The return of the political professional
After years of duds and dilettantes, true operators have returned to Downing Street — but that won’t guarantee success
The main event
Worth reading
Not the busiest stories. The pieces most likely to sharpen the mental model.
Will Burnham go big or go home?
Reasons to be sceptical about the UK’s new prime minister
Now I know why I’m a binge drinker — blame my ADHD
Selected from The Times as an argument-led read.
Prince George’s teenage years already look very different to his father’s
Selected from The Times as an argument-led read.
How Trump and His Allies Can Corrupt the Midterms
Stop the steal before it starts.
More headlines
Financial Times
Oil jumps to $99 after Houthis attack two Saudi Arabian tankers
Yemeni rebels said they used missiles and drones to target the vessels Encelia and Layla
Financial Times
Oil price surge drives global bond sell-off
Brent crude’s rise towards $100 threatens a prolonged surge in inflation and resetting interest rate expectations
Financial Times
Houthi attacks threaten to cut off Saudi Arabia’s oil lifeline
Asian refiners may wait an extra month for crude as tankers abandon the route through Bab al-Mandab
Financial Times
Japan awakes
Why 1 per cent interest rates could shake everything up after a generation of deflation
BBC News
Police missed chance to examine Manchester synagogue attacker's phone before attack
Greater Manchester Police apologises because Jihad Al-Shamie's devices were not reviewed before the attack.
BBC News
Police officer was violent rapist who attacked women over 14 years, BBC reveals
The BBC can reveal that detectives have so far uncovered nine victims of PC Alan Greer but many more are anticipated.
BBC News
'What was their crime?': BBC visits Iran school where strike killed 120 children
Nearly five months on, grief is still raw as a teacher and a mother recall the horror of the attack in Minab.
BBC News
Gary Lineker among millionaires asking Andy Burnham to tax them more
A group including the former England footballer write to the new PM telling him "we can afford it".
BBC News
Airport drop-off fees up by a third - here are the priciest
The cost of parking closest to the terminal has hit £10 at two of the UK's airports.
The Economist
Should you be afraid of Elon Musk?
NYT Europe
Google Hit With $1 Billion Fine By EU Over Search Engine Practices
At a tense moment for trans-Atlantic trade, the European Union accused Google of anti-competitive business practices.
NYT Europe
A New Target for Ukraine’s Long-Range Attacks: Russia’s Version of Amazon
Kyiv is escalating its air war by striking commercial warehouses, trying to bring the conflict closer to home for ordinary Russians.
The Telegraph
Inflation fall a ‘false dawn’, Burnham warned
Inflation fall a ‘false dawn’, Burnham warned
The Telegraph
Russia destroys Ukraine HIV warehouse
Missiles hit facility holding 62 million prevention items earmarked for the country’s harm reduction programmes
Wales
BBC Wales
Animal lover run over by own car while saving cat on hill
Jacqueline Davies was able to dial 999 after the incident, but died in hospital the following day.
BBC Wales
River levels approach all-time low as drought announcement looms
An announcement is expected from NRW as some river levels are reported to be nearing all-time lows.
BBC Wales
I became a nurse after my husband died from Covid - now I'm determined to get a job
Rachel Ohene-Adjei took her GCSEs after her husband died, and has now graduated with a nursing degree.
BBC Wales
Bonnie Tyler's funeral to be broadcast online to fans around the world
The service in Swansea on 17 August will be live streamed on the star's official website.
Sport
BBC Sport · Cricket
No men's Ashes Test in north of England - full 2027 schedule
Neither Old Trafford nor Headingley will host a men's Ashes Test between England and Australia next summer.
BBC Sport · Football
Leeds in talks to sign Man City keeper Trafford
Leeds United are in discussions with Manchester City to sign goalkeeper James Trafford.
BBC Sport · Athletics
Johnson-Thompson and Asher-Smith out of Commonwealths
Olympic silver medallist Katarina Johnson-Thompson has pulled out of the Commonwealth Games because of injury.
BBC Sport · Football
Newcastle agree £34m deal for Monaco's Bamba
Midfielder Aladji Bamba is due to arrive on Thursday for a medical and to sign a long-term contract.
The Race · F1
Malaysian GP emerges as F1 2026 option
The Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang could make its return to the F1 calendar on a one-off basis this season
The Race
Mercedes makes software fix after Spa problems
Mercedes has made deployment software modifications ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix to help address its problems from Spa.
The Race · F1
A big test of Audi's bold F1 claim
Audi believes its chassis is good enough to be in the podium fight at some tracks - it just needs more power
Formula 1 Official
Which rookie drivers are getting FP1 outings in Hungary?
