With Bio-Waste Spreader: “With combine harvesters having cut oilseed rape, barley and wheat crops in southern and eastern England three weeks earlier than normal, and with yields distinctly variable, the impact of global warming and climate change on British agriculture is again a hot topic in farming circles – namely, will farmers be able to cope with the consequences of rapidly warming temperatures?…”
With MD: “Research by Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimated that more than 2,700 excess deaths occurred in England and Wales during May and June – but no one should be surprised. Another modelling study found that between 2000 and 2019, approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred globally each year. Excess heat has always contributed to or caused death, and it is becoming more common. The question is how many of the deaths are preventable…”
With Remote Controller: “Sir David Attenborough reached his 100th birthday in May, and although his centenary year was the busiest on his TV CV – three new programmes and a Royal Albert Hall tribute – biology suggests the BBC is sensible to accelerate the process of naturally selecting a successor. Thus Evolution, with Chris Packham fronting a five-parter on how we got from a single cell to cellphones, notionally for BBC2 at 9pm on Mondays (where 1.1m watched the first episode). However, adapting to an evolutionary trend in television, it’s more aimed at choose-to-view on iPlayer…”
With Old Sparky: “The Department for Energy and Net Zero and Ed Miliband’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) budget may find itself in the crosshairs as the government looks to fund billions more in defence spending. With departments being scoured across Whitehall to find the cash, the A46 Newark Bypass extension has been axed; but at £297m that’s small beer, and so all eyes turn to the hefty decarbonisation programme…”
With Lunchtime O’Boulez: “Choral evensong doesn’t usually pack out St Albans Cathedral but it did the other Sunday, accompanied by scenes of charged emotion and odd shouts of ‘Shame on you’ directed at the dean. The reason for this – plus outbreaks of applause and standing ovations unindicated by the Book of Common Prayer – was that the service marked the final appearance of St Albans’ entire complement of adult lay clerks, all ten of whom have been dismissed for no apparent reason…”
With Hedgehog: “Rising hopes that Andy Burnham’s Bee Network will be replicated across England might be tempered by the complexities auditors found at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) on Burnham’s watch as mayor. The Bee Network is the first franchised bus system to replace bus deregulation (Margaret Thatcher didn’t deregulate London’s buses). Instead of a hotchpotch of bus services designed to maximise companies’ profits, Greater Manchester has 1,600 buses on 577 routes under TfGM contracts…”
Letter from Manila
From Our Own Correspondent: “The longest-running soap opera in the Philippines is the political struggle between the Marcos and Duterte factions of our ruling elite, and it shows no sign of letting up. Vice president Sara Duterte is on trial for allegedly planning to assassinate president Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos. She now holds the dubious honour of being the first Filipino VP to be impeached – and impeached twice…”
With Gold Digger: “The Bank of England chose an odd moment to ease so-called bank capital requirements. Broadly, this refers to funding that wouldn’t have to be repaid in the event of another financial crisis and thus provides a buffer against collapse. Two weeks ago, the bank released its half-yearly financial stability report, with a chilling summary. ‘Vulnerabilities in risky asset valuations, sovereign debt markets, and risky credit markets, including in private credit... have become more pronounced since the December 2025 Financial Stability Report,’ it said…”