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What do you think of the MPs’ inquiry into UK Eurovision song contest failure? I give it nul points | Laura Snapes

There are obvious reasons why the UK flops and flops again, but that isn’t the point. This annual debacle is now part of our national identity Given that Britain’s politics are quite a sizeable reason that we do so badly in Eurovision: here’s something that will definitely, absolutely, categorically help us do better in the competition … interference from MPs. Digital, culture, media and sport committee chair Caroline Dinenage has announced that MPs will scrutinise the UK’s reliable failure in the competition to see where we’re going wrong, with a hearing to be held over the coming months. The answers surely don’t take that long to work out. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Laura Snapes21 Sept

UK urged to strengthen financial muscle of national wealth fund to aid economy

Unions, thinktanks and others say overhaul could provide investment Britain needs Unions, thinktanks, environmental groups and charities have come together to call on ministers to boost the financial firepower of the national wealth fund to empower it to invest more in Britain and rebalance the country’s economy. Lower energy bills, the revitalisation of the UK’s industrial heartlands and the provision of more high-quality jobs could all be unlocked by scaling up the NWF, according to a statement from organisations including the TUC, Greenpeace, WWF and the New Economics Foundation. Turbocharging the retrofitting of homes and buildings. Giving the public a bigger stake in critical infrastructure through taking part-ownership stakes in key projects. Launching a targeted investment programme to bring new green industries to communities hit hardest by deindustrialisation. Supporting a network of regional banks to funnel money into the small businesses that hold up local economies. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Joanna Partridge21 Sept

Lib Dems use conference to set out £2bn plan to cut fuel duty

Ed Davey’s party made a series of proposals as concern grows among members that voters don’t know what its policies are or what it stands for The Liberal Democrats have used their conference to unveil a £2bn plan to cut fuel duty, part of a series of policy proposals intended to tackle worries that not enough voters know what Ed Davey ’s party stands for. The proposal to cut fuel duty by 10p a litre for a fixed three-month period came as polling showed Lib Dem policies are less well known than those of Restore Britain , which only launched as a political party in February and has one MP – Rupert Lowe – to their 71. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Peter Walker and Alexandra Topping20 Sept

‘The fears begin to fall away’: why Britain’s mosques are opening their doors to public

As attacks on Muslim places of worship rise, more than 100 mosques this weekend have offered conversation, food and friendship to challenge prejudice At one mosque in north London, a woman shouted at worshippers that more of their children should be killed, as children had been in Gaza. On another occasion, gas pipes were ripped from the building and reconfigured so leaking gas built up inside it. These are among a series of incidents the London Islamic Cultural Society has faced in the past three years. But rather than retreat behind closed doors, the mosque has opened them wider. It is one of more than 100 across the UK, including in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Glasgow, Southend and Cardiff, that have invited in members of the public this weekend to learn more about Islam and British Muslims. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sammy Gecsoyler and Aamna Mohdin20 Sept

Meta launches legal challenge against UK media regulator over Online Safety Act

Action against Ofcom comes as social media companies are being accused of using courts to slow down implementation Meta has launched a fresh legal challenge against Britain’s media regulator in the latest of a slew of actions by social media companies who are accused of using the courts to slow down implementation of the Online Safety Act. Lawyers for the parent company of Facebook served notice during the week in an appeal against placing WhatsApp and Instagram, which are also owned by Meta, in a category that subjects them to additional duties. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Ben Quinn Political correspondent20 Sept
  • neutral toward Meta · 82%

Union Jack Classic fails to spark on the pitch but electric atmosphere fires up Wembley

Arizona State cantered to victory against Kansas in the first US college football game to be staged in the UK You sensed that Britain’s first US college football game in nearly 40 years was going to be a very different experience when Wembley Way began to reverberate to the sound of steel, muscle and a few whoops long before kick-off. The noise came from the Arizona State Sun Devils’ marching band, who were so energetic their horns and trombones swished from left to right like air raid lights hunting a target as they played. Soon there came a riposte from the Kansas Jayhawks’ marching band, along with more cheers from the large crowd outside the stadium. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sean Ingle at Wembley19 Sept

Britain Faces £150 Billion Grid Overhaul to Power Renewable Energy Boom

The United Kingdom will need to invest heavily in expanding its electricity grid to meet rising power demand and ensure that new renewable energy projects can connect to it. The U.K. National Energy System Operator (NESO) has announced that more than an estimated £150 million will be required to update the country’s transmission infrastructure. The U.K. has announced major plans to overhaul its electricity grid, a megaproject expected to include constructing five times as much infrastructure by the end of the decade as in the previous…

OilPrice.comOilPrice.com•Felicity Bradstock19 Sept

Spider season! Ten species you’ll see scuttling across Britain’s carpets and lawns this autumn

The world is suddenly full of webs and hairy legs. But why? And what do they belong to? Meet the spiders you’re most likely to encounter, from cardinals to false wolves Summer is at an end, and suddenly spiders seem to be everywhere – in your house, in your garden, in your hair. Fresh webs hang from doorways, walls, shrubs and fence posts, creating invisible obstacle courses. Where do all these spiders come from, what kind are they and what, if anything, should we do about them? The short answer to the question “Why are there so many more spiders at this time of year?” is: there aren’t. They are just more obvious. Dave Clarke, an ectotherm (“cold-blooded” animal) specialist at the Zoological Society of London, says: “There are more spiders around in the spring, because that’s when they hatch from their egg sacs, and there are hundreds of babies in each egg sac. But they’re small and not very obvious. They grow up during the summer and, at this time of year, they reach their maximum size.” Their webs are also correspondingly larger. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Tim Dowling19 Sept

Time to stop suggesting AI is conscious?, Riyadh Calling: Saudi’s Hour of News, Russian elections

This week, Saudi Arabia has turned to its allies for military support as Iran-backed Houthi rebels tighten their grip on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab el Mandeb shipping choke point, while drone attacks on the Kingdom’s oil infrastructure deepen an emerging energy crisis. In Russia, voters head to the polls for a tightly controlled parliamentary election with little meaningful opposition, as Putin insists there will be no new mobilisation. Meanwhile, warnings about the risks of AI are coming from inside the industry itself, with Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman warning against treating AI models like humans—and raising the prospect of a new “silicon species” competing with us for resources. Finally, in Britain, the royal family is back on the defensive as Earl Spencer’s new claims about Princess Diana’s funeral prompt an unusually pointed response from Buckingham Palace.

France 24France 24•Gavin LEE18 Sept