Home
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, announced that he would leave parliament (by applying to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead) and then fight a by-election at Clacton. ‘It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire Establishment,’ he said. His announcement came after a report in the Sunday Times saying that he did not declare, on becoming an MP, benefits received in the preceding year from George Cottrell, 32, who spent eight months in jail in America after admitting a charge of wire fraud in 2016. The main parties and Restore said they would not put up candidates against Farage. In a 400-page judgment, the High Court dismissed claims of misuse of private information made against the publisher of the Daily Mail by the Duke of Sussex and six others – Elton John, David Furnish, Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost, Baroness (Doreen) Lawrence of Clarendon and Simon Hughes – who had not proved unlawful information-gathering. The Duke of Sussex’s people said he would stay at Buckingham Palace during his five-day visit to England, but Buckingham Palace said he wouldn’t, as he’d left it too late to reply to his invitation.
The non-custodial sentences for two boys convicted of raping two teenage girls in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, were overturned at the Court of Appeal by the Lady Chief Justice, Lady Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, who gave them four years’ detention. Twana Jamal, a people-smuggler given a five-year jail sentence in France in 2016, was found by the BBC living in Blaby, Leicestershire, and believed to be seeking asylum while working illegally. Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Lord Chancellor 1987-97, died aged 99. Pubs stayed open till 5 a.m. for customers to see England beat Mexico 3-2 in the World Cup.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, acknowledging that his ‘political career is over’, said he would be ‘keeping my mouth shut, rather than giving constant advice to my successor’. In a ballot, 76 per cent of consultants belonging to the British Medical Association voted to strike in the next year if necessary. EasyJet agreed in principle to a takeover worth about £5.5 billion by Castlelake, an American investment company.
Abroad
Nato leaders met in Ankara as Russia increased its air strikes on Ukraine, launching the ‘most massive attack’ on Kyiv in the current war, with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones destroying flats and killing at least 30 people on one night while 52,500 took refuge in metro stations. During attacks on Kyiv three days later, Ukraine said that a ‘serious shortage’ of interceptor missiles meant none of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia were shot down. Ukraine hit the St Petersburg oil terminal and the Russian Baltic Fleet base at Kronstadt, and left most of Crimea without lights. A woman suspected of a parcel-bombing in Monaco that wounded a sanctioned Ukrainian multi-millionaire was shot dead in Ukraine. Reports citing US intelligence said that Russia was planning an armed ‘provocation’ in Poland to test Nato. Germany planned to borrow €838 billion by 2030 to raise defence spending.
Hundreds of thousands gathered in Iran for a week of funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with ceremonies extending to Najaf and Karbala in Iraq; Mojtaba Khamenei, his son, the present Supreme Leader, did not appear. Iran and the United States exchanged air strikes. Taylor Swift, 36, the singer, married Travis Kelce, the American football player, also 36, privately, with 1,000 guests at the 20,000-capacity Madison Square Garden arena in New York. America celebrated its 250th anniversary of independence. President Donald Trump of America asked Fifa to review the one-match suspension of the US striker Folarin Balogun at the World Cup; Fifa suspended the suspension, but the United States were still knocked out of the competition by Belgium. Microsoft said it had cut 4,800 jobs (2.1 per cent of its workforce). Samsung Electronics estimated a 19-fold jump in profits because of demand for AI memory chips.
A Paris court upheld the conviction for embezzlement of Marine Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of the National Rally; she would have to wear an electronic tag but said she would appeal and stand for President. Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of the disgraced President Alberto Fujimori, was declared victor in Peru’s presidential election, winning 50.135 per cent of votes to the left-wing candidate’s 49.865 per cent. West Bengal replaced eggs in free school lunches with vegan food. CSH
Comments