General news

• I was in a coma for 42 days after a tick bite on a holiday to Greece

  31-07-2026 23:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Victoria Stellas has been left with nocturnal seizures and memory loss after the tick bite.
  
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• Citadel’s swoop on Situational Awareness helped stem a $3tn AI rout - Financial Times

  31-07-2026 23:46 via news.google.com
  
  Citadel’s swoop on Situational Awareness helped stem a $3tn AI rout  Financial TimesHow the ‘Nostradamus of AI’ failed to spot a market crash  The TelegraphHis Wedding Guests Were Arriving—Just as His $45 Billion Fund Was Falling Apart  WSJHow Leopold Aschenbrenner built a $45 billion AI hedge fund — and lost most of it in days  CNBCThe 24-Hour Race to Salvage Situational Awareness’ AI Bets  Bloomberg.com
  
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• Why BP is finally giving up on North Sea oil and gas - The Times

  31-07-2026 22:25 via news.google.com
  Why BP is finally giving up on North Sea oil and gas  The TimesBP puts North Sea business up for sale  BBCBP puts North Sea oil and gas business up for sale  The GuardianRethink on UK’s attitude to energy and investment is long overdue  The TimesBP Puts U.K. North Sea Business Up for Sale  WSJ
  
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• ‘It ain’t the same’: inside the bitter battle to free Ben & Jerry’s

  31-07-2026 20:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Ben Cohen says his ice-cream company has been silenced by corporate ownership – and a boycott of Magnum brands could force a saleBen & Jerry’s ice-cream in the tub is still great, but the brand’s newest chocolate-covered ice-cream bar on a stick?“It ain’t the same,” Ben Cohen, the company co-founder, told the Guardian. Sure, the chocolate coating is still thick enough, but the ice cream itself is “kinda fluffy”, Cohen said – an insult in
  
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• Two more small boat pilots jailed for Channel crossings

  31-07-2026 20:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Both men admitted steering overcrowded vessels carrying more than 80 people each to the UK.
  
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• Washington Post’s opinion editor resigns after just one year in role

  31-07-2026 19:24 via theguardian.com
  Adam O’Neal did not give reason for his departure at end of August in another major shakeup at US publicationThe Washington Post had realized a state of relative calm in the five months since the paper was turned upside down in February, when nearly half the newsroom was laid off and its unpopular publisher, Will Lewis, abruptly resigned.But on Friday, staffers were shocked to find out that Adam O’Neal, a millennial hired last year to lead its opinion section, was already leaving. Co
  
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• Andy Burnham’s first step towards fairer social care for all | Letters

  31-07-2026 19:11 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to the prime minister’s pledge to spend his ‘political capital’ and find cross-party consensus on reforming social careI write as someone whose disabilities mean that I will be in receipt of social care support my whole life (Andy Burnham seeks cross-party agreement on future of social care, 27 July). For too long, people like me have been cannon fodder for politicians who routinely forget that their highest duty in providing social care is to protect those less
  
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• We are shocked that Palestine Action barrister faces contempt proceedings | Letters

  31-07-2026 19:09 via theguardian.com
  Former clients of Rajiv Menon KC, including Tariq Ali and Hillsborough family members Margaret Aspinall and Sue Roberts, say the charges against him must be dropped. Plus a letter from Andrew SmithThe fight for truth and justice can too often be a hard and long struggle. Navigating the law is complex, and justice depends on lawyers who we can trust – lawyers who listen to our voices, stand up for us, and pursue the truth on our behalf.Rajiv Menon KC is an experienced and highly respected b
  
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• How Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's Rein Me In broke the UK's singles chart record

  31-07-2026 18:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The duet has spent 19 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the charts, breaking a 73-year-old record.
  
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• No sentence long enough for jailed funeral director Robert Bush, say families

  31-07-2026 18:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Families give their reaction to the 20-year sentence handed to Robert Bush.
  
