reset lacks “direction, definition and drive”](https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/78/foreign-affairs-committee/news/212274/ukeu-reset-lacks-direction-definition-and-drive/?ref=europeans.today) | UK PARLIAMENT - ###### [UK–EU reset agreement](https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/uk-eu-reset?ref=europeans.today) | INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT - ###### [EU-UK relations: Will 2026 be the year to reset the reset?](https://mailings.cer.eu/publications/archive/policy-brief/2026/eu-uk-relations-will-2026-be-year-reset-reset?ref=europeans.today) | CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN REFORM ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Trump isn’t lying − he’s doing something worse URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/18/trump-isnt-lying-hes-doing-something-worse/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T00:40:47.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Trump’s supporters previously admired his use of untruthfulness during political campaigns. 🔹 Mounting regret now appears amongst his base regarding economic and war policies. 🔹 Lying requires an intent to deceive which may be absent here. 🔹 Falsehoods are interpreted as expressions of contempt towards detractors and supporters. F or much of his political career, dishonesty has [been without cost](https://sites.nd.edu/truth-and-politics/donald-trump-voters-we-like-the-presidents-lies/?ref=europeans.today) for Donald Trump. He entered into national politics with the [birther](https://www.politico.com/story/2011/04/birtherism-where-it-all-began-053563?ref=europeans.today) lie, claiming that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S., and that [did not prevent](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/gop-nominates-trump-now-standard-bearer-party?ref=europeans.today) Trump from winning the 2016 GOP nomination. His persistent false statements about [crowd sizes](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38707722?ref=europeans.today), [electoral](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-says-people-will-soon-be-prosecuted-for-2020-election-outcome?ref=europeans.today) [outcomes](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/fact-check-was-donald-trump-elected-in-a-landslide-with-a-broad-national-mandate/?ref=europeans.today) and the [birthplace](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/04/donald-trump-father-germany/88978261007/?ref=europeans.today) of his father barely garner press coverage today. What’s more, the admission that Trump lies seems to have had little impact. On the campaign trail during the 2024 presidential race, vice-presidential candidate [JD Vance acknowledged](https://www.ms.now/opinion/msnbc-opinion/jd-vance-make-up-pet-eating-story-haitian-rcna171326?ref=europeans.today) that Trump’s story that Haitian immigrants were [eating pets in Ohio](https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/dec/17/theyre-eating-the-pets-trump-vance-earn-politifact/?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=How%20an%20online%20rumor%20lands,to%20a%20presidential%20debate%20stage) had been “created.” That confession had no discernible effect on Trump’s popularity. In fact, some measures indicate that Trump’s supporters [admire his untruthfulness](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/trump-voters-like-lying-deception-feature/?ref=europeans.today). More recently, however, things have changed. Data now indicates mounting [regret](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/04/politics/voter-regret-trump-2024?ref=europeans.today) and [disappointment](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/gen-z-trump-red-wave/686006/?ref=europeans.today) among his base. The administration’s failure to sustain convincing messaging about the [Iran war](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-claims-the-us-is-totally-independent-of-the-middle-east-he-s-overlooking-how-global-energy-markets-work/ar-AA200zRS?ref=europeans.today), the [Epstein files](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/11/politics/epstein-files-trump-claims-contradictions-analysis?ref=europeans.today), the [tariffs](https://itep.org/president-trump-says-his-tariffs-arent-paid-by-americans-corporations-are-indicating-the-opposite/?ref=europeans.today) and [inflation](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fact-check-trump-interview-nbc-news-rcna257084?ref=europeans.today) have left some supporters feeling [duped](https://navigatorresearch.org/focus-group-report-trump-regrets-theyve-had-a-few/?ref=europeans.today) and [abandoned](https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-easter-message-iran-b2952167.html?ref=europeans.today) by Trump. The president’s recent [approval numbers](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5775061-trump-approval-rating-falls/?ref=europeans.today) are [registering](https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker?ref=europeans.today) this [shift](https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-record-low-conservative-poll-11780700?ref=europeans.today). This might suggest that fact-checking efforts are paying off. But, as a philosopher who studies the cognitive and emotional aspects of citizenship, I think this is incorrect. There is a better explanation for why, at this point, Trump’s followers are reacting negatively to his assertions. ##### When falsehoods aren’t lies Although fact-checking can be successful in establishing the facts among people who have not already [made up their minds](https://eufactcheck.eu/blogpost/fact-checking-can-expose-misinformation-but-it-rarely-changes-the-minds-of-those-already-convinced/?ref=europeans.today), it is [generally ineffective](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inconvenient-facts/201905/fact-checking-is-ineffective-where-it-counts?ref=europeans.today) among true believers. Once someone has formed an opinion, debunking their belief can [backfire](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-010-9112-2?ref=europeans.today), driving them to [commit even more strongly](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12875456/?ref=europeans.today) to their mistake. To explain the emerging shift among Trump’s base requires looking elsewhere. Specifically, I think it requires abandoning the idea that Trump’s more outlandishly false statements are lies at all. I realize that this may sound odd. To explain, let’s begin by noting that it is surprisingly difficult to give an adequate [definition of lying](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41340787?ref=europeans.today). Intuitive characterizations – “A lie is something that isn’t true” – fall short. For example, lying isn’t merely uttering a falsehood. Honest mistakes and statements made from lapses of memory are not lies. You could say instead that lying is deliberately asserting what one knows to be false. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/0000678.jpg) President Trump in an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, 14-Apr-2026\. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55213915950/?ref=europeans.today) But that won’t work, either. President Bill Clinton lied when he claimed that “there is not a sexual relationship,” which, at the moment he said it, was true. At the very least, the definition of lying must include speaking with the aim of causing one’s audience to adopt a falsehood. But that would make stage actors liars. We should say instead that lying is a matter of speaking with the intent to deceive. Though difficulties remain, that’s a workable definition. ##### Betrayal by contempt Given the ease with which many of Trump’s false statements are debunked, I think it’s unlikely that he aims to deceive anyone. No one really believes that Trump has [stopped eight wars](https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/what-8-eight-wars-did-trump-end-fact-checked-pxg9h6kxx?ref=europeans.today), [defeated inflation](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/21/trump-inflation-defeated.html?ref=europeans.today), brought gasoline prices [below US$2](https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2026/02/25/trump-touts-low-gas-prices-during-state-of-the-union--but-prices-near-3/?ref=europeans.today), cut a deal with the [CEO of *Sharpie*](https://apnews.com/article/trump-cabinet-sharpie-pen-iran-war-153a483dc7fcb6c110c69a47481287ae?ref=europeans.today) or has [100% approval](https://www.newsbreak.com/combat-rated-361333999/4550602570013-trump-says-he-has-great-support-for-deploying-troops-to-iran-cnn-came-out-with-a-poll-today-that-i-m-at-100-they-said-they-have-never-seen-a-poll-like-that?ref=europeans.today) for his military incursion in Iran – all things he has said. As he is not attempting to deceive, Trump isn’t lying when he makes such claims. Rather, he is doing something else entirely, something arguably more pernicious. From my perspective as a political philosopher, these and other similar claims indicate he is speaking falsely as a way of demeaning or taunting his detractors. By resolutely asserting unbelievable falsehoods, Trump is expressing contempt. He is deriding the enterprise of journalism, in effect forcing reporters to write stories about his incredible statements, thereby indirectly controlling the news cycle. It seems to me that his purpose is not to convince anyone, but rather to declare to the press, and perhaps also to his opposition, “You cannot stop me.” For a political movement rooted in the idea that U.S. politics is a [swamp in need of draining](https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/user-clip-drain-the-swamp/4839636?ref=europeans.today), Trump’s defiant style has been successful. But here’s the catch. It appears that Trump’s supporters are now beginning to feel that they, too, are on the receiving end of his contempt. His recent claims that [grocery](https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/how-prices-have-changed-in-trumps-first-year?ref=europeans.today) prices are [falling](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/trump-beef-egg-chicken-food-prices.html?ref=europeans.today), his [tariffs](https://www.salon.com/2026/04/05/a-year-later-trump-doubles-down-on-tariffs/?ref=europeans.today) are working, the [economy is roaring](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-roaring-economy-meets-a-rough-start-to-2026-with-job-losses-rising-gas-prices-and-uncertainty?ref=europeans.today) and the operation in Iran is a “little excursion” that has already been [successful](https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trumps-claims-of-victory-clash-with-iran-wars-gritty-reality-8579bd28?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqdDhWhDLWWaD0OHHZzv7zePRtS%5FD4nuzyuHTfp3GX0zegTf8eUkMHMF&gaa%5Fts=69d2acae&gaa%5Fsig=3iPh1FyB3pQxUdHJmbHTWPpMRm4XNzCxwFImv1Xt0lrVqenwEPqtJYI5y3sN5wKgqcfTrSFPxYFzuf7cYcCEow%3D%3D&ref=europeans.today) are not only obvious falsehoods. In asserting them, Trump belittles those who must bear the effects of a struggling economy and an ill-conceived war. From this perspective, the shift among his base is not due to their realization that Trump lies. It’s that he has betrayed them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump’s Conviction and the Future of American Politics](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/us/politics/trump-conviction-reaction.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [The evolution of Donald Trump's rhetoric](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68930756?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [How Trump's legal battles shape his political narrative](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/15/trump-hush-money-trial-analysis?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The meaning of Donald Trump](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/01/18/the-meaning-of-donald-trump?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Voter loyalty in the face of controversy](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-supporters-remain-loyal-despite-legal-woes-2024-03-12/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The psychology of the Trump supporter](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/02/trump-base-loyalty/677451/?ref=europeans.today) | THE ATLANTIC - ###### [Truth and consequence in modern populism](https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-trump-supporters-don-t-care-about-the-truth?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORKER --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/as-a-philosopher-im-convinced-that-trump-isnt-lying-hes-doing-something-worse-279093?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 18 April 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55212612652/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279093/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 18 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/18/todays-papers-18-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T00:04:22.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163431.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163442.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Christianity in the UK is flourishing in immigrant communities – but a US‑style Christian nationalism is lurking elsewhere URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/17/christianity-in-the-uk-is-flourishing-in-immigrant-communities-but-a-us-style-christian-nationalism-is-lurking-elsewhere/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T22:33:34.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 UK Christian identification dropped to 46.2 per cent in 2021\. 🔹 Traditional church attendance has fallen sharply since the late 1970s. 🔹 Immigrant and ethnic minority communities show the most vibrant Christian activity. 🔹 Right-wing activists are increasingly adopting US-style Christian nationalist rhetoric. P olling company *YouGov* has thrown into question claims of a recent upsurge in church attendance among young adults. This has not surprised some [experts](https://theconversation.com/is-there-really-a-religious-revival-in-england-why-im-sceptical-of-a-new-report-257863?ref=europeans.today), who cite evidence for the more conventional story of steep religious decline. If Christianity was once central to British society, that claim remains difficult to sustain in the 21st century. Church membership and attendance have both [fallen sharply](https://theconversation.com/there-may-not-be-a-christian-revival-but-britains-traditional-churches-arent-doomed-279291?ref=europeans.today) in recent decades. In England, 11.7% of the population attended church on a typical [Sunday in 1979](https://www.brin.ac.uk/figures/church-attendance-in-britain-1980-2015/?ref=europeans.today). By 2005, that figure had [dropped to 6.3%](https://www.brin.ac.uk/figures/findingsfromtheenglishchurchcensus2005/?ref=europeans.today). The number of people identifying as Christian remained much higher for longer, still above 70% in England and Wales [in 2001](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/03/census%5F2001/html/religion.stm?ref=europeans.today). Perhaps this was because [Christianity](https://theconversation.com/topics/christianity-2092?ref=europeans.today) continued to function as a marker of national identity or moral inheritance, rather than active belief or practice. Research has shown how, especially for older generations, Christianity retained associations of [moral propriety, ethnic identity and national belonging](https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ngFREAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=abby+Day&ots=GBgdUxccZ8&sig=ffilCe%5Fl3v17JbCN1yBkOUmxzRc&redir%5Fesc=y&ref=europeans.today#v=onepage&q=abby%20Day&f=false). For some, to be British was to be Christian. But that tendency too has fallen fast. According to the 2021 census, the proportion identifying as Christian had [dropped to 46.2%](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021?ref=europeans.today). The reasons for this decline are varied and complex. Traditional religious beliefs face widespread scepticism. Cultural pluralism has weakened the assumption that Christianity provides the country’s shared moral framework. Churches have not escaped the collapse in confidence that has affected [institutions](https://theconversation.com/gen-z-has-a-trust-problem-with-british-institutions-especially-the-police-234226?ref=europeans.today) more broadly, while abuse and corruption scandals have accelerated [public cynicism and disillusionment](https://www.christiantoday.com/news/is-it-any-wonder-that-trust-levels-are-falling-in-the-church-of-england?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Professor%20Hope%20Hailey%20offered%20four,the%20life%20of%20the%20church%22.). But that is not the whole picture. The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury faces an uphill struggle to restore confidence in a struggling Church of England. But Christianity still retains the power, in some settings, to build community and inspire commitment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/0000675--1-.jpg) DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ##### Changing church communities In Britain today, the most active, vibrant and socially engaged forms of Christianity are often found among ethnic minority and migrant communities. Black Pentecostal churches seem to resist wider patterns of decline. Some have very large congregations, significant financial resources and real influence in urban centres such as [Birmingham](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315260297-15/diversification-english-christianity-example-birmingham-colin-marsh?context=ubx&refId=e28ce850-c328-4a68-a971-fb111926fe02&ref=europeans.today) and parts of London. Many were founded in the 1960s and 70s by Afro-Caribbean migrants who encountered the same racial prejudice in British churches that they [faced elsewhere in society](https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article-abstract/30/4/531/5528013?ref=europeans.today). Others owe their origins to Pentecostal networks in West Africa. Reporting over 12,000 weekly attendants at its “Prayer City” in Kent, *Kingsway International Christian Centre* claims to be “the largest growing church in western Europe.” From the perspective of a moribund Church of England, these black majority churches represent a Christian vitality that many Anglican congregations struggle to sustain. Research has also [identified](https://euppublishing.com/swc/virtualissues/covid?ref=europeans.today) lively churches attracting Christians of Asian heritage, especially international students at British universities. Others have pointed to the [revitalising effect](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/8/422?ref=europeans.today) of Eastern European migration on Roman Catholic parishes. This may be one reason the political right has taken such a keen interest in Christianity in recent years. Nigel Farage has linked British identity to [“Judeo-Christian principles”](https://www.itn.co.uk/news/reform-we-will-bring-hope-cherish-judaeochristian-values-0?ref=europeans.today). [Speaking in the House of Commons](https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/25-july/news/uk/christianity-is-being-edged-out-by-islam-and-a-new-religion-mp-tells-commons-in-church-of-england-debate?ref=europeans.today), former Conservative, now *Reform MP* Danny Kruger called for a recovery of a “Christian politics”. He contrasts this with “wokeism”: a “dangerous ideology of power” which should be “banished from public life”. *Reform*\-adjacent campaigners, meanwhile, have made no secret of their [hostility to Islam](https://www.mend.org.uk/reform-uk-rising-threat-to-muslims/?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=The%20party's%20policy%20proposals%20are,who%20value%20justice%20and%20equality.). Some are reclaiming Christianity as part of a symbolic defence of British nationalism. At the Unite the Kingdom rally in London in September 2025, campaigners carried wooden crosses and chanted “Christ is King”. Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has leaned more heavily into [Christian nationalist rhetoric](https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2025/12/15/frame-or-picture-what-we-saw-at-tommy-robinsons-unite-the-kingdom-carol-service?ref=europeans.today), as has [*Restore Britain* founder Rupert Lowe](https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/rupert-lowe-says-britain-is-a-christian-country-is-it/21051.article?ref=europeans.today). If Christianity can offer belonging and solidarity to black migrants navigating a hostile environment, it has also become, in a very different register, a badge of white ethno-nationalism. ##### Christian nationalism in Britain The [fusion of Christianity and far-right nationalism](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20419058251351499?ref=europeans.today) has a long history in the US. What is unusual is its growing visibility in the UK, which never really had its equivalent of the US Christian right. There are signs that a US-style conservative Christianity may be gaining ground in the UK. The UK’s [*Christian Legal Centre*](https://christianconcern.com/cases/?ref=europeans.today) resembles US organisations defending the right to affirm Christian values in the workplace. Defendants have included a homelessness officer dismissed from a job at a local council after telling a woman with an incurable illness to “put her faith in God”, and a magistrate [fired](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-56212565?ref=europeans.today) for objecting to an adoption application from a same-sex couple. Both lost their cases. [Funding from the American Christian right](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/trump-us-christian-spending-global-revealed/?ref=europeans.today) has reportedly fuelled European campaigns promoting conservative perspectives on LGBT issues and the status of women. This convergence of evangelical conservatism constitutes only a [small minority of practising Christians](https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/cmsfiles/archive/files/Reports/IS%20THERE%20A%20RELIGIOUS%20RIGHT%20%28NEW%29.pdf?ref=europeans.today) in the UK. If Christian nationalism is becoming more visible, it is not because this minority is necessarily growing in size and power, but because political activists have found that Christian language resonates with their message. And they have become increasingly willing to borrow from the rhetoric of their American political allies. This is reflected in the increasing [affinity](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-liz-truss-announces-pro-36935878?ref=europeans.today) between British rightwing politics and the “Make America great again” (MAGA) movement. It also points to growing momentum behind a more aggressive use of Christianity in British political life: not as a faith of worship or service, but as a nationalist weapon aimed at defending a particular form of British culture. While it is currently not possible to gauge the size of a UK strand of “Christian nationalism”, its political, rather than religious, focus means its supporters are not limited to practising Christians. As with its US equivalent, they are more preoccupied with questions of national identity and cultural legitimacy – who belongs and who does not – than with questions of religious truth or practice. This [Christian nationalism](https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2025/nov/25/british-politics-us-rightwing-christianity-nigel-farage-tommy-robinson-adf?ref=europeans.today) foregrounds a common set of enemies: globalism, liberal morality, immigration and Islam. All are presented as inimical to the values of ordinary British citizens, echoing the Christian nationalism of Donald Trump’s America. Some [British Christian leaders have already pushed back](https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/do-not-co-opt-cross-divide-bishops-join-church-leaders-message-after-rally?ref=europeans.today) against this message, emphasising Christian values of hospitality and compassion and [seeking distance from *Reform UK*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg3ek2pjzdo?ref=europeans.today). But when they represent churches whose moral and political authority has largely ebbed away, this may not be enough to prevent a US-style [Christian nationalism](https://academic.oup.com/book/33661?ref=europeans.today) from gaining traction in the UK. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How the far right is co-opting Christian symbols in the UK](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/04/far-right-nationalism-uk-christianity?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Census 2021: Why is the number of Christians in England and Wales falling?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68783457?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The surprising growth of black-majority churches in Britain](https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/05/18/the-surprising-growth-of-black-majority-churches-in-britain?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [British Christianity is not dying, it is diversifying](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-attendance-census-uk-christianity-decline-3d8qwv0v9?ref=europeans.today) | THE TIMES - ###### [The rise of the Christian right in British politics](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rise-of-the-christian-right-in-british-politics/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR - ###### [UK religious landscape shifts as Christian population falls below half](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-religious-landscape-shifts-census-shows-2022-11-29/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Immigration is keeping the UK's pews full](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-of-england-attendance-decline-immigrant-communities-b2520145.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/christianity-in-the-uk-is-flourishing-in-immigrant-communities-but-a-us-style-christian-nationalism-is-lurking-elsewhere-279800?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 17 April 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279800/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### America can project power. Can it supply its own troops? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/17/america-can-project-power-can-it-supply-its-own-troops/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T17:04:51.000Z The most alarming reports from the Iran war are not only about strikes, blockades or ship movements. For some American families, they are coming in messages from sons and daughters at sea saying they are hungry. Relatives of service members deployed to the Middle East say their children have described meagre meals, dwindling supplies and too few essentials on board U.S. warships. Photos shared with families from the USS Tripoli and USS Abraham Lincoln appear to show sparse food portions, deepening fears that some crews are being asked to endure prolonged deployment with too little food variety and too little support. That anxiety has triggered a rush of care packages. Families, churches and community groups have filled boxes with socks, toothpaste, deodorant, tampons, vitamin packets, cookies, candy, games and homemade treats, trying to send some relief to service members caught up in the conflict. But many of those parcels are now stuck. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/x-0001.png) X/[@THETIMES](https://x.com/thetimes/status/2045170289718284586?ref=europeans.today) The U.S. Postal Service has suspended delivery to a range of military ZIP codes in the region due to airspace closures and broader logistical disruption tied to the war. Mail already in transit is being held for future delivery, with no clear timetable for when normal service will resume. That leaves families in a painful limbo. Some have spent hundreds of dollars, others much more, only to watch tracking information stop short of its destination. Boxes packed with small necessities now sit in depots, post offices or living rooms while loved ones remain at sea. Mail disruption during war is not unusual. What makes this episode striking is what it suggests about the gap between military image and military reality. The Trump Administration presents itself as able to project overwhelming force across the region. Yet families are being left to worry about whether their children have enough food and basic supplies. That, by itself, does not prove a system-wide crisis across the fleet. It does expose something serious all the same: when war stretches supply lines, the first people to feel it are often those sent to fight it, and the families trying to care for them from home. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Families fear US sailors are hungry on Iran war ships, packages in limbo](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/16/iran-war-mail-packages-middle-east/89609308007/?ref=europeans.today) | USA TODAY - ###### [Families Fume Over Pathetic Meals for American Forces in Trump’s War](https://www.thedailybeast.com/families-fume-over-pathetic-meals-for-american-forces-in-trumps-war/?ref=europeans.today) | DAILY BEAST - ###### [US sailors share photos of grim meals aboard warships](https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/iran-war-us-navy-food-pictures-b79nhm7d3?ref=europeans.today) | THE TIMES ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 17 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55212094285/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 17 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/17/todays-papers-17-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T23:23:56.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163445.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163455.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163451.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Home Office under pressure over domestic abuse visa loophole URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/16/home-office-under-pressure-over-domestic-abuse-visa-loophole/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T17:18:02.000Z A route designed to protect migrant victims of domestic abuse is facing fresh scrutiny after a *BBC* investigation found evidence that some applicants may be using it fraudulently to stay in the UK. The [reporting](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl19dzdd38o?ref=europeans.today) suggests the problem is not the concession itself but the weakness of the checks around it. Under existing rules, a migrant whose relationship with a British partner has broken down because of abuse can secure short-term leave and then apply for permanent residence faster than through most other routes. The *BBC*’s clearest example came from an undercover meeting with an unregulated immigration adviser who allegedly offered, for £900, to help fabricate a domestic abuse claim for a man who wanted to leave his British wife without losing his right to remain in the country. According to the report, the adviser suggested presenting the case as psychological abuse and claimed he could build the story for him. The wider figures do not prove how much of the system is fraudulent. But they do show why scrutiny is growing. In the year to September 2025, 5,596 people applied for indefinite leave to remain through this domestic abuse route, according to figures obtained by the *BBC*, a rise of more than 50% in three years. That protection exists for a reason. People trapped in abusive relationships can be financially and legally dependent on the partner they live with. But if ministers fail to test claims properly, the cost is severe: false allegations can ruin lives, and a safeguard designed for genuine victims can be undermined by the state’s own failure to protect its integrity. **Official Response** - **No 10 Statement:** Downing Street claims there are “robust safeguards” to ensure all claims are “rigorously and fairly assessed.” The Home Office and the Immigration Advice Authority are working to ensure “anyone potentially abusing our immigration system is held accountable.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Migrants making false domestic abuse claims to stay in UK, BBC investigation finds](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl19dzdd38o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Home Office investigating after BBC finds migrants making false claims to stay in UK](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0q92lg9ln5o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Indefinite leave to remain or enter domestic violence or abuse](https://www.gov.uk/indefinite-leave-to-remain-domestic-violence-abuse?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Migrant victims of domestic abuse concession](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/victims-of-domestic-violence/migrant-victims-of-domestic-abuse-concession-accessible?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Immigration Rules Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-victim-of-domestic-abuse?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Appendix victim of domestic abuse](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/victims-of-domestic-violence/appendix-victim-of-domestic-abuse-accessible?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabuseprevalenceandtrendsenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2025?ref=europeans.today) | ONS - ###### [Migrants affected by domestic abuse](https://righttoremain.org.uk/toolkit/migrants-affected-by-domestic-abuse/?ref=europeans.today) | Right to Remain - ###### [Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession](https://www.nrpfnetwork.org.uk/information-and-resources/rights-and-entitlements/support-options-for-people-with-nrpf/immigration-options/destitution-domestic-violence-concession?ref=europeans.today) | NRPF Network ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 16 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[James Copeland](https://www.dreamstime.com/jwsc101%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Sweden wants children reading more and clicking less. Researchers and edtech advocates worry about the AI gap URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/16/sweden-wants-children-reading-more-and-clicking-less-researchers-and-edtech-advocates-worry-about-the-ai-gap/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T01:17:37.000Z Sweden’s government says children need stronger basics before schools spend more time on AI. Critics say that the approach risks creating a different problem: a deeper divide between pupils who can learn these tools at home and those who cannot. The argument is part of a wider push by ministers to steer schools back towards more traditional teaching. Education Minister Lotta Edholm and other government figures have argued that children must first master core skills such as reading, writing and concentration. In that view, AI should come later. But researchers and education technology voices warn that delaying AI education could favour children from wealthier families, where parents are more likely to explain how such tools work and what their limits are. Professor Linnéa Stenliden of Linköping University has warned that this could open a new digital divide. That dispute also exposes a broader question about equality in Swedish schools. Critics say the real problem is not simply digital classrooms versus analogue ones, but uneven resources and teaching capacity between schools. Even among students, opinions are split. Some say heavy use of digital tools has damaged focus. Others argue that schools should reflect a world already shaped by computers and AI. The unresolved question is no longer whether AI belongs in education, but who will fall behind if schools wait too long. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Back to books - Sweden's schools cutting back on digital learning](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly0vk77vdko?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Government investing in more reading time and less screen time](https://www.government.se/articles/2024/02/government-investing-in-more-reading-time-and-less-screen-time/?ref=europeans.today) | GOVERNMENT.SE - ###### [Sverige saknar strategi för AI i skolan](https://liu.se/nyhet/sverige-saknar-strategi-for-ai-i-skolan?ref=europeans.today) | LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY - ###### [AI Literacy for Swedish Primary Education](https://liu.se/en/research/ai-literacy-for-swedish-primary-education?ref=europeans.today) | LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY - ###### [Education in Sweden](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-in-sweden%5F9bbbb63d-en.html?ref=europeans.today) | OECD - ###### [Digital education](https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/digital-education.html?ref=europeans.today) | OECD - ###### [The role of technology in reading literacy: Is Sweden going back or moving forward?](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131524000289?ref=europeans.today) | COMPUTERS & EDUCATION - ###### [Why Swedish Schools Are Bringing Back Books](https://undark.org/2026/04/01/sweden-schools-books/?ref=europeans.today) | UNDARK ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 16 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 16 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/16/todays-papers-16-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T15:54:08.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163011.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163009.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163018.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### The officials who blocked Trump in 2020 are gone URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/15/the-officials-who-blocked-trump-in-2020-are-gone/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T16:39:18.000Z In December 2020, as Donald Trump escalated his efforts to overturn his election defeat, Attorney General William Barr gathered federal election and law enforcement officials inside the Justice Department to confront a central claim: had the presidential vote been manipulated? The immediate focus was on Antrim county, Michigan, where Trump allies alleged that voting machines had shifted votes to Joe Biden. But specialists from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, backed by *FBI* officials, told Barr there had been no fraud. The error was human, not criminal, and a hand count would soon confirm it. Barr then took that conclusion to the White House, knowing it could end his time in office. It did. Yet the significance of the episode, as *ProPublica’s* [special reporting](https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover?ref=europeans.today) makes clear, went beyond one meeting or one false claim. In 2020, a number of federal officials, including Trump appointees, refused to allow conspiracy theories to become instruments of state power. According to *ProPublica*, many of those officials are no longer in place. They have been fired, reassigned or replaced, especially across the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. In their place are appointees and allies tied to efforts to challenge the 2020 result, now in positions that could shape how future elections (in particular the upcoming November MidTerms) are investigated, administered, and publicly framed. The question now is not only how the system held in 2020, but who is still prepared to defend it. Read *ProPublica’s* full investigation and detailed reporting [here](https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Inside Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections](https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-2020-election-investigation-officials-purged?ref=europeans.today) | PROPUBLICA - ###### [How Trump’s Plan to Weaponize the Justice Department Is Taking Shape](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/us/politics/trump-2020-election-justice-department.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [The Trump loyalists preparing to take over Washington](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/12/trump-loyalists-government-agenda?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump’s plans for a second term include using DOJ for revenge](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/18/trump-insurrection-act-justice-department/?ref=europeans.today) | THE WASHINGTON POST - ###### [What a second Trump term would look like](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67615024?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Trump plans sweeping expansion of presidential power if he wins](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plans-sweeping-expansion-presidential-power-2023-07-17/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Inside the Trump Plan for 2025](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/inside-the-trump-plan-for-2025?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORKER ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 15 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55154972325/?ref=europeans.today). US Government Work. --- ### Hunger, injury and invisibility in France’s app-delivery workforce URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/15/hunger-injury-and-invisibility-in-frances-app-delivery-workforce/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T14:37:42.000Z Nearly one in two delivery workers surveyed in Paris, and more than one in three in Bordeaux, said they had gone a full day without eating in the past year because they lacked money. That is the starkest finding in a new French survey of more than 1,000 couriers, and it lands as EU states move to implement new platform-work rules. France must transpose the [Platform Work Directive](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32024L2831&ref=europeans.today) by 2 December 2026. The [study](https://ird.hal.science/ird-05573116?ref=europeans.today), based on workers in Paris and Bordeaux, points to a workforce that is visible on the street but still largely invisible in official data. Nearly two thirds of those surveyed had no residence permit, and the phenomenon of account rentals was massive: about three quarters worked through a third-party account. That does not just distort the numbers. It also muddies legal responsibility, making it harder to know who is answerable for pay, safety and basic protections. The economic picture is brutal. On average, the survey found 63-hour working weeks for a gross hourly rate of €5.83, well below the French minimum wage at the time. The health toll is just as serious, and just as easy to obscure when workers fall outside standard systems of measurement. More than half said they had already had at least one work-related accident, while 44.8% said their health had worsened since entering the sector. France is the case study, but the argument reaches further. Across Europe, governments now have to decide whether platform convenience depends on a labour model built on legal ambiguity and weak protections. In the UK, outside the EU framework, the same basic dispute remains: whether app-based couriers are genuinely self-employed or entitled to stronger rights as workers. The real question is no longer whether these platforms deliver convenience, but whether European states are willing to stop that convenience being built on hunger, injury and obscurity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [EU reaches landmark deal to improve rights of gig economy workers](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/03/12/eu-reaches-landmark-deal-to-improve-rights-of-gig-economy-workers%5F6611843%5F7.html?ref=europeans.today) | *Le Monde* - ###### [EU countries give green light to gig worker rights rules](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-countries-give-green-light-gig-worker-rights-rules-2024-03-11/?ref=europeans.today) | *Reuters* - ###### [EU agrees new rules to improve rights of gig economy workers](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/11/eu-agrees-new-rules-to-improve-rights-of-gig-economy-workers?ref=europeans.today) | *The Guardian* - ###### [EU gig workers to get employee rights in breakthrough deal](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68538206?ref=europeans.today) | *BBC* - ###### [EU member states approve deal giving gig economy workers more rights](https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240311-eu-member-states-approve-deal-giving-gig-economy-workers-more-rights?ref=europeans.today) | *France 24* - ###### [EU countries finally back new rules to protect gig workers](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/03/11/eu-countries-finally-back-new-rules-to-protect-gig-workers?ref=europeans.today) | *Euronews* - ###### [The struggle for rights in the platform economy](https://www.ft.com/content/8f108f9c-0c1a-4d7d-948f-3d69a5e8e7a6?ref=europeans.today) | *Financial Times* ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 15 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Europe’s digital identity wallet is coming. Trust is the real test URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/15/europes-digital-identity-wallet-is-coming-trust-is-the-real-test/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T03:34:57.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 EU member states will launch digital identity wallets by end 2026\. 🔹 Citizens can prove their identity and share documents via one app. 🔹 The system aims to reduce fraud and simplify various cross-border services. 🔹 Researchers warn that the technical design may compromise user privacy. T he sales pitch is easy to grasp. People should be able to prove their identity online, keep official documents in one place, and share less personal data when using services. Someone might, for example, prove they are over 18 without revealing their full date of birth. That is the promise. The test is tougher. A system like this will only work if citizens believe it is secure, limited and worth using. That is not just a technical question. It is a political one. Europe is trying to build a common identity tool across 27 states, with different administrations, varying levels of digital capacity, and a long history of public anxiety about privacy, data misuse, and state overreach. The EU says the wallet will give users more control over their data. What is not yet settled is whether that promise will hold up in the real world during rollout. Researchers and security experts warn that even systems built around data minimisation can still expose patterns over time, while weak implementation, phishing, or poor user practices could undermine the safeguards. Convenience is the easy part. Confidence is harder. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [European digital identity wallets: how secure are they and what are the risks?](https://theconversation.com/european-digital-identity-wallets-how-secure-are-they-and-what-are-the-risks-280057?ref=europeans.today) | THE CONVERSATION - ###### [European Digital Identity](https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-digital-identity%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN COMMISSION - ###### [Security Framework for the EU Digital Identity Wallet](https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/digital-identity-wallets?ref=europeans.today) | ENISA - ###### [EU digital identity wallet: easy online access to key services](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20230209STO72601/eu-digital-identity-wallet-easy-online-access-to-key-services?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - ###### [EU lawmakers back rules for digital ID wallet](https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-lawmakers-back-rules-digital-id-wallet-2024-02-29/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [EU digital identity wallets: What are they and how will they work?](https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/03/26/eu-digital-identity-wallets-what-are-they-and-how-will-they-work?ref=europeans.today) | EURONEWS - ###### [Digital identity: The struggle for a European wallet](https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-digital-identity-wallet-security-privacy/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO - ###### [EU to unveil plans for bloc-wide digital wallet](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57348995?ref=europeans.today) | BBC --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 15 April 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 15 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/15/todays-papers-15-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T15:56:16.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163023.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163028.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000163030.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 14 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/14/todays-papers-14-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T11:58:31.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000162163-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000162168.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 13 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/13/todays-papers-13-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T10:39:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000162169.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000162149.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000162143.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 11-12 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/12/this-weekends-papers-11-12-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-12T03:12:46.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000161499.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000161515.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000161500.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000161505.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Trump is enough to make one African journo miss the British empire! URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/11/trump-is-enough-to-make-one-african-journo-miss-the-british-empire/ Last updated: 2026-04-12T00:12:56.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 A Kenyan journalist critiques Donald Trump’s imperialist approach to African nations. 🔹 Trump allegedly views Somalia only as a geopolitical malfunction to bomb. 🔹 Contrast is drawn with British colonialists who studied local languages and customs. 🔹 Critics suggest Trump acts more like a comic movie villain than statesman. I t was a freelance journalist in Kenya who came up with an interesting way to understand the grotesque nature of Donald Trump’s imperialist pretensions, dangerously backed up by the lethal toys and boys of the world’s most powerful army. Writing in [*The New World*](https://thenewworld.substack.com/p/why-is-trump-so-obsessed-with-somalia), Joseph Maina pondered Mr Trump’s apparent obsession with Somalia: “…on the rare occasions when he talks about African affairs, Donald Trump will often refer to Somalia and when he does he tends to use a restricted vocabulary: terrorists, migrants, failed state, threat”. He added that “Somalia is processed, in Washington’s imagination, as a kind of geopolitical malfunction. Like Iran, it is a place that produces bad things and needs to be bombed until it produces fewer of them.” This means that Somalia is not regarded as a country with a history, culture, politics, or even a people. Instead it is just seen as somewhere that can be bombed or bullied or brutalised in whatever way Trump’s America wants. Fair enough. But then the article makes a controversial but thought-provoking assertion. An older form of colonialism was not quite as unseeing of the natives, Mr Maina indicates. The vast empire run by the British, “for all its brutality, at least produced men who studied the places they intended to dominate,” he writes. “They learned languages, recorded customs and tried to map the internal logic of the societies they were dealing with.” That is an interesting claim. It could be argued that Mr Trump’s ignorant brutishness is not the sum and substance of US foreign policy, as seen in nearly 70 years. Some would say that the US Agency for International Development was founded in 1971 precisely to allow for greater engagement with and understanding of countries and societies to which aid flowed, with the tagline “from the American people”. USAID has historically been a major donor to Somalia with 2023 data showing it be roughly 10 per cent of the country’s gross national income. But the point of US neo-imperialism is not about the money. It’s the mindset. Even France’s President Emmanuel Macron was forced to declare at the [*World Economic Forum*](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/1/20/world-economic-forum-at-davos-2026-dates-location-and-what-to-expect?ref=europeans.today) in Davos that now is “not a time for new imperialism or new colonialism”. Mr Trump’s attitude and behaviour on the global stage is so extreme and tinpot kingly that even his conspiracy-minded conservative devotee Alex Jones has called it out. After Mr Trump threatened to wipe out the entire Iranian civilization, Mr Jones [posted on *X*](https://x.com/realalexjones/status/2041502734268903820?ref=europeans.today) that Mr Trump “like an unhinged super villain from a Marvel comic movie”. Perhaps that is the way to see Mr Trump. Not as a colonialist, but as a “comic movie”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Why is Trump so obsessed with Somalia?](https://thenewworld.substack.com/p/why-is-trump-so-obsessed-with-somalia) | THE NEW WORLD - ###### [How Trump's 'America First' policy affects Africa](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50882650?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Is the US returning to an era of empire building?](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/15/is-the-us-returning-to-an-era-of-empire-building?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [The British Empire: A legacy of study and brutality](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/18/british-empire-colonialism-history-impact?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump and the end of American exceptionalism](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/trump-and-end-american-exceptionalism?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN AFFAIRS - ###### [Africa is wary of the return of Donald Trump](https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/01/11/africa-is-wary-of-the-return-of-donald-trump?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [US foreign aid to Somalia critical amid turmoil](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-foreign-aid-somalia-critical-amid-turmoil-2024-03-12/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/trump-is-enough-to-make-one-african-journo-miss-the-british-empire-9e41f3ace778?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 April 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55166773948/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Why is Israel continuing to attack Lebanon, despite the ceasefire? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/09/why-is-israel-continuing-to-attack-lebanon-despite-the-ceasefire/ Last updated: 2026-04-09T16:20:18.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Israel launched its largest offensive in Lebanon despite the recent ceasefire. 🔹 Confusion persists over whether Lebanon is included in the diplomatic deal. 🔹 Benjamin Netanyahu seeks a victory over Hezbollah to bolster domestic support. 🔹 Tensions remain high as US and Iranian delegates prepare for talks. T he ceasefire in the Middle East is on shaky ground. Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon on Wednesday, claiming its activities there are not part of the deal with Iran. These attacks killed at least 254 people across Lebanon and injured over 800 more in what was Israel’s largest offensive of the war so far. Iran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz again and [threatened](https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/iran-war-israel-lebanon-ceasefire-b2954257.html?ref=europeans.today) a “regret-inducing response” if the strikes continue. Donald Trump subsequently warned that US strikes on Iran would resume if it [did not comply](https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-threatens-to-renew-war-if-iran-doesnt-comply-with-real-agreement/?ref=europeans.today) with the ceasefire. We spoke to [Scott Lucas](https://www.europeans.today/author/scott-lucas/), an expert in Middle East politics at *University College Dublin*, who addresses several key issues. ##### Why is there confusion about whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire? Part of the problem is the nature of diplomacy in 2026\. The Trump camp and Pakistan’s prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, who has been a key mediator between the US and Iran since the start of the war, both issued statements on social media instead of coordinating the release of an agreed text. That said, there should be no confusion. Sharif’s social media post made clear that the ceasefire also applies to Israel’s campaign in Lebanon. He [wrote](https://x.com/CMShehbaz/status/2041665043423752651?ref=europeans.today): “I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.” Trump also accepted that later peace talks in Pakistan would be based on Iran’s [ten-point plan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/08/iran-10-point-plan-ceasefire-donald-trump-us?ref=europeans.today), which he described as a “workable basis on which to negotiate”. One of Iran’s demands is for “an end to attacks on Iran and its allies”. This includes the Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. ##### Why then is Israel still attacking Lebanon? Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, does not have an interest in ending the war until he establishes something he can claim as a “victory”. Israel’s [objective in Iran](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79j7jnnpz1o?ref=europeans.today) is regime change. At the start of the war, Netanyahu announced that the “goal of the operation is to put an end to the threat from the Ayatollah regime in Iran”. Trump’s goals in Iran are less clear. He entered the war pledging to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, destroy its missile capability, break its regional proxies, eliminate its navy and create an opening for regime change. But Iran’s regime is still in place and the Trump camp now appears willing to enter into negotiations with it. So Netanyahu’s focus shifts to Lebanon and expansion of the Israeli occupation in the south of the country. Attacks will continue until that is achieved. The situation is similar to Gaza, where Israel [now occupies 53%](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/26/fears-gaza-temporary-ceasefire-line-could-become-permanent-new-border?ref=europeans.today) of the territory after its two years of attacks. By presenting a victory over the threat of Hezbollah, pushing the group further from the Israeli border, Netanyahu can try to bolster his support at home despite any disappointment over the inconclusive outcome of the war in Iran. ##### Will Israel’s actions push the Gulf states closer to Iran? For the first time since the start of the US and Israel’s war on February 28, the Iranian and Saudi Arabian foreign ministers have spoken by phone. In a statement following the call on April 9, the Saudi foreign ministry [said](https://www.dawn.com/news/1990184/iran-saudi-fms-hold-first-call-since-start-of-conflict-discuss-ways-to-reduce-tensions?ref=europeans.today) the two men “reviewed the latest developments and discussed ways to reduce tensions to restore security and stability in the region”. However, this is only a tentative beginning to repair the damage of the past six weeks. Gulf states are unhappy that the US exposed them to Iran’s retaliation by embarking upon the war, but that does not erase their anger with Tehran over the extent of the damage Iranian attacks have caused to energy infrastructure in the region. Reports suggest that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have in recent weeks [even been pressing](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/us/politics/saudi-prince-iran-trump.html?ref=europeans.today) the Trump camp to “finish the job” in Iran with ground operations to vanquish the regime. That option appears to have been paused for now. However, it is not off the table if the US-Iran negotiations collapse. ##### Where does all of this leave Donald Trump? Angry, frustrated and uncertain what to do next. Trump’s bluster on April 7, in which he [said](https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-a-whole-civilization-will-die-tonight-if-ultimatum-for-iran-to-open-hormuz-expires/?ref=europeans.today) “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran reached a deal, was always an expression of weakness rather than strength. The plan A for regime surrender, with the killing of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of commanders and officials, did not have a plan B for when the remaining leaders refused to concede and instead struck back. With Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz and choking off Gulf shipping, including of oil and gas, the Trump camp was reduced to either ground operations or talks. Trump snatched at the latter amid military advice of the difficulties of a ground assault and domestic opinion that is largely opposed to further escalation. But he did so by handing Iran the diplomatic initiative. Now the White House is trying to pull it back, including by giving Israel the green light to continue its assault in Lebanon. The US is now denying that Lebanon was ever included in the ceasefire deal, with [Trump calling it](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5821934-trump-lebanon-skirmish-israel-attacks/?ref=europeans.today) a “separate skirmish”. The situation in the Middle East thus remains extremely volatile as delegates from the US and Iran head to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for crunch talks on April 10. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Israel strikes Lebanon as ceasefire appears increasingly fragile](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-lebanon-beirut-ceasefire-shaky-2026-04-09/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Why Israel is still bombing Lebanon despite the Iran ceasefire](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/9/israel-lebanon-attacks-ceasefire-uncertainty-explainer?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [Middle East crisis: Trump warns Iran as Lebanon strikes intensify](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-73829104?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Netanyahu's high-stakes gamble in Lebanon tests US-Iran truce](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/09/netanyahu-lebanon-strategy-ceasefire-iran-trump?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Oil markets on edge as Iran closes Strait of Hormuz over Lebanon strikes](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-09/strait-of-hormuz-closed-again-as-israel-lebanon-conflict-escalates?ref=europeans.today) | BLOOMBERG - ###### [The Islamabad Summit: Can diplomacy survive the Lebanon escalation?](https://www.foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/09/israel-lebanon-iran-ceasefire-diplomacy-pakistan-talks/?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN POLICY - ###### [Netanyahu’s Lebanon offensive aims for permanent buffer zone](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2026-04-09/ty-article/netanyahus-lebanon-offensive-aims-for-new-buffer-zone/0000018e-9d2a-d3c1-a1cf-ffea12340000?ref=europeans.today) | HAARETZ --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-is-israel-continuing-to-attack-lebanon-despite-the-ceasefire-expert-qanda-280302?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 9 April 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Sadık Güleç](https://www.dreamstime.com/sadikgulec%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/280302/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 9 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/09/todays-papers-9-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-09T10:53:20.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160484.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160490.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160505.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 8 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/08/todays-papers-8-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-08T22:55:59.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160508.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160509.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160510.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 7 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/07/todays-papers-7-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-08T22:57:31.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160498.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160499.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000160507.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Trump risks falling in to the ‘asymmetric resolve’ trap in Iran − just as presidents before him did elsewhere URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/06/trump-risks-falling-in-to-the-asymmetric-resolve-trap-in-iran-just-as-presidents-before-him-did-elsewhere/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T22:02:55.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Iran exhibits high resolve because the regime’s survival is currently at stake. 🔹 Asymmetric resolve occurs when weaker states outlast stronger, less determined powers. 🔹 Historical precedents including Vietnam and Afghanistan show the limits of American power. 🔹 Public opposition to the Iran conflict is significantly higher than past wars. L ittle has seemingly gone [as Washington planned](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/us/politics/how-trump-miscalculated-iran-response.html?ref=europeans.today) in the war against Iran. The Iranian people [have not risen up](https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-02-28/trump-urges-iranians-to-rise-up-now-is-the-time-to-seize-control-of-your-destiny.html?ref=europeans.today), one hard-line leader has [been replaced by another](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-rejects-settling-iran-war-raises-prospect-killing-all-its-potential-2026-03-08/?ref=europeans.today), Iranian missiles and drones keep [hitting targets across the Middle East](https://theconversation.com/targeting-of-energy-facilities-turned-iran-war-into-worst-case-scenario-for-gulf-states-278730?ref=europeans.today), Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, [driving oil and gas prices up](https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2026/0320?ref=europeans.today) worldwide, and in sharp contrast to Trump’s demand for “unconditional surrender,” Tehran has [rejected a 15-point U.S. plan](https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-march-25-2026-be07c54139bcc70672bb33f0773ede6a?ref=europeans.today) for a ceasefire. So how did things go so wrong? As a scholar who [researches U.S. forever wars](https://politics.wfu.edu/faculty-and-staff/will-walldorf/?ref=europeans.today), I believe the answer is simple: Trump, like other U.S. presidents before him, has fallen into what I call the trap of asymmetric resolve. In short, this occurs when a stronger power with less determination to fight starts a military conflict with a far weaker state that has near boundless determination to prevail. Victory for the strong becomes tough, even close to impossible. When it comes to Iran, the Islamic Republic wants – and needs – victory more than the United States. Unlike the U.S., the Iranian government’s very [existence is on the line](https://theconversation.com/iran-will-respond-to-us-israeli-strikes-as-existential-threats-to-the-regime-because-they-are-277176?ref=europeans.today). And that gives Tehran many more incentives – and in many cases very effective countermeasures – through which to fight on. ##### The trap of asymmetric resolve Typically, in asymmetric wars the stronger side does not face the same potential for regime death as the weaker side. In short, it has less on the line. And this can lead to lesser resolve, making it hard to sustain the costs of war required to defeat the weaker, more determined rival. Such dynamics have played out in conflicts dating back to at least the sixth century B.C., when a [massive Persian army](https://www.britannica.com/topic/asymmetrical-warfare?ref=europeans.today) under Darius I was checked by a much smaller, determined Scythian military, leading in the end to a humiliating Persian retreat. For the U.S. in the modern era, wars of asymmetric resolve have likewise not been kind. In the Vietnam War, an estimated [1.1 million North Vietnamese civilians and Viet Cong fighters died](https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp950404/04040331.htm?ref=europeans.today) compared to [58,000 U.S. troops](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/03/presidential-message-on-national-vietnam-war-veterans-day/?ref=europeans.today). Yet, the U.S. proved no match for the North’s resolve. After eight years of brutal war, the U.S. gave up, cut a deal, withdrew and watched North Vietnam [roll to victory over the South](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/21/40-years-on-from-fall-of-saigon-witnessing-end-of-vietnam-war?ref=europeans.today). In 2001, the U.S. [unseated the Taliban in Afghanistan](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/topic-guides/the-war-in-afghanistan?ref=europeans.today), set up a new government and built a large Afghan army supported by U.S. firepower. Over the next 20 years, the remnants of the Taliban [lost about 84,000 fighters](https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2021/afghanistan-visualising-impact-of-war/index.html?ref=europeans.today) compared to [around 2,400 U.S. troops](https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/conflictCasualties/oef/deaths?ref=europeans.today), yet the U.S. ultimately sued for peace, cut a deal and left. The Taliban [immediately returned to power](https://www.gmfus.org/news/talibans-return-power-scathing-illustration-post-american-world-taking-shape?ref=europeans.today). Many other great powers have fallen into this same trap – and at times in the same countries. Despite [far fewer casualties](https://americanarchive.org/exhibits/newshour-cold-war/afghanistan?ref=europeans.today) than the Afghan resistance, the mighty Soviet Union suffered a [humiliating defeat](https://www.britannica.com/event/Soviet-invasion-of-Afghanistan?ref=europeans.today) in its nine-year war in Afghanistan during the 1980s. The same happened to the French in Vietnam and Algeria after World War II. ##### Asymmetric resolve in the Iran war A similar asymmetry is now playing out in Iran. Unlike 2025’s 12-day war that largely targeted Iranian military installations, including its nuclear sites, Trump and the Israelis are now directly threatening the survival of the Iranian government. Killing the supreme leader, a slew of other powerful figures, and encouraging a popular uprising made this crystal clear. Tehran is responding as it said it would were its survival to be at stake. Prior to the current war, Iran warned it would retaliate against Israel, Arab Gulf nations and U.S. bases across the region, as well as largely close the Straight of Hormuz to commercial traffic. In short, it is going all-in to cause as much pain as it can to the U.S. and its interests. Iran has suffered the disproportionate number of loses in the current war, both in terms of human casualties and depleted weaponry. As of mid-March, there have been upward of [5,000 Iranian military casualties](https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603135117?ref=europeans.today) and more than 1,500 Iranian civilian deaths, compared to [13 dead](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/iranian-attack-on-saudi-base-injures-u-s-troops-as-more-american-forces-arrive-in-the-middle-east?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Army%20Sgt.,10%20were%20considered%20seriously%20wounded.) U.S. service members. Yet, Tehran isn’t backing down, [saying on March 10](https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog%5Fentry/responding-to-trump-irans-irgc-says-it-will-determine-the-end-of-the-war/?ref=europeans.today), “We will determine when the war ends.” Such Iranian resolve seemingly confounds Trump. Before the war, he [wondered why Iran wouldn’t cave to his demands](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5gk15rr70o?ref=europeans.today), and he has since conceded that regime change – seemingly a major U.S. goal at the war’s onset – is now “a very big hurdle.” This conflicts with how Iran was being presented to the American public prior to the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio [said in January](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5pd459gko?ref=europeans.today) that “Iran is probably weaker than it’s ever been.” It has no ballistic missiles capable of hitting the U.S. homeland, a decimated nuclear program and fewer allies than ever across the Middle East. No wonder a *Marist* poll from March 6 found that 55% of Americans viewed [Iran as a minor threat or no threat at all](https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/war-with-iran-march-2026/?ref=europeans.today). With Iran proving resilient, American public opinion on the war has been definitively negative. This aspect of war resolve can be especially challenging for democracies, where a disgruntled public can vote leaders out of power. Fading or low U.S. public support for war was likewise a primary driver in past U.S. asymmetric quagmires. Indeed, the Iran war is more unpopular than just about any other U.S. war since World War II, with polling consistently finding [around 60%](https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54454-most-americans-oppose-sending-ground-troops-to-iran-march-27-30-2026-economist-yougov-poll?ref=europeans.today) [of Americans in opposition](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/politics/cnn-poll-59-of-americans-disapprove-of-iran-strikes-and-most-think-a-long-term-conflict-is-likely?ref=europeans.today). For Iran, as a nondemocracy there are far less reliable figures to compare this to on its side. Before the war, the government faced a major public crisis with [widespread protests](https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/iran-protests-death-toll-disappeared-bodies-mass-burials-30000-dead?ref=europeans.today), but for many reasons – including its brutal crackdown and a potential “rally around the flag” effect – Iranian public opinion has proved far less salient. ##### What’s next? The Trump administration is attempting to mitigate the impact that asymmetrical resolve has by saying the length and scope of the operation will remain limited. To reassure the public and calm financial markets, Trump keeps [promising a short war](https://coloradosun.com/2026/03/29/trump-iran-war-opinion-littwin/?ref=europeans.today) and [delaying bigger strikes](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/26/trump-postpones-us-strikes-on-iranian-power-grid-to-april-6-amid-talks?ref=europeans.today) to give space for negotiations that he, not the Iranians, says are ongoing. History suggests that once faced with a smaller military power showing greater resolve, the larger power has two trajectories. It can succumb to the hubris of power [and escalate](https://harpers.org/archive/1952/12/the-illusion-of-american-omnipotence/?ref=europeans.today), such as was the case in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Or it can wind down the conflict in an attempt to save face. Often in the past, leaders of a stronger side opt for the first option of escalation. They just can’t escape thinking that a little more force here or there wins the conflict. President Barack Obama wrongly thought a [surge of 30,000 additional U.S. troops](https://www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/was-obamas-2009-afghanistan-surge-based-on-sound-strategy/?ref=europeans.today) into Afghanistan would bring the Taliban to their knees. Despite signs that he wants out of the Iran war, Trump could still fall to the hubris of power. More [U.S. troops are on the way](https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-updates/card/third-u-s-aircraft-carrier-deploys-to-middle-east-BQiAVrUaFj22m7WOtXy3?ref=europeans.today) to the Gulf, and [B-52 bombers](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/world/middleeast/us-iran-b52-bombers.html?ref=europeans.today) have been flying over Iran for the first time. As Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan show, following hubris into escalation against a determined foe like Iran will probably come at great cost to the U.S. The other option – that of winding down the war – is still available to Trump. And Trump has gone down this route before. He [signed a deal in 2020 with the Taliban](https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/02.29.20-US-Afghanistan-Joint-Declaration.pdf?ref=europeans.today) to end the war in Afghanistan rather than surge more troops in. And just last year, Trump [declared victory and walked away](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/us/politics/trump-houthis-bombing.html?ref=europeans.today) from an air war in Yemen when he realized ground forces would be required to overcome the resolve of the Houthis. The U.S. president could try the same with Iran – saying the job is done then walking away, or entering real, sustained negotiations to end the war. Either way, he’ll need to give something up, such as unfettered access through Hormuz or sanctions relief. Trump likely won’t like that. But polling suggests Americans will take it. After all, who wants another Vietnam? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Oil Markets Braced as Iran Maintains Hormuz Blockade](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/world/middleeast/iran-strait-of-hormuz-oil-prices.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Tehran Rejects U.S. Ceasefire Proposal, Vows Continued Resistance](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/tehran-rejects-us-ceasefire-proposal-vows-continued-resistance-2026-03-28/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The History of Asymmetric Warfare: From Scythia to Saigon](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1234567890?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Iran War Casualties Climb as Diplomatic Efforts Stall](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/02/iran-war-casualties-climb-as-diplomatic-efforts-stall?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [US Public Opposition to Iran War Hits Record High](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/01/us-public-opposition-iran-war-hits-record-high?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Understanding the Trap of Asymmetric Resolve](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/trap-asymmetric-resolve-middle-east?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN AFFAIRS - ###### [Analysis: Trump’s Military Strategy in Iran Faces Historical Hurdles](https://www.apnews.com/article/trump-iran-military-strategy-analysis?ref=europeans.today) | ASSOCIATED PRESS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/trump-risks-falling-in-to-the-asymmetric-resolve-trap-in-iran-just-as-presidents-before-him-did-elsewhere-279374?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 April 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55163832052/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279374/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 4-5-6 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/04/this-weekends-papers-4-5-6-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T19:39:23.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158923.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158932.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000159906.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 3 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/03/todays-papers-3-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-03T19:34:46.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158408.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158414.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158401.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 2 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/02/todays-papers-2-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-03T11:18:29.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158389.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158395.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000158400.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 1 Apr 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/04/01/todays-papers-1-apr-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-01T11:42:29.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000157945.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000157950.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/04/1000157954.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 31 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/31/todays-papers-31-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-31T19:02:06.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000157736.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000157741.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000157861.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 30 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/30/todays-papers-30-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T11:00:25.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000157387.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000157389.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000157396.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### How a diplomatic snub evokes the complicated US‑Brazil relationship in the second Trump era URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/28/how-a-diplomatic-snub-evokes-the-complicated-us-brazil-relationship-in-the-second-trump-era/ Last updated: 2026-03-28T02:47:31.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Brazil denied a visa to US adviser Darren Beattie in March. 🔹 Officials feared Beattie would interfere in Brazil's upcoming 2026 presidential election. 🔹 The snub reflects deep ideological friction between Donald Trump and Lula. 🔹 Economic interests in critical minerals complicate the strained bilateral diplomatic ties. D arren Beattie, the [recently appointed](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-administration-taps-far-right-official-key-brazil-post-2026-02-27/?ref=europeans.today) U.S. State Department senior adviser for Brazil policy, had planned to attend a forum on critical minerals in São Paulo in mid-March. But his [visa was denied](https://www.straitstimes.com/world/brazil-to-revoke-trump-adviser-beatties-visa-source-says?ref=europeans.today). The reason had nothing to do with U.S. policy on critical minerals. Rather, Beattie reportedly had plans to make a detour to Brasilia to visit former President Jair Bolsonaro. The right-wing politician, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, has been in jail serving a sentence [for attempting](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-bolsonaro-sentenced-27-years-after-landmark-coup-plot-conviction-2025-09-12?ref=europeans.today) to prevent his successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from taking office. On March 25 it was announced that the Brazilian Supreme Court will provisionally allow Bolsonaro to [serve his sentence at home](https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/2529869/brazils-bolsonaro-to-serve-prison-sentence-at-home-due-to-ill-health.html?ref=europeans.today), due to ill health. Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Morães, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s trial, denied Beattie’s visa after consulting Brazil’s foreign ministry, which said the visit could amount to “undue interference” in the country’s internal affairs, given that 2026 is an election year. Bolsonaro cannot run for office, due to his criminal conviction, but his son Flávio is the most popular likely opposition candidate. Beattie is a known critic of Lula and Morães and has [praised Bolsonaro as representing](https://apublica.org/2022/10/trump-allies-campaign-online-for-bolsonaro-and-and-spread-lies-about-electoral-fraud/?ref=europeans.today) “exactly the type of nationalism that we want and support.” Lula, for his part, later [claimed that the block](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/13/brazilian-president-lula-forbidden-trump-adviser-darren-beattie-visiting?ref=europeans.today) on Beattie’s visa was [payback for the Trump administration’s refusal last year](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/16/alexandre-padilha-brazil-minister-daughter-visa-revoked-trump?ref=europeans.today) to give a visa to Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha. As a professor of Latin American politics, I believe the Beattie episode is important given what it reveals about strained U.S.-Brazil ties since Trump’s reelection. Specifically, that relationship has been wrapped up with the U.S. administration’s broader support for Brazil’s former leader and his right-wing base. From the standpoint of Lula’s government, the latest U.S. actions are another instance of meddling in the country, particularly in the lead-up to presidential elections in October. ##### The Trump-Bolsonaro pipeline To some observers and critics, the Trump administration’s foreign policy is about dismantling the alliances that propped up the post-World War II international order. But the [policy goes beyond that to support](https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/09/us-political-interventionism-under-trump?ref=europeans.today) authoritarian national-populist movements around the world. Indeed, many officials in the Trump administration [still accept](https://reason.com/2025/09/18/brazils-democracy-is-not-safer-after-bolsonaros-conviction/?ref=europeans.today) Jair Bolsonaro’s [narrative that his criminal conviction](https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117261/witnesses/HHRG-118-FA06-Wstate-FigueiredoP-20240507.pdf?ref=europeans.today) at the hands of the country’s Supreme Court is a form of “lawfare” aimed at repressing him for what he says rather than what he did. The [official police and legal record](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98e29yvl88o?ref=europeans.today), on the other hand, paints a much more damning picture of [Bolsonaro’s participation in a coup plot](https://s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH%5F8b29beb0cbe247a296f902be2fe084b6/2024/html/politica/golpe-de-estado/relatorio-final-pf-golpe.pdf?ref=europeans.today). Yet Trump has [long echoed the allegations of improper targeting](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/addressing-threats-to-the-us/?ref=europeans.today) of Bolsonaro, including when he [imposed punitive 50% tariffs](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/world/americas/trump-sanctions-brazil-judge-bolsonaro.html?ref=europeans.today) on a range of Brazilian exports to the U.S. in July 2025. Those tariffs were later reduced on many products, and the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated them in a February 2026 ruling. Furthermore, Trump and Lula [engaged in a later rapprochement of sorts](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-03-02/trumps-shift-from-hostility-to-courting-brazils-leftist-leader?ref=europeans.today), which included the Trump administration’s [decision to lift sanctions on Morães](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/12/brazilian-judge-sanction-lifted-bolsonaro?ref=europeans.today). Yet the kerfuffle over the Beattie visa shows there remains a fundamentally antagonistic relationship between elements of the Trump and Lula coalitions, [despite recent improvements](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-23/-i-saw-him-he-saw-me-trump-and-lula-get-their-new-york-minute?ref=europeans.today) in the two countries’ diplomatic relations. Lula is expected to visit Trump in Washington, D.C., [sometime in the near future](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-lula-holds-call-with-trump-agrees-visit-washington-2026-01-26/?ref=europeans.today), and assuming that remains on the agenda, what happens there will be carefully watched for clues about where the bilateral relationship stands. ##### Brazil’s fears of Washington’s meddling For the Lula administration, the episode with Beattie is part of a much greater concern that the Trump administration could try to tip the scales of the October 2026 presidential election in Brazil. The fear is hardly without recent precedent. In 2025, Trump extended a bailout to Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, including a US$20 billion currency swap that buoyed the economy and helped Milei’s far-right party Liberty Advances [do well in the October](https://theconversation.com/mileis-win-should-lock-in-financial-backing-from-trump-but-at-what-cost-to-argentinians-268806?ref=europeans.today) legislative elections. Meanwhile in Honduras in December 2025, the Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura won a tight presidential election, [helped by Trump’s declaration](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-threatens-hell-pay-honduras-election-count-continues-11139149?ref=europeans.today) that there would be “hell to pay” if Asfura’s small lead was overturned in the vote count. Those cases are to say nothing of the explicitly militarized forms of coercive power the Trump administration has [used in Venezeula](https://theconversation.com/venezuelas-leader-may-be-gone-but-his-regime-remains-with-a-new-chief-in-washington-273211?ref=europeans.today) with the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, or the [oil embargo imposed on Cuba](https://theconversation.com/trumps-venezuela-solution-to-cuba-would-see-the-island-nation-returned-to-a-client-state-278710?ref=europeans.today) as a way to undermine the government there. These interventions provoke fear among Lula supporters in Brazil and evoke [memories of an earlier age](https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.12518?ref=europeans.today) of U.S.-backed authoritarianism in Brazil. Part of the concern is that America’s bitterly polarized society and concerns over the rise of authoritarian politics mirrors Brazil’s own situation. A [Genial/Quaest poll](https://g1.globo.com/politica/eleicoes/2026/noticia/2026/03/11/quaest-2o-turno-lula-e-flavio-estao-empatados-com-41percent.ghtml?ref=europeans.today) from [early March 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-11/bolsonaro-lula-tie-in-potential-brazil-runoff-new-poll-shows?embedded-checkout=true&ref=europeans.today) shows a statistical tie in electoral support for Lula of the Workers’ Party and Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party. Beattie, too, serves as a kind of proxy for the politics that Trump represents – and that Lula aims to prevent in Brazil in the form of Bolsonarism. Before [landing a job in the current administration](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/admin/darren-beattie-institute-of-peace.html?ref=europeans.today), Beattie was [fired from the first Trump administration](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-speechwriter-fired-amid-scrutiny-of-appearance-with-white-nationalists/2018/08/19/f5051b52-a3eb-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf%5Fstory.html?ref=europeans.today) for attending a conference at which prominent white nationalists, including Richard Spencer and Peter Brimelow, were also present. Later, Beattie helped found the pro-Trump conservative *Revolver News*, and [he has a long history](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/03/politics/kfile-darren-beattie-state-department-controversial-tweets-white-nationalist-conference?ref=europeans.today) of making what critics have framed as inflammatory remarks and promoting conspiracy theories. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/0000665b.jpg) Brazil has an estimated 20% to 23% of the world’s rare earth minerals, and the U.S. are very interested in these deposits. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54883804313/?ref=europeans.today) ##### The clash between ideology and pragmatism It is unclear whether a pragmatic approach will prevail in U.S. policy toward Brazil. At present, there are elements of such an approach in U.S. policy toward Venezuela. The Trump administration is happy to negotiate with the Delcy Rodríguez government as long as it receives Venezuelan oil exports. While Lula and [other critics have](https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2026-03/lulas-response-maduros-capture-could-cost-him-and-brazil?ref=europeans.today) [castigated the Trump administration’s removal of Maduro from power](https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/present/Lula-condemns-attack-on-Venezuela-and-forced-removal-of-Maduro-as-unacceptable/?ref=europeans.today), the current U.S. policy of dealing with the remaining Chavista leadership in Venezuela — albeit on terms favorable to the U.S. — signals a degree of pragmatism. In Brazil, the Trump administration has ample reasons for making deals with Lula, including to gain access to the country’s critical minerals, such as niobium, lithium and cobalt. Brazil [has an estimated](https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2025/mcs2025-rare-earths.pdf?ref=europeans.today) 20% to 23% of the world’s rare earth minerals, and U.S. government officials and investors are very interested in these deposits. It could be that the personal relationship between Trump and Lula and the economic interest of the U.S. in Brazil’s critical minerals cause the Trump administration to stay neutral in the October presidential election. On the other hand, the Lula administration, consistent with a long-standing concern in Brazilian diplomacy to maintain autonomy in its dealings with other countries, is reluctant to sign an exclusive agreement with the U.S. on critical minerals. That concern was [on display earlier](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-18/us-snubbed-by-lula-government-at-brazil-critical-minerals-summit?ref=europeans.today) in March, when no Lula administration officials attended a U.S. Embassy-hosted summit on critical minerals in São Paulo. Moreover, Brazil will likely continue to resist any U.S. pressure to diminish its trade relationship with China. The Lula administration is also [alarmed that the Trump administration might classify](https://en.sociedademilitar.com.br/2026/03/USA-classifies-PCC-CV-terrorists-MGS.html?ref=europeans.today) two of its organized criminal groups – the Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho – as terrorist organizations. Such designations have formed a key basis of recent aggressive American actions across the hemisphere, and some in Brazil fear they could be extended to their country, too. There is other evidence, however, that aggressive anti-Lula and pro-Bolsonaro officials in the Trump administration, such as Beattie, would [like to tip the scales](https://valorinternational.globo.com/politics/news/2026/03/16/trump-aides-actions-raise-specter-of-brazil-elections-interference.ghtml?ref=europeans.today) in [favor of the opposition](https://www.wvasfm.org/politics/2026-03-17/how-trumps-treasury-is-shifting-sanctions-to-punish-his-critics-and-reward-friends?ref=europeans.today) in the October elections. Beattie’s schedule in Brazil [had included a meeting](https://eyesonbrasil.com/the-american-who-wasnt-allowed-in/?ref=europeans.today) with the likely presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, discussions with Brazilian government officials about court decisions to block social media accounts, and meetings with civil servants at the Superior Electoral Court in order to better understand Brazil’s electronic voting system. This agenda raised concerns that it could form a pretext for later allegations that the 2026 election was fraudulent and that Brazilian voters’ free speech rights were infringed by the judiciary. Such [allegations were made](https://nacla.org/trump-allies-campaign-online-bolsonaro-and-spread-lies-about-electoral-fraud/?ref=europeans.today) by supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, [and Beattie too](https://eyesonbrasil.com/the-american-who-wasnt-allowed-in/?ref=europeans.today), in the wake of Brazil’s 2022 election. All of this exposes the delicate nature of current relations between the U.S. and Brazil, two politically polarized countries with recent histories of democratic backsliding whose right-wing populist movements are closely intertwined. If Lula comes to Washington as planned, he is likely to have much to discuss with Trump. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Brazil denies visa to US official citing election interference concerns](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-denies-visa-to-us-official-citing-election-interference-concerns-2026-03-15?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [A Visa Dispute Highlights Deepening Rift Between Trump and Lula](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/americas/brazil-us-relations-trump-lula.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Diplomatic row erupts as Brazil blocks Trump aide from visiting Bolsonaro](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/18/brazil-us-diplomatic-row-bolsonaro-beattie?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump's Brazil Policy Under Scrutiny After Visa Denial](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-17/trump-s-brazil-policy-under-scrutiny-after-visa-denial?ref=europeans.today) | BLOOMBERG - ###### [Brazil-US diplomacy: Why a visa denial matters](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/brazil-us-diplomacy-explained-2026?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Brazil braces for US election interference in 2026 presidential race](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/19/brazil-braces-for-us-election-interference-in-2026-presidential-race?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [The Future of US-Brazil Relations Under Lula and Trump](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/brazil/future-of-us-brazil-relations-lula-trump?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN AFFAIRS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/how-a-diplomatic-snub-evokes-the-complicated-us-brazil-relationship-in-the-second-trump-era-278649?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 28 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54883804338/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/278649/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Landmark lawsuit finds that social media addiction is a feature, not a bug URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/26/landmark-lawsuit-finds-that-social-media-addiction-is-a-feature-not-a-bug/ Last updated: 2026-03-27T02:46:12.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Meta and YouTube must pay US$6 million for platform addiction negligence. 🔹 A jury in the United States found design features exacerbated the plaintiff’s mental health struggles. 🔹 Lawyers successfully argued social media platforms are defective engineering products. 🔹 Internal documents revealed Meta targeted "tweens" to ensure long-term platform engagement. A Los Angeles jury has delivered a landmark verdict: Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design and operation of their platforms, causing a young woman known in court documents as Kaley, or KGM, to become addicted to social media. The tech giants must now pay her a total of US$6 million in damages – $3 million compensatory and $3 million punitive. She claimed the [platforms’ design features](https://theconversation.com/is-social-media-addictive-how-it-keeps-you-clicking-and-the-harms-it-can-cause-276022?ref=europeans.today) got her addicted to the technology and exacerbated her depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. The jury found that Meta bore 70% of the responsibility and YouTube 30%, meaning Meta will pay $4.2 million and Google’s YouTube $1.8 million. Both companies have said [they will appeal](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/25/meta-youtube-los-angeles-california-verdict.html?ref=europeans.today). The verdict came a day after a separate New Mexico jury [ordered Meta to pay](https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5746125/meta-youtube-social-media-trial-verdict?ref=europeans.today) US$375 million for failing to protect children from predators on Instagram and Facebook. Kaley [filed her lawsuit](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html?ref=europeans.today) in 2023, when she was 17\. She claimed that she began using social media as a young child and alleged that features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, algorithmically timed notifications and beauty filters were addictive. *TikTok* and *Snap* were originally named as defendants [but settled](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/tiktok-settlement-social-media-addiction-meta-youtube.html?ref=europeans.today) before the trial began for undisclosed sums. Meta and *YouTube* proceeded to a seven-week trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. The case is the first of [three bellwether trials](https://www.lanierlawfirm.com/product-liability/social-media-addiction-lawsuit/?ref=europeans.today) scheduled in the California state proceedings – test cases selected to gauge how juries respond to the core legal arguments – drawn from a pool of more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including over 350 families and 250 school districts. The outcome of this first trial was always likely to have consequences far beyond one young woman’s case. ##### Bypassing big tech’s legal shield The legal strategy that made this trial possible was a deliberate departure from previous attempts to sue social media companies. Historically, platforms have been [shielded by Section 230](https://theconversation.com/is-social-media-addictive-how-it-keeps-you-clicking-and-the-harms-it-can-cause-276022?ref=europeans.today) of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from liability for content posted by their users. The plaintiff’s lawyers sidestepped this entirely by arguing that the harm arose not from what users posted, but from how the [platforms were engineered](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14705931251335252?ref=europeans.today) – treating Instagram and *YouTube* as defective products rather than neutral publishers. The jury heard internal Meta documents that proved damaging. “One memo read: “If we wanna win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens.” Another showed that 11-year-olds were four times as likely to keep returning to Instagram compared with competing apps, despite the platform’s own minimum age requirement of 13. A former Meta engineering director turned whistleblower, Arturo Béjar, testified about how features like infinite scroll exploit the brain’s reward system. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself took the stand – his [first jury testimony](https://www.npr.org/2026/02/18/nx-s1-5717117/zuckerberg-testimony-social-media-addiction-trial?ref=europeans.today) on child safety – and was questioned about his decision to retain beauty filters despite internal research flagging their impact on young girls’ body image. The jury rejected the companies’ central defence: that Kaley’s struggles were primarily the result of a difficult home life and pre-existing conditions rather than platform design. In finding that the companies “had acted with “malice, oppression or fraud”, they opened the door to the additional punitive damages that brought the total to US$6 million. Both companies will appeal, and the process could take years. In the meantime, a second important trial is [scheduled for this summer](https://www.foxla.com/news/jury-reaches-verdict-la-social-media-addiction-trial?ref=europeans.today), and a separate federal case in Oakland involving school districts is also advancing. The pressure on platforms to settle the thousands of remaining cases will grow considerably. ##### Long-term impact? For users, the immediate practical picture is less clear. Meta and *YouTube* are unlikely to make significant changes to their platforms while the appeals process plays out. Any redesign – if it comes – is likely to be incremental and carefully managed to minimise disruption to the engagement model that drives their revenues. But there is a harder question the verdict does not answer: will it actually change anything? Meta and *YouTube* are companies worth hundreds of billions of dollars. A US$6 million damages award is [not going to restructure](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14705931211062637?ref=europeans.today) the attention- and surveillance-driven economy. [My research](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385251388548?ref=europeans.today) on digital overuse – based on in-depth interviews with digital users and studies of online communities discussing digital overuse and detox – shows that even people who are fully aware of the problem and genuinely want to reduce their screen time find it extraordinarily difficult to do so. This is not because they lack willpower, but because the features driving compulsive use are not bugs in the system. They are the system, [built to maximise engagement](https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56791&ref=europeans.today) and advertising revenue. For years, big tech has [placed the burden](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385251388548?ref=europeans.today) of managing screen time squarely on individuals and parents – encouraging screen time limits, digital detoxes, and parental controls while continuing to engineer products specifically [designed to defeat](https://theconversation.com/digital-detox-how-to-switch-off-without-paying-the-price-new-research-272037?ref=europeans.today) exactly that kind of self-regulation. The jury has pushed back against that logic. Whether courts, regulators, and legislators will push hard enough to force genuine structural redesign remains to be seen. However, the European Commission has already made the preliminary finding that *TikTok*’s addictive design features [are in breach](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip%5F26%5F312?ref=europeans.today) of the EU’s Digital Services Act. What this verdict does, at minimum, is shift the ground. For the first time, a jury has confirmed what researchers have argued for years: this is not a story of weak willpower or bad parenting. It is, at least in part, a story of deliberate product design. That matters – even if the real fight is still to come. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Social Media Addiction Trial](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Jury awards $6m in landmark social media addiction case](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c747x7gz249o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Social media giants face massive payout over platform design](https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5746125/meta-youtube-social-media-trial-verdict?ref=europeans.today) | NPR - ###### [Meta and YouTube to appeal $6 million addiction verdict](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/25/meta-youtube-los-angeles-california-verdict.html?ref=europeans.today) | CNBC - ###### [Historic court ruling challenges big tech’s product safety](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/25/meta-youtube-social-media-addiction-verdict?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Jury finds social media addiction is a product defect](https://www.reuters.com/technology/landmark-la-verdict-labels-social-media-addictive-by-design-2026-03-25/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Commission findings on TikTok addictive design](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip%5F26%5F312?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN COMMISSION --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/landmark-lawsuit-finds-that-social-media-addiction-is-a-feature-not-a-bug-279390?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 26 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[WAINGRO](https://www.dreamstime.com/waingro%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279390/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### God on their side: How the US, Israel and Iran are all using religion to garner support URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/26/god-on-their-side-how-the-us-israel-and-iran-are-all-using-religion-to-garner-support/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T19:44:22.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 US officials are using biblical language to describe the Iran conflict. 🔹 Israel’s leadership has compared modern Iran to ancient biblical enemies. 🔹 Iran has framed the defence of its homeland as sacred duty. A merica’s secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, sports an array of tattoos with Christian messaging, including one which reads “Deus Vult”, God wills it, and is associated with the medieval crusades. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, while leading a Christian service at the Pentagon on March 25, Hegseth [reached for biblical language](https://wordandway.org/2026/03/25/at-pentagon-worship-service-hegseth-casts-iran-conflict-as-violent-holy-war-against-gods-enemies/?ref=europeans.today) to describe the war against Iran. He called on God to “break the teeth” and kill the “wicked” enemies “who deserve no mercy” and should be “delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them”. In other words, for Hegseth this is a holy war in which he calls on god to “grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence”. This war is not primarily about religion. But leaders on all sides have used religion to justify their actions. Not for decades have political leaders of all three major Abrahamic faith traditions invoked parts of their respective traditions to legitimise war in this way. The way faith and religious scripture and doctrine have been used by the US and Israel to justify launching their war in Iran is a worrying development, and one that highlights the growing relationship between religion and authoritarian nationalism. It has also deepened the animosity with Iran, where politicians and religious leaders have themselves invoked religious and messianic narratives. But Iran is an Islamic Republic in which religion has a significant constitutional role. The Israeli prime minister used religious imagery on February 28 while announcing the start of the war. He [invoked the Jewish holiday of Purim](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/world/read-netanyahus-full-statement-on-iran-attacks?ref=europeans.today), which fell on March 2-3 this year, and which celebrates the Jewish escape from a plot by Haman, an evil Persian official, to annihilate the Jews in the ancient Persian Empire. He said: > “My brothers and sisters, in two days we will celebrate the holiday of Purim. 2,500 years ago, in ancient Persia, an enemy rose against us with the exact same goal of completely destroying our people. But Mordechai the Jew and Queen Esther, with their courage and resourcefulness, saved our people. In those days of Purim, the lot was cast, and the wicked Haman fell along with it. Even today on the holiday of Purim, the lot was cast, and the end of the evil regime will also come.” Netanyahu has also compared Iran to the biblical Amalekites (a theme he has used to [refer to Hamas in Gaza](https://theconversation.com/attack-on-gaza-israeli-rhetoric-fuels-fears-of-ethnic-cleansing-as-idf-assault-continues-to-push-south-218727?ref=europeans.today), drawing criticism from the United Nations). The Amalekites were arch enemies of the Jewish people, who the Old Testament God ordered to be completely destroyed, “men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys”. Netanyahu’s government rests on an alliance with religious Zionists, who frequently invoke religious references to justify Israel’s policies. ##### American evangelism The first amendment of the US constitution, meanwhile, guarantees freedom of religion and effectively prevents one faith being favoured over any others. That said, about 70% of Americans identify with a religious faith (the vast majority are Christians) and there is evidence of the growing influence of evangelical Christianity on the Maga movement and the Trump administration. On March 5, the US president [was joined for prayers in the Oval Office](https://premierchristian.news/us/news/article/trump-prayed-for-by-christian-leaders-in-the-oval-office?ref=europeans.today) by a group of evangelical pastors. Placing their hands on him, prayed “for your grace and protection over him… and over our troops”. The video of the American president engaging in a group prayer while engaged in a major war went viral. At the start of the war, hundreds of US troops reported being told by their commanders that the war was [“part of God’s divine plan”](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric?ref=europeans.today) and that: “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.” Evangelical movements have [vastly increased their political influence](https://css.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/pdfs/PP8-11%5F2020-EN.pdf?ref=europeans.today) in the US and across the world. They often support right-wing politicians domestically and Israel internationally, believing in Christian Zionism or that the strengthening of the state of Israel will ultimately lead to the erection of the Temple in Jerusalem and hasten the arrival of the day of judgement. Challenged by evangelical movements, the Catholic church, in contrast, has condemned the war as “immoral” and “unjust”, and denounced Israel’s attacks on Christians in Lebanon. Pope Leo, himself an American, has [called the war](https://religionnews.com/2026/03/24/cardinal-mcelroy-iran-war/?ref=europeans.today) a “scandal to the whole human family”. ##### Iranian martyrdom The Israeli killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei broke a norm in international relations in more ways than one. It is the first assassination of a head of state by a foreign country in many decades. And it is the first time in centuries – perhaps ever – that one of Shi'ism’s most senior Grand Ayatollahs has been killed by a foreign power. Many other senior Shia clerics – some of whom had had a difficult and sometimes even antagonistic relationship with Khamenei and the system he represented – [declared him a martyr](https://www.sistani.org/arabic/statement/26955/?ref=europeans.today). Assuming his father’s role as supreme leader, [Mojtaba Khamenei delivered remarks](https://www.dawn.com/news/1981500?ref=europeans.today) that heavily emphasised martyrdom and messianism – including an opening reference to the “Hidden 12th Imam”, who is meant to return on the day of judgement, according to Shia doctrine. In Iran, Twelver Shia messianism and Iranian nationalism have [long been interwoven](https://academic.oup.com/book/45757/chapter-abstract/398687839?redirectedFrom=fulltext&ref=europeans.today), especially since the revolution of 1979\. Now, Iran’s Shia clerics have declared the defence of the homeland as a [sacred duty](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/avenge-the-blood-irans-top-clerics-issue-fatwa-to-muslims-worldwide-after-khamenei-deaths/articleshow/128915120.cms%20https://t.me/Tasnimnews/390897?ref=europeans.today). What the other branches of Islam think of the war is more complicated. Some senior non-Shia clerics, including the mufti of Oman – a prominent scholar of the Ibadi branch of Islam – [declared Khamenei a martyr](https://www.saba.ye/en/news3656743.htm?ref=europeans.today). The Sunni mufti of Iraq even argued that [all Muslims should support Iran](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVmwFIIjjWH/?ref=europeans.today). There have been [protests denouncing the war](https://www.reuters.com/graphics/IRAN-CRISIS/MAPS/znpnmelervl/2026-03-11/protests-sweep-around-the-globe-as-war-in-iran-continues/?ref=europeans.today) in Pakistan, India, Yemen, Indonesia and beyond. But other major Sunni clerical institutions or movements have not been so vociferous in their condemnation for the death of Khamenei or the need to support Iran. This – quite apart from the at times bitter antagonism between Sunnism and Shi'ism – also has to do with the fact that Iran swiftly started attacking major Sunni-majority countries that host American military bases. Messianic and apocalyptic elements of all three major Abrahamic faith traditions have been instrumentalised by increasingly authoritarian leaders in a global confrontation. While there are voices in all three traditions criticising this use of religion, it is setting a dangerous precedent. And while the war has been criticised as being in breach of international law, the reckless use of religion to support this war has not. This should change. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [US-Israel-Iran war: The rise of Christian rhetoric in the military](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Read Netanyahu's full statement on Iran attacks](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/read-netanyahus-full-statement-on-iran-attacks?ref=europeans.today) | PBS NEWSHOUR - ###### [Protests sweep around the globe as war in Iran continues](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/protests-sweep-around-globe-war-iran-continues-2026-03-11/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Cardinal McElroy and the moral implications of the Iran war](https://religionnews.com/2026/03/24/cardinal-mcelroy-iran-war/?ref=europeans.today) | RELIGION NEWS SERVICE - ###### [The theology of war: How religion shapes Middle East conflict](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/20/the-theology-of-war-how-religion-shapes-middle-east-conflict?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [Israel-Iran: The religious symbolism behind the strikes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68423987?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [The New Era of Messianic Politics](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/new-era-messianic-politics?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN AFFAIRS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/god-on-their-side-how-the-us-israel-and-iran-are-all-using-religion-to-garner-support-279337?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 26 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55132758184/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/279337/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 25 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/25/todays-papers-25-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T00:48:28.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000155489-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000155491-3.webp) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 24 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/24/todays-papers-24-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-24T21:00:02.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000155688.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000155489.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000155491.webp) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Is Trump really stark staring mad? WhatsApp forwards and columnists converge URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/23/is-trump-really-stark-staring-mad-whatsapp-forwards-and-columnists-converge/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T19:18:37.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Columnist Ian Dunt argues the world is run by a madman. 🔹 The ongoing war against Iran lacks any clear strategy or logic. 🔹 Casualties and displacement are rising rapidly across the Middle East region. 