A new episode of intense and widespread heat is setting record highs across much of Western and Central Europe. Sustained high temperatures for several days and sleepless nights are affecting countries accustomed to heat this week—though not this early—such as France, Catalonia, Spain, and Italy, and parts of the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Germany, where it is increasingly less exceptional for the mercury to soar. The impact of the heatwave on health is high, and several states have issued meteorological alerts to warn the population of dehydration, heatstroke, and even death.

Post-Brexit United Kingdom has become a devourer of political leaderships. That referendum, held ten years ago, condemned the country's will to leave the European Union and has ended up becoming a point of no return. It was the beginning of a fracture that crossed the English Channel, but also the British society. Brexit marks the point where United Kingdom politics became unmanageable. Six prime ministers in a decade. The latest victim is the Labour politician Keir Starmer, who had to resign just two years after achieving the third most important majority for his party, after Tony Blair's victories. Starmer has fallen victim to his colleagues and a majority that was never his. That overwhelming result in July 2024 was, above all, a forceful rejection of the conservative disarray and not a closing of ranks around a uncharismatic politician who promised tranquility and technocratic competence.

The Russian war frigate Admiral Grigorovich reportedly fired warning shots at a British-flagged yacht in the English Channel on Tuesday, in an incident that the UK Ministry of Defence is investigating, and which occurs at a time of high tension between London and Moscow. The war in Ukraine and the activities of the so-called ghost fleet of tankers at the Kremlin's service have maximally strained relations between the two capitals, as already happened in 2018 following the attempted assassination on British territory of former spy Sergei Skripal by agents of Vladimir Putin.

The impunity of big tech companies is over in the United Kingdom. Or at least that is what Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends, who this Monday made a 180-degree turn and announced the prohibition of access for minors under sixteen years of age to social networks. Furthermore, adolescents up to 18 years of age will also have their ability to continuously browse social networks until late at night restricted, in what has been compared to a kind of curfew, in this case, technological. The legislative reform also aims to go further with changes to video game and live streaming platforms, so that strangers cannot contact minors. Last week, Starmer already gave an "ultimatum to Google and Apple to activate mechanisms that prevent minors from sending, receiving, or making sexually explicit images from their mobile phones.

The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has issued an ultimatum to major technology companies to activate mechanisms that prevent minors from taking, sending, or receiving sexually explicit images from their mobile phones. If they do not voluntarily take action within three months, the government will push for new legislation to force them to do so. The announcement, made this Monday during the inauguration of London Tech Week, would make the United Kingdom the first country in the world to require specific measures from device manufacturers and operating system developers in this regard.ad hoc for device manufacturers and developers of their operating systems in this direction.

If in a country the central bank governor has to publicly deny having carried out a covert coup d'état to overthrow a democratic government, it is logical to think that the country may have a problem with its central bank – and with the governor in question. This is exactly what Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, had to do in November 2022, following the resignation of Liz Truss as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, only 44 days after taking office. As if Truss's bad luck were not enough, during her brief term, Queen Elizabeth II died.

Amidst widespread shock in the United Kingdom over the death of young Henry Nowak, the House of Commons on Wednesday witnessed an unusual episode of unity against the far-right and against the politicization that Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has sought to make of the murder. Indeed, after a night of riots in Southampton, he went as far as to predict more violence if "a large number of white youngsters think the police are prejudiced against them." At the same time, both the government and police organizations and forces are questioning whether a review of law enforcement protocols is necessary.

The Damm brewery group opens a new chapter in its internationalization strategy initiated four years ago. After acquiring The Eagle Brewery, located in the English town of Bedford, the company announced this Tuesday a new foray into the British market. Damm has bought –for an unspecified amount– the British beer Old Speckled Hen, one of the premium brands within the ale-style drinks segment in the UK and which until now belonged to the company, Greene King.

The Damm brewery group opens a new chapter in its internationalization strategy initiated four years ago. After acquiring the brewery The Eagle Brewery, located in the English town of Bedford, the company announced this Tuesday a new foray into the British market. Damm has bought – for an unspecified amount – the British beer Old Speckled Hen, one of the premium brands within the ale style drinks segment in the United Kingdom, which until now belonged to the company Greene King.