No fewer than five of F1’s 11 teams will run a rookie driver during Friday’s first practice session for the Hungarian Grand...
Formula 1 Official
LIVE COVERAGE: Build-up to the Hungarian GP weekend
Live coverage of all the build-up ahead of the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend in Budapest.
ESPN Cricinfo
Afghanistan to host India for T20I series in Delhi
This will be the first time a team will host India on Indian soil
ESPN Cricinfo
PCB announces new domestic one-day tournament to gauge World Cup options
The new National Champions Cup will start the domestic season on August 11
Science
New Scientist
New Scientist recommends Anish Kapoor’s show at the Hayward Gallery
Viscera, voids and light-gobbling Vantablack conspire to disturb and amaze in Anish Kapoor’s new exhibition, which has heavy...
New Scientist
Orcas filmed making sunfish explode by ramming them at high speed
Orcas have been seen smashing into sharp-tail sunfish so hard that the fish bursts into thousands of fragments, perhaps as a...
New Scientist
More than a gut feeling
Long overlooked, the connection between our gut microbes and brain is yielding new insights into mental health
New Scientist
Why open-source software can be both good and bad
Software that is free to use creates many opportunities – not all of which are good
Nature
Could small-team science be dying out?
Nature, Published online: 23 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02174-4 The proportion of one- and two-author papers in the...
Nature
Breathalyser can tell if you are burning fat from a single exhalation
Nature, Published online: 23 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02295-w The compact device can measure when the body is in...
Nature
Electronic-resonance enhanced molecule for perovskite solar cells
Nature, Published online: 22 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10919-4 Electronic-resonance enhanced molecule for perovskite...
Nature
RNA synthesis and substrate analog inhibition in the CCHFV polymerase
Nature, Published online: 22 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10913-w RNA synthesis and substrate analog inhibition in the...
Technology
The Verge
Google hit with $1 billion fine for breaking EU antitrust rules
The European Union has fined Google's parent company Alphabet €890 million (about $1 billion) for two separate violations of...
The Verge
Google now lets you sign in to your account using a selfie video
Google announced yet another way to gain access to your account if you get locked out, forget your password, or don't have...
The Verge
Framework’s premium laptop is shipping with less RAM
RAMageddon has claimed yet another victim, with Framework now announcing a "major and unfortunate" pricing update for its...
The Verge
Lego’s Donkey Kong arcade machine lets Mario jump endless barrels — Miyamoto is reportedly happy
Carl Merriam has designed some of my favorite nostalgia-inducing Lego sets, including the Lego Nintendo Game Boy and Piranha...
Techcrunch
Experts say exploiting Anthropic’s Fable isn’t how Kimi K3 got so good
"I don't think you get a model this strong and this quickly on the heels of Fable doing strictly distillation," one expert...
Techcrunch
ServiceNow bets $40 million on Indian banking software specialist to expand its financial services push
ServiceNow's investment gives BusinessNext a strategic partner to expand its AI-powered banking software globally.
Techcrunch
After shocking quarter, IBM insists that AI isn’t killing the mainframe
After IBM's stock crashed last week on warnings of poor mainframe sales, the CEO explained that AI wrecked corporate hardware...
Techcrunch
Google justifies its massive AI spending with a booming cloud business
Google's cloud business is thriving, as companies adopting its AI and AI infrastructure services help the tech giant to report...
Wired
22 Back-to-School College Dorm Room Essentials (2026)
Deck out your room and make class a cinch with these WIRED-tested favorites.
Wired
The Best Vacuum for Pet Hair—We Tested Many to Find Which Ones Work Best (2026)
Cordless, handheld, robot, and traditional—we tested them all to find the vacuum that’s fantastic for fur.
Hacker News · 16 pts
Understanding the AI Economy
Hacker News · 937 pts
Terence Tao's ChatGPT conversation about the Jacobian Conjecture counterexample
Hacker News · 76 pts
Cruller: Bun's Zig Runtime, Continued on Zig 0.16
Hacker News · 403 pts
Quality non-fiction books are the antithesis of AI slop
Hacker News · 78 pts
EU fines Google €890M for competition breaches over search and apps
Hacker News · 21 pts
The Unity CLI: manage Unity from your terminal
Papers
Computer science
FineServe: A Fine-Grained Dataset and Characterization of Global LLM Serving Workloads
Computer science
Hybrid LSTM-Graph Neural Framework for Robust Financial Fraud Detection and Adversarial Resilience
Computer science
OpenEvoShield: Dual Non-Stationary Continual Defense for Open-World Multi-Agent System Attacks
Economics
Profiling and Endogenous Valuation
Congenital Heart Block