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• The Guardian view on the Lovell telescope: budget cuts to physics are bad science and worse politics | Editorial

  31-07-2026 18:32 via theguardian.com
  Funders have picked a damaging fight with scientists and the public. They should reconsider their plansThe iconic Lovell telescope, housed at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, has always expanded our view of the universe – from tracking the Sputnik launch in 1957 to its current contributions to the study of dark matter. It is now threatened with closure after it was announced that government funding will not continue past March 2028. The projected savings are ju
  
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• The Guardian view on England’s centralised state: Andy Burnham must unbundle it | Editorial

  31-07-2026 18:32 via theguardian.com
  Devolution should finance transport, skills and industry, not become a rightwing contest to promise the largest tax giveawayThat England is among the rich world’s most centralised countries underpins Andy Burnham’s critique of the economic history of the past 40 years. Only post-communist Europe deindustrialised as rapidly as Yorkshire and the Midlands did in the 1980s. Centralisation did not close every factory or pit, but left regions without the powers, finance or institutions to
  
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• Don’t let Jodrell Bank Observatory become another industrial museum | Letters

  31-07-2026 18:30 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to reports that the world-famous big dish is facing closure due to spending cuts by UK Research and InnovationThroughout my long life, Jodrell Bank Observatory has been a source of wonder and pride (Jodrell Bank Observatory facing closure after major funder cuts support, 27 July). Sir Bernard Lovell’s inspirational creation never ceases to awe with its combination of cutting-edge space exploration and heroic engineering structure. A tour of its welcoming visitor centre with
  
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• Lessons learned on Tomlinson report | Brief letters

  31-07-2026 18:28 via theguardian.com
  Reviving vocational education | Vanishing food | ‘Stingy git’ obituaries | Hydrangeas heading northMichael Pyke of the Campaign for State Education refers to the Tomlinson report of 2004 (Letters, 30 July), commissioned but then sadly dropped by the Blair government. A year or so later, I, then a FE college principal, recognised Mike Tomlinson at Marylebone station. I told him how sorry I was that his report had not been implemented. He thanked me and said: “It will be, eventua
  
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• Disgraced funeral boss who failed to bury bodies jailed for 20 years

  31-07-2026 18:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Robert Bush also failed to cremate people and gave bereaved relatives the ashes of strangers.
  
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• Roadworks company fined €1.2m after father and two children died in lough

  31-07-2026 18:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  John Mullan and his two children died after their car went off the road and plunged into Lough Foyle in 2020.
  
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• The best ice-cream makers in the UK for gelato, soft serve and sorbets – tested

  31-07-2026 18:22 via theguardian.com
  Our writer spent the hottest weeks of the year churning through the top ice-cream makers, from compressor models to the cult favourite Ninja Creami. Here’s the scoop• Kitchen gadgets top chefs can’t live withoutI love a scoop or two of the good stuff, even more so when the mercury hits 30C and ice-cream starts feeling less like an indulgence and more like an essential survival tool. This is why owning an ice-cream maker has always made sense to me. I’ve been using the orig
  
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• Glen Hansard obituary

  31-07-2026 18:21 via theguardian.com
  Oscar-winning singer, songwriter, actor and founder of the Dublin rock band the FramesGlen Hansard, who has died aged 56 in a motorcycle accident, was one of Dublin’s musical heroes – a one-time busker who became an Oscar-winning international star, successful both as a singer-songwriter and as an actor.He had already built up a local reputation busking regularly on Grafton Street, Dublin, when he decided to form a band, the Frames, along with other musicians he had befriended on the
  
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• ‘He lived here a long time, so it feels poignant’: Nick Cave thrills Brighton passersby with secret rooftop gig

  31-07-2026 18:20 via theguardian.com
  Prior to playing huge outdoor show in city’s Preston Park, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds set up on a record shop balcony – and play to fans visiting from across the worldNick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ only advertised UK live performance of 2026, a show in Brighton’s Preston Park, arrives with other events across the city attached. The Duke of York’s Picturehouse cinema is hosting a weekend-long Nick Cave takeover, featuring films curated and introduced by the singer-son
  
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• Ariana Grande: Petal review – calm, controlled anger at exes, fans and the media

  31-07-2026 18:12 via theguardian.com
  (Republic)Casting herself as a flower trampled underfoot, the superstar’s eighth album swaps the ​glitz of her Wicked years ​f​or dark blooms of haunted electronics‘Tell me who’s to blame?” Ariana Grande asks, exasperated, on the title track of her eighth album, Petal. “Is it the people or myself?” As bleary, fuzzed-up drums threaten to drown her out, this shadowy carousel-ride of a song cycles through more questions than answers. Does her su
  
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• Commonwealth Games builds to finale and the Tour de France Femmes – follow with us

  31-07-2026 18:05 via theguardian.com
  Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports Continue reading...
  