The almost cinematic images left this Sunday by the evacuation of the ship MV Hondius are not the only ones that could be part of a medical thriller. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, between Uruguay and South Africa and almost 3,000 kilometers from dry land, a British army team has parachuted onto the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha, home to the world's most remote human settlement. On one of the islands, all volcanic, the tourist expedition that set off all public health alarms made a stop. According to the BBC, one of the passengers on the ship is a British citizen, a resident of the island, who has had symptoms compatible with hantavirus. He is now stable but isolated.

Every new geopolitical threat has served to bring the United Kingdom and the European Union a little closer. For a year now, London and Brussels have been in a process of accelerated and silent reconnection. The Russian invasion of Ukraine opened the doors to defense cooperation, and the Trump disruption, now magnified by the horizon of economic and energy crisis generated by the war in Iran, has increased the need for economic and commercial understanding.

The United Kingdom faces a decisive decade for its energy future at a time when most of its nuclear fleet is nearing the end of its lifespan due to aging. Currently, the country generates approximately 15% of its electricity from nuclear power, thanks to an installed capacity of around 6.5 gigawatts, generated by nine reactors at four plants. But all but one must be decommissioned by 2030. This has forced the British government to accelerate a political and financial commitment to a new generation of power plants, a commitment that is fraught with controversy and challenges. Currently, the UK is building two major projects: Hinkley Point C in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk. Both, the first new plants built since 1988, symbolize both the ambition and the difficulties of the British nuclear model. With estimated costs reaching €54.57 billion for the first and €43.23 billion for the second, these plants have become some of the most expensive energy infrastructure projects in the world, as the Working Group on Nuclear Regulation, established by Keir Starmer the previous February, warned at the end of November of last year. The cost overruns and delays have been so significant that EDF, the French state-owned company in charge of building Sizewell C, has accumulated multimillion-euro losses and has demanded that the British government assume almost all the financial risk for the project to move forward. Hinkley Point C is expected to come online between 2030 and 2031; Sizewell C, in 2035-36. The Working Group also warned that the UK has become the most expensive country in the world to build a nuclear power plant, not so much because of the technology used, but because of an accumulation of environmental, safety, and administrative processes that, according to the report, often do not provide real benefits in terms of public health or environmental protection. The document denounced a regulatory culture that is excessively risk-averse, which has resulted in thousands of pages of environmental impact assessments and increasingly lengthy and unpredictable planning processes.

Gorton and Denton is an electoral district in Greater Manchester. Where there were once mines and textile industries, there is now poverty. Elections were held in Gorton and Denton on Thursday, and the seat went to the Greens, followed by the far-right Reform Party, and in third place, Labour. The Conservatives didn't even show up. The result demonstrates how the political map of the United Kingdom is changing. But there's something even more interesting: the Greens won thanks to the Muslim vote.

Telefónica makes its first major acquisition to grow in Europe telecom The Spanish company chaired by Marc Murtra has reached an agreement with Liberty Global, co-owner of the British telecommunications company VMO2, and InfraVia Capital, to acquire 100% of the share capital of the British firm Netomnia for 2.294 billion euros, as reported Wednesday afternoon by MV. The deal began to circulate a few days ago, when the Financial Times He announced that Telefónica, together with the other two companies, was negotiating the acquisition of what is the second largest fiber optic operator in the United Kingdom.

We live in turbulent times, if you'll pardon the obvious. A new empire, China, threatens the hegemony of another, the United States. New technologies like artificial intelligence propel us into the unknown. Mass migrations alter societies' self-perception. The basest popular passions (racism, xenophobia, classism) are unleashed, the middle class is sinking, and truth and lies are becoming blurred. And not even the most robust democratic mechanisms seem capable of surviving the chaos.

Labour wants to turn back the clock ten years, but doesn't know how to do it without being accused of betraying the mandate the British people gave with the Brexit referendum in June 2016The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, outlined on Wednesday what is, so far, the most drastic change of course announcement. since Keir Starmer came to power In July 2024.

Something good can come from something bad, provided there's some luck. That's the small consolation the British government and crown can take for the moment after the various events that have shaken London in the last 72 hours. On the one hand, the crisis that has been taken on by the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmerwhich nearly ended his leadership and has left him in political intensive care. Furthermore, the extraordinary statements that Charles III and Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton have made public regarding with the Epstein affair and the increasingly dirty stain spreading over Andreu Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of the king, uncle of the heir to the throne and, until a few months ago, also a prince (title he was stripped of last year).

