Learning to be one human among many has always been a little lonely and discombobulating. But young people around the world are lonelier than ever. Why?

A Ukrainian publishing boom sparked by the 2022 invasion is now under threat from the force and frequency of Russian attacks

FOI request shows wildfire risk scheme scrapped, as survey highlights many fire services lack proper protective gear The government quietly scrapped plans to prepare the countryside in England for wildfires, it has been revealed. This was despite new data showing fire crews do not have the proper protective gear to tackle them. This summer has been a potent reminder of the scale of the threat posed by the climate crisis, with the UK experiencing record-breaking wildfires after punishingly hot and dry weather turned large parts of the countryside into a tinderbox. Continue reading...

Green conference enters its second day, while Tories prepare for theirs on Sunday We can also expect anti-migrant demonstrations to be taking place on the south coast this afternoon with police on alert in Southampton and Dover. A group called South Coast Patriots has organised the protests, and are expected to be met by counter-protesters from the local Southampton Stand Up To Racism group. Police have issued a ban on face coverings in the area. Meanwhile, Reform leaders this morning have been speaking about the fact that the man acccused of murdering former party spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe has also been charged with a terror plot against Nigel Farage. Deputy leader Richard Tice told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme his party leader has “not been listened to” over his safety concerns. Continue reading...

ALT: Run Away! Run Away!

Scam emails are increasingly using psychological tricks, such as using near-identical URLs such as miсrosoft.com

Thousands of knock-off records worth a fortune are being seized in the UK by anti-counterfeit police stings From 2017 onwards, Rehan Ahmed styled himself as a savvy business owner. But behind the facade of a successful entrepreneur lurked one stark fact: his empire was built on fakery. On Friday, the man behind the biggest-ever UK case of producing fraudulent vinyl, who sold counterfeit copies of records by some of the world’s biggest artists including Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Kendrick Lamar, was jailed. Continue reading...

Grant applications in England surge as interest grows in habitat that captures carbon and helps reduce flood risk

Conversations are supposed to be two-sided – but all too often we come up against someone who’s passionately, exclusively in love with the sound of their own voice. Time to fight back …

Fire survivors and bereaved urge Barnet Group to ‘reconsider’ appointment of Laura Johnson, who pushed for cheaper contractor Grenfell survivors and bereaved relatives have criticised the “outrageous decision” to hire a director who oversaw cost-cutting at Grenfell Tower in a £150,000-a-year senior council housing role. Laura Johnson, the director of housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) at the time of the 2017 Grenfell fire, has been appointed the permanent director of development and property at the Barnet Group, which manages the borough’s 13,000 council homes. Continue reading...