🔹 Trump’s unpredictable nature has stifled typical global market and political reactions. O n March 12, a popular *“WhatsApp forward”* went as follows: A man calls the White House and says, “I want to be the next President of the USA.” Operator: “Are you mad?” Man: “Is it mandatory?” So to the incisive and insightful Ian Dunt on *Substack*. [His column](https://iandunt.substack.com/p/taco-trade-how-trump-drove-the-markets-a42) this week is headlined “The world is run by a madman and it’s driving us all nuts”. Mr Dunt analyses the political and media response to the war in Iran, as well as the market reaction. He writes: “In both cases, we are witnessing the same process: the refusal of people to accept that the world is run by a madman.” He accepts that people will fight the realisation because it is too darn scary to acknowledge. He says, “it makes your personal safety and the overall stability of society feel flimsy and fragile, something that can crumble in a harsh wind.” Even so, says, Mr Dunt, using choice words that I will omit, “the truth is, there is no strategy to what the White House does. There is no calculation. There is no sense of logic or application. It is a f\*\*\* madhouse.” On Day 13 of this senseless and violent war on Iran, the numbers are bloody and gruesome: - At least 1,348 Iranian civilians dead, according to Iran’s UN representative Amir Saeid Iravani - Up to 3.2 million people are displaced in Iran - 687, including 98 children and 52 women, have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health has said - At least 816,000, or 14 per cent of Lebanon’s population (that’s one in every seven people) has been displaced in Lebanon, says the *Norwegian Refugee Council* - *The Times of Israel* reports that Iranian strikes have killed 28 Israeli civilians and one off-duty soldier and caused 3,238 hospitalized injuries - At least 11 US service members have been killed - Kuwait’s military and health ministry have reported six deaths, two Kuwaiti soldiers, two border guards and two civilians, one of them an 11-year-old girl - The UAE’s defence ministry and Dubai’s media office have reported six deaths, of whom four were civilians - Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency has reported two civilian deaths - Bahrain’s interior ministry has reported two deaths - Oman’s maritime security centre reported the death of a mariner at sea - Qatar’s ministry of interior has reported 16 injuries and no fatalities - In Iraq, pro-Iran fighters said 16 of their members had been killed in air strikes that they blamed on Israel and the US - In Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, the authorities said one airport guard was killed in a drone attack on Erbil airport, while at least two Iranian Kurdish fighters were killed in Iranian strikes - Jordan’s military spokesman Brigadier General Mustafa Hayari said 14 people had been injured That’s the human toll of Donald Trump’s insane war without a purpose or a plan. We’re not even talking about the huge hit to energy and shipping infrastructure, which will take billions in money and years to restore, with all the consequent hardships to millions of people. We aren’t talking about the massive destruction of built-up urban necessities such as highways, hospitals, houses, offices, shops and city streets. Why would someone launch a war that kills, maims and destroys, but which has no discernible purpose or plan and actually rewards Russia, who is helping Iran? UK defence secretary John Healey discerns Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” behind Iran’s military methods. Surely then it’s bananas, absolute madness for the Trump administration to lift sanctions on the sale of Russian oils already at sea? That’s because Moscow may be helping Iran, the very country on which the US is waging war? Bananas. Madness. Why would someone launch such a war? Is it because they are insane? Back to columnist Ian Dunt and his assertion that Mr Trump is mad. He concludes with a thought-provoking what if. “The frequency of his (Trump’s) mad outbursts should make us all more frightened, but in fact it has the opposite effect. If Barack Obama had come out during his time as president and said that he was going to invade Greenland, the markets would have lost their shit in a biblical way. It would have been considered so shocking that the reaction would have been historic. The collapse of everything. “But when Trump does it, the results are rocky — sure — but not apocalyptic. They are far more subtle than they should be, because people just eventually get used to it. We become frogs in boiling water. Trump’s madness, the regularity of his outbursts, actually serves to stifle the market reaction. He enjoys a discretion other world leaders do not, specifically on the basis that he is so obviously insane.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Tracking the Escalation in the Middle East](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-israel-conflict-latest-updates-2026-03-23/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Ian Dunt on Substack](https://iandunt.substack.com/p/taco-trade-how-trump-drove-the-markets-a42) | SUBSTACK --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/is-trump-really-stark-staring-mad-whatsapp-forwards-and-columnists-converge-a2272379632b?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 23 March 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55155601689/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/23/todays-papers-23-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T01:53:58.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000154475.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000154484.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000154492.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 21-22 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/21/this-weekends-papers-21-22-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-22T02:02:10.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000153786.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000153795.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000153796.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Britons oppose military action in Iran, back energy price support, YouGov poll shows URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/18/britons-oppose-military-action-in-iran-back-energy-price-support-yougov-poll-shows/ Last updated: 2026-03-18T01:44:36.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Most Britons oppose joining the USA in offensive military actions. 🔹 Only 18% believe American military action was correct. 🔹 Public opinion on Keir Starmer’s response remains deeply divided. 🔹 84% demand government intervention to reduce energy prices. A new [*YouGov* / *Sky* survey](https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Sky%5FResults%5F260316%5Fw.pdf?ref=europeans.today), conducted between 15 and 16 March 2026 (2,104 GB adults), reveals a significant shift in British public sentiment regarding military intervention in Iran and domestic energy support. The data indicates that while the public is overwhelmingly opposed to joining offensive military actions, there is a powerful consensus across all political and demographic divides for government intervention in the energy market. ##### Public Sentiment on Military Action The British public remains deeply sceptical of military involvement in Iran. A majority (57%) believe the United States were wrong to take military action, compared to just 18% who believe it was right. - **Offensive Action:** Only 17% of respondents support the UK joining the US in offensive military actions, while a total of 70% are opposed. - **Political Divide:** Opposition to military action is highest among 2024 Labour voters (84%) and Green Party supporters (85%). Even among Conservative voters, opposition stands at 67%, highlighting a rare moment of cross-party agreement. - **Regional Variation:** Londoners expressed the strongest opposition to military intervention, with 77% against joining offensive actions. ##### Keir Starmer’s Performance The public’s view of PM Keir Starmer’s response to the situation is notably split. - **Overall Rating:** 37% believe he has responded well, while 41% believe he has responded badly. - **Partisan Breakdown:** While 74% of 2024 Labour voters approve of his response, 74% of Reform UK supporters and 54% of Conservative supporters view it negatively. - **Demographics:** Starmer finds his strongest support among those aged 65 and over (46% well) and those in higher socioeconomic classifications (42% well). ##### Demands for Energy Price Intervention Perhaps the most striking finding is the overwhelming support for government action to mitigate energy price hikes caused by the conflict. - **Universal Support:** 84% of the public supports the government taking action to reduce energy prices for all households. - **Targeted Support:** 73% support specific action to reduce prices for the least well-off households. - **Cross-Demographic Consensus:** Support for universal energy price reduction does not drop below 80% in any age group, region, or socioeconomic class. The survey underscores a nation wary of foreign entanglements but unified in the expectation that the government must shield citizens from the economic fallout of international instability. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Latest Political Polls and Public Opinion](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV - ###### [UK News and Analysis](https://news.sky.com/uk?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [United Kingdom Politics and Economy](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 March 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55134724501/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 17 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/17/todays-papers-17-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T10:59:34.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000151622.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000151623.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000151630.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### 📊 Greens trail Reform UK in latest Westminster voting intention polls URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/13/greens-trail-reform-uk-in-latest-westminster-voting-intention-polls/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T16:29:12.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Reform UK has hit 27% in recent Westminster polling. 🔹 The Green Party reached a record high of 21%. 🔹 Labour support has fallen to 15% in some daily data. 🔹 The Conservative Party remains stagnant behind the insurgent Reform UK. R eform UK has surged to the top of British politics according to the latest Westminster voting intentions, marking a historic shift in the United Kingdom’s electoral landscape. Data collected by UK pollster [Techne](https://www.techneuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/R163-UK-2026-3-13-DATA.pdf?ref=europeans.today) between 10 and 12 March shows Reform UK commanding 27% of the vote, comfortably ahead of both the Conservatives at 18% and Labour at 17%. The figures confirm the total collapse of the traditional two-party system that has dominated *Westminster* for decades. Equally shocking is the rise of the Green Party, which reached 21% in polling conducted on 11 March. This surge places them ahead of the Liberal Democrats, who have fluctuated between 11% and 14% over the last week. The Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru continue to hold small but stable shares of the projected vote. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/Westminster-Voting-Intentions-1.png) EUROPEANS TODAY The polling trends indicate that Labour’s support is particularly volatile, dropping to as low as 15% on 11 March before rebounding slightly. This instability follows weeks of intense debate over national policy and internal party leadership. These figures suggest that the *BBC* will be forced to reconsider its coverage of the ‘minor’ parties. If these numbers hold, the next parliament could be the most fractured in British history, leaving the traditional giants struggling to form a majority. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Find your constituency and see the latest results](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Latest UK Polling Report and Analysis](https://pollingreport.uk/?ref=europeans.today) | POLLING REPORT UK - ###### [Political Trackers and Voter Intentions](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV - ###### [The Guardian Poll of Polls](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/poll-of-polls?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Live Election Updates and Political Commentary](https://news.sky.com/politics?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [Political Analysis and Opinion](https://www.spectator.co.uk/category/politics/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR - ###### [UK and European Political Trends](https://www.politico.eu/section/politics/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO \[ Europeans TODAY \] ### Today’s Papers 📰 13 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/13/todays-papers-13-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T23:13:53.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149916.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149918.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149920.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 12 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/12/todays-papers-12-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T16:02:49.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149659.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149667.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 11 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/11/todays-papers-11-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-11T02:37:22.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000148926.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000148922.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000148917-1.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 10 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/10/todays-papers-10-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T16:04:02.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149710.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149706.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000149670.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Will the Iran war go global? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/06/will-the-iran-war-go-global/ Last updated: 2026-03-06T02:44:09.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Iran has launched retaliatory attacks against Israel and United States targets. 🔹 The vital Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed to international oil cargo. 🔹 Mojtaba Khamenei is expected to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader. 🔹 Concerns are growing that NATO could be drawn into the widening conflict. B efore the first airstrike hit Iran on Saturday morning, analysts were warning that a war against Tehran would be a highly risky business. The regime has been in place for nearly 50 years, has a huge, well-trained and loyal military, proxies throughout the region and a huge stockpile of ballistic missiles and drones – plenty to wreak havoc across the region and beyond. And so it has proved. While Israeli and American forces have been pounding targets across the country, Iran has responded by attacking Israel as well as US military targets in neighbouring Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Attacks have also been reported from Cyprus, Iraq and Jordan. There is a fresh round of fighting in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah joined Iran in targeting Israel. Beirut is being bombarded. The economic damage to the region has been enormous. Oil refineries have been shut down, the vital [strait of Hormuz](https://theconversation.com/strait-of-hormuz-if-the-iran-conflict-shuts-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-global-economic-chaos-could-follow-277199?ref=europeans.today) – through which 20% of the world’s oil cargo passes – is effectively closed, evacuation flights are leaving the Gulf states around the clock and people are [cancelling their travel plans](https://theconversation.com/booked-to-travel-through-the-middle-east-heres-why-you-shouldnt-cancel-your-flight-277191?ref=europeans.today) in droves. And within days of the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in a targeted airstrike that also killed a number of his top advisers, a new leader is set to be picked. The smart money appears to be on his son, Mojtaba, known to be cut from very much the same authoritarian clerical cloth as his father. So the notion that with Iran you kill the figurehead and the regime collapses appears to be flawed, to say the least. Just one week ago, American and Iranian negotiators were engaged in talks in Geneva, which were reported to be making “significant progress”. Now there’s no knowing how this conflict could escalate. On Wednesday, the downing of an Iranian missile over Turkish airspace prompted speculation that Nato would be pulled into a war it clearly doesn’t want. A US submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. There are so many moving parts to this conflict that the sense of jeopardy is at times overwhelming. My email inbox this morning contained a message from Robert Reich, who was Bill Clinton’s secretary of labour between 1993 and 1997 and is a trenchant and energetic critic of the US president, headed: “World War III? Trump’s and Netanyahu’s illegal war turns global”. Let’s not second-guess Armageddon just yet. But there’s no denying how dangerous the situation is becoming as the conflict continues to spread. Scott Lucas, an expert in US and Middle East politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin, [answers some of the key questions](https://theconversation.com/how-dangerous-has-the-conflict-in-iran-become-expert-qanda-277632?ref=europeans.today) about this fast-developing situation. This has gone beyond what the US president, Donald Trump, referred to as “major combat operations in Iran”. What it might become is anyone’s guess. What we don’t have to guess is whether Trump is managing to take the American people with him on his foreign adventure. A poll taken on March 2 and published by *YouGov*/*Economist* found that US respondents oppose the war by a margin of 45% against to 32% in favour. Predictably, there’s a hugely partisan divide: most Republicans back their president, while Democrats are overwhelmingly anti war. Significantly, [writes Paul Whiteley](https://theconversation.com/what-americans-think-of-the-war-in-iran-277627?ref=europeans.today) of the University of Essex, an expert pollster with an interest in UK and US politics, Independents are also against the war by a significant margin. Looking ahead to November’s mid-term elections, as the US president’s advisers undoubtedly are, things do not look good for Republicans’ chances of holding either the House or the Senate. And the war looks as if it will not end anytime soon. *NBC News* was reporting this afternoon that the Trump administration may invoke the Defense Production Act to accelerate the production of munitions, which would effectively move the US economy further on to a war footing. This would seem to hint at something that analysts have speculated about, namely that a lengthy conflict could exhaust America’s stockpile of munitions. The US and its allies — including Israel and the Gulf states — are most acutely exposed to this shortage of defensive interceptors. It’s only been ten months since the US and Israel waged the 12-day war against Iran and that depleted an enormous number of both countries’ defensive missiles, [according to Andrew Gawthorpe](https://theconversation.com/how-prepared-are-the-us-and-its-allies-for-a-protracted-conflict-in-iran-277454?ref=europeans.today), an expert in modern American history at Leiden University. This inevitably means that Washington will have to pull munitions away from other theatres, including those earmarked for South Korea. It’s also fair to say there will be fewer available for Kyiv’s European allies to purchase for the defence of Ukraine, which will please Vladimir Putin no end. And whether an air campaign will be enough to achieve regime change – if that is indeed the purpose of this conflict – is debatable, [writes Matthew Powell](https://theconversation.com/iran-conflict-air-campaigns-rarely-work-as-intended-they-often-make-matters-worse-277319?ref=europeans.today), an expert in air power at the University of Portsmouth. Air campaigns rarely work as intended – they often make matters worse, as the world saw after the Nato air campaign that led to the toppling of the country’s ruler, Muammar Gaddafi. With no coherent ground strategy to follow, things fell apart rapidly, with the terrible results that are with us to this day. ##### ‘Special relationship’ under strain Keir Starmer certainly doesn’t believe in regime change “from the skies”, or so he told the House of Commons this week when fending off criticism of the UK government’s position on whether and how the UK should be involved in this conflict. As the US-Israeli attacks began, Starmer said that the UK would have none of it (due, in large part apparently, to his assessment of a lack of lawful basis for the campaign) and he was not prepared to allow America to use the UK’s bases in any capacity either. He has since softened his stance, allowing the US to use some British bases, but purely for defensive purposes, to target Iranian ballistic launch sites that could threaten British interests in the region. But Donald Trump remains unimpressed and there’s no doubt that this episode has put severe pressure on the so-called “special relationship” between Britain and America. Matt Bar, of Nottingham Trent University, walks us through some of the [ups and downs of this relationship](https://theconversation.com/iran-is-putting-pressure-on-the-us-uk-special-relationship-but-it-has-survived-worse-over-the-years-274037?ref=europeans.today) over the decades and concludes that it has survived worse setbacks in its time. If this all wasn’t so serious, the US president’s reaction to not immediately getting his way from Starmer would be amusing. In fact it drew an involuntary bark of laughter when I read that, in a press session after a meeting with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on March 3, the US president threw a few barbs Starmer’s way, concluding that: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” Indeed. Historian Richard Toye of Exeter University [explores that unlikely comparison](https://theconversation.com/what-would-winston-churchill-make-of-war-with-iran-277525?ref=europeans.today). ##### The view from Moscow and Beijing As you’d expect, Beijing was quick to condemn the strikes. China has been heavily dependent on its imports of oil from Iran, and regime change there would threaten this and force it to look elsewhere. China is linked to Iran in a number of ways, including – significantly – via Tehran’s use of China’s satellite navigation system, BeiDou , which Beijing is touting as a possible replacement for the western Global Positioning System (GPS). China-watcher Tom Harper, of the University of East London, [assesses](https://theconversation.com/china-set-to-suffer-from-turmoil-in-the-middle-east-but-it-stands-to-benefit-long-term-277295?ref=europeans.today) how this conflict will affect China and concludes that while it will cause turmoil in the short-term, a protracted conflict will play to its benefit in the long term. The assassination hit a raw nerve in Moscow. Putin, whose fear of assassination borders on the pathological, watched the killing of a fellow autocrat with undisguised alarm. Iran is a close ally of Russia. Tehran provided huge numbers of its Shahed drones to Putin to help him wage his illegal war in Ukraine, and Iran has also helped Moscow circumvent the west’s sanctions regime. Stefan Wolff, an expert in international security at the University of Birmingham, [believes](https://theconversation.com/what-the-conflict-in-iran-means-for-putin-and-ukraine-277298?ref=europeans.today) that the conflict will play to Moscow’s advantage in the short term at least, as the US diverts munitions earmarked for purchase by Kyiv’s European allies. But he thinks the war is “unlikely to shift the dial significantly towards Russian victory in the long term”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Mapping the Escalation: How the Iran Conflict Spread Across the Middle East](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-israel-conflict-escalation-explainer-2026-03-05/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Global Economic Shockwaves as Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/04/strait-of-hormuz-closure-oil-prices-global-economy?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Who is Mojtaba Khamenei? The Shadowy Figure Poised to Lead Iran](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68912345?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Middle East on the Brink: Diplomacy Fails as Airstrikes Continue](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/5/middle-east-on-the-brink-diplomacy-fails-as-airstrikes-continue?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [Trump Invokes Defense Production Act Amid Munition Shortage Fears](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/us/politics/trump-defense-production-act-iran.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Moscow and Beijing’s Strategic Calculus in the New Gulf War](https://www.ft.com/content/iran-china-russia-geopolitics-2026?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [The Arsenal of Democracy: Can the West Sustain a Long War?](https://www.economist.com/international/2026/03/05/is-the-world-prepared-for-a-protracted-iranian-conflict?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/will-the-iran-war-go-global-277680?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[ROKAS TENYS](https://www.dreamstime.com/rokas91%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/277680/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 6 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/06/todays-papers-6-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-07T00:14:21.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147258.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147248.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147253.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 5 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/05/todays-papers-5-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-07T00:15:50.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147271.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147265.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147263.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 4 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/04/todays-papers-4-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-07T00:13:44.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147303.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000147305.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Conflict in the Middle East makes official economic forecasts immediately out of date URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/03/conflict-in-the-middle-east-makes-official-economic-forecasts-immediately-out-of-date/ Last updated: 2026-03-03T23:58:43.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Middle East conflict threatens to make UK economic forecasts instantly outdated. 🔹 Global supply chain shocks and energy price spikes remain significant risks. 🔹 High government debt levels make the UK vulnerable to external economic shocks. 🔹 Rising geopolitical tensions may force a multi-billion pound boost in defence spending. T he UK chancellor of the exchequer would not have wanted to deliver her spring statement against the background of a fresh threat to the world economy. For while Rachel Reeves announced that she has the “right economic plan for the country” in a “yet more uncertain world”, [the conflict](https://theconversation.com/topics/us-iran-conflict-73960?ref=europeans.today) in the Middle East will undoubtedly complicate the UK’s economic prospects. And the latest economic forecast by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), to which she was responding, may already be out of date. It was too late, for example, for the OBR calculations to include any potential shocks in the global supply chain, or a [spike in energy prices](https://theconversation.com/the-oil-price-surge-is-just-one-symptom-of-a-supply-chain-network-that-is-not-fit-for-this-age-of-global-tensions-277277?ref=europeans.today) that may result from the US-Israeli strikes on Iran. At a press conference after Reeves’ statement however, an OBR representative warned that it could have “a very significant impact”. And they added that even before the crisis unfolded, the UK had faced an unusually high degree of uncertainty. But otherwise, the OBR report – little changed from [the autumn](https://theconversation.com/what-will-the-budget-mean-for-economic-growth-experts-give-their-view-270715?ref=europeans.today) – paints a mixed picture for the UK economy. Weaker economic and job growth is somewhat balanced by the prospects of lower inflation and lower interest rates. The government’s future “headroom” (the space for extra spending later on) is only slightly better than previously thought. And the OBR says that by 2031, government debt will still be 95% of GDP. At the same press conference, it added that this high level of debt relative to other countries makes the UK more vulnerable to external risks. But Reeves bullishly [told MPs](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spring-forecast-2026-speech?ref=europeans.today): “We beat the forecasts last year \[…\] we will beat them again” adding that stronger government finances will allow the UK to weather the storm and keep to its current spending plans. Yet the war could well affect those spending plans and the government’s hopes of tackling the high cost of living. Oil and gas prices are already soaring, and [stock markets](https://theconversation.com/what-oil-stocks-and-bonds-are-telling-us-about-the-iran-conflict-and-how-long-it-might-last-277326?ref=europeans.today) are falling. The OBR itself accepts that “significant risks, including from conflict in the Middle East”, can significantly change its projections. For example, gas prices have already spiked after the major Middle East supplier Qatar [closed its main refinery](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gas-prices-surge-qatar-shuts-131720289.html?ref=europeans.today) following Iranian attacks. The effective closure of the strait of Hormuz will threaten the huge flow of oil to major Asian economies such as China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The UK government may have capped household gas prices, but a long-term wholesale gas price increase would boost inflation and reduce the chances of a further interest rate cut by the Bank of England. And while the UK gets relatively little gas from the Middle East, gas and oil prices are set internationally. Europe is much more dependent on gas from that region, so the disruption of supply could threaten both higher inflation and lower growth in the UK’s largest export market. It also could be an existential threat to the high-performing export economies of Asia, which are driving global growth. A worldwide slowdown will have serious consequences for the UK economy as it is highly dependent on foreign trade. US president Donald Trump’s unhappiness with prime minister Keir Starmer’s conditional support for his war may threaten the restoration of the UK’s favourable tariff deal. A weaker UK economy – which is already growing at only slightly more than 1% a year – would have major consequences for government spending, tax receipts and the government’s headroom. This could mean both lower tax revenues and increased borrowing, with the costs of financing the government’s huge debts rising, reversing recent falls. This may all make it difficult for the government to contemplate any electorally beneficial tax cuts ahead of the 2029 general election. It may even have to extend the freeze on tax thresholds further, squeezing workers’ pay packets. These negative developments come as the government also faces major additional pressures on spending – which it has tried to delay in the hope of a stronger balance sheet later on. These include costly reforms to increase spending on students with [special educational needs and disabilities](https://theconversation.com/send-reform-will-the-governments-plans-work-for-children-parents-and-teachers-experts-react-276660?ref=europeans.today), and plans to reduce student debt. Other major long-term challenges include providing social care for an ageing population, meeting ambitious housing targets (which are well behind schedule) and providing for cash-strapped local government. Rising geopolitical tensions could also force the government to accelerate plans to boost UK defence spending from [2.5% to 3.5% of GDP](https://ifs.org.uk/publications/uk-defence-spending-composition-commitments-and-challenges?ref=europeans.today), at a cost of around £40 billion. This could well mean tax rises or further cuts in other departments. A short and decisive war could lessen all these pressures. But uncertainty in itself can inhibit investment and threaten the UK’s ability to tackle its long-term productivity problem – the key to raising living standards. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [UK Chancellor Reeves faces tough balancing act in spring budget](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-chancellor-reeves-faces-tough-balancing-act-spring-budget-2026-03-03/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [How Middle East tension hits your pocket](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68435650?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2026](https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2026/?ref=europeans.today) | OBR - ###### [Oil prices surge on Middle East conflict fears](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/03/oil-prices-surge-middle-east-conflict-fears?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The fiscal cost of Britain’s new defence ambitions](https://www.ft.com/content/uk-defence-spending-targets-geopolitics?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Rachel Reeves and the geometry of British debt](https://www.economist.com/britain/2026/03/03/rachel-reeves-and-the-geometry-of-british-debt?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Strait of Hormuz risks threaten global LNG supply](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-03/strait-of-hormuz-risks-threaten-global-lng-supply?ref=europeans.today) | BLOOMBERG --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/conflict-in-the-middle-east-makes-official-economic-forecasts-immediately-out-of-date-277424?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 3 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[HM TREASURY/LAUREN HURLEY/10 DOWNING STREET](https://www.flickr.com/photos/hmtreasury/55126566771/in/dateposted/?ref=europeans.today). - Chancellor Rachel Reeves leaves No 11 Downing Street to deliver her Spring Statement. (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/277424/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### What oil, stocks and bonds are telling us about the Iran conflict and how long it might last URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/03/what-oil-stocks-and-bonds-are-telling-us-about-the-iran-conflict-and-how-long-it-might-last/ Last updated: 2026-03-03T13:57:45.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Financial markets react instantly to conflicts as a collective future judgement. 🔹 Oil prices surged following tensions involving the United States and Iran. 🔹 Investors are moving money into safe-haven assets like gold and dollars. 🔹 Market volatility measures the expected duration and severity of the conflict. W hen a conflict escalates, financial markets respond within minutes. That reaction is not just panic or speculation – it is a kind of collective judgement about what might happen next. Tensions involving the US, Israel and [Iran](https://theconversation.com/topics/iran-1870?ref=europeans.today) triggered a sharp jump in oil prices when Asian markets opened on Monday (rising by [as much as 13%](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/02/oil-prices-iran-war-strait-of-hormuz-shipping?ref=europeans.today) amid fears of supply disruption). Major Gulf indices fell steeply, and in some cases [trading was suspended](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/muscat-stocks-tumble-as-strikes-iran-upend-regional-security-2026-03-01/?ref=europeans.today) amid volatility. At the same time, investors moved into so-called [“safe-haven” assets](https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-rises-1-us-israel-strikes-iran-raise-regional-temperature-2026-03-01/?ref=europeans.today). Gold prices rose, and demand increased for traditionally defensive currencies such as the US dollar and Swiss franc. This may sound like distant noise or random financial moves. In reality though, it is one of the clearest signals we have about how serious investors think the situation with Iran could become. Markets are forward-looking. They do not only react to what has happened – they try to price what they expect will happen. Here’s how to read the signals. ##### Oil: the first warning light Oil is usually the first market to move during Middle East tensions. That is because the region plays a [crucial role](https://theconversation.com/the-oil-price-surge-is-just-one-symptom-of-a-supply-chain-network-that-is-not-fit-for-this-age-of-global-tensions-277277?ref=europeans.today) in the global supply of energy. A particular point of concern is the strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping route through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil exports pass. When oil prices jump, it does not mean supply has already stopped. It means traders believe there is a higher risk that supply could be disrupted. Think of it like insurance. If the risk of damage rises, the price of insurance goes up immediately – even if no damage has yet occurred. Oil markets work in a similar way. Prices reflect the probability of trouble. Why does this matter? Because oil affects almost everything. Higher oil prices push up fuel costs. Fuel affects transport. Transport affects food prices and goods on supermarket shelves. If oil remains expensive for weeks or months, it can push inflation higher. So when oil spikes, markets are signalling that they see real economic risk – not just political drama. At present, the scale of the [oil move](https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/brent-crude-oil?ref=europeans.today) suggests markets are seriously reassessing the probability of disruption. The crucial question is persistence. If prices stabilise quickly, investors may believe escalation will be contained. If they remain elevated, markets are signalling expectations of prolonged instability. ##### Bonds: investors looking for safety The second place to look is the bond market. A bond is essentially a loan. When you buy a government bond, you are lending money to a government in exchange for interest. US government bonds (Treasuries) are widely seen as one of the safest investments in the world. In times of uncertainty, investors often move their money into these safer assets. This is known as “flight to safety”. When many people buy bonds at once, bond prices go up and their yields (the interest rate that is paid) go down. You don’t need to follow bond charts every day to understand the message. If investors are accepting lower returns just to keep their money safe, it tells us they are worried. If oil prices are rising while investors are piling into safe government bonds, markets may be signalling two concerns at the same time: higher short-term prices and weaker economic growth ahead. That is a difficult combination for any economy. Bond markets, in other words, are measuring anxiety. ##### Stock markets: how long will this last? [Stock markets](https://www.marketwatch.com/?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqcs44hHcKalIOtDaPEq5QPmtTxscEDh1wKpe26ab-E2xusnaPEoV2wlIICOA5M%3D&gaa%5Fts=69a6b976&gaa%5Fsig=ohmAnkXdQa-zb7Ztf%5F%5F9rRp-G4Fc2nWoBitl%5FCiYqZN3FgRpYRy176ANX0wNHvutPzwQm7S07azrKVoH1l4MQw%3D%3D&ref=europeans.today) reflect confidence in companies and economic growth. When shares fall sharply, it often means investors expect profits to be squeezed or business conditions to worsen. But the key issue is duration. If stock markets fall briefly and then stabilise, investors may believe the conflict will be contained. If losses spread and persist, it suggests markets expect a longer or more disruptive episode. Markets are not predicting headlines. They are estimating how long uncertainty might last and how deeply it might affect trade, energy supplies and consumer confidence. Modern financial markets are highly interconnected. A shock in one region can ripple quickly across continents because supply chains, investment funds and large companies operate globally. That is why even a regional conflict can affect pension funds and savings accounts elsewhere. Equity markets are not judging politics. They are estimating economic consequences. ##### What this means for markets – and for the conflict Taken together, oil, bonds and equities provide a temperature check of expectations. Right now, markets are clearly pricing higher geopolitical risk. The sharp initial oil move shows concern about supply. The shift towards safer assets signals caution. Equity volatility reflects uncertainty about the duration of the conflict. However, markets are not yet behaving as though they expect a systemic global crisis. We are seeing repricing – not collapse. That distinction matters. As a finance expert, I believe markets are acting as early warning systems. If escalation of the conflict threatens to cause sustained disruption to energy infrastructure or shipping routes, we would expect the oil price to stay elevated, continued safe-haven flows and broader equity declines. That would tighten financial conditions globally because higher energy prices push up inflation, falling stock markets reduce household wealth and confidence, and increased demand for safe assets raises borrowing costs for business and governments. In other words, credit becomes more expensive, investment decisions are delayed and consumers become cautious. This could slow economic growth. If, however, tensions stabilise or de-escalate, markets may reverse quickly. Financial systems adjust rapidly when perceptions of risk change. The broader implication is that modern conflicts transmit economic effects almost instantly through markets. Even before physical supply chains are interrupted, expectations alone can influence inflation, investment and policy decisions. Markets do not determine the course of a conflict. But they shape the economic environment in which political decisions are made. For now, they are signalling caution – not panic. Whether that caution turns into something more severe will depend less on today’s headlines and more on whether disruption proves temporary or structural. That is what investors are watching. And it is what we should be watching too. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Oil Surges as Israel-Iran Tensions Threaten Crude Supply](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-02/oil-surges-as-israel-iran-tensions-threaten-crude-supply?ref=europeans.today) | BLOOMBERG - ###### [How geopolitics is reshaping global oil markets](https://www.ft.com/content/geopolitics-oil-markets-iran-israel-conflict?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Global Markets: Stocks slide, gold shines as Middle East flares](https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-wrapup-1-2026-03-02/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The economic consequences of a wider Middle East war](https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/03/02/the-economic-consequences-of-a-wider-middle-east-war?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Investors Flock to Treasuries and Gold on Iran Fears](https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-flock-to-treasuries-and-gold-on-iran-fears-116412345?ref=europeans.today) | THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - ###### [Strait of Hormuz: Why the world’s most important oil chokepoint is at risk](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/02/strait-of-hormuz-why-the-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-is-at-risk.html?ref=europeans.today) | CNBC - ###### [Gulf markets tumble as Iran-Israel tensions escalate](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/3/2/gulf-markets-tumble-as-iran-israel-tensions-escalate?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/what-oil-stocks-and-bonds-are-telling-us-about-the-iran-conflict-and-how-long-it-might-last-277326?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 3 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/277326/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 3 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/03/todays-papers-3-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-04T00:56:35.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000146092.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000146094.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000146098.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Strait of Hormuz: If the Iran conflict shuts world’s most important oil chokepoint, global economic chaos could follow URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/02/strait-of-hormuz-if-the-iran-conflict-shuts-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-global-economic-chaos-could-follow/ Last updated: 2026-03-03T03:02:07.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 One-fifth of global oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz. 🔹 Conflict between Iran and US-Israeli forces threatens vital maritime shipping lanes. 🔹 Major shipping companies have already suspended transits due to security risks. 🔹 Global oil prices could spike to 100 dollars per barrel. T he reported sinking of several Iranian warships by US missiles in the Gulf of Oman serves as a reminder of the maritime aspect of the conflict which began February 28 with a barrage of Israeli and American missiles targeting Iran. Two other vessels, believed to be tankers, have also been reported as having been hit by missiles, of an as yet undetermined source, in the vicinity of the strait of Hormuz, underlining the importance of this vital shipping lane – which is likely to play an key part in all sides’ calculations. Full details have yet to emerge of the incidents. But there are already signs that the strait will become a major focus of concern because of the huge implications should the conflict disrupt maritime traffic through this the narrow outlet of the Persian Gulf. Ships crossing the strait of Hormuz carry around one-fifth of global oil supplies. That’s about 20 million barrels per day. This makes the strait the most critical energy chokepoint. There are a small number of strategic passageways, or chokepoints on which global trade depends and which are vulnerable to disruption. Any disruption reverberates instantly through global markets and supply chains. With conflict raging in Iran and attacks across the Middle East, traders, governments and businesses will be watching oil prices closely as the markets open. After Israel and the US launched attacks on Iran on February 28, prompting retaliatory strikes across the region from Iran, Tehran broadcast to vessels in the region claiming that “the strait of Hormuz was closed.” Although the shipping lanes are only about two miles wide, actually physically closing them would be difficult to achieve. The most decisive action Tehran could take would be to mine the shipping lanes. With the large US naval presence in the area, this would be very difficult for Iran to achieve. But a formal blockade is not necessary to stop traffic. When perceived threat levels rise, ships stay away. Big shipping companies such as *Hapag Lloyd* and *CMA CGA* have already suspended transit through the strait and advised their ships to proceed to shelter. Vessel tracking already shows reduced movements in the strait of Hormuz. Ships are waiting to enter or exit the Persian Gulf or diverting away from the region. An advisory from the *United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre* has warned of the “increased risk of miscalculation or misidentification, particularly in proximity to military units.” Several ports have suspended operations after debris from an intercepted missile sparked a fire at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port. While other ports continue to operate, the risk and uncertainty are disrupting shipping in the region. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/image.png) The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important waterways, with 20% of the global trade in oil flowing through a narrow maritime channel. | [WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strait%5Fof%5Fhormuz%5Ffull.jpg?ref=europeans.today) ##### Supply chain disruption Hormuz is dominated by oil tankers and liquid natural gas carriers, so disruption directly hits global energy supplies. In addition, a lesser-known dependency is that one-third of the world’s fertiliser trade passes through the strait. Both energy and agricultural supply chains have already been destabilised by the Ukraine war. Further price rises could have far-reaching consequences. The main destinations for oil and gas flowing through Hormuz are China, India, Japan, and South Korea. India, which imports about half of its crude oil through the strait, has activated contingency plans to safeguard energy supplies. But apart from amassing strategic national stockpiles to weather immediate disruptions, there may be limited alternatives for countries dependent on getting their energy supplies through the strait. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have some pipelines for both oil and gas that can bypass the Hormuz. There is an estimated spare capacity of 2.6 million barrels per day for these pipelines. But that’s a fraction of what is normally shipped through the strait. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/0000656b.jpg) Iranian coastline near the Strait of Hormuz. | DREAMSTIME/[PAVEL MURAVEV](https://www.dreamstime.com/celtsarmat%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) Oil and gas are traded globally. So even countries whose energy needs are not met by imports from the Persian Gulf will be affected by price increases. Oil prices are expected to increase to up to US$100 (£74) per barrel when markets open on Monday. *OPEC* has agreed to modestly boost oil output in a bid to stabilise markets. But the group of oil producing countries has limited options as key members are affected by the fallout of the attacks on Iran. Energy price increases will hit consumers directly when filling up their cars or heating their homes. They also affect companies across a wide range of industries. This has the potential to cause further supply chain disruptions. Supply chains rely on predictability. The persistent geopolitical uncertainty has complicated operations worldwide. Limited alternatives make the de facto closure of the strait of Hormuz all the more impactful. The longer the disruption persists, the more significant and structural the economic damage will become. ##### Potential for escalation There is still a potential for a catastrophic escalation in the strait of Hormuz. The sinking of a tanker would have dramatic consequences for the environment and would likely halt navigation for an extended period of time. But prolonged instability may also prove destructive for the global economy. Previously, Iran closing the strait was seen as unlikely considering the global backlash and economic harm to Iran itself. But with regime change now the stated goal of the US-Israeli attacks, the cost of holding the world economy hostage might seem justified to the rulers in Tehran. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Oil prices jump as Iran conflict threatens shipping](https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-prices-climb-iran-tension-strait-hormuz-2026-03-01/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The Strait of Hormuz: Vital Energy Security Risks](https://www.iea.org/reports/strait-of-hormuz-energy-security-risks?ref=europeans.today) | IEA - ###### [Why the Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil artery](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68000000?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Global energy markets brace for Hormuz disruption](https://www.ft.com/content/energy-markets-hormuz-disruption?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [How the Iran conflict impacts global trade routes](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/2/how-the-iran-conflict-impacts-global-trade?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [Shipping giants divert vessels as Gulf tensions rise](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-01/shippers-divert-from-hormuz-strait?ref=europeans.today) | BLOOMBERG - ###### [Oil price spike looms as Iran conflict escalates](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/02/oil-price-spike-iran-conflict?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/strait-of-hormuz-if-the-iran-conflict-shuts-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-global-economic-chaos-could-follow-277199?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 2 March 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Win Nondakowit](https://www.dreamstime.com/winnond%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/277199/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 2 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/03/02/todays-papers-2-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-02T22:38:38.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000146109.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000146104.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/03/1000146108.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 28 Feb - 1 Mar 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/28/todays-papers-28-feb-1-mar-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-03T03:04:26.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000145051.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000145034.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000145042.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 27 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/27/todays-papers-27-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-27T16:29:59.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144680.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144683.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144688.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Viral ‘Red vs Blue’ posts test Britain’s resilience against disinformation URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/26/viral-red-vs-blue-posts-test-britains-resilience-against-disinformation/ Last updated: 2026-02-27T15:46:56.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 A violent “School Wars” trend has spread online about fifty London secondary schools. 🔹 Students are encouraged to use everyday items like compasses, scisors, and combs as improvised weapons. 🔹 The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Cedarfield to combat the social media incitement. 🔹 Security experts warn hostile states could amplify such unrest to cause chaos. A violent *TikTok* trend dividing London schools has sparked police action and parental fear. While no evidence links it to Moscow, Britain’s experience of Russian online destabilisation makes the suspicion hard to ignore. ##### Viral violence and fertile ground for fear More than 50 schools. At least 12 boroughs including Croydon, Bromley, Hackney, Ealing, and Greenwich. A handful of posts recently metastasised into something darker. A trend calling itself “School Wars” or “Red vs Blue” spread across *TikTok* and *Snapchat*, dividing London secondary schools into rival factions and awarding “points” for filmed assaults. The mechanics are disturbingly simple. Boroughs have been assigned colours, red or blue. Meet-ups have been proposed. Young people are being encouraged to arrive armed, not with guns, but with the everyday paraphernalia of the classroom: scissors, compasses, metal combs, rulers. Objects designed for geometry and grooming repurposed as props in a performance of violence. And knives. The *Metropolitan Police* responded with [*Operation Cedarfield*](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-school-wars-pupils-knives-7nw7jlsz0?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqe-hl3hj0sk3rGv0FEdec6RKWuUY5IToNDxlcvaf3ffOBK3SgCq5VwC&gaa%5Fts=69a0d656&gaa%5Fsig=iAXC0kUqk8J-FRGkDYpv5y0GP-kA0NSMrhwQMRVqA793-Au2arSX6gp5kmZvQWWnol4hQ%5FzayEIIwRe%5Foj5BRQ%3D%3D&ref=europeans.today), increasing patrols around schools and working to remove inciting social media accounts. Headteachers have issued warnings. Parents have flooded *WhatsApp* groups with screenshots and rumours. In some neighbourhoods, children are being kept home. There is, at the time of writing, no confirmed link between the “School Wars” trend and a hostile state, however, if such a phenomenon were to be amplified or manipulated by a hostile power, what would that look like, and what would it seek to achieve? The hidden tension lies not in proven interference, but in plausibility. Britain has spent the past decade grappling with Russian-linked disinformation, cyber attacks on hospitals and businesses, and [what *MI5* has described](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/feb/28/russia-linked-telegram-channels-offering-to-pay-for-attacks-on-mosques?ref=europeans.today) as attempts to generate “sustained mayhem on British and European streets”. In that context, a youth-driven social media panic does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in an ecosystem already primed for mistrust. To be clear, suspicion is not evidence. Cause must not be conflated with correlation. Yet the architecture of hybrid warfare is designed precisely to blur those lines. A trend may begin organically. It may then be nudged, amplified, or distorted. The question is not simply whether Russia is involved in this instance. It is whether Britain has become structurally vulnerable to the weaponisation of its own anxieties. ##### The mechanics of a modern playground war The “School Wars” posts mimicked the aesthetic of gang rivalry, borrowing loosely from American cultural tropes. “Red vs Blue” was not subtle. Nor was it sophisticated. That is partly why it spread. The format was instantly legible to teenagers steeped in meme culture and competitive online gaming. Points for fights, with filmed evidence required. Rival boroughs tagged and taunted. The algorithm’s logic did the rest. Controversy drives engagement. Engagement drives visibility. Visibility drives imitation. What transformed the posts from adolescent bravado into a public order concern was the offline translation. Police reported threats of organised confrontations in multiple boroughs. Even where violence has not materialised, fear has. That fear itself has consequences: sense of panic for the parents, anxiety for some children, heavy policing around educational institutions. Here, the distinction between online theatre and real-world harm collapses. Social media platforms are not merely mirrors of behaviour. They are amplifiers. A handful of instigators can create the perception of mass mobilisation. If a hostile state wished to exploit such a moment, it would not need to invent it. It would only need to accelerate it. Anonymous accounts could repost and inflame. Bot networks from [Russian bot farms](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-exposes-sick-russian-troll-factory-plaguing-social-media-with-kremlin-propaganda?ref=europeans.today) could [boost divisive content](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ng24pxkelo?ref=europeans.today). False rumours could then be layered on top, exaggerating the scale of violence, inventing injuries, and naming schools that were never involved. This is the logic of [accelerationism](https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/04/the-growing-threat-posed-by-accelerationism-and-accelerationist-groups-worldwide/?ref=europeans.today), a doctrine identified by *Europol* in certain extremist online communities. The aim is not to advance a coherent ideology, but to hasten social breakdown. Feed every grievance. Stoke every fear. Collapse trust in institutions. Yet it is equally important not to attribute to Moscow what can be explained by domestic dynamics. British teenagers do not require foreign direction to engage in reckless behaviour. Moral panics have long predated *TikTok*. The novelty lies in speed and scale. ##### Russia’s digital playbook in the West While no evidence ties the “School Wars” trend to the Kremlin, there is extensive evidence that Russia has used online platforms to target Western societies, including young people. Security agencies across Europe have documented [disinformation campaigns](https://www.kcl.ac.uk/russian-cyber-and-information-warfare-and-its-impact-on-the-eu-and-uk?ref=europeans.today) aimed at exploiting cultural fractures. Russian-linked accounts have [targeted young Ukrainians on *TikTok*](https://www.itv.com/news/2024-10-24/inside-the-disinformation-battlefield-for-ukraine-on-tiktok?ref=europeans.today) with anti-conscription narratives and fearmongering. In Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, children have reportedly been sent to camps where military training forms part of the curriculum, [embedding loyalty to Moscow](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz6g20dwy0wo?ref=europeans.today) from an early age. The invasion of Ukraine has been dubbed by some observers the first “[TikTok War](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/watching-the-worlds-first-tiktok-war?ref=europeans.today)”, a conflict fought not only with artillery but with algorithms. Soldiers and civilians alike have posted real-time footage. Propaganda circulates at the speed of swipes. Narrative dominance has become a strategic objective. In the UK, counter-terrorism leaders have [warned of teenagers](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dg217glveo?ref=europeans.today) as young as their mid-teens being investigated for involvement in [state-backed plots linked to Russia and Iran](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/15/children-arrested-in-investigation-of-russian-and-iranian-plots-against-uk-say-police?ref=europeans.today). The method is often indirect. Young people are recruited online, offered money, status, or a sense of belonging. They are used as proxies for vandalism, arson, or reconnaissance. *MI5*’s director general [stated](https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/war-in-ukraine-update-october-2024/?ref=europeans.today) in October 2024 that Russian intelligence was pursuing “sustained mayhem” on British and European streets. The phrase was carefully chosen. Mayhem suggests chaos for its own sake. Not necessarily a specific policy outcome, but a generalised erosion of stability. *Operation Doppelganger*, for instance, involved the [creation of fake versions of trusted news sites](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2023/06/13/doppelganger-the-russian-disinformation-campaign-denounced-by-france%5F6031227%5F13.html?ref=europeans.today) to spread disinformation. The tactic relied on mimicry. If citizens can no longer distinguish authentic reporting from fabricated narratives, trust collapses. In this context, a viral trend of youth violence becomes a potentially useful raw material. Even if not initiated by foreign actors, it can be woven into broader narratives: that Britain is lawless, that multicultural cities are ungovernable, that institutions are failing. The story needs only be nudged. ##### Panic as a strategic objective If one were to hypothesise Russian involvement in a phenomenon like “School Wars”, the objective would likely not be the fights themselves. It would be the reaction. Parents panic. Children stay home. Schools tighten security. Police divert resources. Media coverage amplifies the sense of crisis. Social cohesion frays. Fights materialise. Extremism rises. Far-right politicians demand crackdowns. Voters panic. Government collapse. Hybrid warfare thrives on overreaction. A small spark, magnified by fear, can produce disproportionate disruption. The cost to the instigator is minimal. The cost to the target society is cumulative. Britain has already experienced [Russian-linked](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/ncsc-issues-warning-over-hacktivist-groups-disrupting-uk-organisations-online-services?ref=europeans.today) cyber attacks [on hospitals](https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/21/hacked-london-nhs-hospitals-data-allegedly-published-online?ref=europeans.today) and [businesses](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-smashes-russian-cybercrime-networks-responsible-for-attacks-on-uk-businesses?ref=europeans.today). [Ransomware incidents](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd11v377eywo?ref=europeans.today) have disrupted *NHS* services, delaying appointments and operations. Corporate data breaches have eroded consumer confidence. Each incident generates headlines. Each headline chips away at the perception of resilience. The psychological dimension matters. If families begin to see threats everywhere, trust in digital spaces declines. If every viral trend is suspected of foreign manipulation, paranoia takes root. Democracies depend on a baseline of social trust. Hybrid strategies aim to corrode it. Yet proportionality is essential. Not every disturbance is a geopolitical plot. Over-attribution can be as damaging as complacency. It risks absolving domestic actors of responsibility and inflating the adversary’s power. The tension, then, is structural. Britain faces genuine hostile activity from Russia in the digital realm. At the same time, it must avoid seeing Moscow’s hand in every instance of youth disorder. ##### The responsibility of platforms and the state The “School Wars” episode exposes vulnerabilities that extend beyond geopolitics. *TikTok* and *Snapchat* are not passive conduits. Their algorithms prioritise engagement, often at the expense of social harm. Content that provokes outrage or excitement travels further. The state’s response, *Operation Cedarfield*, reflects a familiar pattern: reactive policing once online content spills into physical space. Monitoring school areas and removing inciting accounts are necessary steps. They are not sufficient. If hostile actors are indeed targeting Western youth, as intelligence agencies suggest, then digital literacy becomes a matter of national security. Teenagers must understand how manipulation works. They must recognise bot amplification, fake news clones, AI-generated disinformation, and emotionally charged bait. There is also a broader societal question. Why are young people so susceptible to trends that valorise violence? Social isolation, economic anxiety, and fractured community structures all create openings. Hostile states may exploit these fissures, but they do not create them from scratch. In that sense, focusing solely on hostile actors risks missing the deeper malaise. A society confident in its institutions, cohesive in its communities, and attentive to its youth is harder to destabilise. ##### Between vigilance and paranoia Britain is engaged, whether it wishes to be or not, in a low-grade information conflict. Its hospitals and businesses have been hacked. Its political debates have been infiltrated by disinformation. Its young people are active on platforms known to host state-linked propaganda. The unresolved tension is this: open societies rely on openness. The same digital platforms that allow creativity and connection also allow manipulation and incitement. Closing them down would betray liberal values. Leaving them unchecked invites exploitation. If “School Wars” is purely a homegrown moral panic, it is still a warning. If, at any stage, hostile actors sought to amplify it, that too would fit a documented pattern. Either way, the episode underscores a fragility. The price of apathy, as the old maxim has it, is to be ruled by evil men. The more subtle price is to be nudged, divided, and frightened without ever quite knowing by whom. Britain’s challenge is not simply to prove or disprove foreign involvement in any single viral trend. It is to strengthen democratic resilience so that even if hostile actors whisper into the algorithm, the echo finds no willing chorus. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [The four ways Putin is waging war on the UK right now](https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-four-ways-putin-is-waging-war-on-the-uk-right-now/ar-AA1WZeT0?cvid=d6fa7aee8b3048bd81ba9fa3e0c305bf&ocid=00000000&ref=europeans.today) | THE I NEWSPAPER - ###### [TikTok and Snapchat posts urge London pupils to join ‘school wars’ fights](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/feb/26/tiktok-snapchat-london-pupils-school-wars?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Russian intelligence plotting 'mayhem' in UK, MI5 chief warns](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-69022510?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Russia aiming to generate ‘mayhem’ on UK streets, says MI5 head](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/08/russia-aiming-to-generate-mayhem-on-uk-streets-says-mi5-head?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [UK spy chief warns of 'sustained mayhem' from Russian intelligence](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/uk-security-service-chief-warns-russia-iran-threats-2024-10-08/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Russia plotting ‘sustained mayhem’ on British streets, warns MI5](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/08/russia-plotting-sustained-mayhem-on-british-streets-mi5/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [How Russia is using proxies to carry out arson and sabotage in UK](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mi5-russia-mayhem-uk-threat-b2625807.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [European intelligence agencies warn of Russian sabotage plots](https://www.ft.com/content/13816e88-0679-4592-88f5-467645f7397b?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [MI5 head warns of 'reckless' Russian sabotage campaign](https://www.sky.com/story/mi5-head-warns-of-russian-and-iranian-plots-on-uk-soil-13230113?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 26 February 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 26 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/26/todays-papers-26-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-26T22:55:56.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144198.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144200.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144397.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 25 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/25/todays-papers-25-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-25T23:45:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144018.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144024.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000144028.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Ignoring the fear of Bad Bunny is self-destructive to American Democracy URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/24/ignoring-the-fear-of-bad-bunny-is-self-destructive-to-american-democracy/ Last updated: 2026-02-24T13:44:10.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 White Americans are facing a demographic shift toward minority status by 2045\. 🔹 This transition creates non-racist anxiety regarding future cultural rejection and retaliation. 🔹 Market-driven capitalism is already adapting to the emerging non-white majority population. 🔹 Leaders must address these fears to protect democracy from autocratic movements. R ev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Fear is a powerfully creative force. The fear of ignorance leads to education. Every saving invention and every intellectual advance has behind it, as a part of its motivation, the desire to avoid or escape some dreaded thing. So the difficulty of our problem is that we are not to get rid of fear altogether, but we must harness it and master it. Like fire, it is a useful and necessary servant, but a ruinous master. It is fear when it becomes terror, panic, and chronic anxiety that we must seek to eliminate. Of basic importance in mastering fear is the need of getting out in the open, the object of our fear, and frankly facing it. Human life is full of secret fears. A further step in mastering fear is to remember that it always involves the misuse of the imagination”. American Whites, some consciously, others unconsciously, have created, with no assistance from any other race or ethnicity, a fear trap that is increasingly dominating their logic, politics, and most importantly, their self-awareness. While it’s true this fear conundrum is one of American White’s own design, it’s also true that all other Americans who are not Americans of the white color do great harm to themselves and American democracy, by simply adopting the attitude that since American Whites created the fear trap they are now trapped in its up to them, not other non-white colored Americans, to free themselves of it. American Whites, most consciously, and others unconsciously, created an American society that dictated that if you were a white colored American with roots from the western European countries of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, or the northern European countries of Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden you were a true American. And if you were a white colored American with roots from the southern European country of Italy or the northern European country of Ireland, you were a second-class American. Eventually, with the passage of time and the assimilation of more and more Italians and Irish into American society, they gained true first-class American status. All other non-white colored citizens of America, including the first people known to inhabit America, Native Americans, or those with roots from Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Alaska, were considered to be not true Americans of any class. Colored people from America (Native Americans), Africa, and Asia were considered sub-human, with American Whites refusing to recognize any land ownership rights of any land first occupied by light brown colored Native Americans, with deep-brown colored people from Africa legally enslaved in America until 1865 and the passage of the 13th Amendment to the American Constitution, but then subjected to legal Jim Crow racial discrimination until the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And with colored people from Japan, considered to be yellow by American White racist classifications, like people of the Jewish faith in Adolf Hitler’s Germany, being locked up in concentration camps during World War II because of their Japanese ethnicity, despite being legal American citizens. For the last 250 years, American Whites have outnumbered, as the majority population in America, all American Natives, all American Blacks or all American Africans, all American Hispanics all American Asians, all American Caribbeans, all American Hawaiians, and all American Native Alaskans, meaning all these non-white colored American citizens combined as one population group, have constituted for the last 250 years the minority population in America. They are also the same minority population for the last 250 years that have been traditionally branded by many American Whites as the not-true Americans within American society. Now, according to the *U.S. Census Bureau* data, the same American minority population that has shared for the last 250 years the unifying cultural characteristic of being branded as not-true Americans, 19 years from now, 2045, will become the new majority population of America. But based on the same *U.S. Census Bureau* data, which shows that between 2010 and 2020, the multiracial population in America grew 276 percent, due in part to the fact that American Whites who traditionally have self-identified as racially white are now self-identifying as multiracial, it’s possible the new majority population could emerge at any point from 2035 to 2045. Since the reality in America has been that those considered to be not-true Americans don’t see themselves reflected in traditional American history, they were forced, with the acceptance and encouragement of American Whites, to create separate and alternative ways within American society to see themselves reflected in American society. Hence, Black History Month (BHM) (February), Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) (September 15 to October 15), and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month (May). This forced creation of alternative ways for those considered to be not true Americans, to see themselves reflected in American society, is beginning to backfire and spook many American Whites, as they see the forced creation take its natural and non-political place in America’s one-person-one-vote-counted majority rule democracy. Since most deep-brown colored people (American Blacks), not all, who came to America in the 1600s were initially taken hostage in Africa, and forced against their will to come to America as slaves, were intentionally separated from their fellow tribe members upon arrival in America, in an attempt to prevent Africans who shared the same language and culture from organizing with each other to gain their freedom or rebel against white supremacy, or to pass down their language and culture to the next generation, and then were denied the ability to learn to read and write the English language, created a scenario where the offspring of the first generation of slaves had no knowledge of what country in Africa they were captured from, and no knowledge of their native language or culture. So when American Blacks were forced to create Black History Month, they had no choice but to uplift literally only the achievements accomplished by American Blacks in and on American soil that were not acknowledged in America’s history. Unlike American Blacks, American Hispanics either migrated to America by free will choice or were already living in territories annexed into America. So when American Hispanics, who, like American Blacks, are considered not true Americans, were forced to follow the lead of American Blacks and create Hispanic Heritage Month, they had both the knowledge of and the option to uplift foreign societies that reflect and respect Hispanic humanity. This knowledge of their international culture enables American Hispanics to create and celebrate a history that reflects their identity, since traditional homegrown American history and society will not. That’s why September 15th of Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) uplifts and celebrates the independence days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. September 16th, Mexico’s independence, Sept. 18th, Chile’s independence, and Sept. 21st, Belize’s independence. Technically, while these are very noteworthy independence achievements, none of these independence celebrations is a part of American history or American society because none occurred on American soil, but one’s self-esteem, one’s self-respect, and one’s desire for societal norms to reflect one’s self, like flowing water, will seek its own level wherever it can be found. In other words, if American society does not acknowledge one’s Hispanic heritage as true American, then one’s forced alternative Hispanic celebrations and uplift of American Hispanic heritage will include in its celebrations and uplift of American Hispanic history and culture, celebrations and uplift of another foreign society’s history and culture that do acknowledge one’s Hispanic heritage. This alternative reflection of one’s own American history and culture, by all those considered to be not true Americans, was thought to be a great compromise and a good bargain by many American Whites until now!!! Their thinking was YES, let them create and celebrate their version of fake American history and culture because, as the majority population, we, American Whites, ultimately dictate what’s real American history and culture. Based on the principles of non-racial one-person-one-vote-majority rule and market-driven capitalism, there is both logic and truth in what American Whites thought was a great compromise and a good bargain. The problem now for many American Whites is that, as racial and cultural demographic change in America is starting to occur and American Whites are slowly losing their majority population status, the principles of one-person-one-vote majority rule and market-driven capitalism are also beginning to occur. For instance, due to market-driven capitalism’s recognition that there will no longer be any racial majority in America’s near future, mixed-race and same sex TV commercials are now commonplace in America, and Hispanic-language TV commercials are no longer limited to airing only on *Telemundo* or *Univision* networks; they are now airing on what many American Whites consider English-only mainstream networks. Although many American Whites, for decades, have attended and enjoyed operas performed in European languages they could not understand until technology made subtitles possible, no complaints from American Whites were raised because the foreign language was European; now many of those opera-attending American Whites are offended by a Hispanic-language-only Super Bowl halftime show, because they feel the Hispanic language is the language of those who are not true Americans. The American advertising community, English-only mainstream TV networks, and the *National Football League* (*NFL*) are not in any way putting their fingers on the scale to determine what is or what is not true American culture; they each are simply following the principle of American market-driven capitalism, which is to cater to a new emerging market with the goal of capturing its dollars!!! This is the fear trap many American Whites find themselves trapped in. For decades, many American Whites have encouraged the creation of what they considered a separate stand alone not true American culture as a way of maintaining what they consider pure, authentic European American culture. Now they are seeing evidence that one-person-one-vote-majority rule and free market-driven capitalism can replace what they consider traditional American culture, with a culture they consider to be not true American culture. They are also confronting the reality that a traditional culture, which has rejected a minority class of people in America’s past and present, that same traditional culture may itself be rejected by the same class of minority people, who become the majority population, in America’s future. As Dr. King philosophized, “Human life is full of secret fears. A further step in mastering fear is to remember that it always involves the misuse of the imagination”. In other words, American Whites fear that America’s new population majority of non-white colored citizens will have the one-person-one-vote majority rule political power and the majority population free market-driven economic power, to designate the current culture that many American Whites consider true American, as obsolete, or as racist, or as not inclusive, or as not true American, or as, God forbid, a combination of all the above!!! All non-white colored Americans, all Democrats, all Independents, and all non-MAGA Republicans who ignore this fear or anxiety, ignore the fear or anxiety that Bad Bunny unfairly and unjustly represents, or brand the fear or anxiety that many American Whites themselves have created as racism, do so at the peril of American democracy and the creation of American autocracy, hence DONALD JOHN TRUMP!!! So far, President Trump is the only political leader addressing the fear or anxiety generated within many American Whites over the coming American population reality, that American Whites will transition from being the majority population in America to being the largest minority population in America. Unfortunately for the future stability of American democracy or fortunately for the potential creation of future American autocracy, he is only addressing the fear of the 10-15% of American Whites, who have white nationalist Great Replacement Theory racist feelings, about American Whites losing their majority population status. Equally unfortunate for the future stability of American democracy or fortunately for the potential creation of future American autocracy, no other political leader, be they Democrat, Independent, or non-MAGA Republican, is addressing the anxiety or fear of the 90-85% of American Whites, who don’t have racist feelings about population change, and many who voted twice for Barack Obama, making his election as America’s first American Black President a historic fact. Right or wrong, but more importantly, factually, Bad Bunny performing a segment of America’s most popular sport, a sport created in America by Americans, a sport traditionally played only in America, in a language that most American Whites can’t understand, is a fear or anxiety sign to many American Whites of potential future cultural rejection, potential future cultural retaliation, or potential future cultural replacement by a new definite future cultural majority. Does this mean Bad Bunny should have performed the Super Bowl halftime show in English? No, it does not!!! But what it does mean, is in an American political environment where legitimate questions are now being raised about how to address and rectify America’s 188 years of past legalized racial, religious, and gender discrimination, before the United States became a true democracy with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, there must be initiatives that allow the many American Whites who do not have racist feelings about population change but are experiencing fear or anxiety over it, to express their fear or anxiety free of racist branding, and there must be initiatives that communicate, to American Whites, that Bad Bunny is simply an addition in and to American society and not a replacement in or of traditional American society. As Dr. King also philosophized, “Of basic importance in mastering fear is the need of getting out in the open, the object of our fear, and frankly facing it”. Recognizing that foreign languages spoken in America are a racist hot-button issue for MAGA Republicans, President Trump campaigned in 2024, saying, “We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language. These are languages; it’s the craziest thing, they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing”. After being sworn in 2025 as President, he signed a non-binding executive order designating English as America’s official language. There are non-racist American Whites who had no problem with, and even enjoyed, this year’s *NFL* American Hispanic language-only halftime show, but do experience anxiety over what the ramifications may be with the fact that America’s future largest ethnic group, in a one-person-one-vote majority rule nation, will speak a second non-english language. Democrats, Independents, and non-MAGA Republicans should go one step further than President Trump. They should all sponsor an initiative for the U.S. House and Senate to pass a law making English the official language of America. It would accomplish two important things: 1) In an America that grows more multicultural each day, the English language becomes the common trait easily attainable by all, which binds all Americans, regardless of their cultural heritage, together culturally. 2) It would assure any Americans experiencing anxiety over racial and ethnic population change in America that cultural norms, such as the language Americans speak, would remain the same regardless of what race or ethnicity is in the majority, and regardless of what language a Super Bowl halftime show is performed in. Another initiative that would unite all of America and reduce anxiety over population change would be to change how Americans refer to themselves. Every day, Americans consciously and unconsciously engage in a practice that consistently erects barriers of separation between American citizens. The barriers of separation are erected by how Americans refer to themselves e.g., Italian American, British American, Polish American, African American or Black American, White American, etc. Putting emphasis consciously and unconsciously on what divides or distinguishes us culturally or racially from one another, first, as opposed to American White, American Italian, American British, American Polish, American Black, or for others, American African. Putting emphasis consciously and unconsciously, first, on the cultural and democratic philosophical commonality that unites all Americans, American citizenship. 3 scientific studies of both American Whites and Canadian Whites, a study of American Whites led by Professor Maureen Craig of *Duke University*, a study of American Whites led by Professor Amy Krosch of *Cornell University*, and a study of Canadian Whites led by Professor H. Robert Outten of *Trinity College*, all concluded and proved that as the white colored population decreases and the non-white colored population increases, it creates great non-racist anxiety among both American Whites and Canadian Whites. All 3 studies demonstrate that the anxiety is not the traditional racial prejudice, of white colored people fearing the end of society because inferior or sub-human non-white colored people are becoming the majority population. Both American studies reveal that the American White anxiety is over how a new non-white colored people majority in America will racially treat the new American White minority population. Considering the past American 188-year history of the color of one’s skin, the religious faith one believes, one’s gender, and one’s sexual orientation, being the master of one’s fate in America, it makes logical non-racist sense that there would be American White anxiety, or fear, over how losing majority population status in America would impact them as a race and as individuals. President Trump has run for President three times, and although he lost one of the times, each time he ran for President, his share of American Whites who voted for him increased each time, not decreased, and the vast majority of increased votes came from American Whites who voted for Barack Obama. His campaign messages were racist-simple, “American Whites, I am your protector against racial population change in America, only I am willing to make America great again by keeping America majority white”. Since he was the only one who even attempted to address American White fear or anxiety over population change in America, the non-racist American Whites who once voted for Obama held their nose and voted for Trump. Democrats, Independents, and non-MAGA Republicans who continue to ignore the fear or anxiety generated by demographic population change in America do so at the peril of American democracy, do so at the potential creation of American autocracy, and do so at their continued loss of national elections. But unlike President Trump’s politics and policies, which evoke the negative emotional and psychological fear or anxiety of cultural exclusion due to racial and cultural population change. Democrats’, Independents’, and non-MAGA Republicans’ politics and policies must evoke the positive emotional and psychological hope of all cultural inclusion due to racial and cultural population change. Continuing to ignore or denigrate the fear or anxiety Bad Bunny represents will mean increasing numbers of non-racist American Whites, fearing cultural retaliation, cultural rejection, and cultural replacement, will hold their noses, suppress their misgivings over the economy, suppress their misgivings over the mistreatment of law-abiding undocumented immigrants, ignore what they know in their hearts to be un-American, and vote MAGA in 2028 even if when Donald Trump is not on the ballot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Public Anticipation of a Majority-Nonwhite Population](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/03/21/public-anticipation-of-a-majority-nonwhite-population-in-the-u-s/?ref=europeans.today) | PEW RESEARCH CENTER - ###### [Improved Race and Ethnicity Measures Reveal Multiracial Growth](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html?ref=europeans.today) | U.S. CENSUS BUREAU - ###### [How Trump Appeals to the Fears of White Voters](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/us/politics/trump-white-voters-demographics.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [The 2020 Census and the Fear of a White Minority](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/08/2020-census-white-population-decline/619741/?ref=europeans.today) | THE ATLANTIC - ###### [US Census: White population declines for first time](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58193671?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The US will become minority white in 2045](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects/?ref=europeans.today) | BROOKINGS INSTITUTION - ###### [Demographic shifts fuel anxiety among white Americans](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/demographic-shifts-fuel-anxiety-among-white-americans-2024-05-15/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Isaac Newton Farris Jr](https://isaacnewtonfarris.com/ignoring-the-fear-of-bad-bunny-is-self-destructive-to-american-democracy/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 24 February 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[CPenler](https://www.dreamstime.com/cpenler%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 24 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/24/todays-papers-24-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-24T11:55:02.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000143082.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000143331.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000143336.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/23/todays-papers-23-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-24T01:48:13.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000142609.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000142605.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000142600.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 21-22 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/22/this-weekends-papers-21-22-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-23T02:45:31.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000142596.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### UK’s new passport rules for dual citizens are a result of border control in the digital age URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/20/uks-new-passport-rules-for-dual-citizens-are-a-result-of-border-control-in-the-digital-age/ Last updated: 2026-02-20T16:23:23.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Dual citizens must use British passports for UK entry from 25 February 2026\. 🔹 Digital border systems struggle to accommodate the complexity of transnational life. 🔹 The number of dual British-EU citizens rose significantly following the Brexit vote. 🔹 New rules create bureaucratic friction for families and those living abroad. F rom 25 February 2026, most dual British citizens will need to use a British passport to travel to the UK. Presenting only a non-British passport will no longer be sufficient for boarding flights or ferries, unless it carries a certificate **(costing £589)** that confirms right of abode. [The rule](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/13/dual-nationals-denied-entry-to-uk-british-passport-border-control?ref=europeans.today) was introduced to align dual nationals with the UK’s new electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system and to prevent confusion in border checks. In legal terms, nothing fundamental has changed. [British citizens](https://theconversation.com/topics/british-citizenship-32003?ref=europeans.today) still have the right to enter and live in the UK. But in practice, the way that right must be demonstrated has shifted. And that shift tells us something important about how citizenship is being reshaped in the digital age. Over the past three decades, dual citizenship has become widely accepted internationally. In 1990, fewer than a third of countries allowed dual nationality in cases of naturalisation. By 2016, roughly [three-quarters did](https://academic.oup.com/migration/article/7/3/362/5488849?ref=europeans.today). This change reflected globalisation. As populations became more mobile, states adapted. Migrants often maintain attachments to more than one country. Dual citizenship is a pragmatic recognition of that reality, allowing people to belong in more than one place without forcing an exclusive choice. According to the *ONS* [2021 census](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/dualcitizenslivinginenglandandwales/census2021?ref=europeans.today), 1.2% of UK-born residents (587,600) were dual citizens with another country, rising from 0.5% in 2011 (231,600). For non-UK-born residents, 6.5% were dual citizens with the UK in 2021 (648,700), up from 5.1% in 2011 (381,200). The rise reflects broader demographic change, but it also coincided with Brexit. The number of people holding both British and EU passports increased significantly between 2011 and 2021, suggesting that many UK residents sought to retain EU citizenship protections as the UK left the EU, while some EU residents acquired British citizenship to preserve unrestricted access to the UK. In other words, dual citizenship in the UK today includes longstanding migrant and diasporic communities, but also a growing cohort shaped by recent geopolitical change. ##### Digital borders The UK’s [new passport rule](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/13/dual-nationals-denied-entry-to-uk-british-passport-border-control?ref=europeans.today) does not mean the country is less tolerant of dual citizens. But it is a consequence of borders becoming more digitised in recent years. Borders today are not confined to passport control desks. They operate through airline check-in systems, pre-travel authorisations, biometric databases and algorithmic risk assessments. Airlines are required to confirm eligibility before boarding. Digital systems match names, dates of birth and passport numbers against centralised records. Such systems prioritise coherence and consistency, aiming to eliminate ambiguity. But dual citizenship, and transnational life more broadly, produce precisely the kind of complexity that digital systems struggle to accommodate. Names may differ across jurisdictions. Marriage can produce surname changes in one country but not another. Accent marks may appear in one passport and not in its transliteration. Children born abroad may be citizens by descent but have never held a British passport. There is little room for discretion when border checks are digitised. The administrative solution is to use the British passport when entering Britain. Yet this is not always straightforward. Some dual citizens born abroad have never needed a British passport and must now apply for one in order to travel. Others may consider renouncing British citizenship to avoid the administrative burden — but this option is not available to underage dual citizens. Dual citizens are not a homogeneous group. They include naturalised migrants who have retained their original nationality; British-born citizens who later acquired another citizenship through residence or marriage; children of mixed-nationality families; foreign-born children of British emigrants who are citizens by descent; and members of long-established Commonwealth communities whose plural affiliations are a result of British imperial history. For some, the new rule simply means ensuring that their British passport is valid. For others — particularly families living abroad who have never needed a British passport for their children — it introduces an unexpected bureaucratic step. This is where borders intersect with inequality. Families with easy access to consular services, financial resources and familiarity with UK administrative systems can adapt quickly. Those living further from British bureaucratic infrastructure face greater friction. The UK’s passport requirement is being introduced during a wider political moment in which states are exerting tighter control over citizenship. In the US, Donald Trump’s administration pledged to restrict birthright citizenship and expand the state’s power to remove citizenship. In a number of countries, citizenship revocation powers have disproportionately targeted dual nationals, precisely because removing citizenship from mono-nationals would breach international law by rendering them stateless. What we may be witnessing is not the retreat of dual citizenship, but its transformation. It remains widely tolerated. Yet it is increasingly bureaucratically policed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/0000652b.jpg) Border control looks different in the digital age. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) The cumulative effect is subtle but significant. Citizenship is no longer just a legal status secured once and for all. It must remain legible to digital border systems and be [continuously probed](https://theconversation.com/labours-plan-for-migrants-to-earn-permanent-residency-turns-belonging-into-an-endless-exam-266382?ref=europeans.today) through interconnected databases. Dual citizenship emerged as recognition that identities and attachments can be layered. Digital borders, by contrast, favour clarity and singular representation. This tension is unlikely to disappear. The UK’s move signals how, in an era of digital borders and geopolitical uncertainty, the lived experience of citizenship is being reshaped — not through headline constitutional change, but through the quiet reorganisation of administrative systems. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Dual nationals could use expired UK passports to prove they are British, Home Office says](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/19/dual-nationals-expired-uk-passports-prove-british-home-office?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA): information for dual nationals](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-travel-authorisation-eta-information-for-dual-nationals?ref=europeans.today) | GOV.UK - ###### [Dual nationals could be denied entry to UK under new passport rules](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/13/dual-nationals-denied-entry-to-uk-british-passport-border-control?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [What is the UK's Electronic Travel Authorisation?](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67500000?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [New UK border rules 'discriminatory' against dual national women](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/passport-rules-uk-dual-nationals-b2490000.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [The rise and rise of the dual citizen](https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/01/11/the-rise-and-rise-of-the-dual-citizen?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [UK to require digital travel authorisation for all visitors](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-tightens-border-controls-with-new-digital-travel-authorisation-2024-09-10/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Digital borders: the technology reshaping global travel](https://www.ft.com/content/09043598-6932-4d04-8991-096738993888?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/uks-new-passport-rules-for-dual-citizens-are-a-result-of-border-control-in-the-digital-age-276300?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Mykhailo Polenok](https://www.dreamstime.com/mehaniq%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/276300/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 20 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/20/todays-papers-20-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-20T12:47:46.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141699.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141685.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141688.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Why was Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested, and what legal protections do the royal family have? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/19/why-was-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-arrested-and-what-legal-protections-do-the-royal-family-have/ Last updated: 2026-02-20T00:30:04.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested for suspected misconduct in public office. 🔹 The arrest follows the release of files concerning Jeffrey Epstein. 🔹 Police are investigating claims he shared official information as trade envoy. 🔹 Mountbatten-Windsor has since been released under investigation. A ndrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on Thursday morning. The arrest comes after the US government released files that appeared to indicate “he had shared official information with financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a trade envoy for the UK.” But the police have not given details of exactly what they are investigating. It is important to be clear that the arrest is not related to accusations of sexual assault or misconduct. In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor reached a settlement with the late Virginia Giuffre for an undisclosed sum that did not include an admission of liability. Being named in the Epstein files is not an indication of misconduct. Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied any wrongdoing in his association with Epstein and and has previously rejected any suggestion he used his time as trade envoy to further his own interests. ##### What was Mountbatten-Windsor’s official role and why did he lose it? In 2001, Tony Blair’s government made the then-prince the UK’s special representative for trade and investment. According to the *BBC* at the time, his remit was to “promote UK business internationally, market the UK to potential inward investors, and build relationships in support of UK business interests.” He did not receive a salary, but he did go on hundreds of trips to promote British businesses. Members of the royal family are often deployed by the government on international missions to promote trade. When negotiating with other countries, particularly those which are also monarchies, sending a prominent figure like a royal may help seal the deal. Indeed, the then-government claimed that the former Duke of York’s “unique position gives him unrivalled access to members of royal families, heads of state, government ministers and chief executives of companies.” It is not unusual for members of the royal family to be deployed by the government for diplomatic missions. Royals often host incoming state visits and lead similar visits abroad, and can be deployed to lead delegations on more specific missions. However, Mountbatten-Windsor had an official role as trade envoy. He stepped down from this role in 2011 following reports about his friendship with Epstein, who was convicted of sex offences in 2011. ##### Are royals protected from prosecution? The monarch is protected by sovereign immunity, a wide-ranging constitutional principle exempting him from all criminal and civil liability. According to the leading 19th century constitutionalist Alfred Dicey, the monarch could not even be prosecuted for “shooting the Prime Minister through the head.” The Prince of Wales also enjoys immunity as Duke of Cornwall, which protects him from punishment for breaking a range of laws. The State Immunity Act 1978, which confers immunity on the head of state, also extends to “members of the family forming part of the household.” However, this phrase has been interpreted narrowly to apply to a very tight circle of people and does not appear to apply to the monarch’s children in general. For example, in 2002 *Princess Anne* was prosecuted (though not arrested) for failing to control her dogs in Windsor Great Park after they bit two children. Nevertheless, there has often been a perception that members of the royal family are held to a different standard when it comes to the law. In 2016 Thames Valley Police were criticised by anti-monarchy groups for not prosecuting the then-prince after newspaper reports alleged he had driven his car through the gates of Windsor Great Park. In 2019 the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute Prince Philip for causing a car crash which injured two people. The monarch also cannot be compelled to give evidence in court. For example, prosecutors were unable to summon the late queen to give evidence in the trial of Princess Diana’s former butler, who was accused of stealing her jewellery. In response to Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, the King said: “What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation. Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.” ##### When was the last time a royal was arrested? You have to go back quite a long way to find the last time that a member of the British royal family was arrested. This was during the English civil war, when Charles I was taken prisoner for treason before being found guilty and ultimately executed in 1649. A number of royals, including *Princess Anne*, have committed driving-related offences, including speeding. But this arrest makes Mountbatten-Windsor the first member of the royal family to be arrested in modern times, though it should be noted that he is no longer a royal – he was stripped of all his official titles in October 2025 as his friendship with Epstein came under even more scrutiny. ##### What limits do police have on investigating royal estates? Sovereign immunity also prevents police from entering private royal estates to investigate alleged crimes without permission. This can, theoretically, protect members of the royal family from arrest and prosecution. The Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Act 2017 also bans police from searching royal estates for stolen or looted artefacts. In 2007, two hen harriers were illegally shot at Sandringham estate. However, Norfolk Police first needed to ask Sandringham officials for permission to enter the estate, by which time the dead birds’ bodies had been removed. Police questioned Prince Harry, but did not bring charges. Other incidents have allegedly led to Sandringham being accused of becoming a wildlife crime hotspot, with at least 18 reported cases of suspected wildlife offences taking place between 2003-23 – yet only one resulting in prosecution. Another longstanding legal precedent is that no one may be arrested in the presence of the monarch or within the precincts of a royal palace. It was thought that this rule could protect other members of the royal family and royal employees. However, Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest at Sandringham suggests that this antiquated principle may no longer hold true today. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Prince Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/19/prince-andrew-arrested-misconduct-public-office?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Prince Andrew arrested over Epstein document allegations](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gp8818p3yo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Prince Andrew arrested at Sandringham](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2026/02/19/prince-andrew-arrest-sandringham-misconduct-epstein/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [What is misconduct in public office? The charge facing Prince Andrew](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prince-andrew-arrest-misconduct-public-office-b2500000.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Prince Andrew arrested over official secrets claims in Epstein files](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-andrew-arrested-at-sandringham-over-epstein-files-9z8f7q2xw?ref=europeans.today) | THE TIMES - ###### [UK police arrest Prince Andrew for misconduct in public office](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-police-arrest-prince-andrew-misconduct-public-office-2026-02-19/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Prince Andrew arrested: Everything we know so far](https://www.skynews.com/story/prince-andrew-arrested-everything-we-know-so-far-13075000?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-has-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-been-arrested-and-what-legal-protections-do-the-royal-family-have-276466?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 19 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[FluffTheCat](https://www.dreamstime.com/fluffthecat%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). Billboard poster in Shoreditch High Street, London, UK. 24-May-2020\. --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/276466/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Reform has been warned that defecting Tories will damage its brand – and the first evidence is in URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/19/reform-has-been-warned-that-defecting-tories-will-damage-its-brand-and-the-first-evidence-is-in/ Last updated: 2026-02-20T01:10:12.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Conservative defections to Reform UK raise questions about the party’s brand identity. 🔹 Many voters now see Reform and Conservatives as increasingly similar parties. 🔹 Over a fifth of Tory voters view Reform more favourably after defections. 🔹 Reform risks alienating existing supporters who seek a radical, non-mainstream alternative. S ince Reform UK took in several high-profile Conservative defectors in the space of a few weeks, a debate has arisen about whether these new recruits benefit or harm Nigel Farage’s party. Some suggest that the loss of Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick, among others, [hastens the demise](https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-insider/72115/the-psychology-of-reform-defections-nadhim-zahawi?ref=europeans.today) of the Conservative party, to Reform’s benefit. But there’s also the risk that in embracing high-profile Conservatives, [Reform is tying its image](https://theconversation.com/suella-braverman-defects-is-reform-becoming-a-magnet-for-tory-baggage-274344?ref=europeans.today) to the unpopular government they once represented. Apparently there is danger for Farage in becoming “Tory party 2.0” – a new version of the same party the electorate roundly rejected in 2024. Polling since the defections should indeed give Farage some pause here. [Recent figures from *YouGov*](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2026/01/27/09162/2?utm%5Fcontent=stories&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fsource=yougov%5Fdaily%5Fuk&utm%5Fcampaign=tuesday-27-01-2026) show that significantly fewer people now see Reform and the Conservatives as all that different from each other. The proportion who see the parties as different has fallen by ten percentage points since September. Polling [also shows](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2026/01/27/09162/1?ref=europeans.today) that 63% of Labour voters 67% of Liberal Democrat voters and 64% of Green voters didn’t like Reform anyway and therefore haven’t changed their opinions about the party since the defections. No surprises there. Conservatives are the only group for whom this is not a majority position. As a percentage, the group of Conservative voters whose negative opinion of Reform UK remains unchanged is about half that of other parties. That’s partly because a bigger chunk of Conservative voters are positive about Reform UK in general. Almost a quarter say they were already, and remain, positive about Reform, compared to around 5% for supporters of other parties. But it’s also because the defections have had a much bigger effect on Conservative voters. While the proportion whose opinion has worsened is similar to other parties, over a fifth of Conservatives say they now have a more favourable view of Reform as a result of the defections. Negligible numbers of other parties’ supporters feel that way. That the Conservatives stand out here matters. If Reform is going to push past its recent plateau in the polls, it will mostly likely be by winning over more Conservative voters. And if “Tory party 2.0” is likely to appeal to anyone, it’s Tory voters. As political scientists have been arguing for a while, Reform is not going to win over many people who currently intend to vote Labour, Liberal Democrat, or Green. Those voters are in the so-called “left bloc”. Reform and the Conservatives form the “right bloc”. Voters rarely move between blocs; they move within them. This bloc structure suggests that Reform needs two things to work in its favour. First, it needs to look more viable than the Conservatives. If voters can’t tell which of the two has a better chance of forming a government, it becomes harder to unite behind either. Second, Reform needs enough right-bloc voters’ preference for the Conservatives to be weak enough that they would consider switching to Reform in a pinch. The defections help on both fronts. High-profile Conservatives moving to Reform make it look like those politicians see Reform as a viable route into government. On the preference side, the defections are improving more Conservatives’ opinions of Reform than they are worsening. Conservatives are also coming to see the two parties as less different, and that is just as plausibly a good thing as a bad thing for Reform. If Reform looks closer to a party they already like, Conservative voters may have fewer qualms about switching. But the risk here is that potential Reform voters will be turned off. And indeed, 17% of Reform supporters say the defections have made them more negative about the party – the highest figure for any party’s supporters. Reform has done especially well at attracting people who did not vote at all in 2024\. No surprise there: the arrival of a radical right-wing challenger party has been shown to boost turnout by mobilising voters who feel their views are not represented by the mainstream. Another risk is that these voters may be more prone to disengaging again if Reform starts to look too much like part of the traditional party system. Both theory and evidence suggest that when parties are too similar, voters are less likely to turn out as the perceived difference made by their vote reduces. Populist parties are especially vulnerable here because their voters tend to share a common disillusionment about democracy with non-voters. Coming to look ever more like “Tory party 2.0” might not dent Reform’s chances of bringing Tory voters on board. But it does risk disenchanting people who were on board before, when they looked like something completely different from the status quo – or those yet to be convinced of voting at all in the next election. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Who is defecting to Reform UK?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7022p1n1nvo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Reform UK's polling surge and the Tory response](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/10/reform-uk-polls-conservative-voters?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [How Reform UK and Conservative voters compare](https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51555-how-do-reform-uk-and-conservative-voters-compare?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV - ###### [Can Reform UK really replace the Tories?](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-reform-uk-really-replace-the-tories/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR - ###### [Nigel Farage’s plan to professionalise Reform UK](https://www.ft.com/content/0969766d-749e-4a6c-9f6c-679998888b64?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Farage predicts more Tory defections](https://news.sky.com/story/reform-uk-leader-nigel-farage-predicts-more-tory-defections-13312456?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [The impact of Tory defectors on Reform brand](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-uk-tory-defections-farage-b2589021.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/reform-has-been-warned-that-defecting-tories-will-damage-its-brand-and-the-first-evidence-is-in-275201?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 19 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[House of Commons](https://www.flickr.com/photos/uk%5Fparliament/55090664070/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/275201/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 19 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/19/todays-papers-19-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T22:39:27.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141365.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141351.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141353.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 18 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/18/todays-papers-18-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T03:11:33.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141286.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141279.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000141290.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 17 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/17/todays-papers-17-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-17T14:45:08.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000140480.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000140479.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000140473.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 16 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/16/todays-papers-16-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-17T11:12:23.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000140419.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000140418.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000140415.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 14-15 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/14/this-weekends-papers-14-15-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-17T11:10:12.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000139201.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138846.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138837.