Tensions between Denmark and the United States continue to escalate. Following Donald Trump's repeated threats to invade Greenland, the Danish military increased its presence in the territory on Monday, according to Reuters. The Danish military says a plane will land Monday night in Kangerlussuaq—a settlement in western Greenland—and that this represents a "substantial contribution" of troops. Several European allies have already announced the deployment of more soldiers to Greenland and intend for the mission to have NATO support. But the Atlantic Alliance is under scrutiny. de facto by the United States, and therefore it is difficult to imagine a mission by the military entity aimed at defending itself against a potential US aggression. However, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who remains very close to the interests of the White House, expressed hope for a coordinated increase in the allies' military presence in the Arctic. "I hope we can establish a framework to carry this out," said the former Dutch Prime Minister. Beyond these words, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas; the Danish Minister of Defense, Troels Lund Poulsen; and the Greenlandic Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vivian Motzfeld, appear to have gained nothing further from their meeting with Rutte this Monday in Brussels. Nevertheless, Kallas wanted to make it clear in a message on social media that the European allies do not intend to back down in the face of Trump's threats. "We have no interest in picking a fight, but we will stand firm in our position," the EU's foreign policy chief tweeted. It's worth remembering that it was following a military exercise on the island led by Danish troops, in which several militaries participated, that Trump threatened the eight participating states—including Germany, France, and the UK—with additional 10% tariffs starting next month. Starmer also says enough is enough.

Downing Street's appeasement of Trump has thus far proven not only a failure but also a humiliation. Keir Starmer believed that by fawning over the US president, even making him appear King Charles III almost like a servant For his enjoyment, it might contain the Republican's most authoritarian instincts. Nothing could be further from the truth.

]]>

Eurostar, the high-speed train service connecting the UK with mainland Europe, gradually resumed rail services through the Maneg Channel Tunnel on Tuesday evening after several hours with the infrastructure shut down. However, on Wednesday morning, the company warned that delays and last-minute train cancellations were still possible throughout the day. "We plan to operate all services today, although, due to the effects of the strike, there may still be some delays and possible last-minute cancellations," the text added. On Tuesday, the rail company had announced the closure of the tunnel due to a power outage and the subsequent breakdown of the Le Shuttle train—the service that transports cars and trucks between France and Great Britain—forcing the company to "suspend all services today until nine." While Eurostar initially warned of the risk of "significant delays and last-minute cancellations," it later confirmed the suspension of all scheduled services on Tuesday. Hours later, it announced that it was gradually resuming train traffic on this infrastructure. Complications began Monday night into Tuesday morning due to a power outage affecting trains in a section of the Channel Tunnel, disrupting train and convoy traffic and requiring technical intervention. Eurostar, the company that operates high-speed lines from London to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam and is one of the main users of the Channel Tunnel, had to suspend its services Tuesday morning after many of its trains experienced delays, some lasting several hours.

Eurostar is offering affected passengers the option to rearrange their plans by changing their booking free of charge to travel in the same class, on a different date or time; canceling their booking and requesting an e-voucher to use within 12 months of the cancelled travel date; or canceling their booking and receiving a refund. Eurostar also states that affected LNER customers, the North East London Rail operator, with tickets dated Tuesday, December 30, "will be able to travel on an alternative LNER train today." In addition, customers who had to abandon their journey at London St. Pancras station will be able to return to their original station on the next available LNER service at no extra cost, while LNER customers who choose to postpone their Eurostar journey will be able to use their existing LNER ticket for travel on the same day.

]]>

Activist Greta Thunberg was arrested Tuesday in London for demonstrating in support of several activists from the Palestine Action organization who have been on hunger strike in prison for 50 days. Thunberg was arrested, according to police, under anti-terrorism legislation for carrying a sign that read, "I support Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide." The Swedish activist was arrested during a protest outside the Aspen Insurance building, which insures Elbit Systems, an Israeli-owned arms manufacturer and one of the country's main weapons producers. During the protest, in which two demonstrators sprayed red paint on the insurance company's building, Thunberg and the other protesters were supporting pro-Palestinian activists on hunger strike to demand the closure of Elbit.

]]>