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• Google Earth AI tool pulled after spate of fake satellite images - Financial Times

  31-07-2026 18:00 via news.google.com
  
  Google Earth AI tool pulled after spate of fake satellite images  Financial TimesGoogle withdraws new Earth AI tool after warnings over misinformation risks  BBCGoogle Just Ruined One of Its Most Important Tools  The AtlanticTransform any place with Nano Banana in Google Earth  blog.googleAlphabet rolls back AI image generation in Google Earth over policy violations  Reuters
  
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• Budget to be held in October, Healey announces

  31-07-2026 17:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The new chancellor pledged to move money and power out of Westminster, and into every postcode around Britain.
  
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• Boss of £300m used-car firm was ousted after ‘orchestrated plan’ by investors, judge rules

  31-07-2026 17:56 via theguardian.com
  Multimillionaire Peter Waddell is also found to have been properly dismissed from Big Motoring World for gross misconductA multimillionaire used-car salesman was ousted from his £300m company after “a pre-conceived and orchestrated plan” devised by private equity investors that had backed his business, a high court judge has ruled.Peter Waddell, 60, was forced out as the chief executive of the Kent-based dealership Big Motoring World in 2024 in a coup that resulted in “mo
  
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• England and Wales on course for driest July on record

  31-07-2026 17:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Met Office records indicate England and Wales are likely to have had their driest July since records began 190 years ago.
  
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• Tao of Glass review – stage magic as McDermott meditates on the minimalist master

  31-07-2026 17:24 via theguardian.com
  Soho Place theatre, London
  This multifaceted and personal homage to – and collaboration with – composer Philip Glass is a transcendent tapestry suffused with joy and wonder. A show that doesn’t happen (and one that’s never seen); a shattered coffee table; the I Ching; Maurice Sendak; a flotation tank; Deep Democracy. Just some of the disparate fragments that are lovingly assembled by the Tao of Glass into what writer and co-director Phelim McDermott has called “a st
  
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• Puberty blockers trial can start recruiting children after judge rejects legal challenge

  31-07-2026 17:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Campaigners brought the legal action to try and stop the trial going ahead.
  
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• Reducing protein intake could support healthy aging by reshaping metabolism - Medical Xpress

  31-07-2026 17:00 via news.google.com
  
  Reducing protein intake could support healthy aging by reshaping metabolism  Medical XpressWhy eating too much protein could shorten your life  The TelegraphConsuming less protein could have greater health benefits and extend lifespan  News-MedicalCould eating less protein slow ageing?  New ScientistStudy suggests eating less protein could be key to healthy aging for most adults  ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos
  
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• Funeral director jailed over bodies and ashes 'horror' | ITV News - ITVX

  31-07-2026 16:54 via news.google.com
  
  Funeral director jailed over bodies and ashes 'horror' | ITV News  ITVXNo sentence long enough for jailed funeral director Robert Bush, say families  BBCVictims of Robert Bush call for funeral industry regulation  BBCHull funeral director who left bodies to rot in mortuary jailed for 20 years  The GuardianGovernment takes action to crack down on rogue funeral operators  GOV.UK
  
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• “Active speakers have huge advantages, which allow us to make systems that can outperform a traditional hi-fi system of the same price” – we speak to KEF’s chief technology officer about the LS Luxe - whathifi.com

  31-07-2026 16:27 via news.google.com
  “Active speakers have huge advantages, which allow us to make systems that can outperform a traditional hi-fi system of the same price” – we speak to KEF’s chief technology officer about the LS Luxe  whathifi.comKEF Reveals The New LS LUXE Wireless And Lossless Speakers  ForbesKEF LS LUXE review: an expensive way to go smaller (but oh so worth it)  Darko.Audio"The Brits do it best": How KEF's new LS Luxe speakers reinforce a changing hi-fi tr
  
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• “Active speakers have huge advantages, which allow us to make systems that can outperform a traditional hi-fi system of the same price” – we speak to KEF’s chief technology officer about the LS Luxe - What Hi-Fi?