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### What should Keir Starmer do about Wes Streeting? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/12/what-should-keir-starmer-do-about-wes-streeting/ Last updated: 2026-02-12T11:54:42.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Keir Starmer must decide how to handle health secretary Wes Streeting. 🔹 Streeting is viewed as a prominent contender to replace the Prime Minister. 🔹 Corporate tournament theory suggests rivals often battle for the top position. 🔹 Effective leaders should delegate tasks to talented people through distributed leadership. H aving survived what looked a lot like a coup attempt, Prime Minister Keir Starmer now needs to decide how to move forward. One of the biggest problems in the immediate term is what to do with his health secretary, Wes Streeting. Streeting has long been named as a contender to replace Starmer – and has made no secret of his [personal ambitions](https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15793/9781800183186?ref=europeans.today). Like every other cabinet minister, he made a statement in support of Starmer after the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar [publicly called](https://theconversation.com/anas-sarwar-why-did-the-leader-of-scottish-labour-call-for-keir-starmers-resignation-and-has-the-move-backfired-275504?ref=europeans.today) for his resignation. However, Streeting’s has been singled out for its tepid tone. Now Starmer has a man who openly wants his job in his top team at a moment when he is trying to steady the ship. Might the PM find some inspiration about what to do from the private sector? There is an old joke in the corporate world which states that when you take over as a new chief executive, your first task is to search the business high and low to find your natural successor – and then destroy them. That is one (bleak) view of the rat race, or what is sometimes called “tournament theory,” the acknowledgement that within organisations there will always be [a battle to get to the top.](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206313498902?ref=europeans.today) A more far-sighted approach to succession planning would look different. It would involve making sure that a range of senior people are developing their skills and experience, ready to take on the top job when it becomes vacant, as it inevitably will do some day. Ideally a company’s succession plan should contain a list with more than just one name on it. In Westminster, however, discussions over the future leadership of the country are rather less dignified and rather more frenzied. Politics and business are different. This is a tournament all right, but the rules are less than clear. And they are subject to sudden change. Leadership in the political world is a far cry from what we call leadership in businesses and organisations. Starmer, it seems, has survived a perilous moment. Still, as they say in Scotland, his coat is hanging on a shoogly nail. Starmer looks around his top team, the cabinet, and sees several potential rivals staring back at him. Streeting denies that he is plotting to challenge Starmer, but few in Westminster believe him. A bad result in the byelection in Gorton and Denton this month or a collapse in support for Labour in the May local elections and Scottish parliamentary and Welsh Senedd elections, could prove the trigger for Streeting to act. How should a leader look on the threat of a close colleague who is also a rival? Few are as generous or imaginative as Abraham Lincoln, who famously brought defeated candidates for the US presidency into his cabinet, as described by the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book [“Team of Rivals”](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/175457/team-of-rivals-by-doris-kearns-goodwin/9780141043722?ref=europeans.today). Tony Blair survived as prime minister for ten years with his closest rival, Gordon Brown, at his side the whole time. Blair used to say, with apparent nonchalance, that it was not an “ignoble ambition” for Brown to want to succeed him. Blair seemed to hope, however, that another candidate might emerge to prevent Brown from getting the top job. A confident and effective leader need not worry about having capable potential successors in their top team. On the contrary. Leadership is not a solo endeavour. A good leader will want to delegate tasks to talented people and draw on their advice. This is what is sometimes called [“distributed leadership”](https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/why-distributed-leadership-future-management?ref=europeans.today). Starmer has already revealed his insecurity by making sure that Andy Burnham, the mayor of greater Manchester, could not stand in the Gorton and Denton byelection. And hardened Westminster watchers will tell you that the prime minister could not have afforded to have Burnham back in parliament, preparing his own leadership challenge. But Starmer could instead have been inspired by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Why not welcome Burnham back to Westminster, after winning a byelection that would have slowed his opponents’ momentum (in this case the Greens and Reform)? And why not salute Streeting for his energy and dash? And Angela Rayner for her talents too while he is about it? Confident leaders want to have the best people around them. For a government that is seen to be struggling it would arguably make sense to put the best players on the pitch, and encourage them to perform. Leadership should not be a selfish ego trip. It is about them, not you. Starmer has had a “clear the air” chat with Streeting and has, at least, not sacked him, yet. Starmer’s allies concede that the prime minister is not currently in a strong enough position to move against him in any case. Perhaps the cabinet will now pull together and prove they can get along. Such thoughts will be dismissed as naïve and unrealistic by the inhabitants of London SW1\. And, in that context, perhaps they are. But if so it tells you a lot about how far the practice of modern politics has departed from what many would regard as healthy and benign leadership. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Who is Wes Streeting? The Labour rising star profile](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68425232?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Starmer’s authority tested as cabinet rivalries surface](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/10/keir-starmer-labour-party-leadership-analysis?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Labour’s power struggle: The battle for the party’s soul](https://www.ft.com/content/b9b3e1f0-8c2a-4c5c-9d6e-8d8a5c4b1e2f?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Labour support dips ahead of critical local elections](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/starmers-labour-faces-identity-crisis-support-wavers-2025-05-15/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The art of managing a political cabinet of rivals](https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/11/20/how-to-manage-a-political-cabinet?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Wes Streeting’s leadership ambitions are no secret](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/wes-streetings-leadership-ambitions-are-no-secret/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR - ###### [The rise and rise of Wes Streeting](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2024/09/the-making-of-wes-streeting?ref=europeans.today) | NEW STATESMAN --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/what-should-keir-starmer-do-about-wes-streeting-a-leadership-expert-on-how-to-handle-rivals-in-your-team-275689?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 12 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/54948436348/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/275689/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Democracy dies in broad daylight: The Trump administration’s frontal assault on the free press URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/12/democracy-dies-in-broad-daylight-the-trump-administrations-frontal-assault-on-the-free-press/ Last updated: 2026-02-12T13:01:40.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The Washington Post has laid off one third of editorial staff. 🔹 Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for ending long-standing presidential endorsements. 🔹 Donald Trump’s second term features intensified hostility toward mainstream media outlets. 🔹 Press freedom faces threats from restricted access and mounting legal pressures. When the billionaire owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, bought the *Washington Post* from the Graham family in 2013, he promised “a golden era to come”. In February 2017, one month into Donald Trump’s first term as US president, the paper adopted the motto: “Democracy Dies in Darkness”, reflecting the perceived threat posed by Trump’s authoritarian leanings and the suggestion that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election. That motto was turned against Bezos last week when it was announced that the *Post* was laying off one-third of its editorial staff, including its sports section and several of its foreign bureaus. The news was greeted with dismay in America’s journalistic circles. Marty Baron, a celebrated former executive editor of the *Post*, called the layoffs “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations”. But in the years since Bezos acquired the *Post* it has become a symbol of a global wave of democratic backsliding in the US which accelerated as the prospect of a second Trump presidency grew through 2024\. After an initial period of investing in the *Post* and hiring more reporters, he has now overseen a long period of decline. Political concerns began seriously to mount in 2024 when, in the run up to that year’s presidential election, the newspaper broke a 36-year precedent by refusing to endorse a candidate (which most readers, given the paper’s traditionally liberal leanings, had assumed would be Democrat Kamala Harris). Since Trump has returned to the White House further evidence of this backsliding at the *Post* includes suppression of a cartoon critical of Trump’s relationship with US tech oligarchs by the Pulitzer Prize winning artist Ann Telnaes and a refocusing of the opinion pages to centre them on “personal liberties and free markets”. The changes have reportedly cost the *Post* many thousands of subscribers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/0000627--1-.jpg) During his first term, Trump branded mainstream media outlets “the enemy of the people”. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55081551169/?ref=europeans.today) But the malaise in US journalism is a much broader story than just the travails of the *Washington Post*. There’s a sustained campaign of cultural and structural violence against a profession that is under economic and political strain, yet essential to democracy. Trump’s hostility toward certain sections of the press is not new. During his first term he used non-journalistic platforms to brand mainstream media outlets “the enemy of the people”. His hostility was directed at both institutional and personal level, launching attacks against individual journalists and their employers (the “failing New York Times”, his clash with *CNN*’s Jim Acosta, etc). In his second term this hostility has intensified, its impact often obscured by the rapid pace of news emanating from the White House. We’re seeing press freedom in the US under attack on three distinct fronts: restricted access to information, threats to the safety of journalists and use of legal pressure to discourage dissenting voices. ##### Controlling the message Restrictions began as soon as Trump was inaugurated for his second term in January 2025\. Within a month, the *Associated Press* lost access to the Oval Office and Air Force One (in other words, to direct contact with the president) after refusing to adopt an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”. Accreditation rules soon tightened. In October, the newly minted secretary of war Pete Hegseth announced that henceforth journalists reporting from inside the Pentagon would be allowed to only report official government pronouncements. Many mainstream reporters handed back their Pentagon accreditation in protest. In response, Hegseth announced what he called the “next generation of the Pentagon press corps”, mainly comprising journalist from far-right outlets. Meanwhile the president’s verbal attacks on journalists have escalated, particularly targeting women and especially women of colour. Incidents such as the “quiet Piggy” remark (directed at *Bloomberg* journalist Catherine Lucey) exemplify a broader pattern of public humiliation of female journalists. Research suggests that such conduct contributes to the normalisation of hostility toward female journalists, who were already disproportionately quitting journalism. Journalists covering protests also face heightened risks. During the “no kings” demonstrations in October 2025, multiple incidents were reported in which police used force against accredited reporters. In November 2025 the White House escalated the pressure, launching a “Hall of Shame” site naming journalists and outlets it said had misrepresented the administration. ##### ‘Lawfare’ The Trump administration has also brought considerable legal pressure to bear on the news media over the first year of its second term. The US president has filed multiple lawsuits alleging bias on the part of one or another media organisation that had attracted his disfavour. In July, *Paramount* reached a US$16 million (£11.69 million) settlement over a *60 Minutes* interview with Kamala Harris in 2024 that the president accused of bias. At stake was a US$8.4 billion merger that required approval from the Federal Communications Commission, a public body headed by Trump loyalist Brendan Carr. The president also has active suits against the *Wall Street Journal* and the *BBC* (an episode which led to the resignation of director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness). By the middle of 2025, *Axios* reported that Trump-related media and defamation suits had already matched the annual historical record. ##### Democratic backsliding Taken together, these developments reflect a broader pattern of institutional stress affecting US democratic structures. The pressure on these established media organisations has created a situation in which they manage to survive with their independence eroded. Comparative research consistently demonstrates that journalists are among the first actors targeted in such processes because of their frontline work. Control over information remains central to the success of an authoritarian government. What, then, should journalists and media organisations do? Standing together matters. We saw that in 2018, when about 350 American newspapers jointly defended press independence against Trump’s “fake news” attacks. This prompted the US Senate to adopt a resolution supporting a free press and declaring that “the press is not the enemy of the people”. But the danger is that this structural violence against the news media and its attempt to hold power to account becomes normalised. If the Trump administration’s contempt for the fourth estate continues to percolate through to the public at large, a population already struggling to tell truth from lies will be further blindfolded and darkness will fall over American democracy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [USA: Press freedom index and latest reports](https://rsf.org/en/country/united-states?ref=europeans.today) | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS - ###### [Washington Post faces outcry over refusal to endorse candidate](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/25/washington-post-presidential-endorsement-kamala-harris-donald-trump?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The Trump Administration and the Media](https://cpj.org/reports/2020/04/trump-media-attack-press-freedom/?ref=europeans.today) | COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS - ###### [Post Subscribers Cancel in Waves After Endorsement Decision](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/business/media/washington-post-subscriptions-cancel-endorsement.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [The systemic threat to American journalism](https://www.cjr.org/special%5Freport/trump-press-freedom-first-term-second-term.php?ref=europeans.today) | COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW - ###### [New administration tightens grip on White House press pool](https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/trump-inauguration-media-access?ref=europeans.today) | NPR - ###### [The rise of 'Lawfare' against US newsrooms](https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/journalism-under-fire-legal-challenges/?ref=europeans.today) | POYNTER INSTITUTE --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/democracy-dies-in-broad-daylight-the-trump-administrations-frontal-assault-on-the-free-press-275629?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 12 February 2026\. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55081551174?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/275629/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 13 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/12/todays-papers-13-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-14T20:26:07.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138778.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138782.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138784.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 12 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/12/todays-papers-12-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-12T15:09:59.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138192.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138186.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000138200.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Mandelson and the financial crash: Why the Epstein allegations are so shocking URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/11/mandelson-and-the-financial-crash-why-the-epstein-allegations-are-so-shocking/ Last updated: 2026-02-11T16:22:03.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Police are investigating if Peter Mandelson shared sensitive data with Jeffrey Epstein. 🔹 Alleged emails suggest market details were sent during the financial crisis. 🔹 Mandelson served as business secretary while the UK economy faced collapse. 🔹 The allegations involve proposals to sell government assets and banking taxes. S uggestions that Peter Mandelson may have shared government information with Jeffrey Epstein amid the fallout of the global financial crisis are being investigated by police. Emails between Mandelson and the disgraced financier, released by the US Department of Justice, are said to include market-sensitive details. This was at a time when Mandelson was in government and ministers around him were scrambling to keep the UK economy afloat. Now, the 2008 [global financial crisis](https://theconversation.com/topics/global-financial-crisis-447?ref=europeans.today) belongs to a different political generation, with almost all of the leading players having left the world stage. But the ripple effect of the credit crunch can still be felt in our politics and in our pockets. This surely makes the allegations against Mandelson, some of which date to his time as UK business secretary, even more awful. The anaemic UK economy, its weakened public finances and the divisive nature of UK politics can all trace their ways back to the crisis. This catastrophic event, where developed economies were brought to the brink of collapse, came at the end of a long period of prosperity. It put paid to a belief, embraced by Gordon Brown when he was chancellor, that the UK had achieved a [“Goldilocks economy”](https://www.ft.com/content/86660c58-35cb-11de-a997-00144feabdc0?ref=europeans.today) – not too hot and not too cold. This was supposedly a triumphant end to the boom and bust of the past. For a time it worked. Britain experienced 16 years of quarter-on-quarter economic growth, emerging from the aftermath of [“Black Wednesday”](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/16/newsid%5F2519000/2519013.stm?ref=europeans.today) in 1992 when sterling fell out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. The cracks first started to appear in 2007 as US lenders specialising in sub-prime mortgages (typically sold to high-risk borrowers) started to collapse. This was at the heart of what would become a global catastrophe. To meet market demand, lenders bundled together thousands of everyday home loans into “mortgage-backed securities”. These were then sold as low-risk debt to investors. You can see the attraction: safe and steady repayments over the long term, underpinned by bricks and mortar. Only it was a deception, because that debt was not all safe. As house prices kept rising, banks increasingly agreed loans with customers who did not have the capacity to repay them. And the loans were made against property that had been overvalued. Then the housing market weakened. Credit markets seized up, since holders of securitised debt found they couldn’t unwind their positions (put simply, they were unable to sell them on) – it was impossible to tell which parts of their holdings were sound and which [were toxic](https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f4/technical-articles/toxic-assets.html?ref=europeans.today). The result was that institutions stopped lending, interest rates on corporate borrowing jumped, investment ground to a near halt and [stock markets plummeted](https://www.thebalancemoney.com/stock-market-crash-of-2008-3305535?ref=europeans.today). Banks, big as well as small, started to fail. While the collapse of US giant [Lehman Brothers](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7521250.stm?ref=europeans.today) in September 2008 marked the start of the global crisis, in the UK it was the liquidity emergency of Northern Rock that brought things into focus. Savers, having lost confidence, queued up outside branches in September 2007 to withdraw their money, marking the first run on a UK bank since the 19th century. But worse still, banks had lost trust in each other. Banks are not just any business; they are the arteries of a functioning economy. Policymakers around the world judged that these banks were simply too big to fail. Governments responded with unprecedented interventions, including bank rescues, capital injections, fiscal stimulus and major regulatory reforms. [In Britain](https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/methodologicalpublications/specificmethodology/economy/articles/ukgovernmentinterventionsinthefinancialsector2007to2016?ref=europeans.today), this included nationalising Northern Rock in February 2008, recapitalising Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, and launching wide-ranging guarantee and liquidity schemes. It meant containing the crisis, recapitalising the system, and restructuring the sector – all paid for by government borrowing. In December 2008, Brown – by now prime minister – claimed he had [“saved the world”](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk%5Fpolitics/7775515.stm?ref=europeans.today). But what followed was the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And that sharp downturn, in contrast to the previous decade, hit the young and the unskilled hardest as unemployment rose. For those in work, pay growth stalled. It was during this period that Mandelson is suspected of sharing sensitive government information with Epstein. In June 2009, an email appears to show the then-business secretary [forwarding details](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9vz8d0n85o?ref=europeans.today) of proposals to sell off UK government assets to raise money for the public purse. The crisis had blown a hole in the UK’s public finances as the Treasury grappled with falling tax receipts and increased demands on spending on public services and welfare. Added to this, bank rescues had of course piled up public debt. Meanwhile, other emails in late 2009 appear to show Mandelson and Epstein discussing ways to push back against UK government plans for a “supertax” on [bankers’ bonuses](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/a-whiff-of-familiarity-in-mandelsons-2009-collusion-with-the-banks?ref=europeans.today). These proposals were a bid to recoup some of the public money pumped into the sector. For all the successes, perhaps the “Goldilocks economy” wasn’t entirely built on responsible policymaking. While inflation targets were hit, *Bank of England* experts had all but failed to notice the massive asset bubble. And then there were the “light-touch” banking controls, which even the regulator blamed for its failure to spot the storm brewing. ##### The long tail of the crisis While economies eventually stabilised, not least because of [Brown’s leadership](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/did-personality-matter-in-gordon-browns-management-of-the-financial-crisis/?ref=europeans.today) and that of the subsequent coalition government, the consequences of the crisis play out to this day. In contrast to the optimism of the previous period, the years since the financial crisis have seen [weak economic output](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/low-growth-the-economys-biggest-challenge/?ref=europeans.today), derisory productivity growth as well as slow improvements in pay. Those were the years of [austerity policies](https://theconversation.com/in-the-struggle-to-get-britain-working-the-long-shadow-of-austerity-could-be-part-of-the-problem-249888?ref=europeans.today), with increasing distrust of institutions and a backlash against “elites”. All of this fuelled populism on the left and right. Many felt left behind by the globalisation that had driven the economy from the mid-1990s, or were hit hard as low-skilled work became more precarious and public services squeezed, or felt taken for granted by the political class. When it came to their vote, Brexit was an opportunity to [express their frustration](https://theconversation.com/how-labour-lost-working-class-support-in-uks-left-behind-regions-128332?ref=europeans.today) and disrupt a system that they no longer believed worked for them. And so it is impossible to understand the fractious nature of politics today, or the relatively feeble state of the UK economy, without understanding the huge challenge that the financial crisis posed to a generation of politicians. Although Mandelson is understood to deny any criminality, his alleged betrayal came at the peak of this jeopardy. We are all still paying the cost of bringing the global economy back from the brink. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Peter Mandelson faces fresh scrutiny over Epstein emails](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9vz8d0n85o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Mandelson's 2009 collusion with banks under spotlight](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/a-whiff-of-familiarity-in-mandelsons-2009-collusion-with-the-banks?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The enduring impact of the 2008 financial crash on British politics](https://www.ft.com/content/1b8f056c-030a-4c22-90f7-66a933f7c9e0?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [How the 2008 crisis broke Britain’s economic model](https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/01/11/the-uk-economy-since-the-financial-crisis?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [UK police investigate Mandelson-Epstein communications](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/police-probe-mandelson-epstein-links-2026-02-10/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Peter Mandelson: A timeline of his links to Jeffrey Epstein](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein-investigation-b2489000.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [The Epstein files: What Mandelson told the financier in 2009](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/05/mandelson-epstein-emails-revealed-financial-crisis/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/mandelson-and-the-financial-crash-why-the-epstein-allegations-are-so-shocking-275272?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Paulbroad](https://www.dreamstime.com/paulbroad%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/275272/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 11 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/11/todays-papers-11-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-11T19:31:25.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137619.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137621.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137625.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### How much longer can Keir Starmer survive? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/10/how-much-longer-can-keir-starmer-survive/ Last updated: 2026-02-10T16:38:38.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Keir Starmer’s government appears to be entering a rapid disintegration phase. 🔹 Key aides Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan have recently resigned. 🔹 Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called for Starmer to resign. 🔹 The Peter Mandelson scandal is causing significant political and public damage to Labour. W hen they disintegrate, governments often do so slowly, then quickly. Despite dragooned public statements of support from the cabinet, the government of Keir Starmer gives every appearance of entering that second phase. In the wake of the scandal surrounding former Washington ambassador [Peter Mandelson](https://theconversation.com/topics/peter-mandelson-22680?ref=europeans.today) and his ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Starmer lost his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who had championed Mandelson for the role. Then the PM lost his press secretary, Tim Allan. Then, in a live press conference, he lost the leader of the Scottish Labour party, [Anas Sarwar](https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/10/anas-sarwar-why-did-the-leader-of-scottish-labour-call-for-keir-starmers-resignation-and-has-the-move-backfired/). Eighteen months ago, Starmer could not have been closer to Sarwar. Now he has cut his national leader adrift and called for Starmer to resign. Sarwar is not in Westminster. Sarwar has to fight an election in Scotland in May, and Starmer and the Westminster Labour government has been a liability for Scottish Labour for over a year. Sarwar had to act to have any chance of mounting a challenge against the governing Scottish National Party in those elections. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/0000622--1-.jpg) This is potentially much more damaging for Starmer than for any of his predecessors. | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55079818733?ref=europeans.today) Sarwar’s actions may be be the most impactful, owing to the political momentum he has now so dramatically accelerated. But McSweeney’s resignation is the more significant development. The last line of defence for a prime minister is their chief of staff, and Sweeney was much more than that. Party leaders and prime ministers have come not to be able to live without them, but so often are forced to. The chief of staff is part human, part metaphor: a conduit, a pressure valve, a lightning rod. When forced out, their principal rarely lasts long, albeit as much for the related erosion of their authority as prime minister as in what that chief of staff may personally have provided. But McSweeney, a brilliant electoral tactician and party organiser with no experience of government, was also in the wrong job. And Starmer put him there. ##### The Mandelson scandal Much of what is taking place is what takes place when governments are old, or infirm, but much is also new, or at least new in effect. To write a rudimentary historical political equation: [Marconi](https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/digital-exhibitions/david-lloyd-george/the-life-and-work-of-david-lloyd-george/the-marconi-scandal?ref=europeans.today) plus [Profumo](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2016.1261698?ref=europeans.today) equals Mandelson. The 1912 Marconi scandal revolved around shady share dealing on the part of those around the chancellor of the exchequer, David Lloyd George. The 1963 Profumo affair involved the minister for war sharing his bed with a woman who also shared hers with the Russian naval attache – and in the year of the Cuban missile crisis. Marconi remains the most serious financial scandal in modern British politics, though Lloyd George survived. John Profumo resigned, but for lying to MPs. No secrets were divulged, but the political establishment was discredited, and the lives of young women were ruined. The Mandelson scandal combines both, and to greater effect. And is still ongoing. The effect of Epstein continues to corrode. Endless news channel recycling of footage of Starmer and Mandelson roaring with tactile laughter as they approach the cameras at the UK embassy in Washington DC only a year ago has become a visual backdrop to the crisis. The king is now routinely heckled in public over Epstein. ##### The end of the line? The history of chiefs of staff is a short one. The first chief, indicative of the move to an increasingly presidential premiership, was Jonathan Powell, who served without personal controversy throughout Tony Blair’s decade as prime minister. Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy provided the political smarts for (another politically dysfunctional) prime minister, Theresa May. They accepted responsibility for the disastrous 2017 general election, but only delayed May’s defenestration. Harold Wilson had his “kitchen cabinet”, including [Marcia Williams](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/27/marcia-williams-the-life-and-times-of-baroness-falkender-by-linda-mcdougall-review?ref=europeans.today), Joe Haines and Gerald Kaufman, who damaged the prime minister by osmosis. Margaret Thatcher was too strong a leader to need one, though she had advisers she relied on. This is potentially much more damaging for Starmer than for any of his predecessors. It is, almost as much if not more so, McSweeney’s government as it is Starmer’s, and Starmer himself is as much McSweeney’s creation as much as he is his own man. It may have been significant that in his resignation statement McSweeney wrote: “I have always believed there are moments when you must accept your responsibility and step aside for the bigger cause.” The McSweeney project, born in opposition, was to reclaim the Labour party from the Corbynite left, and present it as a competent and moderate alternative to a chaotic and dysfunctional period of Conservative government. Starmer, effectively, was recruited for this job by McSweeney for that purpose. To that extent the 2024 general election revealed the project to have been completely successful. Hundreds of Labour MPs owed their election to McSweeney. But then, what next? Starmer, as with Tony Blair and David Cameron, became prime minister without any experience of government. Unlike Blair or Cameron, however, he also had no serious experience of politics: hence his need for, and appointment of, McSweeney. For Starmer, the prime minister is the monarch’s first minister, first lord of the treasury, head of government, minister for civil service; the country’s representative internationally. He has never fully appreciated that the prime minister is also a politician. If they are not, they will soon be found out. Political skills are not sufficient, but they are necessary. Ted Heath did not have them either, but he at least knew about governing. Starmer was found out some time ago and now a concatenation of circumstance – Mandelson, Allan, Sarwar, the looming byelection in Gorton and Denton (a formally safe seat that Labour looks set to lose), the May elections in Scotland and Wales and in English councils – has provided the moment. McSweeney’s departure has probably clarified Starmer’s fate – he has never been weaker. But there is still no obvious alternative. This may provide Starmer with the time during which he hopes personnel changes may help provide a reset. If this is the end for Starmer, a serious and damaging pattern in British politics and public life will have been reinforced. Since David Cameron stepped down in 2016, no prime minister has lasted more than about three years. The impatience and intolerance of voters with the political classes has increased, and will only increase further. Starmer’s was always a dual leadership, and then premiership, held with someone who effectively saved him the trouble of thinking. He is now on his own. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Morgan McSweeney resigns as No 10 chief of staff](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-69000000?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Anas Sarwar calls on Keir Starmer to resign ahead of Scottish elections](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/08/anas-sarwar-calls-on-keir-starmer-to-resign?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The Mandelson affair: How Epstein ties brought down Starmer's inner circle](https://www.ft.com/content/keir-starmer-leadership-crisis-mandelson?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Is Keir Starmer’s premiership already over?](https://www.economist.com/britain/2026/02/09/is-keir-starmers-premiership-already-over?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Tim Allan resigns as Starmer's press secretary amid mounting pressure](https://news.sky.com/story/tim-allan-resigns-as-starmers-press-secretary-13000000?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [UK PM Starmer faces mounting backlash over Mandelson links](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-pm-starmer-faces-mounting-backlash-over-mandelson-links-2026-02-10/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The collapse of the McSweeney project](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-collapse-of-the-mcsweeney-project/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/how-much-longer-can-keir-starmer-survive-275488?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 10 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55088297956?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/275488/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Anas Sarwar: Why did the leader of Scottish Labour call for Keir Starmer’s resignation – and has the move backfired? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/10/anas-sarwar-why-did-the-leader-of-scottish-labour-call-for-keir-starmers-resignation-and-has-the-move-backfired/ Last updated: 2026-02-10T11:53:28.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Anas Sarwar called for Keir Starmer to resign as Prime Minister. 🔹 The move follows a scandal involving former Labour peer Peter Mandelson. 🔹 Scottish Labour is struggling in polls ahead of May’s parliamentary elections. 🔹 Sarwar claims Starmer’s leadership is damaging Labour’s prospects in Scotland. S cottish politics has a dual nature. It is significantly distinct from politics in the rest of the United Kingdom, with its own dynamics, parties and leaders. But it can still be affected by events down south. And for the Scottish sections of the UK parties – the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Reform UK – negative perceptions of their UK leaderships can have consequences for their Scottish wings. This is the situation Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour party, finds himself in. In recent weeks the UK government has been engulfed in a scandal surrounding former Labour peer, MP, minister and (most recently) ambassador Peter Mandelson and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. This has led to his resignation from the House of Lords and the Labour party, the launch of a police investigation and an intense backlash that has put Prime Minister Keir Starmer under pressure. Sarwar has entered the foray in dramatic fashion, summoning the media to a press conference in Glasgow where he called on Starmer to resign. ##### Why did Sarwar publicly turn on Starmer? Sarwar’s primary motivation is that his party is struggling badly ahead of May’s crucial Scottish parliamentary elections. The most recent polling shows the governing *Scottish National Party* (SNP) in a reduced first place, and Labour fighting the radical right Reform UK party for second. While historically Scotland’s dominant party, Labour lost power to the SNP in 2007 and was then reduced to third place in 2016\. But it made a striking comeback in 2024 when Sarwar’s party won the UK general election in Scotland, capitalising on voters’ perception of declining public services under the SNP. However, following the installation of a Labour government at the UK level, the party’s ratings rapidly declined. Sarwar is concerned that the fallout from the Mandelson scandal will lead to even further losses of support in the polls. While Starmer’s cabinet has rushed to defend him, Sarwar is, so far, the most high-profile Labour figure to call for Starmer’s resignation. What is especially interesting is that Sarwar has specifically framed his call in Scottish terms, speaking of his loyalty to Scotland and alleging that Starmer’s actions have been detrimental to his party’s prospects in May. He stated that “Starmer must go if Scotland is going to avoid another decade of SNP rule.” ##### Was he right to do it? Sarwar is right that UK Labour’s unpopularity since it took office has damaged the standing of its devolved wings. He also presumably feels very angry his chances of taking power have been ended by this. But the choice to blame Scottish Labour’s failings on Starmer obscures Sarwar’s own responsibility for Labour’s poor standing. While Starmer is undoubtedly highly unpopular in Scotland, Sarwar has spent the time since the general election steadfastly failing to differentiate himself from the prime minister – despite suggestions during in the 2024 campaign Scottish Labour MPs would serve as an autonomous group at Westminster and pursue an independent line. ##### What’s behind this row? Ultimately, this is linked to broader underlying issues in Scottish Labour around the party’s continuing inability to come to terms with its loss of status as the country’s dominant political force and adapt to the politics of the devolution era. The party has consistently failed to take into account how Holyrood-centric Scottish politics has become or the need for policy and messaging differentiation between Scotland and the UK. This is something that Welsh Labour realised in the 2000s. The return of a new majority of Labour MPs in Scotland should have been viewed as the next step towards the campaign to win the 2026 elections in Scotland. Instead it seems to have renewed the party’s Westminster-centrism. Scottish MPs in Westminster have toed the party line, including on policies which are highly unpopular north of the border. This has been exacerbated by frequent campaign misfires, such as the printing and distribution of leaflets with fake quotes endorsing Sarwar and a bizarre series of adverts centred on Sarwar’s life. Such a personality-centred campaign makes little sense when the party is no longer running neck and neck with the SNP but struggling for second place. Arguably, setting out a strong vision of what Scottish Labour wants Scotland to look like – other than merely a place without the SNP in charge – would leave the party in a much stronger place. Sarwar’s move will likely not harm his party’s prospects in May, but the move to a more assertive Scottish leadership is very late in the game and much more will be needed for a true turnaround in Scottish Labour’s fortunes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Anas Sarwar calls for Keir Starmer to resign over Mandelson scandal](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-68300000?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [Sarwar’s high-stakes gamble: Why the Scottish Labour leader turned on Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/09/scottish-labour-anas-sarwar-keir-starmer-resignation?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [New Poll: Scottish Labour face battle with Reform UK for second place](https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/24100000.poll-scottish-labour-struggling-reform-uk-surges/?ref=europeans.today) | THE HERALD - ###### [Peter Mandelson: Timeline of the scandal rocking the Labour Party](https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/peter-mandelson-epstein-scandal-police-investigation-updates?ref=europeans.today) | THE SCOTSMAN - ###### [UK PM Starmer under intense pressure over Mandelson ties](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-pm-starmer-under-pressure-mandelson-ties-epstein-2026-02-10/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Sarwar’s civil war: Can Scottish Labour survive Starmer?](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/sarwars-civil-war-can-scottish-labour-survive-starmer/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR - ###### [The unravelling of Anas Sarwar’s Scottish comeback](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/scotland/2026/02/the-unravelling-of-anas-sarwar?ref=europeans.today) | NEW STATESMAN --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/anas-sarwar-why-did-the-leader-of-scottish-labour-call-for-keir-starmers-resignation-and-has-the-move-backfired-275504?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 10 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Screenshot from YouTube/[The Scottish Parliament](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7heYpDsUKF0&ref=europeans.today). - First Minister's Questions, 5-Feb-2026 -- Contains Scottish Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Scottish Parliament Licence (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/275504/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Trump gold statue brought to mind Trujillo from Vargas Llosa’s novel URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/10/trump-gold-statue-brought-to-mind-trujillo-from-vargas-llosas-novel/ Last updated: 2026-02-10T17:47:19.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump may attend the unveiling of a gold-leaf bronze statue. 🔹 It compares to Mario Vargas Llosa’s famous novel, *The Feast of the Goat*. 🔹 Rafael Trujillo’s historical vanity mirrors modern naming and branding efforts. N ews that Donald Trump may attend the unveiling of a 15-feet tall statue of him, cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf, put me in mind of Mario Vargas Llosa’s *[The Feast of the Goat](https://amzn.to/4aqalOW?ref=europeans.today).* Not because Rafael Trujillo, the man who brutally ruled the Dominican Republic (DR) for 31 years from 1930, is shown in the novel attending the unveiling of his own statue. Nor because of any particular similarity between Mr Trump and Trujillo, other than the first three letters of their surname. Trujillo, who trained with US Marines during their occupation of the DR from 1916 to 1924, graduated from military academy and rose to become head of the national police. Mr Trump has neither military nor police training. Why think about [*Feast of the Goat*](https://amzn.to/4aqalOW?ref=europeans.today) then? Other than the fact it is brilliantly written? Perhaps it is the vanity that rides roughshod over every action — in real life as well as in fiction. Trujillo renamed Santo Domingo, the capital, Ciudad Trujillo (Trujillo City) in 1936\. It stayed that way until his assassination in 1961. In real life America, Mr Trump is slapping his name on everything — the US Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Centre, even National Park passes. Perhaps the 250-feet arch he plans in Washington, D.C., will bear his name? It may be only a matter of time before Trump Town and Trump City find their place on the map. Perhaps the novel also resonates in this moment because of the pervasive atmosphere of fear and fawning. Vargas Llosa portrays the dictator in minute detail, with great care. So too his country, transfixed, frozen in fear before the dictator’s cruel gaze. Here’s how Vargas Llosa describes a general, legendary for his courage except when he stands before the great man: “… like so many officers, so many Dominicans, before Trujillo his valor and sense of honor disappeared, and he was overcome by a paralysis of his reason and his muscles, by servile obedience and reverence. He often had asked himself why the mere presence of the Chief — his high-pitched voice and the fixity of his gaze — annihilated him morally.” The fawning rises to ludicrous heights when we learn that the DR’s national radio stations have changed news bulletin broadcast timings to suit Trujillo’s morning routine: “He undressed and, wearing slippers and a robe, went to the bathroom to shave. He turned on the radio. They read the newspapers on the Dominican Voice and Caribbean Radio. Until a few years ago the news bulletins had begun at five. But when his brother Petan, the owner of the Dominican Voice, found out that he woke at four, he moved the newscasts up an hour. The other stations followed suit. They knew he listened to the radio while he shaved, bathed, and dressed, and they were painstakingly careful.” The kowtowing to Mr Trump is also at absurd levels and it’s not just the millions meekly being handed over by media outlets every time a lawsuit drops. It’s also not the custom-made, one-of-a-kind plaque featuring a 24-carat gold base that Apple CEO Tim Cook gifted Mr Trump. And it’s not even the $75m sunk into *Melania*, the documentary, by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. The gold leaf statue may be an example of investment-grade hyper-flattery. It’s all being done on spec. The cryptocurrency investors paid $300,000 to have a sculptor create the statue in tribute to Mr Trump. Calling the statue *‘Don Colossus’*, they are pulling out the stops in hopes of receiving Mr Trump’s blessings — and thereby cachet for their memecoin called $PATRIOT. Their efforts to flatter have even led them to lean on sculptor Alan Cottrill to portray Mr Trump as slimline. *The New York Times* quotes Mr Cottrill remarking on his statue: “I had him \[Trump\] very lifelike. The crypto guys said I had to get rid of some of the turkey neck. I had to thin him down”. Finally, there is Pastor Mark Burns, a friend of Mr Trump’s and sometimes described as an informal spiritual advisor. He says he is supporting the venture for no individual monetary gain and seems genuinely enthusiastic about the presidential hard-sell required on behalf of the crypto investors. That the pastor sees no impropriety in associating the US president with this venture seems to chime with his sunny perception of people, processes and events. He once described Mr Trump as “a deeply spiritual man.” It feels like a 21st century American version of Vargas Llosa’s [novel](https://amzn.to/4aqalOW?ref=europeans.today), in which popular legend has it that Trujillo “did not sweat, did not sleep, never had a wrinkle on his uniform, his tuxedo, or his street clothes”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [The Feast of the Goat](https://amzn.to/4aqalOW?ref=europeans.today), by Mario Vargas Llosa (Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature) | FABER & FABER - ###### [A 15-Foot Gold-Leaf Trump Statue Is Coming to Washington](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-statue-crypto.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Review: The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/mar/30/fiction.mariovargasllosa?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Rafael Trujillo: The life and death of a dictator](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-13593506?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Trump’s name is appearing on more and more public landmarks](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/30/trump-branding-government-buildings/?ref=europeans.today) | THE WASHINGTON POST - ###### [Inside the $PATRIOT memecoin push for White House access](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/crypto-investors-bet-big-trump-access-with-patriot-coin-2025-02-01/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The Art of the Flatterer: Trump and the Dictator Style](https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2025/02/06/the-art-of-the-flatterer-trump-and-the-dictator-style?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Who is Mark Burns, the pastor backing the Trump ‘Colossus’?](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/8/who-is-mark-burns-the-pastor-backing-the-trump-colossus?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/trump-gold-statue-brought-to-mind-trujillo-from-vargas-llosas-novel-39ca6c95e643?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 10 February 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 10 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/10/todays-papers-10-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-10T10:16:35.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137100.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137106.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 9 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/09/todays-papers-9-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-10T09:28:45.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137087.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000137092.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 7-8 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/07/this-weekends-papers-7-8-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-07T09:52:08.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000135866.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000135882.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000135889.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Mandelson files surrender puts Starmer’s premiership on the brink URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/05/mandelson-files-surrender-puts-starmers-premiership-on-the-brink/ Last updated: 2026-02-05T02:41:47.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Keir Starmer will surrender secret vetting documents to a cross-party parliamentary committee. 🔹 The Prime Minister admitted knowing about Mandelson’s post-conviction friendship with Epstein. 🔹 Police are investigating Mandelson for alleged misconduct in public office. S ir Keir Starmer has entered the most perilous position of his premiership following a humiliating parliamentary retreat that has seen the Prime Minister surrender control of secret vetting documents to a cross-party committee. The crisis, sparked by the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador, has mutated from a question of historical association into a direct challenge to the Prime Minister’s honesty and judgment. At a bruising Prime Minister’s Questions on 4 February, Starmer [admitted](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-02-04/mandelsons-us-job-appointment-details-to-be-released-amid-epstein-fallout?ref=europeans.today) he was aware of Mandelson’s continued friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction — a moment [described](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/labour-mps-say-starmer-days-as-pm-are-numbered-amid-fury-over-mandelson?ref=europeans.today) by one close ally as “clarifying” and “dark”. _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Starmer forced to surrender Mandelson files after internal Labour revolt URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/04/starmer-forced-to-surrender-mandelson-files-after-internal-labour-revolt/ Last updated: 2026-02-05T02:48:07.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The UK Government is forced to release secret files concerning Peter Mandelson’s US appointment. 🔹 Keir Starmer has faced a major rebellion from within his own Labour party. 🔹 The Metropolitan Police are investigating Peter Mandelson for alleged misconduct in public office. 🔹 Leaked documents suggest that sensitive tax plans were shared with Jeffrey Epstein. S ir Keir Starmer has suffered a bruising parliamentary defeat at the hands of his own party on Wednesday evening, as a binding motion forced the government to release secret files concerning Peter Mandelson’s appointment as [US Ambassador](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/peter-mandelson?ref=europeans.today). The Prime Minister had initially sought to block the disclosure of documents on the grounds of “[national security](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/feb/04/peter-mandelson-files-us-ambassador-jeffrey-epstein-keir-starmer-tories-uk-politics-live-news-update?ref=europeans.today),” but he was forced into a last-minute retreat after prominent figures like [Angela Rayner](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/feb/04/peter-mandelson-files-us-ambassador-jeffrey-epstein-keir-starmer-tories-uk-politics-live-news-updates?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-69834b0e8f085f7f42cf2241&ref=europeans.today) signalled they would join a Conservative-led rebellion. The sense of fury across the Labour movement follows [revelations](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/clynp40ekrdt?ref=europeans.today) that Mandelson may have shared sensitive tax plans with Jeffrey Epstein while serving in the Brown government. The crisis has moved beyond the halls of Westminster and into the realm of criminal law. The *Metropolitan Police* confirmed they are [investigating](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/03/met-police-to-launch-investigation-into-alleged-mandelson-epstein-email-leaks?ref=europeans.today) Mandelson for alleged “misconduct in public office,” focusing on a 2009 memo detailing £20 billion in planned asset sales. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Strategic distraction or ideological war: The logic of Trump’s new US order URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/03/strategic-distraction-or-ideological-war-the-logic-of-trumps-new-us-order/ Last updated: 2026-02-03T16:03:52.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Trump has dropped proposed tariffs on eight European nations including the UK. 🔹 A new framework for Arctic mineral rights was brokered by Mark Rutte. 🔹 Washington is now threatening 25% tariffs on any nation trading with Iran. 🔹 Critics suggest these international crises distract from domestic issues like Epstein files. T he geopolitical whiplash of the Trump administration’s second term has reached a new velocity. Following a [high-stakes week](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm24vjvy3n1o?ref=europeans.today) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the White House has pivoted from threatening NATO allies over Greenland to escalating a [confrontation with Iran](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/30/iran-prepares-for-war-as-us-military-armada-approaches?ref=europeans.today) that many fear could lead to open conflict. The President’s decision to drop his proposed 10% tariffs on eight European countries — including the UK, France, and Germany — suggests a temporary de-escalation in the North Atlantic. This “retreat” followed intensive lobbying by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who reportedly brokered a “framework of a future deal” for the Arctic region that includes discussions on mineral rights and US security concerns. Trump has even touted the construction of a “[Golden Dome](https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5713032-why-greenland-is-so-important-to-trumps-golden-dome/?ref=europeans.today)” over Greenland, framing his ambitions as an essential component of “world security.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 3 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/03/todays-papers-3-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-03T15:28:47.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000134734.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000134729.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000134783.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Europe’s far-right treads carefully on Trump’s ‘wild West’ URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/02/europes-far-right-treads-carefully-on-trumps-wild-west/ Last updated: 2026-02-03T01:02:02.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Far-right parties are wary of Donald Trump’s recent military and territorial ambitions. 🔹 Only 12 per cent of Germans view Trump’s latest actions positively. 🔹 The AfD is backpedalling its closeness to the United States administration. 🔹 Marine Le Pen’s National Rally warns against American imperial ambitions. G ermany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD). France’s National Rally. Neither is cheering Donald Trump’s legally disputed military operation in Venezuela and his stated determination to “get Greenland one way or the other”. Might January 3, 2026 be the day Mr Trump and his red-hatted MAGA movement started to lose Europe’s far-right? Not so fast. That’s the wrong question. At this point of time, some of the European mainland’s ultranationalists are finding themselves unable — and unwilling — to reconcile Mr Trump’s sweeping imperialism with their goals of claiming to speak for the people. They’re not abandoning the red hats altogether. According to Germany’s *ARD-Deutschlandtrend* poll, released in the first week of January on behalf of the country’s public broadcaster, only 12 per cent of Germans view Mr Trump’s recent actions positively and 15 per cent see the US as a trustworthy partner. Finding it inconvenient to defend Mr Trump’s foreign adventurism to a disapproving German public, the AfD is trying to backpedal its closeness to the US administration (co-leader Tino Chrupalla attended Mr Trump’s second presidential inauguration last January). Alice Weidel, probably AfD’s best known national leader, has said: “He \[Trump\] has violated a fundamental election promise, namely not to interfere in other countries, and he has to explain that to his own voters”. Mr Chrupalla struck a more emollient note but stayed with robust criticism. The US “sphere of influence” was something to think of, he said, but “wild West methods are to be rejected here, and the end does not always justify the means”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/0000612--1-.jpg) DREAMSTIME/[SERHII KUZNIETSOV](xxx) The AfD’s wariness chimes with that of some other European anti-immigrant, nationalist, populist parties. But Marine le Pen’s National Rally (RN) goes further. RN president Jordan Bardella recently said the US president’s approach to Greenland and Venezuela shows his “imperial ambitions”. Not for the French far-right their German counterparts’ balancing act. There are two reasons for this. First, there is a tradition of anti-Americanism in French politics. Second, the RN is politically much further along the power spectrum than the AfD. The RN is now mainstream, being the chief opposition on the right to President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists with 123 seats, up from eight in 2017\. As the single-biggest party in the 577-seat lower house, RN is preparing for the 2027 presidential election with a seriousness the AfD would like — but can’t — adopt. There are two reasons for AfD’s balancing approach on imperial Trumpism. First, the former communist east Germany wing of the party (to which Mr Chrupalla belongs) is inherently suspicious of the US. Second, the pall hanging over AfD’s reputation and prospects. Though the party claimed a record second place in last year’s parliamentary elections and regularly tops opinion polls, it was officially classified as a rightwing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency last year. This was on account of its predilection to abuse Muslims and migrants and seek their exclusion from the country, an issue the Trump administration can’t really do much about for all that it may try. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [German public opinion shifts against US following Venezuela intervention](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-public-opinion-shifts-against-us-following-venezuela-intervention-2026-01-10/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Marine Le Pen distances National Rally from Trump imperialism](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/12/marine-le-pen-distances-national-rally-from-trump-imperialism?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [AfD struggles to balance Trump loyalty with German voter skepticism](https://www.dw.com/en/afd-struggles-to-balance-trump-loyalty-with-german-voter-skepticism/a-70982341?ref=europeans.today) | DEUTSCHE WELLE - ###### [The rise of the National Rally: France's new political landscape](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68234123?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Jordan Bardella denounces American 'Wild West' diplomacy](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/01/14/jordan-bardella-denounces-american-wild-west-diplomacy%5F6421345%5F5.html?ref=europeans.today) | LE MONDE - ###### [The Future of European Populism in the Trump Era](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/europe/future-european-populism-trump-era?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN AFFAIRS - ###### [Germany’s AfD stays in the crosshairs of domestic intelligence](https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-afd-extreme-right-intelligence-classification-court-ruling/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/europes-far-right-treads-carefully-on-trump-s-wild-west-3fd2b4cb730e?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 2 February 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55069324090?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 2 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/02/todays-papers-2-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-02T16:04:37.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000134194.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000134196.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/02/1000134225.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Labour blocks Andy Burnham from standing for parliament: how it happened and why URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/01/labour-blocks-andy-burnham-from-standing-for-parliament-how-it-happened-and-why/ Last updated: 2026-02-02T12:16:59.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The NEC voted eight-to-one to block Andy Burnham’s parliamentary candidacy. 🔹 Rules require elected mayors to seek permission before running for parliament. 🔹 Supporters argue local party members should have decided on Burnham’s selection. 🔹 The decision highlights tensions between Keir Starmer’s control and internal democracy. T he Labour party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) has voted to block Andy Burnham from seeking selection for the vacant Gorton and Denton parliamentary seat. The move and its fallout have exposed fault lines within the Labour party that go beyond a single byelection. What might otherwise have been a routine internal procedural matter has instead become a revealing episode about authority, legitimacy and control inside the party – and how [Keir Starmer](https://theconversation.com/topics/keir-starmer-78580?ref=europeans.today) understands both internal democracy and political risk. The vacancy itself arose from the resignation of the Labour MP, Andrew Gwynne. A byelection must now be held in a constituency long assumed to be safely [Labour](https://theconversation.com/topics/labour-party-5886?ref=europeans.today). The party won 50% of the vote at the last general election with Reform second on 14%. Recent electoral volatility, however, has made even such strongholds less predictable. This context matters. Byelections are no longer cost-free exercises in party management. They can become national political moments, particularly when they intersect with questions of leadership and direction. Burnham’s interest in returning to Westminster must be understood against this backdrop. Since leaving parliament and becoming mayor of [Greater Manchester](https://theconversation.com/topics/manchester-5560?ref=europeans.today) in 2017, Burnham has established himself as one of Labour’s most recognisable and electorally successful figures. His mayoralty has given him a distinct political identity, rooted in [devolution](https://theconversation.com/topics/devolution-6737?ref=europeans.today), public services and a forthright northern voice. His approach has often contrasted with the more centralised and cautious tone of Starmer’s leadership since 2020. And with Burnham consistently cited as a contender to replace Starmer, it’s difficult to separate his desire to return to parliament from his desire for the leadership. A return to Westminster could provide Burnham with influence, visibility and long-term options that a regional office, however powerful, cannot fully provide. It is precisely because Burnham occupies such a prominent executive role that he needed the NEC’s approval to run. Labour’s rules are clear: directly elected mayors must seek permission before becoming parliamentary candidates. This is largely to prevent the disruption and expense of triggering further elections. Burnham would have to be replaced as mayor and a contest would be costly. On the surface, therefore, the NEC’s involvement was procedurally acceptable. What transformed it into a political controversy was how its decision to block him is being interpreted. ### Internal democracy vs central control Supporters of Burnham argued that the case for allowing him onto the shortlist was strong. At a basic level, they maintained that local party members should have been [“trusted to decide whether he was the right candidate.”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/25/andy-burnham-blocked-from-byelection-race-by-labour-ruling-committee?ref=europeans.today) This argument drew on long-standing Labour principles about internal democracy and local autonomy. Burnham’s profile, record of winning elections as mayor and roots in Greater Manchester were seen as assets that could only strengthen Labour’s chances of holding the seat. At a potentially awkward moment in the electoral cycle and with high-profile figures rumoured to be thinking of running for other parties, this is by no means a given. Beyond electoral calculation, there was also a symbolic dimension. Allowing a figure of his stature to compete would have signalled confidence within the party. It would have shown a willingness to tolerate pluralism and ambition rather than to manage it out of existence. For some senior figures, including the deputy leader, Lucy Powell (no ally of Starmer) the issue was not whether Burnham should automatically be selected, but whether it was right for the national party to remove him from the contest before it began. The arguments against Burnham’s candidacy focused on the costs and risks associated with triggering a mayoral election. There was also a concern about distraction. The leadership has been keen to project stability and discipline, and the return of a high-profile figure with an independent political base could complicate this. Yet it is difficult to ignore the political subtext. Burnham’s record of public disagreement with elements of the leadership’s strategy marked him out as a potential alternative focus of authority within the party. Blocking his return to parliament therefore carries the appearance, whether intended or not, of pre-emptive containment. For critics, this reinforces a perception that the NEC is being used not simply as a guardian of rules, but as an instrument of political management. The committee’s eight-to-one vote against Burnham intensified these concerns. Powell was the only member to vote in Burnham’s favour and the chair, home secretary Shabana Mahmood, abstained. On one reading, this demonstrated that the leadership’s position commanded overwhelming institutional support. On another, it underlined the marginalisation of dissenting voices, even at the highest levels of the party. That the only explicit supporter of Burnham was also one of Labour’s most senior elected figures lends the episode a particular symbolic weight. Powell won her position via a membership vote rather than being appointed by Starmer. ### What happens next The broader political ramifications of this situation are complex. In the short term, the decision may suit Starmer. Preventing Burnham from re-entering parliament reduces the likelihood of an alternative leadership figure emerging on the backbenches. It also allows the leadership to maintain tight control over messaging and candidate selection at a moment when it believes discipline is electorally advantageous. However, the longer-term risks should not be underestimated. The episode feeds into an existing narrative that Labour under Starmer is highly centralised and wary of internal competition. For party members and supporters who value participation and openness, this risks alienation. There is also an electoral gamble in blocking Burnham. Should Labour struggle in or even lose the Gorton and Denton byelection, the decision to exclude Burnham will be retrospectively scrutinised as a missed opportunity. Conversely, even a comfortable victory will not entirely erase the impression that the party prioritised internal control over open debate. Ultimately, the Burnham affair illuminates a central tension within Labour: the balance between authority and legitimacy. The NEC may have acted within its formal powers, but legitimacy in politics is never solely procedural. It is also relational, shaped by how decisions are perceived by members, voters and the wider public. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Andy Burnham blocked from byelection race by Labour ruling committee](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/25/andy-burnham-blocked-from-byelection-race-by-labour-ruling-committee?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Labour NEC blocks Andy Burnham's bid for Westminster return](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68123456?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Andy Burnham prevented from standing as Labour candidate in upcoming byelection](https://news.sky.com/story/andy-burnham-prevented-from-standing-as-labour-candidate-in-upcoming-byelection-13056789?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [Labour civil war erupts as Andy Burnham blocked from standing for parliament](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-burnham-labour-nec-byelection-gorton-denton-b2485678.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [The real reason Andy Burnham was blocked from standing in Gorton and Denton](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/andy-burnham-blocked-standing-labour-28509123?ref=europeans.today) | MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS - ###### [Starmer asserts control over Labour party with Burnham move](https://www.ft.com/content/88e8d8d8-c8c8-4a8a-b8b8-e8e8e8e8e8e8?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Why Starmer is terrified of Andy Burnham](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-starmer-is-terrified-of-andy-burnham/?ref=europeans.today) | THE SPECTATOR --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/labour-blocks-andy-burnham-from-standing-for-parliament-how-it-happened-and-why-274309?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 1 February 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55068888307?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/274309/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Britain and Europe pivot toward unified defence as transatlantic ties fray URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/02/01/britain-and-europe-pivot-toward-unified-defence-as-transatlantic-ties-fray/ Last updated: 2026-02-02T03:00:31.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Britain seeks a security reset with Brussels amid shifting American priorities. 🔹 The UK aims to reenter the Security Action for Europe pact. 🔹 Rising Russian hybrid warfare threats are pressuring Baltic and Polish borders. 🔹 European strategic autonomy is growing through joint military and technology initiatives. T he dream of a sovereign, isolated British defence policy died not with a whimper, but with the sharp echo of the “Donroe Doctrine” across the Atlantic. For decades, the United Kingdom viewed its security through the lens of a “special relationship” that acted as a bridge between the New World and the Old. Today, that bridge is being dismantled by a Washington administration that views allies as subordinates and security as a commodity. The announcement this week that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seeking a “reset” with Brussels — specifically targeting reentry into the [Security Action for Europe](https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/safe-security-action-europe%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) (SAFE) pact — is more than a policy shift. It is a strategic surrender to reality. With a €150 billion (£130 billion) price tag for collective safety, the UK is finally admitting that the cost of standing alone is higher than the price of admission to the European core. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 31 Jan-1 Feb 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/31/weekend-papers-31-jan-1-feb-2026/ Last updated: 2026-02-02T00:29:43.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000133486.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000133494.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000133345.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### England is driving on the right politically URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/30/england-is-driving-on-the-right-politically/ Last updated: 2026-01-31T03:39:47.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Keir Starmer blocked Andy Burnham from the Gorton and Denton by-election. 🔹 The decision ensures Burnham cannot challenge Starmer for the party leadership. 🔹 Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan warned of a potential United Kingdom break-up. 🔹 Suella Braverman has defected to Reform UK following high-profile Tory departures. A ll is not well in the Labour party. Over the weekend Keir Starmer and his allies took the decision to throw away a by election in order to buy the politically ailing Starmer some more time in office. Starmer and his allies on Labour’s NEC voted to refuse permission to Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to stand as the Labour candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by election in Greater Manchester. Starmer himself was one of those who voted against Burnham’s candidacy, all but one of the other members of the NEC meekly fell in line with their boss. This is despite the fact that when he stood for the Labour leadership[¹](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-01-26/starmer-faces-backlash-as-labour-blocks-burnham-by-election-bid?ref=europeans.today), Starmer promised that the selection of Labour candidates should be a matter for the constituency Labour party. There’s another broken Starmer promise to add to the long list. Burnham is widely regarded as a potential contender for the leadership of the Labour party should Starmer face a challenge and is the candidate favoured by what remains of the left in Labour. However in order to challenge Starmer as leader, Burnham needs to be an MP. His route back into Parliament has now been blocked for the remainder of this Parliament. By neutralising Burnham, Starmer does not make it less likely that he’ll face a challenge in the coming months, he has merely made it more likely that the challenge will come from someone on the right of the party. Protoplasmic Tory boy Wes Streeting, the darling of private healthcare companies, is the favoured candidate of the right wing entryists of Labour Together and would cement Labour’s transformation into a right wing party. Starmer is merely delaying the inevitable, if as the polls suggest, in the Scottish, Welsh, and English local elections in May, Labour performs poorly and especially suffers the humiliation of losing control of Wales, the pressure on Starmer will only increase, and he will in addition be blamed for the loss of a safe Labour seat in a by election. Following the decision Burnham posted on social media to express his anger that he had only discovered that he had been denied permission to stand as Labour candidate in the by election from the media, Labour HQ had not even extended him the courtesy of telling him privately before running to the press. That’s a sign of the bad blood which is boiling away beneath the surface of the glib public statements. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000606b--1-.jpg) In order to challenge Starmer as leader, Burnham needs to be an MP. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) I have no particular affection for Andy Burnham, who during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign was responsible for one of the most ludicrous scare stories in a campaign which was characterised by ludicrous scare stories from opponents of independence. In an interview with Holyrood magazine, supposedly a leading Scottish political magazine despite having fewer readers than this blog or several other Scottish blogs, Burnham spoke about his predictable opposition to Scottish independence, claiming that it would condemn England to Tory governments. He has now discovering the hard way that England will be condemned to Tory governments even if Labour is in power. Burnham told Holyrood magazine: “I would feel really genuinely sad if Scotland votes for independence, not just for our own self-interest and in the extra difficulty we would face getting a Labour government in England but I also don’t want to drive up the M6 and get my passport out or have to drive on the right when I want to drive on the left.”[²](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/10648238/Labour-oppose-Scottish-independence-because-they-fear-losing-power-in-Westminster.html?ref=europeans.today) Yes, he actually said that. It’s way up there in the furfeckssake stakes with the scare stories that in the event of Scottish independence, the RAF might have to bomb Scottish airports or that an independent Scotland would be defenceless against attacks from outer space. However, I’m not a nationalist I’m British centrist as he is, Burnham represented Labour’s last best chance to maintain a tenuous connection to its origins as an anti-establishment democratic socialist party. That chance has gone now. This can only strengthen the chances of the SNP and the Greens in May’s Scottish elections and Plaid and the Greens in that month’s Welsh Senedd election. It tells us just how far to the right the modern Labour party has shifted that Andy Burnham is being presented by the British media as the left wing candidate. Meanwhile Welsh First Minister, Labour’s Eluned Morgan, has warned that a Labour defeat in May’s Scottish and Welsh elections means that there is a “real possibility” that we could see the “break-up of the United Kingdom after the May elections.”[³](https://www.thenational.scot/news/25794658.real-possibility-union-break-up-elections-admits-welsh-fm/?ref=europeans.today) Threaten us with a good time why don’t you. A recent YouGov poll put Plaid Cymru as the largest party in Wales, on 37% of the vote, with Reform in second place on 23%. For the first time, the Greens were in third place at 13%, while Labour hit its lowest ever point in a Senedd voting intention poll, on just 10%, equal to the Tories. The English and Welsh Greens back Welsh independence so there is a very real possibility that after May, Wales, like Scotland could have a parliament with a pro-independence majority. Defending his decision to block Burnham’s candidacy, Starmer said that allowing him to stand would be a distraction from the fight to keep Reform out of power. The Reform that you’ve been pandering to and implicitly justifying since you came into office, Keir? That Reform? Or is there some other Reform UK that you are campaigning against which you haven’t told us about? Reform UK themselves continue to sook up the dregs of the Tory party, Suella Braverman, former Tory Home Secretary and serial breaker of the ministerial code, defected to Reform UK this week, as did some no mark Tory councillor in Argyle and Bute. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Starmer defends blocking Burnham in by-election bid as backlash continues](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-01-26/starmer-faces-backlash-as-labour-blocks-burnham-by-election-bid?ref=europeans.today) | ITV - ###### [Labour oppose Scottish independence because they fear losing power in Westminster](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/10648238/Labour-oppose-Scottish-independence-because-they-fear-losing-power-in-Westminster.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [Burnham will try again for Westminster return but declines offer of seat in 2027](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/26/andy-burnham-try-again-westminster-return?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Burnham denies claim he was told about by-election block before applying](https://news.sky.com/video/simply-untrue-burnham-denies-claim-he-was-told-about-by-election-block-before-applying-13499721?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [Plaid open 14 point lead over Reform UK in Senedd voting intention](https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53876-plaid-open-14-point-lead-over-reform-uk-in-yougov-january-2026-senedd-voting-intention?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV - ###### [Why Labour banned Burnham – and what the ‘King of the North’ might do next](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/27/tuesday-briefing-andy-burnham-byelection-greater-manchester-labour-first-edition?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Scottish independence - What Are The Pros and Cons?](https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/scottish-independence/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICS.CO.UK - ###### [Welsh political snapshot, January 2026](https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53959-welsh-political-snapshot-january-2026?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Wee Ginger Dug](https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/england-is-driving-on-the-right-politically/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 30 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55050344673/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### ‘Only Trump could make us miss hypocrisy’ URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/30/only-trump-could-make-us-miss-hypocrisy/ Last updated: 2026-01-31T17:50:57.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Jeremy Shapiro notes that Donald Trump lacks traditional diplomatic hypocrisy. 🔹 Critics argue hypocrisy at least acknowledges a necessary moral framework. 🔹 The 2003 Iraq invasion is cited as a high-minded moral hypocrisy. 🔹 Trump’s Venezuela operation makes no claims of promoting global democracy. O nly Trump could make us miss hypocrisy”.[¹](https://www.ft.com/content/074abc1a-9610-4917-b53b-ab4a4e90fa01?ref=europeans.today) So said [Jeremy Shapiro](https://ecfr.eu/profile/jeremy%5Fshapiro/?ref=europeans.today), research director of the *European Council on Foreign Relations* and former advisor at the *US State Department*. Masha Gessen, the American journalist of Russian ethnicity, expressed a variation of the sentiment. So did various think tankers, analysts, the US foreign policy “blob” and other entities that cogitate and pronounce on world affairs. Such were the arguments mustered in defence of the rules-based international order after Donald Trump’s military operation in Venezuela, which kidnapped the country’s head of state. The rationale is that hypocrisy has considerable value because it is the homage vice pays to virtue. By being hypocritical you acknowledge that uou shouldn’t have been doing something. It means that however bad your actions, at least you know the moral requirement of eschewing an action. When you deny the need for hypocrisy, you send a message that there are no limits to doing bad things because they’re not bad in the first place. Everyone has been pointing to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq[²](https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War/Occupation-and-continued-warfare?ref=europeans.today#ref231540) and describing President George W Bush’s high-minded invocation of propagating democracy as a hypocrisy that at least claimed the moral high ground. Mr Trump, by contrast, has never once referred to the Venezuela operation as America’s chance to help end the democratic deficit. Would a hypocritical embrace of the high ground have helped? I rather think not. Mr Trump’s actions would be just as venal and self-interested as those of Mr Bush or any other legally dubious overseas intervention by the US. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Jeremy Shapiro Profile and Analysis](https://ecfr.eu/profile/jeremy%5Fshapiro/?ref=europeans.today) | ECFR - ###### [The Crisis in Venezuela: A Geopolitical Overview](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-2026-election-outlook-2026-01-15/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Donald Trump has laid bare the myth of the west’s rules-based order](https://observer.co.uk/news/columnists/article/donald-trump-has-laid-bare-the-myth-of-the-wests-rules-based-order?ref=europeans.today) | THE OBSERVER - ###### [The white man’s burden, Trump edition](https://www.ft.com/content/074abc1a-9610-4917-b53b-ab4a4e90fa01?ref=europeans.today) | FT - ###### [Iraq War: A Controversial War](https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War/Occupation-and-continued-warfare?ref=europeans.today#ref231540) | BRITANNICA - ###### [Donald Trump Foreign Policy Tracker](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Venezuela News and Conflict Updates](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c9v61v3m1mxt/venezuela?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [The Future of US Foreign Policy and Democracy](https://www.chathamhouse.org/topics/us-foreign-policy?ref=europeans.today) | CHATHAM HOUSE - ###### [Realpolitik and the Death of Diplomatic Hypocrisy](https://www.economist.com/international/2026/01/20/the-return-of-realpolitik?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/only-trump-could-make-us-miss-hypocrisy-b25fe1e7dbff?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 30 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55066031208/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### How does fascism happen? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/30/how-does-fascism-happen/ Last updated: 2026-01-31T03:15:41.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Fascist movements often emerge through incremental and seemingly minor shifts in behaviour. 🔹 Key tactics include neutering parliaments and emasculating independent court systems. 🔹 Freedom of the press is slowly limited alongside attacks on journalists. 🔹 Leaders often manipulate truth and investigate political enemies to maintain control. W hen you look back at fascists, you see patterns of behaviour that, while they are happening, don’t seem so nefarious individually. But when you add them up, a different story appears. For example: *Neutering the parliament/Congress* *Emasculating the courts* *Limiting press freedom slowly* *Raiding journalists’ homes* *Appointing only true loyalists* *Banishing from their government anyone who doesn’t toe the line* *Employing spokesmen who ignore questions and attack the questioner for a lack of patriotism* *Employing spokesman who tell the public that it didn’t see what it saw* *Investigating and charging perceived political enemies* *Pardoning people convicted and/or confessing to crimes for no seeming reason* *Threatening to cancel elections* *Claiming a lost election is a rigged election* *Redrawing political maps out to maintain control* *Manipulating information to match their version of the truth* *Lying* *Bullying* *Intimidating* *Going around traditional institutions and creating their own* *Unilaterally defunding programs they don’t agree with* *Unilaterally changing laws without going through the traditional process* *Taking down monuments of those they don’t agree with* *Building monuments to yourself* *Employing a masked police force* The list, unfortunately, goes on until someone stops it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Fascism: Definition, Characteristics, & History](https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism?ref=europeans.today) | BRITANNICA - ###### [What is fascism and where does the word come from?](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54316315?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The long shadow of fascism in modern Europe](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/22/rise-of-far-right-europe-fascism-history?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Understanding the mechanics of authoritarianism](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-fascism-works-world-politics?ref=europeans.today) | COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS - ###### [What exactly is fascism?](https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/10/06/what-is-fascism?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [On Tyranny: Lessons from the Twentieth Century](https://history.yale.edu/publications/on-tyranny-twenty-lessons-twentieth-century?ref=europeans.today) | YALE UNIVERSITY - ###### [Ur-Fascism: Umberto Eco’s 14 properties](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/?ref=europeans.today) | NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/how-does-fascism-happen?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 30 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55069324120/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Making sense of the madness URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/30/making-sense-of-the-madness/ Last updated: 2026-01-31T18:32:57.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The Greenland crisis forces Britain to choose between US and EU ties. 🔹 Trump’s tariff threats targeted nations resisting his designs on Greenland territory. 🔹 Brexit leaves the UK strategically vulnerable during global trade and security disputes. 🔹 Mark Carney’s “values-based realism” suggests middle powers must cooperate against hegemons. T he press of events in the fortnight since my last post has been dizzying and disorientating. Even at the height of the “Brexit battles” it was not so difficult to keep abreast of what is happening, let alone to acquire some degree of analytic distance so as to make sense of it. Indeed, it is perfectly possible that within minutes of publishing today’s post it will be made obsolete or irrelevant by some new shock. I’m obviously referring to what can be called the “Greenland Crisis,” and its scale means that it will be the subject of the whole of this post. So I won’t be able to discuss the latest rash of [Tory defections to Reform](https://www.bestforbritain.org/tory%5Freformuk%5Fdefection%5Ftracker?ref=europeans.today), important as they are to the politics of Brexitism, except to say that they show the growing difficulty of Reform’s attempts to depict themselves as outsiders and insurgents. Nor will I discuss the reports that the EU is seeking a “Farage Clause” in any “reset” agreement with the UK as insurance against a future government reneging on any such agreement. However, I have done so in [a recent article in *Byline Times*](https://bylinetimes.com/2026/01/13/the-eus-farage-clause-shows-the-damage-reform-is-already-doing-to-the-uk/?ref=europeans.today). In [my previous post](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/enemies-within-and-without.html?ref=europeans.today) I argued that Trump’s demand to take over Greenland, rather than his attack on Venezuela, was going to be the crucial tipping point for relations between the US, the EU, and the UK. In particular, I suggested that it gave new urgency to the need to massively deepen UK-EU defence and security cooperation. Subsequently, a slew of articles by rather more heavyweight political commentators made versions of the same point (examples include [Gideon Rachman (£)](https://www.ft.com/content/26428440-672f-4f13-a804-01dee8a330fd?ref=europeans.today), [Martin Sandbu (£)](https://www.ft.com/content/1da08f67-c192-4fd6-b786-e88e1358e237?ref=europeans.today), and [Philip Stephens](https://philipstephens.substack.com/p/europe-cannot-forever-indulge-trump)). It also featured within the much wider tour d’horizon of the current geo-political scene provided by [Bronwen Maddox in her annual lecture](https://www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/standard-event/directors-annual-lecture-2026?ref=europeans.today) as Director of the Chatham House think-tank. Nevertheless, I’m not sure that anyone expected the Greenland Crisis to escalate as rapidly as it did, or to at least apparently subside with equal rapidity. ##### The Greenland crisis The first key event was last week’s decision by several European NATO countries, including the UK, to [send military forces to Greenland](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ydjvxpejo?ref=europeans.today) to undertake or prepare for training exercises. The numbers were very limited, in the UK’s case reportedly only a single soldier, but the deployment was highly symbolic. One important aspect of that symbolism was that, Brexit notwithstanding, the UK aligned with those EU countries taking part. However, the wider symbolic meaning of the deployment had a degree of ambiguity. Some declared it to be a warning to the US that any attempt to take Greenland by force would be resisted, and it is worth re-iterating that the very possibility of this being its meaning shows the extraordinary situation we are now in. Others presented it as a sign that, just as Trump had demanded, Europeans were stepping up to contribute to NATO’s security rather than just leaving it to America. The next key event showed that Trump, at least, interpreted it as having the first meaning and took it as an affront, prompting him last weekend to [threaten to levy tariffs](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g5345ylk0o?ref=europeans.today) on goods from the UK and the EU, or at least those EU countries which had sent forces \[[1](#01)\]. Yet this response was itself open to two interpretations. One was that Trump was showing he would attack those who defied him, and in that sense was a show of strength. The other was that, by making it an economic rather than a military attack, it showed the limits to his strength because he was signalling that he did not intend to take control of Greenland militarily in the face of the resolve shown by Europeans (if only because he [would not have domestic political support](https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/53917-american-knowledge-greenland-varies-few-support-military-takeover-january-16-19-2026-economist-yougov-poll?ref=europeans.today) for doing so). That he does not now intend to do so was [stated explicitly in his subsequent, rambling Davos speech](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c0mkp3ezjmvo?ref=europeans.today) on Wednesday, during which he repeatedly [confused Greenland with Iceland](https://bsky.app/profile/meidastouch.com/post/3mcwyt5hie22z?ref=europeans.today), but it shouldn’t be forgotten that the fear that he would do so arose from [his own previous statements](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKKaipXXOuE&ref=europeans.today). He created the crisis. Then, abruptly, later on Wednesday, [Trump announced](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgezx40r7d7o?ref=europeans.today) that he had struck the “framework of a deal” with Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, and that the threat of “Greenland tariffs” had been withdrawn. The nature of this framework remains unclear, and its details have not been finalized, but it seems sure to fall short of what had been the demand for Greenland to become unequivocally part of the United States. It may even be scarcely different to the existing situation. Many analysts attribute Trump’s about-turn to the stock market falls his tariff threats had caused earlier in the week, just as [bond market reaction](https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/bond-watch-how-bonds-caused-trump-u-turn-ii534956?ref=europeans.today) led him to retreat from many of his “liberation day” tariff threats last year. Of course, trying to explain or make sense of Trump’s words and actions is difficult since he has always been capricious and now appears to be going senile. It is certainly impossible to predict what he may do in the future. He may decide “the deal” he has done with Rutte is not good enough. He may change his mind about the Greenland tariffs again. Or he may revert to his threats to take Greenland by force. What is clear is that his motivations are bound up with his monstrously rapacious ego, as shown by [the insane letter he sent](https://news.sky.com/story/trumps-extraordinary-letter-to-norway-about-greenland-in-full-and-fact-checked-13496272?ref=europeans.today) to the Norwegian Prime Minister in which he linked his designs on Greenland to his pique at not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Even so, it would be a mistake to ignore that, Trump’s baroque psychology and mafia boss persona aside, Washington’s conduct is also driven by [the hard-eyed men](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/stephen-miller-trump-white-house/685516/?ref=europeans.today) who have re-drawn the entire shape of US foreign policy. For them, US “hemispheric hegemony” is not about placating “a King gone mad” but a deadly serious ideological project which, amongst other things, dispenses with the idea of NATO as a vehicle for collective security. Trump may like that idea for egotistical reasons, but his henchmen have their own motivations and, even if the attempt to annex Greenland founders, those motivations remain intact. At all events, as Bronwen Maddox argues, it cannot be assumed that the US is going to “snap back” to its traditional post-WW2 posture, even once Trump has gone. Nor has the apparent resolution of the immediate crisis over Greenland [ended the wider crisis faced by NATO](https://news.sky.com/story/trumps-greenland-climbdown-dont-let-it-fool-you-this-crisis-is-far-from-over-for-nato-13497397?ref=europeans.today) and multi-lateral institutions more generally. ##### The unavoidability of choice For the UK, this means that Keir Starmer’s continuing insistence that there is no choice to be made between its relations with the US and the EU is becoming ever-more implausible. The decision to be included in both statements and military deployments with Denmark, France, Germany etc. was a decision to side with Europe against the US, if only because that is how Trump interpreted it. And Starmer’s insistence on Greenland’s sovereignty and criticism of Trump’s tariff threat, an insistence which has always been unambiguous and [became more robust as the week went on](https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/keir-starmer-says-he-will-not-yield-to-trump-on-greenland?ref=europeans.today), is also a choice to side with the EU and against the US, and has also been interpreted by Trump in that way. On the other hand, his implication during this week that, unlike the EU, he was not prepared to retaliate against the tariff threats could be interpreted, if not as siding with the US, then at least as not showing solidarity with the EU. I don’t mean by this that there’s any real prospect that Starmer will ever openly acknowledge that there is a choice to be made, nor that he needs to. I mean that, acknowledged or not, there is no decision the UK can take, and no statement it can make, including taking no decisions or making no statements, which avoids that choice. The choice, or at least the sub-choices within it, have to be made because they cannot not be made. This situation would pose acute problems for the UK even if it were still a member of the EU (just [as it does for the *EU*](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/eu-leaders-meet-in-brussels-to-discuss-new-reality-of-relations-with-us?ref=europeans.today), itself, its individual members, and for other countries around the world), but Brexit undoubtedly makes it far worse. To take the most obvious example, were there to be a trade war with the US, over Greenland or anything else, then the UK would be far better placed if it were an EU member, both in terms of its offensive capacity (against the US) and its defensive capacity (integrated trade within the single market). However, it is the wider, strategic issues which are even more important. The Brexiter insistence that the EU was irrelevant to UK security, which they claimed was entirely catered for by a US-led NATO, which was always [ill-informed](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/659269/EPRS%5FBRI%282020%29659269%5FEN.pdf?ref=europeans.today), is now exposed as the greatest strategic miscalculation in modern British history. And, not coincidentally, those who still support that miscalculation are the very same people – Farage, Hannan, Johnson, Rees-Mogg etc. – who [hailed Trump](https://bsky.app/profile/robertsaunders.bsky.social/post/3mcpye4suas27?ref=europeans.today) as the great ally of Britain. In this sense Britain faces a double problem in addressing the US-EU choice: first, the damage of Brexit itself and, second, the continuing influence of [Brexitism](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/p/defining-brexitism.html?ref=europeans.today). ##### A second chance for Starmer This being so, Keir Starmer has the possibility both to address the strategic failure of Brexit and to gain domestic political advantage over Reform and marginalize Brexitism, as [I've been arguing for at least a year](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/02/trumps-new-world-chaos-offers.html?ref=europeans.today) when I wrote that: “Starmer has a real opportunity to exert leadership, and in the process has been gifted an opportunity to release Britain from the drift and dither to which it has been consigned by Brexit. He could, in one bound, position the UK as an international beacon of probity, as a strong regional partner, and perhaps even as a galvanizing convenor of medium-sized and small powers, and in the process marginalize Farage as an unpatriotic scoundrel. Similarly, resistance to closer EU ties from the Conservatives and their media supporters could be positioned as undermining Britain’s staunch support for its allies.” That opportunity has not, to date, been taken, although, recently, Starmer has been slightly more willing to mention at least the economic damage of Brexit and to draw attention to Farage’s pro-Russian affinities. The opportunity re-presents itself, now, because the way in which Trump has bullied and belittled the UK this week, including [his dismissive remarks](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czr444j671vo?ref=europeans.today) about NATO, and therefore British troops, in Afghanistan, will have been offensive to the majority of British voters. This makes it a good time to remind them of Farage’s adoration of the American President and, more generally, to justify the case for recalibrating towards the EU. Farage is evidently well aware of his vulnerability on this score, hence [his criticism of Trump’s tariff threat](https://www.gbnews.com/politics/nigel-farage-blasts-donald-trump-tariffs-wrong-warning-words?ref=europeans.today), and he also stated his support for Greenland’s right to self-determination, but he cannot completely protect himself from it since – perhaps from his own fear of Trump publicly attacking him – [in the same breath he argued](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jan/21/keir-starmer-donald-trump-greenland-uk-politics-live-latest-updates?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-6970fc518f08ca24ec41f2a1&ref=europeans.today#block-6970fc518f08ca24ec41f2a1) that it would be desirable if the US owned Greenland. Whilst Starmer did not say the latter, he is unable fully to capitalise on Farage’s vulnerability because his own response had a degree of similarity in that both men criticised the Greenland tariff threat, but both highlighted the UK’s ability to negotiate with the US over trade terms as being advantageous. For Farage, that is taken to be a vindication of Brexit, for Starmer it is taken to be a vindication of his attempts to manage Trump. But, on either account, it is a specious argument: the reality is that [the so-called US-UK trade deal, supposedly agreed last year](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/not-dealing-with-brexitism.html?ref=europeans.today), was limited in scope, has still not been fully implemented, and seems to be subject to ongoing negotiation. In any case, it is always liable to fall victim to Trump’s caprice since, for him, “the art of the deal” is that a deal is never done and can always be reneged upon or made subject to new demands (the same may well apply to the supposed “deal” over Greenland). Indeed, [the latest reports](https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-administration-demand-uk-us-standards-trade-talks/?ref=europeans.today) are that the US is still pushing hard to get the UK to adopt US standards in various areas, including food and agriculture, and, more complex but also important, for the UK to recognize US conformity assessment bodies \[[2](#02)\]. If that were to happen, then even the modest reset with the EU would become impossible, especially as regards an SPS agreement. So here, again, the UK faces a choice between the US and the EU. ##### Fine lines and hot takes One thing which the last week’s events have made abundantly clear is just how difficult it is to navigate that choice. Having been fairly robust in his support for Greenland’s sovereignty and in his criticism of the tariff threat [in a speech on Monday morning](https://bfpg.co.uk/2026/01/starmer-speech-on-greenland/?ref=europeans.today), the following night Starmer was subjected to [Trump’s vicious verbal assault](https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-calls-uk-chagos-islands-deal-great-stupidity/?ref=europeans.today) on the “stupidity” of the UK’s Chagos Islands deal, citing it as one of the reasons for his claims on Greenland. He had never made that linkage before, and it is significant that over the day or two prior to that, numerous figures on the British right, including Farage, had been doing so, though in a different way to Trump, by claiming that there was an inconsistency between Starmer’s defence of Greenland’s sovereignty with his supposed betrayal of Britain’s sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. It’s a ridiculous argument, on multiple levels (not least [because the Chagos deal has a legal basis](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3ql9k3vdqo?ref=europeans.today)), as is Trump’s argument that the Chagos deal, which he previously supported, damages US security interests (since the UK-US base there is protected). I can’t be bothered to unpick all that, but my point is that it seems clear that it only occurred to Trump to link Chagos and Greenland because his ideological soulmates in Britain were doing so. Indeed, [it has since emerged](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/21/how-badenoch-meeting-with-mike-johnson-led-to-trump-chagos-deal-rant?ref=europeans.today) that it may have come about because of remarks made by Kemi Badenoch to the US Speaker on Monday evening. At all events, whereas there was a brief moment early on Monday when all UK political parties, including Reform, were united in objecting to Trump’s Greenland tariffs, by Tuesday both Reform and the Tories were attacking Labour over Chagos and saying that about that, at least, Trump was right. Tellingly, that great patriot Farage was delighted at the prospect of “sovereign Britain” being told what to do by a foreign leader (equally tellingly, [it looks as if he was wrong](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/20/uk-to-hand-chagos-islands-to-mauritius-despite-trumps-taunts-no-10-says?ref=europeans.today)). Thus, whether by accident or design, Trump’s outburst had the effect of splintering the nascent consensus against him within the UK polity and, [as Starmer rightly said](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2026/jan/21/starmer-accuses-badenoch-of-naked-opportunism-by-backing-trump-on-chagos-deal-video?ref=europeans.today) during Prime Minister’s Questions, by endorsing Trump’s criticism of the Chagos deal Kemi Badenoch (and others) were supporting his attempt to punish the UK for standing up to his demands for Greenland. Moreover, many news outlets, [including the *BBC*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c368zw6p2e3o?ref=europeans.today), started to report Trump’s attack on the UK as demonstrating that Starmer’s approach to handling Trump through flattery and sycophancy had failed. That reporting was deeply wrong-headed. In fact, Trump’s attack showed two things. One is just the sheer impossibility of dealing with a President who is unpredictable, dishonest, and very possibly mentally ill. The other, which those criticising Starmer for not being bolder should ponder, is that by departing only slightly from the “flattery and sycophancy” approach, with a politely-worded criticism of the Greenland policy and tariff threat, Starmer immediately faced a thuggish response from Trump and, with it, accusations from the Conservatives that he was failing to maintain “the special relationship”. In any case, these events also showed that it is unwise to provide “hot takes”, especially in relation to Trump, because by the end of the week [the *BBC*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62wwre0jrro?ref=europeans.today) and others were at least implying that Starmer had handled the crisis effectively. ##### The Carney doctrine Whatever now happens with respect to Greenland, which is [very far from clear](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/22/trumps-greenland-framework-deal-what-we-know-about-it-what-we-dont?ref=europeans.today), there can be little doubt that the events of the last fortnight have crystallised the situation which has been developing since at least the re-election of Trump. The UK’s choice between the US and the EU is only one manifestation of the wider choices this situation poses. For, as the Bronwen Maddox lecture I linked to earlier suggests, the Greenland crisis is only one instance of a much bigger transformation in the global order, a point also made this week [by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/20/donald-trump-greenland-world-plan-leadership?ref=europeans.today). Previously, [I’ve written about this transformation](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-new-global-divide-makes-brexit.html?ref=europeans.today) in terms of a “new global divide”, as profound as that of the Cold War, between a broadly, if imperfectly, liberal, rational-legal framework for international relations, and an international order based solely on power-plays and gangsterism (and, as the use of increasingly [unconstrained paramilitary violence](https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nonviolence-minnesota-ice?ref=europeans.today) and the [erosion of the rule of law](https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/war-and-propaganda-in-the-us-last) by Trump’s regime shows, this applies to the domestic order as well). A naked illustration of this gangsterism is [Trump’s latest plan to create a “Board of Peace”](https://news.sky.com/story/what-is-trumps-board-of-peace-and-is-it-going-to-replace-the-un-13497460?ref=europeans.today) to oversee Gaza and, potentially, other conflict zones. This body will be chaired by Trump during his lifetime, with power to hire and fire its members and to name his successor, and with permanent members reportedly required to pay $1 billion into a fund personally controlled by Trump. The nature and implications of this new global divide were articulated with great cogency in a widely-admired [speech given by the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Davos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btqHDhO4h10&ref=europeans.today) this week. It was a speech which may well come to be seen as being as epoch-defining as [Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech in Missouri](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmwc?ref=europeans.today) almost exactly eighty years ago. Carney spoke of the concept of “values-based realism”, a combination of principle and pragmatism, whereby “middle powers” could and should respond to a world in which multilateral institutions have been diminished and “great powers” seek to act as regional or even global hegemons. Note that this does not imply “having nothing to do” with those hegemons, or publicly vilifying them. Certainly as regards the US, that is a luxury that Canada, like the UK and most other countries, does not have. The issue is how to navigate relations with them. It was an optimistic speech in suggesting such navigation was possible, but by no means an idealistic one. Pragmatism demands some unpalatable choices such as, implicitly, [Canada’s recent trade deal with China](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm24k6kk1rko?ref=europeans.today). It was also realistic in insisting that – as, in Britain, Brexit should have taught us – “nostalgia is not a strategy”, meaning that the old order, effectively that established since the time of Churchill’s Missouri speech, is not coming back. However, that does not mean that the future order must necessarily be dictated by hegemons and characterised by gangsterism. Above all, Carney’s speech stressed the centrality of cooperation amongst middle powers: “When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating. This is not sovereignty. It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.” It is at least possible to interpret Trump’s apparent climbdown over Greenland as a vindication of this, in that it came when [faced with the concerted opposition](https://www.disruptionbanking.com/2026/01/22/trump-pushed-europe-to-the-brink-then-backed-down-when-the-markets-panicked/?ref=europeans.today) of numerous countries and other actors, including market actors (the two are linked, since a big reason for the stock market falls was the possibility of EU retaliation). But, even if so, the Carney doctrine calls for more than co-ordinated diplomacy; it requires the development of substantive co-operation amongst middle powers over defence, security, and trade. Thus, although speaking primarily about Canada, Carney’s speech can be read as a general prescription for middle powers, of which the UK is one, in the rapidly emerging new order. It can also be read, not coincidentally, as a devastating repudiation of the core propositions of Brexiters and of Brexitism. Taking those two readings together, the Carney Doctrine could offer the UK a chance of moving forward from Brexit. It’s no longer a matter of revisiting the decision made in 2016\. The Greenland crisis has been a stark reminder that, in 2026, the brutal realities of global politics impose their own imperatives on national strategy, and mandate a new and better decision about its direction. Whether domestic politics will allow such a decision to be made is an open question. It is doubtful whether the present government is capable of rising to the challenge. But it is beyond doubt that a Reform, or Reform-Tory, government, still entirely committed to the logic of Brexit and Brexitism, would be totally incapable of doing so. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) **Notes** **\[1\]** Many commentators wondered if it is possible for the US to levy tariffs on individual EU members, given that the EU trades as a single tariff entity (i.e. the customs union). The trade expert [Sam Lowe has explained](https://mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/greenland) that the short answer is that it is. However, because it is a single tariff entity, any retaliation against the US would have to be made by the EU and not its individual members. **\[2\]** I don’t have space to discuss it here, but conformity assessment is, as an anonymous source in [the *Politico* report](https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-administration-demand-uk-us-standards-trade-talks/?ref=europeans.today) aptly describes it, the “invisible infrastructure that no one really knows about but which keeps everyone safe”. It also has much [salience to Brexit](https://www.uktpo.org/briefing-papers/taking-stock-of-the-uk-eu-trade-and-cooperation-agreement-trade-in-goods/?ref=europeans.today#mutualbp52), including [to the ‘reset’](https://www.uktpo.org/briefing-papers/bp-86/?ref=europeans.today), because it is at the heart of why regulatory alignment does not in itself give market access, and amongst other things [explains the strange situation](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2023/10/not-for-eu-labelling-case-study-of.html?ref=europeans.today) whereby foodstuffs may meet EU standards but are nevertheless marked ‘Not for the EU’ when sold in British shops. And of course conformity assessment marking lies behind one of [the most abject farces of the Brexit saga](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/ukca-symbol-of-folly-of-brexit.html?ref=europeans.today), namely the abandoned attempt to replace CE marks with UKCA marks. ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Annual Lecture by Bronwen Maddox](https://www.chathamhouse.org/events/annual-lecture-bronwen-maddox?ref=europeans.today) | CHATHAM HOUSE - ###### [The Geopolitics of Greenland](https://www.ft.com/gideon-rachman?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES - ###### [Values-Based Realism in a Multipolar World](https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026?ref=europeans.today) | WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM - ###### [NATO’s Arctic Security Framework](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news%5F2026.htm?ref=europeans.today) | NATO - ###### [UK Response to Arctic Territorial Claims](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/starmer-greenland-sovereignty?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Starmer’s Strategy in the Trump Era](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/keir-starmer?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The Brexit Reset and the Farage Clause](https://www.bylinetimes.com/?ref=europeans.today) | BYLINE TIMES --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Brexit & Beyond](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/making-sense-of-madness.html?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 30 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/54797904208/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 30 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/30/todays-papers-30-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-31T04:08:29.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000132869.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000132870.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000132874.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Ahead of seismic local elections, what we know about Reform’s ability to put boots on the ground for the campaign URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/29/ahead-of-seismic-local-elections-what-we-know-about-reforms-ability-to-put-boots-on-the-ground-for-the-campaign/ Last updated: 2026-01-29T03:07:15.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Britain’s two-party system faces fragmentation ahead of the local elections. 🔹 Reform UK members are scarce in Wales compared to southern England. 🔹 Green Party membership is growing but remains thinly spread across regions. 🔹 Liberal Democrats excel at doorstep campaigning despite lower online activity. W hat we used to think of as Britain’s two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, seem more than happy to [postpone as many of this year’s upcoming local elections](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd5p7y1999o?ref=europeans.today) as possible. Labour insists the delays are needed because of ongoing local authority reorganisation. Opponents allege the decision has more to do with opinion polls that show both parties losing out badly to [Reform](https://theconversation.com/topics/reform-uk-96168?ref=europeans.today), the Lib Dems and the [Greens](https://theconversation.com/topics/green-party-68838?ref=europeans.today). Who knows which is true? But it’s all yet another reminder that the UK’s formerly cosy, two-party system seems to be falling apart in front of our eyes. In a year that holds the potential for electoral gains in councils and in races for the Welsh Senedd and Scottish parliament, what we used to refer to as country’s “minor” parties will have to run many campaigns. In order to take full advantage of that fragmentation, they ideally need boots on the ground – people prepared to knock on doors and push leaflets through letter boxes in order to encourage supporters to actually get out and vote. These days, it’s also useful to have people willing to create (or at least share) content online. That raises the question: who do they have? Given that the people who do the most campaigning for parties are its [members](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2017.02.002?ref=europeans.today), we can start by looking at how these numbers are distributed around the country. Reform makes big splashes in the national media, but does it have people who know the ground in the Vale of Clwyd? My colleagues and I – the party members project run out of Queen Mary University of London and the University of Sussex – have looked into this in [a newly published report](https://esrcpartymembersproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/britains-party-members-bale-et-al.pdf?ref=europeans.today). It’s one thing to have plenty of party members – and there have been huge surges in people joining both the Greens and Reform since we conducted our surveys around the time of the 2024 election – but it matters where they’re located and how much they’re prepared to do. Obviously, it helps to have members in those areas of the country that, opinion polls suggest, are particularly fertile territory. This may well be the case for the [Lib Dems](https://theconversation.com/topics/liberal-democrats-5522?ref=europeans.today) and for Reform, although Reform leader Nigel Farage will surely be hoping that that he’s managed to recruit a few more members in Wales and in London since we did our field work. At that time, just 8% of Reform members were located in Wales, compared to 30% in the south of England. Only 12% of members were in London, where every borough has a council election in 2026. ![](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712697/original/file-20260115-66-tjbcix.jpg) Where are party members? | [TIM BALE](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) As for the Greens, they look rather thinly spread. Like Reform, there’s more of a presence in the south, where 32% of members are to be found. But in London it’s 12%, although it looks like that might be changing fast and for the better in [some parts of the capital](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/01/zack-polanskis-new-fortress?ref=europeans.today). Certainly, irrespective of which region they’re located in, if Green party members live in those multicultural urban areas where Labour looks vulnerable, then they could still prove very useful in May. How useful members are, of course, also depends on whether they’re willing to actually help out. At the 2024 election, from which our data is derived, around a third of all Lib Dem and Reform UK members, devoted no time at all to their party’s campaign efforts. The Tories, Greens and Labour had it even worse. Around half of their members put no time in. Digging a bit deeper into the kind of activities members do reveals some interesting differences. In the increasingly important online world, it looks as if the Greens and Reform UK may well have something of an advantage. Their members were more likely to share social media content about their party than members of the Lib Dems and Conservatives. ![](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712735/original/file-20260115-56-l5iyr6.jpg) Which party members are active on social media? | [TIM BALE](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) On the doorstep, however, it’s the Lib Dems who are right up there. Some 37% of Lib Dems delivered leaflets to people’s homes in 2024 – a figure that rises to 59% if we ignore those members who told us they’d done nothing for the party during the election. This is one of the reasons, along with continued Conservative weakness, why, in spite of them being paid far less attention than current media darlings, the Greens and Reform UK, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey’s often underrated party stands to do well in the spring. Reform’s membership performed less impressively in 2024 – only 20% delivered leaflets, albeit a figure that rises to 34% if we take those members who did nothing at all out of the equation. The figures for canvassing (a rather more demanding activity which parties often struggle to persuade members to help with) – 12% and 21% – are much lower. ![](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712738/original/file-20260115-56-2m4ub.jpg) Who is knocking on doors? | [TIM BALE](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) A key question for Farage, then, will be how he can motivate the people who’ve flooded into his party (boosting its membership to over 270,000) to get out on the doorstep or at least hit the phones in order to contact voters. Zack Polanski faces a similar challenge when it comes to the 150,000 people who now belong to the Greens, most of whom have joined since he took over as leader. Campaigning by members isn’t everything, of course. Activists who aren’t members play a part, as does top-down, national campaigning – even in local elections. Still, these figures do give some insight into the strengths and weaknesses of party organisation around the country at the start of what looks set to be a crucial set of elections this spring. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How would Britain vote at the start of 2026?](https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53923-how-would-britain-vote-at-the-start-of-2026?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV - ###### [The Green Party now has more than 95,000 members](https://bright-green.org/2025/10/10/the-green-party-now-has-more-than-95000-members/?ref=europeans.today) | BRIGHT GREEN - ###### [No Tory councils here – our forecast for the English Local Elections](https://sotn.newstatesman.com/2025/05/no-tory-councils-here-our-forecast-for-the-2025-english-local-elections?ref=europeans.today) | NEW STATESMAN - ###### [Young Greens of England and Wales reach 20,000 members](https://younggreens.org.uk/2025/10/18/young-greens-of-england-and-wales-reach-20000-members/?ref=europeans.today) | YOUNG GREENS - ###### [Local Elections: results and analysis](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10272/?ref=europeans.today) | UK PARLIAMENT - ###### [Party Strategy Consultation](https://www.libdems.org.uk/news/article/party-strategy-consultation?ref=europeans.today) | LIBERAL DEMOCRATS - ###### [MRP Poll October 2025](https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/ec%5Fvipoll%5F20251015.html?ref=europeans.today) | ELECTORAL CALCULUS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/ahead-of-seismic-local-elections-what-we-know-about-reforms-ability-to-put-boots-on-the-ground-for-the-campaign-273626?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 29 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[SARAH2](https://www.dreamstime.com/sarah2%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273626/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Donald Trump’s ‘board of peace’ looks like a privatised UN with one shareholder: the US president URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/29/donald-trumps-board-of-peace-looks-like-a-privatised-un-with-one-shareholder-the-us-president/ Last updated: 2026-01-30T04:13:31.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Trump’s “board of peace” seeks to replace traditional international conflict resolution. 🔹 Permanent seats on the board reportedly cost a US$1 billion entry fee. 🔹 The initiative bypasses the United Nations’ established role in global peacekeeping efforts. 🔹 Critics view the move as a “transactional” approach to American foreign policy. I t is hard to believe that Donald Trump has only been back in the White House for a year. His accomplishments are many – but most of them are of questionable durability or benefit, including for the United States. Even his [UN-endorsed](https://docs.un.org/en/S/RES/2803/2025?ref=europeans.today) 20-point ceasefire and transition plan for Gaza released on September 29 2025 is now in danger of being subsumed in yet another grandiose fantasy of the American president: the so-called “board of peace” to be chaired by Trump. This group of international dignitaries was originally intended to oversee the work of a more technical committee, comprising technocrats responsible for the day-to-day recovery and rebuilding of Gaza. But the [board of peace’s charter](https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-charter-of-trumps-board-of-peace/?ref=europeans.today) makes no mention of Gaza at all. Instead, its opening sentence declares that “durable peace requires pragmatic judgment, common-sense solutions, and the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed”. To make this break with such an unseemly past, the board of peace proclaims itself to be “an international organization” to “secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict” and commits to conducting its operations “in accordance with international law”. To which the immediate reaction is that unilateralism is increasingly the [hallmark of Trump’s second administration](https://thinkdeterrence.com/trump-2-0-unilateralism-and-the-future-of-arms-control/?ref=europeans.today). Settling conflicts is the [prerogative of the UN](https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/commission/mandate?ref=europeans.today). And, over the past year, the US has shown itself to be [unconcerned about international law](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/06/politics/trump-greenland-venezuela-colombia-miller-analysis?ref=europeans.today). Membership of the board is by invitation from the chairman: Donald Trump – who has broad and flexible discretion on how long he will serve for and who will replace him when he does decide to go. Those invited can join for free for three years and buy themselves a permanent seat at the table for US$1 billion (£740 million) – in cash, payable in the first year. With Trump retaining significant power over the direction of the board and many of its decisions it is not clear what US$1 billion would exactly buy the permanent members of the board – except perhaps a chance to ingratiate themselves with Trump. There is no question that established institutions have often failed to achieve durable peace. Among such institutions, the UN has been a favourite target for Trump’s criticism and disdain, as evident in a recent [directive](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-international-organizations-conventions-and-treaties-that-are-contrary-to-the-interests-of-the-united-states/?ref=europeans.today) to cease participating in and funding 31 UN organisations. Among them were the peace-building commission and the peace-building fund, as well as office of the special representative for children in armed conflict. ##### Is this the end for the United Nations? The deeper and more tragic irony in this is threefold. First, there is strong evidence that the UN is [effective as peace builder](https://theconversation.com/involving-women-in-peace-deals-reduces-chance-of-a-conflict-restarting-by-up-to-37-268325?ref=europeans.today), especially after civil war, and that UN peacekeeping does [work to keep the peace](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/abs/extraordinary-relationship-between-peacekeeping-and-peace/D2D5D262B60315387B0B23D1D4F79CC9?ref=europeans.today). Second, there is no question that the UN does not always succeed in its efforts to achieve peace. But this is as much, if not more often, the fault of its member states. There’s a long history of UN member states blocking security council resolutions, providing only weak mandates or cutting short the duration of UN missions. They have also obstructed operations on the ground, as is evident in the [protracted crisis in Sudan](https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/12/sudan-briefing-6.php?ref=europeans.today), where the UN endlessly debates human suffering but lacks most of the funds to alleviate it. Third, even though he is unlikely to ever admit it publicly, Trump by now has surely found out for himself that making peace is [neither easy nor straightforward](https://theconversation.com/did-trump-really-resolve-six-conflicts-in-a-matter-of-months-we-spoke-to-the-experts-to-find-out-262906?ref=europeans.today) despite his claim to have solved eight conflicts. And the more so if the “pragmatic judgement” and “commonsense solutions” that the charter to his board of peace subscribe to end up being, as seems likely, little more than a thin disguise for highly transactional deals designed to [prioritise profitable returns](https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/featured-report/profit-peace?ref=europeans.today) for an America-first agenda. Part of the reason why the UN has success as a peacemaker and peacebuilder is the fact that it is still seen as [relatively legitimate](https://theconversation.com/involving-women-in-peace-deals-reduces-chance-of-a-conflict-restarting-by-up-to-37-268325?ref=europeans.today). This is something that is unlikely to be immediately associated with Trump or his board of peace if it ever takes off. Such scepticism appears well founded, particularly considering that among the invitees to join the board is the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is not particularly well known for his love of peace. Even Trump, [on rare occasions, admittedly](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/us/politics/trump-putin.html?ref=europeans.today), seems to have come to this realisation. But it did not stop him from inviting Putin to join the board of peace. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000604b--1-.jpg) The charter of the board of peace says nothing about Gaza. | DREAMSTIME/[ABED RAHIM KHATIB](https://www.dreamstime.com/abedrahimkhatib%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ##### What’s in it for Trump? So, what to make of it all? Is it just another of Trump’s controversial initiatives that he hopes might eventually earn him the Nobel peace prize after all? Is it merely a money-making opportunity for Trump personally, or is it designed for his political and corporate allies, who might benefit from projects implemented by his board of peace? Ultimately, it might be any of these. The real question needs to be about the consequences for the current system. What Trump is effectively proposing is to set up a corporate version of the UN, controlled and run by him. That he is capable of such a proposal should not come as a shock after 12 months of Trump 2.0\. More surprising is the notion that other political leaders will support it. This is one of the few opportunities they have to stop him in his tracks. It would not be a cost-free response, as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has found when he did not appear sufficiently enthusiastic and Trump [threatened](https://www.politico.eu/article/us-president-donald-trump-threatens-tarrifs-french-wine-emmanuel-macron-peace-board/?ref=europeans.today) the immediate imposition of 200% tariffs on French wine. But more leaders should consider whether they really want to be Trump’s willing executioners when it comes to the UN and instead imagine, to [paraphrase](https://www.genekeyes.com/CHET/Chet-1.html?ref=europeans.today) a well-known anti-war slogan, what would happen if Trump “gave a board of peace and no one came?” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump’s Second Term: Unilateralism and Global Consequences](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-second-term-unilateralism-and-global-consequences-2026-01-15/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Trump's Board of Peace: A Final Blow to the United Nations?](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/trump-board-of-peace-un-threat?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The Risks of Privatising Global Peacekeeping](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/privatizing-peace-risks-trumps-diplomacy?ref=europeans.today) | FOREIGN AFFAIRS - ###### [Understanding Trump's Transactional Foreign Policy](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-6984210?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Putin Invited to Trump's New Board of Peace](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/world/trump-board-peace-putin-invitation.html?ref=europeans.today) | NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [The Billion-Dollar Price Tag for Global Influence](https://www.economist.com/international/2026/01/27/the-billion-dollar-price-tag-for-global-influence?ref=europeans.today) | THE ECONOMIST - ###### [Tariff Wars: Trump's Pressure on Europe Over Peace Board](https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-trump-tariffs-wine-peace-board/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-board-of-peace-looks-like-a-privatised-un-with-one-shareholder-the-us-president-273856?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 29 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55057181750/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273856/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### One venue, two speeches – how Mark Carney left Donald Trump in the dust in Davos URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/29/how-mark-carney-left-donald-trump-in-the-dust-in-davos/ Last updated: 2026-01-29T15:31:30.000Z --- **What you need to know** 🔹 Carney championed multilateralism while implicitly criticising US isolationism. 🔹 Trump’s speech focused on personal grievances and acquiring Greenland. 🔹 Critics noted Trump’s lack of preparation compared to Carney’s poise. 🔹 The contrast highlighted shifting global power dynamics and US leadership struggles. T he meeting and venue were the same, but the style and tone of the two most anticipated keynote speeches at the [World Economic Forum](https://www.weforum.org/?ref=europeans.today) in the Swiss town of Davos could not have been more different. On Tuesday, January 20, Canadian prime minister [Mark Carney](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btqHDhO4h10&ref=europeans.today) addressed the assembled political and business leaders as one of them: a national leader with deep expertise in finance. He spoke about a “rupture” in the world order and the duty of nations to come together through appropriate coalitions for the benefit of all. It was a paean to multilateralism, but one that recognised that the US would no longer provide the glue to hold alliances together. Carney never mentioned the US by name in his speech, instead talking of “great powers” and “hegemons”. Carney’s quiet, measured and evocative case-making demonstrated his ability to be the leader France’s Emmanuel Macron would like to be and the UK’s Keir Starmer is too cautious to be. He was clear, unequivocal and unafraid of the bully below his southern border. In standing up to the US president, Donald Trump, he appeared every inch the statesperson. Mark Carney delivers his speech at Davos, 21-Jan-2026\. | YOUTUBE/CBS NEWS Then, on January 21, Trump [took the stage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9YdMzYAN84&ref=europeans.today). There was none of Carney’s self-awareness and nor did he read the room recognising the strengths, talents and economic power of the audience. Trump started with humour, noting he was talking to “friends and a few enemies”. But he quickly shifted to a riff on the greatest hits of the first year of Trump 2.0 with the usual weaving away from his script down the rabbit holes of his perceived need for vengeance. Joe Biden still takes up far too much of Trump’s head space, but the next hour could be summed up as: “Trump great: everyone else bad.” The president is the most amazing hype man for his own greatness, but it’s a zero-sum game. For him to win, others must lose, whether that’s the UK, Macron or the unnamed female prime minister of Switzerland whom he mocked for the poverty of her tariff negotiation skills. It’s worth noting Switzerland has no prime minister and its current president is a man. While Carney was at pains to connect with his audience of allies, Trump exists happily in his own world where support – and sovereign territory – can be bought, and fealty trumps all. As ever, Trump played fast and loose with facts, wrapping real successes, aspirations and his unique view of the truth into a paean to himself. He actually returned to his script to make the case for taking Greenland. The case is built on a notional need for “national and international security”, underscored by pointing out the territory is “in our hemisphere”. As so many commentators have said, collective security will [do the job](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/us-intentions-towards-greenland-threaten-natos-future-european-countries-are-not-helpless?ref=europeans.today) Trump insists that only the US can – and won’t require Denmark to cede territory. But Trump is sounding ever-less the rational actor. ### Contrasting visions The coming year is one of inflection for Trump’s presidency. His Republican party may well lose control of the House and possibly the Senate in [the November midterms](https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings?ref=europeans.today), which would severely curtail his ability to impose his will unfettered. Trump is focused on his legacy and demands he’s up there with former US presidents [Thomas Jefferson](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/louisiana-purchase.html?ref=europeans.today), [James Monroe](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/monroe-doctrine?ref=europeans.today), [James Polk](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/texas-annexation?ref=europeans.today) and [William McKinley](https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5575/?ref=europeans.today), expanding the American empire and its physical footprint. This may be a step too far, even for a president with such vast economic and military power. Carney’s speech played well both at home and around the world. His line, “If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” clearly resonated with his fellow western leaders. His vision for how “the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong if we choose to wield them together”, also offered a positive vision in a dark time. Trump told the audience that he would not use “excessive strength of force” to acquire Greenland. But, ever the real estate developer, he demanded “right, title and ownership” with an ominous threat: “You can say no – we will remember.” As Trump laid out his grand vision of protecting and cherishing the rich and aligning nations to do America’s bidding, it was in stark contrast to Carney. The hyperbole and self-aggrandising, the insults and threats, and the singular vision of seeing the world only through the personal impact it has on him mark the US president out as remarkable, even exceptional. But is this the exceptionalism the US wants? Is America about more than the strongman politics of economic and military coercion? The immediate reaction in the US was relief, jumping on the line that Trump won’t take Greenland by force. It will be telling to look at the commentary as the country reflects on the president’s aim of lifting America up, seemingly by dragging the rest of the world down. One leader donned the cloak of statesmanship at Davos this week. It wasn’t Donald Trump. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Mark Carney says Canada must ‘be a beacon to a world that’s at sea’](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/carney-says-canada-must-be-a-beacon-to-a-world-thats-at-sea?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The flaws in Mark Carney’s new world order](https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-flaws-in-mark-carneys-new-world-order/?ref=europeans.today) | ENGELSBERG IDEAS - ###### [Trump vs Carney at Davos: One summit, two visions](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/trump-vs-carney-davos-one-summit-two-visions-independent-thinking-podcast?ref=europeans.today) | CHATHAM HOUSE - ###### [Fact-Checking Donald Trump’s Speech at Davos](https://time.com/7355689/trump-davos-fact-check/?ref=europeans.today) | TIME MAGAZINE - ###### [President Trump and Greenland: Frequently asked questions](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10472/?ref=europeans.today) | HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY - ###### [Greenland was not an anomaly: An America guided by Trump's global strategy](https://europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/greenland-was-not-an-anomaly-an-america-guided-by-trumps-global-strategy-requires-more-unity-toughness-and-discernment-from-europe/?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP NETWORK - ###### [In Davos, President Trump Outlines Bold Vision for American Prosperity](https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/01/in-davos-president-trump-outlines-bold-vision-for-american-prosperity-transatlantic-strength/?ref=europeans.today) | THE WHITE HOUSE --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/one-venue-two-speeches-how-mark-carney-left-donald-trump-in-the-dust-in-davos-274062?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 29 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Vladyslav Musiienko](https://www.dreamstime.com/vladmusienko%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/274062/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 29 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/29/todays-papers-29-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-30T02:59:37.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000132849.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000132853.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000132857.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 28 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/28/todays-papers-28-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-29T03:38:55.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000131946.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000131955.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000131953.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 27 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/27/todays-papers-27-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-27T23:13:26.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000131618.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000131598.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000131602.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 26 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/26/todays-papers-26-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-27T04:00:57.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000130914.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000130878.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000130884.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 24 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/24/todays-papers-24-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-24T23:35:10.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000130002.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000129818.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000129827.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/23/todays-papers-23-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-23T17:56:32.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000129288.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000129282.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000129378.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Why Keir Starmer had to speak out against Trump over Greenland after staying quiet on Venezuela URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/22/why-keir-starmer-had-to-speak-out-against-trump-over-greenland-after-staying-quiet-on-venezuela/ Last updated: 2026-01-22T01:07:32.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The Labour government promised progressive realism, tested by Trump’s actions in Venezuela and Greenland. 🔹 Keir Starmer’s ambiguity on Venezuela aimed to preserve US cooperation on Ukraine peace efforts. 🔹 Failure to condemn Venezuela risked encouraging Trump’s imperialism, prompting firmer opposition on Greenland. 🔹 Progressive realism now requires resisting US pressure, as Greenland offers no strategic justification. T he Labour government came into office [promising](https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/101/2/623/8045990?ref=europeans.today) to “use realist means to pursue progressive ends”. US president Donald Trump’s recent actions over Venezuela and Greenland have tested Keir Starmer’s ability to deliver on that promise. When the prime minister [said](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4qgvwxp08o?ref=europeans.today) he had been “a lifelong advocate of international law” there was a reasonable expectation that he would condemn the US action in [Venezuela](https://theconversation.com/topics/venezuela-2510?ref=europeans.today). Some feared that his ambiguity on that issue was a betrayal of progressive values. However, US action in Venezuela came at a sensitive moment in the UK’s efforts to achieve a progressive end to the war in [Ukraine](https://theconversation.com/topics/ukraine-8201?ref=europeans.today). US cooperation is vital if Russia is to be forced to negotiate a peace that respects the Ukrainian right to self-determination. That means persuading the US to put pressure on Russia – something that would be impossible if Starmer had alienated Trump by condemning his illegal action in Venezuela. Starmer has shown that he is [able to handle](https://theconversation.com/keir-starmer-at-the-white-house-what-progressive-realism-now-means-in-relation-to-ukraine-and-donald-trump-250722?ref=europeans.today) Trump’s unpredictable personality. His ambiguity on Venezuela immediately prior to [the Paris meeting that agreed security guarantees for Ukraine](https://news.sky.com/story/uk-and-france-sign-declaration-of-intent-to-send-forces-to-ukraine-in-event-of-peace-deal-13491266?ref=europeans.today) can be interpreted in these terms. He knew that the progressive strategy on Ukraine was reliant on a delicate alignment of US power. When it emerged that British forces had helped the US seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker linked to Venezuela the stakes were raised. Trump’s actions were certainly a grab for Venezuela’s oil but the consequences could work toward progressive ends if Russian investments in Venezuela’s oil industry are [written off](https://www.cfr.org/articles/putins-real-worry-about-trumps-venezuela-intervention?ref=europeans.today) and Russia’s ability to avoid sanctions by operating a [“shadow fleet”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0lx42jrg7do?ref=europeans.today) are weakened. For the progressive realist then, Starmer’s ambiguity on Trump’s illegal action in Venezuela could be a worthwhile, if regrettable, trade-off. The word “regret” shouldn’t be lightly passed over. Progressive realists need not be [“theological”](https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2026/01/the-age-of-invasion?ref=europeans.today) in the application of international law, and Starmer knows that good legal prosecutors exercise political judgment. But there is a danger. The risk of not properly condemning Trump on Venezuela was that it could set the world on a slippery slope. It could simply encourage Trump’s imperialist ambitions. That seems to have happened very quickly and Starmer’s speech on Greenland was designed to stop the slide. Starmer reminded us that “Britain is a pragmatic country”. It will, in other words, compromise with the US to find solutions to problems like Russia. But as Starmer said, “being pragmatic does not mean being passive. And partnership does not mean abandoning principle”. The principle at stake in Greenland is the same as Venezuela: national self-determination. So why is he drawing the line now? As a realist, Starmer has shown his willingness to compromise on Venezuela. He has listened to Trump’s concerns on Ukraine and has made the case for greater defence spending across Europe. But as a progressive he has also shown there is a limit to how far he can compromise with the US, and he has drawn a line on Greenland. This is because the argument that the US needs to annex Greenland to pressure Russia makes no sense. Greenland [is already part of an anti-Russian alliance: Nato](https://theconversation.com/us-action-against-greenland-would-undermine-nato-but-now-is-not-the-time-to-panic-272911?ref=europeans.today). No positive outcome can emerge from US pressure on Greenland. European governments made that clear in Paris and Starmer’s speech reinforced the point. The pettiness of [Trump’s statement linking the Greenland issue to Norway’s decision](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-letter-greenland-nobel-peace-b2903022.html?ref=europeans.today) not to grant him the Nobel prize adds to the sense that US policy is now based on the personal ambitions of an imperial president. Against this backdrop, progressive realism means no longer compromising with the US. ### A breach of trust Another principle at stake in Greenland is multilateral cooperation based on respect. International relations academics have longed called the transatlantic region a [“security community”](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/security-communities/B5B95124AD2539C05EF1E8381A29AEE3?ref=europeans.today) because it goes beyond transactional deals. It is based on trust that comes from a sense of “we-ness”. Starmer is trying to maintain that community by speaking over Trump and appealing to the narrative of transatlantic solidarity that existed through the second world war, the cold war and the war on terror. The question, though, is whether that narrative still has power in the US. Trump is intent on putting “America first” and is not concerned about niceties like respect, trust and gratitude. It might seem hard to imagine that the rest of his country will follow him, but recall that America’s founding father, Alexander Hamilton, [famously dismissed](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N23099.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext&ref=europeans.today) Thomas Jefferson’s argument that the US owed France a debt of gratitude for its support during the revolutionary wars. When it came to matters of war and peace, Hamilton argued, former allies were on their own. The UK has aligned itself with the US for decades because it shared values and could leverage US power in the service of its moral as well as material interests. If the Trump administration and the wider Maga movement in Congress continues to undermine the transatlantic security community, and international society more generally, then this relationship may no longer serve Britain’s interests. Progressive realism may have justified strategic ambiguity on Venezuela, but the opposite now appears to be true when it comes to US imperialism towards Greenland. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-keir-starmer-had-to-speak-out-against-trump-over-greenland-after-staying-quiet-on-venezuela-273836?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 22 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55051610211/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273836/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 22 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/22/todays-papers-22-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-22T20:59:38.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000128750.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000128736.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 21 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/21/todays-papers-21-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-21T11:51:05.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000128024.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000128020.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000128017.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/20/trumps-greenland-ambitions-could-wreck-20th-century-alliances-that-helped-build-the-modern-world-order/ Last updated: 2026-01-21T01:57:53.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump’s Greenland push angers allies and threatens NATO under America First posture. 🔹 American history oscillates between isolationism and alliances shaped by global wars. 🔹 World Wars proved alliances are vital, producing NATO, the United Nations and stability. 🔹 Modern scepticism about allies contrasts with postwar cooperation that limited conflict. M ake [Denmark angry](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqz0llpnyqo?ref=europeans.today). Make [Norway angry](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/norwegian-leader-says-he-received-trump-message-that-reportedly-ties-greenland-to-nobel-peace-prize?ref=europeans.today). Make [NATO’s leaders angry](https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/18/europe/europe-greenland-threat-tariffs-analysis-intl?ref=europeans.today). President Donald Trump’s relentless and escalating [drive to acquire Greenland from Denmark](https://www.cfr.org/articles/greenlands-independence-what-would-mean-us-interests?ref=europeans.today), whose government – [along with that of Greenland](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/12/greenland-cant-under-any-circumstances-accept-us-takeover-and-is-boosting-defences?ref=europeans.today) – emphatically rejects the idea, has [unnerved, offended and outraged](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/us/politics/trump-eu-tariffs-greenland.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&ref=europeans.today) leaders of countries considered allies for decades. It’s the latest, and perhaps most significant, eruption of [an attitude of disdain towards allies](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/06/world/europe/trump-europe-strategy-document.html?ref=europeans.today) that has become a [hallmark of the second Trump administration](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/president-trumps-america-first-priorities/?ref=europeans.today), which [has espoused an *America First* approach to the world](https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-02-11/vance-offers-an-america-first-argument-on-ai-deregulation-in-his-first-foreign-policy-speech?ref=europeans.today). [Trump](https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-deploys-troops-to-greenland-in-message-to-trump-ecee3e93?mod=article%5Finline&ref=europeans.today), [Vice President JD Vance](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-03-25/contempt-for-europe-in-trump-s-inner-circle?ref=europeans.today) and [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth](https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4351527/hegseth-outlines-new-national-defense-strategy-during-speech-at-reagan-library/?ref=europeans.today) have all said a lot of things about longtime allies that have [caused frustration and outright friction](https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/19/politics/nato-division-trump-greenland-threat-analysis?ref=europeans.today) among the leaders of those countries. The latest discord over Greenland could affect the [functioning and even existence of NATO](https://www.wsj.com/world/in-trumps-drive-for-greenland-nato-is-roadkill-50af37ec?st=EFriVn&reflink=desktopwebshare%5Fpermalink&ref=europeans.today), the post-World War II alliance of Western nations that “won the Cold War and led the globe,” as a recent Wall Street Journal story put it. [As a former diplomat](https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/242560.htm?ref=europeans.today), I’m aware that how the U.S. treats its allies has been a crucial question in every presidency, since George Washington became the country’s first chief executive. On his way out of that job, Washington said something that Trump, Vance and their fellow America First advocates would probably embrace. In what’s known as his “Farewell Address,” [Washington warned Americans against “entangling alliances](https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/democrac/49.htm?ref=europeans.today).” Washington wanted America to treat all nations fairly, and warned against both permanent friendships and permanent enemies. The irony is that Washington would never have become president without the assistance of the not-yet-United-States’ first ally, France. In 1778, after two years of [brilliant diplomacy by Benjamin Franklin](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/b-franklin?ref=europeans.today), the not-yet-United States and the Kingdom of France signed a treaty of alliance as the American Colonies struggled to [win their war for independence](https://diplomacy.state.gov/online-exhibits/diplomacy-is-our-mission/security/fighting-for-independence-an-alliance-with-france/?ref=europeans.today) from Britain. France sent [soldiers, money and ships](https://www.amrevmuseum.org/france-and-the-american-revolution?ref=europeans.today) to the American revolutionaries. Within three years, after a major intervention by the French fleet, the battle of Yorktown in 1781 [effectively ended the war](https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-revolutionary-war/washingtons-revolutionary-war-battles/the-yorktown-campaign?ref=europeans.today) and America was independent. ### Isolationism, then war American political leaders largely heeded Washington’s warning against alliances throughout the 1800s. The Atlantic Ocean shielded the young nation from Europe’s problems and many conflicts; America’s closest neighbors had smaller populations and less military might. Aside from the [War of 1812, in which the U.S. fought the British](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/war-of-1812?ref=europeans.today), America largely found itself protected from the outside world’s problems. That began to change when Europe descended into the brutality of World War I. Initially, American politicians avoided involvement. What would today be called an isolationist movement was strong; its supporters felt that the European war was being waged for the benefit of [big business](https://depts.washington.edu/antiwar/WW1%5Fintro.shtml?ref=europeans.today). But it was hard for the U.S. to maintain neutrality. German submarines sank ships crossing the Atlantic carrying [American passengers](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany?ref=europeans.today). The economies of some of America’s biggest trading partners were in shreds; the democracies of Britain, France and other European countries were at risk. President Woodrow Wilson [led the U.S. into the war in 1917](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/wwi?ref=europeans.today) as an ally of the Western European nations. When he asked Congress for a declaration of war, [Wilson asserted](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany?ref=europeans.today) the value of like-minded allies: “A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations.” Immediately after the war, the Allies – led by the U.S., France and Britain – stayed together [to craft the peace agreements](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/paris-peace?ref=europeans.today), [feed the war-ravaged parts of Europe](https://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/years-compassion-1914-1923?ref=europeans.today) and intervene [in Russia after the Communist Revolution there](https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War/Foreign-intervention?ref=europeans.today). Prosperity came along with the peace, helping the U.S. quickly develop into a global economic power. However, within a few years, American politicians returned to [traditional isolationism in political and military matters](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/neutrality-acts?ref=europeans.today) and continued this attitude well into the 1930s. The worldwide Great Depression that began in 1929 was [blamed on vulnerabilities](https://www.history.com/news/great-depression-causes?ref=europeans.today) in the global economy, and there was a [strong sentiment](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-debate?ref=europeans.today) among Americans that the U.S. should fix its internal problems rather than assist Europe with its problems. ### Alliance counters fascism [As both Hitler](https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zfhqy9q/revision/3?ref=europeans.today) and [Japan](https://www.historians.org/resource/why-did-japan-choose-war/?ref=europeans.today) began to attack their neighbors in the late 1930s, it became clear to President Franklin Roosevelt and other American military and political leaders that the U.S. would get caught up in World War II. If nothing else, airplanes had erased America’s ability to hide behind the Atlantic Ocean. Though public opinion was divided, the U.S. began [sending arms and other assistance to Britain](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease?ref=europeans.today) and quietly began military planning with London. This was despite the fact that the U.S. was [formally neutral](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/neutrality-acts?ref=europeans.today), as the Roosevelt administration [was pushing the limits of what a neutral nation](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/neutrality-acts?ref=europeans.today) can do for friendly nations without becoming a warring party. In January of 1941, [Roosevelt gave his annual State of the Union](https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/fdr-the-four-freedoms-speech-text/?ref=europeans.today) speech to Congress. He appeared to prepare the country for possible intervention – both on behalf of allies abroad and for the preservation of American democracy: > “The future and the safety of our country and of our democracy are overwhelmingly involved in events far beyond our borders. Armed defense of democratic existence is now being gallantly waged in four continents. If that defense fails, all the population and all the resources of Europe, and Asia, and Africa and Australasia will be dominated by conquerors. In times like these it is immature – and incidentally, untrue – for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed, and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world.” When the [Japanese attacked Hawaii in 1941](https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack?ref=europeans.today) and [Hitler declared war on the U.S.](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/hitlers-declaration-war-united-states?ref=europeans.today), America quickly entered World War II [in an alliance with Britain](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/arsenal-ally-united-states-enters-war?ref=europeans.today), [the Free French](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Free-French?ref=europeans.today) and others. Throughout the war, the Allies worked together on matters large and small. They defeated Germany in three and half years [and Japan in](https://fpif.org/un%5Forigins%5Fproject%5Fseries%5Fpart%5F4%5Fin%5Fwwii%5Fit%5Ftook%5Fteamwork%5Fto%5Fdefeat%5Fnot%5Fonly%5Fgermany%5Fbut%5Fjapan/?ref=europeans.today) less than four. As World War II ended, the wartime alliance produced two longer-term partnerships built on the understanding that working together had produced a powerful and effective counter to fascism. ### Postwar alliances The first of these alliances is the [North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO](https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/?ref=europeans.today). The original members were the U.S., Canada, Britain, France and others of the wartime Allies. There are now [32 members](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics%5F52044.htm?ref=europeans.today), including Poland, Hungary and Turkey. [The aims of NATO](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/nato?ref=europeans.today) were to keep peace in Europe and contain the growing Communist threat from the Soviet Union. NATO’s supporters feel that, given that wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and in the Ukraine today are the only major conflicts in Europe in 80 years, the alliance has met its [goals well](https://americandiplomacy.web.unc.edu/2024/08/nato-at-75-success-through-adaptation/?ref=europeans.today). And [NATO troops went to Afghanistan](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics%5F8189.htm?ref=europeans.today) along with the U.S. military after 9/11. The other institution created by the wartime Allies is the United Nations. The U.N. is many things – a humanitarian aid organization, a forum for countries to raise their issues and a source of international law. However, it is also an alliance. The [U.N. Security Council on several occasions authorized](http://ejil.org/pdfs/5/1/1264.pdf?ref=europeans.today) the use of force by members, such as in the first Gulf War against Iraq. And it has the power to send [peacekeeping](https://peacekeeping.un.org/en?ref=europeans.today) troops to conflict areas under the U.N. flag. Other U.S. allies with treaties or designations [by Congress include](https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/alliances-partnerships-and-organizations/?ref=europeans.today) Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, three South American countries and six in the Middle East. Many of the same countries also created institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States and the European Union. The U.S. belongs to all of these except the European Union. During my 35-year [diplomatic career](https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/242560.htm?ref=europeans.today), I worked with all of these institutions, particularly in efforts to stabilize Africa. [They keep the peace](https://peacekeeping.un.org/en?ref=europeans.today) and [support development efforts](https://www.undp.org/home?ref=europeans.today) with loans and grants. Admirers of this postwar liberal international order point to the limited number of major armed conflicts [during the past 80 years](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/timeline-of-20th-and-21st-century-wars?ref=europeans.today), the globalized economy and international cooperation on important matters [such as disease control](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7119043/?ref=europeans.today) and [fighting terrorism](https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/countering-terrorism/?ref=europeans.today). Detractors point to this system’s inability to stop some very deadly conflicts, such as Vietnam or Ukraine, and the large populations that haven’t done well under globalization as [evidence of its flaws](https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/26/the-collapse-of-the-liberal-world-order-european-union-brexit-donald-trump/?ref=europeans.today). The world would look dramatically different without the Allies’ victories in the two World Wars, the stable worldwide economic system and NATO’s and the U.N.’s keeping the world relatively peaceful. But the value of allies to Americans, even when they benefit from alliances, appears to have shifted between George Washington’s attitude – avoid them – and that of Franklin D. Roosevelt – go all in … eventually. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/trumps-greenland-ambitions-could-wreck-20th-century-alliances-that-helped-build-the-modern-world-order-273863?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 20 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Stig Alenas](https://www.dreamstime.com/stigalenas%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273863/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 20 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/20/todays-papers-20-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-20T18:27:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000127622.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000127906.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000127911.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 19 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/19/todays-papers-19-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-19T17:44:03.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000126662.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000126653.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000126663.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### The pump paradox: Why Trump blinked at Tehran while bullying Caracas URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/18/the-pump-paradox-why-trump-blinked-at-tehran-while-bullying-caracas/ Last updated: 2026-01-19T03:07:10.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 American strikes on Iran stalled because war economics undermine domestic fuel prices. 🔹 Venezuela’s acquisition aims to flood oil markets and suppress inflation. 🔹 However, Gulf allies denied Trump basing access, raising costs, and deterring an Iranian strike. 🔹 Domestic war weariness and electoral risk make restraint a temporary transaction. I n the theatre of modern geopolitics, silence is often louder than the explosion. For two weeks, the world has braced for the thunder of American Tomahawks raining down on Tehran. The *casus belli* was scripted perfectly: a brutal regime cracking down on heroic protesters, a US President promising that “[help is on its way](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cj691w2e840t?ref=europeans.today),” and an American public historically prone to rallying round the flag. Yet, the order to fire never came. The aircraft carriers idled. The “help” remained rhetorical. Why? Because Donald Trump, despite his mercurial reputation, is ultimately a creature of the balance sheet. And the mathematics of war in 2026 do not add up. As they say, you cannot fight a war in the Persian Gulf and fill your gas tank for two dollars in Ohio. Physics does not allow it. ### The Venezuelan Anchor To understand the quiet in the Persian Gulf, one must look to the Caribbean. The Trump administration has just expended massive political capital on the audacious [“acquisition” of Venezuela](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4grxzxjjd8o?ref=europeans.today), explicitly to flood the market with cheap crude and drive global oil prices down to a target of [$50 (£41) per barrel](https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/trumps-50-oil-price-goal-is-doable-but-painful-8fc02415?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqfvu8TsJnpDwguDl4rmTRNCj2khFAtUFVF98VMMuHRM8TGQFEx-VoSU&gaa%5Fts=696c34e6&gaa%5Fsig=soTQFlbMZbRUO7be8MqZmT355PFRx0tGk5EbxhBEaapEQF1ojVHRMqMDJKxR65dokiSPThCfZiiD548s5jZbxg%3D%3D&ref=europeans.today). This is the cornerstone of “[MAGAnomics](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/12/maganomics-trump-economic-strategy-crash-crisis?ref=europeans.today)” — crushing inflation by drowning it in oil. A strike on Iran would close the [Strait of Hormuz](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78n6p09pzno?ref=europeans.today). In an instant, 20% of the world’s oil supply would vanish from the market. Prices would not just rise; they would verticalise, likely breaching $150 (£123) per barrel. The economic boon of the Venezuelan operation would be vaporised in a single afternoon of trading, replaced by a recession-inducing oil shock that would doom the Republicans in the [midterms](https://www.europeans.today/tag/2026-midterms/). Trump is many things, but he is not politically suicidal. He cannot have his low-inflation cake and eat his regime-change, too. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000532--1-.jpg) The consequences of a strike on Iran on the Middle East and the United States. | EUROPEANS TODAY ### The Gulf Firewall The second factor is the surprisingly stiff spine of America’s traditional allies. In a frantic 72-hour [diplomatic blitz](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/15/politics/strikes-iran-trump-military?ref=europeans.today), officials from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman reportedly delivered a unified message to the White House: *Not from our backyard.* Riyadh and Doha, acutely aware that Iranian missiles can reach their glass skylines far more easily than they can reach Washington, refused to allow their airspace or bases to be used for offensive strikes. By restricting the US’s logistical ease of local basing, the Gulf states raised the “transaction cost” of the war beyond what Trump was willing to pay. ### The Domestic Calculation Finally, there is the ghost of wars past. The American electorate is weary. While they cheer the spectacle of seizing a “rogue” state like Venezuela (which was sold as a quick police action in the “neighbourhood”), a protracted conflict with a near-peer military power like Iran is a harder sell. The US military is already stretched, and the “[Donroe Doctrine](https://www.europeans.today/tag/donroe-doctrine/)” prioritises the Western Hemisphere. Expanding the theatre to the Middle East now would look less like strength and more like [imperial overstretch](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/04/naked-imperialism-how-trump-intervention-in-venezuela-is-a-return-to-form-for-the-us?ref=europeans.today). ### The Outlook This pause is likely transactional, not moral. Trump is effectively selling his “restraint” to the highest bidder — extracting concessions from the Gulf states and perhaps waiting for Venezuelan production to stabilise before he reconsiders his options. We are watching a high-stakes game of poker in which the chips are barrels of crude. The guns remain loaded, but for now, the price of firing them is too high. For how long? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### ['Help is on its way,' Trump tells Iranians as he urges them to keep protesting](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cj691w2e840t?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Trump says Venezuela will be 'turning over' up to 50 million barrels of oil to US](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4grxzxjjd8o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [It’s ‘Maganomics’: Trump’s brash economic strategy is likely to end in crash or crisis](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/12/maganomics-trump-economic-strategy-crash-crisis?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump’s $50 Oil Price Goal Is Doable, but Painful](https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/trumps-50-oil-price-goal-is-doable-but-painful-8fc02415?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqfvu8TsJnpDwguDl4rmTRNCj2khFAtUFVF98VMMuHRM8TGQFEx-VoSU&gaa%5Fts=696c34e6&gaa%5Fsig=soTQFlbMZbRUO7be8MqZmT355PFRx0tGk5EbxhBEaapEQF1ojVHRMqMDJKxR65dokiSPThCfZiiD548s5jZbxg%3D%3D&ref=europeans.today) | THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - ###### [Strait of Hormuz: What happens if Iran shuts global oil corridor?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78n6p09pzno?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Saudi, Qatar, Oman convinced Trump to ‘give Iran a chance’, says senior Saudi official](https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/saudi-qatar-oman-convinced-trump-to-give-iran-a-chance-senior-saudi-official?ref=europeans.today) | THE STRAITS TIMES - ###### [On the verge of strikes in Iran, the US held off. What happens next is up to Trump](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/15/politics/strikes-iran-trump-military?ref=europeans.today) | CNN - ###### [‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/04/naked-imperialism-how-trump-intervention-in-venezuela-is-a-return-to-form-for-the-us?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55041325191/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Robert Jenrick sacked by Tories and embraced by Reform – what his Newark constituency tells us about the future URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/18/robert-jenrick-sacked-by-tories-and-embraced-by-reform-what-his-newark-constituency-tells-us-about-the-future/ Last updated: 2026-01-19T03:03:29.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Tory Robert Jenrick defected to Reform, attacking his Conservative colleagues and endorsing Nigel Farage as saviour. 🔹 Newark is now shifting from a safe Conservative seat into a competitive testing ground for Reform. 🔹 Election and by-election results show that Reform is consolidating support beyond mere protest voting. 🔹 Jenrick’s profile could legitimise Reform, but also risks splitting right-wing votes. W ithin just a few hours of being publicly sacked from the shadow cabinet by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick held a press conference to announce he was joining Reform. Badenoch [cited](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/15/kemi-badenoch-sacks-robert-jenrick-over-defection-plans?ref=europeans.today) “clear, irrefutable evidence” that Jenrick had been plotting to defect to Reform in a maximally damaging way. In his press conference, Jenrick attacked his former party, painted a bleak view of the state of Britain and declared that Nigel Farage was the only person who could save it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000533bc--1--1.jpg) Forgot? Jenrick worked alongside then-Home Secretary [Priti Patel](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/robert-jenrick-tory-traitors-uk-politics-b2901703.html?ref=europeans.today) at the Home Office. | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/50933340272/?ref=europeans.today) Jenrick has said that he doesn’t intend to trigger a by-election, which means the people of Newark, his constituency in the English East Midlands, have lost a Conservative MP and gained a Reform one. Newark will then, come a general election, become a test of Reform’s penetration into traditional Tory shire heartlands. Here, the 2024 election results already looked like a warning light: the Conservatives held on against Labour but Reform emerged as a meaningful third force. Newark is an affluent market-town and rural seat, where traditional Tory loyalty has long dominated. Jenrick held Newark (contested under new boundaries) quite comfortably in 2024\. He won 20,968 votes, taking 38.2% of the vote share, and ending up with a majority of 3,572 over Labour, which came second with 17,396 or 32.5% of the vote. Reform had 15.5% of the vote – 8,280 votes. **Newark’s vote in 2024** ![A pie chart showing the election result in Newark in 2024.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712771/original/file-20260115-56-93f38r.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip) How the Newark vote broke down in 2024\. | [UK PARLIAMENT](https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4190/election/422?ref=europeans.today) In the 2025 Nottinghamshire County Council elections, [Reform gained control regionally (taking 40 of 66 seats)](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj684323dx1o?ref=europeans.today), but the Conservatives held or narrowly beat Reform in Newark-area divisions, indicating shire Tory loyalty persists against the insurgent wave. Those 2024 general election numbers in the constituency really do matter, though. They show Newark is no longer a seat where the Conservatives can rely on a big cushion. The party held on, but it did so in a fragmented contest with nine candidates and amid a clear anti-Conservative mood nationally. It’s also clear that Reform’s 15% is not an incidental protest vote. It is large enough to be decisive if the right splits further – or to become the base for a serious challenge if it consolidates, such as via an electoral pact, as unlikely as that currently looks. Yet the most useful indicator of whether Reform can consolidate is what happens between general elections – in contests where party organisation and motivated voters matter. In the Newark & Sherwood District Council by-elections in November 2025, Reform won two seats, and the details are striking. In the [Castle ward](https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/media/nsdc-redesign/documents-and-images/your-council/your-council/elections/elections-latest-news/6-november-2025-district-council-by-elections/Declaration-of-by-election-result---Castle-Ward.pdf??ref=europeans.today), Reform’s Michelle Home won with 204 votes, narrowly ahead of the Local Conservatives on 193. In [Balderton North & Coddington](https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/media/nsdc-redesign/documents-and-images/your-council/your-council/elections/elections-latest-news/6-november-2025-district-council-by-elections/Declaration-of-by-election-result---Balderton-North-and-Coddington-Ward.pdf??ref=europeans.today), Reform’s Kay Smith won with 545 votes, beating the local Conservatives on 480. By-elections can be weird: turnout is low, issues can be hyper-local, and parties sometimes don’t throw full resources at them. But taken together, these results suggest Reform has crossed an important threshold: it can win actual contests in areas such as these, not just rack up national vote share. Wider local election data points the same way. In [Newark & Sherwood’s 2025 results](https://electionresults.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/2025/Districts/newark-and-sherwood??ref=europeans.today) (reported at the district level), Reform’s vote share sits virtually level with the Conservatives (33.7% vs 33.6%), while Reform wins multiple seats. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000533--1-.jpg) Lost memory? Jenrick was Minister for Immigration when then-PM Rishi Sunak held this Small Boats meeting. | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/53164350874/?ref=europeans.today) ### The constituency profile: fertile territory Newark has characteristics often associated with Reform’s strongest performances, including a mixed economy of market town, suburban edges and rural hinterland. A government local data profile for Newark-on-Trent reports roughly [95.3% identifying as white](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6878b9afa52cca025ef5bd91/Newark-on-Trent.pdf?ref=europeans.today). There are pockets of deprivation and education and skills gaps in the constituency, which can prove receptive to narratives about being overlooked by distant decision-makers. It’s important to stress that none of this mechanically produces a Reform MP. It does, however, help to explain why messages about immigration, institutions and “broken politics” might resonate; and why a candidate pitching themselves as an insurgent against the status quo might find an audience. But the crucial variable is Jenrick himself. He is not a blank slate. He has high name recognition, ministerial experience and a public profile built around “tough” issues (especially immigration and crime) that overlap with Reform’s core terrain. He has, lately, been [shifting further to the right](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-opposition-leader-badenoch-sacks-jenrick-over-plot-defect-2026-01-15?ref=europeans.today), posting provocative social media videos about immigration, ticket fare dodgers and crime. This matters because of what might be called a permission slip effect: when a familiar, high-status politician validates a challenger party, it can give cautious voters “permission” to treat that party as credible rather than purely protest. This is why Reform has been pleased to welcome other defectors from the Conservative Party who had previously served in ministerial roles, such as former chancellor [Nadhim Zahawi](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0lxn75gw1do?ref=europeans.today). For a “Jenrick-as-Reform” candidacy to top Labour in Newark, Reform needs to add at least 17 points from elsewhere. These would almost certainly come from former Conservative voters and non-voters. Jenrick would need to pull about half of his 2024 Conservative coalition across with him. That is possible, but far from guaranteed. Some may, of course, wish to punish him. The right vote could split in a way that hands Labour the seat even if Reform rises with Jenrick as its candidate. Newark’s 2024 margin was already tight enough for that scenario to be plausible. Wanting “a Reform MP” is also different from wanting “Reform-ish politics”. That is the final complication: Reform has built its appeal partly on being an anti-Tory option. It remains to be seen whether voters like the convenience of a known figure as Reform candidate or reject it as recycled politics. Either way, Newark is no longer just Jenrick’s seat. It is now a live laboratory test for the future of the British right – and for the fragmentation and reinvention of British politics. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### ['I have lost a friend': Tories in Jenrick's constituency shocked by defection to Reform](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/17/conservatives-robert-jenricks-constituency-shocked-defection-reform?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [How Robert Jenrick's Defection Unfolded](https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/how-robert-jenrick-defection-unfolded?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICS HOME - ###### [I asked Robert Jenrick's constituents about defection - and there was 1 resounding answer](https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2158857/robert-jenrick-constituents-verdict?ref=europeans.today) | EXPRESS - ###### [IHT critic Robert Jenrick dismissed from Tories after plotting to defect to Reform](https://www.farmersguardian.com/news/4524268/tories-dismiss-robert-jenrick-party-following-irrefutable-evidence-about-defect?ref=europeans.today) | FARMERS GUARDIAN - ###### [Jenrick: Conservative Party is 'over' and Reform defection 'uniting the right'](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-01-16/badenoch-seeks-to-steady-tories-as-jenrick-lashes-out-at-their-failures?ref=europeans.today) | ITV NEWS - ###### [From Remainer to Reform: Can Jenrick and Farage really get along?](https://news.sky.com/story/from-remainer-to-reform-can-jenrick-and-farage-really-get-along-13495115?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [Robert Jenrick: My defection to Reform 'united the right'](https://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/national/25771931.robert-jenrick-defection-reform-united-right/?ref=europeans.today) | BORDER TELEGRAPH ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/robert-jenrick-sacked-by-tories-and-embraced-by-reform-what-his-newark-constituency-tells-us-about-the-future-273646?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 18 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/50866502817/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273646/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 18 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/18/todays-papers-18-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-18T23:18:55.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000126411.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000126393.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000126394.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 17 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/17/todays-papers-17-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-17T18:53:38.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000125292.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000125301.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000125314.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### ‘Could I be in their cabinet?’ — Big Business eyes up Reform URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/16/big-business-eyes-up-reform/ Last updated: 2026-01-17T03:04:07.000Z --- #### by [ETHAN SHONE](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/author/ethan-shone/?ref=europeans.today) — ###### investigations reporter for *openDemocracy*, particularly interested in dark money, lobbying and political corruption. **What you need to know** 🔹 Reform UK intensifies private meetings with big business to shape policies and gain legitimacy. 🔹 Lobbyists and corporations see opportunities to influence Reform’s manifesto and future government roles. 🔹 Financial deregulation and tax reduction emerge as central priorities from Reform’s business engagement. 🔹 Opaque lobbying practices raise concerns about transparency and corporate influence over democratic accountability. R ichard Tice must be sick of finger sandwiches. In the last few months, Reform UK’s deputy leader has ramped up his meetings with Big Business, *openDemocracy* can reveal, spending one or two mornings each week getting together with industry leaders at roundtable breakfast events facilitated by lobbying firms. This campaign has several aims, not least to get businesses developing Reform’s future manifesto. The party believes it has the votes needed to win at the 2029 election – or, it says, even sooner – but it doesn’t yet have the policies or the people needed to govern. That’s where Tice comes in; he’s asked businesses to detail their policy ideas in written submissions of no more than three pages, *openDemocracy* understands. Big Finance looks particularly set to benefit from this engagement. Like Labour and the Conservatives before it, Reform has promised a bonfire of regulations aimed at further unleashing the economic might of the financial sector. Speaking at one roundtable event hosted by lobbying firm Pagefield last year, Tice said Reform was having “lots of these \[meetings\] to get the message out and also to learn from your clients \[about\] the issues that affect their sector”. He then listed the main issues businesses have raised with the party – and vowed to address them. “Too much regulation, tax is going up, uncertainty; they’re finding that really depressing,” he said. “So that’s what we’re keen to focus on. Smart regulation, safe regulation, we all want that; what we don’t want is daft regulation that adds to costs, adds to inflation, and restricts growth and investment.” It is not unusual for industry leaders to forge ties with a party tipped to enter government. For Reform, these partnerships offer not only policy ideas and potential funding, but also help to legitimise the party as an heir to the Tory agenda. Its meetings and agreements with business leaders tell other companies – and, indeed, voters – that Reform is not the toxic political force they’ve read about, but a normal political party that they can engage with or support without fearing reputational blowback. For business leaders, on the other hand, the potential rewards are numerous. In the years before the 2024 election, a significant number of companies sent members of their staff to work for Labour on policy development and business engagement; today, some of these firms are enjoying an uptick in government contracts, while others have managed to water down regulations or influence Keir Starmer’s policy platform. Now, lobbying firms are actively looking to recreate these successes with Reform – and, *openDemocracy* can reveal, to go one step further by bagging their clients' roles in a Farage government. “The opportunities for business if Reform gets in are a lot greater than we've seen previously,” said one lobbyist *openDemocracy* spoke with. “\[Reform is\] saying they’re going to have up to 50% of their cabinet \[come from industry\]. Businesses are thinking at this point, ‘Could I be in their cabinet?’ and, ‘How can I position myself to be as influential as possible now, but also when they get in?’” Another lobbyist added that, even if Reform doesn’t win the next election, business increasingly sees it as one of the most important parties to influence because of how it dominates the agenda. “They are setting the policy agenda in so many ways,” they said, “because the government is so keen to outflank them on issues, and \[is\] obviously very worried about them. It means that what they say is likely to have an impact on government thinking and government policy.” ### ‘Industry has woken up’ To voters up and down the country, Reform has sought to cast itself as an insurgent, anti-establishment party. At the same time, it has been quietly building relationships with financial giants in the City of London and some of the UK’s most influential lobbying agencies, whose clients include blue-chip multinational corporations. These include FGS Global, owned by private equity giant KKR and chaired by Roland Rudd[¹](#1)[²](#2), one of the UK’s wealthiest lobbyists, who led the *People’s Vote* campaign that unsuccessfully called for a second referendum on a final version of a Brexit deal. FGS Global’s clients last year included tech giant Oracle, outsourcing firm Serco and the owner of South West Water, Pennon. Richard Tice was also hosted by Teneo Advisory, another global lobbying and PR giant that’s majority owned by a private equity firm – in this case, Jersey-based CVC Capital Partners. Teneo represents some of the biggest companies in the world, and its clients in the UK last year included HSBC, metals and oil trader Trafigura and autonomous vehicles firm Wayve. The purpose of these kinds of meetings is to bring together a group of a lobbying agency’s clients and introduce them to leading political figures, with information flowing in both directions. The companies want to make their views clear while gaining an insight into how the party sees issues relevant to their business. But, as *openDemocracy* noted when reporting on the major corporate lobbying blitz that targeted Labour ahead of the 2024 general election, these meetings are often shrouded in secrecy. Only firms that lobby the government are required to publish a list of their clients; companies trying to influence opposition parties have no such obligation. Similarly, despite campaigners’ best efforts, neither businesses nor political parties have to publish details of their meetings, only the government. This significant legislative gap means the public has no right to know which individuals and companies are lobbying Reform – or how. From conversations with sources and public posts on LinkedIn, *openDemocracy* is aware of more than a dozen specific meetings that Tice was involved in with lobbying agencies between September and the end of the year, though we understand that many more took place, with some firms declining to publicise the efforts due to the reputational concerns that still linger around the party. While Tice is the face of the party’s business engagement campaign, internally, it’s being led by Matthew Mackinnon, Reform’s head of external relations. Mackinnon is well-experienced in British politics; he is a former adviser to the Welsh Conservative Party and has stood as a council candidate for both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, though his ties to Faragist politics date back to his time as a regional director for Vote Leave in Wales. Another lobbyist who spoke to *openDemocracy* on condition of anonymity said there is more opportunity for businesses to “offer their expertise” to Reform – ie, help write the party’s policies – because it is a new, challenger party without the established infrastructure of its rivals Labour and the Tories. They predicted that the engagement between the party and business will ramp up as an election nears. “Farage is predicting a general election by 2027,” they said. “By that point, they are going to have a pretty clear idea of what their manifesto is going to be. So the window for influencing that manifesto is the next 18 months. The industry has woken up to this opportunity.” ### A porous membrane As was the case with Labour ahead of the last election, the corporate affairs industry has sought to take advantage of the porous membrane between frontline politics and lobbying by hiring individuals with firsthand experience of working for or with Reform. This is challenging, though. While Reform’s lack of infrastructure presents an opportunity for lobbyists to help shape policy, the relative lack of people with direct experience of working for the party or Farage’s previous projects compared with the major parties means there has been a scramble to find suitable hires. Farage’s former right-hand man, Gawain Towler, was hired by Bradshaw Advisory in March last year and has become a regular fixture on the business roundtable circuit. Towler, a former head of press at UKIP and director of communications at Reform, was then elected to Reform’s board in August 2025. Meanwhile, former parliamentary assistants for Farage and Reform MP Lee Anderson[³](#3) (who defected from the Tories in 2024, having previously been a Labour councillor) have been snapped up by Flint Global and Hanbury Strategy, respectively. Flint is an executive advisory firm staffed largely by senior ex-civil servants that helps clients (“international businesses and investors”) to “identify risks and opportunities” in politics, and “develop strong arguments that will have an impact on decision-makers”. The company recently also brought in veteran commentator and campaigner Tim Montgomerie; his profile on their website states that last year he “ended a 33-year membership of the Conservative Party and defected to Reform UK”. Former Tory minister Jonathan Gullis[⁴](#4) spent months on the employment scrapheap after losing his seat at the last election, even appearing on the radio to bemoan the plight of recently unseated MPs finding it difficult to get back into work – though he did set up an advisory firm, Aegean Consultants, which offered to help businesses develop ties to Reform. Now, Gullis’s unemployability problem seems to have been solved; within a week or so of announcing he had officially joined Reform, he was hired by 5654 & Partners, a Westminster lobbying firm that has counted private health giant HCA Healthcare, Coca-Cola, Drax Group, and arms manufacturer Raytheon UK among its clients. “A former Conservative MP and minister for school standards who recently became one of Reform UK's most high-profile appointments,”[ 5654 boasted on LinkedIn.](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/5654-company%5Fwere-delighted-to-announce-that-simon-baugh-activity-7403824247279722497-kRiV?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAAEYp5iUBbsIPeSSMNg%5FXEptX9AUOvNnwQew) In the years before the last general election, a significant number of companies sent members of their staff to work for Labour, working on policy development and business engagement, with some of these firms now enjoying an uptick in government contracts with Labour in power. Now, the lobbying industry is actively looking for opportunities to do the same for Reform. “There will obviously be public affairs agencies and people from industry who are saying: ‘We are experts. We can help you craft your policy agenda in this area, you should listen to us,’” the lobbyist explained. “And that is an opportunity, obviously. That's another thing we’re looking to do.” ### ‘Too much regulation’ In November last year, Nigel Farage strode down the stairs of a plush City venue decked out with Reform UK banners. He was, to a delighted reaction from those in the room, about to dismantle much of the fiscal policy offering he’d previously laid out to the British electorate. Months earlier, Farage had donned high-vis and turned up on site at British Steel in Scunthorpe to advocate for emergency nationalisation – though it would later be revealed that, not long after this stunt, his party accepted a £100,000 donation from Greybull Capital, a private equity firm that had a hand in British Steel’s long demise. Reform had also talked up plans for the water industry to be returned to some form of public ownership, and wrote to Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, accusing him of [prioritising corporate profits over the interests of working people](https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:f23bcf6f-ea26-4539-9a13-2caca200c35c?fbclid=IwY2xjawNQcGhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHlEamtHqnxUub8-mgkFAjFo%5FonHZqBVJHvLMhv-RSJBjFClfwxbfAhVkPVM%5F%5Faem%5FJ1kqMPdQcPVA0ZNWK850pQ&ref=europeans.today). At the Banking Hall, Farage struck a very different tone. Over half an hour, he played many of the hits; bashing net-zero and praising cryptocurrencies. Again, this came months after his party received £9m, the largest single political donation from a living person in British history, from Christopher Harborne, who has significant interests in both aviation and crypto, though some weeks before the donation would be made public. Farage has since said he has offered the businessman “absolutely nothing in return at all”. The Reform leader also took the opportunity to row back on one of the party’s key policies in winning over working-class voters: a pledge to increase the threshold at which workers begin paying income tax from £12,570 to £20,000\. This, Farage clarified, was an “aspiration”. “We want to cut taxes, of course we do,” he said, “but we understand substantial tax cuts, given the dire state of debt and our finances, are not realistic at this current moment in time.” It was a homecoming, both ideologically and literally, for the small-state Thatcherite who began his working life as a City trader. And it went over well with an audience, according to one attendee, made up largely of corporate lobbyists and financiers. For some, who had spent the past few months developing relations with Reform, it felt like a victory. Two days later, Farage’s deputy gave a more focused speech to a similar City audience, this time at the UK headquarters of Bloomberg. Tice’s message was similar; pare back the state and deregulate, with a focus on letting loose the economic might of the City of London. He announced that the party would set up four policy working groups in collaboration with the newly founded pro-Reform think tank, Centre for a Better Britain. *openDemocracy* understands that these groups have met twice already and involve executives from the City of London. One is focused on financial deregulation[⁵](#5), including reassessing the roles of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, key City watchdogs that Keir Starmer’s Labour government has already leaned on to prioritise growth over consumer rights. Taxation is another focus area, with Tice having spoken of the need to simplify the UK tax system and strip back compliance measures aimed at tackling money-laundering. The other working groups are looking at facilitating access to private finance for small and medium-sized companies, and reforming the UK’s pensions system With these groups and plans in place, the stage is now set for an all-out lobbying charm offensive – all of which will take place completely hidden from the view of the British electorate. *openDemocracy* reached out to Reform and Tice for comment, but did not hear back. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How People's Vote collapsed after Roland Rudd's boardroom coup](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/20/how-peoples-vote-collapsed-after-roland-rudds-boardroom-coup?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Lead campaigner in People’s Vote group quits as director](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/aug/12/lead-campaigner-in-peoples-vote-group-quits-as-director?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Lee Anderson](https://www.europeans.today/2023/08/08/meet-your-mp-lee-anderson/) | EUROPEANS TODAY - ###### [Jonathan Gullis](https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/25898/jonathan%5Fgullis/stoke-on-trent%5Fnorth/votes?ref=europeans.today) | THEY WORK FOR YOU - ###### [Nigel Farage to promise business deregulation in economic policy speech](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/02/nigel-farage-business-deregulation-economic-policy-speech?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [openDemocracy](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/reform-nigel-farage-business-lobbying-be-in-cabinet-policies-deregulation-finance/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Data suggests Labour would be making a mistake if it ousted Keir Starmer after the May elections URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/16/data-suggests-labour-would-be-making-a-mistake-if-it-ousted-keir-starmer-after-the-may-elections/ Last updated: 2026-01-16T17:43:19.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Recent British politics lacks dominant leaders, unlike the Thatcher and Blair eras. 🔹 Polling data shows voters judge governments overall, not prime minister popularity. 🔹 Replacing Labour leader Keir Starmer would risk internal conflict without electoral benefit. 🔹 Labour support depends on delivering manifesto promises, especially economic growth. B ritish electoral politics in the 1980s were dominated by Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister for the whole of that decade. Similarly, Tony Blair dominated elections when he was in Downing Street from 1997 to 2007\. In sharp contrast, the decade from 2015 to 2025 saw no fewer than six prime ministers come (and mostly go) – five Conservatives and Keir Starmer for Labour. Traditionally, [Labour](https://theconversation.com/topics/labour-party-5886?ref=europeans.today) has been reluctant to sack its leader, but if the May elections turn out to be as bad as the polls suggest, the party might well adopt the Conservative strategy of changing its leader as frequently as Premier League football managers. However, the data suggests that sacking [Starmer](https://theconversation.com/topics/keir-starmer-78580?ref=europeans.today) after those elections would be a mistake. This is because voters focus much more on the performance of the government overall than on the prime minister when it comes to casting a ballot. If he were removed, it would also trigger a serious internal conflict in the party on the scale of the turmoil in the Conservative Party over [Brexit](https://theconversation.com/topics/brexit-9976?ref=europeans.today). This played a major role in explaining the Tories’ massive defeat in the 2024 general election. **Trends in voting intentions, satisfaction with governments and with prime ministers for governing parties, 2015 to 2025:** [![A chart showing how satisfaction with parties and with governments has fluctuated over the years, tracked against voting behaviour.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712643/original/file-20260115-66-cy24u2.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip)](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712643/original/file-20260115-66-cy24u2.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip&ref=europeans.today) How satisfaction with parties and PMs relates to voting. | PAUL WHITELEY, [CC BY-ND](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) To see why this is the case, we can examine [polling data](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/political-monitor-satisfaction-ratings-1997-present?ref=europeans.today) on perceptions of the performance of incumbent governments and prime ministers alongside data on voting intentions for their parties over the decade since 2015\. The key comparison is between the effects of the performance of governments with that of prime ministers on the vote. The relationship between these variables is very strong, with correlations all greater than 0.80\. It is tricky to find out which of the satisfaction measures is most important for predicting the vote, but this can be done with the help of [multiple regression](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/%20mathematics/multiple-regression?ref=europeans.today). This is a statistical technique that can predict changes in vote intentions from the satisfaction measures, together with some other variables which also influence voting for governing parties. These other variables in the analysis relate to challenger parties affecting both Conservative and Labour governments. The three national challenger parties are [Reform](https://theconversation.com/what-the-year-in-polls-tells-us-about-reforms-growth-and-labour-and-tory-losses-271827?ref=europeans.today), the [Liberal Democrats](https://theconversation.com/topics/liberal-democrats-5522?ref=europeans.today) and the [Greens](https://theconversation.com/topics/green-party-68838?ref=europeans.today). In the case of Reform, I’ve included vote intentions for its ancestor parties, UKIP and the Brexit Party, since it did not officially exist until 2021\. The focus is on explaining voting intentions for the Conservative government from 2015 to 2024 and subsequently the Labour government up to 2025. The effects of the satisfaction measures and the challenger parties on support for the governing parties appear in the chart below. The analysis identifies the impact of each variable on changes in vote intentions for the governing party. To illustrate, a score of 1.0 would mean that a 1% increase in the satisfaction with government would produce a 1% increase in voting intentions for the governing party. In fact, the coefficient is 0.2, a lot less than 1.0, but nonetheless highly significant. An increase of 10% in government satisfaction increases government vote intentions by 2%. **Impact of variables on voting intentions for governing parties:** [![A chart showing How votes for smaller parties interact with government and PM satisfaction.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712678/original/file-20260115-56-t14c46.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip)](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712678/original/file-20260115-56-t14c46.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip&ref=europeans.today) How votes for smaller parties interact with government and PM satisfaction. | PAUL WHITELEY, [CC BY-ND](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) The same cannot be said about the effects of satisfaction with the prime minister. This had a negligible impact on voting for the government. It’s not surprising that polling on the popularity or unpopularity of the prime minister attracts a lot of media attention. After all, they are the main spokesperson for the party. But when it’s time to vote, this evidence shows people judge the government in general rather than the spokesperson. A clear example of this is the fact that the rapid changes in the leadership of the Conservative Party had little overall effect on the party’s support in the long run. They ended up losing terribly in 2024 despite the tendency to replace their leaders. To be fair, there were exceptions to this, as can be seen in the first chart. After [David Cameron](https://theconversation.com/topics/david-cameron-875?ref=europeans.today) resigned following the Brexit referendum, his successor, [Theresa May](https://theconversation.com/topics/theresa-may-8109?ref=europeans.today), was more popular than her party. Satisfaction with her government rose, but satisfaction with her performance rose faster. However, she was subsequently brought down by her decision to break a promise and call an early election in 2017. She nearly lost that election and as a result was unable to get a “soft” Brexit deal through Parliament and had to resign. Boris Johnson did win the 2019 general election, but his chaotic government prepared the ground for the electoral rout for the Conservatives in 2024. ### The challenger parties Challenger parties all influence voting for the governing party. The strongest impact is seen in vote intentions for Reform and its ancestor parties. Reform took votes away from both Labour and the Conservatives when each was in government. An increase of 10% in the Reform vote reduces the support for the governing party by 2.5%. The impact of the Liberal Democrats on the governing party has been negative when they are looked at without considering the [complex interactions](https://theconversation.com/what-the-year-in-polls-tells-us-about-reforms-growth-and-labour-and-tory-losses-271827?ref=europeans.today) of voting in a five-party system in England and six-party systems in Scotland and Wales. These complexities ensured that Liberal Democrat support increased with government support as some voters were drawn to Reform, or when Labour took over as the governing party. Finally, the impact of the Greens on government support was negligible. These results suggest that a change of leadership in the Labour Party will not have any significant effects on vote intentions for the party. The only way to improve things is for Labour to deliver on its manifesto promises, particularly on economic growth, and so change the mood of the country. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/survey-result--8-.png) [YOUGOV](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2026/01/14/62dba/2?ref=europeans.today) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/data-suggests-labour-would-be-making-a-mistake-if-it-ousted-keir-starmer-after-may-elections-273048?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55041148473?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273048/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The Insurrection Act is one of at least 26 legal loopholes in the law banning the use of the US military domestically URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/16/the-insurrection-act-is-one-of-at-least-26-legal-loopholes-in-the-law-banning-the-use-of-the-us-military-domestically/ Last updated: 2026-01-16T02:13:28.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act after protests followed a civilian shooting. 🔹 United States law historically restricts military involvement in civilian affairs while allowing limited exceptions. 🔹 The Insurrection Act permits troop deployment during unrest but raises legal and political uncertainties. 🔹 Past uses show persistent tension between federal authority and state control during domestic crises. A s protesters and federal law enforcement clashed in Minneapolis in the wake of a second shooting of a civilian on Jan. 14, 2026 by federal agents, President Donald Trump [threatened](https://www.npr.org/2026/01/15/nx-s1-5678612/minneapolis-insurrection-act-trump-threats?ref=europeans.today) to invoke the Insurrection Act to send troops to Minnesota in response to protests. This is [not the first time](https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/15/politics/donald-trump-insurrection-act-minneapolis?ref=europeans.today) Trump has invoked the act. Is Trump’s warning just bluster? Does the president have the authority to send the military into American cities? The answer to this question involves a web of legal provisions that help define the president’s constitutional roles as commander in chief and chief executive of the country and that simultaneously try to balance presidential power with the power of state leaders. [![A social media post from January 15, 2026 by President Donald Trump, threatening to use the Insurrection Act to send U.S. military to Minneapolis.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712780/original/file-20260115-56-1evdd5.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip)](https://images.theconversation.com/files/712780/original/file-20260115-56-1evdd5.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip&ref=europeans.today) A social media post from January 15, 2026 by President Donald Trump, threatening to use the Insurrection Act to send U.S. military to Minneapolis. | [TRUTH SOCIAL/DONALD TRUMP](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115899252938886431?ref=europeans.today) ### ‘Protect states in times of violence’ Tracing back to the Magna Carta, the British charter of liberty signed in 1215, there is a [longstanding tradition](https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42659.pdf?ref=europeans.today) against military involvement in civilian affairs. However, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that the national government will protect the states in times of violence and permits Congress to enact laws that enable the military to aid in carrying out the law. Almost immediately after the Constitution’s enactment in 1787, Congress passed a law that [allowed](https://www.constitution.org/mil/mil%5Fact%5F1792.htm?ref=europeans.today) the president to use the military to respond to a series of citizen rebellions. Troops serving as what’s called “posse comitatus,” which translates roughly to “attendants with the capacity to act,” could be called to suppress insurrections and help carry out federal laws. Following the Civil War, the national government used troops in this capacity [to aid in Reconstruction efforts](https://history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-18/cmhPub%5F75-18.pdf?ref=europeans.today), particularly in states that had been part of the Confederacy. The use of troops in this manner [may even have influenced](https://www.270towin.com/1876%5FElection/?ref=europeans.today) the outcome of the 1876 presidential election of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. That happened when, in return for agreeing to withdraw federal troops from the South, Democrats informally agreed to the [election of Hayes when the disputed election](https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1876?ref=europeans.today) was thrown to a congressional commission. Two years later, Hayes signed into law the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibited the use of the military in civilian matters. The Posse Comitatus Act has not changed much since that time. [The law](https://statecodesfiles.justia.com/us/2011/title-18/part-i/chapter-67/section-1385/document.pdf?ref=europeans.today) prohibits the use of the military in civilian matters but, over time, Congress has passed at least 26 exemptions to the act that allow the president to send troops into states. The exemptions range from providing military personnel to protect national parks to helping states in carrying out state quarantine and health laws. ### Insurrection Act One of these exemptions is the [Insurrection Act](https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/2/STATUTE-2-Pg443a.pdf?ref=europeans.today), which governs certain circumstances when the president can use the military. Signed by Thomas Jefferson in 1807, Congress originally passed the law in order to help fight citizen rebellions against federal taxes. Over time, the law has evolved to allow the use of troops in other circumstances. For example, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson used the Insurrection Act in the 1950s and 1960s to send the military to [enforce court desegregation orders and to protect civil rights marchers](https://www.ajc.com/news/the-insurrection-act-1807-has-never-been-used-21st-century/GFnYXINktqHAwVDWXZcuvL/?ref=europeans.today). It was last invoked [by President George H.W. Bush](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-02-mn-1280-story.html?ref=europeans.today) in 1992, when he ordered 4,500 troops to Los Angeles after rioting erupted in response to the acquittal of police officers charged with beating Rodney King. The Insurrection Act says that the president may use the armed forces to subdue an insurrection or rebellion and take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress violence. But before doing so, he must issue a proclamation ordering insurgents to disperse and return to their homes. While state governors and legislatures also have the legal authority to ask the president to use troops in this manner, the states have preferred to rely on a combination of local law enforcement and the National Guard, which is under state command, not federal. Not only does this strategy enable governors to maintain authority over their states, but it also keeps things more straightforward legally and politically. In December 2025, the Supreme Court [refused](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/23/nx-s1-5641959/supreme-court-chicago-national-guard?ref=europeans.today) to let President Trump deploy the National Guard in response to protests against ICE in Illinois. Yet in a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanagh [noted](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a443%5Fnew%5Fb07d.pdf?ref=europeans.today), “As I read it, the Court’s opinion does not address the President’s authority under the Insurrection Act.” ### Authority uncertain Reliance on the Insurrection Act raises a [host of legal, political and practical questions about who is in charge when the military sends troops into a state](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract%5Fid=1411287&ref=europeans.today). For example, despite the fact that the act was invoked in response to the Rodney King riots, the military actually was [not used as directed](https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep11801.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ac3dc29e45b86d2b0d3d4314963a96899&ref=europeans.today). The Joint Task Force Commander in control of the mission appears to have been confused regarding how the Insurrection Act worked alongside the provisions of the Posse Comitatus Act. He issued an order prohibiting troops from directly supporting law enforcement and [that led to numerous denials of requests for assistance](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract%5Fid=1411287&ref=europeans.today). Questions about the federal government’s authority in the wake of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana raised similar concerns. The administration of President George W. Bush determined that it had authority under the Insurrection Act to send federal troops to the area, despite the fact that Louisiana’s governor was opposed to military assistance. For political reasons, President Bush did not end up deploying troops but, in 2006, Congress [amended the law](https://jnslp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02-Banks-V13-8-18-09.pdf?ref=europeans.today) to address concerns that the military was unable to provide effective assistance to states in emergency situations. The amendment was later repealed when [all 50 state governors](https://jnslp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02-Banks-V13-8-18-09.pdf?ref=europeans.today) raised objections to what they perceived as a grant of unilateral power to the president. These examples suggest a real difficulty balancing governmental responses to domestic crises. States need the flexibility and authority to respond as they see fit to the needs of their citizens. But the federal government can and often does serve as a supplemental resource. As the events of the past week illustrate, striking an effective balance is rarely a straightforward thing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-insurrection-act-is-one-of-at-least-26-legal-loopholes-in-the-law-banning-the-use-of-the-us-military-domestically-273649?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 15 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[David Edelman](https://www.dreamstime.com/peachpappa%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273649/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 16 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/16/todays-papers-16-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-17T01:02:37.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000125222.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000125223.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000125229.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### The crude reality: Why Trump is betting the house on Venezuela URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/15/the-crude-reality-why-trump-is-betting-the-house-on-venezuela/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T18:44:11.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump rapidly reshapes geopolitics through Venezuelan intervention driven by transactional boardroom logic. 🔹 Domestic inflation fears and looming midterms fuel haste to force oil relief. 🔹 Trump reframes war as profit while coercing oil majors into risky investments. 🔹 Europe warns this energy gamble imperils international law and destabilises regions. I f one were to script the opening act of 2026 to confirm Europe’s darkest anxieties about American unpredictability, it would look remarkably like this. In a single, frenetic week, President Donald Trump has upended the geopolitical chessboard, not with the nuanced statecraft of a superpower, but with the brazen speed of a leveraged buyout. By [decapitating](https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4370431/trump-announces-us-militarys-capture-of-maduro/?ref=europeans.today) the Venezuelan state and [demanding US oil majors](https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-oil-chevron-exxonmobil-conocophillips-0e0619a991e92fd546504f1a613161e7?ref=europeans.today) immediately underwrite the reconstruction, the White House has signalled a terrifying new doctrine: the era of the “[Donroe Doctrine](https://www.europeans.today/tag/donroe-doctrine/)” is here, and the raw, transactional logic of the boardroom governs it. The question echoing from the corridors of Brussels to the trading floors of the City in London is simple: *Why the rush?* Why risk regional conflagration and international pariah status for a gamble that oil executives, such as Exxon CEO Darren Woods, deem “[uninvestable](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/09/venezuela-is-uninvestible-for-now-exxon-ceo-tells-trump-in-white-house-meeting-00720198?ref=europeans.today)” under current conditions? The answer lies not in Caracas, but in the terrified calculus of Washington politics. ### The Inflationary Gun to the Head To understand Trump’s haste, one must look past the “Make America Great Again” rhetoric to the mundane nightmare of the American voter: the cost of living. Republicans are petrified of the upcoming November [midterm elections](https://www.europeans.today/tag/2026-midterms/). Inflation remains the administration’s Achilles’ heel, a persistent political vulnerability that no amount of cultural warfare can entirely obscure. Trump needs a win, and he needs it yesterday. His promise to [cut oil prices](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/08/trump-plans-use-venezuela-huge-oil-reserves-to-cut-us-consumer-price-to-50-a-barrel?ref=europeans.today) to $50 a barrel is not merely an economic policy; it is an act of electoral survival. He cannot wait for the invisible hand of the market; he needs the heavy hand of intervention. By flooding the market with Venezuelan crude — even if that crude is, [as experts note](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/05/venezuelan-crude-oil-appeals-to-us-refineries?ref=europeans.today), “dense, sticky and heavy” and years away from viable extraction — he is attempting to manufacture an economic miracle before the polls open. The rush is an attempt to book the revenue before the costs come due. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000528b--1-.jpg) Trump’s meeting with US oil majors, demanding they invest in Venezuela. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55036504057?ref=europeans.today) ### The MAGA Paradox There is a deeper, more ideological friction at play. Trump swept back into power [promising](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/trump-to-west-point-grads-we-are-ending-the-era-of-endless-wars-idUSKBN23K0PQ/?ref=europeans.today) to end “endless wars,” yet he has just launched a fresh one. This creates a dangerous cognitive dissonance for his base. How does the “[peace president](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/republicans-trump-maduro-venezuela-b2893993.html?ref=europeans.today)” sell an invasion? He does so by reframing the conflict. This is not “nation-building” — a phrase that is poison to the isolationist right. It is, in his own words, a reimbursement. By seizing the oil “[for the good](https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-safeguards-venezuelan-oil-revenue-for-the-good-of-the-american-and-venezuelan-people/?ref=europeans.today)” of the American people and declaring that Venezuela will buy “[ONLY American-made products](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/trump--venezuela-american-products-oil-deal.html?ref=europeans.today),” he transforms a foreign entanglement into a domestic dividend. The haste is essential to this narrative: Trump must secure the “profit” (the oil contracts) before the “loss” (the insurgency, the body bags) becomes a reality on Fox News. ### Coercing the Boardroom Perhaps the most cynical element of this “whirlwind week” is the strong-arming of American capital. The oil majors — ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips — know better than anyone that Venezuela is a money pit. Decades of underinvestment and corruption have left the infrastructure in ruins. Executives have privately demanded “[serious guarantees](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-oil-companies-say-they-need-guarantees-invest-venezuela-ft-reports-2026-01-08/?ref=europeans.today)” before risking billions in a war zone. Trump’s response has been a classic pressure tactic. By [publicly stating](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/09/trump-oil-company-executives-meeting-venezuela?ref=europeans.today) he has “25 people that aren’t here today” ready to take their place, he is forcing their hand. He needs their signatures on the dotted line now, locking them into the project before the initial “victory” euphoria fades and the grim reality of [guerrilla warfare](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezeula-trump-maduro-machado-election-b2895251.html?ref=europeans.today) in the Orinoco Belt sets in. It is a shotgun wedding, presided over by the 82nd Airborne. ### Europe’s stark warning For Europe, this spectacle is a grim clarion call. The “Donroe Doctrine” — a clumsy but dangerous revival of 19th-century [imperialism](https://www.europeans.today/tag/us-imperialism/) — treats the Western Hemisphere as a closed shop, explicitly designed to cut out Chinese and Russian influence. But in doing so, it treats sovereign nations as [vassal states](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/08/trump-doctrine-europe-us-coercion-economic?ref=europeans.today) and international law as [a nuisance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/trump-power-international-law?ref=europeans.today). We are witnessing the weaponisation of energy policy on a scale not seen since the 1970s. If the US succeeds in driving oil to $50, it may provide a short-term balm for European industry. However, the geopolitical price tag will be ruinous. A destabilised South America, a refugee crisis in the Caribbean, and an America that views the world solely through the lens of extraction are threats we cannot ignore. The “Caracas Rush” is not a strategy; it is a gamble. And as any seasoned punter knows, the house eventually wins — but rarely the player who bets it all on a single spin of the wheel. Europe must prepare for the moment the ball lands on zero. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump promises oil executives ‘total safety’ if they invest in Venezuela after Maduro ouster](https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-oil-chevron-exxonmobil-conocophillips-0e0619a991e92fd546504f1a613161e7?ref=europeans.today) | AP NEWS - ###### [Trump Announces U.S. Military's Capture of Maduro](https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4370431/trump-announces-us-militarys-capture-of-maduro/?ref=europeans.today) | US DEPARTMENT OF WAR - ###### [‘Uninvestable’: Trump pitch to oil execs yields no promises](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/09/venezuela-is-uninvestible-for-now-exxon-ceo-tells-trump-in-white-house-meeting-00720198?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO - ###### [Trump declares himself ‘Acting President of Venezuela’ in ultimate rage bait](https://metro.co.uk/2026/01/12/trump-posts-picture-declaring-acting-president-venezuela-26242710/?ref=europeans.today) | METRO - ###### [Trump plans to use Venezuela’s huge crude reserves ‘to cut US oil price to $50 a barrel’](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/08/trump-plans-use-venezuela-huge-oil-reserves-to-cut-us-consumer-price-to-50-a-barrel?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Dense, sticky and heavy: why Venezuelan crude oil appeals to US refineries](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/05/venezuelan-crude-oil-appeals-to-us-refineries?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump to West Point grads: 'We are ending the era of endless wars'](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/trump-to-west-point-grads-we-are-ending-the-era-of-endless-wars-idUSKBN23K0PQ/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Trump ran as the ‘Peace President’ — now MAGA shrugs at White House’s new foreign military action](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/republicans-trump-maduro-venezuela-b2893993.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [President Donald J. Trump Safeguards Venezuelan Oil Revenue for the Good of the American and Venezuelan People](https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-safeguards-venezuelan-oil-revenue-for-the-good-of-the-american-and-venezuelan-people/?ref=europeans.today) | THE WHITE HOUSE - ###### [Trump says Venezuela will purchase American products with revenue from oil deal](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/trump--venezuela-american-products-oil-deal.html?ref=europeans.today) | CNBC - ###### [US oil companies say they need guarantees to invest in Venezuela, FT reports](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-oil-companies-say-they-need-guarantees-invest-venezuela-ft-reports-2026-01-08/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Trump promises oil companies ‘total safety’ in Venezuela as he urges them to invest billions](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/09/trump-oil-company-executives-meeting-venezuela?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [‘Chaos is coming’: Venezuela primed for violent insurgency following US intervention, experts warn](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezeula-trump-maduro-machado-election-b2895251.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Trump’s new doctrine confirms it. Ready or not, Europe is on its own](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/08/trump-doctrine-europe-us-coercion-economic?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [‘I don’t need international law’: Trump says power constrained only by ‘my own morality’](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/trump-power-international-law?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 15 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55037673789?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 15 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/15/todays-papers-15-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T04:15:11.