Great Britain’s grid operator issues fresh warning over power supplies in heatwave
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday night

Great Britain’s energy system operator has warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as the UK entered its third heatwave of the year.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice overnight asking for extra supplies from power generators to cope with the added demand from households turning on fans and air conditioners to cope with the high temperatures.

Read more...

Capita expects to lose up to £40m over pension scheme fiasco
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

Outsourcing firm counts cost of failures that left retired UK civil servants without an income for months

Capita has revealed that the bill for cleaning up its mess at the crisis-hit Civil Service Pension Scheme could wipe up to £40m off annual profits – a day after its chief executive apologised to MPs for a “very poor service”.

The company had faced a grilling at a Commons committee hearing on Wednesday, with its chief executive Adolfo Hernandez repeatedly apologising for failures that have left thousands of civil servants waiting for payments and retirement quotes.

Read more...

Andy Burnham urged to scrap income tax and NI in radical fiscal overhaul
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

Economists including Jim O’Neill write open letter calling for single levy to replace six key taxes to raise money for public services

• UK politics live – latest updates

Prominent economists including Jim O’Neill, an ally of Andy Burnham, are urging the MP for Makerfield to pursue radical tax and spending reform to “unlock the gridlock that plagues the country” when he is confirmed as prime minister.

O’Neill joins Jonathan Portes, an economics professor at King’s College London, and Danny Sriskandarajah, the chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, in calling for bold action in an open letter.

Read more...

Five pressing questions for Reform UK about its finances
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

Questions swirl about origins of gifts, loans and donations as even party supporters wonder if it can weather the storm

• UK politics live – latest updates

• Why is Farage quitting as an MP, only to stand again?

Scrutiny is mounting on Reform UK’s finances.

On Tuesday, amid an investigation by parliamentary standards into an undisclosed £5m gift, Nigel Farage announced he would resign and trigger a byelection in his constituency of Clacton-on-Sea.

Read more...

Low-e windows keep homes cool … but may set neighbours’ property on fire
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

Low-emissivity windows also keep houses warm in winter, but use on bowed glass can have magnifying-glass effect

Low-emissivity or low-E window glass is a useful green technology for keeping buildings warm in winter and cool in summer … but a rare side-effect can set the neighbours’ property on fire.

The glass is coated with a thin layer of metal or metal oxide which lets visible light through but acts like a mirror in the infrared. Heat from the interior is reflected back in, retaining warmth in winter, while unwanted solar radiation is repelled in summer.

Read more...

Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise
Posted on Monday July 06, 2026

Exclusive: Government and developers privately acknowledged Lanarkshire datacentre site had power provision ‘issue’

• ‘It’s smoke and mirrors’: hope turns to fear in Scottish village chosen for AI datacentre

• What are Britain’s AI growth zones and are the plans feasible or ‘complete bunk’?

A landmark AI development billed as delivering jobs and prosperity has misrepresented its plans to channel a nuclear reactor’s worth of power to a site in rural Scotland, a Guardian investigation has found.

When it was announced in January, the government promised that an £8.2bn AI datacentre complex in Lanarkshire – built by the US firm CoreWeave and the Scottish company DataVita – would be powered entirely from on-site renewables and built by 2030.

Read more...

Wimbledon 2026: Kostyuk v Noskova; Muchova beats Gauff in thriller to reach final – live
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

Updates from Thursday’s semi-final action in SW19
Wimbledon Q&A with Tumaini Carayol | Mail Katy

Gauff does hold a 6-1 lead in their head-to-head, by the way, but I’m not sure we can read too much into that, as none of those matches were on grass. Gauff, arguably the best competitor in the women’s game, has made an art out of “winning ugly” – the phrase made famous by her former coach Brad Gilbert – and has consistently found a way to come through three-setters during this tournament even when she’s not been at her best. She may well need all that fight to combat Muchova’s mix of power and touch – which is so dangerous on grass – especially if Gauff’s serve and forehand wobble, as they sometimes do. Gauff’s backhand, though, is brilliant. Will temperament + backhand or power + hands prevail? It’s going to be so fun finding out.

And here they come to a big cheer from the crowd, not that it’s quite as warm as the red-hot weather, with the current temp around 33C, and not that Gauff can properly hear it either, because she’s got her headphones – and game face – on.

Read more...

World Cup 2026: France v Morocco quarter-final buildup, Quansah hit with two-game ban – live
Posted on Thursday July 09, 2026

⚽ All the latest as we look ahead to the quarter-finals
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology| Golden Boot | Email us

Our very own Jonny Weeks has been doing clever things with photos from across the World Cup.

Check them out!

Read more...