  31-07-2026 16:27 via news.google.com
  “Active speakers have huge advantages, which allow us to make systems that can outperform a traditional hi-fi system of the same price” – we speak to KEF’s chief technology officer about the LS Luxe  What Hi-Fi?KEF Reveals The New LS LUXE Wireless And Lossless Speakers  ForbesKEF LS LUXE review: an expensive way to go smaller (but oh so worth it)  darko.audio"The Brits do it best": How KEF's new LS Luxe speakers reinforce a changing hi-fi tre
  
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• Here comes the alt-bride: wedding gowns enter a more experimental era

  31-07-2026 15:55 via theguardian.com
  Celebrities including Charli xcx and Gabbriette and avant-garde brands honour tradition while also rejecting itIf a wedding day brings to mind a bride dressed in a big white dress, the styles coming down the aisle in the near future may strike you as a little different. Whether it is through celebrity references, or new brands, wedding gowns are entering a more experimental era.For Charli xcx’s marriage to the 1975 drummer George Daniel last year, the bride wore a minidress and sunglasses.
  
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• Andy Burnham to give regional mayors share of income tax

  31-07-2026 15:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The prime minister says the move will give power to "every postcode" but critics say the plans lack detail.
  
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• Residents hit by flooding call for quarry to shut after blast

  31-07-2026 14:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Residents were forced to evacuate their flooded homes after "a quarry incident" on Thursday.
  
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• Sainsbury's agrees to sell Argos for £120m

  31-07-2026 14:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Under the terms of the deal, Argos will still operate in Sainsbury's shops, sell Habitat products, and offer Nectar points.
  
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• Passenger on British Airways mayday flight describes fear and shout of 'I don't want to die'

  31-07-2026 14:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Edward Killiwick was on the flight that issued a distress call, before it landed safely at Heathrow earlier this month.
  
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• Cocktail of the week: the Culpeper’s papa doble – recipe | The good mixer

  31-07-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Cherry pops and citrus zings in this twist on a Hemingway specialA bright, citrus-forward riff on the classic Hemingway special, with cherry depth and a clean white rum base.Daniel Emson, bar manager, The Culpeper, London E1 Continue reading...
  
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• Southport killer charged with prison attacks and possessing weapon

  31-07-2026 13:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Axel Rudakubana, 19, is accused of attacking staff at HMP Belmarsh between May and October 2025.
  
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• What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in July

  31-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Max Porter, Daisy Johnson, Avni Doshi and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the commentsI recently read Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot. It’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read about what it means to live with others, or decide not to; what we owe the people we love, the natural world, and ourselves. I also really enjoyed Robert Frost, by Robert Frost and Stacy Skolnik. It’s not that Robert Frost; it’s an it
  
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• ‘It’s too fast, too big’: speed of climate crisis is devastating crops, say farmers

  31-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Drought and extreme heat are killing plants, driving up prices while also making some farms economically unviable“It’s a constant battle,” says Tim Young. He and his family have been tracking the rainfall on their Norfolk farm since 1976, and the data shows the last six years have seen two-thirds the amount of rain compared with previous years. The lack of water has become the number one risk to Young’s business.This summer has seen record-breaking climate induced heatwav
  
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• Beguiling beauties, designs to be sat on and giant corn dollies – the week in art

  31-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Gwen John’s singular poetic world, Enid Marx’s signature designs for the London Underground and the rural gothic of LR Vandy – all in your weekly dispatchGwen John: Strange Beauties
  This excellent and moving encounter with the Welsh modern painter, touring from Wales’s National Museum, takes you deep into John’s silent, poetic world.• Modern Two, Edinburgh, from 1 August until 4 January Continue reading...
  