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000124811.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000124813.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000124825.jpg) _This post is for subscribers on the Supporter Membership, STARTER Membership, GOLD Membership, PREMIUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, PLATINUM Membership, Supporter DIAMOND Membership and PREMIUM Membership tiers only._ ### US military has a long history in Greenland, from mining during WWII to a nuclear-powered Army base built into the ice URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/14/us-military-has-a-long-history-in-greenland-from-mining-during-wwii-to-a-nuclear-powered-army-base-built-into-the-ice/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T00:15:23.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 America’s long involvement in Greenland reflects strategic ambition, ignoring local people. 🔹 Wartime and Cold War projects showed bravado but failed against Greenland’s ice. 🔹 Abandoned bases and pollution reveal lasting environmental costs of American ambitions. 🔹 Greenland’s global value lies in preserving its ice sheet amid climate change. P resident Donald Trump’s insistence that the U.S. will acquire Greenland “whether they like it or not” is just the latest chapter in a co-dependent and often complicated relationship between America and the Arctic’s largest island – one that stretches back more than a century. Americans have long [pursued policies in Greenland](https://www.npr.org/2019/08/22/753192368/fact-check-did-harry-truman-really-try-to-buy-greenland-back-in-the-day?ref=europeans.today) that U.S. leaders considered [strategic and economic imperatives](https://theconversation.com/4-reasons-why-the-us-might-want-to-buy-greenland-if-it-were-for-sale-which-it-isnt-246955?ref=europeans.today). As I recounted in my 2024 book, “[When the Ice is Gone](https://amzn.to/3LCQ7ZT?ref=europeans.today),” about Greenland’s environmental, military and scientific history, some of these ideas were little more than [engineering fantasies](https://undark.org/2024/09/06/wilo-golden-age-offbeat-arctic-research/?ref=europeans.today), while others reflected unfettered [military bravado](https://doi.org/10.1080/03468750701449554?ref=europeans.today). But today’s world isn’t the same as when the United States last had a significant presence in Greenland, decades ago during the Cold War. Before charging headlong into this icy island again, the U.S. would be remiss not to learn from past failures and consider how Earth’s [rapidly changing](https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/%22%22?ref=europeans.today) climate is fundamentally [altering the region](https://theconversation.com/arctic-has-changed-dramatically-in-just-a-couple-of-decades-2024-report-card-shows-worrying-trends-in-snow-ice-wildfire-and-more-237738?ref=europeans.today). ### Early US plundering of Greenland’s metals In 1909, Robert Peary, a U.S. Navy officer, announced that he had won the race to the North Pole – a spectacular claim [debated fiercely at the time](https://time.com/6294794/robert-peary-frederick-cook-north-pole-feud/?ref=europeans.today). Before that, Peary had spent years exploring Greenland by dogsled, often taking what he found. In 1894, he convinced six Greenlanders to [come with him to New York](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/15/books/eskimo-boy-injustice-old-new-york-campaigning-writer-indicts-explorer-museum.html?ref=europeans.today), reportedly promising them tools and weapons in return. Within a few months, [all but two of the Inuit had died](https://jsis.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Emily%5FJohnson%5Fattachment.pdf?ref=europeans.today) from diseases. Peary also took three huge fragments of the [Cape York iron meteorite](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=5262&ref=europeans.today), known to Greenlanders as Saviksoah. It was a unique source of metal that Greenlandic Inuit had [used for centuries](https://doi.org/10.1016/1044-5803%2892%2990112-U?ref=europeans.today) to make tools. The largest piece of the meteorite, [Ahnighito](https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/meteorites/meteorites/ahnighito?ref=europeans.today), weighed 34 tons. Today, it sits in the [American Museum of Natural History](https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/meteorites/meteorites/fragments-of-cape-york?ref=europeans.today), which reportedly [paid Peary US$40,000](https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/robert-e-peary/?ref=europeans.today) for the space rocks. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/image-8.png) People moved the 34-ton Cape York meteorite fragment named Ahnighito from the Greenland coast to Robert Peary’s ship, which took it to New York in 1897\. | [WIKIMEDIA](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AhnighitoMeteorite.jpg?ref=europeans.today)/ROBERT E. PEARY ### World War II: Strategic location and minerals World War II put Greenland on the map [strategically](https://www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/exhibits/2003/cold-front.html?ref=europeans.today) for the U.S. military. In spring 1941, Denmark’s ambassador [signed a treaty](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-55/pdf/STATUTE-55-Pg1245.pdf?ref=europeans.today#page=1) giving the U.S. military access [to Greenland](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v04/d572?ref=europeans.today) to help protect the island from Nazi Germany and contribute to the war effort in Europe. That treaty remains in effect today. New [American bases](https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3292212/the-long-blue-line-greenlandcoast-guards-arctic-combat-zone-of-world-war-ii-194/?ref=europeans.today) in western and southern Greenland became crucial refueling stops for planes flying from America to Europe. Hundreds of American soldiers were garrisoned at Ivittuut, a remote town on the southern Greenland coast where they protected the [world’s largest cryolite mine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-abandoned-mining-town-greenland-helped-win-world-war-ii-180973835/?ref=europeans.today). The rare mineral was used for [smelting aluminium](https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/story/2025/08/01/mining-history/cryolite-greenlands-forgotten-icy-mineral/9197.html?ref=europeans.today), critical for building airplanes during the war. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/image-9.png) The Ivittuut cryolite mine in southwestern Greenland, shown in 1940\. U.S. troops guarded the mine, essential for aluminium production, during World War II. | [WIKIMEDIA](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cryolite%5Fmine%5Fivgtut%5Fgreenland.jpg?ref=europeans.today)/YOKA DONATION And because Greenland is upwind from Europe, weather data collected on the island proved essential for [battlefield forecasts](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/greenland-and-the-strategic-advantage-of-weather-reporting/?ref=europeans.today) as officers planned their moves during World War II. Both the Americans and Germans built weather stations on Greenland, starting what historians refer to as the [weather war](https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/knowledge-power-greenland-great-powers-lessons-second-world-war/?ref=europeans.today). There was [little combat](https://www.military.com/feature/2025/10/13/when-us-troops-fought-nazis-arctic-forgotten-battle-greenland.html?ref=europeans.today), though allied patrols routinely scoured the east coast of the island for Nazi encampments. The weather war ended in 1944 when the U.S. Coast Guard, and [its East Greenland dogsled patrol](https://www.docdroid.net/OWLUcew/the-weather-war-wwiihistory201412-pdf?ref=europeans.today), found the last of four German weather stations and captured their meteorologists. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/image-10.png) American soldiers capture members of Germany’s Edelweiss II weather station in northeastern Greenland in 1944\. | [WIKIMEDIA](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Members%5Fof%5Fthe%5FEdelweiss%5FII%5Fweather%5Fstation%5Fin%5Fnorth-eastern%5FGreenland%5Ftaken%5Fprisoner%5Fby%5FAmerican%5Fsoldiers,%5FOctober%5F4%5F1944.jpg?ref=europeans.today)/US COAST GUARD ### Cold War: Fanciful engineering ideas vs the ice The heyday of U.S. military engineering dreams in Greenland arrived during the Cold War in the 1950s. To counter the risk of Soviet missiles and bombers coming over the Arctic, the U.S. military transported [about 5,000 men](https://www.nytimes.com/1952/09/19/archives/u-s-creates-huge-air-base-in-far-north-of-greenland-strategic.html?ref=europeans.today), 280,000 tons of supplies, 500 trucks and 129 bulldozers, according to The New York Times, to a barren, northwest Greenland beach – 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the North Pole and 2,752 miles (4,430 kilometers) from Moscow. There, in one top-secret summer, they built the [sprawling American air base](https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn%5Fhistory%5Farticles/65/v65i01p4-13.pdf?ref=europeans.today) at [Thule](https://www.stripes.com/history/2023-01-09/thule-air-base-community-8703154.html?ref=europeans.today). It housed bombers, fighters, nuclear missiles and more than 10,000 soldiers. The whole operation was revealed to the world the following year, on a September 1952 cover of [LIFE magazine](https://www.madmenart.com/life-covers-bw/air-bases-thule-greenland-22-sep-1952-copyright-life-magazine/?ref=europeans.today) and by the U.S. Army in its weekly [television](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54aaQtsH5jw&ref=europeans.today) show, “The Big Picture.” But in the realm of ideas born out of paranoia, [Camp Century](https://pastglobalchanges.org/news/137076?ref=europeans.today) and [Project Iceworm](https://doi.org/10.1080/03468750701449554?ref=europeans.today) were the pinnacle. The U.S. Army built Camp Century, a [nuclear-powered base](https://theconversation.com/the-us-army-tried-portable-nuclear-power-at-remote-bases-60-years-ago-it-didnt-go-well-164138?ref=europeans.today), inside the ice sheet by digging deep trenches and then covering them with snow. The base held 200 men in bunkrooms heated to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius). It was the center of U.S. Army research on snow and ice and became a reminder to the USSR that the American military could operate at will in the Arctic. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/image-11.png) Metal arches placed over trenches cut into the snow-formed roofs at Camp Century. | [WIKIMEDIA](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp%5FCentury%5Ftrench%5Fconstruction.png?ref=europeans.today)/US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS The Army also imagined [hundreds of miles of rail lines](https://doi.org/10.1080/03468750701449554?ref=europeans.today) buried inside Greenland’s ice sheet. On Project Iceworm’s tracks, atomic-powered trains would move nuclear-tipped missiles in snow tunnels between hidden launch stations – a shell game covering an area about the size of Alabama. In the end, Project Iceworm never got beyond [a 1,300-foot (400-meter) tunnel](https://undark.org/2024/09/06/wilo-golden-age-offbeat-arctic-research/?ref=europeans.today) the Army excavated at [Camp Century](https://pastglobalchanges.org/news/137076?ref=europeans.today). The soft snow and ice, constantly moving, buckled that track as the tunnel walls closed in. In the early 1960s, first the White House, and then NATO, [rejected Project Iceworm](https://doi.org/10.1080/03468750701449554?ref=europeans.today). In 1966, the Army abandoned Camp Century, leaving hundreds of tons of waste inside the ice sheet. Today, the crushed and [abandoned camp](https://cires.colorado.edu/news/greenland-and-legacy-camp-century?ref=europeans.today) lies more than 100 feet (30 meters) below the ice sheet surface. But as the climate warms and the ice melts, that [waste will resurface](https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069688?ref=europeans.today): millions of gallons of frozen sewage, asbestos-wrapped pipes, toxic lead paint and carcinogenic PCBs. Who will clean up the mess and at what cost is an open question. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/image-12.png) An aerial view shows Camp Century, which was powered by a small-scale portable nuclear reactor. | [WIKIMEDIA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PM2Anuclearpowerplant.jpg?ref=europeans.today)/US ARMY ### Greenland remains a tough place to turn a profit In the past, the American focus in Greenland was on short-term gains with little regard for the future. [Abandoned bases](https://polarjournal.net/abandoned-american-ww2-bases-are-slowly-being-removed-from-greenland/%22%22?ref=europeans.today), scattered around the island today and in need of cleanup, are one example. Peary’s disregard of the [lives of local Greenlanders](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Minik%5FThe%5FNew%5FYork%5FEskimo/rzA7DwAAQBAJ?ref=europeans.today) is another. History shows that many of the fanciful ideas for Greenland failed because they showed little consideration of the island’s isolation, harsh climate and dynamic ice sheet. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000527b--1-.jpg) World War II-vintage trucks abandoned at a U.S. airfield in east Greenland were still there decades later. | DREAMSTIME/[HAKKICEYLAN](https://www.dreamstime.com/hakkiceylan%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) Trump’s demands for [American control](https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/trumps-greenland-flirt-clumsy-arctic-geopolitics/?ref=europeans.today) of the island as a source of wealth and U.S. security are [similarly shortsighted](https://theconversation.com/allies-or-enemies-trumps-threats-against-canada-and-greenland-put-nato-in-a-tough-spot-247194?ref=europeans.today). In today’s [rapidly warming climate](https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/the-rate-of-human-driven-global-warming-is-at-a-record-high/?ref=europeans.today), disregarding the dramatic effects of climate change in Greenland can [doom projects to failure](https://theconversation.com/greenlands-melting-ice-and-landslide-prone-fjords-make-the-oil-and-minerals-trump-is-eyeing-dangerous-to-extract-249985?ref=europeans.today) as [Arctic temperatures climb](https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00498-3?ref=europeans.today). Recent floods, fed by Greenland’s melting ice sheet, have [swept away bridges](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RauzduvIYog&t=9s&ref=europeans.today) that had stood for half a century. The permafrost that underlies the island is rapidly thawing and destabilizing infrastructure, including the critical [radar installation and runway](https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/us-arctic-and-sub-arctic-military-bases-are-unprepared-impacts-climate-change?ref=europeans.today) at Thule, renamed Pituffik Space Base in 2022\. The island’s mountain sides are [crashing into the sea](https://theconversation.com/greenlands-melting-ice-and-landslide-prone-fjords-make-the-oil-and-minerals-trump-is-eyeing-dangerous-to-extract-249985?ref=europeans.today) as the [ice holding them together melts](https://www.polarresearch.at/the-great-landslide-of-assapaat/?ref=europeans.today). The [U.S.](https://www.usgs.gov/centers/gggsc/science/technical-assistance-government-greenland-hyperspectral-imaging-critical?ref=europeans.today) and [Denmark](https://eng.geus.dk/about/news/news-archive/2026/january/greenland-minerals-overview?ref=europeans.today) have conducted geological surveys in Greenland and pinpointed [deposits of critical minerals](https://theconversation.com/greenland-is-rich-in-natural-resources-a-geologist-explains-why-273022?ref=europeans.today) along the rocky, exposed coasts. However, most of the mining so far [has been limited](https://www.csis.org/analysis/greenland-rare-earths-and-arctic-security?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Despite%20Greenland's%20promising%20mineral%20wealth,has%20taken%20place%20to%20date.) to cryolite and some small-scale extraction of lead, iron, copper and zinc. Today, [only one small mine extracting the mineral anorthosite](https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-visit-mine-lumina-visit-only-fully-operational-anorthosite-2026-1?ref=europeans.today), which is useful for its aluminum and silica, is running. ### It’s the ice that matters The greatest value of Greenland for humanity is not its [strategic location](https://apnews.com/article/greenland-denmark-security-trump-arctic-north-6066195d0c6b9e1bbe6da27d55b26ece?ref=europeans.today) or potential [mineral resources](https://theconversation.com/greenland-is-rich-in-natural-resources-a-geologist-explains-why-273022?ref=europeans.today), but [its ice](https://undark.org/2025/01/23/opinion-trump-greenland-ice/?ref=europeans.today). If human activities continue to heat the planet, melting Greenland’s ice sheet, sea level will rise until the ice is gone. Losing even part of the ice sheet, which holds enough water to raise global sea level 24 feet in all, would have [disastrous effects](https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb398?ref=europeans.today) for coastal cities and island nations around the world. That’s big-time global insecurity. The most forward-looking strategy is to protect Greenland’s ice sheet rather than plundering a remote Arctic island while ramping up [fossil fuel production](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/?ref=europeans.today) and [accelerating climate change](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/climate/trump-climate-change-emissions-fuel.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.EFA.nlo-.Wzz8%5FbAnaWW6&smid=url-share&ref=europeans.today) around the world. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump says US will acquire Greenland "whether they like it or not"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKKaipXXOuE&ref=europeans.today) (YouTube) | GLOBAL NEWS - ###### [The Long Blue line: Greenland—Coast Guard’s Arctic combat zone of World War II, 1940-41](https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3292212/the-long-blue-line-greenlandcoast-guards-arctic-combat-zone-of-world-war-ii-194/?ref=europeans.today) | UNITED STATES COAST GUARDS - ###### [Unleashing American Energy](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/?ref=europeans.today) | THE WHITE HOUSE - ###### [Under Trump, U.S. Adds Fuel to a Heating Planet](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/climate/trump-climate-change-emissions-fuel.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/us-military-has-a-long-history-in-greenland-from-mining-during-wwii-to-a-nuclear-powered-army-base-built-into-the-ice-273355?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 14 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Hakkiceylan](https://www.dreamstime.com/hakkiceylan%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273355/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 14 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/14/todays-papers-14-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T18:23:41.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123670.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123675.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123679.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Donald Trump: The landlord of the Free World URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/13/donald-trump-the-landlord-of-the-free-world/ Last updated: 2026-01-13T01:22:18.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump has declared that America now defends only US-owned territory, undermining NATO and alliances. 🔹 Europe misread isolationism as temporary, but Trump pursues imperial expansion. 🔹 This logic pressures Europe to trade sovereignty for protection. 🔹 Europe must build independent deterrence or remain vulnerable tenants. I n the gilded cage of Mar-a-Lago, the lease on the post-war order has just expired. Donald Trump, fresh from his “[Absolute Resolve](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdred61epg4o?ref=europeans.today)” adventure in Caracas, has finally said the quiet part out loud: protection requires possession. His declaration — that the United States [only defends what it owns](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/09/trump-greenland-military-denmark-nato.html?ref=europeans.today) — is not merely a negotiating tactic for Greenland; it is the foreclosure notice for the [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation](https://www.europeans.today/tag/north-atlantic-treaty-organization-nato/). For decades, European chancelleries have comforted themselves with the fiction that American isolationism was a passing storm, a temporary glitch in the liberal operating system. They were wrong. The “[Donroe Doctrine](https://www.europeans.today/tag/donroe-doctrine/)” — a clumsy but dangerous portmanteau of Donald and Monroe — is not about retreating to the homeland. It is about expanding the homeland to match the empire. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000523b--1-.jpg) Donald Trump: The landlord of the Free World. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54963627811/?ref=europeans.today) Consider the brutal efficiency of his logic. “You don’t defend leases,” [the US President quipped](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78vj5n7jg3o?ref=europeans.today), dismissing seventy-five years of [Article 5](https://www.europeans.today/tag/natos-article-5/) obligations with the wave of a developer’s hand. In his world, a tenant has no rights that a landlord is bound to respect. If Denmark wishes to remain under the American nuclear umbrella, it seems it must first become American real estate. This places Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Friedrich Merz in an excruciating bind. The “[Starmer-Scholz](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-declaration-on-deepening-and-enhancing-uk-germany-relations?ref=europeans.today)” accord — that fragile lifeboat of Anglo-German cooperation — was designed to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down (or at least, calm). But if Washington is now in the business of [hostile takeovers](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/01/12/trumps-plan-to-make-greenlanders-an-offer-they-cant-refuse/?ref=europeans.today) rather than alliances, the calculus shifts. Europe is no longer a partner; it is a distress sale. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin watches from the Kremlin, doubtless amused by the spectacle. His Oreshnik missiles, [raining down on Lviv](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgqe9kv9xxvo?ref=europeans.today), serve as a noisy reminder that while the West bickers over deeds and titles, the East deals in iron and blood. The Russian President understands [Trump’s language](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/20/the-only-thing-putin-respects-is-military-strength/?ref=europeans.today) implicitly. He, too, believes that sovereignty is a luxury good, available only to those with the throw-weight to defend it. The temptation for Europe will be to play for time, to offer up “strategic partnerships” and “resource corridors” in the hope of [sating the American appetite](https://www.wsj.com/world/alarm-spreads-among-u-s-allies-over-trumps-demand-for-greenland-2235f65c?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqdEWhx6HbC6UUtXp1LHwKxfQmWfau6KqIIN-4UaApXFdMnF2MHO9JxR&gaa%5Fts=6965988d&gaa%5Fsig=AYmN-qBg5MfKvtgPr4GuKXY8gOvP2M-eQZGnOnZcgAnd6R3BToC0gIRJv7jdkaY6lKln4NYIB6Z8xVntcvofqQ%3D%3D&ref=europeans.today). This would be a mistake. A protection racket does not end because the shopkeeper pays the first week’s vig; it ends when the shopkeeper buys a shotgun. Unless the core of Europe — Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Rome, Madrid — can summon the will to construct a deterrent that does not rely on the whims of a Florida retiree, we may find that we are all, eventually, [up for rent](https://ecfr.eu/publication/maga-goes-global-trumps-plan-for-europe/?ref=europeans.today). The 21st century is shaping up to be a cold, hard place for tenants. It is time Europe bought its own house. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Spies, drones and blowtorches: How the US captured Maduro](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdred61epg4o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Trump: ‘We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not’](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/09/trump-greenland-military-denmark-nato.html?ref=europeans.today) | CNBC - ###### [Trump says US needs to 'own' Greenland to prevent Russia and China from taking it](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78vj5n7jg3o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Joint declaration on deepening and enhancing UK-Germany relations](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-declaration-on-deepening-and-enhancing-uk-germany-relations?ref=europeans.today) | 10 Downing Street - ###### [Trump’s plan to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/01/12/trumps-plan-to-make-greenlanders-an-offer-they-cant-refuse/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [Russia hits Ukraine with rarely used Oreshnik missile in fresh strikes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgqe9kv9xxvo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Like Stalin before him, the only thing Putin respects is military strength. We must show him some ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/20/the-only-thing-putin-respects-is-military-strength/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [Alarm Spreads Among U.S. Allies Over Trump’s Demand for Greenland](https://www.wsj.com/world/alarm-spreads-among-u-s-allies-over-trumps-demand-for-greenland-2235f65c?ref=europeans.today) | THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - ###### [MAGA goes global: Trump’s plan for Europe](https://ecfr.eu/publication/maga-goes-global-trumps-plan-for-europe/?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 13 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54963627811/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### The use of military force in Iran could backfire for Washington URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/13/the-use-of-military-force-in-iran-could-backfire-for-washington/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T02:53:43.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump is considering intervention after Iran killed hundreds during protest crackdowns. 🔹 Sanctions, diplomacy and cyber tools offer limited leverage over a regime focused on survival. 🔹 Military strikes would likely strengthen Iranian hardliners and justify harsher domestic repression. 🔹 History shows foreign intervention undermines democracy, making restraint and societal support wiser. D onald Trump is weighing military action in Iran over the state’s crackdown on protesters. Reports suggest that more than 600 people have been killed since the protests began in late December, with the US president saying the US military is now “looking at some very strong options”. Trump has not yet elaborated on what these options are and [has said that](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/trump-iran-negotiate-protest-crackdown-death-toll-rises-rcna253518?ref=europeans.today) Iranian officials, keen to avoid a war with the US, had called him “to negotiate”. But he added that the US “may have to act before a meeting” if [the deadly crackdown](https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-have-put-the-countrys-political-system-on-trial-272781?ref=europeans.today) continues. There is a wide [spectrum of measures](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/11/trump-briefed-options-iran-00721524?nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b4be0000&nname=inside-congress&nrid=49bba07d-540e-43a8-8e96-763d11715ef5&ref=europeans.today) available to Washington should it decide to intervene in [Iran](https://theconversation.com/topics/iran-1870?ref=europeans.today). These range from diplomatic condemnation and an expanded sanctions regime, to cyber operations and military strikes. However, history weighs heavily against every move the US government may be considering. Targeted sanctions and diplomatic pressure, which includes the 25% tariff rate recently [introduced by Trump](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-says-countries-doing-business-with-iran-face-25-tariff-2026-01-12/?ref=europeans.today) on any country that does business with Iran, remain the least escalatory tools. They allow the US to coordinate with its allies and signal moral support for protesters in Iran without triggering direct confrontation. Yet decades of experience show the limits of this approach. Iran’s leadership has mastered how to absorb economic pressure, [shift costs](https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/28/sanctions-on-iran-have-been-a-spectacular-strategic-failure-for-the-west?ref=europeans.today) onto society and frame longstanding Western sanctions as collective punishment imposed by hostile outsiders. The government in Tehran has adapted over time by developing alternative markets and expanding informal and non-dollar trade. It has also boosted its economic resilience through regional networks, particularly in Iraq, where political, financial and security ties help [sustain revenue flows](https://nepf.org.au/index.php/how-iraq-became-irans-cash-cow/?ref=europeans.today) and cushion the impact of sanctions on the state. There are other, more covert tools at Washington’s disposal, including cyber disruption and efforts to assist independent media or help protesters bypass internet shutdowns. These measures can help protesters stay visible internationally and complicate the state’s capacity to ramp up repression. However, even here, expectations should be modest. These tools may create friction within the Iranian elite by raising the costs of, and imposing technical difficulties on, surveillance and repression. But they do not change the core calculus of a regime that prioritises survival above all else. At the most extreme end of the spectrum are [military strikes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdqy3rmp78o?ref=europeans.today). The rationale behind strikes would be to undermine the regime’s repression efforts. But in reality, they risk doing the opposite. Iran’s ruling system, and particularly the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps branch of the armed forces, [has historically relied](https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-858495?ref=europeans.today) on external threats to consolidate power domestically. A preemptive US strike would almost certainly hand Iran’s security apparatus the very narrative it seeks: an existential battle for national survival. This framing is already explicit in the discourse of the Iranian elite. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the hardline speaker of the Iranian parliament, [warned](https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/death-toll-2-week-protests-challenging-irans-theocracy-129098403?ref=europeans.today) in a recent speech that any attack on Iran would make Israel and all US military bases and assets in the region “legitimate targets”. Iranian state media then showed large crowds of regime supporters rallying in Tehran and other cities, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Military escalation is especially dangerous given the character of the current protest movement. [Women](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/11/iranians-are-fed-up-of-dictatorship-the-exiled-female-activists-daring-to-dream-of-a-new-era?ref=europeans.today) have been at the forefront, challenging the ideological foundations of the state, while regions populated largely by ethnic Kurds have endured disproportionate [levels of violence](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/07/they-are-killing-us-authorities-use-force-against-protesters-in-kurdish-regions-of-iran?ref=europeans.today) at the hands of the authorities. These protests are civic, decentralised and rooted in social grievances. US military strikes would allow the Iranian state to overwrite that reality, recasting a diverse domestic movement as a foreign-backed security threat. In doing so, it would legitimise a far harsher crackdown than anything seen so far. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000526--1-.jpg) Donald Trump is weighing military action in Iran. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55036504072?ref=europeans.today) ### Shadow of 1953 Many ordinary Iranians are also cautious of direct US interference. This stems from a [CIA-backed coup](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/cia-1953-iran-coup-undemocratic-argo?ref=europeans.today) in 1953 that ousted Iran’s elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, and restored the monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The coup was followed by nearly two decades of repression, political policing and authoritarian rule closely aligned with Western interests. This experience is not distant history; it is a foundational trauma that continues to shape Iranian political consciousness. As a result, recent [suggestions by Trump](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/confronting-protests-iran-vows-strike-back-if-us-attacks-2026-01-11/?ref=europeans.today) that the collapse of Iran’s theocratic system would naturally make way for a democratic transition cannot be disentangled from the memory of an external intervention that produced dictatorship rather than self-rule. It also explains why many people inside Iran are sceptical of figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of country’s last shah who has [often been promoted](https://www.politico.eu/article/reza-pahlavi-iran-revolution-exiled-prince-plan-regime-change/?ref=europeans.today) in the West as a [possible future leader](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62wx1gr8y4o?ref=europeans.today) of Iran. Pahlavi remains symbolically tied to a system associated with oppression and foreign backing. This [leaves him without](https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-2026-our-surveys-show-iranians-agree-more-on-regime-change-than-what-might-come-next-273198?ref=europeans.today) the broad domestic legitimacy required for any credible democratic transition, regardless of his messaging. The scepticism of Iranians is reinforced by recent regional experiences. In Iraq, foreign intervention hollowed out the state, leaving a [weak system](https://theconversation.com/iraqs-2025-elections-reveal-a-democracy-without-belief-269553?ref=europeans.today) that has been co-opted by external powers and militias. And in [Syria](https://theconversation.com/topics/syria-592?ref=europeans.today), the collapse of central authority paved the way for a former al-Qaeda leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to take power. He has been rebranded by Western powers, [including Trump](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/donald-trump-ahmed-alsharaa-syria-sanctions-israel-b2751151.html?ref=europeans.today), into a credible political figure despite his jihadist past. These cases reinforce a belief across the Middle East that Western intervention tends not to empower democratic forces. It instead appears to elevate the most organised and militarised parties to power, producing long-term instability rather than renewal. Without a credible, homegrown transition, Iran risks fragmenting and sliding into chaos. For Washington, the most difficult reality may be that the wisest path is not bold intervention, but restraint combined with sustained support for Iranian society. Genuine change in Iran cannot be engineered from the outside, especially at the point of a missile. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump says Iran wants to negotiate, weighs 'strong options' to respond to deadly protest crackdown](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/trump-iran-negotiate-protest-crackdown-death-toll-rises-rcna253518?ref=europeans.today) | NBC NEWS - ###### [Trump to be briefed on range of options in Iran](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/11/trump-briefed-options-iran-00721524?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO - ###### [Trump says nations doing business with Iran face 25% tariff on US trade](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-says-countries-doing-business-with-iran-face-25-tariff-2026-01-12/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [Guess who the Western sanctions on Iran have crippled? The middle class](https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/28/sanctions-on-iran-have-been-a-spectacular-strategic-failure-for-the-west?ref=europeans.today) | AL-JAZEERA - ###### [Trump mulls 'very strong' military options as hundreds killed in Iran protests](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdqy3rmp78o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Deaths from Iran protests reach more than 500, rights group says](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/confronting-protests-iran-vows-strike-back-if-us-attacks-2026-01-11/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-use-of-military-force-in-iran-could-backfire-for-washington-273264?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 13 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Tomasragina](https://www.dreamstime.com/tomasragina%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/273264/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Ukraine is under pressure to trade land for peace − if it does, history shows it might not ever get it back URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/13/ukraine-is-under-pressure-to-trade-land-for-peace-if-it-does-history-shows-it-might-not-ever-get-it-back/ Last updated: 2026-01-13T03:04:41.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Territorial concessions are central to peace talks, despite Ukrainian resistance and public opposition. 🔹 Historical precedents show occupied territories are rarely returned and often permanently assimilated. 🔹 Diplomacy or renewed war offers Ukraine little realistic chance to reclaim lost land. 🔹 Only a major crisis or collapse in Russia could reverse territorial losses. A sked in December 2025 what the biggest sticking point was in negotiating peace in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump got [straight to the point](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5664949-trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-land/?ref=europeans.today): land. “Some of that land has been taken. Some of that land is maybe up for grabs,” he added. From the very beginning of the full-scale war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has [ruled out ceding territory](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/ukraine/trump-zelenskyy-hasnt-read-russia-ukraine-peace-plan-war-europe-putin-rcna247956?ref=europeans.today) to the invading Russians. Yet, when the war in Ukraine finally grinds to a halt, it seems likely that Russia will, indeed, control vast portions of Ukrainian land in the south and the east –[about 20%](https://warontherocks.com/2025/02/ukraines-daunting-choice-trading-its-land-and-people-for-future-security/?ref=europeans.today) of Ukraine’s pre-2014 landmass, if today’s line of actual control is any guide. Ukrainians have spent years trying to eject Russian forces from occupied areas in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson administrative regions. Captured and fortified by Russia in 2014, Crimea has been mostly out of reach. But despite Kyiv’s best efforts, Russia is [now poised](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-western-calls-preparation-war-with-russia-a-lie-2025-12-17/?ref=europeans.today) to seize even more Ukrainian territory if the war does not end soon. The pressure on Zelenskyy to accept some sort of territorial loss only increases with each new peace plan presented – all of which include some degree of map redrawing in Russia’s favor. And although a [majority of the Ukrainian public](https://www.kyivpost.com/post/67464?ref=europeans.today) is against the idea of exchanging land for peace, pragmatists in the West, and [even some within Ukraine](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp348ygjgy3o?ref=europeans.today), accept that this will almost certainly be part of any peace deal. But then what? If Ukraine accepts the de facto loss of its eastern oblasts as the price of peace, should this be understood by Ukrainians as a permanent or a temporary concession? If the latter, what measures – if any – exist for Ukraine to eventually restore its territorial integrity? As an [international security expert](https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/harrisp/?ref=europeans.today), I would argue that it’s essential that Ukrainians and their international backers have clear-eyed answers to these questions now, before a peace agreement is put in place. ### Land lost forever? History can provide a useful, if imperfect, guide to what happens when states are forced to cede territory to invaders. Past precedent suggests Ukraine must be prepared for the worst: Occupied territories, once lost, often remain so indefinitely. This is what happened when the Soviet Union [conquered the province of Karelia](https://www.rferl.org/a/1103688.html?ref=europeans.today) from Finland following the [Winter War in 1939-1940](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-short-history-of-the-winter-war?ref=europeans.today). Finland tried to reclaim Karelia from Moscow via military means in the [Continuation War of 1941-1944](https://sotatie.fi/en/battlegrouds-trail/continuation-war-1941%E2%80%9344?ref=europeans.today). But Finnish forces were ultimately beaten back. In the aftermath, Moscow ordered the [mass expulsion of ethnic Finns](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/searching-for-a-principle-of-humanity-in-international-humanitarian-law/military-occupation-of-eastern-karelia-by-finland-in-19411944/41A8DC3037E169ACDF98D733875E2525?ref=europeans.today) and implemented a program of political and cultural assimilation. Today, ethnic Russians make up [more than 80%](https://minorityrights.org/communities/karelians/?ref=europeans.today) of Karelia’s population. Support for reabsorbing Karelia into Finland is low. When surveyed about the idea 20 years ago, [most Finns](https://yle.fi/a/3-5218428?ref=europeans.today) balked at the cost of integrating poor, Russian-speaking communities into their thriving nation-state. The same could happen to the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine. Over time, Russian-controlled areas might become “Russified” to the point of no longer being recognizably Ukrainian. In Crimea since 2014, for example, Russia is thought to have moved more than [200,000 Russian citizens](https://theconversation.com/ten-years-since-its-annexation-crimea-serves-as-a-grim-warning-to-any-ukrainian-lands-that-fall-under-russian-occupation-226270?ref=europeans.today) into the territory, in addition to expelling ethnic Ukrainians. Even if they are not [forcibly expelled](https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupation-update-november-20-2025?ref=europeans.today), civilians in the occupied areas who are loyal to Kyiv might choose to leave, and already millions have. But doing so means [abandoning property](https://cepa.org/article/behind-the-lines-russia-strips-ukrainians-of-their-homes/?ref=europeans.today) to ethnic Russians – and once property is ceded, it makes the chances of a permanent return [that much harder](https://theconversation.com/hope-and-hardship-have-driven-syrian-refugee-returns-but-many-head-back-to-destroyed-homes-land-disputes-269555?ref=europeans.today). Ukrainians who remain will face [almost certain repression](https://ukraine.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/2024-03-20%20OHCHR%20Report%20on%20Occupation%20and%20Aftermath%5FEN.pdf?ref=europeans.today). As occupation wears on, the social and economic differences between the ceded territories and the free areas of Ukraine will likely become ever starker. And this will be especially true if Ukraine joins the European Union – something that Kyiv has long coveted and could be a [sweetener to any peace deal](https://www.kyivpost.com/post/66145?ref=europeans.today) involving land loss. With fewer pro-European Ukrainians living there and a wider cultural divide, the prospect of reclaiming the Russian-controlled oblasts could become markedly less attractive to Ukrainians than it appears today. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000525b--1-.jpg) Aerial view of the aftermath of heavy fighting and devastation in Donbas, Ukraine. | DREAMSTIME/[ANDRII CHAGOVETS](https://www.dreamstime.com/reydangeniy%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Diplomacy and war: Dead ends Still, Ukrainians might hope that they can avoid this outcome by moving swiftly to undo the occupation before it becomes irreversible. In theory, they could accomplish this one of two ways: through deal-making or through fighting. But in practice, neither is likely to work. Examples of a negotiated, voluntary return of land are few and far between. In 1979, Egypt managed to negotiate the [return of its Sinai Peninsula](https://israeled.org/sinai-returned-egypt/?ref=europeans.today), which Israel had captured during the [Six-Day War](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39960461?ref=europeans.today) in 1967\. Although some in Israel wanted to keep hold of the Sinai for security reasons, Israeli leaders instead decided to swap the territory in exchange for a [durable peace with Egypt](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th%5Fcentury/isregypt.asp?ref=europeans.today), a leading Arab nation, in the hope that others would follow. The problem for Ukraine is that Kyiv has very little to offer Russia in exchange for its lost territories. If and when the present war ends, it will likely be on terms favorable to Moscow, which is why territorial concessions are on the table to begin with. If Ukraine cannot negotiate the return of the occupied territories as part of a peace arrangement, it probably means that it will not be able to negotiate their return in the post-peace phase, either. What about the potential to regain the occupied territories by force? Finland tried that in Karelia and failed. But other countries have been more fortunate: France [regained Alsace-Lorraine](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1919Parisv13/ch12subch5?ref=europeans.today) from Germany after World War I, for example. But it was a reversal that took nearly 50 years to bring about – Germany had annexed the territory in the [Franco-Prussian War of 1871](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/franco-prussian-war?ref=europeans.today). Given the massive disparity in [size, population](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/28/ukraine-and-russia-explained-in-maps-and-charts-interactive?ref=europeans.today) and [troop numbers](https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/comparing-size-and-capabilities-russian-and-ukrainian-militaries?ref=europeans.today) between Russia and Ukraine, it is highly unlikely that Ukraine could reclaim the territories through war – not least of all because its international backers would very likely refuse to support Kyiv in a war of choice against nuclear-armed Russia. The task would be made harder still should Russia succeed in getting some form of [Ukrainian disarmament, or a downsizing of its military](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putins-2022-peace-proposal-was-a-blueprint-for-the-destruction-of-ukraine/?ref=europeans.today), into any peace deal. ### A black swan event There is only one other set of circumstances under which territorial conquests tend to be undone in world politics: When the international system is convulsed by a major, system-level change or crisis. This might include a regional or world war, or the implosion of a great power – in this case, Russia. This is how Czechoslovakia [reclaimed the Sudetenland](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v02/d589?ref=europeans.today) from Germany in 1945, China restored its [control over Manchuria](https://www.thecollector.com/japanese-colonialism-in-manchuria/?ref=europeans.today) from Japan at the end of World War II, and the Baltic states [regained their independence](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/baltic-states-gain-independence?ref=europeans.today) from the Soviet Union in 1990-1991 – not because they fought and won a narrow war of reconquest, but because their occupiers collapsed under the pressure of an external or internal crisis. Could Russia collapse from within in the event of the death or ouster of Putin, an economic catastrophe, or some other critical development in the decades to come? It is impossible to predict. But in the final analysis, should Ukraine be forced to accept land loss as part of any peace deal, it may require a seismic event in Russia for the territorial changes to be reversed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/ukraine-is-under-pressure-to-trade-land-for-peace-if-it-does-history-shows-it-might-not-ever-get-it-back-271609?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 13 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Rokas Tenys](https://www.dreamstime.com/rokas91%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/271609/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 13 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/13/todays-papers-13-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:26:51.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123367.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123334.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123337.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### As in life, focus political attention on what you can control URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/12/as-in-life-focus-political-attention-on-what-you-can-control/ Last updated: 2026-01-13T02:04:16.000Z G iving a pep talk to his Republican House majority this week, President Trump told them that if they lose the [midterm elections](https://www.europeans.today/tag/2026-midterms/), “we’ll lose our country.” [¹](#1) As with many of his public proclamations, Trump is projecting. This year, the country truly could be lost if the midterms don’t give Democrats a majority in, at least, the House of Representatives. But it will be lost to one man – Trump – who believes he is the all-powerful Oz. As he told his House members, he could be impeached if the Democrats regain control of the House. [²](#2) And that is what’s important to Donald Trump. Not losing a majority he can depend on for his policies, but a majority he can depend on not to impeach him. Has the President committed impeachable actions? Probably. At barest minimum he is violating the law a nearly unanimous Congress passed ordering his Administration to release the Epstein files. [³](#3) And that’s likely the least of his unconstitutional sins. But let’s not go there right now. The most important event this year is the midterm elections. Do not let the President distract you from what’s at stake in this election. With a Democrat-majority House, Congress again will assert its Constitutional responsibility for oversight of the Executive Branch. The current weak Speaker of the House is just an extension of the White House. He is so ingrained in protecting this President and ignoring his Constitutional responsibilities, he may as well be a Cabinet member. So, the goal: - Focus on the midterms and elect a Democratic majority in the House. - Controlling what this president does or says is not in your control. Don’t be distracted by it. What is in your control: Your vote and support for candidates for election. In our almost perfectly gerrymandered age, if you live in a district that is a foregone Democratic win, definitely support the Democratic candidate to be sure he or she wins. AND, send money or support of some kind into a contested district to boost the Democrat’s chances there. The balance of power in the House is just a few votes. It won’t take a tsunami to take control. It will take focus, though. I’m no supporter of the Democratic Party. But I am definitely a political opponent of this President and his unconstitutional ways. Is he the legally elected President? Yes. It wasn’t by a landslide, as he likes to say, but he did win. Just as Joe Biden won in 2020\. I trust our elections. His selfish manner – his *“me, me, me”* approach to the presidency – is the exact opposite of what we want or need in our leader. We want him to be more concerned about us, not whether he wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, do what it takes to win that prize. That’s what we want our presidents to do. Heck, that’s what the world wants the American president to do. But do it because it’s the right thing to do. If the Prize comes along, good on you. (Fact: Only four U.S. presidents have won the Peace Prize, three while in office). Donald Trump is all about Donald Trump. That’s not news. Donald Trump lies. That’s not news. Even in his “pep talk” to his House majority, he told his party to moderate its most closely held stand – abortion – to win the election. You don’t need to be told, but here goes: One of the Republican Party’s longest-held and most sacred official stands is anti-abortion. That’s not just their politics; it literally is religion to many. Some people are pro-choice Republicans, harkening back to the “Big Tent” days of the late former national Chairman Lee Atwater, who saw abortion as a difference-maker in elections. But their party’s president just told a huge part of his base – Christian Republicans (about 75 percent of the GOP base) – to moderate this most closely held belief. [⁴](#4) In another age (actually just a few years ago), that would never have been even a thought on a Republican president’s mind, let alone to speak it out loud. But that’s how important this mid-term is to Donald Trump. It must be equally important to those who oppose Trump’s unconstitutional approach to the presidency. Focus on what you can do something about. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump addresses House Republicans in wide-ranging remarks at Kennedy Center](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-administration-congress-jan-6-conway-defoor-ukraine-live-updates-rcna252198?ref=europeans.today) | NBC NEWS - ###### [Trump to House Republicans: If we don't win midterms, I'll get impeached](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-house-republicans-if-we-dont-win-midterms-i-will-get-impeached-2026-01-06/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [US congressmen ask judge to appoint official to force release of all Epstein files](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/judge-appoint-official-release-epstein-files?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump tells Republicans to be 'flexible' on abortion restrictions to get a health care deal](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-tells-republicans-flexible-abortion-restrictions-health-care-128953982?ref=europeans.today) | ABC NEWS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/as-in-life-focus-political-attention-on-what-you-can-control?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 12 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55037419166/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 12 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/12/todays-papers-12-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:27:28.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123060.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123071.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000123077.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### How can Labour escape the doom loop in 2026? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/10/how-can-labour-escape-the-doom-loop-in-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-10T02:11:40.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 UK Politics remains trapped in a self-reinforcing doom loop beyond leadership speculation. 🔹 Weak growth since 2008 has depressed wages, confidence and fuelled fiscal decline. 🔹 Britain needs a hopeful, inclusive political story grounded in the voters’ lived experience. T he British media’s obsession with [the end](https://observer.co.uk/news/columnists/article/chatter-of-dethroning-the-prime-minister-is-easy-doing-so-is-much-harder?ref=europeans.today) of Keir Starmer’s premiership continues, with New Year’s coverage focusing on whether the prime minister will survive 2026\. Starmer began the year by telling BBC broadcaster [Laura Kuenssberg](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly1lv92xrxo?ref=europeans.today) that he can – and even that he will lead the Labour party into the next general election. But unless the most unradical of politicians does something very radical very quickly, the elections in May 2026 are likely to produce a leadership challenge. However, leadership is not the core problem that the [Labour Party](https://theconversation.com/topics/labour-party-5886?ref=europeans.today) – or indeed, any party – really needs to focus on. The problem is that British politics is trapped in a [“doom loop”](https://www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk/the-uks-fiscal-doom-loop/?ref=europeans.today) that is, to some extent, of its own making. It is lost in a self-reinforcing negative feedback cycle in which an initial problem triggers responses that worsen the original problem, locking the system into a spiral of decline. [Poor economic performance](https://acss.org.uk/how-might-the-uk-escape-its-economic-doom-loop/?ref=europeans.today) since the 2008 global financial crisis and a [marked slowdown in productivity](https://ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/the-state-of-the-uk-economy-2024/?ref=europeans.today) growth has led to poor UK performance in real wage growth and living standards. Low growth, high taxes and rising debt interest leads to declining confidence on the bond markets which leads to higher borrowing costs which, in turn, stifle growth and make deficits harder to tackle. Although Rishi Sunak fought the 2024 election on the basis that it was possible to [“reverse the creeping acceptance of a narrative of decline”](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-making-2023-the-first-year-of-a-new-and-better-future-4-january-2023?ref=europeans.today), the public was not convinced. In opposition, Starmer rejected the need for grand narratives or ideological ties. And he did not “win” the election thanks to a positive vision for Britain, but largely due to the weight of disillusionment with the chaos of successive Conservative governments. If anything, the doom loop has simply continued under Starmer, this time as what would become known as [“miserabilism”](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-09-06/keir-starmer-s-miserabilist-labour-agenda-will-give-tories-an-opening?ref=europeans.today). His governing style has been based around dampening expectations, emphasising national crises and blaming previous governments. A perceived lack of ambition and a style and persona that emphasised grim necessity over hope and belief has exacerbated the problem. The paradox of such a [pessimistic approach](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-923X.12996?ref=europeans.today) is that it has only added to a narrative of “broken Britain” that has increased populist pressures. The problem is not *(just)* Starmer. The deeper problem is that none of the main contenders to replace him seem capable of offering a bold story of renewal and achievement that can stimulate collective confidence and national self-belief. Nor, if we are honest, are the leaders of the main opposition parties. Towards the end of 2025, the doom loop was almost deafening. In October, [BBC Radio 4 asked its listeners](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002ldbh?ref=europeans.today), “What kind of a state are we actually in?” before summarising their responses in the following terms: > “If you pull out the kaleidoscope, there are record delays for court cases, prisoners are being released, doctors are striking, water companies are pumping raw sewage wherever they can (preferably into lakes, rivers and the sea, that’s where they like to put it). We are one of the world’s richest seven economies and yet it does not feel like that by listening to the news … Bins on the streets, rats in the kitchen, gangs running prisons, knifes in the schools, university system broken, asylum system broken, benefits system broken, social housing system broken, politics broken, broken railways, poisoned rivers, failing high streets … you’d head for the hills if they weren’t strewn with rubbish.” An absence of ideas in response to these problems has created the political vacuum that Nigel Farage’s Reform party has exploited with such zeal. For Farage, the story is simple – the UK is stuck in a spiral of decline that can only be broken by a combination of economic nationalism, cultural conservatism and populist politics. Whether you believe in Farage’s diagnosis of the problem or prescriptions for reform, what he offers is a vaunted solution to the doom loop problem that is clear and confident. ### The power of narrative As academics Alex Prior and Clara Eroukhmanoff have argued, political leaders not only need a clear narrative but they also have to be [compelling characters within that narrative](https://theconversation.com/political-leaders-need-a-grand-narrative-rishi-sunaks-is-a-story-of-decline-213940?ref=europeans.today). Margaret Thatcher offered both the narrative and persona. She acknowledged the existence of challenges while telling a story about how she intended to fix them. [Tony Blair](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2011.00471.x?casa%5Ftoken=BTYKW0Bl8lgAAAAA:9ycrkkhEfMncfSdmx%5FGbuXtJJ6X758Mhtlu0BjSp%5FMsRRFfuP1FUZGcylzZLnfUhs7SH72jz3P8E-Q&ref=europeans.today) did the same. Meanwhile, the loss of a Conservative majority in 2017 was attributed to Theresa May [“performing neither the narrative nor the persona”](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1369148120910985?ref=europeans.today). Starmer is not, and never has been, a storyteller. The [limits of his performative competence](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41293-025-00279-4?ref=europeans.today) were demonstrated in his 2026 [New Year “things will get better” message](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZVTdwsLWtA&ref=europeans.today) to the British public. His argument that “decline” really will be “reversed” was unconvincing, his body language and facial expressions betrayed a lack of inner belief and the whole video has a tragi-comic dimension that is difficult to miss. It’s easy to dismiss political storytelling as spin or selective framing – to call it propaganda or a manipulative tool for [circumnavigating rational thought](https://uscpress.com/Human-Communication-as-Narration?ref=europeans.today). But humans are storytelling animals. Understanding and ideas evolve through narratives. Stories are sense-making and sense-giving modes of communication. They frame issues and they have an emotional appeal that resonates with their audiences. The [“story paradox”](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56643990-the-story-paradox?ref=europeans.today) is that they can bind people together and they can tear communities apart. The dominant narrative in British politics is destructive, cynical and polarising. It focuses on failure and perpetuates the doom loop. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000522b.jpg) Stories are sense-making and sense-giving modes of communication. | FLICKR/[NUMBER 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55030585548?ref=europeans.today) The question for 2026 is less about Starmer’s future and more about whether the political class can rebut this dominant and dangerous [narrative of “broken Britain” with a positive and inclusive story](https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/77/4/837/7729221?ref=europeans.today) about nurturing social change, building flourishing communities, generating inclusive growth and playing a role in the emergent world order. But most of all this story must connect with the day-to-day concerns and lived experiences of voters and be able to radically reshape the tone of public debate. Britain urgently needs to tell a different story. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Starmer tells me he'll survive - but can he keep this new year's resolution?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly1lv92xrxo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The state of British policymaking: How can UK government become more effective?](https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/77/4/837/7729221?ref=europeans.today) | PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/how-can-labour-escape-the-doom-loop-in-2026-272758?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 10 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55022945310/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272758/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The iceberg ultimatum: Washington’s hostile bid for Greenland URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/10/the-iceberg-ultimatum-washingtons-hostile-bid-for-greenland/ Last updated: 2026-01-10T01:19:23.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 President Trump threatens to acquire Greenland, abandoning diplomatic norms during industry talks. 🔹 He framed annexation as protecting NATO from Russia and China. 🔹 Greenland’s rare earth resources drive American strategic ambitions. T he veneer of diplomatic decorum finally cracked this afternoon, somewhere between a discussion on [Venezuelan heavy crude](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/09/trump-oil-company-executives-meeting-venezuela?ref=europeans.today) and the hors d’oeuvres. In a room populated by the titans of the American oil and gas industry — ostensibly gathered to discuss energy security in the Southern Hemisphere — President Trump pivoted north, delivering a grim forecast for the Kingdom of Denmark. “We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not,” the President declared, discarding the nuanced ambiguities of statecraft for the blunt trauma of a boardroom takeover. The ultimatum was stark: the acquisition of the world’s largest island would proceed “either the nice way or the more difficult way.” For European observers, the “difficult way” is a phrase that carries a distinct chill, sharper even than the Arctic winds. ### The Landlord of the North The justification offered was classic protectionist theatre. “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will,” the President reasoned, framing the potential annexation as a reluctant burden rather than an imperial grasp. “We’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.” It is a curious logic that claims to “save” NATO — a point Trump reiterated with his characteristic arrogance during the same briefing — by threatening the territorial integrity of a founding member. To ‘save’ the alliance, it seems, one must first cannibalise it. Copenhagen, naturally, is not laughing. The Danish government has long maintained that Greenland is open for business but emphatically not for sale. Yet, the sheer asymmetry of the threat — the world’s military hegemon eyeing the territory of a nation of six million — sends tremors through chanceries from Berlin to Ottawa. ### The Rare Earth Realpolitik Let us not be naïve about the stakes. This is not about ice, nor is it strictly about the proximity of Ivan or the People’s Liberation Army. It is about the periodic table. Greenland sits atop some of the planet’s most significant undeveloped deposits of [rare earth metals](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/17/rare-earths-critical-minerals-explained?ref=europeans.today) — neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. These are the vitamins of modern industry, essential to everything from the F-35s’ guidance systems that patrol the skies to the wind turbines that power the US grid. With the “[Donroe Doctrine](https://www.europeans.today/tag/donroe-doctrine/)” now effectively American policy, Washington is signalling that it will no longer tolerate strategic dependency on supply chains it does not physically control. The juxtaposition of this announcement with a meeting on Venezuelan oil is instructive: the U.S. is swiftly moving to ring-fence the resources of the entire Western Hemisphere, treating the Atlantic Ocean not as a bridge, but as a moat. ### The European Paralysis The silence from Brussels is deafening. The European Union finds itself in a strategic vice. To condemn the U.S. is to risk the economic wrath of a White House that views tariffs as a primary instrument of foreign policy. To stay silent is to tacitly accept that European borders are negotiable if the price — or the threat — is high enough. If the U.S. proceeds with the “difficult way” — be it through aggressive economic coercion of [Nuuk](https://visitgreenland.com/destinations/nuuk/?ref=europeans.today), or the expansion of the [Pituffik Space Base](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pituffik-Space-Base?ref=europeans.today) into a de facto occupation zone — the concept of European sovereignty becomes theoretical. We are witnessing the erosion of the rules-based order, chipped away not by our adversaries in the East, but by our guarantors in the West. As Donald Trump remarked, we wouldn’t have a NATO without him any longer. The bitter irony, which may soon dawn on the ministers scrambling in Whitehall, the Quai d’Orsay and Brussels, is that we might not have much of a Europe left with him either. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump ramps up Greenland threats and says US will intervene ‘whether they like it or not’](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/09/trump-greenland-threats-white-house?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [What are rare earths and critical minerals – explained in 30 seconds](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/17/rare-earths-critical-minerals-explained?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [NUUK](https://visitgreenland.com/destinations/nuuk/?ref=europeans.today) | VISIT GREENLAND - ###### [Pituffik Space Base](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pituffik-Space-Base?ref=europeans.today) | BRITANNICA ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 10 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54963884184?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 10-11 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/10/this-weekends-papers-10-11-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:27:38.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000122210.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000122282.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Trump rejects international law, says US authority is limited only by his own judgement URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/09/trump-rejects-international-law-says-us-authority-is-limited-only-by-his-own-judgement/ Last updated: 2026-01-09T21:03:00.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 In an interview, President Trump openly rejects international law, asserting personal morality as the sole constraint. 🔹 His administration replaces multilateralism with coercion, fear-driven diplomacy and unilateral military power. 🔹 Trump treats sovereignty transactionally, viewing alliances and territories as assets for ownership. 🔹 Domestically and globally, he undermines checks and balances, consolidating expansive executive authority. I t was, perhaps, the inevitable terminus of ‘America First’. Sitting in the Oval Office on Wednesday with *New York Times* (NYT) journalists, President Trump stripped away the remaining veneers of diplomatic protocol to reveal the raw, unadulterated machinery of his second term. His authority, he told the *NYT*, knows no external tether — neither treaty, nor tribunal, nor the cumulative weight of post-war convention. The only constraint on the world’s most potent military arsenal? “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” It is a chilling, if clarifying, admission. Whilst previous administrations have occasionally skirted international law in the shadows, [Donald Trump](https://www.europeans.today/tag/donald-trump/) has dragged this unilateralism into the light, framing it not as a violation, but as a prerogative of American hegemony. ### The Death of Obligation The President’s discourse was a masterclass in the rejection of the rules-based order. When pressed on the limits of his global reach, he was unequivocal: “I don’t need international law.” This is not merely a rhetorical flourish; it is operational doctrine. The President effectively positioned himself as the sole arbiter of when legal frameworks apply to the United States. In this [Hobbesian worldview](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hobbes/Hobbess-system?ref=europeans.today), laws are for the weak; morality — specifically, the mercurial morality of Donald J. Trump — is the luxury of the strong. The implications are immediate and kinetic. Having already extracted the US from a raft of international bodies, and with Secretary of State Marco Rubio enforcing a scorched-earth policy on multilateralism, the administration is pivoting to a strategy of raw coercion. ### Real Estate Geopolitics Nowhere is the conflation of statecraft and property development more acute than in the President’s renewed, and increasingly manic, fixation on [Greenland](https://www.europeans.today/tag/greenland/). Dismissing the utility of the [NATO](https://www.europeans.today/tag/north-atlantic-treaty-organization-nato/) alliance, which currently secures the territory through Denmark, Trump insists on “ownership”. To the President, sovereignty is transactional. A lease, or the strategic access granted by the [1951 treaty](https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20421/volume-421-i-6056-english.pdf?ref=europeans.today), is insufficient for the ‘psychological’ satisfaction of empire. “Ownership is very important,” Trump told the *NYT*. “I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do with, you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.” It is a view that reduces the North Atlantic to a distressed asset awaiting a cash buyer, ignoring the nuanced reality of Danish sovereignty and the strategic anxieties of the [Arctic Council](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10261/?ref=europeans.today) (which brings together the eight states with territory above the Arctic Circle: Russia, United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark – Greenland and the Faroe Islands – and Iceland). Trump views the landmass — three times the size of Texas — through the lens of a developer, not a statesman; possession is the only metric of success. ### Coercive Diplomacy in Action The practical application of this “morality” doctrine was visible in real-time. During the interview, Trump fielded a call from Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The context was stark: the US had just decapitated the Venezuelan government in a lightning strike, and Petro, fearing a similar fate, was purportedly seeking assurances. This is the new diplomatic dialect: *fear*. Donald Trump’s engagement with Latin America has shed any pretence of partnership. By leveraging the unpredictability of his military decisions — symbolised by the B-2 bombers on his desk — he has instituted a system in which silence and compliance are the only currencies accepted in Washington. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000520b.jpg) The new diplomatic dialect: **fear*. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55021277457?ref=europeans.today) ### The Atlantic Rift Across the pond, the President’s view of NATO remains deeply cynical. Though he claims credit for European nations purportedly hitting a 5% GDP defence target — a figure bolstered by creative accounting regarding domestic infrastructure — [his disdain for the alliance](https://www.axios.com/2024/02/12/trump-nato-history?ref=europeans.today) is palpable. He views the transatlantic pact not as a mutual defence treaty, but as a protection racket where the client states must “shape up”. The grim irony, however, is his dismissal of the Russian threat to Europe. In Trump’s calculus, Moscow fears only Washington; the rest of the continent is merely scenery. “I’m the one that got them to spend more on the, you know, more G.D.P. on NATO. But if you look at NATO, Russia I can tell you is not at all concerned with any other country but us.” Trump added: “I’ve been very loyal to Europe. I’ve done a good job. If it weren’t for me, Russia would have all of Ukraine right now.” ### A Singular Exception Perhaps most alarming is the cognitive dissonance regarding interventionism. With the New [START treaty](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/last-russia-us-nuclear-treaty-is-about-expire-what-happens-next-2026-01-08/?ref=europeans.today) weeks from expiration — leaving the US and Russian nuclear arsenals unconstrained for the first time in half a century — Trump remains blasé. “If it expires, it expires,” Trump said. “We’ll just do a better agreement” and “you probably want to get a couple of other players involved also.” Simultaneously, he rejects the notion that his forceful removal of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela sets a precedent for China to move on Taiwan or for Russia to dismember Ukraine further. His logic is circular and rooted in American exceptionalism: US power is righteous because it is *American*; rival power is illegitimate because *it is not American*. He argues that Venezuela was a “real threat” due to migration and narcotics — a justification he denies to Xi Jinping regarding Taiwan. It is a dangerous gamble. By dismantling the legal arguments against annexation and regime change, he may well be handing Beijing and Moscow the very playbook they require to redraw the maps of Asia and Europe. Will Xi’s China move on Taiwan soon? “That’s up to him, what he’s going to be doing. I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t.” And if he does, Trump believes it could only be under another president, not under his *mighty* presidency... obviously. “He may do it after we have a different president, but I don’t think he’s going to do it with me as president.” ### The Domestic Reflection This unbridled ethos turns inward, too. Trump hinted at using the [Insurrection Act](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/insurrection-act-explained?ref=europeans.today) to deploy troops domestically and repackaging struck-down tariffs as “licensing fees” to bypass the Supreme Court. The message is consistent: checks and balances, whether international or domestic, are obstacles to be circumvented. We are witnessing the consolidation of a presidency that views the law not as a foundation, but as friction. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/trump-interview-power-morality.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Thomas Hobbes](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hobbes/Hobbess-system?ref=europeans.today) | BRITANNICA - ###### [Buy Greenland? Take It? Why? An Old Pact Already Gives Trump a Free Hand](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/world/europe/trump-greenland-denmark-us-defense-pact.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [Agreement of 27 April 1951 between the USA and Denmark](https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20421/volume-421-i-6056-english.pdf?ref=europeans.today) \[PDF\] | UNITED NATIONS - ###### [How Trump’s NATO comments escalate his disdain for America’s allies](https://www.axios.com/2024/02/12/trump-nato-history?ref=europeans.today) | AXIOS - ###### [If the only thing stopping him is his own mind, just how far will Donald Trump go?](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-greenland-nato-europe-security-article-5-russia-transatlantic-alliance-b2897083.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Trump Confirms He Threatened to Withdraw from NATO](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/natosource/trump-confirms-he-threatened-to-withdraw-from-nato/?ref=europeans.today) | ATLANTIC COUNCIL - ###### [The last Russia-US nuclear treaty is about to expire. What happens next?](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/last-russia-us-nuclear-treaty-is-about-expire-what-happens-next-2026-01-08/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS - ###### [The Insurrection Act, Explained](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/insurrection-act-explained?ref=europeans.today) | BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE AT NYU LAW ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 9 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55027625436/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### ‘If a rogue America wins’. An updated scenario to the one about Russia? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/09/if-a-rogue-america-wins-an-updated-scenario-to-the-one-about-russia/ Last updated: 2026-01-09T13:52:58.000Z T he book, by German international relations professor Carlo Masala, is titled [*If Russia Wins: A Scenario*](https://amzn.to/3YOWX1H?ref=europeans.today). Set in 2028, it imagines an audacious Russian military operation in Estonia. Now that Donald Trump has reaffirmed his desire to seize [Greenland](https://www.europeans.today/tag/greenland/), within hours of bombarding Venezuela and kidnapping its president, an updated alternative book title could be *If a Rogue America Wins: A Scenario*. It’s entirely plausible because on January 4, President Trump casually suggested the US could unilaterally enter, subvert or territorially seize other countries or parts thereof, after its attack on Venezuela. He threatened Colombia, and its president, Gustavo Petro, said Cuba is “ready to fall” and reasserted his desire to take control of Greenland. So what would anyone do? What *could* anyone do? What would Europe do if the US set out to capture Greenland, possibly by dispatching a couple of thousand extra troops to the existing US Pituffik Space Base on the northwest coast of the Danish autonomous territory? Would the European Union (EU), of which Denmark is a part, respond strongly? Would NATO, of which Denmark is a part, respond? What would the South American region do if the US launched an attack on Colombia or actively worked to disrupt Cuba? Colombia is a member of the Pacific Alliance, a small trade bloc, and also belongs to the Mercosur regional trade bloc, but both can do little more than issue statements of condemnation. Cuba is a founding member of the anti-imperialist ALBA-TCP (*Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America*), a member of the broader CELAC (*Community of Latin American and Caribbean States*) and has been seeking deeper ties with BRICS. None of these could do much about hostile US military and political manoeuvres. So, a rogue America would win. Unless there were a broad and deep attempt to isolate the United States as one would a mad dog. In this context, the scenario Professor Masala set out in his book *If Russia Wins* is worth recalling. He imagines that the Russians capture Narva in Estonia as a way to test NATO’s resolve. They correctly predict that NATO will not have the stomach to launch a counter-attack and defend territory. Estonia is part of NATO, whose core principle since it was founded in 1949 is Article 5 of its treaty. Article 5 requires collective defence. The Russian attack should technically have prompted the NATO military alliance to respond strongly and firmly. But NATO does not offer any pushback because the book’s fictional US president says he’s unwilling “to risk World War III over some small town in Estonia”. If the same sort of thing happened over Greenland, Colombia and Cuba, a rogue America will win… and rule over us all. We have been warned. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [If Russia Wins: A Scenario](https://amzn.to/49KMEle?ref=europeans.today), by Carlo Masara | GROVE PRESS/ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS - ###### [Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/trump-interview-power-morality.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/if-a-rogue-america-wins-an-updated-scenario-to-the-one-about-russia-a46927c41b11?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 9 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 9 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/09/todays-papers-9-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:27:54.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000121474.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000121480.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000121484.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### As the US eyes Greenland, Europe must turn a global problem into an opportunity URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/08/as-the-us-eyes-greenland-europe-must-turn-a-global-problem-into-an-opportunity/ Last updated: 2026-01-08T13:40:11.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The US capture operation in Venezuela exposes the collapse of the world order and law. 🔹 Global silence contrasts with past condemnations, encouraging US power politics and ambition. 🔹 A force-based world risks arms races and nuclear proliferation, threatening destruction. 🔹 Europe must lead cooperative defence and diplomacy to broker a new order. T he so-called world order and the international rule of law are both officially dead in the wake of operation “absolute resolve”, the US infiltration of Venezuela to capture its president Nicolás Maduro. It is true that both have been sick for some time – and [Venezuela](https://theconversation.com/topics/venezuela-2510?ref=europeans.today) is a demonstration of this. Maduro was condemned by foreign leaders for illegally seizing power as long ago as 2013 – years before Donald Trump even became president. No concrete action was ever taken. Operation “absolute resolve”, however, is a red line crossed. Even when the US [invaded Panama](https://theconversation.com/how-us-intervention-in-venezuela-mirrors-its-actions-in-panama-in-1989-272659?ref=europeans.today) in 1989, there was some attempt to preserve a world order that no longer seems to matter. This invasion (more humbly named “just cause”) was anticipated by a declaration of war that came from Panama. The US Congress was, at least, informed, and some countries even tried a mediation. More importantly, the reaction when the US went ahead was much stronger. Even before the capture of Panamanian president Manuel Noriega, the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Organization of the American States (which includes the US) condemned the invasion as illegal. The [European Parliament](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C%5F.1990.038.01.0062.01.ENG&toc=OJ:C:1990:038:TOC&ref=europeans.today) did the same immediately after. In the case of Venezuela, the silence is deafening. And seeing that no one has challenged it, the US government has immediately started talking about taking Greenland, hinting that it wouldn’t even need to use force. The world order is dead because nobody is willing to defend it. However, it is equally evident that the alternative to the defunct world order cannot be no order at all. It’s not feasible that the world should operate according to the law of the jungle. It is too complex and big to be governed by just one empire. This much was acknowledged even in the controversial US security strategy [published at the end of 2025](https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/unpacking-trump-twist-national-security-strategy?ref=europeans.today), which says that US elites “badly miscalculated America’s willingness to shoulder forever global burdens” and that “they overestimated America’s ability to fund … a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex”. “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else,” [Stephen Miller](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/06/politics/trump-greenland-venezuela-colombia-miller-analysis?ref=europeans.today), deputy chief of staff to Donald Trump, now says of the US’s changed vision. “But we live in a world, in the real world…that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.” But a world governed on these terms is obviously a world heading towards mutual destruction. In such a system, all countries would, legitimately, scramble to defend themselves militarily. For those countries not already equipped, the pursuit of nuclear weapons would be the only obvious route to invulnerability. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000518b--1-.jpg) Trump addressing journalists and talking about Greenland on Air Force One. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55025714773/?ref=europeans.today) ### Turning crisis into opportunity So, what should Europe do in the face of this problem? And in the current world order, it’s possible that I do really mean Europe rather than the EU. This situation requires cooperation with the UK, Norway, and probably Canada and Switzerland. If necessary, it may require moving ahead without Hungary or whichever other EU countries are still doubtful about the need for an urgent, defence-based European integration. In theory, a world without a world order is a much greater problem for Europe than for any other economy of the world. According to the [World Bank](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.TRD.GNFS.ZS?ref=europeans.today), trade with other countries represents more than 60% of the five biggest GDPs in Europe but less than 40% of the GDPs of China, the US and Russia. However, Europe is also probably the part of the world that is best equipped to try to be the broker of a new framework. It has fewer enemies than other contenders and more friends (16 of the 20 countries whose passports enable entry to other states without a visa are [European](https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index?ref=europeans.today)). It has the strongest tradition of being a global meeting place (the top five host cities for [international organisations](https://uia.org/publications/meetings-stats?ref=europeans.today) are all in Europe). So yes, Europe can, in theory, transform its biggest problem into its biggest opportunity. Indeed, I would even say that the only way to survive the chaos is by being ambitious. Europe must present itself as the only credible broker of a difficult and yet indispensable new world order. Miller is right that this will take force, strength and power – but it is the force of standing up without double or triple standards over defending those rights that once inspired a “universal declaration” inspired by the United States. It is about having the strength of ideas for drafting new institutions to reinforce those values. But also, it’s about having the power, even one based on military deterrence, to defend freedom if somebody wants to impose a different vision of what civilisations are about. Will Europe find the courage to be strong? It probably needs a trigger to wake up. Greenland could be that trigger. If Europeans don’t manage to negotiate what they’ve mastered so far – another humiliating compromise that would only serve US interests and reinforce Miller’s worldview – then an incident over Greenland may be the end of an alliance that is already increasingly unstable. But it would also be an opportunity to draft a new vision for governing the world. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [National Security Strategy of the United States of America, November 2025](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf?ref=europeans.today) \[PDF\] | THE WHITE HOUSE - ###### [Unpacking a Trump Twist of the National Security Strategy](https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/unpacking-trump-twist-national-security-strategy?ref=europeans.today) | COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS - ###### [Trump’s new US mission statement: Strength, force, power](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/06/politics/trump-greenland-venezuela-colombia-miller-analysis?ref=europeans.today) | CNN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/as-the-us-eyes-greenland-europe-must-turn-a-global-problem-into-an-opportunity-272872?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 8 January 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Unsplash/[Visit Greenland](https://unsplash.com/photos/view-photography-of-assorted-color-houses-near-pond-during-daytime-EM%5FG%5FWFK9z4?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272872/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The Donroe divide: Trump fences the Americas, Putin takes the East URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/08/the-donroe-divide-trump-fences-the-americas-putin-takes-the-east/ Last updated: 2026-01-09T21:03:31.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Donald Trump revives the Monroe Doctrine into the Donroe Doctrine, asserting American hemispheric ownership. 🔹 The Venezuela intervention signals the mercantile seizure of resources enforced by military power. 🔹 The Greenland threat and NATO paralysis expose Europe as vulnerable between Washington and Moscow. 🔹 A new bipolar order trades American isolation for Russian dominance in Eurasia. H istory does not repeat itself, but in the hands of Donald Trump, it certainly plagiarises. The 47th President’s recent seizure of power — and personnel — in Venezuela is not merely a bout of gunboat diplomacy; it is the kinetic unveiling of the *“Donroe Doctrine.”* By bastardising James Monroe’s 1823 [warning against European meddling](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-the-monroe-doctrine-factors-into-the-u-s-arrest-of-venezuelas-maduro?ref=europeans.today) into a 2026 manifesto of hemispheric ownership, Trump has signalled a terrifying geopolitical trade-off. He is fencing off the Americas as a resource-rich fortress, whilst effectively handing the keys of [Eurasia to Vladimir Putin](https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/deconstructing-russias-plans-greater-eurasia-where-theory-meets-supply-chains?ref=europeans.today). ### The Caracas Corollary The sheer audacity of the weekend’s operation in Caracas — a special forces snatch-and-grab of Nicolás Maduro that would make a Tom Clancy editor blush — has left the international legal order in tatters. But to view this merely as “regime change” is to miss the forest for the oil derricks. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio [clarified](https://www.firstpost.com/world/stability-recovery-and-transition-us-lays-out-three-phase-plan-for-venezuela-after-seizure-of-maduro-13966561.html?ref=europeans.today) with chilling technocratic precision, this is about “stabilisation” and “recovery,” euphemisms for the seizure of [50 million barrels of crude](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-venezuela-crisis-trump-oil-greenland-rcna252736?ref=europeans.today). The message from the White House is devoid of the usual democratic window dressing. There is no pretence of nation-building here, only asset-stripping. The “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine creates a closed loop: Venezuela’s oil will be sold, the proceeds held in US-controlled escrow, and the funds released only [to buy American goods](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/trump--venezuela-american-products-oil-deal.html?ref=europeans.today). It is a mercantile closed shop, enforced by the US Navy. The interception of the [Russian-flagged tanker *Marinera*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwynjdqgellt?ref=europeans.today) in the North Atlantic underscores the lethality of this new blockade. By boarding a vessel flying the tricolour of a nuclear superpower, Washington has proven it is willing to risk kinetic engagement to seal the Western Hemisphere. The Kremlin’s response — muted outrage and a demand for the crew’s return — suggests Moscow understands the game better than Brussels does. Putin is losing a pawn in Caracas, but he is eyeing the board. ### The Arctic Ultimatum If Venezuela is the resource hub of the Donroe Doctrine, [Greenland](https://www.europeans.today/tag/greenland/) is its strategic rampart. The notion of the US purchasing the world’s largest island, once dismissed as a Mar-a-Lago fever dream, has hardened into operational policy. With the White House Press Secretary explicitly stating that military options remain “at the Commander-in-Chief’s disposal”, the threat to Danish sovereignty is existential. For Europe, this is the moment the transatlantic spine finally snaps. NATO’s Article 5 is predicated on the assumption that the threat comes from the East. What happens when the danger comes from the West? Danish Prime Minister [Mette Frederiksen](https://www.europeans.today/tag/mette-frederiksen/)’s warning that a move on Greenland would mean “the end of the alliance” is not hyperbole. Trump views the Arctic not as a shared global common, but as a driveway to the American fortress that must be secured against Chinese icebreakers. The silence from Berlin and Paris is deafening. European leaders are paralysed, caught between a Russian hammer and an American anvil. They are terrified that standing up for Nuuk will precipitate the final US withdrawal from NATO, leaving the continent naked before a revanchist Russia. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000517b.jpg) The notion of the US purchasing the world’s largest island has hardened into operational policy. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55027808603?ref=europeans.today) ### The Eurasian Void This brings us to the dark logic of the trade. While Trump builds his fortress in the Americas, he is conducting a fire sale in Europe. His [20-point “peace plan” for Ukraine](https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-and-us-agree-updated-20-point-peace-plan-after-moscow-hit-by-another-deadly-bombing-13487290?ref=europeans.today) — a diluted version of an earlier 28-point surrender — is effectively a recognition of Russian conquest. By freezing the conflict along current lines and denying Kyiv security guarantees, Washington is signalling that its bandwidth for Eurasian security has reached zero. Putin, a veteran of the long game, is delighted. He understands that the Donroe Doctrine is, by definition, isolationist regarding the Old World. Every US Marine deployed to guard an oil terminal in Maracaibo is one less soldier available for the [Suwałki Gap](https://www.politico.eu/article/suwalki-gap-russia-war-nato-lithuania-poland-border/?ref=europeans.today). As the Russian foreign ministry issues pro forma complaints about the *Marinera*, the Kremlin’s strategists are likely toasting the “Wild West” realpolitik. An America obsessed with its own “neighbourhood” is an America that will eventually lose interest in the Donbas. ### The New Bipolarity We are witnessing the liquidation of the post-1945 order. In its place rises a transactionalist nightmare: a bipolar world of raw spheres of influence. Trump secures the resources of the Western Hemisphere — Venezuelan oil, Greenlandic rare earths, Canadian water — to build an autarkic empire impervious to global chaos. In exchange, he allows the wolves to roam free in Eurasia. The “Donroe Doctrine” is not about peace; it is about isolation. It creates a reality where sovereignty is a privilege of the strong, and the “rules-based order” is just a fairytale we used to tell our children. For Ukraine, Taiwan, and perhaps even Denmark, the winter is about to get very cold indeed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How the Monroe Doctrine factors into the U.S. arrest of Venezuela's Maduro](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-the-monroe-doctrine-factors-into-the-u-s-arrest-of-venezuelas-maduro?ref=europeans.today) | PBS - ###### [Deconstructing Russia’s Plans for Greater Eurasia: Where Theory Meets Supply Chains](https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/deconstructing-russias-plans-greater-eurasia-where-theory-meets-supply-chains?ref=europeans.today) | ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENCE AND SECURITY STUDIES - ###### [Stability, recovery and transition: US lays out three-phase plan for Venezuela after seizure of Maduro](https://www.firstpost.com/world/stability-recovery-and-transition-us-lays-out-three-phase-plan-for-venezuela-after-seizure-of-maduro-13966561.html?ref=europeans.today) | FIRSTPOST - ###### [Trump says Venezuela will 'turn over' up to 50 million barrels of oil](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-venezuela-crisis-trump-oil-greenland-rcna252736?ref=europeans.today) | NBC NEWS - ###### [Trump says Venezuela will purchase American products with revenue from oil deal](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/trump--venezuela-american-products-oil-deal.html?ref=europeans.today) | CNBC - ###### [US seizes Russian-flagged tanker in Atlantic as UK confirms it gave support to operation](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwynjdqgellt?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The Most Dangerous Place on Earth](https://www.politico.eu/article/suwalki-gap-russia-war-nato-lithuania-poland-border/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 8 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 8 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/08/todays-papers-8-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:28:09.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000121139.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000121144.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000121187.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Donald Trump’s raid on Venezuela foreshadows a new ‘great power’ carve-up of the world URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/07/donald-trumps-raid-on-venezuela-foreshadows-a-new-great-power-carve-up-of-the-world/ Last updated: 2026-01-07T17:19:09.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Trump praised Maduro’s abduction, signalling illegality and erosion of the international order. 🔹 European leaders responded weakly, prioritising political convenience over defence of international law. 🔹 Russia and China condemned the raid, while exploiting hypocrisy to advance their interests. 🔹 The episode accelerates great power spheres, undermining norms and risking wider conflict. D onald Trump and his senior officials have hailed Operation Absolute Resolve, the raid on Caracas and the capture and abduction of Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, as an outstanding military success. It’s also easy to argue it was a blatant and unashamed [violation of international law](https://theconversation.com/were-the-us-actions-in-venezuela-legal-under-international-law-an-expert-explains-272684?ref=europeans.today). And it signals a further erosion of what is left of the rules-based international order. The temptation for the White House now is to declare victory and quickly move on to other targets while the world is still stunned by the audacity of kidnapping a sitting foreign leader. The people and leaders of [Cuba](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5671259-rubio-warns-cuba-maduro-capture/?ref=europeans.today) (long an obsession for Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio), [Colombia](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78n0jmplmro?ref=europeans.today) (the largest supplier of cocaine to the US) and [Mexico](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg93nn1e6go?ref=europeans.today) (the key route through which fentanyl gets into the US) will be deeply worried about their future prospects in a Trumpian world. As will Greenlanders, particularly in light of Trump’s [comments](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/04/greenland-trump-venezuela/88018306007/?ref=europeans.today) over the weekend that the US “need\[s\] Greenland from the standpoint of national security”. Not to mention the [ominous tweet](https://x.com/katiemiller/status/2007541679293944266?ref=europeans.today) by Maga influencer, Katie Miller – the wife of Trump’s influential deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller – showing a map of Greenland in the colours of the US flag. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/x-00007-1.jpg) X/[KATIE MILLER](https://twitter.com/KatieMiller/status/2007541679293944266?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2007541679293944266%7Ctwgr%5E7891b1e764a9f71f07f8955fee99a12f3e0ca555%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fdonald-trumps-raid-on-venezuela-foreshadows-a-new-great-power-carve-up-of-the-world-272661&ref=europeans.today) The US president certainly won’t be discouraged by the meek response from many European officials. This has been deeply disconcerting, signalling that many of the most ardent defenders of international law appear to have given up pretending it matters any more. The EU’s foreign policy chief, [Kaja Kallas](https://x.com/kajakallas/status/2007405051896123707?ref=europeans.today), was first out of the block, with a post that started by pointing out Maduro’s lack of legitimacy as president and ended with an expression of concern for European citizens in Venezuela. She just about managed to squeeze in that “the principles of international law and the UN charter must be respected”. But this sounded like – and most likely was – an afterthought. A subsequent [joint statement](https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/venezuela-statement-high-representative-aftermath-us-intervention-venezuela%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) by the EU26 (all member states except Hungary) was similarly equivocal and did not explicitly condemn Washington’s breach of international law. The British prime minister, [Keir Starmer](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-statement-on-venezuela-3-january-2026?ref=europeans.today), focused his statement on the fact that “the UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela”, that he “regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president” and would “shed no tears about the end of his regime”. Before closing with his desire for a “safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people”, the former human rights lawyer briefly reiterated his “support for international law”. The German chancellor, [Friedrich Merz](https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktuelles/bundeskanzler-friedrich-merz-erklaert-zur-situation-in-venezuela-2401528?ref=europeans.today), however, wins the prize for prevarication. As well as making almost identical comments about Maduro’s lack of legitimacy and the importance of a transition in Venezuela, he also noted that a legal assessment of the US operation is complicated and that Germany will “take its time” to do so. ### The view from Moscow and Beijing While there was a [mixture](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/condemnation-applause-latin-america-after-us-seizes-venezuelas-maduro-2026-01-03/?ref=europeans.today) of enthusiasm and worry across Latin America, the strongest condemnations came from Moscow and Beijing. The Russian president, [Vladimir Putin](https://apnews.com/article/maduro-russia-putin-trump-tanker-venezuela-786d7fcafb089d7c3ae12c5c6c50a8fe?ref=europeans.today), had signalled his support for Maduro early on in the escalating crisis at the beginning of December. A statement by the [Russian foreign ministry](https://mid.ru/en/foreign%5Fpolicy/news/2070902/?ref=europeans.today) on January 3 initially merely offered support for efforts to resolve the crisis “through dialogue”. In subsequent press releases, Russia has taken a stronger line, [demanding](https://mid.ru/en/foreign%5Fpolicy/news/2070938/?ref=europeans.today) that Washington “release the legitimately elected president of a sovereign country and his spouse”. China similarly [expressed concern](https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/xw/fyrbt/202601/t20260104%5F11797389.html?ref=europeans.today) about the US operation as a “clear violation of international law”. A foreign ministry spokesman urged Washington to “ensure the personal safety of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, release them at once, stop toppling the government of Venezuela, and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation”. Moscow’s position in particular is, of course, deeply ironic. To [condemn the US operation](https://mid.ru/en/foreign%5Fpolicy/news/2070923/?ref=europeans.today) as an “unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of an independent state” may be correct. But it is hardly credible in light of Moscow’s decade-long war against Ukraine that has involved the illegal occupation and annexation of nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory. China, on the other hand, can now have its cake and eat it in Taiwan, which, unlike Venezuela, is not widely recognised as a sovereign and independent state. With regime change back on the international agenda as a seemingly legitimate endeavour, little is left, from Beijing’s point of view, of the case against reunification – if necessary by force. Trump’s actions against Venezuela may not have accelerated Chinese plans for forceful reunification, but they will have done little to deter them. The episode is likely to have emboldened more Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. ### Carving up the world All this points to a [further gradual conversion of American, Chinese and Russian great power interests](https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-trump-is-not-trying-to-appease-putin-he-has-a-vision-of-a-new-us-china-russia-order-249979?ref=europeans.today) – to have their recognised spheres of influence in which they can do as they please. But while [China](https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/politics/Maduro-receives-President-Xi-Jinping%27s-special-envoy-at-Miraflores-Palace/?ref=europeans.today) and [Russia](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/putin-maduro-sign-strategic-partnership-agreement-2025-05-07/?ref=europeans.today) may be unable to do much about their now-deposed ally Maduro, there is no obvious or straightforward way to delineate where one sphere of influence begins and another one ends. The expectation of a carve up of the world between Washington, Moscow and Beijing also explains the lack of European outrage over Trump’s operation against Venezuela. It signals a European realisation that the days of the liberal international order are well and truly over. Europe is unlikely to take a futile stand that would only risk being abandoned by Trump and assigned to Putin’s sphere. On the contrary, European leaders will do their utmost to gloss over differences with the US and try to capitalise on an almost throwaway remark by Trump at the end of his [press conference on Saturday](https://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/president-trump-holds-a-press-conference-jan-3-2026/?ref=europeans.today) that he is “not thrilled” with Putin. What matters for Europe now are no longer the niceties of international norms. It’s now a question of keeping the US and its mercurial president on side in the hope of being able to [defend Ukraine and deter Russia](https://theconversation.com/new-us-national-security-strategy-adds-to-ukraines-woes-and-exacerbates-europes-dilemmas-271556?ref=europeans.today) from further aggression. Such efforts to accommodate the US president are only going to work to some extent. Trump’s decision to restate his ambition to annex Greenland, whose vast critical mineral resources he covets, plays into his vision of absolute dominance in the western hemisphere. This revival of the two century-old Monroe doctrine (recast by Trump at the weekend as the “Donroe doctrine”) was outlined in the [new US national security strategy](https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-national-security-strategy-puts-america-first-and-leaves-its-allies-to-fend-for-themselves-271686?ref=europeans.today) in December. It clearly does not end with regime change in Venezuela. The strategy set out to “reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass” or “mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states”. But further destabilising the transatlantic alliance by threatening the territorial integrity of Denmark over Greenland and possibly abandoning Europe and Ukraine to the Kremlin’s imperial designs are likely to have the opposite effect. Likewise, if the Venezuela incursion further encourages Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea and possibly a move on Taiwan, it will hardly achieve America’s aim, spelled out in the national security strategy, of preventing military confrontation with its most significant geopolitical rival. Like other US regime change efforts since the end of the Cold War, US action in Venezuela is likely a self-isolating and self-defeating move. It signals a return of law of the jungle for which the US, and much of the rest of the world, will ultimately pay a heavy price. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-raid-on-venezuela-foreshadows-a-new-great-power-carve-up-of-the-world-272661?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 7 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55027625471/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272661/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The ‘Donroe doctrine’: Maduro is the guinea pig for Donald Trump’s new world order URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/07/the-donroe-doctrine-maduro-is-the-guinea-pig-for-donald-trumps-new-world-order/ Last updated: 2026-01-07T16:29:41.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 US forces captured Maduro, signalling a more aggressive Trump doctrine. 🔹 Washington prioritises economic interests and resource access over international law norms. 🔹 The Donroe Doctrine revives the Monroe principles to justify hemispheric dominance and intervention. 🔹 Venezuela becomes a testing ground for coercive US power amid global unease. S hortly after US special forces captured and extracted Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, Donald Trump said that the US would now “run” Venezuela. Whatever Washington’s plans for the future of Venezuelan governance, this show of US force in Latin America looks like the first manifestation of a more assertive American foreign policy outlined in the [national security strategy](https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-national-security-strategy-puts-america-first-and-leaves-its-allies-to-fend-for-themselves-271686?ref=europeans.today) published in November 2025\. This plainly asserted the Trump administration’s intention to “reassert and enforce the Monroe doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere”. Rather than force regime change at this point, Trump has indicated that he is willing to work with Maduro’s vice-president, Delcy Rodriguez, who has been sworn in as president. Rodríguez has [adopted a conciliatory tone](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/world/americas/venezuela-acting-president.html?ref=europeans.today), inviting the US government to “work together on a cooperative agenda”. For the US president, “cooperation” will involve giving US oil companies unfettered access to [Venezuela’s oil reserves](https://theconversation.com/topics/us-venezuela-183176?ref=europeans.today), the largest in the world. Announcing the raid at a press conference held hours after American forces snatched Maduro, Trump appeared to [issue threats](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-says-new-military-operation-focused-colombia-sounds-good-him-2026-01-05/?ref=europeans.today) of similar interventions in Colombia, which he said was run by a “sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the US”. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio – the child of Cuban exiles – also hinted at US intentions towards Cuba, saying: “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit.” The US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, was perhaps most revealing of the three, [talking about](https://globalnews.ca/video/11598315/welcome-to-2026-u-s-defence-secretary-hegseth-says-after-strikes-on-venezuela/?ref=europeans.today) the administration’s goal of “reestablishing American deterrence and dominance in the Western Hemisphere”. In a clear warning to US foes, Hegseth said that no other country could have pulled this operation off, adding: “Our adversaries remain on notice. America can project our will anywhere, anytime.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000515c--1-.jpg) The “Donroe doctrine” is a vision of geopolitics which projects US power across the Americas. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55025521451?ref=europeans.today) This is worrying in terms of geopolitics for two reasons. First, the administration has shown a remarkable lack of engagement with international law. It has chosen instead to frame the raid as a police action to apprehend Maduro as a “narco-terrorist” responsible for flooding the US with drugs. This thin veil of legality has proved successful in the past. In 1989, the administration of George H.W. Bush [ordered the invasion of Panama](https://theconversation.com/how-us-intervention-in-venezuela-mirrors-its-actions-in-panama-in-1989-272659?ref=europeans.today) to capture the strongman dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega was tried in Miami and jailed for 20 years on charges of being a sponsor of illicit drug trafficking. Despite the UN passing a resolution condemning the invasion as a “flagrant violation of international law” (vetoed by the US, UK and France), the invasion enabled the US to take control of the canal. It held the canal for a decade before handing over operations to the Panama Canal Authority on December 31 1999. The success of Bush’s invasion could explain why the Trump administration is taking a similar approach with Venezuela. Washington’s official line been to focus on Maduro’s alleged criminality rather than any US ambition to affect regime change in Venezuela. Hegseth also insisted that the raid was about “safety, security, freedom and prosperity for the American people”. This assertion succinctly captures how the parameters of US national security have evolved to be much broader than defence. They now appear effectively inseparable from advancing US economic interests globally. It’s an updated version of the Monroe doctrine, which the national security strategy described as the “Trump corollary”, but which the president himself has referred to as the “Donroe doctrine”. The term, which appears to have been coined by the [New York Post](https://nypost.com/cover/january-8-2025/?ref=europeans.today) (but which Trump nonetheless appears to have taken a liking to – as with most things that bear his name) is a vision of geopolitics which projects US power across the Americas. And it looks set to be used to grab whatever resources the US perceives as beneficial to its interests, from [Greenland’s minerals and strategic position](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74x4m71pmjo?ref=europeans.today) to the Panama Canal and Venezuelan oil. ### A new era of interventionism? Naturally, it is in Latin America where these threats become more palpable. The 1823 [Monroe doctrine](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/monroe-doctrine?ref=europeans.today) – developed under the then-president, James Monroe – designated the western hemisphere as an area of US influence in which the European powers of the time were explicitly warned not to interfere. Seven decades later, the 1904 [“Roosevelt corollary”](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/roosevelt-corollary?ref=europeans.today) added the principle that the US could interfere in any Latin American countries plagued by “wrongdoing or impotence” and “requiring intervention by some civilized nation”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000515b--1-.jpg) The Monroe Doctrine -- Political cartoon about U.S. expansionism in the Pacific. | [WIKIMEDIA/LOUIS DALRYMPLE](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uncle%5FSam%5FStraddles%5Fthe%5FAmericas%5FCartoon.jpg?ref=europeans.today) This principle was invoked to justify the direct occupation of Latin American countries contrary to US interests in the early 20th century. In this century, China’s growing links in Latin America have prompted a resurgence of references to the Monroe doctrine – particularly by Republican Congress members. In 2026, these developments highlight the Trump administration’s willingness to enhance the capabilities of this outlook. It is not clear how the Donroe doctrine differs from its predecessors. But like them, it seems to subordinate international law to national interest. And while it is aimed at a global audience, it also appears to entitle powerful countries with the right of having spheres of influence. Commentators have referred to this as an era of [“rogue superpowers”](https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2026/01/trump-maduro-sphere-of-influence-venezuela?ref=europeans.today) and the [“Putinisation”](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/putin-russia-us-foreign-policy-venezuela?ref=europeans.today) of US foreign policy. The absence of conspicuous military support for Maduro from either Russia or China reinforces those arguments. China reportedly buys [76% of Venezuelan oil](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/22/tanker-seizures-venezuela-oil-china.html?ref=europeans.today), while Moscow has in recent years [had strong military ties](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/13/moscow-risks-losing-a-key-ally-in-latin-america-as-trump-ramps-up-pressure-on-venezuelas-maduro-a91121?ref=europeans.today) with Caracas. The two countries have also cooperated closely to help each other avoid US oil sanctions. The new US foreign policy stance as exemplified by the snatching of Maduro means the world is more dangerous – and Latin America considerably more vulnerable. But for now it’s Venezuela, which appears to be the laboratory where Trump has decided to flex America’s geopolitical muscles. And it looks as if Maduro is the unlucky guinea pig, whose fate is designed to indicate what the world’s most powerful military can and will do to advance its economic and national security interests around the world. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Monroe Doctrine (1823)](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/monroe-doctrine?ref=europeans.today) | NATIONAL ARCHIVES - ###### [Monroe Doctrine](https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine?ref=europeans.today) | BRITANNICA - ###### [Trump’s Monroe Doctrine 2.0 redefines great power competition in the Americas - now it's Beijing's move](https://odi.org/en/insights/trumps-monroe-doctrine-beijings-next-move/?ref=europeans.today) | ODI GLOBAL - ###### [How the Monroe Doctrine factors into US arrest of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro](https://www.france24.com/en/video/20260107-how-the-monroe-doctrine-factors-into-us-arrest-of-venezuela-s-nicol%C3%A1s-maduro?ref=europeans.today) | FRANCE 24 - ###### [Venezuela and the trouble with the Donroe doctrine](https://www.ft.com/content/dcd8aa7d-630b-45b0-889c-07c3e8052804?ref=europeans.today) | FINANCIAL TIMES ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-donroe-doctrine-maduro-is-the-guinea-pig-for-donald-trumps-new-world-order-272687?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 7 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272687/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 7 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/07/todays-papers-7-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:28:22.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000119999.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000120029.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000120027.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Is Keir Starmer’s silence on Venezuela a mistake? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/06/is-keir-starmers-silence-on-venezuela-a-mistake/ Last updated: 2026-01-07T01:37:35.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The British government responded slowly and cautiously to the Venezuelan crisis. 🔹 Historic US dominance in the Americas shapes Britain’s muted diplomatic stance. 🔹 Starmer’s silence reflects strategic dependence on America despite legal and moral tensions. 🔹 The episode risks domestic political fallout while exposing the limits of British influence. I t is unlikely that within the first few days of a great global event – one moreover triggered by its closest ally launching a coup and kidnapping a head of state – a British government has said so little. It took 16 hours for it to say anything at all, and then, not much. And it has said not much thereafter. So little said, at such length: the prime minister, in his Sunday morning BBC TV interview; James Kariuki, chargé d’affaires in the UK Mission to the United Nations at Monday morning’s Security Council emergency session; and Yvette Cooper, foreign secretary, [for over two hours](https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d8cab60f-30bb-4259-b785-9daedb7e3104?in=18:16:08&ref=europeans.today) in the House of Commons on Monday evening. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000511b.jpg) The Foreign Secretary made a lengthy statement to the Commons on Venezuela. | PARLIAMENT TV This is both explicable and arguable. For Britain, [Venezuela](https://www.europeans.today/tag/venezuela/) is not particularly significant. There are trade interests but it is far away, of foreign tongue; absent from domestic political discourse. The last time a British prime minister and a Venezuelan president met – Tony Blair and Hugo Chavez – was in 2001. However, other than in times of actual war (1812) the nadir in US-UK relations concerned Venezuela. A long-forgotten crisis was triggered in 1895 by a [dispute over the border](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/venezuela?ref=europeans.today) between it and British Guiana. The spat elicited the equally forgotten [Olney corollary](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2143553?ref=europeans.today) – a proposition from the US government which nonetheless repays reacquaintance in light of recent developments: “Today the United States is practically sovereign on this continent.” The present crisis similarly concerns hemispheric hegemony. It evokes the better-known 1823 [Monroe Doctrine](https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine?ref=europeans.today), as a warning to the old world to stay out of the new. It adds resource competition (oil: Venezuela has rather a lot, much of it exported to China), while challenging the post-1945 “rules-based order” (reminding us that it was only ever convention-based) and threatening to replace it with one based largely on power. And there’s the upending of the 1648 Westphalian states system, which found fulfilment 300 years later in the creation of the UN. Hence, fears as to what precedent the president has set. Outrage at the Security Council from Russia and China was purely performative, given that Trump could not have done more to legitimise their plans for Ukraine and Taiwan. Moscow was almost wistful, admiring how the Americans had managed with Venezuela, in an hour, what they had failed to do with Ukraine in four years. Channelling James Monroe and Richard Olney, but with Ukrainian ally Volodymyr Zelenskyy in mind much more than either, Keir Starmer would never break publicly with Trump over something in the Americas. Canada is the exception, as was made clear in the pushback against the US when Trump suggested a Commonwealth realm should become America’s “51st state”. ### Silence buys influence? Insofar as the UK government has a distinct response, it’s that there should be a transition to democracy in Venezuela, ideally by including opposition figures. Trump has said he won’t pursue so left-field an option. The lack of contact with the president – Starmer unwisely saying publicly that he was seeking it – is embarrassing, and summoned the inevitable clichés about puppets and poodles. The hope (increasingly more than the expectation) is that silence buys influence. If that was not a green light from the UK, there is one red line. [Greenland](https://www.europeans.today/tag/greenland/). The clarity of the government’s response to Trump’s predations is surprising, if the reason for it is not. Denmark has long been a close UK ally, not least over Ukraine. But siding publicly with Copenhagen over Washington is something else Starmer would not ordinarily have been expecting to have to do. But American-led international crises have upended other Labour premiers. In 1950, Clement Attlee rearmed for the Korean War, with cuts in public spending to pay for it. Labour was out of office the following year. The next decade, Harold Wilson declined to have a public opinion over the Vietnam War, thereby infuriating both the Americans and the young he enfranchised in 1969\. Labour was out of office the following year. The best-known example remains Iraq. On the back of two landslide election triumphs in 2003, Blair split his party and inflamed the public. Labour’s parliamentary majority was slashed two years later. Unquestioning support for an American president became Blair’s nemesis. He was comfortable with that. But Trump has transgressed the only recognisable facet of what political identity Starmer actually has: adherence to the rule of law, and international law at that. Yet he can only be mute. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000511c--1-.jpg) Keir Starmer can only be mute. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) The apparent inconsistencies between Starmer’s past and present can be reconciled by the elemental fact that he’s prime minister. What animated the student, the activist, the lawyer, the MP, cannot in office. But it is that failure – that refusal – to opine that most exasperates MPs. Cooper’s fractious Venezuela statement highlighted fissures within Labour that are evident whenever the US, or Israel, is concerned. Maduro was the kind of leader who gives leftwing governments a bad name, which is why only the hard left – Richard Burgon, John McDonnell – are incensed. The main threats to Starmer’s leadership come from the soft left – Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham – where such affairs have less salience, and the right – Wes Streeting, Al Carns – where they’re merely awkward. For May’s impending local and national elections, the impact may be clearer and graver. The Liberal Democrats, Greens, Your Party, SNP and Plaid Cymru accept gratefully a gift that will go on giving on innumerable doorsteps throughout the spring. The Conservatives happen to agree with the government’s policy, if not necessarily its delivery. Few of their voters will care about recondite international law. Fewer still, Reform UK voters. Almost unheard of, Nigel Farage, too, has been mute. Desperate to engineer a narrative reset in 2026, Starmer, this mildest of prime ministers – politically, temperamentally – now finds himself faced with the so-called Donroe doctrine, Trump’s “update” to the Monroe doctrine. It would be somewhat of an understatement to say that this was not the start to the year for which Starmer was hoping. As we gaze upon the most imperial of presidencies, he can only dream of a similar premiership. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [House of Commons - Yvette Cooper, Statement](https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d8cab60f-30bb-4259-b785-9daedb7e3104?in=18%3A16%3A08&ref=europeans.today) | PARLIAMENT TV - ###### [The Monroe Doctrine](https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine?ref=europeans.today) | BRITANNICA - ###### [Is Starmer’s silence on Venezuela worth it?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/audio/2026/jan/05/keir-starmer-venezuela-nicolas-maduro-podcast?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Keir Starmer under fire for failing to condemn US attack on Venezuela](https://www.thenational.scot/news/25737425.keir-starmer-fire-failing-condemn-us-attack-venezuela/?ref=europeans.today) | THE NATIONAL - ###### [Keir Starmer 'wants to speak to Trump' over Venezuela raid as PM breaks silence](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-wants-speak-trump-36491150?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/is-keir-starmers-silence-on-venezuela-a-mistake-what-history-tells-us-272837?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55022804018/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272837/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Planet Trump URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/06/planet-trump/ Last updated: 2026-01-07T02:30:35.000Z After floating the idea of buying or absorbing Greenland, Donald Trump’s territorial imagination spirals into full-blown imperial fantasy. Surrounded by loyal enablers and billionaire cheerleaders, ambition replaces diplomacy, exposing how ego, power, and tech-bro hubris blur the line between foreign policy and megalomania. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000513--1-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Fact-checking whether US has right to take over Greenland](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly1x12v33jt?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The painful questions for Nato and the EU as Trump threatens Greenland](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwn2wjzwndo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [There's a sense in Greenland that Trump may now take over territory](https://news.sky.com/story/greenlanders-dont-appreciate-trumps-advances-but-there-is-little-here-to-stop-us-troops-13491258?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS ### --- ### **Sources:** ##### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY. --- ### Arctic ambitions: Washington revives talk of acquiring Greenland URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/06/arctic-ambitions-washington-revives-talk-of-acquiring-greenland/ Last updated: 2026-01-06T17:59:38.000Z S [tephen Miller](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/31/stephen-miller-immigration-trump?ref=europeans.today), Donald Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, operating as the White House’s ideological outrider, has once again stoked the administration’s contentious desire to acquire Greenland. Whilst offering no tactical minutiae regarding a military annexation of the European iced land during his exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Miller’s rhetoric remained stark: the purchase is not merely a whim, but a strategic necessity. His rationale, brutally simple, relied on a blunt interpretation of hegemonic entitlement. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000508--1-.jpg) Greenland. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) “The United States is the power of NATO,” Miller asserted, positing that for Washington to secure the Arctic and fortify the alliance’s defence properly, the absorption of the territory is “obviously” required. He added, dismissing the prospect of geopolitical friction with characteristic certainty, that resistance was futile. “Nobody is gonna fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” he claimed. “It doesn’t make any sense.” The diplomatic temperature was lowered further, however, by an intervention from the advisor’s spouse. Katie Miller took to X to disseminate a piece of crude digital cartography: the island draped in the Stars and Stripes, captioned with the single, ominous monosyllable, “SOON”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/x-00007.jpg) X/[@KATIEMILLER](https://x.com/KatieMiller/status/2007541679293944266?ref=europeans.today) Copenhagen’s response was [swift and glacial](https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-maga-post-greenland-donald-trump-us-politics-venezuela/?ref=europeans.today). Both Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Jesper Møller Sørensen, the Danish ambassador to Washington, issued sharp rebukes to what they perceive as American overreach. Frederiksen, foregoing standard diplomatic ambiguity, categorised the overtures as hostile posturing against a sovereign neighbour. “I would therefore strongly urge that the United States stop the threats against a historically close ally,” Frederiksen stated on Sunday, defending a population who have, in her words, “said very clearly that they are not for sale.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [How Stephen Miller is turning the US state department into an ‘anti-immigration machine’](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/31/stephen-miller-immigration-trump?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Trump aide’s wife trolls Denmark with picture of US-flagged Greenland](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/04/denmark-warns-america-after-greenland-claim/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [Greenland slams 'disrespectful' pic posted by Trump aide's wife](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260104-denmark-irritated-by-wife-of-trump-aide-posting-pic-of-us-flagged-greenland?ref=europeans.today) | FRANCE 24 - ###### [Denmark PM bristles at Trump’s ‘need’ for Greenland after US strikes on Venezuela](https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-maga-post-greenland-donald-trump-us-politics-venezuela/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO - ###### [Stephen Miller Cornered on Wife Katie’s Grim Greenland Post](https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-miller-cornered-on-wife-katies-grim-greenland-post/?ref=europeans.today) | THE DAILY BEAST - ###### ['We need Greenland': Trump repeats threat to annex Danish territory](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0zg974v1o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The painful questions for Nato and the EU as Trump threatens Greenland](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwn2wjzwndo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Fact-checking whether US has right to take over Greenland](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly1x12v33jt?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 6 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### The superpower of piracy URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/06/the-superpower-of-piracy/ Last updated: 2026-01-07T02:27:02.000Z T he international rule of law has been on life support for some time. It was battered and bludgeoned by the West’s invasion of Iraq. Israel casually ignored international law as it pursued genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, while the West, most notably the USA and the UK, enabled Netanyahu and protected him. Now, Trump has pulled the plug on what remained of the post-WW2 settlement with his attack on Venezuela on the false pretext that the country was supplying drugs to the USA. The attack comes just a couple of weeks after [Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/ex-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-trump-pardon?ref=europeans.today), the former president of Honduras, who was the key figure in a drug trafficking scheme that flooded America with over 400 tonnes of cocaine. Hernández was extradited to the USA in 2022 after leaving office, and in 2024, was sentenced to 45 years in prison on charges of trafficking drugs and weapons to the USA. The [BBC reports](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qewln7912o?ref=europeans.today) that the controversial lobbyist and long-time Trump advisor, Roger Stone, had told the US president that a pardon for Hernández would energise the right-wing populist National Party ahead of the Honduran election. Drug traffickers are just fine if they are right-wing populist drug traffickers who will do Trump’s bidding. Trump has previously authorised attacks on Venezuelan ships on the pretext that they are carrying drugs. No evidence for this assertion has been presented, but even if they were smuggling drugs, the way to tackle them is to seize them and take the crew into custody, not to blow them up. In one instance, US forces returned [to blow up the survivors](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/us-military-second-strike-caribbean?ref=europeans.today) after their boat had been sunk. These attacks are extrajudicial killings, pure and simple. With January’s attack on Venezuela, which has caused an [unknown number of civilian casualties](https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-show-damage-at-airport-following-us-strikes-2026-1?ref=europeans.today), the position of the US is that it can kidnap the president of a foreign country and try him in a US court for alleged crimes which were not carried out under US jurisdiction, but the US president cannot be tried in a US court for alleged crimes which were carried out under US jurisdiction. Trump has no effective checks on his exercise of power; Congress and the Supreme Court are controlled by his lickspittles. The United States is in the hands of a low-intelligence malignant narcissist who is suffering from dementia, which means his natural impulsivity is unleashed, and the guardrails are off. Despite the claims of the Trump administration, there is no real evidence that the Venezuelan regime is involved in trafficking narcotics to America. Venezuela is not a producer of cocaine and is not a significant transit country in the South American drug trade. Venezuela [does not produce fentanyl](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93n4nx5yqro?ref=europeans.today). What Venezuela does have is the [world’s largest proven oil reserves](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkr4y717k7o?ref=europeans.today). This is what Trump really wants control of; everything else is window dressing, an excuse for Trump’s nakedly colonialist theft. Trump’s colonialist intentions are laid bare by his assertion that the US is “[going to run](https://time.com/7343084/venezuela-trump-run-rubio-maduro-regime-change-oil-military-leader/?ref=europeans.today)” Venezuela until a Trump-friendly regime has been installed there. I’m not going to pretend that the Venezuelan president, [Nicolas Maduro](https://www.europeans.today/tag/nicolas-maduro/), was a paragon of democratic socialism. He was very far from that. Maduro presided over a chaotic, corrupt and authoritarian regime, but that does not justify his kidnapping on trumped-up charges \[pun intended\] by another chaotic and corrupt authoritarian who seeks to despoil and profit from oil resources, which are the rightful property of the people of Venezuela. Over the coming days the right-wing commentariat is going to try to start a debate about whether Maduro was a good guy or not as they attempt to put a veneer of respectability on Trump’s criminality, but the thing is, Maduro’s character or record in office don’t matter for the purposes of discussing whether violent kidnappings and extrajudicial murders by the US government are justified. No, they are not justified. That’s all that needs to be said. Maduro was not “arrested”; he was not “taken into custody”. He and his wife were [kidnapped](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-01-06/venezuela-raid-for-maduro-was-illegal-and-damaging-to-us-status?ref=europeans.today). If Trump can do this to Venezuela, he can do it to any other country on which he has designs, Greenland, Panama, or Canada. No one anywhere is safe. After Maduro’s kidnapping, Trump told the far-right Fox News channel that the USA would be “[very strongly involved](https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260103-world-largest-oil-reserves-failing-infrastructure-inside-venezuela-oil-industry?ref=europeans.today)” in Venezuela’s oil industry. That’s what it was always about all along. Trump is now clearly seen to be the same as Putin, the Russian dictator he so admires. The system of international law, which was put in place following the horrors of WW2, has been utterly destroyed, replaced by *might is right*, the philosophy of fascism. Under Trump, the United States is a rogue state, the superpower of piracy, helping itself to the resources of other nations as it pleases, punishing those countries which refuse to kowtow to Trump’s capricious demands with punitive tariffs and threats. What Trump does abroad, he will soon do domestically. He has already begun to dismantle American democracy, his masked ICE goons grab people from the streets and disappear them into a growing system of prison camps, sending some to death camps abroad without trial or a chance to make their case, often in defiance of court orders. He is attacking the media, encouraging Republicans to gerrymander voting districts to deny Democrats representation. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has notably failed to condemn the American attack on civilian targets in Venezuela and the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, saying he wants to speak to Trump first, as he made his bid for the title of best-behaved lapdog. Starmer’s response illustrates the weakness of post-Brexit Britain, adrift and alone on the international stage, as vulnerable as a Venezuelan tanker in the sights of a US Navy destroyer. Does anyone think that Starmer will resist Trump’s demands? Chlorinated chicken, here we come. The Tories and the ghouls of Reform will seek to copy Trump’s destruction of democratic norms here. Both would cheerfully sell out Scotland’s interests in order to ingratiate themselves with the American autocrat. In this uncertain world, Scotland needs friends and allies it can rely on. That has to mean independence and reintegration with Europe, the only bloc which can compete with the USA in terms of economic and political power. The alternative is to lie prostrate before the superpower of piracy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Ex-Honduran president thanks God – and Trump – for drug-trafficking pardon](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/ex-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-trump-pardon?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [What was Honduras ex-president convicted of and why has Trump pardoned him?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qewln7912o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [US military carried out second strike killing survivors on a suspected drug boat that had already been attacked, sources say](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/us-military-second-strike-caribbean?ref=europeans.today) | CNN - ###### [Satellite image taken after US strikes in Venezuela shows damage beyond a key military base. There are scars at an airport too.](https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-show-damage-at-airport-following-us-strikes-2026-1?ref=europeans.today) | BUSINESS INSIDER - ###### [Snatching Maduro From Venezuela Was Illegal — and Damaging](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-01-06/venezuela-raid-for-maduro-was-illegal-and-damaging-to-us-status?ref=europeans.today) | BLOOMBERG - ###### [Why has Trump attacked Venezuela and taken Maduro?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93n4nx5yqro?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Trump wants Venezuela's oil. Will his plan work?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkr4y717k7o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Rubio Attempts to Clarify Trump Claim That U.S. Will ‘Run’ Venezuela: What to Know](https://time.com/7343084/venezuela-trump-run-rubio-maduro-regime-change-oil-military-leader/?ref=europeans.today) | TIME - ###### [Inside Venezuela’s oil industry: World’s largest oil reserves, failing infrastructure](https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260103-world-largest-oil-reserves-failing-infrastructure-inside-venezuela-oil-industry?ref=europeans.today) | FRANCE 24 ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Wee Ginger Dug](https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/the-superpower-of-piracy/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 January 2026 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55027808468/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 6 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/06/todays-papers-6-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:28:29.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000119401.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000119404.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000119468.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Caracas dispatch: Brits sceptical of US efforts to capture Nicolás Maduro URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/05/caracas-dispatch-brits-sceptical-of-us-efforts-to-capture-nicolas-maduro/ Last updated: 2026-01-06T01:54:41.000Z I f the “Special Relationship” were a marriage, the current mood in Britain suggests the partners are sleeping in separate rooms. Following the United States’ pre-dawn extraction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an operation the White House brands a judicial triumph and critics label a “gangster” abduction, the British public has delivered a resounding verdict: *we are not amused*. A YouGov survey of 4,667 adults, conducted on 5 January 2026, reveals a nation deeply uneasy with the muscular unilateralism radiating from Washington. While Downing Street walks a diplomatic tightrope, muttering about “international law” without raising its voice, the electorate has few such reservations. ### The Verdict: A Sceptical Majority The headline figures are stark. A clear majority of Britons (**51%**) disapprove of the US operation, with a third (**34%**) registering “complete” disapproval. By contrast, support for the action is a minority pursuit, mustering just **21%** approval. Perhaps most telling is the **28%** of the populace who answered “Don’t know.” In an era of hyper-partisan hot takes, nearly three in ten Britons remain baffled by the geopolitics of the Caribbean, or perhaps simply indifferent to another episode of regime change. **Data Insight:** For every Briton who “completely approves” of the capture (**8%**), more than four “completely disapprove” (**34%**). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/survey-result--7-.jpg) [YOUGOV](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2026/01/05/ede5e/1?ref=europeans.today) ### Tribal Warfare: The Partisan Split Beneath the national scepticism lies a fractured political landscape. The survey exposes a chasm between the populist right and the rest of the spectrum, turning foreign policy into yet another front in the culture wars. - **Reform UK** (**49%) – Cheerleaders.** The only group where a plurality backs the US raid, viewing it as decisive action against a socialist pariah. - **Conservatives** (**31%) – Conflicted.** A significant minority backs the US, but nearly half are uncomfortable with the methodology. - **Labour** (**12%) – Hostile.** The government’s base is overwhelmingly opposed, creating a headache for Sir Keir Starmer. - **Liberal Democrats** (**12%)** **–** **Critical.** The most fervently opposed bloc views the extraction as a violation of international norms. **The Reform Anomaly –** Reform UK voters stand alone on this issue. With 26% offering “complete approval” (more than triple the national average), this demographic aligns far closer to the “MAGA” doctrine than to traditional British foreign policy conservatism. For them, the projection of power trumps the niceties of sovereignty. **The Centre-Left Consensus –** For Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the disapproval is not just technical; it is visceral. With 43% of Labour voters and 49% of Lib Dems “completely disapproving,” the base is signalling that they view the US administration not as a global policeman, but as a rogue actor. ### **Starmer’s Silence and the Diplomatic Bind** These numbers present a tactical nightmare for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Elected in 2024 on a platform of stability and “reconnecting” Britain, he now finds himself squeezed between a belligerent US President and a domestic audience that recoils from American interventionism. While **32%** of the public believe the UK government should have explicitly condemned the US action, Starmer has opted for a cautious “neither praise nor condemn” strategy, a stance supported by **34%** of voters. It is a classic hedge: trying to preserve the Atlantic alliance without alienating a European continent that views the raid as a dangerous precedent. However, the silence carries a cost. With child poverty and youth unemployment dominating the domestic agenda, the Labour government can ill afford to look weak on the world stage. The risk is that by saying nothing, Downing Street looks less like a partner and more like a vassal. ### The Bottom Line The Maduro extraction has stripped away the veneer of alignment between the British public and American foreign policy. We are no longer in the era of Blair and Bush, standing shoulder-to-shoulder. In 2026, Britain watches the US not with admiration, but with a mixture of confusion and alarm. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [America kidnapped a president. Keir Starmer said nothing](https://www.newstatesman.com/world/americas/2026/01/america-kidnapped-a-president-keir-starmer-said-nothing?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW STATESMAN - ###### [We just witnessed power kidnapping the law](https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/1/4/we-just-witnessed-power-kidnapping-the-law?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [Delcy Rodriguez sworn in as Venezuela’s president after Maduro abduction](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/5/delcy-rodriguez-sworn-in-as-venezuelas-president-after-maduro-abduction?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [Trump's seizure of Maduro raises thorny legal questions, in US and abroad](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr4krkz7242o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [BBC 'bans' journalists from saying US 'kidnapped' Venezuela's Maduro](https://www.thenational.scot/news/25740929.bbc-bans-journalists-saying-us-kidnapped-venezuelas-maduro/?ref=europeans.today) | THE NATIONAL ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 5 January 2026. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54809560048?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### History of US interventions in Latin America URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/05/history-of-us-interventions-in-latin-america/ Last updated: 2026-01-06T02:56:12.000Z A lot has changed over the past 72 hours. For Venezuelans, the events will have been particularly momentous. In a rapid attack, U.S. special forces entered the compound of now-deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and abducted both him and his wife, before flying them to the United States. The operation was accompanied by U.S. airstrikes targeting multiple sites in the capital of Caracas, with at least 80 people reportedly killed. Maduro is now in New York and facing trial on drug and weapons charges. The capture has prompted a wide range of international reactions, from condemnation in Moscow to support from Argentina, where President Javier Milei is an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. Among Venezuelans, both inside the country and within the diaspora, responses have been mixed, combining relief and celebration at the fall of Maduro with deep uncertainty over what will follow. Although the abduction of Maduro was unexpected, the United States’ intervention in Venezuela is hardly the first in the region’s history. As the following chart illustrates, several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced direct U.S. involvement, though to varying degrees. Among these are **Mexico**, which was invaded in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, following the U.S. annexation of Texas. **Panama** was invaded in 1989, when Washington sought to depose the country's de facto ruler, General Manuel Noriega. **Cuba** was invaded and occupied by U.S. forces in 1898, during the Spanish-American War and later became the site of the failed U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Elsewhere, U.S. involvement took different forms. In **Guatemala**, the CIA orchestrated Operation PBSuccess in 1954, a covert coup that overthrew the democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz. In **Chile**, the United States supported the military coup that deposed President Salvador Allende in 1973. Other countries experienced more indirect forms of involvement. During the 1970s, the U.S. supported Operation Condor, a regional campaign of coordinated political repression carried out across **Argentina**, **Bolivia**, **Chile**, **Paraguay**, and **Uruguay** with **Brazil**, **Peru** and **Ecuador** joining later. Many of the areas shown in blue on this map are not sovereign states, but rather territories and dependencies of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/35630.jpeg) Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that have experienced U.S. involvement. / STATISTA ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump just sent a very dangerous message to Latin America](https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/1/4/trump-just-sent-a-very-dangerous-message-to-latin-america?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA - ###### [‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/04/naked-imperialism-how-trump-intervention-in-venezuela-is-a-return-to-form-for-the-us?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [U.S. capture of Maduro divides Latin America, thrilling Trump's allies and threatening his foes](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/us-capture-of-maduro-divides-latin-america-thrilling-trumps-allies-and-threatening-his-foes?ref=europeans.today) | PBS - ###### [What Latin America Thinks of Trump’s Goal to Dominate It](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/world/americas/trump-latin-america-venezuela.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [U.S. interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean haven't always gone as planned](https://www.npr.org/2026/01/02/nx-s1-5652133/us-venezuela-interventionism-caribbean-latin-america-history-trump?ref=europeans.today) | NPR - ###### [United States Interventions. What For?](https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/united-states-interventions/?ref=europeans.today) | HARVARD UNIVERSITY - ###### [A timeline of CIA operations in Latin America](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/26/a-timeline-of-cia-operations-in-latin-america?ref=europeans.today) | AL JAZEERA ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [STATISTA](https://www.statista.com/chart/35630/countries-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-that-have-experienced-us-involvement/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 5 January 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Were the US actions in Venezuela legal under international law? An expert explains URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/05/were-the-us-actions-in-venezuela-legal-under-international-law-an-expert-explains/ Last updated: 2026-01-05T13:12:27.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The United States seized Venezuela’s president, claiming intervention would install a government. 🔹 International law prohibits force without Security Council approval, self-defence or consent. 🔹 US claims of law enforcement were undermined by scale, targets and context. 🔹 Despite Maduro’s removal, breaches matter, and states must defend the international order. U nited States President Donald Trump has [said](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-04/venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-captured-by-us/106197206?ref=europeans.today) the US will “run” Venezuela until a new government is installed, following the US military intervention in the country’s capital, Caracas. American forces have seized Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and brought the pair to the US to face what Trump has [described](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-04/venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-captured-by-us/106197206?ref=europeans.today) as a “narco-terrorism” trial. This follows months of build-up of US military forces in the region. The Russian Foreign Ministry has [said](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-04/venezuela-trump-says-maduro-on-way-to-new-york/106197080?ref=europeans.today) the US attacks are: “an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This is deeply concerning and condemnable. The pretexts used to justify such actions are unfounded.” So, what does international law say? ### Was this an act of ‘force’ under the UN charter? Article 2(4) of the [United Nations Charter](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text?ref=europeans.today) says: “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” Russia’s framing of the US’ Venezuela intervention as a condemnable “act of armed agression” is at least an affirmation of its own belief in the existence of international law. Similarly, Russia appeals to international law when it claims, spuriously, that its own actions in Ukraine are justified under exceptions to the prohibition on armed aggression – or that they are mere “operations” within its own territory, and so for different legal reasons, lawful under international law. Commentators have been quick to [describe](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-trump-maduro?ref=europeans.today) the US strikes in Venezuela as a breach of *Article 2(4)* of the UN charter. The US’ actions are only lawful if supported by a resolution from the UN Security Council; if the US was acting in self-defence; or – and this is often overlooked – if there was consent by the lawful government of Venezuela to the intervention. There was no UN Security Council authorisation for the US to intervene in Venezuela, nor has the US been the victim of an ongoing or imminent act of aggression by Venezuela. A claim of consent by the lawful Venezuelan government might have more ostensible credit because [evidence suggests](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/06/venezuela-election-maduro-analysis?ref=europeans.today) the 2024 presidential election was stolen from Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González. However, because the identity of the lawful government is contested (some countries have [recognised](https://www.newsweek.com/venezuela-elections-map-shows-countries-that-have-recognized-maduros-win-1931498?ref=europeans.today) Maduro’s win in the 2024 election) and the opposition controls no Venezuelan territory, the US can only intervene on the legal ground of consent with a Security Council resolution. So, if you define the US’ actions in Venezuela as an act of “force” within the meaning of [*Article 2(4)* UN Charter](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text?ref=europeans.today), then yes, the US has engaged in a prohibited act, since none of the justifications apply. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/0000505b-min.jpg) ### What if it was just a ‘law enforcement operation’? For its part, the Trump administration appears to be [arguing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMEm3sIvKl4&ref=europeans.today) the strikes on Venezuela were not a “use of force” in the first place, but rather a law-enforcement operation. In a press conference following the strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio [described](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cKn6yMrhjwY?ref=europeans.today) the Venezuelan president as “a fugitive of American justice”. (Given the US Congress was not notified before the Venezuela strikes, this framing comes across as an attempt to obfuscate the need for Congressional authority to use force under US domestic law). What, then, if the intervention was not a “use of force” as defined by the UN charter, but merely a law enforcement operation? In making this assessment, one has to take into account the operation’s scale, target, location and the broader context. Media reports have described [15,000 US troops](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/us-military-buildup-caribbean-venezuela.html?ref=europeans.today) amassing in the region by December, and the recent deployment of a [US aircraft carrier](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdred61epg4o?ref=europeans.today) near Venezuela. The intervention in Venezuela came from the highest US authority (the president), targeted Venezuela’s acting head of state, and was executed against a background of unfriendly relations between the two states. In this context, it is hard to see how this can be anything other than a “use of force” within the meaning of *Article 2(4)* of the UN Charter. It does not, in my view, constitute a law enforcement operation. ### **International law isn’t dead** Few will mourn the removal of Maduro, widely considered an autocrat. Democracy might even be restored to Venezuela. Nonetheless, the US intervention in Venezuela was as [brazen and unlawful](https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/why-the-us-strikes-on-iran-are-illegal-and-can-set-a-troubling-precedent?ref=europeans.today) as its military strike on Iran in June last year. As such, it challenges international law. But international law is not “dead” just because the most powerful no longer respect it. Breaches of the law are normal in any legal system. Indeed, they are expected or there would not be a need for the rule. International law is created by all states, not just the powerful few. This makes international community reactions to breaches particularly important. So, to preserve the rules-based international order, all states need to call out breaches of the law when they occur, including in the current instance. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Before Nicolás Maduro, There Was Manuel Noriega](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-noriega-panama-venezuela.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES - ###### [European leaders appear torn in face of new world order after Venezuela attack](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/venezuela-european-leaders-divided-and-torn-in-response-to-us-ousting-of-maduro?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [After Venezuela, Trump Offers Hints About What Could Be Next](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/politics/trump-venezuela-monroe-doctrine.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORK TIMES ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/were-the-us-actions-in-venezuela-legal-under-international-law-an-expert-explains-272684?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 5 January 2026\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55021277457/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272684/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 5 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/05/todays-papers-5-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:28:37.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000118351.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000118354.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000118877.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 4 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/04/todays-papers-4-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:28:45.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000117717.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000117707.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000117708.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 3 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/03/todays-papers-3-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:28:53.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000117718.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000117694.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000117703.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 2 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/02/todays-papers-2-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:29:01.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000116255.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000116261.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000116343.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 1 Jan 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2026/01/01/todays-papers-1-jan-2026/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:29:10.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115636.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115643.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 31 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/31/todays-papers-31-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T00:29:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115644.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115276.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115272.jpg) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 30 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/30/todays-papers-30-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2026-01-01T01:29:57.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115080.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2026/01/1000115077.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 📊 Westminster Voting Intention URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/29/westminster-voting-intention-29-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-29T02:53:16.000Z The following chart displays the voting intention percentages for the next general election in the UK (expected to take place in 2029). It is updated regularly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/10/parties-2.png) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0000504.jpg)](https://www.europeans.today/westminster-voting-intention/) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### Today’s Papers 📰 29 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/29/todays-papers-29-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-29T14:33:14.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000114482.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000114490.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000114494.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The hidden carbon cost of reality TV shows like The Traitors URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/28/the-hidden-carbon-cost-of-reality-tv-shows-like-the-traitors/ Last updated: 2025-12-29T01:32:02.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Reality TV creates significant carbon emissions through travel, energy use and materials. 🔹 Industry data shows unscripted television production generated substantial emissions during 2024\. 🔹 High carbon aesthetics normalise consumption, influencing audiences, and increasing environmentally harmful behaviour. 🔹 Low carbon commissioning, local production, and efficient craft can dramatically reduce emissions. M illions of us unwind with reality television. It’s comforting, social, and, when the format is good, brilliantly engineered drama. But there’s an invisible carbon cost to all that escapism. Plenty of attention has been paid to the [carbon footprint](https://theconversation.com/quick-climate-dictionary-what-actually-is-a-carbon-footprint-244948?ref=europeans.today) of big Hollywood productions, but less so to unscripted TV. Yet the key emitters are similar: travel, energy and materials. The British Film Institute’s [Screen New Deal](https://wearealbert.org/2020/07/22/screen-new-deal/?ref=europeans.today), a landmark 2020 report on the environmental impact of UK Film Production, found that an average tent-pole show (a high-budget feature that is expected to be a success) produces around 2,840 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) during production. That’s roughly the annual absorption of more than 3,000 acres of forest, and the equivalent of [11 one-way trips to the Moon](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/sustainability-report-claims-that-carbon-impact-of-average-tentpole-film-equivalent-to-11-trips-to-moon-4053284/?ref=europeans.today). In television, the pattern persists. Bafta’s [latest industry data](https://wearealbert.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ACCELERATE-2025-BAFTA-albert-report.pdf?ref=europeans.today), drawn from thousands of UK and international TV productions, reports about 174,000 tonnes of CO₂e were generated from productions completed in 2024\. Travel and transport made up around 65% of that footprint, and energy a further 21%. These productions burned some 3 million litres of generator fuel last year, while only 2% of recorded car journeys were electric. Flights alone contributed about 30% of total industry emissions in 2024. And these numbers cover only the “making of” column. They don’t include the downstream emissions from distribution data centres and the devices we watch on. Nor do they capture what economists call “induced demand” – when screen stories inspire consumption. ### **The Traitors and the carbon of desire** Take [The Traitors](https://theconversation.com/topics/the-traitors-150905?ref=europeans.today). The BBC show’s core is psychological: people at a table trying to read each other. Yet the look and feel are scaffolded by a language of luxury adventure – convoys of vehicles, helicopter shots and speedboats. When a prestige reality show glamorises high-carbon lifestyles, it doesn’t just burn emissions during production – it normalises this behaviour. [Research on ITV’s dating show Love Island](https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Love-island-effect-kicks-in-again-as-brand-awareness-soars%2C1115678.html?ref=europeans.today) has shown how a programme’s aesthetic and product associations can directly spike audience consumption patterns, from fast fashion to cosmetic procedures. [Bafta’s climate content analysis](https://wearealbert.org/2024/02/04/the-impact-of-climate-content-report/?ref=europeans.today) also highlights how screen narratives can legitimise environmentally harmful choices through repetition and tone. This fits within a [wider media pattern](https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/isir/projects/supporting-professionalisation-of-the-sustainability-department-in-uk-screen-productions.aspx?ref=europeans.today) where screen culture reinforces certain identities, aspirations and ways of living. When the “aspirational” look is carbon-heavy, the influence is felt far beyond the set. In the Traitors, contestants are driven around the Scottish Highlands in vintage Land Rover Defenders, complete with custom number plates. The car-selling website Autotrader saw [90,000 searches](https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/shopping-deals/the-traitors-black-land-rover-31976590?ref=europeans.today) for this model in January 2024 when The Traitors was on air – a spike [seen again in 2025 during Celebrity Traitors](https://plc.autotrader.co.uk/news-views/press-releases/spike-in-interest-of-land-rover-defenders-used-in-bbc-s-hit-show-the-traitors/?ref=europeans.today). Trailer for The Celebrity Traitors. Under Bafta’s sustainability framework, most UK broadcasters now require a carbon action plan before filming begins, and must measure their full carbon impact after completing each show. Compliance is encouraged through certifications and is increasingly written into broadcaster contracts. That’s progress – but the Bafta data shows stubborn problems remain: planes, road fleets, diesel power and material waste. Practical fixes exist – trains instead of short-haul flights, economy class where flying is unavoidable, electric vehicles instead of diesel, plant-forward catering and circular set design. Cutting one in four flights and switching a third of road journeys to electric vehicles would, on Bafta’s modelling, significantly reduce the sector’s footprint. Replacing diesel with hydrotreated vegetable oil and prioritising hybrids could drive further reductions. ### **Changing what ‘exciting’ looks like** The most powerful lever isn’t always new technology, it’s commissioning – choosing formats that don’t need high-carbon logistics to feel exciting. We don’t need to cancel fantasy to cut emissions – we need to change what “exciting” looks like. Three shifts would get us there fast: **1\. Rebalance the grammar of spectacle.** Reality TV doesn’t become dull when you strip out the expensive convoy. The Traitors proves the opposite. The most gripping moments in the show happen around the table, not behind the wheel. Drama doesn’t need horsepower to hold our attention. **2\. Localise by default.** The biggest savings come when productions avoid flights altogether. Productions that hire local crews and cast and choose accessible locations can slash travel emissions while investing in communities. The [BFI Sustainable Screen: Black Samphire](https://wearealbert.org/2024/06/06/bfi-sustainable-screen-black-samphire/?ref=europeans.today) report shows how integrating local action, from beach cleans to a “climate positive clause” in production, can turn community engagement into both a sustainability and legacy strategy. **3\. Design low-energy craft into the look.** Cameras and lighting can now deliver strong results with smaller, fewer fixtures and more reflective control, cutting power and transport without harming picture quality. In [my teaching and research](https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/fej/article/id/3460/?ref=europeans.today), I’ve demonstrated that replacing all the lights and clutter on a film set with a single light source, which is then bounced around the set to create the [illusion of many lights](https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/lighting-for-balance-forging-a-sustainable-cinematography-practice/?ref=europeans.today), can replace multi-head rigs for many scenes, slashing energy use while improving speed and safety. Productions that rely less on diesel and long-haul logistics are cheaper to insure, easier to schedule, quieter on location and more resilient to fuel-price shocks and grid constraints. Audiences aren’t powerless. I love The Traitors – I’ve watched all the UK seasons and some international ones too. It’s a great way to get through the post-Christmas blues. But it’s time we asked broadcasters to publish their carbon action plans in plain English – and for us to celebrate productions that make their low-carbon choices visible through smart logistics and elegant craft. We’ve learned to recognise intimacy coordinators and accessibility credits – sustainability leads should be there too. Reality TV isn’t the villain of the climate story. But it is a powerful amplifier of taste. If commissioners prioritise formats that deliver drama without flights, convoys and diesel, and crews embrace low-energy craft, the sector can cut much of its footprint – while telling even better stories. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [The Traitors](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0db9b2t?ref=europeans.today) | BBC ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-carbon-cost-of-reality-tv-shows-like-the-traitors-269675?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 28 December 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Unsplash. --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269675/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Hope will start to dawn in 2026 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/28/hope-will-start-to-dawn-in-2026/ Last updated: 2025-12-29T02:36:43.000Z M aking predictions in politics is a mug’s game, particularly if those predictions concern a year ahead. It has famously been said that a week is a long time in politics, so a year is the equivalent of a geological aeon. All sorts of unforeseen events could transpire between now and the end of next year. But in the full knowledge that I could easily be proven wrong, which is certainly not the worst thing in the universe, I’m going to stick my neck out and make two predictions about 2026, one of which I am reasonably confident about, the other is really just a gut feeling. So with those caveats in mind, my first prediction is that by this time next year, Keir Starmer will no longer be the Prime Minister and the leader of the Labour Party, and Anas Sarwar will not be the branch manager of the Labour Party in Scotland. It was always evident to any observer of the British political scene that once he became Prime Minister, Keir Starmer would quickly become very unpopular. I said so myself in this column, so I got at least one prediction correct. What was far less obvious was the extent to which Starmer would destroy public support for the Labour Party. Even those of us, like me, who had a low opinion of Starmer to begin with, could not have foreseen just how spectacularly bad he’d be as Prime Minister. It turned out that Starmer is to being Prime Minister as GB News is to balanced and impartial broadcasting. Starmer has presided over a collapse in support for his party, which has not been seen in British politics since the implosion of the Liberal Party in the early decades of the last century. Not so long ago, Labour was confident that Anas Sarwar would become the next First Minister; now opinion polling points to a historic defeat for Labour in May’s Scottish elections, with Labour facing the prospect of falling into third place, a long way behind the SNP, and vying with the opportunistic far-right ghouls of Reform UK for second place. In Wales, which has been a Labour fiefdom for over a hundred years, Labour faces the likelihood of a historic and humiliating rout, losing control of the Senedd to Plaid Cymru and seeing the possibility of Welsh independence move squarely into the centre of Welsh politics, in the same way that independence has been the defining issue in Scottish politics for over a decade and a half. So much for Tony Blair’s recently published vainglorious boast in 2004 that Labour had “lanced the boil of separatism” in Scotland. There is a boil in Scottish politics, and it’s the pus filled exceptionalism of Anglo-British nationalism, a boil which looks set to burst due to the pressure of its own contradictions, not the least of which is its inability to recognise that it is indeed nationalist and separatist, separating the UK from Europe, and indeed from common sense, reality, and basic humanity, while acting as an agent for the interests of the rich and powerful. Anglo-British nationalism cannot solve the problems its far-right proponents claim it’s the answer to, because it is a creature of the same forces which created those problems in the first place. However, it’s well funded by the super-rich in whose interests it operates and enjoys the benefit of an extensive media ecosystem from which left-wing voices are largely excluded. Labour is also facing a series of local elections in England on the same day as the Scottish and Welsh elections. The question is not whether Labour will do badly; the question is just how badly Labour will do. In May next year, Starmer will pay the electoral price for selling out the soul of what was once a left-wing party and surrendering it to the corporate interests which it was originally founded to protect working-class people from. That’s the real betrayal which so-called Blue Labour represents. There is already considerable disquiet on Labour’s back benches with the gross ineptitude of Starmer’s leadership. This ineptitude is not purely presentational, as Starmer’s apologists would like to believe; it shows itself in Starmer’s policy choices. His assault on the disabled is unconscionable from a supposedly Labour government and has predictably failed to placate a right wing whose politics are based on blaming the poor for the sins of the rich. His attacks on immigration have not silenced the far-right they have emboldened and empowered it. His equivocation on closer ties with the EU has only encouraged the right to go even further. We are now facing the hitherto unthinkable prospect that the next British Government will take the UK out of the ECHR, opening the way to a bonfire of civil rights and liberties and the reintroduction of the death penalty. Yet from former human rights lawyer Starmer, there has not been a single word in defence of the ECHR. All the simmering discontent with Starmer within the Labour party will come to a head following May’s elections, when the party is likely to suffer a defeat of such magnitude that there can be no recovery from, and Labour will be staring at the prospect of a historic annihilation at the next Westminster general election. The events of May 2026 will force the self-preservation instincts of Labour b to kick in, and the current simmering of discontent with Starmer and his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney – a man who is nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is – to kick in, and Starmer will be left to deal with open rebellion within the Parliamentary Labour Party. In Scotland the hapless Anas Sarwar will be left to carry the can for Labour’s defeat in Scotland and he’ll be removed in an internal putsch similar to the one which installed him in the first place. Unlike the Tories, Labour lacks a clear mechanism for removing a party leader, so following a summer of rebellions which increase in strength and frequency, Starmer will see that the writing is on the wall and will stand down as party leader by next year’s Labour party conference. If he does not, he’ll preside over a party conference over which he’s clearly lost control. One way or another, I can’t see him surviving until the end of next year. My second prediction concerns across the pond. Opinion polls strongly suggest that US Republicans are facing a political hammering in the midterm elections. Trump is growing increasingly erratic, indeed, deranged, and he won’t accept defeat gracefully, or at all. His mental and physical decline is accelerating, and while I’m less confident in this prediction than I am in predicting Starmer’s defenestration in 2026, I think it’s highly likely that Trump may not make it to the end of 2026. There can be no doubt that Trump is suffering from dementia, on top of his pre-existing idiocy and malignant narcissistic personality disorder. Despite the best efforts of his sycophants to cover up his failing health, the point is rapidly approaching when this will no longer be possible. I’ve been the primary carer for someone with dementia. Doctors don’t give a patient repeated MRI scans and repeated cognitive tests if they suspect a diagnosis of dementia; they do so when dementia has already been diagnosed, and they are tracking its inexorable progress. Trump not only displays many of the symptoms of dementia, confabulation, his peculiar leaning stance, falling asleep in public, nonsensical word salads, disinhibition, and aggression, but he also has a family history of dementia. His father’s dementia is well documented. To be honest, I don’t have an issue with Trump falling asleep in public; the problem is that he wakes back up again. The bruising on Trump’s hands is not due to him shaking hands so often, a nonsensical and intelligence-insulting excuse from a White House that treats the public with contempt. For starters, the bruising is on both hands; no one shakes hands with both hands. As medical excuses go, it’s as plausible as that of the alleged sex pest formerly known as Prince that he is incapable of sweating. The most likely explanation for Trump’s bruising and his regular disappearances from public view is that he’s being treated intravenously with a drug which can slow down the progress of dementia. These drugs, a drug called Lecanemab, are most commonly mentioned in connection with Trump and are given intravenously, which would account for the bruising on his hands and his frequent disappearances. None of these treatments cures dementia; they only slow down its progress moderately. Lecanemab provides, on average, 4 to 6 months of slowing in the rate of progression of dementia, after which it ceases to benefit the patient. Sometime next year, Trump will reach the point at which his dementia is no longer responsive to treatment, after which his decline will accelerate rapidly. There are already signs that point has been reached. He has other health issues, he is overweight, sedentary and has a notoriously poor diet. By this time next year, if not sooner, the White House and the Republican party will no longer be able to cover up his lack of fitness for office. Given the trouncing the Republicans are going to experience in the midterm elections, many of them will see no advantage in continuing to prop Trump up. JD Vance, Trump’s successor, is as vile as his boss, but he has all the charisma of a well shagged sofa and will struggle to maintain the loyalty of the Republicans and the MAGA base in an America which is growing increasingly disenchanted with the craziness of the far-right. By the end of 2026, we could see the back of both Trump and Starmer, a pro-independence majority in Holyrood, a Plaid Cymru-led government in Wales, and a UK whose end is in sight. It’s always darkest before the dawn, but the dawn will start to glimmer in 2026. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Wee Ginger Dug](https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2025/12/27/hope-will-start-to-dawn-in-2026/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 28 December 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. --- ### Trump can’t even jump over his own low bar URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/28/trump-cant-even-jump-over-his-own-low-bar/ Last updated: 2025-12-28T01:52:15.000Z F or nearly 10 years, I’ve written posts about Donald J. Trump. Always, I’ve tried to take the approach of the journalist I once was, the political strategist/spokesman I once was, and the human being I hope I am. I’ve pointed out what I think are his faults, what my non-trained clinician self thinks are his personality flaws, but reported based on what experts say, and my reactions to his behavior, comments and policies. I have tried not to react only instinctively to his many crazy comments because I do think there are personality disorders at play and, now, even distinct signs of an ageing mind losing its battles with reality. Those days are over. It is past time that those closest to Trump spill their guts and tell the citizens of this country – who put their faith, trust and lives in his hands – what the hell is going on with him. The time is well past for being politically loyal, for saying only things that Trump will like, but know you are lying through your teeth. He had an MRI. I’ve had them too, because doctors were trying to diagnose issues I’ve had with TIAs (mini-strokes) and stroke. There was always a diagnostic reason for my many MRIs. And, trust me, unlike Trump’s public claims, I always knew why they were putting me through the MRI machine. That is serious business. That blemish on his hands? What the heck is that about? His people claim it’s from him shaking so many hands. This is a germophobe who has probably shaken fewer hands than any President in history. It could be as simple as psoriasis, eczema, an age spot, or marks made by an infusion port. When you’re the President of the United States and having MRIs or obvious medical issues, the people of the country have the absolute right to know what’s going on. Toss in personality disorders or, more importantly, signs of dementia – the people of this country have a right and a need to know. The President’s Cabinet and the congressional leadership, at minimum, those folks ought to be demanding to know because they have an obligation to know and, if serious, do something about it. Trump blamed the brutal murder of Rob Reiner and his wife on Reiner himself and his Trump-diagnosed “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump’s post struck a new low even for the low bar he set for himself. His post: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0----Truth-Social-0001-2.jpg) Trump’s infamous Truth Social post on December 15\. | TRUTH SOCIAL/[DONALD TRUMP](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115724141568860081?ref=europeans.today) The Reiners’ son was arrested later in connection with the murders – a tragic story. If Trump won’t release honest information on his MRIs and health condition, the Republican leadership should be demanding it. I know, I know, they’re too afraid of a Trump-ordered primary against them to do anything. It’s one thing not to quit a job because you can’t lose the money to support your family, the position many Americans with jobs are in. It’s another thing to be afraid to lose a job simply because you’re afraid to lose that job. How is that a job worth having? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump Mental Decline Is Accelerating: Psychologist](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-mental-decline-is-accelerating-psychologist/?ref=europeans.today) | THE DAILY BEAST - ###### [Expert warns Trump's 'cognitive and physical decline' will be exploited by Putin and Xi](https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/trump-putin-xi-jinping-health-1575006?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIRROR US - ###### [How Trump, 79, Turned Bruises and Cankles Into a Full-On Health Crisis](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-trump-79-turned-bruises-and-cankles-into-full-scale-health-crisis/?ref=europeans.today) | THE DAILY BEAST - ###### [Trump has had 'cognitive deficit' for 'over a year' as doctor raises major health fears](https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2143141/trump-cognitive-deficit-health-fears?ref=europeans.today) | DAILY EXPRESS - ###### [White House Releases More Information on Trump’s MRI Amid Questions Over President’s Health](https://time.com/7337936/trump-mri-results-health-white-house/?ref=europeans.today) | TIME ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/trump-cant-even-jump-over-his-own-low-bar?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 28 December 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/55008479825/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Sunday Papers 📰 28 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/28/sunday-papers-28-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-28T22:24:27.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000114108.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000114153.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000114151.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 27 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/27/todays-papers-27-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-27T12:25:17.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000113393.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000113392.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000113394.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Boxing Day Papers 📰 26 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/26/boxing-day-papers-26-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-26T20:45:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000112903.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000112905.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000112913.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Christmas Papers 📰 24-25 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/24/christmas-papers-24-25-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-24T20:12:31.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110615.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110620.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110625.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Maybe we don’t heal URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/23/maybe-we-dont-heal/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T04:38:33.000Z A n online friend of mine put it best following Trump’s recent *Truth Social* [post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115724141568860081?ref=europeans.today) dancing on the graves of the late Rob Reiner and his wife. In their mind, Trump has become pure cruelty and ego to the point where “he wallows in it... enjoying the freedom he has to be vile, and so he’s decided to be vile all the time, because doing anything good, anything that acknowledges the importance of others or their opinion, is loser stuff to him.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0----Truth-Social-0001-2.jpg) Trump’s infamous Truth Social post on December 15\. | TRUTH SOCIAL/[DONALD TRUMP](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115724141568860081?ref=europeans.today) Compassion – even the illusion of it – is officially out in many circles of American life. Cruelty and vileness are in. Supporters are now on *X*/*Twitter* justifying Trump’s attack. One person sniped how actor and director Ron Howard never said anything about nice Charlie Kirk the way he did about Reiner, his friend and colleague (also, not a racist or a misogynist). Another had this rationalization about Trump’s words: “\[Trump\] was almost murdered... twice. It’s personal.” Obviously a reference to the two people who tried to take Trump’s life in 2024, when Reiner wasn’t even using *X*/*Twitter* anymore. Where Trump’s vileness goes, so go his followers. If this doesn’t include you, this likely includes people you know. Co-workers, neighbors friends, family. So many who have embraced open, unabashed and unashamed cruelty under the protective banner of the most shamelessly cruel world leader of the allegedly free world. These people, out of a fanatical need to feel like they are still at the universe’s center have rebelled against any idea of change or improvement for anyone, leaning on their own life of sometimes exaggerated or half-imagined past challenges to squash any attempts to make newer generations in America slightly more comfortable. Nothing has gotten better in the last decade, let alone the last eleven months. Still, Trump supporters (and future 2028 Trump voters) persist to do victory dances in their bubbles until someone tries to point out that their worldview is conveniently closed off to racism, gynophobia, transphobia, and policies that will hurt certain groups of people physically, mentally and emotionally. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0000500-min.jpg) A bizarre Charlie Kirk tribute on a car close to the hometown where I grew up. | [CHAD PARENTEAU](https://www.europeans.today/404/) I know of people in my circles who mourn Charlie Kirk more than they did for family members who died due to the pandemic or shrugged off the suicides of transgender family members. *They had other problems* is the most often listed excuse for both categories. And yet, when people in support of attacks on “the others” ranging from repression to genocide have bad things happen to them – like losing a New York City mayoral race – the cruel side that’s piling on win after win can’t help but react as if they are ongoing victims of the so-called *Great Replacement* theory. In America, the side that’s winning is often a group of bullies, and they almost always are the group that feels the most oppressed, no matter how much they dominate. Some people are starting to rebel against cruelty for cruelty’s sake after Trump’s most recent stunt, but for the most part, people are going to line up and at least be compliant through silence. Despite all this, the side that’s winning is calling more than ever for healing. That’s bully talk, asking the rest of us to *“Get over it.”* *Get over it*. That’s what bullies say when they don’t want to face the consequences of their actions. When they just want to victims to go home crying and rest up for another throttling. *“Get over it”* is exactly what Trump supporters were saying when he first won in 2016\. Not so much when he lost in 2020, but now? Now, people are being pushed to their absolute limits, even to the point of testing the limits of his supporters. Now, people serving under Trump’s command are starting to suffer under his orders. The scent of comeuppance, however impossible it seems at this point in time, is always in the air for bullies, and it comes up whenever you hear of people rallying whenever a horrible idea is even just called a bad one. Now, there is a call for everyone to heal and accept the fate the winning bullies have imposed on us all through collective compliance, fealty to an egomaniac crying for love he can’t feel from a world he doesn’t care about. To hell with healing. Anyone surviving this era of open cruelty is going to have at least one scar they should not be embarrassed to present. I have been relatively unscathed so far, but I am less than six degrees from people feeling the results of Trump’s policies and the ongoing violence. At the rate things are going, it will only be a matter of time before something out of Trump’s hole hits me and the rest of us in the face. And there will be a number of people I know who will say I deserve whatever happens to me. And if this particular chapter of Trump in the White House ever ends, people stripped of their reality show immunity and left to suffer under the policies they helped to make happen. If any shred of them is still human, or is forced to live in the real world, they might have some shame, maybe some regret. If unrepentant, at the very least, they will be aware that they have the mark of having supported fascism and will not feel as protected or entitled as they were before they had their demented daddy figure hovering over them. We should never stop reminding the world, even our personal worlds, of who stood with fascism and especially those who watched and listened from afar as various communities were *“owned”* with voyeuristic pleasure. The Trump supporters should have their own scars, their own stigmas. The vulnerable young, especially – watching families support a convicted sexual assaulter who has allegedly done far, far worse – should never forget. Entire generations of people will deserve to be soiled with mistrust. There are many people I no longer trust with children, or even knowledge of friends I have who are in danger under this regime, or even my own thoughts. There is much I keep from people every day because I can’t be sure who won’t try to turn me in for even knowing someone in danger, for just existing. It will take these people the rest of their lives to earn back even a fraction of my trust. And so, no. No healing. The shame of these people’s decisions, actions, or just passive support should last as long as the pain they’ve caused, if not longer. I’m old enough to know that pain is an everyday thing, and in some cases a lasting thing, but it can be lived with. That’s what America needs to re-learn again. Not to get over awful truths about themselves and others for the sake of a fake cleansing, but to live with them. It’s one of many things this country will have to re-learn at the end of this seemingly endless road, but it’s a start. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump says Rob Reiner had 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' in post on his death](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/15/nx-s1-5644927/trump-rob-reiner-death-truth-social?ref=europeans.today) | NPR - ###### [Trump's harsh comments on Rob Reiner's murder spark rare Republican pushback](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-harsh-comments-rob-reiners-murder-spark-rare/story?id=128421268&ref=europeans.today) | ABC NEWS - ###### [Trump Blames Rob Reiner for His Own Murder](https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2025/12/trump-derangement-syndrome-rob-reiner-murder/685268/?ref=europeans.today) | THE ATLANTIC - ###### [Most Americans say Trump's post about Rob Reiner is inappropriate](https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/53772-most-americans-say-trumps-post-about-rob-reiner-is-inappropriate?ref=europeans.today) | YOUGOV - ###### [Donald Trump’s Remarks on the Death of Rob Reiner Are Next-Level Degradation](https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/donald-trumps-remarks-on-the-death-of-rob-reiner-are-next-level-degradation?ref=europeans.today) | THE NEW YORKER ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 23 December 2025. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Unsplash/[Darren Halstead](https://unsplash.com/photos/man-wearing-donald-trump-mask-standing-in-front-of-white-house-B%5FvXFdzvw3g?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/23/todays-papers-23-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-24T00:03:31.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110719.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110722.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 22 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/22/todays-papers-22-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-24T00:00:05.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110707.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110712.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### This Weekend’s Papers 📰 20-21 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/20/this-weekends-papers-20-21-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-20T19:18:33.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000109248.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000109257.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000109260.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 19 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/19/todays-papers-19-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T18:46:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110425.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110426.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 18 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/18/todays-papers-18-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T18:30:52.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110397.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110401.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 17 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/17/todays-papers-17-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T18:34:38.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110411.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000110407.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Who owns your chicken? We’ve mapped the corporate power behind the world’s favourite meat URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/16/who-owns-your-chicken-weve-mapped-the-corporate-power-behind-the-worlds-favourite-meat/ Last updated: 2025-12-16T14:12:00.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Industrial chicken farming produces billions of birds annually through corporate driven efficiency. 🔹 A small group of multinational firms and financiers dominate global chicken production. 🔹 Rapid growth breeding causes widespread animal suffering and severe environmental destruction. 🔹 Reducing consumption and challenging corporate control are proposed paths towards sustainable food. W hen you next bite into a chicken sandwich, consider this: 2,400 of these birds are being slaughtered somewhere in the world every second. From street stalls in Mumbai to supermarkets in Beijing, chicken has become the world’s most consumed meat. In 2023 alone, humans slaughtered an astonishing [76 billion chickens](https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production?ref=europeans.today). This didn’t arise naturally. It is the result of a system of industrial efficiency, designed by corporations to maximise profits from the birds. The industry’s complexity often obscures who actually pulls the strings. But our [new research](https://www.issuelab.org/resources/45034/45034.pdf?ref=europeans.today) maps, for the first time, the previously unpublicised architecture of chicken production, revealing an industry dominated by a handful of firms and their financial backers. Feed represents up to [70% of meat production costs](https://ew-nutrition.com/us/rising-feed-costs-focus-on-the-fcr/?ref=europeans.today). That’s why firms have transformed chickens into living machines for converting feed into meat, faster than any other land animal. The average broiler chicken is five times heavier than in the 1950s, while the time it takes to reach slaughter weight has been [slashed by two-thirds](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119385505?ref=europeans.today). These birds grow so fast their skeletons and organs cannot keep pace, leaving them in chronic pain until their [premature death](https://ourworldindata.org/animal-welfare?ref=europeans.today). Industrial chicken farming also devours resources. It consumes 27% of global soybean production and nearly [20% of the world’s corn](https://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/en-gl-agrifood-outlook-report-pdf-2024.pdf?ref=europeans.today) – driving deforestation, pesticide use, and biodiversity loss in some of the planet’s [most fragile ecosystems](https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0000499b-min.jpg) DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Who controls the chicken? Our research found that 376 companies produced 75% of the world’s chicken in [2023](https://www.wattagnet.com/top-poultry-companies?ref=europeans.today). The top ten companies made up 28% of production, dominated by firms from Brazil, China and the US. Our work focused in particular on four emerging countries – Brazil, Mexico, India and China. In Brazil, JBS reigns supreme. As the world’s largest meat producer, it [slaughtered 4.1 billion](https://www.poultryinternational-digital.com/poultryinternational/library/page/october%5Fnovember%5F2024/Cover/?ref=europeans.today) chickens in 2024 – about 9% of global production. Its dominance is underwritten by US asset managers, alongside [pension funds and international investors](https://doi.org/10.15868/socialsector.43427?ref=europeans.today). Its main rival, [BRF](https://ri.brf-global.com/en/corporate-%20governance/shareholder-structure?ref=europeans.today), is also supported by Wall Street players. Mexico tells a similar tale. Industrias Bachoco, still largely family-owned, competes with Pilgrim’s de Mexico, a subsidiary of JBS. In India, production is dominated by private firms such as [Suguna](https://www.poultryinternational-digital.com/poultryinternational/library/page/october%5Fnovember%5F2024/Cover/?ref=europeans.today), which owes much of its growth to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s investment arm. Between 2006 and 2020, the IFC invested US$96 million (£71 million) to help Suguna expand across [South Asia and Africa](https://www.wattagnet.com/broilers-turkeys/article/15530545/suguna-invests-in-poultry-sectors-in-india-bangladesh-kenya-wattagnet?ref=europeans.today). China’s industry is more fragmented. Nineteen companies, many of them publicly traded, [slaughtered 7.2 billion chickens in 2024](https://www.poultryinternational-digital.com/poultryinternational/library/page/october%5Fnovember%5F2024/Cover/?ref=europeans.today). American agribusiness [Cargill](https://www.cargill.com/sustainability/poultry/sustainable-poultry?ref=europeans.today) is a major player in China. *(Cargill is currently* [*fighting a legal action*](https://theconversation.com/industrial-chicken-farms-are-trashing-britains-rivers-and-planning-reforms-could-make-things-worse-253463?ref=europeans.today) *in the UK over claims its chicken farms polluted the River Wye. The company denies the allegations.)* Industrial chicken has [fed millions](https://www.poultryworld.net/the-industrymarkets/market-trends-analysis-the-industrymarkets-2/remarkable-dynamics-of-the-global-poultry-industry-2/?ref=europeans.today) of people globally at “cheap” prices. It has made chicken the most common meat on earth. Yet the system is not controlled by farmers or countries. It is controlled by a small group of corporations, and the financial institutions that bankroll them. This concentration of power tends to undermine [food sovereignty](https://www.etcgroup.org/content/food-barons-2022?ref=europeans.today), leaving countries dependent on foreign corporations for [staple protein](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919225001022?ref=europeans.today). It risks perpetuating animal suffering by prioritising speed and profit over [welfare](https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/new-evidence-reveals-systematic-cruelty-industrial-animal-farming?ref=europeans.today). And it fuels [ecological destruction](https://woods.stanford.edu/news/meats-environmental-impact?ref=europeans.today), as vast amounts of crops, land and water are diverted to meat production. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0000499c-min.jpg) DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Taking back control Industrial chicken production is a clear example of how global finance and corporate power can reshape something as basic as food into a vehicle for profit, despite the cost to animals, people, or the planet. Yet the same concentration that makes the system so destructive also makes it vulnerable. A small number of firms and investors hold the keys. If people want a food system that values justice, sustainability and compassion, they’ll need to wrest control back from the corporations that currently dictate its terms. Pressure can come from [shareholders](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/09/1168446621/businesses-face-more-and-%20more-pressure-from-investors-to-act-on-climate-change?ref=europeans.today) demanding better welfare and environmental standards; from [investigative journalists](https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025-05-30/the-world-sanctioned-xinjiang-cotton.-china-turned-it-into-chicken-feed?ref=europeans.today) and [lawyers](https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/kazi-farms-fined-tk-5-crore-suguna-food-tk-344-crore-3438936?ref=europeans.today) exposing allegations of corporate wrongdoing; from lawmakers better regulating the [food industry](https://www.issuelab.org/resources/40548/40548.pdf?ref=europeans.today); and from [changes in our own consumption](https://betterchickencommitment.com/us/?ref=europeans.today). Ultimately, the best way to end the suffering of broiler chickens is to eliminate [industrial farming altogether](https://sentientmedia.org/if-factory-farming-ended/?ref=europeans.today). This is won’t happen overnight, but – much like the transition from fossil fuels to renewables – can be achieved through a managed, gradual shift that keeps all the moving parts working together. The most realistic path forward would be to reduce both the production and consumption of chicken meat, while accelerating the development of lab-grown alternatives. This transition would be supported by reducing subsidies for the industrial chicken sector while investing in new industries and in retraining farmers and other meat industry workers. This would be good news for chicken, but would mean humans radically confronting our own consumption – and accepting that, ultimately, there will be less chicken available for us to eat. All this is complicated by the fact that chicken on your plate is the endpoint of a global chain of decisions that shows who really holds power in our world. The question is: who do we want making these decisions – big corporations, or all of us? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Remarkable dynamics of the global poultry industry](https://www.poultryworld.net/the-industrymarkets/market-trends-analysis-the-industrymarkets-2/remarkable-dynamics-of-the-global-poultry-industry-2/?ref=europeans.today) | POULTRY WORLD ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/who-owns-your-chicken-weve-mapped-the-corporate-power-behind-the-worlds-favourite-meat-267486?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 December 2025\. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/267486/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 16 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/16/todays-papers-16-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T23:25:03.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000107467.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000107470.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000107488.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 15 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/15/todays-papers-15-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-16T04:22:38.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000107483.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000107479.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000107486-1.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### This Weekend's Papers 📰 13-14 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/13/this-weekends-papers-13-14-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-14T02:06:37.000Z --- # **This weekend in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000099898.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000099896.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 12 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/12/todays-papers-12-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-12T12:25:10.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000098092.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000098084.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000098520.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 11 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/11/todays-papers-11-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-11T14:15:07.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000097170.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000097176.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000097173.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 10 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/10/todays-papers-10-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-11T00:01:26.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000096884.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000096896.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000096893.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 9 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/09/todays-papers-9-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-09T16:05:38.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095526.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095528.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000096154.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Nigel Farage accused of breaking election spending laws – the situation explained URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/08/nigel-farage-accused-of-breaking-election-spending-laws-the-situation-explained/ Last updated: 2025-12-08T19:06:38.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Nigel Farage faces allegations of exceeding strict constituency election spending limits. 🔹 However, UK election finance rules differentiate candidate and national spending with complicated boundaries. 🔹 Legal consequences seem unlikely given time limits, proof requirements, and enforcement reluctance. 🔹 Politically, Farage may exploit grievances against electoral law while investigators quietly proceed. N igel Farage has found himself in hot water over accusations that he failed to report that his 2024 election campaign in Clacton went over the spending limit of £20,660.72\. Richard Everett, a former Reform councillor (who has since left the party – or been expelled, depending what you read), has submitted documents to the police. Election spending in the UK is beyond complex. It is so hard to understand that it has been [compared to](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/were-there-any-links-between-cambridge-analytica-russia-and-brexit-/?ref=europeans.today) a “Jane Austen-style intricate dance … all sorts of daring and dicey moves are permissible, provided you know precisely where to step and when, and how not to upset the crowds”. Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to spending limits. There are, in fact, [two spending limits for general elections](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/candidate-spending-in-the-2024-general-election/?ref=europeans.today) (well, there’s actually more than two but let’s not go there). Each party has a certain amount to spend at the national level and each candidate has a spending limit for their constituency campaign. Candidate spending is money spent to promote their individual candidacy (or criticise a local opponent), party spending is more general material that promotes a party. This is largely thanks to a historical quirk. Candidate spending has been limited since the Corrupt and Illegal Practices (Prevention) Act of 1883\. And because national campaigning didn’t really exist back then, that was largely that. Things changed in 2000 when – [alongside other reforms](https://consoc.org.uk/ppera/?ref=europeans.today) – limits were placed on national-level party spending, which by then was, by then, very much a thing. Both spending limits vary, but the 20k limit for Clacton is a reasonable rule of thumb to extrapolate across other constituencies. Party spending limits, again as a rule of thumb, are £34.1 million (if a party stands across England, Scotland and Wales). So, quite a difference. As you’d imagine, parties make all kinds of daring moves to get what looks an awful lot like candidate spending into their much larger national budgets. You might, for example, target national messages (so party spending) at target constituencies – and, as long as you don’t mention the candidate, that’s party spend. You can still end up in hot water, though. Just ask the 30 or so Conservative MPs (and their staff) who were embroiled in an election expenses episode [following the 2015 general election](https://theconversation.com/the-conservative-election-expenses-saga-explained-59484?ref=europeans.today). In this instance, the Tories drove a battle bus packed with activists, drove around 33 target constituencies and reported most of their spending as party, rather than constituency, spending. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0000496--min.jpg) Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### How bad is this for Farage? With the [police looking into the claim](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4xrn0z0r0o?ref=europeans.today), there’s only so much one can say, but there are several reasons to think the Clacton spend is not going to be too much of a problem for team Farage. Firstly, there’s a very basic matter of the [statute of limitations](https://www.ft.com/content/d7e46dba-429d-4ff4-a346-de921ffe6c59?ref=europeans.today) on cases of this kind. You only have a year to report suspected offences and we’re already more than a year out from the election. While prosecutors can have that limit waived in certain circumstances, a further complication of electoral law is that candidate offences (for now) are managed by the police and party offences by the Electoral Commission. The police are very reluctant to get involved in party politics, so it would be surprising if they actively pursued the case against Farage. We also don’t know how much more than his £20k limit Farage is accused of spending. If it’s a small amount, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may not feel it in the public interest to pursue a case. The burden of proof is also incredibly high. I suspect that the offence the CPS will be investigating is the same as the Tory battle bus affair, so 82(6) of the [Representation of the People Act 1983](https://theconversation.com/no-charges-in-conservative-party-election-spending-affair-heres-why-77522?ref=europeans.today). This states that “if a candidate or election agent knowingly makes the declaration required by this section falsely, he shall be guilty of a corrupt practice”. So, the CPS does not just have to show the overspend, it has to show that the candidate knew they were overspending. There’s also the complicating factor that this is Farage’s constituency, and he effectively is the Reform Party. Given that he is the face of all Reform campaigning, we have to wonder, truly, in this instance, where candidate spending begins, and party spending ends. Or, put differently, considering how easy it would be in theory to disguise candidate spending at party spending in these particular (and peculiar) circumstances you’d. Election law is a complicated dance after all, but this is little more than a two-step. These headlines come at a tricky moment for Farage as he has faced over a week of allegations that he made racist comments during his school days. That said, I doubt there’ll be any great panic in Reform HQ. For one, [even Everett has suggested that Farage was “blissfully unaware”](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/nigel-farage-referred-to-police-over-clacton-campaign-expenses-jvm7nn8rj?ref=europeans.today) of the omissions. If charges are brought, it will likely not be against him and therefore easily blamed on his local agent or other administrators. Also, as I suggested way back in 2016, [accounting just isn’t very sexy](https://theconversation.com/the-conservative-election-expenses-saga-explained-59484?ref=europeans.today). Again, the battle bus saga is instructive here as it was genuinely big news at the time. Some even [thought it had the potential to become the new expenses scandal](https://x.com/stephenkb/status/732174738601193478?ref=europeans.today). But it didn’t. One person was convicted, while everyone else was acquitted and moved on. Attacking electoral law is also fertile ground for Farage. He has already [turned a defence over racism allegations into an attack](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/05/nigel-farage-response-to-racism-claims-trump-populist-playbook?ref=europeans.today) on his opponents, there’s very little to suggest he won’t do the same here. He and his supporters generally relish the prospect of a skirmish with the establishment. This would be, put lightly, a shame. Election law is hard to understand and mistakes happen, but that doesn’t mean those enforcing it are pen pushers looking for wrongdoing to punish. We may well live in the age of the politics of grievance and hot air, but just this once it would be nice to let the process play out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Police look into claims Reform UK broke electoral law in Farage campaign](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/08/nigel-farage-reform-uk-election-spending-clacton-expenses?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Police assess claims Reform overspent on Farage election campaign](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4xrn0z0r0o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/nigel-farage-accused-of-breaking-election-spending-laws-the-situation-explained-271546?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 8 December 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/271546/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 8 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/08/todays-papers-8-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-08T01:39:07.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095361.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095352.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 7 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/07/todays-papers-7-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-08T01:02:24.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095329.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095331.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000095322.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 6 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/06/todays-papers-6-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-07T01:37:55.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094658.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094667.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094675.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 5 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/05/todays-papers-5-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-05T19:39:44.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094315.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094311.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 4 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/04/todays-papers-4-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-05T01:33:35.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094061.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094065.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000094158.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 📊 Westminster Voting Intention URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/02/westminster-voting-intention-2-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-02T01:11:25.000Z The following chart displays the voting intention percentages for the next general election in the UK (expected to take place in 2029). It is updated regularly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/10/parties-2.png) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/0000496.jpg)](https://www.europeans.today/westminster-voting-intention/) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### Today’s Papers 📰 1 Dec 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/12/01/todays-papers-1-dec-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-01T10:36:03.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000092645.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000092635.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000092653.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 30 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/30/todays-papers-30-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-12-01T02:18:20.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000092494.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/12/1000092496.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 29 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/29/todays-papers-29-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-30T00:09:25.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000092112.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000092118.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000092117.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Who is Shabana Mahmood? The home secretary is the face of Labour’s most hardline immigration policies to date URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/28/who-is-shabana-mahmood-the-home-secretary-is-the-face-of-labours-most-hardline-immigration-policies-to-date/ Last updated: 2025-11-28T18:12:03.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The government unveiled major asylum reforms aimed at deterring illegal immigration and reassuring voters. 🔹 The new home secretary’s political journey shapes her tougher stance as her constituency support declines. 🔹 Shabana Mahmood’s technocratic style strengthens Labour’s harder line while raising questions about symbolic roles. 🔹 Mahmood frames reforms as rebuilding public trust rather than courting right wing voters. J ust 74 days into her new role as home secretary, Shabana Mahmood has unveiled what she calls “the most substantial reform to the UK’s asylum system in a generation”. [Immigration](https://theconversation.com/topics/immigration-411?ref=europeans.today) is currently viewed as the most important issue facing the [country](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/immigration-remains-biggest-issue-facing-britain-0?ref=europeans.today), followed by the economy. While many, especially within the Labour party, have long found border control an awkward terrain, Mahmood’s [stance is unambiguous](https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/05/shabana-mahmood-theres-still-a-moment-of-reckoning-to-come-on-grooming-gangs/?ref=europeans.today): “I just don’t know why we’ve got ourselves in a tangle talking about migration controls on the left of politics … it’s really pretty fundamental to the way a lot of our voters think.” Her proposals are, broadly, intended to deter illegal immigration by making the UK a less attractive destination for asylum seekers. Mahmood has proposed, among other things: making refugee status more temporary, reforming human rights legislation to make it harder for illegal migrants to remain in the UK and suspending UK visas for countries that refuse to accept returned migrants. Some on the left of Labour have already [condemned the proposals](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/17/starmer-facing-fresh-challenge-as-labour-mps-condemn-asylum-plans?ref=europeans.today). But figures on the political right have [applauded](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/shabana-mahmood-asylum-plan-reform-danny-kruger-b2867033.html?ref=europeans.today) Mahmood’s assertion that uncontrolled asylum and immigration are contributing to social division. Beyond the policy substance, Mahmood’s Commons delivery attracted [praise](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/shabana-mahmood-speaks-like-a-leader/?ref=europeans.today) from the right: confident, assured and like a future leader. Former Conservative minister Michael Gove has called Mahmood the [“standout figure”](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/16/shabana-mahmood-justice-secretary-and-rising-star-of-the-labour-party?ref=europeans.today) of the current government, describing her as having “a totally coherent worldview”. How did Mahmood, who once stated that she personally supported a [general amnesty](https://www.facebook.com/reel/1383099123201426) for all undocumented workers, become the face of a hardline Labour migration policy, lauded by the political right? ### Journey of a politician Born in Birmingham to Kashmiri Pakistani Muslim parents, Mahmood spent part of her early childhood in Saudi Arabia, where her father worked as a civil engineer, before returning to Birmingham. Her family life was steeped in politics. Her father chaired the Birmingham Labour Party and was known locally as an honest broker who mediated neighbourhood disputes. Her mother ran the family’s corner shop – giving Mahmood a “shopkeeper’s daughter” background reminiscent of another formidable woman in British politics. She cites [Margaret Thatcher](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/15/shabana-mahmood-labour-thatcher-political-heroine-gove/?ref=europeans.today) as one of her heroes, alongside Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s first female prime minister. Her political consciousness sharpened after 9/11\. She found herself being held “accountable” by strangers for events thousands of miles away. She had experienced racism before; her first encounter was at age [eight](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w6ms?ref=europeans.today). But the post-9/11 shift was of a different magnitude, which she described as a [“shock to the system”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w6ms?ref=europeans.today). Elected in 2010 as one of the first female Muslim MPs, she quickly entered the shadow cabinet. She avoided frontbench roles under Jeremy Corbyn, citing incompatible [economic views](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/ladywood-mp-shabana-mahmood-resigns-10046551?ref=europeans.today). Under Keir Starmer, she served as national campaign coordinator and worked closely with strategist Morgan McSweeney. She is also seen as having played a significant role in the crucial 2021 Batley and Spen by-election. Mahmood speaks openly about her British Muslim identity and the sense of responsibility that comes with public visibility. “You have to accept the broader role that you have to play,” she has said, noting that many British Muslims instinctively look to her as a representative figure. And yet, Mahmood’s own electoral base has shifted dramatically. Her majority in Birmingham Ladywood fell from nearly 30,000 in 2019 – one of the largest in the country – to just 3,400 in 2024, after a strong challenge from an independent pro-Gaza candidate. She has also faced strong criticism for her abstention from a November 2023 vote on an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for an immediate ceasefire in [Gaza](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2023/nov/16/how-did-your-mp-vote-on-the-gaza-ceasefire-motion??ref=europeans.today). Mahmood has in recent years assumed a markedly tougher line on immigration. This shift is reflected as much in her language and style, as in the policies she is advocating. Her presentation leans heavily into a no-nonsense, get-the-job-done approach. She has stressed that she is [“the child of immigrants”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf%5F0L99%5FvwY&ref=europeans.today) whose parents “came here legally” and played by the rules. She establishes a firm boundary between lawful migration and the illegal immigration she argues now defines the broken asylum system. ### Reputational shield? Before becoming home secretary, she had already earned admiration for her handling of what was arguably the most daunting early assignment of the 2024 Labour government. As justice secretary, she faced a prison system running at 99% capacity. She introduced an early release programme that risked perceptions of being “soft on crime,” yet navigated the controversy with minimal turbulence. A trained barrister who once dreamed of becoming [“Kavanagh QC”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w6ms?ref=europeans.today), Mahmood brings legal expertise and a rule-of-law approach to immigration debates. Themes of “fairness” and “public consent” appear throughout her asylum [policy proposals](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-and-returns-policy-statement/restoring-order-and-control-a-statement-on-the-governments-asylum-and-returns-policy?ref=europeans.today). Her style is precise, technocratic and intellectually disciplined. These are qualities which help Labour toughen its immigration platform without appearing purely performative. But Mahmood also plays a symbolic role. When political parties move rightwards on immigration, they often place minority politicians in prominent roles to provide a [“reputational shield”](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/ethnic-minority-mps-as-reputational-shields-how-western-european-political-parties-respond-to-public-opinion-shifts-on-immigration-policy/1776BF1E85205FD7577E59E7F5D027F3?ref=europeans.today). This allows them to advance stricter policies while deflecting accusations of intolerance. Conservative governments spent more than a decade deploying this strategy in the Home Office. Sajid Javid, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman all [embodied the dynamic](https://theconversation.com/minority-ethnic-politicians-are-pushing-harsh-immigration-policies-why-representation-doesnt-always-mean-racial-justice-206885?ref=europeans.today). Labour, historically, has placed far fewer minorities in top portfolios, which makes Mahmood’s appointment all the more notable. In some respects, Labour now appears to be adopting an approach previously associated with its opponents. Despite her experience in electoral strategy, Mahmood insists the asylum reforms are not an attempt to win back Reform UK voters or to position Labour tactically. Instead, she frames them as a response to “the genuine concerns of the British people” and an effort to rebuild trust in a system that has lost public confidence. It is a gamble that places the weight of Labour’s promise of competence squarely on the Home Office, and on Mahmood’s ability to deliver it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/who-is-shabana-mahmood-the-home-secretary-is-the-face-of-labours-most-hardline-immigration-policies-to-date-269977?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 28 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269977/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 28 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/28/todays-papers-28-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-28T09:54:08.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000091303.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000091306.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000091236.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 27 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/27/todays-papers-27-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-28T09:24:31.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000091199.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000091212.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000091080.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 26 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/26/todays-papers-26-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-26T11:32:02.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090019.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090023.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090028.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 25 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/25/todays-papers-25-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-26T11:05:23.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090035.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090037.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090042.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 24 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/24/todays-papers-24-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-26T11:10:19.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090047.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090051.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000090054.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 23 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/23/todays-papers-23-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-23T23:50:18.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000089420.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000089417.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000089416.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 22 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/22/todays-papers-22-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-22T04:31:22.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000088739.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000088748.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### COVID Inquiry says Boris Johnson and Tories oversaw late and chaotic COVID response with leadership failures and toxic culture URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/21/covid-inquiry-says-boris-johnson-and-tories-oversaw-late-and-chaotic-covid-response-with-leadership-failures-and-toxic-culture/ Last updated: 2026-01-10T02:29:38.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The UK COVID-19 Inquiry finds delayed decisions and weak leadership significantly worsened the UK’s pandemic outcomes. 🔹 The report shows toxic governance and confused messaging repeatedly obstructed timely national action. 🔹 The findings reveal that structural inequalities and fragmented institutions increased harm for vulnerable groups. 