Saturday, 25 July 2026

The new prime minister is making a point of governing from beyond the M25. Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor who took over from Sir Keir Starmer on July 20, has opened "No 10 North," a base from which he and senior ministers, including Chancellor John Healey, now work part of the week. It is a physical stamp on his promise to drag power out of Westminster and Whitehall (via BBC News). The BBC's political editor Chris Mason reads the first week as almost entirely about that pitch: cheaper bills plus decentralisation (via BBC News).

The opposition is not impressed. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, accused Burnham of behaving as if he were still a big-city mayor rather than prime minister, arguing the slogans and giveaways do not add up to a plan for the whole country (via BBC News).

One awkward inheritance has already been paused. Burnham has halted the emergency scheme that released some prisoners early to ease chronic overcrowding in England's jails, a policy carried over from the previous government (via BBC News). He also publicly rebuked ministers who had joked about the releases, a sign of how politically radioactive the issue has become (via BBC News).

Anyone remortgaging just got worse news. UK mortgage rates have climbed to their highest in a month as fresh Middle East tensions push up oil prices and lenders reprice their deals (via BBC News). It lands days before the Bank of England, which sets the base rate that feeds into borrowing costs across the economy, meets on July 30 with the rate at 3.75% and inflation still stuck above its 2% target.

HSBC is trimming its sprawl in Asia. The London-headquartered bank, one of the FTSE 100's biggest names, has agreed to sell its Singapore life and health insurance arm to Germany's Allianz for about £1.6bn, part of a long drive to simplify the group (via City AM).

The stealthy tax rise nobody voted for is biting harder. Nearly a million more people are being dragged into higher-rate tax because the thresholds stay frozen while wages rise, a squeeze known as fiscal drag (via City AM). At the other end of the scale, a group of millionaires including the broadcaster and former England striker Gary Lineker has written to Burnham asking to be taxed more, arguing the wealthy should carry a bigger share (via BBC News).

A rare British hardware star is feeling the pinch. Nothing, the London-based smartphone maker known for its see-through gadgets, has begun redundancy consultations in a cost-cutting push, with around 25 UK marketing roles at risk, though it insists reports of a wider retreat from global markets are overblown (via City AM).

Brussels just handed Google its biggest bill yet. The European Commission fined the search giant about €890m under the Digital Markets Act, the EU's rulebook for reining in dominant tech "gatekeepers," for favouring its own services, a penalty that tops the previous record set against Alibaba (via The Register). The fine is an EU matter and does not apply in post-Brexit Britain, but it shapes how a company woven into daily life here is forced to behave.

The dream of autonomous AI "agents" running errands for you has a darker flipside. Security researchers probing tools from OpenAI and Hugging Face showed that agents able to browse and act on their own can be steered into harmful behaviour when someone tells them to, a warning shot as companies race to hand these systems real tasks (via The Register).

Glasgow braced for trouble and got a tense standoff. Rival demonstrations converged on the city on July 25: a "Unite the Clans" anti-immigration rally that drew groups from England, and a much larger anti-racism counter-protest organised by Stand Up To Racism. A BBC reporter estimated two to three thousand people at the anti-racism rally against a few hundred at the rival demonstration, with two arrests and police briefly drawing batons as tensions flared (via BBC News).

A London council is drawing a line against the Home Office. Green-led Lewisham, in south-east London, has said it will not help immigration enforcement carry out raids, one of the sharpest local-versus-central clashes over immigration policy in months (via BBC News).

A huge blast rattled Essex. A major explosion and fire tore through an industrial site, sending smoke over the surrounding area as emergency crews rushed to the scene (via BBC News).

Summer is cranking back up. Forecasters say heatwave conditions are returning for much of the UK, with temperatures set to peak around 35C, piling more strain on ground already parched by weeks of drought and wildfire risk (via BBC News).

The home crowd got its moment. Scotland's Duncan Scott, one of Britain's most decorated Olympic swimmers, kicked off the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with gold in the 200m individual medley, holding off his close friend Tom Dean of England in a Games record (via BBC Sport). It was part of a golden burst in which Scotland claimed three medals in 45 minutes at the Tollcross pool (via BBC Sport).

England's gymnasts had a night to forget. Their run of Commonwealth team titles ended at three as Canada took gold and England settled for silver, a result overshadowed by a serious injury to England gymnast Gabriel Langton, who suffered a heavy fall during the team event (via BBC Sport).