In the headlines

The US has launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, hitting missile launch sites and boats it claims were laying mines. Over the weekend, hawkish Republicans reacted badly to details of an emerging deal between the US and Iran which would see Tehran re-open the Strait of Hormuz without charging a toll and promise to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for phased relief from sanctions. Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, Peter Murrell, has pleaded guilty to embezzling around £400,000 from SNP funds which he used to bankroll a lavish lifestyle. Across a 12-year crime spree, the former chief executive of the Scottish pro-independence party used political donations to purchase items including a £120,000 motorhome, an £81,000 Jaguar and four coffee machines totalling £8,000. The UK enjoyed its hottest May day ever yesterday with a record temperature of 34.8C recorded at London’s Kew Gardens. Last night was officially classed as a “tropical night” by the Met Office, meaning the mercury didn’t fall below 20C.

Comment

Ian Forsyth/Getty

“The world has changed. Ed Miliband hasn’t.”

Perhaps the only politician in the world who cares about Net Zero more than Ed Miliband is Mark Carney, says Robert Colvile in The Sunday Times. As governor of the Bank of England, Carney changed its remit to focus on climate. He later became a UN climate envoy and made the issue the centrepiece of his book on saving the world. And what’s he doing now as Canadian PM? Scrapping carbon taxes, abandoning a planned emissions cap and fast-tracking gas projects. Carney’s not alone. Norway is reopening three gasfields it shut in 1998 and Denmark has delayed closing its oilfields. Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea are returning to coal. Across the world, governments are scrambling to boost supply and curb demand in response to the Iran crisis. And here? “Not a sausage.”

Even if we succeed in completely decarbonising the electricity grid, fossil fuels will still be needed for the foreseeable future: heating homes, fuelling cars, powering factories, smelters and data centres. In 2024, some 44% of our energy effectively came from abroad – the highest proportion for a decade – with Norway our biggest supplier. In other words, we’re paying the “cuddly, eco-friendly” Norwegians billions for oil and gas from the very North Sea basin we won’t exploit, thanks to “a ludicrous piece of climate arithmetic” counting emissions from what we drill but not what we import. All this would be easy to fix: approval for the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields, which industry insiders say could be up and running in the next year, is “sitting on Miliband’s desk”. But while other centre-left governments shift from “saving the planet to keeping the lights on”, Britain won’t budge. “The world has changed. But Ed Miliband hasn’t.”

Advertisement

Go from AI overwhelmed to AI savvy professional

AI will eliminate 300 million jobs in the next 5 years.

Yours doesn't have to be one of them.

Here's how to future-proof your career:

Join the Superhuman AI newsletter - read by 1M+ professionals
Learn AI skills in 3 mins a day
Become the AI expert on your team

Start learning AI now

Noted

For his new book, Weird Guide, Dave Hamilton has compiled around 300 examples of “weird Britain”: eccentric public art, geological oddities, bonkers follies. They include “Little Italy”, a tiny reconstruction featuring the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Florence’s Duomo, on a hillside in Gwynedd, Wales; an “eerie plastic graveyard” called Mannakin Hall near Grantham in Lincolnshire; an extraordinary stone landscape with miniature “grykes” that formed after the Ice Age in North Yorkshire; a cabin resembling a 3D giant visitors’ book on the Isle of Arran, Scotland; and a drystone tilted globe in the Scottish Highlands. To see more, click on the image.

¡Scorchio!

It’s another cast-iron roaster out there, so here are two tips: drink plenty of water and subscribe to The Knowledge. We’re currently offering new readers 50% off for the first year – so just £4 a month or £40 for an annual subscription, meaning effectively two months completely free. And with all the time you’ll save from not doomscrolling social media and refreshing pointless, boring BBC newsfeeds, you can really nail that tan.

Click here to subscribe

Let us know what you thought of today’s issue by replying to this email
To find out about advertising and partnerships, click here
Been forwarded this newsletter? Try it for free
Enjoying The Knowledge? Click to share