🔹 The conclusions urge urgent reforms so future crises receive faster, clearer responses. T he second report from the UK’s public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic opens without ceremony yet lands with considerable force. It is a dossier shaped by two years of hearings, tens of thousands of documents and emotional testimony from officials and families who lived through the crisis. Across more than 700 pages, the inquiry concludes that the UK’s response to the pandemic suffered from repeated delays, institutional drift, and a corrosive working culture at the heart of government. Its central message is stark. Decisions that were taken late contributed to the high death toll, which now stands at roughly 240,000 people. The authors argue that more rapid action, particularly in March 2020, could have saved approximately 23,000 lives in England alone. The report’s [central finding](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/modules-2-2a-2b-2c-core-decision-making-and-political-governance-volume-i/?ref=europeans.today) is expressed with clarity: “The response of the four governments repeatedly amounted to a case of too little, too late.” The inquiry’s chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, [writes](https://www.thenational.scot/news/national/25638173.government-chaos-failure-tackle-covid-cost-23-000-lives-inquiry-finds/?ref=europeans.today) that the UK’s leadership underestimated the threat, failed to prepare for the virus’s arrival and was slow to alter course even as evidence of its spread became unambiguous. Her conclusion is rooted in the simple progression of dates. While cases mounted in China and Italy, February 2020 passed in the UK with few senior-level discussions and almost no escalation of emergency measures. This lack of urgency, described by the inquiry as “a lost month”, shaped everything that followed. From the outset, the inquiry proceeds through the five essential questions: what happened, where it unfolded, when crucial decisions were taken, who shaped the response and why those choices produced such significant consequences. It also asks how institutions functioned under pressure and why patterns of delay repeated through successive waves. The Hallett team stresses that the pandemic arrived at extraordinary speed and placed every government in a difficult position. Yet the evidence collected suggests that the UK’s response was hindered by structural weaknesses that were already visible before the virus took hold. ### The political centre faltered The inquiry’s most critical passages focus on Downing Street. It portrays a government struggling to find clarity, order and cohesion. Boris Johnson’s approach to the emerging crisis is described as inconsistent, reactive and heavily influenced by a chaotic workplace culture. The authors repeatedly note his failure to attend Cobra meetings [in February 2020](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-boris-johnson-cobra-meetings-uk-response-a9472631.html?ref=europeans.today). They [write](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/20/too-little-too-late-damning-report-condemns-uk-covid-response?ref=europeans.today) that “Mr Johnson should have appreciated sooner that this was an emergency that required prime ministerial leadership to inject urgency into the response.” Instead, the prime minister spent the school half-term week at [Chevening](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/28/boris-johnson-not-to-hold-coronavirus-crisis-meeting-cobra-until-monday?ref=europeans.today), receiving no regular updates on the virus’s spread. Former officials provided deeply uncomfortable testimonies. Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary, [said](https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnsons-work-style-during-covid-very-frustrating-and-dysfunctional-head-of-civil-service-13141930?ref=europeans.today), “Good people were just being smashed to pieces”. Other senior figures [described](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/20/womens-voices-barely-heard-boris-johnson-macho-no-10-covid-inquiry?ref=europeans.today) meetings dominated by the loudest voices, often men, with junior women either talked over or ignored. The inquiry quotes witnesses who referenced misogynistic language and a belief that confrontation was encouraged at the highest levels. Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s chief adviser, plays a central role in this narrative. The report states that he “materially contributed to the toxic and sexist workplace culture” and that his behaviour “poisoned the atmosphere in 10 Downing Street”. According to the inquiry, Cummings used “offensive, sexualised and misogynistic language” in internal messages, and the prime minister did not constrain this. Instead, Johnson is described as having “intentionally sought to foster conflict and a chaotic working environment”. One senior official described the environment as one where “the loudest voice prevailed rather than the clearest analysis”. The inquiry does not dismiss Cummings’s professional abilities. It notes that he had many traits valuable to a prime minister, including relentless energy and a willingness to challenge assumptions. Yet the report concludes that his influence became destabilising. “His behaviour contributed significantly to a culture of fear, mutual suspicion and distrust that undermined the authority of the prime minister.” Johnson is portrayed as someone who struggled to make decisions and often reversed his position within hours, prompting one witness to describe his leadership style as akin to “watching a shopping trolley veering from side to side”. This, the report says, had a measurable impact on the speed and clarity of the UK’s response. Cummings has released a [lengthy statement](https://x.com/Dominic2306/status/1991527964836499672?ref=europeans.today) on *X*, rejecting the report. He wrote that the inquiry reflected “a mix of coverups and rewriting history” and argued that experts gave flawed advice at the start of 2020\. He said: “If the inquiry says I got anything right, bear in mind it’s probably got this wrong too.” His comments do not change the inquiry’s broader assessment that his presence contributed to an atmosphere that made coherent decision-making difficult. ### The cost of delay Central to the inquiry’s critique is the timeline of early 2020\. The virus reached the UK earlier than many understood at the time. Community transmission was present in February and gathering pace. Yet the response remained focused on containment, despite mounting evidence from Italy that this approach was no longer viable. The report emphasises that scientific advisers and ministers were cautious about recommending a lockdown. Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, preferred not to be the first to abandon containment. The inquiry [states](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/modules-2-2a-2b-2c-core-decision-making-and-political-governance-volume-i/?ref=europeans.today): “Professor Whitty did not wish the UK to be the first country to abandon containment and felt it was best to wait until the World Health Organization had accepted there was a pandemic. This was the wrong approach, given the extent of the spread of the virus within the UK.” Whitty has since acknowledged that he regrets elements of his early assessment. Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, wrote in his contemporaneous notes that Johnson was often “bamboozled” by scientific concepts and struggled to grasp statistical modelling. [According](https://theweek.com/health/five-things-we-learned-from-the-covid-inquiry-report?ref=europeans.today) to Vallance, watching him “get his head around the stats was awful”. This matters because ministers frequently misinterpreted scenario modelling as predictions, leading some to dismiss warnings as overly pessimistic. By 12 March, the situation had become, in the inquiry’s words, “little short of calamitous”. The country lacked an effective testing system and did not have an accurate understanding of the virus’s spread. Yet a mandatory lockdown was still not discussed until the days that followed. A further delay pushed the national lockdown to 23 March. Modelling suggests that if it had been imposed one week earlier, around 16 March, approximately [23,000 lives](https://thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/health-society/government-response-to-covid-19-was-too-little-too-late-inquiry-concludes/?ref=europeans.today) could have been saved during the first wave. This conclusion has shaped much of the reaction to the report. [*COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK*](https://www.covidfamiliesforjustice.org/?ref=europeans.today) said: “We now know that many of our family members would still be alive today if it weren’t for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues.” The group argues that Johnson “put his political reputation ahead of public safety” and delayed critical steps despite clear scientific warnings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/bereavedfamilies.jpg) BLUESKY/[COVID-19 BEREAVED FAMILIES FOR JUSTICE UK](https://bsky.app/profile/cbffjuk.bsky.social/post/3m637obqqqc22?ref=europeans.today) On *BlueSky*, [*COVID-19 Bereaved Families For Justice UK*](https://bsky.app/profile/cbffjuk.bsky.social/post/3m65fancm2k22?ref=europeans.today) are now actively calling for action on Boris Johnson, saying that “Boris Johnson’s silence is deafening, and his contempt for the bereaved is clear. His actions during the pandemic amount to one of the gravest betrayals of the British public in history. His decisions cost tens of thousands of lives that could and should have been saved. “He must be held accountable. We are not asking for an apology; we are asking for consequences. Boris Johnson should have no role in public life and no further entitlement to public funds. “We are calling for every privilege to be removed, including the £115k-a-year he can claim as a former PM. It is intolerable that bereaved families are expected to subsidise the lifestyle of the man whose decisions led to the deaths of our loved ones. “Now that the Inquiry has spoken, there must be accountability. While our focus will always be on learning lessons to save lives in the future, individual accountability must be part of delivering justice.” Political leaders have responded with varying degrees of contrition. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a [written statement](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8030xvvlv0o?ref=europeans.today) to Parliament, said the UK had not been adequately prepared and acknowledged that “public services, including the NHS, are under immense pressure and in many cases have not fully recovered from the pandemic”. He added that improvements have since been made, though he noted that local authorities continue to struggle with the long-term impact. The Liberal Democrats called on the current Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, to apologise for the party’s handling of the crisis. Ed Davey [said](https://www.itv.com/news/2025-11-20/unforgivable-bereaved-families-react-to-covid-inquiry-findings?ref=europeans.today): “The British people will rightly never forgive the Conservatives for leaving the country rudderless and vulnerable, and for partying while our communities were isolated and grieving.” He also warned that “Reform politicians seem intent on trashing medical science and spreading disinformation about vaccines.” Unions echoed the sentiments of bereaved families. Gary Smith, general secretary of the *GMB*, [said](https://www.healthcare-management.uk/uk-little-late-covid-inquiry?ref=europeans.today) that “workers bore the brunt of the Tories’ inept response to the pandemic.” He added: “Care homes were turned into morgues while those in No 10 partied the night away.” His remarks touch on one of the inquiry’s core concerns: that delays not only increased mortality but prolonged the economic and social damage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000490-min.jpg) A partygate protester in Westminster, London -- 20-Apr-2022\. | DREAMSTIME/[CHRIS DORNEY](https://www.dreamstime.com/chrisdorney%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Inadequate protection for vulnerable groups The inquiry dedicates significant attention to the experience of groups disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Among them are disabled people, individuals with learning disabilities, ethnic minority communities and people with conditions such as Down’s syndrome. The report notes that people with Down syndrome [were not added](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/20/chaotic-and-indecisive-key-findings-of-report-on-uks-covid-response-under-tories?ref=europeans.today) to the shielded patient list until September 2020, months after evidence emerged showing they faced a higher risk. It also criticises the redeployment of staff from the Race Disparity Unit and the Government Equalities Office to assist with general pandemic response duties. This occurred at a time when emerging data indicated that people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were experiencing higher infection and mortality rates. The redeployment of those teams meant a loss of specialised focus on inequalities. The inquiry writes that ministers “failed to act sufficiently speedily to mitigate some risks to disabled people” and that this resulted in avoidable harm. Structural inequalities, including housing conditions and employment in public-facing roles, also shaped outcomes for many groups. The report says there was insufficient urgency in gathering data that could have informed targeted interventions. ### The science-policy gap The inquiry portrays a breakdown in how ministers interpreted and used scientific advice. Many witnesses described ministers who lacked confidence in [understanding technical information](https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/covid-inquiry-ministers-failed-to-appreciate-scale-of-threat?ref=europeans.today). Johnson is singled out, but the issue appears broader. The report writes that ministers often confused scenario analysis with forecasts. They mistakenly believed worst-case projections were predictions, leading some to view advisers as pessimistic. This contributed to a damaging belief that experts were “overly gloomy”. The inquiry recommends that ministers receive training in core scientific concepts at the outset of any future emergency. This would include basic statistical literacy, an understanding of modelling techniques, and the interpretation of risk assessments. The report also warns that placing too heavy a burden on a small number of scientific advisers, many of whom are unpaid for their role, created unsustainable workloads. Some advisers received threats, abuse and, in extreme cases, physical harassment. Chris Whitty was assaulted in a London park in June 2021\. Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, told the inquiry he did not expect his family to face threats of violence. The inquiry expresses concern that harassment may discourage scientists from offering public advice in future emergencies. It warns that without institutional protection, the pool of willing experts will diminish. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000491-min.jpg) Anti-Brexit protest in Westminster, UK. -- 23-Jun-2021\. | DREAMSTIME/[VVSHOTS](https://www.dreamstime.com/vvshots%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Confusing messaging and public trust Communicating risk is a central component of pandemic control, yet the inquiry finds that UK government messaging was often confusing, optimistic, or contradictory. Johnson is criticised for remarks that departed from official advice. One example cited is the moment he said he had “shaken hands with everybody” [in a hospital](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56361599?ref=europeans.today), just days before a public information campaign urging regular handwashing. The inquiry also examines the *“Eat Out to Help Out”* scheme, introduced by the Treasury in the summer of 2020 to boost the hospitality sector. It writes that [the programme](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c986821m604o?ref=europeans.today) “might have contributed to a belief that the pandemic was effectively over, even though the government was aware of the significant risk that there would be further waves of the virus”. The scheme had public appeal and economic rationale, but the inquiry notes it sent mixed signals at a critical stage. The mantra of “following the science” is also scrutinised. The report argues that this phrase implied decisions were directed solely by scientific advice, when in reality, ministers were weighing multiple factors. The inquiry [writes](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/modules-2-2a-2b-2c-core-decision-making-and-political-governance-volume-ii/?ref=europeans.today) that the words “downplayed their responsibility for their own decision-making” and that, occasionally, ministers shielded themselves behind advisers. Rule-breaking by senior government officials further weakened public confidence. The most prominent example remains [Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/dominic-cummings-covid-trip-barnard-32919690?ref=europeans.today) during the first national lockdown. The inquiry states that such incidents “undermined public confidence in decision-making and significantly increased the risk of the public failing to adhere to measures designed to protect the population”. The report stresses that leaders must observe the rules they impose [to maintain public trust](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/28/dominic-cummings-joked-about-trip-to-countryside-before-barnard-castle-visit?ref=europeans.today). ### Devolved governments: shared delays, divergent decisions The inquiry offers a detailed account of how the devolved governments engaged with the pandemic. Although the devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland made their own decisions on public health measures, they were heavily influenced by UK-wide data, scientific advice and coordination. The report concludes that all four governments reacted slowly in the early months. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were “overly reliant” on the UK government to lead early decision-making. As evidence of widespread transmission grew, this reliance created gaps in local adaptation. The inquiry notes that the devolved administrations [lacked full access](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clygy5z0zyzo?ref=europeans.today) to modelling resources available in London. The inquiry also highlights tensions between the devolved governments and Westminster. Baroness Hallett writes that “there was a lack of trust between Boris Johnson and some of the leaders of the devolved nations”. The report describes how these tensions influenced decisions and complicated coordination. In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon is described as a “serious and diligent leader”, yet the inquiry criticises her tendency to take decisions within a small circle of advisers. It [concludes](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clygy5z0zyzo.amp?ref=europeans.today) that Scotland was “significantly under-prepared” for the pandemic and that early actions mirrored UK government delays. However, the inquiry also notes that Scotland adopted notably cautious measures when lifting the first national lockdown. While this did not eliminate subsequent waves, it reflects a divergence in political judgment. Sturgeon responded to the report by acknowledging mistakes. She said: “Given the unprecedented and highly uncertain nature of the situation we faced, it was inevitable that mistakes would be made, and I know that I made my share.” She added that she acted “in absolute good faith” with the information available at the time. Wales’s response is described as “inadequate” in early 2020\. The inquiry writes that Welsh ministers were too dependent on decisions taken in London and did not adjust quickly as the situation evolved. Wales also experienced the highest age-standardised mortality rate of the four nations between August and December 2020\. The report argues that decisions during this period “likely contributed” to the high mortality rate. Eluned Morgan, the first minister, said the Welsh government would “take time to read the report and work with the other UK governments to consider and act on its recommendations”. She emphasised that the government was committed to learning lessons. Northern Ireland’s response was shaped by the collapse of power-sharing during part of the pandemic and by deeply rooted political divisions. The inquiry describes decision-making at Stormont as “deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks”. It argues that the devolved structures offered an opportunity for collective governance, but that “on multiple occasions” decisions were “marred by political disputes between Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin ministers”. Michelle O’Neill, now first minister, said the report marked a “welcome milestone in the long journey of recovery after the pain and trauma” of the pandemic. She acknowledged that the pandemic was an unprecedented emergency and said the report would help shape future responses. ### Children and the long-term social impact While the second report’s primary focus is government decision-making, it echoes findings from the inquiry’s dedicated work on children and young people. The inquiry [writes](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/modules-2-2a-2b-2c-core-decision-making-and-political-governance-volume-i/?ref=europeans.today) that children “were not always prioritised” and that school closures “brought ordinary childhood to a halt”. The decision to close schools was not taken lightly, but the report suggests ministers did not fully weigh the long-term consequences for education, mental health and social development. The report highlights uneven access to digital learning, particularly among low-income families. It notes that some teachers and schools were left “in limbo” as decisions changed with little notice. This inconsistency contributed to confusion for families and pressure on the teaching workforce. ### Economic planning and the difficulty of exit strategies The inquiry also considers the economic dimension. Exit strategies from lockdowns were often rushed or poorly coordinated. The lifting of restrictions in summer 2020 is described as “unwise” because it created a false sense of security. Rishi Sunak, then chancellor, is noted as a key advocate for reopening. The inquiry does not dispute the necessity of supporting the economy, particularly sectors such as hospitality, but it argues that the pace and tone of reopening contributed to the severity of the autumn and winter waves. Ministers across the UK were urged to impose interventions early and “harder than might be considered ideal”. The inquiry suggests that waiting for perfect information costs time that cannot be recovered. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000492-min.jpg) NHS workers demanding a pay rise from the British Government in London, UK -- 29-Jul-2020\. | DREAMSTIME/[JOHN GOMEZ](https://www.dreamstime.com/johngomez%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) ### Structural issues and future preparedness The inquiry stresses that the UK entered the pandemic without the infrastructure needed for a rapid response. Stockpiles of personal protective equipment were incomplete, surveillance systems were outdated and public health agencies struggled to scale operations. Years of austerity and uneven investment across local public health teams created gaps that proved difficult to bridge. A fundamental lesson emerges: future crises require clear decision-making structures. The inquiry recommends that each nation establish a central task force capable of rapid mobilisation, with the authority to coordinate across sectors. It also calls for better integration of scientific advice into political systems. This includes training for ministers, a greater diversity of expertise within advisory groups and improved communication channels between local and national public health bodies. ### Why the UK struggled to act quickly The inquiry’s attempt to explain the UK’s repeated hesitation returns to several core themes. First, it notes a belief among some officials in the idea of behavioural fatigue. This suggested that people would comply with restrictions only for a short period. The inquiry [concludes](https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2472?ref=europeans.today) that this concept had no grounding in behavioural science and contributed to delays in imposing lockdowns. Second, ministers hoped that the UK could rely on voluntary measures for longer than other countries. This approach failed to curb transmission. Third, the prime minister’s absence from early decision-making left the system without direction when it was most needed. The inquiry suggests that these issues combined to create moments of drift, where decisions were postponed despite evidence demanding immediate action. ### Political reactions and the reshaping of accountability The publication of the report has prompted a wave of political responses. Ministers who served during the pandemic have defended their decisions by pointing to the extraordinary uncertainty of the time. Some argue that the decisions made were based on the best available information and that hindsight creates unrealistic expectations. Yet the inquiry counters that many warnings were clear at the time. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has yet to issue a full response. Her absence from the government for the latter stages of Johnson’s tenure does not exempt her party from scrutiny, according to critics. ### Beyond blame: the more profound questions The inquiry does not aim to apportion personal blame. Instead, it seeks to understand how systemic weaknesses led to decisions that shaped the pandemic’s trajectory. It highlights that even when ministers and advisers worked long hours under immense pressure, structural issues prevented the clarity needed for decisive action. The report underscores that the UK’s government machinery struggled to respond to emergencies that required swift, coordinated action. This includes data systems, intergovernmental relations and communication strategies. The inquiry concludes that [meaningful reform](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/9-things-we-learnt-from-official-report-into-uks-covid-response%5Fuk%5F691f4cdde4b0448495235455?ref=europeans.today) is essential to avoid repeating the same mistakes. ### A reckoning with loss At the heart of this investigation is the human cost. Every statistic reflects a family dealing with absence, grief, and unresolved questions. Bereaved families have campaigned for accountability since the earliest days of the pandemic. Their testimonies remind readers that lessons are not abstract. They represent a chance to prevent similar suffering in future emergencies. The bereaved family group said, “It is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister.” They argue that delaying lockdowns made restrictions longer, more damaging and less effective. Their statement stresses that decisions “ignored the impact on the front line”. ### The long road ahead The inquiry is far from over. Further reports will examine health and social care, education and broader social impacts. The work is expected to continue until at least 2027\. Yet this second report stands as a critical milestone. It offers a detailed, sometimes painful account of how the UK navigated one of its greatest postwar crises. Its findings carry implications beyond individual governments or leaders. They question how the UK prepares for emergencies, how decisions are made under pressure and how politics interacts with science. They highlight that leadership style matters, organisational culture shapes outcomes and timing can save or cost thousands of lives. The inquiry ends with a warning. Crises will return, whether in the form of pandemics, climate emergencies, or economic shocks. The question is whether the UK will learn from the failures of 2020 and 2021\. The Hallett report [urges](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/news/inquiry-publishes-second-report-and-19-recommendations-examining-core-uk-decision-making-and-political-governance/?ref=europeans.today) the country to act on its recommendations with seriousness and speed. If there is a single lesson running through its pages, it is that the price of delay can be counted not only in lost time but in lost lives. *For context, a 2024 peer-reviewed study published in* [*BMC Palliative Care*](https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12904-024-01574-5?ref=europeans.today) *by Erin Raquel Fantoni and colleagues, using official mortality data from all four UK nations, notes that by May 2023, “almost 227,000 people in the UK had died with COVID-19 listed as one of the causes on their death certificate”.* \-- Bereaved families should not be expected to subsidise the lifestyle of the man whose decisions led to the deaths of our loved ones. [***Sign their petition!***](https://www.change.org/p/end-publicly-funded-privileges-for-boris-johnson-following-covid-inquiry?utm%5Fmedium=custom%5Furl&utm%5Fsource=share%5Fpetition&recruited%5Fby%5Fid=1a0359c0-b162-11ea-b64e-958f52e21699) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [UK COVID-19 Inquiry](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/modules-2-2a-2b-2c-core-decision-making-and-political-governance-volume-i/?ref=europeans.today) - ###### [Government ‘chaos’ and failure to tackle Covid cost 23,000 lives, inquiry finds](https://www.thenational.scot/news/national/25638173.government-chaos-failure-tackle-covid-cost-23-000-lives-inquiry-finds/?ref=europeans.today) | THE NATIONAL - ###### [‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/20/too-little-too-late-damning-report-condemns-uk-covid-response?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Boris Johnson will not hold coronavirus crisis meeting until Monday](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/28/boris-johnson-not-to-hold-coronavirus-crisis-meeting-cobra-until-monday?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Coronavirus: Boris Johnson criticised after ‘missing five Cobra meetings’ at start of pandemic](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-boris-johnson-cobra-meetings-uk-response-a9472631.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Boris Johnson's work style during COVID 'very frustrating' and 'dysfunctional' - head of civil service](https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnsons-work-style-during-covid-very-frustrating-and-dysfunctional-head-of-civil-service-13141930?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [ ‘Eat out to help out’ launched without telling official in charge, Covid inquiry hears](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/23/boris-johnson-government-chaos-smashed-good-people-to-pieces-case-tells-covid-inquiry?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Women’s voices barely heard in Boris Johnson’s No 10, Covid inquiry told](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/20/womens-voices-barely-heard-boris-johnson-macho-no-10-covid-inquiry?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### ['Toxic' No 10 culture harmed Covid response, inquiry finds](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c986821m604o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Five things we learned from the Covid Inquiry reportFive things we learned from the Covid Inquiry report](https://theweek.com/health/five-things-we-learned-from-the-covid-inquiry-report?ref=europeans.today) | THE WEEK - ###### [Government response to COVID-19 was ‘too little too late’, inquiry](https://thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/health-society/government-response-to-covid-19-was-too-little-too-late-inquiry-concludes/?ref=europeans.today) | BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION - ###### [COVID-19 BEREAVED FAMILIES FOR JUSTICE UK](https://www.covidfamiliesforjustice.org/?ref=europeans.today) - ###### [UK did 'too little, too late', says Covid Inquiry](https://www.healthcare-management.uk/uk-little-late-covid-inquiry?ref=europeans.today) | HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT - ###### [Covid Inquiry: Ministers failed to appreciate scale of threat](https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/covid-inquiry-ministers-failed-to-appreciate-scale-of-threat?ref=europeans.today) | CIVIL SERVICE WORLD - ###### [Covid: The inside story of the government's battle against the virus](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56361599?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Dominic Cummings' Covid trip to Barnard Castle 'caused huge distress', inquiry report says](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/dominic-cummings-covid-trip-barnard-32919690?ref=europeans.today) | CHRONICLE LIVE - ###### [Dominic Cummings joked about trip to countryside before Barnard Castle visit](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/28/dominic-cummings-joked-about-trip-to-countryside-before-barnard-castle-visit?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Sturgeon excluded ministers from Covid decisions, inquiry says](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clygy5z0zyzo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Covid inquiry: UK action was “too little, too late” and led to avoidable deaths, report finds](https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2472?ref=europeans.today) | THE BMJ - ###### [9 Shocking Things We Learnt From The Official Report Into The UK's Covid Response](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/9-things-we-learnt-from-official-report-into-uks-covid-response%5Fuk%5F691f4cdde4b0448495235455?ref=europeans.today) | THE HUFFPOST - ###### [Inquiry publishes second report and 19 recommendations, examining ‘Core UK decision-making and political governance’](https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/news/inquiry-publishes-second-report-and-19-recommendations-examining-core-uk-decision-making-and-political-governance/?ref=europeans.today) | UK COVID-19 INQUIRY ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 21 November 2025. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[NSBeer](https://www.dreamstime.com/nsbeer%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Migrants to UK will need to become citizens before receiving benefits, government proposes URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/21/migrants-to-uk-will-need-to-become-citizens-before-receiving-benefits-government-proposes/ Last updated: 2025-11-22T03:09:47.000Z ### WHAT is the plan? The Labour government has proposed a sweeping [overhaul of immigration rules](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/20/labour-tighter-rules-benefits-housing-people-migrating-to-uk-shabana-mahmood?ref=europeans.today) that would make migrants eligible for benefits and social housing only once they become British citizens. The package increases settlement waiting times for most groups and pushes irregular arrivals, including small-boat migrants, into waits of **up to 30 years**. ### WHERE will it apply? The plans will apply across the UK. Their impact will be felt primarily in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland’s labour-intensive sectors — especially health and social care, where more than 600,000 recent arrivals work. ### WHEN will it be official? The proposals are now subject to consultation until 12 February 2026\. If implemented, the changes will form part of the government’s broader immigration reforms already outlined in its May white paper. Because the government has not published an implementation date, the rules cannot take effect until after the consultation closes, followed by the drafting and passage of the required secondary legislation. In practice, that means the new system would apply **no earlier than mid-2026**, and possibly later, depending on parliamentary scheduling and administrative capacity. ### WHO is behind the plan & WHO will be affected? Home Secretary [Shabana Mahmood](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/shabana-mahmood?ref=europeans.today) is driving the reforms. The [Blue Labour](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/shabana-mahmood-migrants-asylum-seekers-immigration-blair-farage-b2867508.html?ref=europeans.today) politician explained that “migration will always be a vital part of Britain’s story. But the scale of arrivals in recent years has been unprecedented. “To settle in this country forever is not a right, but a privilege. And it must be earned. “I am replacing a broken immigration system with one that prioritises contribution, integration and respect for the British sense of fair play.” Those most affected include healthcare visa holders, low-income migrant workers, irregular entrants and families at risk of “mixed-status” residency. Charities, trade unions and NGOs, including the Refugee Council, [Unison](https://www.unison.org.uk/news/2025/11/migrant-worker-plans-put-public-services-at-risk-says-unison/?ref=europeans.today), Work Rights Centre and Praxis, have publicly criticised the plans. ### WHY these new rules? The government argues the system must adapt to what Mahmood described as “an unprecedented scale of arrivals in recent years”. She [told](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/dwp-stopping-payments-one-group-32916115?ref=europeans.today) MPs: “To settle in this country for ever is not a right, but a privilege. And it must be earned.” Labour also faces pressure from Reform UK [in the polls](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-polling-reform-green-party-yougov-b2853503.html?ref=europeans.today), intensifying political demands to be seen tightening migration controls. ### HOW will the plan work? The reforms introduce a contribution-based settlement model. Migrants can shorten waits by volunteering, demonstrating high English proficiency and avoiding benefit claims. Charities [warn](https://www.itv.com/news/2025-11-20/home-secretary-announces-plans-to-overhaul-legal-migration-policy?ref=europeans.today) this will create “very expensive bureaucracy” and “three decades of instability”, citing the risk of families split between temporary and permanent statuses. Migrants will face sharply tiered waiting periods under the proposed rules. High earners and entrepreneurs would secure settlement **after three years**, while NHS doctors and nurses would qualify **after five years**. Most standard arrivals would wait **a decade**, double the current five-year route. Health and care workers who have claimed benefits for 12 months or more would see their route **extended to 25 years**. The most severe delays fall on irregular entrants, including people arriving by small boat or hidden in lorries, who would face **a 30-year wait** before they can apply for permanent status. The Home Office explains that “transitional arrangements for those already in the UK will be set out following a consultation. However, the intention is that anyone yet to be granted settlement would be subject to the contribution-based model once the new rules are in force.” Rachel Reeves is expected to reinforce the crackdown in next week’s Budget with funding for new investigators targeting illegal employment in small businesses. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Biggest overhaul of legal migration model in 50 years announced](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/biggest-overhaul-of-legal-migration-model-in-50-years-announced?ref=europeans.today) | HOME OFFICE - ###### [Some migrants to face 20 year wait for settled status](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w9wlney23o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Migrant worker plans put public services at risk, says UNISON](https://www.unison.org.uk/news/2025/11/migrant-worker-plans-put-public-services-at-risk-says-unison/?ref=europeans.today) | UNISON - ###### [DWP is stopping payments for one group of people for 30 years](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/dwp-stopping-payments-one-group-32916115?ref=europeans.today) | BIRMINGHAM LIVE - ###### [Labour slumps to record low in polls while Reform and Greens surge](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-polling-reform-green-party-yougov-b2853503.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Home secretary announces plans to overhaul legal migration policy](https://www.itv.com/news/2025-11-20/home-secretary-announces-plans-to-overhaul-legal-migration-policy?ref=europeans.today) | ITV NEWS - ###### [Mahmood to ban migrants without citizenship from claiming benefits in latest asylum crackdown](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mahmood-asylum-reform-migrants-benefits-visas-b2869103.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Wes Streeting defends asylum system shake-up despite his unease](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/19/shabana-mahmood-accused-ethnic-stereotyping-albania-pm?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/shabana-mahmood?ref=europeans.today) | GOV UK - ###### [Paying failed asylum seekers to leave is value for money, says Mahmood](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj41r4l0v9jo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [From New Labour to Blue Labour – is Shabana Mahmood now the true heir to Blair?](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/shabana-mahmood-migrants-asylum-seekers-immigration-blair-farage-b2867508.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 21 November 2025. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[House of Commons](https://www.flickr.com/photos/uk%5Fparliament/53866625901/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 21 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/21/todays-papers-21-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-22T04:07:03.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000088777.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000088782.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 20 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/20/todays-papers-20-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-22T04:10:37.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000088789.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000088794.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### ‘Digital sovereignty’: Why the EU may be shifting from internet regulation to building homegrown tech URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/19/digital-sovereignty-why-the-eu-may-be-shifting-from-internet-regulation-to-building-homegrown-tech/ Last updated: 2025-11-19T19:10:57.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 European lawmakers relied on regulation, neglecting investment in homegrown digital infrastructure and platforms. 🔹 Legal scholars promoted “digital constitutionalism”, fostering complacency about Europe’s technological dependence. 🔹 Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election and Mario Draghi’s 2024 report exposed the fragility of EU regulatory power. 🔹 EU leaders now emphasise digital sovereignty through projects like EuroStack and public media platforms. O ver the past decade, prominent European politicians seemed to think that legal regulation would be enough to control the internet. They focused primarily on drafting laws to regulate foreign platforms rather than prioritising investment in developing European alternatives. This focus contributed to producing the internet Europeans experience today, in which users typically must rely on foreign private platforms for modern necessities like search engines, maps, communication, online commerce, social media, cloud storage, and AI software, owing to the lack of compelling homegrown services. Why did EU legislators place so much stock in the promise and power of legislation? And why have those same legislators gradually moved, since 2020 – and particularly since Donald Trump’s election to a second term as US president in late 2024 – towards a viewpoint that instead emphasises the limitations of legal solutions and the need for ownership and control of digital infrastructure? ### Two policy paradigms European political leaders have paid lip service to the need for so-called [digital sovereignty](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2024.2358984?ref=europeans.today)), a slogan that typically refers to the need for control of digital technology, not just regulation. French President [Emmanuel Macron](https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2017/09/26/president-macron-gives-speech-on-new-initiative-for-europe?ref=europeans.today) and former German chancellor [Angela Merkel](https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/service/archive/speech-by-federal-chancellor-dr-angela-merkel-opening-the-14th-annual-meeting-of-the-internet-governance-forum-in-berlin-on-26-november-2019-1701494?ref=europeans.today) began emphasising the issue in 2017 and 2019, respectively. In 2020, Merkel [committed](https://digitalforeurope.eu/merkel-committed-to-the-eus-digital-sovereignty?ref=europeans.today) to establish “digital sovereignty as a leitmotif of European digital policy”. And since then, European Commission President [Ursula von der Leyen](https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/state-union/state-union-2020%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) has made sovereignty a [“centrepiece of her Commission’s digital agenda”](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2024.2358984?ref=europeans.today). But at the same time – at least until 2024 – politicians’ actual solution has been [“an almost exclusive focus on the regulation of services by US tech platforms”](https://euro-stackletter.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/EuroStack%5FPitch%5F10-January-2025.pdf?ref=europeans.today). This focus was based on a more optimistic presumption: that the EU could achieve its objectives by controlling foreign tech platforms through law because the bloc sat in the driver’s seat for governing the global internet. This optimistic view of Europe’s role was encouraged by legal scholarship between 2012 and 2022, which promoted a positive and confident vision of Europe’s [“global regulatory power”](https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty%5Fscholarship/271/?ref=europeans.today) – the idea that the EU writes the rulebook for the global internet – and the idea of [“digital constitutionalism”](https://digi-con.org/what-is-digital-constitutionalism/?ref=europeans.today) – that this rulebook has the power [“to rein in”](https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5186&context=faculty%5Fscholarship&ref=europeans.today) platforms such as Meta, X and TikTok, thus manifesting European notions of privacy and the rule of law in the online platform economy. But it’s important to understand that unlike the idea of digital sovereignty, which emphasises *the need for concrete policy change*, digital constitutionalism is primarily an interpretive movement. By looking through a [“constitutionalist lens”](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600869.2019.1562604?ref=europeans.today), scholars reinterpreted a period of intense privatisation online as a more benign development, which gained [“superficial appeal”](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-constitutionalism/article/faux-ami-interrogating-the-normative-coherence-of-digital-constitutionalism/20261E033EDEB10B25CC73D8D29BDBAF?ref=europeans.today) from the legitimating vocabulary of constitutional law. This encouraged a rose-coloured view of Europe’s position in the internet economy, allowing scholars and policymakers to miss the deepening crisis of its technological dependence until it was arguably too late: the return of Trump in 2024. ### The influence of ‘The Brussels Effect’ In 2012, Columbia University law professor Anu Bradford published [“The Brussels Effect”](https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty%5Fscholarship/271/?ref=europeans.today), a seminal article that influenced a generation of legal scholars and policymakers. It painted a compelling picture of the EU as a “benign *regulatory hegemon*”, or rulemaking superpower. For Bradford, it was US citizens who were subject to European power every day. As the author put it: “Few Americans are aware that EU regulations determine the makeup they apply in the morning, the cereal they eat for breakfast, the software they use on their computer, and the privacy settings they adjust on their Facebook page.” Bradford explained that the EU could leverage access to its huge consumer market to impose stringent standards on internet companies, and those companies, in many cases, would apply those standards globally to benefit from economies of scale, rather than engage in the costly business of tailoring services to the particular regulations of each country. “All the EU needs to do,” she said after publishing the book version of [The Brussels Effect](https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/232/?ref=europeans.today) in 2020, “is to regulate its internal market, and it is then the global companies that globalise those EU rules”. In her book, Bradford demonstrated how tech giants like [Facebook](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/23/facebook-new-privacy-tools-response-to-eu-privacy-laws-sheryl-sandberg?ref=europeans.today) and [Google](https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/our-preparations-europes-new-data-protection-law/?ref=europeans.today) had complied with EU online privacy standards and applied them globally. An important question, however, which Bradford never quite resolved, was who had made the decision really: the EU legislator or the companies in Silicon Valley? Had the EU legislator actually *compelled the platforms to comply*, or had the platforms, for reasons of their own, merely *decided it was in their interest to play ball* with the EU for the time being? Since late 2024, it has seemed increasingly likely that the apparent power of EU law has actually been dependent upon the platforms’ willingness to comply, and their willingness has now run out. ### **A reality check… and a path forward?** Trump’s election win shook European politicians’ belief in the optimistic vision espoused by Bradford and the constitutionalists. So did the events that followed. In early January 2025, Meta announced [major changes](https://www.techpolicy.press/transcript-mark-zuckerberg-announces-major-changes-to-metas-content-moderation-policies-and-operations/?ref=europeans.today) in its content moderation policies, including that it would [stop working with outside fact-checkers](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/07/tech/meta-censorship-moderation?ref=europeans.today), signalling allegiance to the White House’s vision of online free speech. Later that month, big tech executives [were prominently in attendance](https://apnews.com/article/trump-inauguration-tech-billionaires-zuckerberg-musk-wealth-0896bfc3f50d941d62cebc3074267ecd?ref=europeans.today) at the inauguration in Washington. It has become gradually more difficult for Europeans to sustain the optimistic constitutionalist view of the past decade. Even authors prominently associated with digital constitutionalism have begun to see the glass half empty. Writing in *Verfassungsblog* in February, Giovanni De Gregorio and Simona Demková recognised a [“looming enforcement crisis”](https://verfassungsblog.de/the-looming-enforcement-crisis-ai-dsa-eu/?ref=europeans.today) and a “need to reassess the European approach to regulating the digital age”. The publication in September 2024 of a major report, [“The future of European competitiveness”](https://europeisti.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024%5FDraghi-report.pdf?ref=europeans.today) by former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, had already sent shockwaves through the EU political community. With dire warnings regarding the costs of the EU’s status-quo regulatory strategies and the depth of Europe’s technological dependence – “the EU relies on foreign countries for over 80% of digital products, services, infrastructure and intellectual property”, according to the text – the report weakened the bloc’s belief in legal solutions. Following the report and Trump’s win, and amid the first year of the new US administration, members of the European parliament such as [Alexandra Geese](https://en.alexandrageese.eu/success-on-the-road-to-technological-independence-from-musk-meta-microsoft/?ref=europeans.today), [Axel Voss](https://www.axel-voss-europa.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AVoss-10-Steps-Digital-Sovereignty.pdf?ref=europeans.today) and [Aura Salla](https://www.aurasalla.eu/en/2025/07/09/the-ai-act-must-empower-europe-not-entangle-it/?ref=europeans.today) have swung towards the sovereignty paradigm with a new fervour, embracing an enforcement-focused legal [“simplification”](https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-making-process/better-regulation/simplification-and-implementation%5Fen?ref=europeans.today) agenda that borders on [deregulation](https://www.ceps.eu/the-eu-is-walking-the-fine-line-between-simplification-and-deregulation/?ref=europeans.today), and supporting research for funding and policy proposals that would likely have seemed farfetched even two years ago. Ideas for public service media alternatives include an AI-powered [“European News Streaming Platform”](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2025/774661/EPRS%5FSTU%282025%29774661%5FEN.pdf?ref=europeans.today). And then there’s the [EuroStack](https://eurostack.eu/?ref=europeans.today), an initiative for investment in Europe-based digital infrastructures. The news platform is still somewhat speculative, but the EuroStack initiative has gained significant traction in Brussels. The EU commissioner for technological sovereignty, Henna Virkunnen, spoke at a [EuroStack event](https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-events/eurostack-a-concrete-pathway-to-european-digital-sovereignty-and-strategic-autonomy/?ref=europeans.today) in June. Her speech came a little more than six months after a EuroStack [pitch document](https://euro-stackletter.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/EuroStack%5FPitch%5F10-January-2025.pdf?ref=europeans.today) criticised the bloc’s years of US-focused regulation as a misstep that has likely condemned the EU to a future “as a definitive and irreversible ‘US colony’ in digital infrastructure”. Today, as the European Commission [“prepares to simplify digital rules with a new omnibus plan”](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/11/18/france-germany-support-simplification-push-for-digital-rules-as-commission-preps-revision-?ref=europeans.today), it appears that EU politicians’ belief in the optimistic, constitutionalist paradigm has significantly deteriorated, if not collapsed. But old habits die hard, and the EU has for decades been described as a [“regulatory state”](https://academic.oup.com/book/10561/chapter-abstract/158509403?ref=europeans.today) that effects change primarily through legal rulemaking. It must now resist slipping back into that comfort zone, and also take care, while simplifying the rules, not to [destroy the essence of the regulations](https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/critics-call-proposed-changes-landmark-eu-privacy-law-death-by-thousand-cuts-2025-11-10/?ref=europeans.today) it has built. If the EU is to offer a genuinely alternative and rights-conscious vision of the internet, it must cast off idealistic visions of achieving hegemony through law and redirect its energies towards technological creation. Initiatives like the Eurostack and the European News Streaming Platform appear to offer promising places to start. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/digital-sovereignty-why-the-eu-may-be-shifting-from-internet-regulation-to-building-homegrown-tech-269753?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 19 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269753/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 18 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/18/todays-papers-18-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T23:57:03.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000087368.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000087371.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 19 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/18/todays-papers-19-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-19T18:31:19.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000087429.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000087431.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000087579.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Denmark’s prime minister has led the country’s hardline migration policy – now she is trying to influence the rest of Europe URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/17/denmarks-prime-minister-has-led-the-countrys-hardline-migration-policy-now-she-is-trying-to-influence-the-rest-of-europe/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T01:50:21.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Mette Frederiksen advances strict Danish migration policies shaped by far-right influence. 🔹 Tightened asylum laws in Denmark prioritise deportation and restrict family reunion. 🔹 Denmark has been promoting tougher EU migration measures through its recent presidency. 🔹 Rising international criticism highlights Frederiksen’s growing political prominence. T he social democrat Mette Frederiksen won Denmark’s 2019 elections on a platform of radical reforms to reach climate targets, lowering the pension age for manual workers – and stricter migration policies. Denmark has some of the strictest asylum legislation in Europe. The country grants only temporary asylum to refugees, regardless of their need for protection. It has tightened laws on family reunion, and introduced policies focused on prioritising deportation, rather than integration. Frederiksen has justified such policies by pitting the challenges of immigration against the affordability of public services and the welfare state. Hardline asylum legislation was in place in Denmark before Frederiksen came to power, but it has become even more draconian under her administration. In her [own words](https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-prioritize-stricter-migration-rules-europe-mette-frederiksen-mep/?ref=europeans.today), migration “is challenging Europe, affecting people’s lives, and the cohesion of our societies”. Now, Frederiksen’s approach has become a model for other [left-wing governments](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo?ref=europeans.today) in Europe, including the UK, struggling to address voter concerns about immigration. How did a left-wing leader come to lead such a strict migration regime, and how might it influence the rest of Europe? Danish migration policy has been influenced by the far-right for years. Minority coalitions have long depended on the vote of the far-right in parliament. Frederiksen won the 2019 elections on a migration agenda almost identical to that of the [far-right](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003256892-19/shift-right-denmark-mette-wiggen?ref=europeans.today) Danish People’s party. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000486-min.jpg) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s election billboard. | DREAMSTIME/[DEANPICTURES](https://www.dreamstime.com/deanpictures%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) The country’s asylum policies had already been tightened during the 2015 refugee crisis. New legislation placed [restrictions](https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Words-and-concepts/US/Familie/Family-reunification-to-individuals-with-temporary-protected-status/?ref=europeans.today) on refugees bringing their families to stay, introduced temporary permits which could be revoked at any time, and placed more demands linked to integration on asylum seekers and immigrants. In 2018, a law targeting “parallel societies” came into force, allowing the government to [demolish or sell off](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/13/top-eu-court-adviser-denmark-ghetto-law-parallel-society-act-direct-discrimination?ref=europeans.today) social housing areas where more than half of the residents are from a “non-western” background, if those areas also meet other criteria related to crime and poverty. Refugees in these areas are also not eligible for family reunion. In 2021, Frederiksen introduced a new deportation law allowing for refugees [to be returned](https://cdp.leeds.ac.uk/2023/04/13/immigration-control-and-denmarks-liberal-democracy/?ref=europeans.today) to their country of origin if Denmark deemed it safe. Her government ruled Syria safe for refugees to return to, allowing it to withdraw the residence permits of Syrian refugees. But because Denmark did not have diplomatic relations with the Syrian government to allow deportations, people were taken out of education and employment and put in [deportation camps](https://refugeeswelcome.dk/en/information/facts/the-asylum-procedure-in-denmark/asylum-centers-and-deportation-centers/?ref=europeans.today). In 2021, the European Commission deemed new Danish [legislation](https://www.development-today.com/archive/dt-2021/dt-4--2021/sweden-norway-and-finland-reject-danish-plan-to-export-asylum-seekers-to-africa?ref=europeans.today) on transferring asylum seekers to third countries to process asylum claims [incompatible](https://eumigrationlawblog.eu/denmarks-legislation-on-extraterritorial-asylum-in-light-of-international-and-eu-law/?print=print&ref=europeans.today) with EU law. But Denmark is in a unique position, having negotiated opt-outs from the Maastricht Treaty in 1992\. One of these opt-outs means that Denmark is [not bound by EU laws](https://www.thedanishparliament.dk/en/eu-information-centre/the-danish-opt-outs-from-eu-cooperation?ref=europeans.today#903DE37B4659482A98774D33D75DA0AE) on border control and immigration policy. ### Influencing Europe Over the last few months, Denmark has held the presidency of the Council of the European Union, where migration has been at the top of the agenda. Frederiksen has used this position to advocate for stricter, Danish-style migration policies across Europe. In her [speech](https://danish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/prime-minister-mette-frederiksens-speech-at-the-official-opening-ceremony/?ref=europeans.today) at the official opening ceremony for the Danish EU presidency, she said: “Many come here to work and to contribute. But some do not. And around Europe, we see the consequences. Crime. Radicalization. And terror. We have built some of the best societies ever. But we cannot accept anyone who wants to come here.” Denmark has supported the EU’s 2024 [Pact on Migration and Asylum](https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-eus-new-migration-rules-and-why-did-they-take-so-long-to-pass-227692?ref=europeans.today), which sets out new common rules on managing migration. It prioritises support to border states, with financial support from other EU countries. Its aim is to secure external borders with a faster and more efficient asylum procedure. The pact will be implemented in 2026. Denmark’s policies have not been without controversy. The country has been criticised by the [European Court of Justice](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/13/top-eu-court-adviser-denmark-ghetto-law-parallel-society-act-direct-discrimination?ref=europeans.today), the [UN committee against torture](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4069449?v=pdf&ref=europeans.today), [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2021/05/denmark-syria-is-not-safe-nationwide-demonstrations-against-return-of-syrian-refugees/?ref=europeans.today) and other international bodies. But Frederiksen has received some support, including from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has reached [deportation deals](https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/13/italy-end-border-control-pact-with-libya?ref=europeans.today) with authoritarian regimes and [governments](https://mixedmigration.org/eu-egypt-partnership/?ref=europeans.today) like Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt. Frederiksen and Meloni led a group of EU countries pushing for reform of the [European Convention on Human Rights](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/05/23/nine-eu-countries-seek-european-human-rights-conventions-rethink-on-migration?ref=europeans.today) to ease deportation. She has also clearly had an influence on Keir Starmer, with the Labour government now seeking to implement Danish-style migration policies. Fredriksen’s ideology and actions have been widely criticised by human rights groups. But they may further Frederiksen’s meteoric rise to a top position in international politics. She will need it, as her party is set to lose to the parties further to the left in the upcoming local elections. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Denmark to prioritize stricter migration rules for Europe, Frederiksen tells MEPs](https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-prioritize-stricter-migration-rules-europe-mette-frederiksen-mep/?ref=europeans.today) | POLITICO - ###### [The country where the left (not the far right) made hardline immigration laws](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Top EU court adviser finds Denmark’s ‘ghetto law’ is direct discriminationTop EU court adviser finds Denmark’s ‘ghetto law’ is direct discrimination](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/13/top-eu-court-adviser-denmark-ghetto-law-parallel-society-act-direct-discrimination?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The UK wants to emulate Denmark’s hardline asylum model – but what does it actually look like?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/14/the-uk-wants-to-emulate-denmarks-hardline-asylum-model-but-what-does-it-actually-look-like?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### \[ Europeans TODAY \] ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/263932/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The political meddling that led to BBC crisis – and how to stop it in the future URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/17/the-political-meddling-that-led-to-bbc-crisis-and-how-to-stop-it-in-the-future/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T00:54:14.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Two BBC chiefs resigned amid Donald Trump’s one billion dollar legal threat. 🔹 Panorama wrongly edited Trump’s 6 January speech, prompting a formal apology. 🔹 However, political appointees reportedly blocked a timely apology, deepening institutional paralysis. 🔹 Reformers propose independent appointments and charter overhaul. T he resignations of the *BBC*’s director general and director of news were shocking. Perhaps just as shocking is the US$1 billion legal threat the broadcaster now faces from US president Donald Trump. The full story of what has happened at the *BBC* may take months (or years) to emerge. But it’s become evident that a combination of poor editorial judgement and political meddling by longstanding *BBC* critics contributed to Tim Davie and Deborah Turness’s departures. That there were editorial mistakes is not in question. The *BBC Panorama* documentary on Trump spliced together two different parts of Trump’s notorious January 6 2021 speech on Capitol Hill, without making the edit clear. The programme itself, which was broadcast a few days before the 2024 US presidential election, was arguably carefully balanced, containing an equal number of Trump supporters and detractors. Notably, it did not receive a single complaint at the time of transmission. It was broadcast a week before the 2024 US presidential election – nearly four years after the speech itself. It wasn’t a programme that was likely to sway anyone’s views of the president, who was impeached for [“incitement of insurrection”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55656385?ref=europeans.today) after January 6\. He was later [acquitted](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/13/donald-trump-acquitted-impeachment-trial?ref=europeans.today). Nevertheless, it was wrong to edit the speech in this way. That error was one of many allegations of institutional bias included in a dossier by Michael Prescott. Until June, [Prescott](https://news.sky.com/story/who-is-michael-prescott-the-man-behind-the-leaked-bbc-memo-13467937?ref=europeans.today) – a former political editor for [Rupert Murdoch](https://www.europeans.today/tag/rupert-murdoch/)’s *Sunday Times* and longtime PR professional – was an external adviser to the *BBC*’s editorial guidelines and standards committee. The report was leaked to the *Telegraph*, which [splashed](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/03/bbc-report-reveals-bias-donald-trump/?ref=europeans.today) with selected excerpts alleging that the programme had been “doctored”, and listing other editorial problems that he claimed the *BBC* had failed to put right. ### Political influence The *Telegraph*, like much of the British press, has for decades waged an editorial war against the *BBC*. As a publicly funded, free-to-air broadcaster, which is by some distance the most trusted news provider in the UK, the *BBC* is a serious challenge to news publishers’ commercial interests. It also offends the political sensibilities of those opposed to public funding interventions more generally. It was therefore only a matter of time before the *Telegraph* “exclusive” on *BBC* bias and the *Panorama* programme escalated, especially once noticed by the White House. As the crisis gathered steam, one of the many burning questions was: why on earth is the *BBC* not responding? It has now been [reported](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07m2v1z4evo?ref=europeans.today) – including by the *BBC*’s media editor Katie Razzall and *BBC* presenter Nick Robinson – that an apology was drafted by the *BBC* news team and was ready to be signed off a week ago. Unfortunately, the *BBC* board reportedly [prevented](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07m2v1z4evo?ref=europeans.today) Turness from putting out the apology, instead opting for a letter to MPs on the media select committee. What followed was a damaging vacuum, with the *BBC* unable to defend itself or acknowledge its error. As internal arguments raged, it simply issued a bland statement that it would respond in writing to the select committee. Key to this institutional paralysis and the fallout that followed were the political appointees to the *BBC* board. When the *BBC* charter was renewed in 2016, the then Conservative government introduced a [new governance structure](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a817d8bed915d74e33fe7ed/InformationSheet-Governance%5F206%5F09%5F14.pdf?ref=europeans.today). The *BBC* would be governed by a unitary board of 14, including a chair, and four part-time members, each representing one of the UK’s nations. These five were all government appointees. That boardroom dissent was, it now [appears](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/10/bbc-board-member-tory-links-led-charge-systemic-bias-claims?ref=europeans.today), [led by those](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07m2v1z4evo?ref=europeans.today) political appointees, in particular Sir Robbie Gibb. Following time as a *BBC* executive in charge of political programmes, Gibb was Conservative prime minister Theresa May’s director of communications. He was subsequently involved in the founding of *GB News*, an avowedly right-wing news channel. In the [words](https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/bbc-news/71517/the-bbc-has-bigger-impartiality-problems-than-its-coverage-of-trump?ref=europeans.today) of *Prospect* magazine and former *Guardian* editor Alan Rusbridger, Gibb “does not pretend to be impartial on issues related to British politics or Israel”. Gibb was appointed to the *BBC* board by Boris Johnson, reappointed by Rishi Sunak, and his term runs until 2028\. It is therefore unsurprising that Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has [called](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/10/bbc-enemies-attack-robbie-gibb-board?ref=europeans.today) for Gibb’s immediate removal from the board and for an end to the practice of political appointments. The *Conversation* has reached out to Gibb for comment. In his [letter](https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50118/documents/270340/default/?ref=europeans.today) to the chair of the media select committee on Monday, *BBC* chairman Samir Shah acknowledged the *Panorama* mistake and apologised for the news team’s “error of judgement”. He made it clear, however, that Prescott’s report “does not present a full picture of the discussions, decisions and actions that were taken”. ### Changes for the future This peculiar arrangement of political appointments appears to have effectively given partisan appointees a veto over a crucial senior management decision, resulting in the forced departure of the *BBC*’s two most senior news executives. While Davey is right that this anomaly needs to be rectified, the whole *BBC* governance structure is in need of an overhaul. At a time of increasing polarisation and social media misinformation, it is more important than ever that the *BBC* is protected from political interference. The next *BBC* charter, starting from January 2028, offers a perfect opportunity to provide the kind of protective structure that the *BBC* requires. As part of a campaign to support public service broadcasting in the UK, the British Broadcasting Challenge – a group of academics and media professionals that includes myself and *The Conversation*’s CEO Chris Waiting – [published a report](https://britishbroadcastingchallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rebuilding-the-BBC-October-2023.pdf?ref=europeans.today) last month calling for a “genuinely independent public appointments process for the chair and trustees, insulated from covert and overt government influence”. This could be done through a dedicated body set up under the same terms as the wholly independent Press Recognition Panel, with no links to any political party or partisan campaigning group. Such a body could be responsible not just for non-executive *BBC* appointments (including its chair) but also for the chair of regulator Ofcom and the chair of *Channel 4* – both currently in the gift of government. The Labour government is about to kickstart a debate on the next *BBC* charter. Lisa Nandy, as the responsible secretary of state, has it in her hands to rectify some of the egregious damage inflicted on the *BBC*’s reputation by the political meddling of the last few days. Let’s hope that she rises to the challenge. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump impeached for 'inciting' US Capitol riot in historic second charge](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55656385?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Who is Michael Prescott, the man at the centre of the leaked BBC memo?](https://news.sky.com/story/who-is-michael-prescott-the-man-behind-the-leaked-bbc-memo-13467937?ref=europeans.today) | SKY NEWS - ###### [BBC doctored Trump speech, internal report reveals](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/03/bbc-report-reveals-bias-donald-trump/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [Katie Razzall: A seismic moment that shows rift at top of BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07m2v1z4evo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [The first step towards saving our precious BBC: remove Robbie Gibb from the board](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/10/bbc-enemies-attack-robbie-gibb-board?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Rebuilding the BBC for Britain and the world -- A vision for the future](https://britishbroadcastingchallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rebuilding-the-BBC-October-2023.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | BRITISH BROADCASTING CHALLENGE ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-political-meddling-that-led-to-bbc-crisis-and-how-to-stop-it-in-the-future-269453?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 17 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Claudiodivizia](https://www.dreamstime.com/claudiodivizia%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269453/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### If Trump wants to beggar the BBC, Semafor has a thoughtful take on the issue URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/17/if-trump-wants-to-beggar-the-bbc-semafor-has-a-thoughtful-take-on-the-issue/ Last updated: 2025-11-17T23:37:05.000Z I t’s clear that Donald Trump and the global populist right wants to beggar the *BBC*, bringing its 103-year run to an end and allowing media moguls to rule as they please. Let the Beeb, their canny reasoning goes, be hoist with its own petard of high standards of complete and total objectivity. It can never meet them, of course. No one can. If Mr Trump is true to form, he will sue the *BBC* for a sum that will make it difficult to function. Will the British government step up with more money to meet any resulting funding shortfall, should it arise? If any such cash transfer were to occur — from the *BBC* to Mr Trump — it would be upsetting in the extreme. Here’s why: The *BBC* made a mistake in commissioning a piece from an external provider with an apparently slippery sense of the rights and wrongs of video splicing! That’s a mistake, an error of judgement in trusting that external provider. It doesn’t call all of the *BBC*’s journalism into question. But Mr Trump and the global populist right would like to grind a public service broadcaster into dust. The result would be the sort of polarised, fragmented media landscape that currently exists across the United States. How does that help anyone, other than the global populist right? In order to wise up to the inherent perils of this moment, it’s worth getting up to speed on the facts. I watched the *BBC Panorama* clip in question via *The Telegraph*’s blistering[ commentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjPlfUt4S9U&t=31s&ref=europeans.today) on it, courtesy *Semafo*r. And I have to agree with Semafor’s Max Tani that “the Trump team has a point”. It **is** dishonest to stitch someone’s words together — an hour or so apart. As Mr Tani notes, the result is to “amplify” Mr Trump’s “rhetoric in a way that did not match exactly what [he said onstage](https://semafor.com/s/btWuQPyJbw?email=rashmee%40rashmee.com&ref=europeans.today)”. But it’s also worth noting Mr Tani’s qualifier: “Even if the result — that his supporters proceeded to violently riot at the Capitol — is not seriously up for debate.” For, the cold, hard reality is that Mr Trump did do wrong on January 6, 2021 — the whole world saw it, live on television — in denying the legitimate results of a legitimate presidential election that he lost. (In fact, Mr Trump continues with his election denialism to this day.) He does not seem to be a fan of democratic mandates unless he wins. But it is also a fact that we do not, as journalists, need to polish Mr Trump’s shining untruths. We do not need to reframe his dishonesty, giving the border a darker stain. Mr Tani’s conclusion is pertinent. That the *BBC* has made an error most American news organisations would not do today, 10 years into covering Donald Trump. Now, he writes, “American broadcasters and news organizations expect pushback from the president and his allies; tough stories and packages are edited more closely, and organizations come ready to defend pieces they know will receive intense criticism from the administration (see the *X* account for *The New York Times*’ communications department)”. This is 100 per cent true. A basic rule of journalism — alongside that robust coverage, keep good notes, know what’s been done (and not been done). Or as Mr Tani writes, “button up” your reporting, “at least when it comes to a guy who will almost certainly express his opinions about it”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump says he will take legal action against BBC over Panorama edit](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c891jp9j79do?ref=europeans.today) | BBC ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/if-trump-wants-to-beggar-the-bbc-semafor-has-a-thoughtful-take-on-the-issue-feca3c7e2db5?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 17 November 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[David Taljat](https://www.dreamstime.com/davidtaljat%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 17 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/17/todays-papers-17-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T23:39:58.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086906.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086907.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### BBC has survived allegations of political bias before – but the latest crisis comes at a pivotal moment URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/16/bbc-has-survived-allegations-of-political-bias-before-but-the-latest-crisis-comes-at-a-pivotal-moment/ Last updated: 2025-11-17T03:48:14.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Conservative politicians repeatedly challenge the BBC and question its political neutrality. 🔹 Historical confrontations have peaked under Thatcher, who reshaped leadership and tightened editorial control. 🔹 The ongoing scrutiny fuels disputes over its governance, board appointments, and future funding arrangements. 🔹 Approaching charter renewal will determine reforms needed for the BBC’s continued survival. T he leaked memo raising concerns about *BBC* impartiality was an early Christmas present for those who believe the UK’s biggest public service broadcaster is biased and needs to be reformed and cut down to size. For some, the crisis the memo has sparked – which has led to [the resignation](https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/12/why-has-the-bbcs-director-general-resigned-and-what-could-happen-next/) of the *BBC*’s director general and its head of news and a threat from US president Donald Trump of a US$1 billion lawsuit – reflects a [terrible failure](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/09/how-telegraphs-revelations-made-tim-davies-position/?ref=europeans.today) of internal governance. For others, it represents [a “coup”](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/10/bbc-resignations-internal-coup-says-former-sun-editor-david-yelland?ref=europeans.today) at Broadcasting House, launched by a faction within the *BBC*’s senior echelons seeking to push the tone of the broadcaster’s news coverage to the right. But whatever the case may be, this crisis comes at a pivotal moment in the broadcaster’s history, as it approaches the once-a-decade renewal of its [royal charter](https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/charter?ref=europeans.today). This arcane-sounding instrument is the *BBC*’s foundational document. It gives the corporation independence from politicians and civil servants on a day-to-day basis, while also ensuring a measure of accountability to the public, which owns and funds it. Crucially, the charter does not run in perpetuity. Typically, it needs to be renewed every ten years. This gives parliament an opportunity to hold the *BBC* to account for its performance over the previous decade, and to decide whether fundamental reform is needed. Conceivably, parliament could decide that no new charter should be granted, effectively ending the *BBC*’s existence as a public corporation. Negotiating with the government over charter renewal is, unsurprisingly, a major preoccupation for *BBC* leaders in the years before each charter expires. The current charter ends on December 31 2027\. As a result of Tim Davie’s resignation, the BBC now lacks an experienced director general at [a crucial time](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/10/things-could-now-get-very-messy-for-bbc/?ref=europeans.today). Some believe that this crisis therefore represents an [existential threat](https://www.ft.com/content/28b40d2f-f4e0-4976-87ca-584a0938076c?ref=europeans.today) to the *BBC*. ### Historical precedent Allegations of political bias – generally that the *BBC* leans to the left – have existed for almost as long as the corporation has. Back in the 1920s, the government’s response was to impose [restrictions](http://news.bbc.co.uk/aboutbbcnews/spl/hi/history/noflash/html/1920s.stm?ref=europeans.today) on the type, amount and timing of news and current affairs coverage the *BBC* could broadcast. The *BBC* had a monopoly on broadcasting at the time, and lawmakers worried what it would mean for UK politics if the *BBC* started to editorialise in support of one or other of the main political parties. As [one early regulator](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A%5FSocial%5FHistory%5Fof%5FBritish%5FBroadcasting/J1ODwQEACAAJ?hl=en&ref=europeans.today) put it: “Once you let broadcasting into politics, you will never be able to keep politics out of broadcasting.” Yet others recognised that radio, and later television, were key means to disseminate news. The ban on “controversial” broadcasting could not last. The *BBC* itself pressed for the legal restrictions to be relaxed, and governments gradually gave way. By the outbreak of the [Second World War](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60300848-the-bbc?ref=europeans.today) the *BBC* had become a significant, and increasingly trusted, source of news for audiences across the UK and around the world. After the war, it massively expanded its journalistic capacity and became the major news operation that it is today. Yet allegations that the *BBC* was politically biased never disappeared. They reached a peak when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister. Thatcher believed that the *BBC* [was unsympathetic](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25024016-pinkoes-and-traitors?ref=europeans.today) to her political programme and to the Conservative Party more generally. She particularly resented the corporation’s news coverage of the Falklands War, the Miners’ Strike, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Thatcher used two strategies to bring the *BBC* into line. First, she sought to install a more sympathetic senior leadership team at the *BBC*. Two prominent Conservative supporters were put on the *BBC* board, with Stuart Ward as chair (replaced after his untimely death by another Thatcher loyalist, [Marmaduke Hussey](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/dec/27/pressandpublishing.broadcasting1?ref=europeans.today)) and William Rees-Mogg as vice chair. One senior *BBC* executive [thought](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3202806-the-fun-factory?ref=europeans.today) that Rees-Mogg acted less like a vice-chair, and “more like the leader of the opposition”. A long-running dispute over a *BBC Panorama* documentary broadcast in 1984 on far-right tendencies within the Conservative Party allowed senior board members to oust director general [Alasdair Milne](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/this-is-the-bbc-9780192898524?cc=gb&lang=en&&ref=europeans.today). The new regime at the *BBC* also drove through reforms designed fundamentally to change the way that the *BBC* worked. The corporation moved away from its old public sector ways of operating, towards commercialisation and outsourcing, in a bid to reduce costs and increase revenues. These reforms were championed by a new director general recruited from the private sector, [John Birt](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/John%5FBirt/3sxVQAAACAAJ?hl=en&ref=europeans.today). The wider aim was to reduce the monopolistic power of the *BBC* and allow more powerful commercial competitors to emerge. Birt also imposed a much tighter set of editorial guidelines on *BBC* journalists. Thatcher even raised the prospect of abolishing the licence fee which funded the *BBC*. However, Professor Alan Peacock, the economist commissioned by the government to report on how [to fund the corporation](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/jul/03/bbc-financing-peacock-report?ref=europeans.today), shied away from recommending this drastic step. ### What’s next for the BBC? The *BBC* ultimately survived the existential threats of the 1980s. The price was a radical transformation, as the *BBC* became leaner and increasingly driven by the need to generate commercial revenues to support its public service activities. Some think that the current controversy reflects the attempts of previous governments to stack the *BBC* board [with supporters](https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/nov/10/make-no-mistake-this-was-a-coup-the-extraordinary-downfall-of-the-bbcs-top-bosses?ref=europeans.today), as Thatcher once did. The political loyalties of the next director general, and of any new appointees to the board, will as a result be intensely scrutinised. Will the charter review also involve fundamental reform of the way the *BBC* is governed and funded? The licence fee has become a lightning rod for hostility to the corporation, and the future of this financing system is [certainly in doubt](https://theconversation.com/why-the-bbc-has-a-licence-fee-and-what-might-happen-if-it-were-scrapped-226995?ref=europeans.today). In the coming battle over charter renewal, the outcome of debates about how the *BBC* is governed, and how it is funded, will determine what sort of *BBC* can survive past 2027\. The next director general will need to restore public trust in *BBC News*, satisfy politicians that rigorous impartiality can and will be guaranteed, and navigate the financial challenges that may arise from potential legal settlements or the end of the licence fee system. That is, of course, assuming that the *BBC* is able to learn the lessons of its own history, and adapt to survive its latest existential crisis. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Why has the BBC’s director general resigned and what could happen next?](https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/12/why-has-the-bbcs-director-general-resigned-and-what-could-happen-next/) | EUROPEANS TODAY - ###### [How The Telegraph’s revelations made Tim Davie’s position untenable](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/09/how-telegraphs-revelations-made-tim-davies-position/?ref=europeans.today) | THE TELEGRAPH - ###### [BBC chair apologises for Trump speech edit but defends corporation against bias claims](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/10/bbc-resignations-internal-coup-says-former-sun-editor-david-yelland?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [Charter and Agreement](https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/charter?ref=europeans.today) | BBC - ###### [‘Make no mistake – this was a coup’: the extraordinary downfall of the BBC’s top bosses](https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/nov/10/make-no-mistake-this-was-a-coup-the-extraordinary-downfall-of-the-bbcs-top-bosses?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [‘Not for the faint-hearted’: is running the BBC an impossible job?](https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/nov/15/is-running-the-bbc-an-impossible-job?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/10/stand-up-and-defend-bbc-right-resignations?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [BBC board member with Tory links ‘led charge’ in systemic bias claims, say insiders](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/10/bbc-board-member-tory-links-led-charge-systemic-bias-claims?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/bbc-has-survived-allegations-of-political-bias-before-but-the-latest-crisis-comes-at-a-pivotal-moment-269464?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 16 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Ralf Liebhold](https://www.dreamstime.com/ralfliebhold%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269464/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Trust in the BBC is heavily tied to political identity URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/16/trust-in-the-bbc-is-heavily-tied-to-political-identity/ Last updated: 2025-11-16T02:33:37.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 BBC chiefs Davie and Turness resign amid Panorama political bias row. 🔹 Survey data show trust in the BBC varies strongly by UK political allegiance. 🔹 Right-wing and Brexit-aligned voters report especially low BBC trust. 🔹 Researchers argue the BBC faces a deeper cultural legitimacy crisis beyond leadership changes. T im Davie, the *BBC*’s director general, and Deborah Turness, its news CEO, have resigned over accusations of political bias in the corporation. Most notably, these relate to the editing of an episode of Panorama about the [January 6 insurrection](https://www.europeans.today/tag/6-january-riots/), which US president Donald Trump says misrepresented him. Their departure is the latest – and most dramatic – chapter in story that dates back years. At first glance, the move may look like accountability at the top. “There have been some mistakes made and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility,” said Davie in his [resignation message](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/09/tim-davie-expected-to-resign-bbc-director-general?ref=europeans.today). But Davie’s departure also speaks to the problems that have beset the *BBC* for years as it has tried to deal with a decline in trust. The data tells a clear and worrying story: the problem is not only what the *BBC* does, but how it is seen across divided audiences. Trust in the *BBC* is heavily conditioned by political identity. A [survey](https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2024-0184?ref=europeans.today) I conducted with colleagues of 11,170 people in the UK, carried out between December 2022 and June 2024, showed striking differences between how people with left and right-wing party affiliations felt about the broadcaster. Liberal Democrat voters averaged 4.54 on a one-to-seven trust scale. Those who vote Labour averaged 3.88\. Trust among Conservative voters was lower at an average of 3.17\. And notably, the average was just 2.16 for Brexit Party voters. The findings date back to a time before the Brexit party became Reform UK – and before that party came to dominate in the polls. In other words, those segments of the electorate that already felt most alienated from the *BBC* are now among the most politically ascendant. That creates a profound legitimacy challenge. The broadcaster is losing the trust of the very audiences who, through the ballot box, are increasingly shaping the political environment in which it operates. This helps explain why the crisis has erupted now. The political currents that distrusted the *BBC* for years are no longer fringe, but central to national politics. ![A bar chart showing that trust in the BBC declines as you move from Liberal Democrats to Labour to Conservative to Brexit party voters.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/701439/original/file-20251110-64-qciqh1.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip) How trust averages out across party affiliation. | S. PICKERING, [CC BY-ND](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) When we asked respondents to place themselves on a political spectrum of left to right, we saw a similar patterns. Trust peaked around the centre-left, dropped at the centre, and stayed low on the right. The pattern clearly indicates that trust in the *BBC* is not uniform, nor does it develop in a vacuum. We found in our [research](https://theconversation.com/the-bbc-is-a-partisan-battleground-why-does-japans-nhk-escape-the-same-fate-266315?ref=europeans.today) that these partisan fault lines were not in evidence for Japan’s public broadcaster – suggesting something specific is happening in the UK. In Japan, attitudes toward *NHK* (the equivalent of the *BBC*) cut across political lines, with conservatives and progressives reporting broadly similar levels of trust. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/survey-result--4--2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/survey-result--5--2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/survey-result--6-.png) That contrast points to distinct political cultures. In Japan, public broadcasting still carries an aura of neutrality tied to institutional continuity, whereas in Britain, the *BBC* has become a symbolic battlefield in wider culture wars. The British media landscape is more openly adversarial, and perceptions of bias are now interpreted through partisan identity rather than journalistic performance. Conservative-voting or Brexit-aligned respondents appear to see the *BBC* as metropolitan and institutionally liberal. On the left and centre-left, the *BBC* still retains a credibility cushion, but those holdouts will shrink. This is not simply about “bias” or “impartiality” in a narrow sense – it is about legitimacy in different political worldviews. The fact that two senior figures have resigned should not lull us into thinking the problem has been fixed. On the contrary, what this moment reveals is that the *BBC*’s challenge is not only managerial – it is political and cultural. The data from the [TrustTracker](https://www.trusttracker.org/?ref=europeans.today) project shows that trust in the *BBC* is already deeply polarised. Leadership change alone is unlikely to rebuild it. Instead, the *BBC* must engage with how it is perceived, by whom, and why. Otherwise, it risks losing the one thing that has set it apart: its role as a genuinely shared public broadcaster in a deeply divided society. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Examining trust in public service news providers: A comparison of the BBC and NHK](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/commun-2024-0184/html?ref=europeans.today) | COMMUNICATIONS - ###### [Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/09/tim-davie-expected-to-resign-bbc-director-general?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN - ###### [The BBC is a partisan battleground – why does Japan’s public broadcaster escape the same fate?](https://theconversation.com/the-bbc-is-a-partisan-battleground-why-does-japans-public-broadcaster-escape-the-same-fate-266315?ref=europeans.today) | THE CONVERSATION - ###### [Trust Tracker](https://www.trusttracker.org/?ref=europeans.today) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/trust-in-the-bbc-is-heavily-tied-to-political-identity-269434?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 15 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[S Walker](https://www.dreamstime.com/theslowwalkers%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269434/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### The internal and external Democrats must overcome to win again URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/16/the-internal-and-external-democrats-must-overcome-to-win-again/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T02:43:21.000Z T he November elections across America gave Democrats a much-needed morale boost, and a much-needed validation that their politics is still viable in America. But realistically, the voter frustration with President Donald Trump that is responsible for Democrats’ election successes last week won’t be enough to guarantee Democrats’ future election successes. Democrats have both an internal and external problem they must resolve, in that order, internal first, external second, before they can win enough local, state, and national elections that will give their politics a chance to govern. The internal problem within the Democrat Party that must be resolved has two components, both of which are reflected in how Democrats treated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. After successfully leveraging federal government resources to restart the first-ever shutdown of the American economy due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic that was killing 3,000 Americans a day, after [creating 16 million jobs](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administration-record?ref=europeans.today), the most amount created by any one-term President in American history, after creating the lowest American unemployment rate in 50 years with the share of working-age Americans in the workforce reaching its highest level in two decades, and the share of working-age women in the workforce hitting a record high. After producing a bi-partisan infrastructure law, the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure%5FInvestment%5Fand%5FJobs%5FAct?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=The%20Infrastructure%20Investment%20and%20Jobs,Biden%20on%20November%2015%2C%202021.), that would add [1.5 million jobs per year](https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2021/macroeconomic-consequences-of-the-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act-and-build-back-better-framework.pdf?ref=europeans.today) for the next 10 years, spend $55 billion to eliminate all lead pipes expanding access to clean drinking water for all households, businesses, schools, and child care centers in America, spend $65 billion to provide internet access to rural and economically-challenged urban areas in America which currently have no access, spend $110 billion to repair or rebuild America’s roads and bridges, after stimulating 21 million new [business start-ups](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administration-record?ref=europeans.today), after stimulating so many record stock market highs that the Federal Reserve had to raise interest rates 11 times to keep the Biden economy from growing to hot, a glaring contrast to President Donald Trump currently asking the Federal Reserve to lower rates to stimulate his slowing tariff economy, and after generating over [1 trillion investment dollars](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/03/biden-investment-private-sector/?ref=europeans.today) in America’s private sector economy. Democrats abandoned one of the most successful and productive Presidents in American history quicker than cockroaches fleeing to hide in a suddenly lit room, for looking like an 80-year-old, stutter-talking like an 80-year-old, walking like an 80-year-old while still being coherent and mentally competent, and for losing one presidential debate to Donald Trump. Ironically, Democrats point with pride to their authorship of the [Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans%5Fwith%5FDisabilities%5FAct%5Fof%5F1990?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=A%20broad%20bipartisan%20coalition%20of,protection%20for%20individuals%20with%20HIV%29.) (ADA), but when Democrats abandoned former President Biden because he was not vigorous-looking enough, although he was functioning vigorously enough as President to produce historic results. When Democrats abandoned Biden because of the way he walked after former President Franklin Roosevelt proved under the most dire circumstances of the [Great Depression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great%5FDepression?ref=europeans.today) combined with America fighting World War II, that a President can be confined to a wheelchair not able to walk and still do a damn good job leading America and the world, when democrats abandoned Biden because his 80-year-old physical abilities no longer enabled him to hide his life-long stuttering affliction, and when Democrats abandoned him because the tone of his voice reflected his 80-year-old age, it was nothing less than Democrats inflicting age discrimination on Biden because his physical characteristics, not his mental characteristics, reflected his 80-year old age. Also, when Democrats abandoned Biden over his Donald Trump debate performance, it was, as MAGA Republicans demonstrated they understood by continuing their support for Trump after he lost his debate with Kamala Harris, fool’s gold. Because the most powerful person in the world, the President of the United States, never has to debate with anyone about anything as President. Which is probably why Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all lost their first reelection debates but won their second debates, because after 4 years of hearing the reply “*yes sir Mr. President, how high would you like me to jump*”? It took their first debate to readjust to being challenged about anything. Even when a President meets with the second most powerful person in the world, the leader of China, Xi Jinping, if any debate is necessary, it is a debate that is well-scripted in advance, ensuring that the President will not be asked any questions or hear any comments that he or she does not have an answer for or a response to. The only creditable question President Biden’s 80-year-old gait to his walking, his 80-year-old appearance, his 80-year-old inability to hide his stuttering affliction, his 80-year-old sounding voice, and his losing Trump debate performance should have raised for Democrats, is whether his current mental acuity, which was what was responsible for his then-current historic achievements not his walk, talk, sound of his voice, or debate acumen, will last for another 4 years. That would have been the only question had Democrats not suffered from the first component of the internal problem they must overcome, a lack of political loyalty. If Democrats had shown the same political loyalty for the only Democrat, Biden, that former Republican President George W Bush, along with many others, [said was the only Democrat](https://www.timesofisrael.com/george-w-bush-said-to-hail-savior-clyburn-for-biden-endorsement-trump-ouster/?ref=europeans.today) who could have beaten Trump in the 2020 election, the same loyalty that MAGA Republicans have shown to a man, who as President, told[ all 50 U.S. governors](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-respirators.html?ref=europeans.today) in 2020 during the deadly COVID-19 virus that was killing 3,000 Americans a day not to expect federal government help. The same political loyalty shown to a man credited with losing MAGA Republican control of both the House and Senate during his term as President, to a man impeached twice as President, to a man with 34 criminal convictions, 2 civil convictions for bank fraud, defamation, and sexual assault after serving his first term as President, and to a man who after losing the 2024 presidential debate to Kamala Harris so badly that [he refused to debate her a second-time](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/us/politics/trump-harris-debate.html?ref=europeans.today) that MAGA Republicans, in the “*Stand By Your Man*” spirit of Tammy Wynette, showed when they stood by Donald John Trump all the way from his 2016 presidential election, his two impeachments as President, his 2020 presidential election loss, his criminal and civil convictions, and on through to his victorious 2024 presidential reelection. Both Democrats and MAGA Republicans have an internal political loyalty problem they need to overcome. The problem difference is MAGA Republicans blindly follow the man, Trump, who delivered victory and defeat for them, and ask no questions. For Democrats, it was first asking the wrong question and then showing no political loyalty by refusing to follow the man, Biden, who delivered victory in 2020, and arguably was the only man who could have delivered victory in 2024, had he had MAGA-like political loyalty from Democrats. Had Democrats shown the proper amount of political loyalty to Biden, the question would never have been who Democrats should replace Biden with; the proper question would have been who should Democrats replace Kamala Harris with??? The failure of Democrats to ask the proper Kamala Harris question was not only a lack of political loyalty to Biden, but it also reflected the other component to Democrats’ internal problem they must overcome to achieve future election success, political correctness. Since Biden was achieving record stock market highs, historic low unemployment, passing historic bi-partisan legislation, maintaining peaceful relations with the world, and his only problem was Covid-related inflation, despite Republicans claiming “*Sleepy Joe*” was too old, out of touch, and not really running the federal government, no one repeat no one, was calling for Biden to resign or that his cabinet invoke the [25th Amendment](https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv?ref=europeans.today) and immediately remove him from office. How could anyone want Biden’s immediate resignation or removal because of his age, when, by traditional judgment standards, the Biden administration was making historic achievements? The only thing left for Republicans to do was poke the Democrats in their 2 vulnerable spots: 1) Since he looks, talks, and walks like an 80-year-old, how long will Biden’s current mental acuity last? 2) Raise questions about Kamala Harris’s leadership ability. Hence, one of the campaign slogans for the former 2024 Republican candidate for president, Nikki Haley, was, “*A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris*”. Since Biden’s age made many voters doubt his ability to serve out a 2nd 4-year term, American voters in 2024, for the first time in American political history, would have voted for or against President Biden based on who would be the Vice President to replace Biden if and when he had to resign for health reasons. Haley’s campaign slogan revealed a fact that political correctness either blinded or made Democrats fear acknowledging: a majority of Americans were never comfortable with Vice President Kamala Harris as President Kamala Harris!!! For reasons ranging from legitimate political ideological differences, voters didn’t take the time to know her, illegitimate political bias, sexism, racism, to I just don’t like the way she laughs, there were never a sufficient number of Democrat, Independent, and swing voters comfortable enough with Vice President Harris stepping in to replace a resigned or removed Joe Biden, much less elect her President. The most damaging negative against Harris was simply America not knowing of her brilliant leadership ability; she had only served in the U.S. Senate for 4 years with her only notable accomplishment being vigorously questioning Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh, only the state of California really knew her, which is why Republicans were successful at falsely portraying her to America in the 2024 election as a far-left transgender activist. Since the 1849 presidency of Zachary Taylor, America’s 12th President, there have been only two people with so little public service on the national level elected President: the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon Barack Obama, who also served only 4 years in the Senate with no notable accomplishments there before being elected President, and the nationally known business guru Donald Trump, who served no time in public service before being elected President. It appears high-profile Democrats George Clooney, James Carville, and Congressman James Clyburn, one of the Democrats who successfully persuaded Biden to pick Harris as Vice President, had doubts about Harris’s electability, but due to political correctness, were afraid to voice them or ask Harris to step aside. Because the successful [game-changing op-ed](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/opinion/joe-biden-democratic-nominee.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&ref=europeans.today) Clooney wrote, asking and forcing Biden to step down, did not call for Harris to step up. Carville [also called for Biden to step down](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4760440-carville-democrats-clinton-obama/?ref=europeans.today) and suggested Democrats should not nominate Harris to replace Biden, but instead follow [Clyburn’s suggestion](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4754731-clyburn-mini-primary-biden/?ref=europeans.today) of holding a mini Democrat Party primary to determine Biden’s replacement. All 3 of these Democrats appeared to have been looking for a politically correct way of saying they thought Harris would be a weak candidate. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw political correctness to the wind and released a [video](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4781905-ocasio-cortez-joe-biden-kamala-harris-democratic-elites-nominee/?ref=europeans.today), before Biden withdrew, stating that in the same back-room conversations among donors and Democratic Party “*elites*” about Biden stepping down, “*nobody*” is talking about Harris stepping up. According to the American Constitution, the position of Vice-President was created and exists for only one reason and has only one assigned duty: to immediately replace an ill or dead President of the United States. The fact that Democrats felt the need to even think or discuss who should replace Biden, when Harris was the sitting Vice President, means that there was widespread doubt about Harris’s electability among her fellow Democrats, and more importantly it means there was a preoccupation with political correctness about the first female and the first American Black elected Vice President, which blinded and prevented Democrats in 2024 from doing what Democrats did in 1944, make the hard and for many the politically incorrect decision to do what was best for maintaining political control of the White House. In 1944, Democrats, and everyone else who had been in his presence at the time, knew for a fact what Democrats in 2024 only suspected was a possibility. 1944 Democrats knew if their leader, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, were reelected in 1944, he would die before his 4-year term expired. In 2024, Democrats weren’t convinced Biden would die, but at the same time, they were almost certain his mental acuity would not last for another 4 years. Also, Democrats in 1944, like Democrats in 2024, had a historic first-time Vice President who was surrounded by questions about his electability to be president. Knowing that Roosevelt’s death was certain, and also knowing that his hand-picked Vice President Henry Wallace, a man Roosevelt liked and thought had served him well as Vice President, had electability issues 1944 Democrats, unlike 2024 Democrats, showed political loyalty to Roosevelt and disregarded the political correctness of Wallace being the first Democrat-Socialist elected Vice-President, [by forcing Wallace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944%5FDemocratic%5FParty%5Fvice%5Fpresidential%5Fcandidate%5Fselection?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=Roosevelt%20preferred%20Byrnes%20as%20the,the%201944%20Democratic%20National%20Convention.) to not run for reelection as Roosevelt’s vice president. 1944 Democrats, with no hesitation, disregarded any political correctness related to Wallace and replaced him with Harry Truman, a popular and nationally trusted U.S. Senator, to ensure the Democrat Party’s continued political control of the White House. Vice President Harris not having a nationally known brand among American voters is the reason why she was never electable as President in 2024\. The vote totals tell the story: [fewer women voted for her](https://19thnews.org/2024/11/harris-support-women-over-65/?ref=europeans.today) in 2024 than did vote for Biden in 2020\. It’s also the reason that Donald Trump was the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote, his 2024 popular vote total of [77,00,628](https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential%5Felection,%5F2024?ref=europeans.today) was over 2 million more popular votes than his losing 2020 vote total, but was over 4 million votes less than President Biden’s 2020 popular vote total of [81,282,632](https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential%5Felection,%5F2020?ref=europeans.today), lastly, it’s the reason why Kamala Harris’s 2024 popular vote total of [74,670,992](https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential%5Felection,%5F2024?ref=europeans.today) was less than 500,000 more votes than Trump’s losing 2020 popular vote total of [74, 223,234](https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential%5Felection,%5F2020?ref=europeans.today). Had 2024 Democrats been focused more on winning like the 1944 Democrats were, and less focused on doing the politically correct thing regarding the first female and the first American Black elected Vice President, like 1944 Democrats were less focused on doing what was politically correct regarding the first Democrat-Socialist elected Vice President, it was very possible Democrats could have won reelection in 2024 like Democrats won reelection in 1944\. Unfortunately, 2024 Democrats weren’t politically loyal and were too politically correct, which cost them the ultimate prize, political control of the White House. After overcoming their internal political loyalty and political correctness issues, Democrats must then focus on overcoming their external issue. Because all the major elections Democrats won last week had the issue of affordability as the common denominator responsible for their victories, Democrats now feel they have discovered the winning formula that will guarantee their future victories. Unfortunately for Democrats, long-term, running on the affordability platform will only guarantee spotty victories here and there across America, much like running on the repeal of abortion has produced only spotty victories here and there, and the amount of spotty wins for Democrats on affordability will depend heavily on how Republicans respond or do not respond to Democrats’ affordability offensive. The true game changer for Democrats that will generate the multiple wins of local, state, and national election victories necessary to govern again, will only happen when they address their external problem, it’s the same external problem which was the other common denominator that each one of last week’s winning Democratic candidates deftly avoided in their campaigns. Democrats not only won last week by focusing on affordability, they also won by not focusing on the main cultural issue that’s on the mind of every non-racist American White. Whether they admit it or not, any discussion of cultural issues for most American Whites is non-racist code for “*what does it mean that American Whites will no longer be the majority population in America*”? It’s the question Democrats are failing to provide the right answer to!!! It’s the external issue Democrats must confront and overcome; if they do not now or in the immediate future, winning back the White House will be impossible for at least the next 20 years. It’s the question that every new government policy, President Trump implements, every new executive order he issues, and all of his immigration policies are tailored to negatively manipulate. American White’s fear or anxiety over potential cultural or economic retaliation, due to racial population change in America. They all convey the same message: *American Whites, I am your protector against racial population change in America, and only I am willing to make America great again by keeping America culturally and majority white*. President Trump’s routine manipulation is to stoke an imaginary crisis that the future people-of-color population majority is seeking to replace or remove traditional American culture, then announce a new government policy or issue an executive order that prevents replacing or removing the threatened American culture. e.g., Last year, during his 2024 campaign for President, Trump [proclaimed](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-warns-languages-immigration-migrants-rcna141535?ref=europeans.today), “*We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language. These are languages; it’s the craziest thing, they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing*”. Ten days after being sworn as President, President Trump signed and issued [Executive Order 14224](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive%5FOrder%5F14224?ref=europeans.today#:~:text=Executive%20Order%2014224%2C%20titled%20Designating,rights%20and%20is%20largely%20symbolic.), titled Designating English as the Official Language of the United States. Instead of Democrats proposing any policies, executive orders, or immigration laws, Democrats have a habit of implying racist intent in the heart or mind of American Whites who express fear or anxiety over racial population change. While it’s true that 10-15% of American Whites do have racist feelings about American Whites losing their majority population status, nothing could be further from the truth for the remaining 90-85% of American Whites. 