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• Add to playlist: the art-pop showtunes of Luki and the week’s best new tracks

  31-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Combining grand melodrama with nuanced emotional character, Lucy Duncan and producer Niac’s collaboration sounds both timeless and trueFrom Hastings, UK
  Recommended if you like Mary Margaret O’Hara, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple
  Up next Old Feelings EP out now, album to follow later in 2026The first time listening to Luki feels like a miraculous discovery of something timeless and true, as though they’ve been waiting patiently to be discovered in the noisy maelstrom of contemporary po
  
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• ‘A universal human story’: Clean Start’s thought-provoking tidying sim tells immigrant’s tale

  31-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Playing as recent arrival Lena, your challenges include learning a new language and uncovering family secrets – its developer hopes it will spread ‘a little more compassion’The cosy house-sorting sim has become a much-loved staple of the PC indie scene. Titles such as Unpacking, A Little to the Left and Momento charm players with their detailed interiors and quiet narratives of lives lived and shared within the same four walls. For Clean Start, Polish developer Serious Sim has
  
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• Ryan Gosling is entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe – on a motorbike, in flames, wearing a leather jacket. What could go wrong?

  31-07-2026 12:47 via theguardian.com
  After coveting the role for years, Gosling has been announced as the new Ghost Rider – a superhero stunt rider with powers bestowed by Satan. Is this a smart move all round or has he sold his soul to the devil?Steven Spielberg once said: “If a person can tell me the idea in 25 words or less, it’s going to make a pretty good movie.” And Marvel’s most popular big-screen superheroes can be described using less than half that number. Iron Man is a tech bro in a tin suit
  
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• A World Elsewhere review – chaotic thrills as kids sail, fight and fall through trap doors

  31-07-2026 12:28 via theguardian.com
  Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonFamily show brings gleeful playfulnessto the story of a 12-year-old whose escape into extravagant daydreams has begun to alarm himThe more children you bring along to this new family show – the latest co-production from the Globe theatre and Splendid Productions – the more fun you’ll have. It’s ostensibly about a 12-year-old school boy, Cass, who is struggling with his doubts and fears and considering reining in his imagination altogether. H
  
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• NatWest (Q2 Results): solid, buybacks pulled forward - Hargreaves Lansdown

  31-07-2026 12:00 via news.google.com
  
  NatWest (Q2 Results): solid, buybacks pulled forward  Hargreaves LansdownNatWest shares rewarded for half-year profit surge  Interactive InvestorH1 2026 NatWest Group Results  NatWest GroupNatWest profits up by a fifth after AI-led tech drive and wealth focus  Yahoo Finance UKNatWest Raises Guidance, Brings Forward Buyback Announcement Plans  WSJ
  
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• The hidden dementia reversal that may overwhelm social care - The Times

  31-07-2026 11:50 via news.google.com
  The hidden dementia reversal that may overwhelm social care  The Times
  
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• Skincare staple or expensive gimmick: do you really need an LED face mask?

  31-07-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  They promise clearer, younger-looking skin, but is your money better spent elsewhere? Dermatologists and experts weigh in• How to build the perfect skincare routineCountless faddy products have crossed my desk over the years I’ve been reviewing beauty tech, from app-connected toothbrushes to AI-powered hair dryers. Few, however, have held such sustained interest as LED face masks.At first glance, I assumed these scary-looking, space-age skincare devices would fizzle out of favour as q
  
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• New solar panels in Great Britain at 15-year high as fossil fuel costs soar

  31-07-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Boom in solar farms and home installations in first half of 2026 began shortly after start of US-Israel war against IranGreat Britain has recorded more new solar power installations in the first half of this year than in any six-month period since 2011, as households turn to rooftop panels to help cut their energy bills.An analysis of the government’s official figures shows that Great Britain added 142,536 solar installations in the first six months of the year, putting it on track to top
  
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• Jacqueline Crooks: ‘Toni Morrison’s voice made me want to find my own’

  31-07-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  The novelist on learning empathy from Charles Dickens, the playfulness of Irenosen Okojie and avoiding Jane AustenMy earliest reading memoryI was eight when I was given The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley, after being moved from my grand­mother’s care to live with my mother and her husband, who I barely knew. The story is about leaving one world, adapting to another. Surviving. It gave shape to unnamed feelings and developed my survival imagination: imagining beyond my circu
  
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