| UK inflation has hit its lowest level in almost three years. The 2% target set by the Bank of England was reached for the first time since 2021, raising hopes that a cut in interest rates will follow. Rishi Sunak said it was a clear sign that the economy had "turned a corner". Cancer survival rates in Britain are 25 years behind other European countries, a new report has found. Women with cervical cancer in England today have a lower chance of survival than those diagnosed in Norway between 1992 and 1996. Similarly, the rate of men who survive prostate cancer beyond five years in England stands at 89%, compared to 95% in Sweden. Windermere has been crowned the UK's most stunning view, says the Daily Mail. Of those surveyed, 36% voted the Cumbrian lake as the nation's top vista, closely followed by St Ives Bay and St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. |  | Getty |
| | |  | Itamar Ben-Gvir, Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich. Getty |
| Netanyahu has sold his soul to Israel's extremists | What Israel's staunchest backers don't understand, says Thomas Friedman in The New York Times, is that "the Israel we knew is gone". In Benjamin Netanyahu the country has a leader who must stay in power to avoid potentially being sent to prison on corruption charges. To do so, he has "sold his soul" to form a government with the far-right Jewish extremists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. These ultranationalists insist that "Israel must fight in Gaza until it has killed every last Hamasnik" and simultaneously reject any partnership with alternative Palestinian leaders because they want Israel to control all the territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. | Meanwhile, Iran has managed to surround the country with its proxies and allies: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq, in a simmering multi-front conflict that could blow up "any day". Netanyahu has no military or diplomatic answer – his emergency war cabinet has fallen apart over his lack of a plan for ending the war, and the extremists in his government are "eyeing their next moves for power". Somehow, Joe Biden and Washington's pro-Israel lobby have still not come to terms with "just how radical this government is". They should heed the words of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, who wrote last week that without an election to remove them, these profoundly unsavoury characters will go on trying to establish a "racist, ultranationalist, messianic and benighted religious dictatorship". And Israelis will find themselves not just stuck fighting in Gaza, but also in all-out war with Hezbollah – who, unlike Hamas, are capable of striking Israeli infrastructure with precision missiles – and even with Iran itself. "No friend of Israel should participate in this circus." | | | | Photographer Mitchell Zeer transforms the human eye into "otherworldly deserts and galaxies", says My Modern Met, using macro photography to produce high-resolution images of individual irises. "Every pair of eyes tells a story," Zeer says, "a narrative of depth and individuality waiting to be captured." See more here. |
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| | | It wasn't until 1841 that a person's occupation was entered on the UK census, says Shaun Usher in Lists of Note. By 1881, job titles were rigorously recorded, though without any explanation of what they meant, leading to some that "sound completely ridiculous" today, including: "budget bummer", "butt woman", "ponty sucker" and "sand badger". Also listed were "muck roller", "moleskin shaver" and the suspicious sounding "spilch dealer". Revel in a longer list here. | | | | | | Advertisement | | Discover the Magic of the Maldives at Constance Moofushi – Save up to 50% | If you're looking for relaxed, barefoot luxury in the Maldives, Constance Moofushi is the island for you. The laid-back atmosphere makes for long sun-soaked days, snorkelling or diving on the house reef, enjoying the all-inclusive bars and restaurants and visiting the overwater spa for some well-deserved pampering. | Stay 7 nights in a Beach Villa, from £2,999 per person on an all-inclusive basis, including international flights and seaplane transfers. Price based on travel in July, including a 50% discount. | For personalised recommendations and bespoke itinerary suggestions, call Turquoise Holidays on 0207 147 7087 – or book an appointment at one of our beach house-inspired offices in London or Buckinghamshire. Click here to find out more. |
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| | | | 🗳️ 15 days to go...
It was telling, says Tom McTague in UnHerd, when Keir Starmer showed a "flash of anger" as last week's Sky News debate audience laughed at him for mentioning, yet again, that his dad was a toolmaker. Starmer said later he felt protective of his father who had been embarrassed about being a factory worker. "Starmer, I'm told, still feels this acutely, and is more animated by questions of class disrespect than anything else." It reveals a degree of class-consciousness "so deeply ingrained in his character, it will necessarily shape the incoming Labour government". Hence, for example, sticking with the tax raid on private schools when he has been "happy to cast much else aside". The "knight of the realm with a chip on his shoulder" is bringing class back in British politics. | | | | | | Enjoying The Knowledge? Click below to share | | |
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| | |  | The voice of reason? Noam Galai/Getty/Cantor Fitzgerald |
| Tony Blair: "Water is wet and the sky is blue" | Imagine that, 20 years ago, "you bumped your head and slipped into a coma", says Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph. Regaining consciousness this week, you're naturally keen to find out what's been going on, so a family member lends you an iPad, explains "what it is and how to use it", and sets you loose online. And this is the first headline you see: "Tony Blair: A woman has a vagina and a man has a penis." Reading these 13 extraordinary words, what, do you suppose, would be your reaction? "Goodness. That bump to my head must have been even more serious than I thought." Or perhaps: "I'm still unconscious. I'm just having a very, very strange dream." | But no. Tony Blair – British prime minister at the time you entered your coma – has issued a public statement announcing that a woman has a vagina and a man has a penis. "What, you ask yourself, is going on?" If, for some reason, a journalist had asked a politician this question 20 years ago, it would have been greeted with baffled silence. But today, top political figures are endlessly asked it, "with a straight face". It's not considered at all surreal, "or even mildly unusual". It's become as run-of-the-mill as asking about taxes, immigration or NHS waiting lists, and only makes the news when one of them breaks ranks and "confirms that he or she grasps the basics of human biology". I wonder what tomorrow's headline will be? Perhaps "Tony Blair: A cat goes meow and a dog goes woof." | | |  | Harry Styles fans in his old bakery. BBC |
| The Cheshire village of Holmes Chapel has launched a £20, three-hour Harry Styles walking tour, says The Guardian. The former One Direction star's home town has become a "mecca for his fans", so local authorities are cashing in on the hordes of "Harries" – the equivalent of Swifties, apparently – by showing them around local landmarks including a bakery where the singer once worked part-time, and a viaduct where he reputedly had his first kiss. When the town posted a job ad for a tour guide, they received 150 applications, some from as far afield as California and Buenos Aires. |
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| | | Help is at hand for those trying to mend a broken heart, says The Guardian. A study has found that electrical brain stimulation can ease "love trauma syndrome" – the clinical name for the pain caused by a romantic split. Researchers kitted out 36 freshly-dumped singles with £400 headsets, which zapped their brains with a mild electrical current. They found that wearing the device for just a few minutes a day eased the feelings of negativity, misery and depression associated with heartbreak. | | | | | | | | It's a Rolex that was eaten by a cow, says BBC News. The watch's owner, 95-year-old farmer James Steele, lost the timepiece in a field in the 1970s. It was found by a metal detectorist this week, 50 years after it was passed by a heifer. "The face has gone greenish, but it has not rusted up", said Steele. He says he has decided to hang on to it as a keepsake, since it would "cost a bomb" to fix. | | | | | "Like most liberals, I will do anything for the working classes – apart from mix with them."
Comedian Kevin Day |
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