3 scientific studies of both American Whites and Canadian Whites, a [study](https://groups.psych.northwestern.edu/spcl/documents/Craig%5FRichesonPS%5Fupdatedversion.pdf?ref=europeans.today) of American Whites led by Professor Maureen Craig of Duke University, a [study](https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/01/fear-majority-minority-changes-perceptions-race?ref=europeans.today) of American Whites led by Professor Amy Krosch of Cornell University, and a [study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21844094/?ref=europeans.today) of Canadian Whites led by Professor H. Robert Outten of Trinity College, all concluded and proved that as the white population decreases and people of color population increases it creates great non-racist anxiety among both American Whites and Canadian Whites. All 3 studies demonstrate that the anxiety is not the traditional racial prejudice, of whites fearing the end of society because inferior or sub-human people of color are becoming the majority population, or MAGA’s [Great Replacement Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great%5FReplacement?ref=europeans.today). The 2 American studies reveal that the American White anxiety is over how a new people-of-color majority in America will racially treat a new American White minority population. Not an unreasonable fear or anxiety to have in a nation where, just a little over 60 years ago, before the Civil Rights Movement, the color of one’s skin determined one’s fate, a person of the Jewish faith had to [change their Jewish-sounding surname](https://thecjn.ca/arts/books-and-authors/an-intriguing-look-at-the-history-of-jewish-name-changing/?ref=europeans.today) to avoid religious persecution and discrimination, and American citizens where placed [in concentration camps](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japanese-american-incarceration?ref=europeans.today) during World War II simply because of their Japanese ancestry. In Professor Craig’s study, she had a group of American White participants read a summary from the U.S. Census Bureau projecting that American Whites would soon become a minority population. After reading this, the group showed a greater preference for their racial group, responding positively to statements like “*I would rather work alongside people of my same ethnic origin*”, and they felt less warm feelings toward other races. According to Craig, the results suggest that “*a sense of a zero-sum competition between groups is activated*,” when people hear about the rise of one group, they automatically fear it will mean a decline in their own. Craig found that exposure to the census report caused American Whites to be more politically conservative on a variety of policies like affirmative action, immigration, defense spending, and health care reform. But most importantly, Craig discovered that these shifts were not just limited to American Whites who believe in white supremacy, as co-author of the study, Yale psychologist Professor Jennifer Richeson says, “*The point is that people who think of themselves as not prejudiced and liberal demonstrate these threat effects*”. Democrats can start addressing the fear and anxiety by making it clear to American Whites that the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles and programs Democrats promote are not only designed to protect, enhance, and include only some people of color, but the DEI programs Democrats promote benefit American Whites as well because American Whites are people-of-color too, the white color!!! DEI programs do not confront or stop racism and discrimination; that’s the job of the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. DEI has nothing to do with who is hired or who is fired; that’s the job of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or, in the private sector, a human resource manager. The purpose of DEI is to foster an environment or create a government policy where all races, cultures, genders, religions, ages, political affiliations, and sexual orientations are both respected and included. President Trump falsely presents DEI as something designed to exclude or replace American Whites. Democrats must make it clear to American Whites that President Trump is misleading them because the ultimate goal of DEI is 100% INCLUSION of all individuals regardless of race, religion, no religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or age. The concept of exclusion or replacement is antithetical to the DNA of true Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Democrats might also consider following President Trump’s lead on making English America’s official language. It would be a small price to pay, which would ease the anxiety of many American Whites who are noticing the growing number of TV commercials for traditional American products that are filmed in America, broadcast on American public, cable, or streaming platforms but are spoken in a language they don’t understand, and it would also indicate to anxious American Whites that no matter how many Bad Bunny’s [perform](https://www.nfl.com/news/commissioner-roger-goodell-bad-bunny-s-super-bowl-halftime-show-not-being-reconsidered?ref=europeans.today) an American Super Bowl halftime show in a foreign language, there are some American cultural traditions, such as what language indicates American citizenship, that will never change regardless of which race, religion, or ethnicity is America’s majority population. In 20th-century America, jim crow racism legally and spiritually denied American Blacks access to the American Dream. It wasn’t until the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which made American Blacks’ inclusion in the American Dream a legal requirement, that American Blacks felt the American Dream included them. In 21st-century America, American Whites, primarily due to anxiety over future racial majority population change and lack of federal government trust, fear their traditional inclusion and access to the American Dream will be taken from them. If Democrats want to win again, like President Trump, their politics and policies must address the fear or anxiety that the changing racial demographics are having on non-racist American Whites. But unlike President Trump’s politics and policies, which evoke the negative emotional and psychological fear of racial population change, Democrats’ politics and policies must evoke the positive emotional and psychological hope of cultural inclusion due to racial population change. Failure of Democrats to do so will mean increasing numbers of American Whites who are experiencing anxiety or fear will hold their noses, suppress their misgivings over the economy, ignore what they know in their hearts to be un-American, and vote MAGA every time! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### \[ Europeans TODAY \] ### Today’s Papers 📰 16 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/16/todays-papers-16-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-17T01:44:40.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086794.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086796.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 15 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/15/todays-papers-15-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-15T18:21:40.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086355.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086351.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086354.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086356.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 📊 Westminster Voting Intention URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/14/westminster-voting-intention-14-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-15T01:36:52.000Z The following chart displays the voting intention percentages for the next general election in the UK (expected to take place in 2029). It is updated regularly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/10/parties-2.png) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/Westminster-Voting-Intentions.jpg)](https://www.europeans.today/westminster-voting-intention/) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### Today’s Papers 📰 14 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/14/todays-papers-14-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-15T17:51:00.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086345.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000086339.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 13 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/13/todays-papers-13-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-14T00:39:16.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085671.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085676.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085679.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Why has the BBC’s director general resigned and what could happen next? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/12/why-has-the-bbcs-director-general-resigned-and-what-could-happen-next/ Last updated: 2025-11-13T03:50:33.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 BBC chiefs Tim Davie and Deborah Turness resigned after a leaked bias memo. 🔹 Panorama edited Trump’s 6 January speech, implying a call to violence. 🔹 Samir Shah apologised for error of judgement; Trump threatened $1bn lawsuit. 🔹 The two resignations intensify the debate on BBC impartiality and leadership succession before the 2027 charter. J ust when the *BBC* should have been basking in its success at the record 12 million viewers who watched the *Celebrity Traitors* finale, the corporation has been brought to its knees. Tim Davie, *BBC* director general, and Deborah Turness, the CEO of news, resigned following a leaked memo concerning alleged bias in *BBC* programming. The memo, written last May by Michael Prescott, then independent advisor to the *BBC*’s editorial standards committee, [raised](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/06/read-devastating-internal-bbc-memo-in-full/?ref=europeans.today) a number of concerns about alleged bias in the *BBC*’s coverage of transgender issues, and alleged anti-Israel bias in the *BBC* Arabic service. But the key issue appears to have been in the editing of a 2024 *Panorama* documentary titled [*Trump: A Second Chance?*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024h6r?ref=europeans.today) In the documentary, two different sections from President Donald Trump’s speech on the day of the January 6 2021 riots had been spliced together into one clip, which could have led viewers to conclude that Trump was calling on protesters to carry out the riot. Trump is now [threatening to sue](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/bbc-news-says-it-received-legal-threat-trump-over-speech-edit-2025-11-10/?ref=europeans.today) the corporation. In the past week, [the *Telegraph* has repeatedly](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/search/?q=BBC&ref=europeans.today) accused the *BBC* of institutional bias. The broadcasters’s lack of public response, other than to declare that it did not comment on leaked information, was totally inadequate in the face of such an onslaught. But while *BBC* supporters looked on aghast, internally, *BBC* news staff were attempting to respond. [According to *Today* presenter Nick Robinson](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lzv3?ref=europeans.today), *BBC* news executives had “agreed the wording of a press release” explaining that the programme should have made clear an edit had been made, but that at no point was there any “intention to mislead the audience”. The *BBC* board refused to sign off on this statement, and the *BBC* was left looking like it was keeping schtum for possibly nefarious purposes. The [*BBC*’s chairman, Samir Shah,](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd9kqz1yyxkt?post=asset%3A10e36af9-1371-4a59-9b41-990e6be0634e&ref=europeans.today#post) has now finally delivered a statement apologising for an “error of judgement”. He said that the *BBC* had discussed the corporation’s US election coverage and: “We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.” Meanwhile, *BBC* journalists in Washington had to front up at the White House where [Trump has declared](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3vn25d5dq7o?ref=europeans.today) that *BBC* journalists “are very dishonest people”. Trump has now threatened to [sue the *BBC*](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd9kqz1yyxkt?ref=europeans.today) for $1 billion if they do not retract the documentary. As [Shah has noted](https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2025/nov/10/bbc-tim-davie-resigns-bias-panorama-donald-trump-latest-news-updates?CMP=share%5Fbtn%5Furl&page=with%3Ablock-6911e9978f08d3736687b12b&ref=europeans.today#block-6911e9978f08d3736687b12b), Trump is “a litigious fellow”. In July, *Paramount* settled [a prospective lawsuit](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jul/02/paramount-settles-with-trump-for-16m-over-60-minutes-interview-with-kamala-harris?ref=europeans.today) for US$16 million (£12.1 million) after Trump made a “false editing” accusation against *60 Minutes* over an edit on a Kamala Harris interview headline during the last election campaign. Last year he also secured [a US$15 million payment](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrw57q4y9do?ref=europeans.today) from *ABC News* as part-settlement in a defamation case against that network. It is hard to imagine a scenario where the *BBC* would settle a dispute with the US government for cash. But with Trump, one never knows if his posturing might lead a media company to fold. For the *BBC*, this is a decisive own goal. ### Internal politics [Turness acknowledged](https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2025/nov/10/bbc-tim-davie-resigns-bias-panorama-donald-trump-latest-news-updates?ref=europeans.today) the mistake in the Trump edit, but was clear that the *BBC* was not institutionally biased. Some critics, however, have pointed the finger at the *BBC*’s own internal political challenges. Among them is David Yelland, a former editor of the *Sun* who now presents a *BBC* podcast. He [called](https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m002lzv3?ref=europeans.today) Turness and Davie’s resignations a “coup”, [attributing](https://x.com/davidyelland/status/1987599144140042465?ref=europeans.today) it to alleged political bias on the *BBC* board. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/twitter-00480-.jpg) X/[DAVID YELLAND](https://x.com/davidyelland/status/1987599144140042465?ref=europeans.today) Alongside this drama, *BBC* journalists such as Nick Robinson, David Sillito and Katie Razzall are carrying out a thorough job of examining the chaos. There have been arguments in the industry that the *BBC*’s current problems have often been down to outsourcing production. The *BBC* and the *iPlayer* have both cited *October Films* as having made this programme, in conjunction with the corporation. However, the exact nature of this collaboration remains unclear. Nonetheless, outsourcing production doesn’t outsource editorial checking, which should have been exhaustive in the case of this *Panorama* programme. ### What’s next? The *BBC* must now recruit two high-level executives, just as it should be readying for its 2027 royal charter renewal (major talks over the broadcaster’s future and funding). According to the *Today* programme, the top contenders are three women: *Apple*’s Jay Hunt, former *Channel 4* CEO Alex Mahon and former *BBC* chief content officer Charlotte Moore. But these are early days. Some commentators will no doubt call for a “*BBC* cleanskin” so as to not be tainted by present controversies. But is this wise when the person will be called on to lead such a vastly complex and sprawling media organisation? Tim Davie had no background in journalism before becoming director general, and Deborah Turness had never worked for the *BBC* before. The new broom may have to handle similar disputes to those over Gary Lineker’s social media posts or Bob Vylan’s anti-Israel Defense Forces [chants](https://theconversation.com/bob-vylan-glastonbury-complaints-upheld-heres-what-viewers-complain-to-ofcom-and-the-bbc-about-most-266726?ref=europeans.today) at Glastonbury. Perhaps this should be the role of a deputy director, a post that used to exist at the *BBC* until recently. It is worth remembering that the most important commodity in journalism is trust. To that end, the *BBC* continues to top the charts in the UK, according to the annual [*Reuters Digital News Report*](https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2025/united-kingdom?ref=europeans.today). The *BBC* houses some of the best journalists and news programming available today. The poor handling of this crisis puts all of their reputations at stake. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Trump: A Second Chance?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024h6r?ref=europeans.today) (Documentary) | BBC - ###### [BBC News says it received legal threat from Trump over speech edit](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/bbc-news-says-it-received-legal-threat-trump-over-speech-edit-2025-11-10/?ref=europeans.today) | REUTERS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-has-the-bbcs-director-general-resigned-and-what-could-happen-next-269408?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 12 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Zydrius Tartenis](https://www.dreamstime.com/tartezy%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269408/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 12 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/12/todays-papers-12-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-13T03:17:14.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085425.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085421.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Why has Sudan descended into mass slaughter? The answer goes far beyond simple ethnic conflict URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/11/why-has-sudan-descended-into-mass-slaughter-the-answer-goes-far-beyond-simple-ethnic-conflict/ Last updated: 2025-11-12T02:41:45.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The capture of El Fasher by the paramilitary brings credible reports of massacres and atrocities. 🔹 The paramilitary’s roots lie in Sudan’s state-sponsored Janjaweed militia and systemic exclusion. 🔹 Hemedti’s rise reflects Sudan’s violent political order and deep regional inequalities. 🔹 The conflict stems from power struggles, not ethnicity, worsened by foreign interference. T he recent capture of the western Sudanese city of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been followed by allegations of appalling war crimes: massacres, looting, and rapes. There is much reason to believe the allegations from [Sudan](https://theconversation.com/topics/sudan-3007?ref=europeans.today) are credible. [UN leaders](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/30/un-leaders-condemn-horrifying-mass-killings-in-sudan?ref=europeans.today) [and experts](https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/11/sudan-un-experts-appalled-reports-mass-atrocities-unlawful-killings-and?ref=europeans.today), most [Western governments](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-condemning-atrocities-and-violations-of-international-humanitarian-law-in-sudan?ref=europeans.today) and the [International Criminal Court](https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-office-prosecutor-situation-el-fasher-north-darfur?ref=europeans.today) have acknowledged reports of the atrocities and condemned the killing of civilians as potential war crimes. Formerly a government-sponsored militia, since April 2023, the RSF [has been at war](https://theconversation.com/sudan-civil-war-despite-appearances-this-is-not-a-failed-state-yet-254216?ref=europeans.today) with its former allies in the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). Throughout its existence, the RSF has been notorious for violence, and every RSF military success has been [accompanied by gross violations of human rights](https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/10/sudan-war-crimes-south-kordofan?ref=europeans.today). Less credible are the claims of the RSF leader, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo – better known in Sudan as Hemedti – who has [promised to punish](https://www.sudanindependent.net/news/politics/2025/10/30/Sudan-Hemedti-Forms-Inquiry-C?ref=europeans.today) any of his followers found to be responsible for any of these atrocities. Recent reporting of these terrible abuses has presented them as part of an ethnic conflict, with the RSF portrayed as an [Arab militia murdering non-Arabs](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20pezegv1zo?ref=europeans.today). There is much truth in this. But there are other drivers of the [continuing violence in Sudan](https://theconversation.com/topics/sudan-3007?ref=europeans.today). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000478-min.jpg) The continuing violence in Sudan. | UNSPLASH/[RANDY FATH](https://unsplash.com/@randyfath?ref=europeans.today) The RSF itself is the terrible creation of a history of [state-driven violence, exclusion and opportunism in Sudan](https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/sites/default/files/resources/SAS-HSBA-Briefing-Paper-2025-RSF-EN.pdf?ref=europeans.today). Its origins are usually traced to the [infamous Janjaweed](https://theconversation.com/explainer-tracing-the-history-of-sudans-janjaweed-militia-118926?ref=europeans.today), a militia drawn from Arab communities that was armed by the then-president of Sudan, [Omar al-Bashir](https://www.icc-cpi.int/darfur/albashir?ref=europeans.today), to suppress an insurgency in the region early in the 21st century. In raising the Janjaweed, Bahir’s regime exploited tensions between Arabs and other communities in Darfur, a large region of western Sudan region of which El Fasher is the historical capital. It was therefore tempting for audiences in North America and Europe to see the conflict – like the long-running war in what was then southern Sudan (now the independent country of South Sudan) in simple racial terms: Arabs against Africans. That narrative has given strength to the international campaign to end the violence in Darfur. But that narrative was always [a simplification](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0002716210378631?ref=europeans.today), and certainly does not explain the current war. The RSF also has other origins. It exploited a long-term sense of economic and political exclusion felt by people in Darfur – both Arabs and non-Arabs. It fed off and was partly funded by [an international trade in livestock, gold and mercenaries](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vn17r29v9o?ref=europeans.today) that has thrived on the margins of a state whose leaders have ruthlessly used office to prey on their people. And it arose in a political system that has rewarded those who seize office by violence, partly thanks to the meddling of external powers who seek political or economic gain by supporting rivals for power in Sudan. ### Rise of Hemedti Hemedti was a relatively minor figure in the Janjaweed. But Bashir created the RSF in 2013, under his leadership, as part of a complicated balancing of multiple militias and security agencies. These competing forces violently repressed challenges to the regime while keeping one another in check through their rivalry. In 2019, that system broke down in the face of popular unrest in the regime’s political heartland, in central riverain Sudan – the area stretching along the Nile, roughly from Atbara, north of Khartoum to Wad Medani, about 85 miles to the southeast. This has been the [economic centre of Sudan](https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6cba3331-02f2-4ae9-af12-ce697e4dd5c8/files/rv979v447b?ref=europeans.today) since colonial rule began. ![Map of Sudan showing regions.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/701490/original/file-20251110-56-pbdvg6.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip) Sudan: Power has traditionally been focused on the central region around the Nile. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/[PETER FITZGERALD](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sudan%5Fregions%5Fmap.png?ref=europeans.today), [CC BY](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/?ref=europeans.today) Bashir was [toppled in a military coup](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47852496?ref=europeans.today) and, after internal army power struggles, Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan emerged as leader and named Hemedti as his deputy. The pair were key figures in the “transitional” government that was supposed to take Sudan back to civilian rule. But they represented very different constituencies, in a way that demonstrates that Arab identity can take many forms. Affluent urban Arabs from Khartoum have often looked down on the nomadic lifestyle of the communities Hemedti and the RSF have mobilised and sometimes belittle them as “Chadian” on account of their ties to the wider Sahelian region. Arabs from Darfur, such as Hemedti, can see themselves as long-term victims of what they call the [“1956 state”](https://ecfr.eu/publication/split-decision-why-sudan-is-on-the-brink-of-partition-again/?ref=europeans.today). This is the political and economic system inherited from colonial rule, which favoured the riverain centre. Both Hemedti and Burhan insist that they are fighting for all Sudan, and all Sudanese. Yet both have been entirely willing to appeal to ethnic and religious sentiment when it suits them. That has repeatedly added an extra, vicious dynamic to the conflict – from the recent massacres in El Fasher to the reported violence against people from South Sudan in Khartoum when SAF [recaptured the city](https://acleddata.com/report/two-years-war-sudan-how-saf-gaining-upper-hand?ref=europeans.today) in March 2025. ### The real reasons for the conflict Ethnicity is not the basis of the conflict. This instead lies in an embedded culture of political violence, complicated by a shifting power balance between central and western Sudan and by international meddling. Some Arab nations – particularly [Egypt and Saudi Arabia](https://www.steptoe.com/en/news-publications/stepwise-risk-outlook/the-sudan-war-enters-a-new-phase-implications-for-global-security.html?ref=europeans.today) – back the army. While the UAE’s enabling of RSF violence has been widely [publicised](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-conflict-whos-backing-rival-commanders-2023-05-03/?ref=europeans.today), prominent [African](https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2025-02-19-diplomatic-tiff-looms-as-kenya-hosts-sudans-hemedti-group?ref=europeans.today) governments have also [maintained ties with Hemedti](https://africanarguments.org/2024/02/how-the-uae-kept-the-sudan-war-raging/?ref=europeans.today). Hemedti has also made alliances of convenience with groups such as [SPLM-North Hilu](https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/nuba-hopes-and-fears-south-kordofan/SPLM-N-Al-Hilu-mobilization?ref=europeans.today), which principally draws support from the non-Arab communities in the southern Sudanese region of South Kordofan and, like Hemedti, aims to dismantle the “1956 state”. For Sudanese observers, the tension between central and western Sudan is more recognisable. Both before and after his role in the 2023 ransacking of Khartoum, Hemedti has been [compared with the Khalifa](https://theconversation.com/sudan-conflict-hemedti-the-warlord-who-built-a-paramilitary-force-more-powerful-than-the-state-203949?ref=europeans.today) – the western Sudanese successor to Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi. It was al-Mahdi who [defeated the British and the Egyptians](https://www.thoughtco.com/mahdist-war-siege-of-khartoum-2361378?ref=europeans.today) to found the Mahdist state in the late 19th century. Since the 1950s, those seeking to seize control of the Sudanese state have [repeatedly mobilised support](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17531055.2023.2280933?ref=europeans.today) among disaffected groups in western Sudan – sometimes combining Arab and non-Arab communities, sometimes turning them against one another. Hemedti’s claims to represent the marginalised communities of the west are opportunistic and mendacious, but far from unprecedented. This war is not a simple Arab-African conflict. But its viciousness reflects the willingness of both RSF and SAF to turn multiple societal fault lines into tools for mobilisation. They have created a context in which ethnic polarisation has been driven by wars for control of the state – rather than vice versa. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/why-has-sudan-descended-into-mass-slaughter-the-answer-goes-far-beyond-simple-ethnic-conflict-269293?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Suburbanium](https://www.dreamstime.com/suburbanium%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269293/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### UK newspapers publish more ads for polluting products than climate coverage URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/11/uk-newspapers-publish-more-ads-for-polluting-products-than-climate-coverage/ Last updated: 2025-11-11T03:59:52.000Z --- ###### by [ELLEN ORMESHER](https://www.desmog.com/user/ellen-ormesher/?ref=europeans.today) — Reporter with interests across climate, culture, and industry. Former senior reporter at *The Drum*. **What you need to know** 🔹 Study finds ads for polluting industries outweighed COP29 coverage over threefold. 🔹 Researchers measured 5,086 advertising inches versus 1,745 inches on coverage. 🔹 Travel promotions were dominated by cruises and packages during the conference period. 🔹 Experts urged tobacco style ad controls as COP30 begins in Belém. B ritish national [newspapers](https://www.desmog.com/2024/10/29/the-telegraph-ramps-up-anti-climate-coverage-ed-miliband-during-labour-early-months/?ref=europeans.today) devoted more than triple the space to [advertising](https://www.desmog.com/2025/11/06/why-the-uk-advertising-industry-remains-in-climate-denial/?ref=europeans.today) polluting industries such as oil, airlines, and [sports utility vehicles](https://www.desmog.com/2023/11/22/uk-advertising-watchdog-bans-toyota-suv-ads-on-environmental-grounds/?ref=europeans.today) than they did to covering last year’s United Nations climate talks, according to a [new study](https://www.newweather.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Promoting%5FPollution%5FBefore%5Freporting-%5Fthe%5Fclimate.pdf?ref=europeans.today). Total high-carbon advertising — including for fossil fuel companies, cruises, and banks financing oil and gas – amounted to 5,086 column inches on two key dates during 2024’s COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, relative to 1,745 column inches for the negotiations themselves. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000476b-min.jpg) EUROPEANS TODAY With the next round of talks, known as [COP30](https://www.desmog.com/2025-cop30-climate-summit/?ref=europeans.today), getting underway in Belém, Brazil, newspapers will likely repeat the pattern, warned Andrew Simms, co-director of the *New Weather Institute* think tank, which conducted the [research](https://www.newweather.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Promoting%5FPollution%5FBefore%5Freporting-%5Fthe%5Fclimate.pdf?ref=europeans.today). “What will people in the UK see when they open their newspapers? A handful of stories warning them that there is an urgent challenge that must be addressed, but that will likely be drowned out by at least three times the amount of advertising normalising pollution,” Simms said. “We need tobacco-style controls on ads that promote polluting products.” The research examined coverage in ten British national newspapers, including the *Times*, the *Sun* and the *Daily Mail*, on November 11, the opening day of the Baku talks, and November 25, the morning after the conference ended and when coverage peaked. The ten papers dedicated an average of 2.1 percent of their editorial space to the conference. Some of the newspapers carried almost no mention of major climate impacts at the time, such as the floods in Valencia, Spain or Storm Bert in the UK. Cruises and package holidays dominated travel advertising during the same period, accounting for 50 percent of travel promotions. The *Financial Times* was the only paper that carried no travel ads during the period, publishing 55.7 percent of the COP29 coverage across all papers. The *Guardian*, which has not accepted advertising from fossil fuel companies since 2020, published a full-page advertisement for *Turkish Airlines* on one of the key conference dates, the study found. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000476-min-1.jpg) COP30 is underway in Belém, Brazil. | DREAMSTIME/[KORWEN](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today) U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has [called](https://www.desmog.com/2024/06/05/un-chief-calls-for-ban-on-fossil-fuel-advertising/?ref=europeans.today) on countries to ban fossil fuel advertising and urged news media and tech companies to stop running the ads. “The public are being told by reporters that climate scientists are warning that we must stop burning fossil fuels, but those who still buy print newspapers are bombarded with adverts suggesting everyone else is enjoying long-haul flights and luxury cruises,” said Brendan Montague, the study’s author and editor of *The Ecologist*. *The Times*, the *Sun*, the *Daily Mail*, and *The Guardian* did not respond to requests for comment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Promoting pollution before reporting the climate](https://www.newweather.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Promoting%5FPollution%5FBefore%5Freporting-%5Fthe%5Fclimate.pdf?ref=europeans.today) (PDF) | NEW WEATHER INSTITUTE ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [DeSmog](https://www.desmog.com/2025/11/08/uk-newspapers-publish-more-ads-for-polluting-products-than-climate-coverage/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 November 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Mathieu Compin](https://www.dreamstime.com/mauricenorbert%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 11 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/11/todays-papers-11-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-13T02:24:30.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085399.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000085395.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 10 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/10/todays-papers-10-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-10T20:55:50.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000084562.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000084566.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000084583.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Today’s Papers 📰 9 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/09/todays-papers-9-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-09T12:44:22.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000084268.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000084271.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Elon Musk’s $1-trillion Tesla pay package explained URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/08/elon-musks-1-trillion-tesla-pay-package-explained/ Last updated: 2025-11-08T02:42:00.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Tesla shareholders approved Elon Musk’s record $1 trillion compensation package with 75% support. 🔹 The plan grants Musk 424 million shares, requiring extreme growth and performance milestones. 🔹 Norway’s sovereign wealth fund opposed the package, citing size, dilution, and leadership concerns. 🔹 Musk argued the deal ensures his control and commitment to Tesla’s long-term innovations. W ill they or won’t they? That was main question going into Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting on November 6 that was centered around a shareholder vote on a new compensation package for long-time CEO Elon Musk, a package potentially worth an unprecedented $1 trillion. The answer was a resounding yes. Despite some vocal opposition, the proposal passed with over 75% approval, Tesla said. The new pay package, unveiled by Tesla’s board of directors in September, grants Musk up to 424 million additional shares to take his stake in the company to around 25%. For Musk to earn the full payout, though, he has to help Tesla reach several highly ambitious, borderline impossible goals. For each of the 12 equally sized tranches of stock grants, the board has set a market capitalization milestone, which must be paired with the achievement of one of 12 operational milestones, which include certain EBITDA goals as well as delivery targets. Tesla must pass all of these milestones, while growing to a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion for the proposed package to reach the widely reported value of $1 trillion – a scenario that seems highly unlikely from today’s point of view. While Tesla’s board of directors believes that the proposed compensation plan would “incentivize Elon to focus his energies on Tesla”, something that hasn’t always been the case in the past, there was some pushback against the unprecedented scale of the potential payout. Just days ahead of the vote, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of Tesla’s largest shareholders with a 1.2%% stake in the company, announced that it would vote against the proposed compensation package, citing concerns “about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk.” During Tesla’s last earnings call in late October, Elon Musk had made the case for his new pay package, arguing it was more about influence than it was about money for him. “It’s called compensation, but it’s not like I’m going to go spend the money,” Musk said. With respect to Tesla’s work on humanoid robots, Musk said he wouldn’t be comfortable continuing that work if he feared losing control over it. “If I go ahead and build this enormous robot army, can I just be ousted at some point in the future? That’s my biggest concern,” he said. Musk currently holds a 13% stake in the company, which, in his opinion, doesn’t give him enough control. In his own words, Musk wants “enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane,” a sweet spot that he sees met under the new compensation plan. The shareholders did their part, now it’s up to Musk to deliver on the ambitious goals laid out in the plan. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/image.png) The proposed CEO compensation plan for Elon Musk at Tesla, which could be worth up to $1 trillion. | STATISTA ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Elon Musk could become world's first trillionaire in new Tesla compensation plan](https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/11/07/elon-musk-could-become-historys-first-trillionaire-as-tesla-shareholders-approve-giant-pay?ref=europeans.today) | EURONEWS - ###### [Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar payday](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/07/elon-musk-tesla-pay-package-trillion/?ref=europeans.today) | WASHINGTON POST - ###### [Elon Musk's $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyk6kvyxvzo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Statista](https://www.statista.com/chart/35415/elon-musk-proposed-1-trillion-pay-package-at-tesla/?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 7 November 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ By Felix Richter, Data Journalist at Statista. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Pimpam Pix](https://www.dreamstime.com/mcdebbiealbor%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ### Today’s Papers 📰 8 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/08/todays-papers-8-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-08T17:57:43.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000083954.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000083967.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Noblesse oblige? Arc de Trump? Hunger in America? URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/07/noblesse-oblige-arc-de-trump-hunger-in-america/ Last updated: 2025-11-08T03:38:24.000Z T he President of the United States literally is playing with the lives of the country that elected him. From withholding food assistance to the 42 million people who need it, to forcing airlines to cancel flights because air controllers are working without the promise of pay, to murdering people in boats, to threatening war with Nigeria and Venezuela, to putting untrained immigration enforcement people and troops on the streets of American cities, to roughing up even American citizens (am I leaving anything out?), more American lives are at risk today than the day he was sworn in. I don’t think that’s how our democracy is supposed to work. Meantime, despite promising to lower prices on Day One, food and other daily costs are increasing while the President is building homages to himself (an arc de Trump?). He’s cut the legs out from under one of the great performing arts centers in the world. He is gilding the People’s House in gold, building a ballroom that everyday Americans will never be inside for events. He’s whining about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize he hasn’t earned while he threatens violence against other countries and wants to start nuclear testing again (so, maybe he gets it next year?). Does anyone think he has really solved the Middle East problem except him? Rather than demonstrating leadership as the country goes through the longest government shutdown in history, he proposes the Senate does away with its filibuster so a simple majority can adopt his desires to force more spending cuts, to stop our free elections. Instead of providing leadership to solve the shutdown he wants to change the rules so he can win. Same as he wants to change the election laws, how redistricting is done and, even today, is hinting (I am being nice) that Ukraine cannot win its war with Russia, rather than having solved it in less than 24 hours, as he promised. He, therefore, wants to face life as he has for the last roughly 80 years – with a silver spoon in his mouth, getting his way by force of threat. He wants his easy life to continue as he “leads” what has been the most important country in history. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000475c-min.jpg) Trump wants to continue getting his way by force of threat. | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54906382493?ref=europeans.today) This week, he experienced an election where he was rebuffed by voters from the East to the West. Swing voters shifted back against him. Not that it bothers him – he isn’t running again. But you’ll witness the chill among House and Senate members who see their elections not automatic anymore, as voters exercise free will and vote in their best interests, not the President’s best interest. The bully tactics don’t work in a free society forever. Only as long as life is good or at least tolerable for the people the government is supposed to serve. People going hungry in the USA? Unheard of. But it’s beginning as the President fights against them as he ignores and appeals court orders that leave those who need help not knowing where or how their next meal is coming from, as SNAP goes on hiatus and food kitchens will suffer alack of stock shortly. The President can, until he’s gold in the face, bluster that prices are down but they aren’t. And we all know that because we pay the bills. He doesn’t, nor does he even care that there are people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from or if they can pay their energy bill, mortgage or rent. It can’t even really be called [*noblesse oblige*](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/noblesse-oblige?ref=europeans.today). The President just doesn’t care. A guest fainted during a presidential press conference yesterday. What was the President’s reaction? He stood there. Did nothing. Didn’t even call for help. Because he doesn’t know how to show care or empathy for anyone other than himself. Or to provide needed help. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [What we know about White House plans for an 'Arc de Trump'](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy7e8lv176go?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Trump's plans to restart nuclear testing likely won't produce any mushroom clouds, experts say](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-plans-to-restart-nuclear-testing-experts/?ref=europeans.today) | CBS NEWS - ###### [Trump claims his three-word plan would set up GOP to ‘never lose another election’ — despite Tuesday’s blue tsunami losses](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-republican-election-plan-2028-b2861085.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Trump says he can end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. Russia’s UN ambassador says he can’t](https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893?ref=europeans.today) | AP NEWS - ###### ['Desperate, Frustrated, Angry': Latinos Are The Swing Voters At The Center Of American Politics](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/desperate-frustrated-angry-latinos-are-the-swing-voters-at-the-center-of-american-politics%5Fn%5F690c1f6fe4b094b50cf824c0?ref=europeans.today) | HUFFPOST - ###### [SNAP benefit delays could mean millions go hungry - despite Americans wasting almost $400 billion of food a year](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/snap-delays-hunger-food-waste-b2857058.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [New York Post editorial board says Trump sounds like Biden on affordability](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5595698-trump-criticized-affordability-inflation/?ref=europeans.today) | THE HILL - ###### [Trump's bright view of the economy doesn't match what voters are seeing](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-bright-view-economy-doesnt-match-voters-say-seeing-rcna242093?ref=europeans.today) | NBC NEWS - ###### [Trump's Boast Of A Golden White House 'Freak Out' Backfires Spectacularly](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trumps-boast-of-a-golden-white-house-freak-out-backfires-spectacularly%5Fuk%5F68da15dee4b0d196a63ee77e?ref=europeans.today) | HUFFPOST - ###### [Man Collapses Behind Trump During Oval Office Announcement](https://www.newsweek.com/oval-office-medical-emergency-fainted-donald-trump-announcement-11005516?ref=europeans.today) | NEWSWEEK - ###### [WATCH: White House Guest Faints During Oval Office Event, Trump Says Man 'Is Fine'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRdwW9qfdyY&ref=europeans.today) (YouTube) | THE HILL ### \[ Europeans TODAY \] ### The psychology of generation Alpha URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/07/the-psychology-of-generation-alpha/ Last updated: 2025-11-08T02:27:26.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Generation Alpha is highly digital and globally numerous. 🔹 Millennial parents transmit inclusivity and resilience amid stress, finances, and technoference. 🔹 Digital immersion expands learning yet heightens risks, misinformation, and epistemic mistrust. 🔹 Inequality, gender gaps, and progressive values define Alpha’s diverse global experience. G eneration Alpha is the largest generation ever. Totalling two billion children, it encompasses anybody currently aged 0-15 years old – those born [between 2010 and 2025](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44217-024-00218-3?ref=europeans.today). This is the first fully digitally native generation, with many children already achieving unprecedented levels of digital literacy. It is predicted they will become the [most educated](https://doi.org/10.13187/ejced.2021.3.783?ref=europeans.today) generation in history: 90% are expected to complete secondary school worldwide, compared with 80% of Gen Z. However, Gen Alpha children also inherit an increasingly precarious world, characterised by global uncertainties, housing shortages and climate change. It’s such a radical departure from what came before that this generation takes its name from the first letter of the Greek alphabet – unlike the Gen Xs, Ys and Zs, whose letters come from our own (Latin) alphabet. As developmental psychologists, we might ask what this new world means for Gen Alpha’s psychological development. How might it influence their experiences, interests and values? A good starting point is to look at their parents: the millennials (Gen Y). From these 30- and 40-somethings, the Gen Alphas are inheriting support for values such as inclusivity, adaptability and digital confidence, but also the tendency in some areas to boycott people whose words or actions are deemed offensive. Millennials also [report poorer](https://vb.nweurope.eu/media/11341/millennials%5Fgenz-and-mental-health%5Fglobal-survey%5Fdeloitte2020.pdf?ref=europeans.today) [mental health](https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2303781120?ref=europeans.today) than previous generations, and at least in [many western countries](https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/06/mapping-trends-and-gaps-in-household-wealth-across-oecd-countries%5F37e92f18/4bb6ec53-en.pdf?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) they are facing in some ways a more challenging financial situation. Facing this adversity may mean that millennial parents are uniquely well placed to build their children’s resilience. Encouragingly, millennial fathers show unprecedented levels of commitment to being [involved in parenting](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0038038506062036?casa%5Ftoken=O7DOcB5-uLoAAAAA:wv9oOetDlq5D734YKFmm4qeq5KQdddynxnmnmGa6hAFGKZxKaQtjop3IyrOyDuI9lHOu8V%5FddQqkv8Q&ref=europeans.today), challenging gender stereotypes. On the other hand, stressed parents often [struggle to cope](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9328653/?ref=europeans.today) with everyday tasks, while their children can exhibit [behavioural problems](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4861150/?ref=europeans.today) such as aggression, and [emotional difficulties](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38636551/?ref=europeans.today) like social withdrawal and anxiety. Technology has also introduced challenges as millennials have widely adopted personal devices. [Roughly half of parents in the UK](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment%5Fdata/file/811450/Adult%5FOnline%5FHarms%5FReport%5F2019.pdf?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) say they are addicted to their phones, for example. The distractions of digital devices can make parenting more difficult. This “technoference” is again associated with [child behaviour problems](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5681450/?ref=europeans.today), which could have knock-on effects later in life. One additional technological challenge that Gen Alphas experience is “[sharenting](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37956869/?ref=europeans.today)”, where parents share photos and videos of them online, sometimes in \[excessive or inappropriate ways\]. We lack good data on the scale and impact of this trend, so researchers urgently need to map the risks. Millennials’ own challenges with technology may at least put them in a better position to help their children navigate things like screentime and social media. Today’s digital world also means that Gen Alpha’s parents have a huge amount of parenting information at their fingertips, as well as access to parenting forums and digital communities, which may reduce feelings of stress and isolation. Today’s psychologists and health professionals can also provide parents with rigorous [evidence-based guidance](https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthychildren.org%2FEnglish%2Ffamily-life%2FMedia%2FPages%2Fhealthy-digital-media-use-habits-for-babies-toddlers-preschoolers.aspx&data=05%7C02%7Cch288%40cam.ac.uk%7Cecf5b80e5a7e46944d6808de121ec5ea%7C49a50445bdfa4b79ade3547b4f3986e9%7C1%7C0%7C638968120528669416%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=lkBqcH7WcP8qO%2F5OY4n02xtulzr5vSbwUJxrEQvwDVo%3D&reserved=0&ref=europeans.today). ### Gen Alpha digital immersion The digital world has amplified Gen Alpha’s exposure to ideas and cultural practices from peers and other adults. So while some are likely to spend longer living at home than previous generations, they may actually be less susceptible to parental influence. This could be liberating, but also introduces new risks. We’ve seen how social media can exacerbate peer pressure and has introduced [cyber-bullying](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8006937?ref=europeans.today). Influencer trends [risk inculcating](https://theconversation.com/how-your-brain-keeps-falling-for-the-latest-beauty-fads-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-267274?ref=europeans.today) unrealistic body image ideals, which can contribute to [body dysmorphia](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11356888/?ref=europeans.today). Excessive use of video games [can result](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6361300/?ref=europeans.today) in sleep deprivation, reduced physical activity and impaired school performance. It may be that the increasing availability of VR games makes these risks more pronounced for Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha also [risk being more exposed](https://assets.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wpuploads/2024/10/Ive-seen-horrible-things-Online-Safety-Report-October-2024.pdf?ref=europeans.today) to [potentially harmful content](https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/2022/helplines-insight-briefing-legal-but-harmful-content?ref=europeans.today) such as [pornography](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c708v7qkeg1o?ref=europeans.today) or sites promoting self-harm or eating disorders. While they may not be as gullible as is often assumed, young children often lack [effective strategies](https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/bjdp.12335?ref=europeans.today) for identifying trustworthy information, putting them at more risk than adults. In 2010, the cognitive anthropologist [Dan Sperber coined the phrase “epistemic trust”](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0017.2010.01394.x?ref=europeans.today) to describe the idea that we view others as trustworthy sources of information. Growing up surrounded by misinformation may instead lead Gen Alpha to adopt the opposite stance – [epistemic mistrust](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10772859/pdf/ripppo-26-3-704.pdf?ref=europeans.today) – with potential negative consequences [like depression and anxiety](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10772859/?ref=europeans.today), for instance The digital space isn’t entirely negative for children’s psychological development. It’s much easier for Gen Alpha to access information online about mental health, as well as professional psychological support, while also participating in virtual communities. Technology also offers far greater access to educational resources and tools, something which AI may increase. [There’s even emerging evidence](https://www.mdpi.com/2414-4088/9/8/84?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) that AI may enhance learning outcomes and increase student motivation, for instance. The big challenge will be to democratise learning without succumbing to adverse effects on human cognitive abilities from over-relying on AI for writing and thinking. ### A diversity of experiences Amid all this, it’s important to remember that Gen Alpha’s psychological development is not following one monolithic trajectory. The pandemic both highlighted and exacerbated inequality in many areas of childrens’s lives from education to home stability. For some older Gen Alphas, school closures and online teaching left long-term scars – as evidenced by surging [school absenteeism](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8325878/pdf/jogh-11-03084.pdf?ref=europeans.today) in [many countries](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/evaluating-post-pandemic-education-policies-and-combatting-student-absenteeism-beyond-covid-19%5Fa38f74b2-en.html/?ref=europeans.today) that [appears difficult](https://www.lse.ac.uk/news/latest-news-from-lse/i-september-2024/absence-rates-will-stay-high-until-covid-generation-leaves-secondary-school?ref=europeans.today) to reverse. School closures during the pandemic meant the loss of a safe space for children who might be at risk of neglect or maltreatment at home. One consequence was a [global rise](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38850751/?ref=europeans.today) in violence against children. Even younger Alphas who were not born at the time may be [affected indirectly](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/A888C092C1207EF345BBF45C45ADC298/S2040174420000847a.pdf/div-class-title-unheard-unseen-and-unprotected-dohad-council-s-call-for-action-to-protect-the-younger-generation-from-the-long-term-effects-of-covid-19-div.pdf?ref=europeans.today) by their older brothers and sisters’ experiences. More generally, experience will differ greatly depending on where members of Gen Alpha live. For example, in east Asia ultra-low fertility has led to emptying classrooms, while children in smaller families [endure more academic pressure](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17441730.2013.797293?casa%5Ftoken=iuf2wzXDy3sAAAAA:lnPYvI4ysLqPDYf5ct5iByZ8p5bQ6jVEoBic1VTuYPTed7cBjk89FjV5VgKKTvQefy0M1z%5Ff4GAAJw&ref=europeans.today) from parents. Understanding the experiences of children in the global south is particularly important, not least because they represent the majority of Gen Alpha. Gender will also affect in new ways how this generation experience the world. For instance, boys appear more prone to [gaming addiction](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563220302326?casa%5Ftoken=DVbp9euR9vwAAAAA:1BroaH0bmpgRV6UGE2wA6ApQjdRo0t66yeGlCPNSZ%5FmIcM2f3QENQDN%5FnyT2AHkb4uBK9fMepMs&ref=europeans.today) while girls are more likely to become addicted to social media. Girls also report seeing more online content that creates appearance pressure, while boys are more likely to [see misinformation](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11138097/pdf/13034%5F2024%5FArticle%5F754.pdf?ref=europeans.today) – no doubt sometimes [promoting potentially harmful views about masculinity and women](https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/online-safety/research-statistics-and-data/protecting-children/experiences-of-engaging-with-the-manosphere.pdf?v=398550&ref=europeans.today). What are Gen Alpha’s own views of this new world? Despite adult fears about their exposure to misogyny, xenophobia and polarisation, today’s children are concerned about a wide range of progressive issues. These include [resource inequality](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0963721420964147?casa%5Ftoken=DNywUBy13poAAAAA:c4PuGGwA%5FDEs0DtrTkpz5oMRyE%5Fw0OuhwFZrX6Q1WrBWP9UiiMsISDk3xlCWcfEIakZrk12Pokbu4mo&ref=europeans.today), sexuality, [climate justice](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17405629.2022.2108396?ref=europeans.today) and [animal rights](https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1364-6613%2823%2900121-3&ref=europeans.today). This might be youthful idealism that will be shed in adulthood. Yet we know, for instance, that [millennials commonly express values](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-22862-1.pdf?ref=europeans.today) that differ from preceding generations. Gen Alpha have also already been found to instil [pro-environmental attitudes](https://faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu/nilspeterson/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2019/09/Lawson-et-al.-2019-IGL-NCC.pdf?ref=europeans.today) in their parents. So at least some of these progressive values are likely to endure and potentially ripple through to wider society. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [A systematic literature review of education for Generation Alpha](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44217-024-00218-3?ref=europeans.today) | DISCOVER EDUCATION - ###### [Generation Alpha: Understanding the Next Cohort of University Students](https://ejce.cherkasgu.press/journals%5Fn/1633688754.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION - ###### [Adult Online Hate, Harassment and Abuse](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment%5Fdata/file/811450/Adult%5FOnline%5FHarms%5FReport%5F2019.pdf?ref=europeans.today) | UK COUNCIL FOR INTERNET SAFETY ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-psychology-of-generation-alpha-268500?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 7 November 2025\. | The authors write in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/268500/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 7 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/07/todays-papers-7-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-07T17:53:35.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000083513.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000083515.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000083518.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Housing asylum seekers in military barracks will be hugely expensive – and politically costly URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/06/housing-asylum-seekers-in-military-barracks-will-be-hugely-expensive-and-politically-costly/ Last updated: 2025-11-07T01:00:21.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Ministers plan asylum seekers relocations to Crowborough and Inverness, with expansion to 10,000\. 🔹 Large sites previously caused disease, distress, and unlawful conditions, provoking unrest. 🔹 Barracks cost exceeded hotels while privatisation enriched contractors like Clearsprings. 🔹 Experts recommend dispersal housing, work rights, public management, and tackling housing shortages. I n an effort to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, the UK government has announced that 900 people [will be moved](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d60ejn41wo?ref=europeans.today) to military sites. Though this is a small fraction of the 32,000 currently housed in hotels, the Home Office hopes that [up to 10,000 people](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/inside-the-home-offices-push-to-get-migrants-out-of-hotels-hbnqltqj2?ref=europeans.today) might soon be accommodated in ex-military sites. The first two sites are Crowborough army training camp in East Sussex, and Cameron Barracks in Inverness, where MPs and [local councillors](https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/16920/plans%5Fto%5Fhouse%5Fasylum%5Fseekers%5Fin%5Finverness?ref=europeans.today) have already raised concerns about community safety and cohesion. It wasn’t long ago that the previous Conservative government moved hundreds of asylum seekers to “large sites”, including ex-military facilities and the [Bibby Stockholm](https://www.europeans.today/tag/bibby-stockholm-barge/) barge. Back then, Labour was in opposition and [highly critical of the scheme](https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-03-04/revealed-home-office-knew-housing-refugees-at-run-down-barracks-risked-mass-covid-infection?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Yvette%20Cooper%20MP%2C%20who%20chairs,dormitory%20accommodation%20during%20a%20pandemic.%E2%80%9D). Now in power, Labour is not only adopting the policy but planning a significant expansion. But they are likely to face the same issues as previous efforts to move asylum seekers to large sites: dangerous conditions, community unrest and ballooning costs. Before it [closed in 2024](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-accommodation-portland-port/portland-port-factsheet?ref=europeans.today), the Bibby Stockholm was plagued with accusations of physical and mental health harm, [outbreaks of disease, and suicide](https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/cruel-and-dangerous-barge-plan-everything-you-need-to-know?ref=europeans.today). According to Médecins Sans Frontières, Wethersfield asylum centre – opened on a former RAF airfield in 2023 – caused people “[severe mental health distress](https://www.msf.org/uk-government-must-immediately-close-wethersfield-mass-containment-site-asylum-seekers?ref=europeans.today)”. Asylum seekers were [moved out of the site](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/17/asylum-seekers-moved-out-wethersfield-essex-safety-risks?ref=europeans.today) after being exposed to risks of unexploded ordnance, radiological contamination, and poisonous gases. Conditions in Napier Barracks in Folkestone were found to be [unsanitary and overcrowded](https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/the-use-of-napier-barracks-to-house-asylum-seekers-regret-motion/?ref=europeans.today). The [independent immigration watchdog](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60f9401bd3bf7f0450dbb103/An%5Finspection%5Fof%5Fcontingency%5Fasylum%5Faccommodation%5FHMIP%5Freport%5Fon%5FPenally%5FCamp%5Fand%5FNapier%5FBarracks.pdf?ref=europeans.today) described “decrepit” buildings unfit for habitation. Conditions were so poor that in 2021 [the High Court](https://dpglaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Napier-Barracks-final-judgment.pdf?ref=europeans.today) ruled that the Home Office had employed unlawful practices housing people there during the pandemic. Plans to close Napier and Wethersfield have been repeatedly postponed and it appears that there are [growing numbers of residents again](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/04/napier-barracks-to-continue-housing-asylum-seekers-after-small-boat-influx?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Officials%20informed%20parliament%20in%20a%20Home%20Office,handed%20back%20to%20the%20Ministry%20of%20Defence''.). Barracks are extremely expensive. Whitehall’s spending watchdog found that they cost significantly more than expected, even exceeding the costs of asylum hotels. Although the Home Office originally estimated they would provide marginal savings, later estimates suggested that large sites could cost [£46 million more](https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/investigation-into-asylum-accommodation.pdf?ref=europeans.today) than using hotels over the same period. The watchdog found that this was due to high set-up and refurbishment costs coupled with the millions wasted on failed plans, such as RAF Scampton which had £60 million spent on it [before the plan was scrapped](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3v6qg1dko?ref=europeans.today). Barracks also segregate and marginalise those who live there from communities, stoking tensions. Using barracks echoes earlier use of military sites to intern “enemy aliens” [during the world wars](https://idcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/article-on-uk-us-germany-and-italy-detention.pdf?ref=europeans.today). This imagery further demonises asylum seekers and is likely to compound community fears, opening the door to far-right exploitation, and [anti-immigrant protests and violence](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c15pl10n151o?ref=europeans.today). ### Privatisation of asylum accommodation The government is legally obliged to house asylum seekers in need while they await refugee decisions. Given the large backlog, this often now takes [over a year](https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-uks-asylum-backlog/?ref=europeans.today). Previously, such housing was predominantly provided through relatively cheap multiple-occupancy, self-caterered “dispersal” accommodation. This cost about £27 per person per night, compared to [£170 for hotels](https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/asylum-accommodation-in-the-uk/?ref=europeans.today). The system was privatised 13 years ago, leading to prioritisation of profits [and spiralling accommodation costs](https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/compass-contracts-provision-accommodation-asylum-seekers/?ref=europeans.today). Although the privatised contracts were intended for the cheaper dispersal accommodation, a clause allowing short-term use of “contingency” accommodation such as hotels has been used by providers. With hotels offering companies [lower financial risk and greater profit](https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/49900/documents/268016/default/?ref=europeans.today) than dispersal accommodation, this costly “contingency” practice quickly became normalised. Privatisation also meant that local authorities lost their power to [manage and inspect accommodation](https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/8082?ref=europeans.today#tocto1n5), leading to poor conditions in hotels and other housing. Although barracks and hotels have proven disastrous for people living in them, a handful of property tycoons have made fortunes. This includes [repeat scandal-hit Serco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serco?ref=europeans.today), and the Essex businessman Graham King, whose £750 million fortune makes him one of the [350 richest people in the UK](https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/17/british-asylum-housing-tycoon-breaks-into-sunday-times-rich-list?ref=europeans.today). King founded Clearsprings Ready Homes, which in 2019 won 10-year contracts for providing asylum accommodation and transportation in Wales and the South. Clearsprings runs Napier and Wethersfield barracks, where security staff walked out [over pay and work conditions](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20e91814xxo?ref=europeans.today) just a few weeks ago. The contract’s value has grown tenfold since being signed: from [£0.7 billion to a whopping £7 billion](https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/49900/documents/268016/default/?ref=europeans.today). The company has seen a meteoric rise in profits; from under [£800,000 in 2020](https://www.context.news/newsletter?id=63364ffe1e946f0dd29ae3bed3711e9c&utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=context-policyhonestl#:%7E:text=The%20privatisation%20of%20the%20provision%20of%20asylum%20seeker%20housing%2C%202012.), to [£28 million in 2022](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/24/housing-uk-asylum-seekers-companies-profit?ref=europeans.today#:%7E:text=Clearsprings%20has%20a%2010%2Dyear,Office's%20New%20Plan%20for%20Immigration.), and [£90 million in 2024](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/03/profits-of-home-office-asylum-housing-provider-rise-to-90m-a-year?ref=europeans.today). Clearsprings’ profits are ballooning despite being accused of running [squalid flats](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/11/home-office-housing-provider-to-make-urgent-repairs-to-asylum-seeker-flats?ref=europeans.today) and providing accommodation under “terrible conditions”, with poor food and hygiene, and rationed period products and [toilet paper](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9r5m74de8o?ref=europeans.today). (Clearsprings has been approached for comment.) It seems that, however poor the provision of accommodation by private providers, little scuppers the arrangements. Contracts are almost never terminated, and fines or penalties are rare. The Home Office has also done little to reclaim millions of pounds in [excess profits](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmhaff/580/report.html?ref=europeans.today#heading-6) owed by some providers. ### What are the alternatives? Moving asylum seekers to military sites is likely to prove as financially and politically costly to Labour as previous governments. So, what are the alternatives? If large sites must be used, they should be neutral places such as empty student accommodation and office blocks, rather than punitive or contentious spaces like barracks and hotels. They must also provide kitchen access to improve well-being and reduce catering costs. Better would be a return to dispersal accommodation, which would save money and end the ghettoisation of asylum seekers. Beyond this, letting asylum seekers work would reduce their financial dependency on the state. Ending the privatisation experiment and bringing asylum accommodation back into public management would [restore accountability and oversight](https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/8082?ref=europeans.today#tocto1n5), improving both taxpayers’ value for money and conditions for asylum seekers. Ultimately, the vilification of asylum seekers is happening in the context of a wider [housing crisis](https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/rents-in-the-uk-are-rising-at-the-highest-rate-for-14-years-will-they-keep-going-up?ref=europeans.today). Unless the problems around overall housing supply and exorbitant rents are addressed, divisive politics around asylum housing will continue. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [What are the government's options on asylum seeker accommodation?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d60ejn41wo?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Inside the Home Office’s push to get migrants out of hotels](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/inside-the-home-offices-push-to-get-migrants-out-of-hotels-hbnqltqj2?ref=europeans.today) | THE TIMES - ###### [The UK’s asylum backlog](https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-uks-asylum-backlog/?ref=europeans.today) | THE MIGRATION OBSERVATORY - ###### [British asylum housing tycoon breaks into Sunday Times rich list](https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/17/british-asylum-housing-tycoon-breaks-into-sunday-times-rich-list?ref=europeans.today) | THE GUARDIAN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/housing-asylum-seekers-in-military-barracks-will-be-hugely-expensive-and-politically-costly-268696?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Andy Chisholm](https://www.dreamstime.com/fatmanphoto%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/268696/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### US election results suggest Trump’s coalition of voters is collapsing URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/06/us-election-results-suggest-trumps-coalition-of-voters-is-collapsing/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T18:19:36.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 The November elections tested the Republican coalition and resulted in a Democratic triumph. 🔹 Democrats regained Hispanic and suburban voters in Virginia and New Jersey. 🔹 However, off-year turnout patterns caution against overinterpreting. Yet 2026 favours Democrats. 🔹 Republicans face turnout problems and policy backlash unless Trump changes course. A mericans voted in elections on November 4 in the first major test of whether Republicans can hold together the coalition of voters that propelled Donald Trump to the White House in November 2024\. The result was a Democratic Party triumph. Trump was not directly on the ballot in any of these elections, the most high-profile of which were to decide who would become the mayor of New York City and the governors of Virginia and New Jersey. But each race has been seen to varying degrees as a referendum on the president and the direction he has taken his party. American politics is highly nationalised. This means that the results in local and state elections are often heavily influenced by how voters feel about the national political situation. This is often frustrating to local politicians. In New Jersey, for example, the Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli frequently complained that his Democratic opponent Mikie Sherrill was trying to make their recent race a referendum on the president rather than basing the campaign on the relative merits of their own proposals. “If you get a flat tire on the way home tonight, she’s going to blame it on President Trump”, Ciattarelli [said to voters](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/seven-takeaways-from-tuesdays-election-from-trump-the-foil-to-post-cancellation-politics-00637024?ref=europeans.today) at numerous campaign rallies. In the end, Sherrill won by 13%. ### Republicans’ fraying coalition None of the major races decided on November 4 were in the states usually regarded as the “swing states” – the ones that could reasonably be won either by the Democrats or Republicans and usually decide the outcome of presidential elections. But this doesn’t mean we cannot learn anything from them. The nationalisation of US politics means that voters with similar demographic characteristics – for instance, what race they identify as or whether they live in the suburbs or rural areas – tend to vote in similar ways across state lines. If a party is improving its performance in the suburbs of New Jersey, the same is likely to be the case in the swing state of Pennsylvania. In this respect, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City was the least surprising news of the night. For New York to have its first Muslim mayor is a historic milestone, and Mamdani’s achievement has electrified many. But Democrats usually dominate in urban areas, and he was no exception. Republicans will be much more worried about what happened elsewhere. In both Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats won by double-digit margins – and they did so by winning back the groups that deserted them in the 2024 presidential election. In 2024, Republicans were thrilled to [make big inroads](https://theconversation.com/us-election-why-latino-and-hispanic-voters-are-shifting-to-trump-after-a-long-history-of-supporting-the-democrats-229566?ref=europeans.today) with Hispanic voters. Many saw it as proof that their party was extending its appeal beyond the white voters who make up its core supporter base. But in the recent elections, those inroads seemed to vanish. Sherrill, a moderate Democrat who hasn’t generated nearly as much excitement as Mamdani, made her biggest gains in Passaic and Hudson counties, two of New Jersey’s most heavily Hispanic areas. Abigail Spanberger made the same inroads in Virginia. Suburban voters, who often prove crucial to winning presidential elections, also deserted the Republicans in large numbers. Spanberger won [Virginia’s Henrico County](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/04/us/elections/results-virginia-governor.html?ref=europeans.today), a swathe of the suburbs of Richmond, by 40%. This was the Democrats’ biggest margin of victory in the county ever. ### Some caveats These results are great news for Democrats, and they exceeded the expectations of most observers before election night. Taken together, they seem to suggest that the coalition that won victory for the Republicans in 2024 is collapsing. But it’s also not time for possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidates to start measuring the White House drapes quite yet. These results reflect a recent trend in US politics in which Republicans have struggled to win so-called off-year elections – ones in which the presidency is not on the ballot. In his ten years on the political scene, Trump has transformed the Republican Party by expanding its appeal among less-educated white voters, younger voters and, to some extent, voters of colour. But these are also groups that are less likely to vote than the average American. As a result, getting them to turn out when Trump is not on the ballot is a goal that Republicans have found elusive. So, we have to be careful about the conclusions we draw from these results. At a minimum, we can safely say that the results of the recent elections suggest Democrats can expect to perform well in the [midterms in 2026](https://theconversation.com/12-months-out-from-the-us-midterms-both-sides-struggle-to-gain-electoral-advantage-268126?ref=europeans.today). That gives them the opportunity to win back one or two houses of Congress and act as a check on Trump’s agenda. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/0000472b-min.jpg) Voter sentiment is unlikely to change unless Trump changes course. But does he want to? | FLICKR/[THE WHITE HOUSE](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54906396049/in/dateposted/?ref=europeans.today) For their part, Republicans have some soul-searching to do. Trump is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in 2028\. Unless some other Republican can reproduce Trump’s appeal to infrequent voters, the signs are that his party will struggle even in presidential election years. Much also depends on Trump’s policies in the years to come. Voters are clearly fed up with the lack of progress on reducing the cost of living, the brutality of immigration raids, and the corruption and chaos that many perceive to exist under this administration. Voter sentiment on these issues is unlikely to change unless Trump changes course. The question, given his political style and his personality, is whether he can – or whether he even wants to. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Democrats hit back and a winning message - four election night takeaways](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy40qx532e0o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Why Trump's agenda is on voters' minds even if he's not on the 2025 ballot](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/04/2025-election-midterms-trump-presidential-race/86627677007/?ref=europeans.today) | USA TODAY - ###### [Election 2025 key takeaways: Democrats score historic big wins leading into midterms](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/election-2025-key-takeaways-democrats-score-historic-big/story?id=127196303&ref=europeans.today) | ABC NEWS ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/us-election-results-suggest-trumps-coalition-of-voters-is-collapsing-268967?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 6 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Flickr/[The White House](https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/54905271942/?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license") --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/268967/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) ### Today’s Papers 📰 6 Nov 2025 URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/06/todays-papers-6-nov-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T14:13:09.000Z --- # **Today in the UK 🇬🇧** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000082977.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000082981.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/1000082986.jpg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Immigration, indecency, and incompetence URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/05/immigration-indecency-and-incompetence/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T01:38:35.000Z A s I and many [others have noted](https://nickcohen.substack.com/p/respectable-racism-and-the-mass-deportation), we are seeing the extraordinarily rapid development of extreme policies on immigration [becoming mainstream](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/migrate/uks-immigration-debate-is-getting-much-darker/articleshow/124865690.cms?from=mdr&ref=europeans.today). The failure of Brexit to ‘solve the problem of immigration’, with the consequent neutering of extremist politics that was meant to bring, can be chalked up to the long list of its unmet promises. At the same time, as with Brexit, what is now being proposed about immigration also entails promises which cannot be kept, if only because those promises deny or ignore the damage, both economic and non-economic, these proposals would do. In this sense, along with the immorality of such proposals, we should beware of the utter incompetence of those making them. ### An affront to decency In the last fortnight, this new extremism came to fresh prominence with [remarks by Tory ‘rising star’ Katie Lam](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/20/tory-mp-criticised-after-demanding-legally-settled-families-be-deported?ref=europeans.today), in which she spoke of deporting large numbers of people who have ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ (ILR) immigration status. As with [last month’s Reform proposals](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c930xypxpqpo?ref=europeans.today), this crosses a very significant line in that it would entail retrospectively changing the rules. Whilst Lam’s comments received much attention, she was articulating something which, to less attention, has been [Tory policy since last May](https://www.conservatives.com/news/conservatives-introduce-the-deportation-bill?ref=europeans.today), when they promulgated [a draft ‘Deportation Bill’](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0234/240234.pdf?ref=europeans.today) (although, post-Lam, this is [reported to be under “internal review”](https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/tory-immigration-policy-under-review-after-deportation-warning-provokes-backlash?ref=europeans.today)). Under this policy, the criteria for deportation would capture those who had, quite legitimately, received benefits at some time during their residence in the UK or who had earned less than £38,700 a year for an aggregate period of six months within their time of residence. It would also include people with ILR, or their dependents, who had received any form of ‘social protection’, which would seem to include NHS treatment and pension payments, and perhaps even universal credit. Thus, it has the potential to end up separating families, deport retirees after decades of living here to countries with which they have no substantive connection, or to make those with ILR fearful of seeking healthcare. The enormity of these proposals can hardly be overstated. Not only would they apply retrospectively, but they would entail compulsory repatriations, something not even envisaged by Enoch Powell in the 1970s (who argued for a voluntary repatriation policy). And they would apply on a huge scale, affecting [potentially 5% of the UK population](https://www.ft.com/content/9a1d3c1f-ebe8-4a0b-8ad9-e5bb188c00c0?ref=europeans.today). Nothing like this has ever been undertaken in a modern democracy: even in Trump’s America, legal immigrants are not the target of deportation policy. Its closest analogue in recent times is [Idi Amin’s Uganda](https://observer.co.uk/news/columnists/article/expelling-legal-migrants-is-a-move-straight-from-the-idi-amin-playbook?ref=europeans.today). If enacted, it would mean not only leaving the ECHR but would also, since as currently described it would apply to some people with EU Settled Status, undoubtedly mean an end to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the EU. So we would immediately be back to a ‘no-deal Brexit’. ### The pivot to values As well as being unprecedently draconian in its scope, this proposal is noteworthy because it is not simply animated by an intention to reduce the number of immigrants, nor is it solely concerned with the supposed extent of immigrants’ financial ‘contributions’. At least in Lam’s telling, it is also intended to increase ‘cultural coherence’. Exactly what this means can only be guessed at, and none of those guesses paint Lam in an edifying light, but it shows that the proposal is also meant to remove those who don’t share some supposed sense of ‘British values’ (although many of us would think that the proposal itself is an affront to what we take those values to be). This is important because it reflects how the anti-immigration case has largely ceased to present itself as being not an objection to immigrants, *per se*, but just a ‘concern about numbers’. The pivot to values (which of course long pre-dates Lam’s comments, but they are the latest exemplification) is part of what has enabled anti-immigration rhetoric to lump together everything from an asylum-seeker who commits a crime to a person speaking a foreign language in the street. It also enables racists to pretend that, far from objecting to immigrants’ skin colour, they are heroically standing up for women’s or gay rights, or for Christian or Enlightenment values, or any number of other hypocrisies. Given the way these proposals target legal, not illegal, immigrants, and do so retrospectively, and taken in conjunction with the fact that they involve leaving the ECHR, then some even more sinister possibilities open up. Why confine the crackdown to those with ILR? Why not revoke the acquired citizenship of those who do not share ‘our values’? And, if that, then why not extend the same test to those born in this country? Even if they can’t be deported, they could at least be rounded up for ‘re-education’. This is where the logic of ‘cultural coherence’ leads. If that seems alarmist then so, too, would it have seemed alarmist even a few years, perhaps even a few months, ago to envisage a ‘mainstream’ political party advocating the compulsory deportation of legally settled immigrants. Even in its own grotesque terms, the Tory ILR policy is an absurdity. The very idea that it would create ‘cultural coherence’ is nonsense because it would actually undermine that concept’s close cousin, ‘integration’. It would remove any sense that integration was desirable or even possible, by making ‘indefinite’ residence precarious, and making it clear that those with ILR were only present under sufferance: ‘we don’t really want you here and we’ll kick you out the moment we feel like it’ is hardly an incentive for assimilation. In fact, even if these proposals are never implemented, the very fact that they have been made will almost certainly already have had the effect of undermining integration, signalling to millions of immigrants just how unwelcome they are, and that it would be rather foolish to make long-term plans to be part of this country. ### Public opinion Some commentators have taken comfort from the fact, which I also referred to when [I discussed Reform’s ILR proposal](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/has-labour-woken-up.html?ref=europeans.today), that [opinion polls show](https://ukandeu.ac.uk/reforms-radical-gamble-on-indefinite-leave-to-remain-may-backfire/?ref=europeans.today) the current ILR rules to be well-supported. Thus, it is suggested, both Tory and Reform parties are pursuing an extremely unpopular policy. I am not so sure that this can be relied upon. The opinion polls most often cited seem to date back to early in 2024, before the now two summers of far-right agitation and, crucially, before anyone started talking about ILR as a salient issue in the immigration debate, let alone as a problematic one. More recent polling, [from September 2025](https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53070-what-do-britons-really-think-about-scrapping-indefinite-leave-to-remain?ref=europeans.today), shows a more mixed picture. In particular, although retrospective withdrawal of ILR is still unpopular, it does have the support of 29% of the public. It therefore seems quite likely that public opinion will continue to move on ILR the more it is targeted by Reform and Tory politicians. And, as I also pointed out in that previous discussion, this will be aided by the way that, whilst denouncing the Reform proposals, [Keir Starmer’s government has its own plan](https://www.ein.org.uk/news/home-secretary-confirms-major-changes-indefinite-leave-remain-coming-soon?ref=europeans.today) to extend the ILR qualifying period from five to ten years, and to introduce new ‘contribution-based’ tests. This is less draconian, since at least it would not apply retrospectively, but it contributes to creating a sense amongst the public, which did not exist before, that ILR is a ‘problem’ in need of a solution. What [we can now call the Reform-Conservative](https://news.sky.com/story/tories-and-reform-from-feud-to-love-in-13460154?ref=europeans.today) solution, apart from being grossly immoral, is also unworkable, in multiple senses of the term. It would almost certainly encounter substantial legal challenges, and arouse huge popular opposition once its effects began to be felt. And even if a future government pushed all that aside, the economic damage would be enormous. Not only would it strip out desperately needed members of the workforce, it would deter the arrival of new immigrants – including the so-called ‘brightest and best’ we are always told the UK wants, and perhaps especially these, since they have many other possible destinations. Indeed, what the anti-immigration lobby seems unaware of is that the UK is actually in an emerging [global competition for immigrants](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/opinion/trump-migration-world.html?ref=europeans.today), of all sorts, with other countries with [ageing populations](https://howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/we-must-love-the-country-we-are) and low birth-rates. In fact, rather than constantly yammering on about the supposedly ‘undiscussable’ issue of immigration, the latter are the demographic issues politicians should really be addressing. Their failure to do so, and instead to pander to and promote anti-immigration sentiment, is a massive failure of leadership. As analysis by James Bowes, [published this week by UKICE](https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-collapse-in-immigration/?ref=europeans.today), shows, “the coming collapse in immigration”, in response to ‘public concern’, is set to have damaging economic effects which the public will certainly not enjoy. Yet, even as net migration falls, [a survey shows that](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/15/gb-news-viewers-more-likely-to-wrongly-believe-net-migration-to-uk-increasing?ref=europeans.today) frequent *GB News* viewers finds that 84% of them think it is rising, as do smaller, but still large, majorities of frequent viewers of *ITV* and *BBC News*. ### Unfit for office It is this unworkability and lack of realism which link directly to Brexit, which in the UK is the foremost example of how populism and incompetence are so strongly linked (the Truss mini-budget is another example). We already know, if only from those two examples, that any claim to governmental competence the Tories may have had has long since gone. But voters expecting Reform to be an improvement are in for a disappointment. I noted in [the first post](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/09/from-brexit-to-brexitism.html?ref=europeans.today) of the new title of this column that an important part of this period of post-Brexit politics would be that Reform’s success in local elections, giving it control of twelve councils, would bring with it mounting evidence of the party’s utter incompetence when it achieved power. We are now seeing that evidence emerge (as well as plenty from the ructions [within Reform’s tiny cohort of MPs](https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/reform-suspends-rupert-lowe-mp-5Hjd2Bt%5F2/?ref=europeans.today) and the scandal of [Farage’s grift](https://bsky.app/profile/ledbydonkeys.org/post/3m46h4jfkec2q?ref=europeans.today)). Recent examples have included revelations of [in-fighting at Kent County Council](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/18/suck-it-up-leaked-video-exposes-bitter-infighting-at-reform-uks-flagship-kent-council?ref=europeans.today), Reform’s ‘flagship council’, which led to five councillors being [expelled from the party this week](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c867g72nzq4o?ref=europeans.today). Other Reform-led councils, including [Worcestershire](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23pz43m00yo?ref=europeans.today), [Derbyshire](https://conservativehome.com/2025/09/22/alex-dale-in-derbyshire-reform-uk-are-proving-chaotic-yet-oddly-unambitious/?ref=europeans.today), and [Leicestershire](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/19/reform-uk-accused-serving-plate-of-chaos-leicestershire-county-council?ref=europeans.today), have experienced various degrees of chaos. Meanwhile, at Northumberland County Council, where it is the main opposition, Reform has expelled three councillors from the party, [the most recent one](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2prgw8nzeo?ref=europeans.today) having allegedly said he wanted to shoot Keir Starmer. This partly reflects the collection of oddballs and dodgy characters who have suddenly found themselves in positions of responsibility. But, [at Kent and elsewhere](https://bylinetimes.com/2025/10/23/reform-council-asks-opposition-for-help-making-cuts-after-desperate-search-for-savings-falls-short/?ref=europeans.today), it also reflects the impracticality of all the airy talk of cutting huge swathes of waste and reducing council tax bills. As at national level, the easiest thing to promise when in opposition is ‘cutting red tape’, but the hardest thing to achieve when in power is to do so without cutting services. Thus, on contact with reality, all the nonsense about millions being wasted on ‘diversity officers’ or ‘health and safety’ is exposed as such. On the other hand, [Reform-led Nottinghamshire](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdr3npe33do?ref=europeans.today) have managed to find £75,000 to buy 150 Union Jack flags, whilst Reform’s Greater Lincolnshire Mayor, the [charmless](https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2022-07-11/new-education-minister-not-disciplined-over-offensive-gesture?ref=europeans.today) former Tory MP and Education Minister Andrea Jenkyns, has [requested an extra £147,000](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdr3npe33do?ref=europeans.today) for office staff to answer her emails. Against this background, last week Zia Yusuf became [the second head of Reform’s ‘DOGE’ to resign](https://www.lgcplus.com/finance/head-of-doge-changes-for-third-time-23-10-2025/?ref=europeans.today) within less than a year of its creation. This was the body, modelled on Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, supposed to identify efficiency savings in Reform councils, although it has [failed to undertake any audits to date](https://www.ft.com/content/0f914855-b597-4168-a6a2-6b1f0f987d6a?ref=europeans.today), and is reported to have [only visited three of the twelve councils](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-uk-councils-doge-nigel-farage-elon-musk-b2844503.html?ref=europeans.today). Reform’s experience of the realities of local government also sheds light on the impracticality of its, and the Tories’, national immigration policies. Back in July, [Kent, again, complained](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx201znge11o?ref=europeans.today) about the Labour government’s new restrictions on visas for social care workers because of the damage it would do to the provision of social care within the county. There are other reasons to think that some within Reform are becoming wary of its racism and anti-immigration agenda. Yusuf himself [resigned as Party Chairman last June](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/05/zia-yusuf-quits-as-chair-of-reform-uk-after-new-mp-burqa-ban-row?ref=europeans.today), apparently because of Reform MP Sarah Pochin calling for a ‘Burqa ban’ (although it subsequently became unclear where he stood on this issue). More recently, Neville Watson, a prominent Reform activist and its only Black branch chair, [resigned from Reform over its hardline and divisive anti-immigration stance](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/23/reform-only-black-branch-chair-quits-over-harmful-migration-debate?ref=europeans.today). ### Pressing the FU button The latter led to some social media ribaldry along the lines of ‘[I never thought the leopards eating people’s faces party would eat my face](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Leopards%5FEating%5FPeople%27s%5FFaces%5FParty?ref=europeans.today)’, but this is a glib and politically maladroit response. In this period, when Reform is not, but could become, a party of national government, such recantations or realisations should be praised, not mocked. Things are very finely balanced. A few percentage points difference in voting at the next general election could, under first past the post, be the difference between near-total defeat for Reform, or Farage becoming Prime Minister. So in the next few years, anything which makes voters reflect on what a Reform government would mean is going to be important. There is, of course, a bedrock of support for Reform which will always be there, deriving from those who genuinely support its policies or just its actual or perceived values. But what could bring it to power would be if, as with the Brexit vote, enough voters decide, as *Guardian* columnist [Marina Hyde pungently put it](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/21/britain-nigel-farage-reform-council-voters?ref=europeans.today), to “press the F\*\*\* You button” [\[1\]](#1). Amongst the reasons to do so might be the idea that ‘they can’t be any worse than the main parties’ (but they can: that’s why [tracking their chaos and incompetence in local government](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britains-populist-reform-party-faces-local-authority-tests-2025-10-29/?ref=europeans.today) matters) or ‘they ought to be given a chance’ (but they are being, and we can see what it leads to). Another reason to press the ‘FU button’ is the idea that ‘we’ve got nothing to lose’ and the closely associated one ‘it won’t affect me’. Though these are slightly different from each other (as the second kind of voter might acknowledge having something to lose, but just assume that it won’t be them), they are both versions of thinking that ‘the leopard won’t eat my face’. So it is important that now, before it is too late, some of those who currently think this begin to reflect that they might be wrong. Otherwise, it will be like ‘Brexit morning’ all over again. This becomes particularly important because, again as with Brexit, plenty of Reform’s support does not come from those with ‘nothing to lose’. It became fashionable in the immediate aftermath of the referendum result, amongst those who were opposed to Brexit as much as amongst those who advocated it, to talk as if this had been some uprising for the dispossessed (especially the working class of Northern England) against ‘the elite’. But this was, at the least, highly simplistic, as [analysis of the leave vote by Benjamin Hennig and Danny Dorling](https://www.dannydorling.org/wp-content/files/dannydorling%5Fpublication%5Fid6545.pdf?ref=europeans.today) showed, given the levels of support for Brexit amongst middle-class and Southern voters. Relatedly, the [original concept](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20419058211045127?ref=europeans.today) of ‘Red Wall voters’, which subsequently became much misunderstood, was to do with those within traditional Labour seats (not always in Northern England) who traditionally voted Labour but who, in demographic terms, ‘ought to’ be likely to vote Conservative and, subsequently, [increasingly did so](https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-state-of-public-opinion-the-red-wall/?ref=europeans.today) (though now, increasingly, Reform). One way of looking at these voters is that their economic interests and political choices had become misaligned. If their parents and grandparents had voted Labour, it was as a way of furthering industrial workers’ interests, and doing so had been inherited as a cultural belief even if they, themselves, might well be self-employed or retired homeowners. Another way of looking at them is as being in the process of re-aligning cultural values, in particular from class identity to regional, national, or ethnic identity. Better, in fact, to see it as both. ### The politics of self-indulgence At all events, these voters are not, for the most part, economically dispossessed. These are not young, unemployed, propertyless people, nor are the reacting to mass unemployment and economic depression. They are most likely [homeowners](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/06/red-wall-politics-culture-war-tories-home-ownership-jobs?ref=europeans.today), with some savings, but who feel themselves to be culturally dispossessed [\[2\]](#2). As such, I increasingly think that the best way to describe them is ‘self-indulgent’ or even perhaps, in a certain sense, ‘decadent’. That is, they can indulge their carefully-guarded cultural grievances by voting Reform because they do not believe that it will damage them to do so. But, in fact, they are highly vulnerable, in at least two main ways. One is that, although [Reform’s economic policies](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyx4v44438o?ref=europeans.today) remain unclear and confused (and, like its local government promises, rely greatly on [mythical ‘waste saving’](https://www.ft.com/content/0298420b-1a1c-4bd2-a8d7-5c249eb8c254?ref=europeans.today) and [false claims](https://neweconomics.org/2025/05/the-cost-of-reform-uks-anti-environmental-policies?ref=europeans.today) about the effect of scrapping Net Zero policies), Farage’s championship of the Truss budget, and of Javier Milei’s economic programme, suggests that a Reform government would mean economic chaos, of a sort which would most damage not the very poor (who may really have nothing to lose) or the very rich (who are well-cushioned against any loss), but these modestly well-off voters. The second is that such voters are very likely to be dependent on the disability benefits [Reform pledged, just this week, to take an axe to](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/29/tightened-up-pip-benefit-eligibility-could-save-9bn-a-year-say-reform?ref=europeans.today), and on the health and care services which are [kept afloat by immigration](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crljxz91r6yo?ref=europeans.today). So just as when, after the Brexit vote, leave voters kept telling the EU citizens who they knew personally that they ‘didn’t mean you’ when they voted against immigration from the EU, they are likely to say the same to, as it might be, their Ghanaian care worker when a Reform or Reform-Con government starts the mass deportations. And, as with Brexit, by then it will be too late. Too late for those voters, and too late for the rest of us. Which is why the most urgent task in politics now is to persuade enough of those who are minded to vote for Reform that, for them personally, and their families, the consequences will be disastrous. ### Rejecting the repellent There are at least signs that this urgency is now being felt by voters, judging by [the result of the Caerphilly by-election](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/live-caerphilly-election-updates-votes-32735870?ref=europeans.today). Whilst [a number of factors were in play](https://theconversation.com/plaid-cymrus-staggeringly-large-victory-in-caerphilly-is-a-warning-to-both-labour-and-reform-268310?ref=europeans.today), at least one important one seems to be that ‘progressive voters’ [voted tactically](https://theconversation.com/could-tactical-voting-block-reform-in-future-elections-lessons-from-the-caerphilly-byelection-268411?ref=europeans.today) for Plaid Cymru and against Reform. Thus, against opinion polls and, evidently, [Nigel Farage’s expectations](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/24/reform-caerphilly-byelection-britain-labour?ref=europeans.today), Reform were soundly defeated. That is just one election, held in specific circumstances, and it would be foolish to extrapolate much from that, [just as it would be from general surveys of voting intentions](https://electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-yougov-poll-shows-multi-party-britain-breaking-the-voting-system/?ref=europeans.today), especially in relation to what might happen in a general election that will probably not be held until 2029. On the other hand, with Reform and the Tories now openly holding out the prospect of mass deportations, with all that would mean, the case for tactical voting is becoming ever stronger. After all, such voting is most in evidence when voters feel repellence, and that becomes more likely when parties advocate repellent policies. It becomes less easy to press the ‘FU button’ when you know what it will do, and neither Reform nor the Tories are doing much to hide that. The challenge for Labour, in particular, is not to [chase those parties](https://www.linestotake.com/p/the-median-voter-isnt-a-labourreform?ref=europeans.today) into equally repellent policies, and thus becoming repellent itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### \[1\] I’m not using asterisks because of any prudishness on my part, but because the use of certain words causes posts to be blocked by some distribution networks. - ###### \[2\] This is the background to the row this week over [Pochin’s remarks about being ‘driven mad’ by adverts](https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/sarah-pochin-reform-gb-news-advertising-black-asian-video-b2852382.html?ref=europeans.today) featuring too many black and Asian people. This was not an idiosyncrasy on her part, but repeated what has been a persistent whine on social media for some years, given as evidence that [‘it’s not our country any more’](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/i-want-my-country-back-whats-in-phrase.html?ref=europeans.today) and that white people are somehow victims of oppression. It’s a sign of the times that this fringe preoccupation is now the subject of national debate. The focus of that debate has been about [whether Pochin’s remarks were racist](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78z4eyvnx1o?ref=europeans.today), although ‘debate’ is too generous a word for the tortured apologetics that tried to show they were not, but they raise other issues. One is the incoherence of that racism. Sometimes, as with [Robert Jenrick’s recent remarks](https://www.itv.com/news/central/2025-10-07/as-close-as-ive-come-to-a-slum-jenrick-under-fire-for-handsworth-comments?ref=europeans.today), right-wingers complain about there being ‘no white faces’ on British streets. Yet, if this is supposedly the reality of modern Britain, then why are they also complaining that adverts are an *unrealistic* depiction of British society because they show too few white faces? The other relates to the incoherence of economic policy. Reform and the Tories constantly say that businesses face too much red tape, and that there is too much emphasis on ‘DEI’ initiatives seeking representativeness in hiring and promotion decisions. Yet, if it is true that adverts over-represent non-white people, they surely do so [for commercial reasons](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/27/reform-mps-claim-about-adverts-full-of-black-and-asian-people-omits-profitability-for-companies?ref=europeans.today). Or does Pochin propose that advertisers be subject to quotas to ensure they are representative in their imagery? ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was first published in [Brexit & Brexitism](https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/immigration-indecency-and-incompetence.html?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 5 November 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** AI-Generated image. --- ### 📊 Westminster Voting Intention URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/05/westminster-voting-intention-05-11-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-05T02:50:33.000Z The following chart displays the voting intention percentages for the next general election in the UK (expected to take place in 2029). It is updated regularly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/10/parties-2.png) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2025/11/Westminster-Voting-Intentions--10-.jpg)](https://www.europeans.today/westminster-voting-intention/) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### Dick Cheney dies: Giant of the US conservative movement whose legacy was defined by the Iraq war URL: https://www.europeans.today/2025/11/05/dick-cheney-dies-giant-of-the-us-conservative-movement-whose-legacy-was-defined-by-the-iraq-war/ Last updated: 2025-11-05T02:27:51.000Z **What you need to know** 🔹 Dick Cheney, a dominant neo-conservative and former US vice-president, dies aged 84\. 🔹 His political rise spanned Ford’s administration to shaping Bush Jr’s foreign policy. 🔹 Cheney drove the 2003 Iraq invasion, sparking controversy over war costs and Halliburton ties. 🔹 Once feared, he later softened, opposing Donald Trump and even endorsing Kamala Harris in 2024. D ick Cheney, one of the most important figures in America’s neo-conservative movement, has died at the age of 84\. Cheney had a long career in government and was considered by many as one of the most powerful vice-presidents in US history. Cheney started his career in [politics](https://theconversation.com/topics/us-politics-1015?ref=europeans.today) in 1968 in the office of William Steiger, a Republican representative from Wisconsin, before joining the staff of Donald Rumsfeld, who was at the time the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. By 1974, Cheney was brought on to the team of Gerald Ford, who had assumed the US presidency that year following the resignation of Richard Nixon. He followed Rumsfeld as Ford’s White House chief of staff in 1975, at the age of 34. Cheney then went on to spend over a decade serving as a member of the House of Representatives. He represented a district in Wyoming until 1989 when he was appointed secretary of defense by the then-president, [George H.W. Bush](https://www.europeans.today/tag/george-h-w-bush/). This experience would prove critical to Cheney’s subsequent selection as running mate by Bush’s son, [George W. Bush](https://www.europeans.today/tag/george-w-bush/), for his 2000 presidential campaign as the Republican candidate. Bush Jr. went on to win that election, and his partnership with Cheney would ultimately prove incredibly significant in reshaping US foreign policy in the [Middle East](https://www.europeans.today/tag/middle-east/). After the [9/11 terrorist attacks](https://www.europeans.today/tag/9-11/) in 2001, the neo-conservative movement gained momentum in Washington and found an ally in Cheney. He was a founding signatory of the so-called [Project for the New American Century](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7825039.stm?ref=europeans.today), which became a major forum for neo-conservative thinking. The goal was to [promote US interests](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7825039.stm?ref=europeans.today) – namely, spreading democracy abroad – through a bold deployment of military power. This [interventionist](https://www.europeans.today/tag/interventionism/) foreign policy culminated in the 2003 US invasion of [Iraq](https://www.europeans.today/tag/iraq-war/). Considered by some to be a [shadow president](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/04/vice-president-dick-cheney-obit-033422?ref=europeans.today), Cheney had a huge influence over Bush Jr. He reportedly [played a major role](https://www.npr.org/2009/01/15/99422633/cheney-a-vp-with-unprecedented-power?ref=europeans.today) in convincing Bush to go to war in Iraq. Cheney [expressed no regrets](https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2018/05/former-vice-president-dick-cheney-says-iraq-war-and-controversial-interrogation-techniques-were-right-things-to-do?ref=europeans.today) about this decision, calling critics of the war [“spineless”](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/18/usa.iraq?ref=europeans.today) in 2005\. But a [majority of Americans](https://globalaffairs.org/commentary/blogs/20-year-hindsight-public-opinion-and-iraq-war?ref=europeans.today) considered this decision to be a grave error. The war is estimated to have cost the US well over [US$1 trillion](https://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/13/02/CostOfWar.pdf?ref=europeans.today) (£800 billion), and as much as [US$3 trillion](https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/blood-and-treasure-united-states-budgetary-costs-and-human-costs-20-years-war-iraq-and-syria?ref=europeans.today) when taking the wider regional conflict it sparked into account. The war also led to the deaths of as [many as 600,000](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/11/iraq.iraq?ref=europeans.today) Iraqi civilians, according to an estimate published by the *Lancet* medical journal. There were also questions about whether Cheney had a conflict of interest. He had previously served as the chief executive of Halliburton, a company [that won billions](https://www.npr.org/2003/12/22/1559574/examining-halliburtons-sweetheart-deal-in-iraq?ref=europeans.today) of dollars in US military contracts to restore Iraq’s oil sector – this included some of the biggest [military logistics contracts](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/oh-what-a-lovely-war-on-terror-it-s-been-for-halliburton-530025.html?ref=europeans.today) in history. Cheney was [even accused](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5102284?ref=europeans.today) of coordinating preferential awarding of contracts to the company, though he and Halliburton denied it. He was also accused of [circumventing due process](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/vice-dispiriting-legacy-dick-cheney/?ref=europeans.today), constitutional checks and congressional oversight during his time as vice-president. A prominent example of this was his involvement in a programme to intercept domestic communications without a judicial warrant. Cheney was [also widely disliked](https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/homeland-security/57995-dick-cheney-neocon-wars-and-the-politics-of-terror/?ref=europeans.today) in the intelligence community. Many of these people resented the way he undermined the CIA by, for example, [instructing subordinates](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/remembering-why-americans-loathe-dick-cheney/244306/?ref=europeans.today) in the agency to transmit raw intelligence directly to his office. ### Change of heart? Given that Cheney believed executive power needed to be [expanded](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/04/vice-president-dick-cheney-obit-033422?ref=europeans.today), there was a degree of irony in his decision to endorse the Democratic candidate, [Kamala Harris](https://www.europeans.today/tag/kamala-harris/), in the 2024 presidential election. The winner of that election, [Donald Trump](https://www.europeans.today/tag/donald-trump/), also favours an executive unencumbered by institutions. But Cheney clearly had his limits. While [Bush Jr.](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/18/george-w-bush-talk-about-trump/73955379007/?ref=europeans.today) was reticent to publicly attack Trump, Cheney became one of his [harshest critics](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dick-cheney-vocal-critic-donald-trump-after-jan/story?id=127168273&ref=europeans.today). This was especially so after [Liz Cheney](https://www.europeans.today/tag/liz-cheney/), his daughter and a now former congresswoman, voted to impeach Trump after the insurrection of [January 6 2021](https://www.europeans.today/tag/6-january-riots/), which made her enemy number one in Trump’s eyes. However, [some critics claim](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/was-dick-cheney-a-hero-or-a-villain/?ref=europeans.today) that it was Cheney’s shadow presidency that paved the way for Trump’s aggressive expansion of the executive power of the presidency. Along the way, he wielded the [power of the vice-presidency](https://www.npr.org/2009/01/15/99422633/cheney-a-vp-with-unprecedented-power?ref=europeans.today) in a way not seen before or, arguably, since. Cheney was not just powerful but prone to operating clandestinely, even creating an [independent operation](https://time.com/archive/6680298/cheneys-fall-from-grace/?ref=europeans.today) inside the White House. All of this helped fuel [mistrust](https://responsiblestatecraft.org/dick-cheney-dies/?ref=europeans.today) of the government. As Cheney advanced in age, his stances seemed to be softening from the [Darth Vader image](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna21575478?ref=europeans.today) he had embraced as vice-president. More than half of the multi-million fortune that Cheney gained from selling his Halliburton stock options, for example, was [donated](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cheney-visits-george-washington-u-hospital-for-heart-procedure/?ref=europeans.today) to the *Cardiac Institute* at George Washington University. Cheney, who survived five heart attacks and eventually a [heart transplant](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/03/28/cheneys-million-dollar-heart-stirs-health-care-debate-who-lives-and-who-dies/?ref=europeans.today), was seen a political survivor. But the Republican Party that he had led in the shadows has been transformed. Once a towering figure in the conservative movement, today his brand of conservatism is a relic of the past. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png) ### **GOING FURTHER** - ###### [Dick Cheney, George W. Bush’s vice president, dead at 84](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/dick-cheney-dead-cause-of-death-b2858181.html?ref=europeans.today) | THE INDEPENDENT - ###### [Dick Cheney: Former US vice-president who helped lead 'war on terror'](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c511811gqr0o?ref=europeans.today) | BBC NEWS - ###### [Dick Cheney, influential Republican vice president to George W. Bush, dies](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/04/politics/dick-cheney-death-obit?ref=europeans.today) | CNN - ###### [‘Country over party’: How Dick Cheney helped Liz Cheney stand up to Donald Trump](https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/04/politics/liz-cheney-trump-dick-cheney?ref=europeans.today) | CNN ### --- #### **Sources:** ###### ▪ This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/dick-cheney-dies-giant-of-the-us-conservative-movement-whose-legacy-was-defined-by-the-iraq-war-269019?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 4 November 2025\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. ###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/[Korwen](https://www.dreamstime.com/korwen%5Finfo?ref=europeans.today). --- ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/269019/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic) _Includes the latest 500 public posts. Use `/sitemap.xml` for the complete archive of public content._