Andy Burnham considers radical shake-up to cut energy bills
Posted on Saturday July 18, 2026

Labour leader examining proposals to overhaul gas standing charges and make heat pumps cheaper to run than boilers

Andy Burnham is considering radical plans that could cut household energy bills by £130 a year and make running a heat pump cheaper than a gas boiler.

In his speech on Friday as he became the new Labour leader, Burnham promised to reduce the price of “essentials”, and a cost of living package is expected to be one of his first announcements in Downing Street.

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Wessex Water chief pockets above-inflation pay rise despite bonus ban over sewage spills
Posted on Saturday July 18, 2026

CEO’s pay packet surges to £791,000 as union says public ‘sick of obscene pay’ and bosses ‘feathering own nests’

Wessex Water awarded its chief executive an above-inflation pay increase even as the company was banned from paying bonuses because of sewage spills, it has emerged.

Ruth Jefferson received a 14% base salary increase in October, from £590,000 to £670,000, before other benefits, according to accounts published this month. It was far above the 3.5% given to workers, and put her pay at 18 times that of the company’s median employee.

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London Underground users should know about toxic dust risk, whistleblower says
Posted on Saturday July 18, 2026

Former tube network cleaner says tribunal vindicated his health concerns, including about asbestos, that could affect public

A London Underground worker who was unfairly sacked after whistleblowing about his concerns over exposure to asbestos and other toxic dust has said he wants all tube passengers to know about the potential hazards his case has revealed.

Micky Steeds, a former professional boxer from Aveley in Essex, started working for London Underground in 2018 cleaning up decades of dust from vents, lift shafts and inverts – confined channels underneath station platforms for cabling.

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Poultry sector growth plan risks UK national security, campaigners warn
Posted on Saturday July 18, 2026

Government’s food security push is said to rely on animal feed imports with vulnerability to supply chain shocks

The government’s planned poultry sector growth plan is a risk to national security, campaigners have warned.

Earlier this month, the environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, told the Groundswell agriculture festival that the key to improving food security was consuming more homegrown produce, and said this was why the government had set up the Farming and Food Partnership Board, whose members include industry leaders such as the president of the National Farmers’ Union and the chief executive of the Food & Drink Federation.

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Thousands of Google workers demand layoff protections amid AI boom in petition to CEO
Posted on Thursday July 16, 2026

The petition to Sundar Pichai, the CEO, included more than 4,500 signatures and included calls for buyout options

Google workers on Thursday delivered a petition calling for layoff protections as tech giants continue to slash their workforces while pouring billions into AI.

“Make no mistake: this is a company that is enjoying massive, unprecedented success,” Parul Koul, Google software engineer and Alphabet Workers Union president, said outside the company’s California headquarters after delivering the petition to the office of the CEO, Sundar Pichai’. Koul pointed to Google’s $4tn valuation, which has quadrupled over the last six years: “These layoffs and cuts are not difficult decisions, but simply profit being put over the people that make this company run.”

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Trump made $1.4bn from crypto in one year. Is Justin Sun the man who helped him do it?
Posted on Thursday July 16, 2026

The entrepreneur is known in Washington as the financial power behind the president’s crypto fortune. How did Sun’s business love-in with the Trump family spiral into dueling lawsuits?

The most infamous financial scandal in US presidential history – the 1920s Teapot Dome affair – involved then president Warren G Harding’s interior secretary, Albert Fall, taking roughly $400,000 in bribes. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $6m today. Last year, Donald Trump made at least $2.2bn; his single year of income is on the order of 200 to 300 times larger than the bribe that defined “presidential corruption” in the American imagination for a century.

It’s taken for granted that Trump flogs items like Bibles and gold sneakers as a way to wring more money from his loyal base. But of the president’s $2.2bn, at least $1.4bn came from his crypto businesses. That’s an extraordinary achievement, even for an unscrupulous sitting president. How exactly did he do it without any prior background in crypto?

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Argentina v England: Nations Championship rugby – live
Posted on Saturday July 18, 2026

• Live rugby union updates from 8.10pm BST/4.10pm ART

• Robert Kitson’s view of England 1-2 Argentina

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4 mins. On the next attack Fin Smith floats a beautiful kick towards Freeman’s wing who soars above Carreras to claim it and score.

Who had four minutes on a fight breaking out? Because immediately after the touchdown there’s some afters that Freeman takes exception to which Chessum runs a full 15 metres towards to get involved with.

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The Open 2026: day three - as it happened
Posted on Saturday July 18, 2026

️Ryan Fox shot 62, Rory blasted Bryson, Sam Burns quietly took charge
️Official leaderboard
️McIlroy lashes out at DeChambeau over penalty row

It’s the same old story for Rory McIlroy: he just can’t keep any momentum going this week. He follows that chip-in eagle on 9 with bogey at 11. Back to -1, and a second Claret Jug continues to hover out of reach. At least he’s got one. Jon Rahm has a strangely underwhelming record at the Open: a couple of high finishes in 2019 and 2023 without ever really looking likely to win. And it’s threatening to happen again. He carves his opening drive over the bushes to the right and out of bounds, and starts with a double-bogey six. His fume is internal, but it is real, registering eight-and-a-half out of ten on Bryson DeChambeau’s patented R&A-o-meter™.

Ryan Fox speaks to Sky. “The game plan was to be aggressive … I hit driver a lot … your strategy changes with the wind around here … I had a couple of interesting shots on the back nine and kinda got away with them … pretty happy with 62 in the end, that’s for sure … had a lot of fun with [Xander Schauffele] … he played really well too and we kind of fed off each other … was pretty happy to make par [on 18] from that fairway trap … I haven’t really put four rounds together [at the Open] … hopefully this is a sign … I’m in a pretty good place to give myself a chance so we’ll see what happens!”

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