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The Independent - 30.07.2026.pdf 中文镜像版

星期四 2026年7月30日

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

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INDEPENDENT

独立评论：首相已勇敢面对社会护理问题——但支付资金的难题依然存在

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2026年7月30日，星期四

新闻

首相称社会护理改革将结束“严重的公共职责失职”

Millie Cooke 政治记者

安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）昨日在伦敦北部恩菲尔德的一家护理院阐述了他的计划 (PA)

安迪·伯纳姆表示，护理人员应该是社会中薪酬最高的人群，而非最低，在承诺对社会护理系统进行全面改革的同时，专家们对资助该计划所需资金的数额提出了质疑。

首相宣布，他将加快男爵夫人路易丝·凯西（Baroness Louise Casey）关于社会护理的委员会调查，将原定于 2028 年的截止日期提前至明年。伯纳姆先生还誓言立即开始改革劳动力——称工作人员应与国民医疗服务体系（NHS）整合——并承诺将与其他主要政党合作，就在该问题上达成共识。

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虽然伯纳姆先生承认可能需要提高税收，但他坚持认为工党在竞选宣言中承诺不增加劳动者的所得税、国民保险或增值税（VAT）税率的条款将继续有效。

但专家们对资金需求量发出了警告。健康基金会（Health Foundation）警告称，目前的 5 亿英镑（£500m）护理人员公平薪酬协议（由基尔·斯塔默爵士政府达成并计划于 2028 年生效）“相当于每名工人每小时仅增加约 20 便士”。

该机构表示：“伯纳姆正确地意识到，还需要进一步通过改革来改善培训和晋升。可能还需要额外的投资。”

伯纳姆谴责社会护理人员被迫承受的“贫困薪资” (路透社)

地方政府协会（LGA）表达了类似的担忧，警告称“拟议的资金可能不足以覆盖公平薪酬协议（FPA）的全额成本”，并敦促伯纳姆先生确保地方政府参与资金决策，以“避免出现 FPA 危害护理供应及议会财务可持续性的情况”。

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独立护理组（IGC）名誉主席迈克·帕德哈姆（Mike Padgham）提出了类似的论点，他解释说，虽然他同意社会护理人员应该获得更高薪酬，但这必须有足够的资金支持。

“如果我们打算给员工支付更多薪水，那么就必须给地方当局支付更多……[薪资]如此之低的原因是，我用这个词，我们被地方当局‘压榨’，要求以尽可能低的价格提供高质量的护理。”

他在接受《独立报》（The Independent）采访时表示：“所以如果我们打算提高薪资，那么他们就必须给地方当局提供更多资金，这样他们才有能力支付更好的薪酬。”

首相在谈到目前因阿尔茨海默病接受护理的父亲时流下了眼泪，他表示，政客们数十年未能解决社会护理危机是“严重的公共职责失职”，这表明他希望将全面改革作为其首相任期的重点。

昨日在伦敦北部恩菲尔德的一家护理院发表讲话时，伯纳姆先生认为，考虑到目前许多人被迫削减养老金和储蓄以照顾家人，英格兰的社会护理与美国的医疗保健一样不公平。

他表示，除了提高社会护理人员的薪资外，他还希望支持更好的培训和岗位保障，使劳动力条件与 NHS 标准一致。

在演讲过程中，首相：

• 表示他加速了男爵夫人路易丝·凯西对社会护理的审查，以便明年提交报告
• 承诺通过改革来提高社会护理劳动力的“强度和能力”
• 确认他将与保守党和自由民主党开始跨党派对话，坚称这是

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为了寻求共识而采取的“正确做法”

• 承认作为社会护理改革的一部分，在税收方面将不得不做出“艰难的决定”，但誓言首先要“对人们诚实”并利用现有资源“做更多事情”
• 表示在“理想世界”中，人们不会被强迫出售房屋来支付护理费用

“老实说，政客们将得分置于解决这个问题之上，这很可耻，但事实就是这样，”他说道。

“这在威斯敏斯特造成了一种感觉，即这件事太困难了，如果你接手，你承担的政治风险就太大了。”

尽管首相没有宣布具体的资金承诺，但他表示，通过解决社会护理相关问题为 NHS 节省的资金可以帮助资助一个经过改革的系统。

首相在伦敦的护理院发表讲话时，表示他感到需要“由衷地”地谈话而非照本读本。他提到，由于社区缺乏可用的护理服务，导致医疗条件允许出院的人员继续留在医院，每年给 NHS 造成约 £2.5bn 的成本。

“我认为在讨论加税之前，我们欠公众一个交代”，即要“利用现有资源做更多事情”，他说道。

在反思护理工作者处于“贫困薪资”水平时，Burnham 先生描述了看着护理人员照顾他父亲时那种令人“心怀敬畏”的经历，并总结道：“他们应该是社会中薪资最高的人，而不是最低的。”

他补充说，政府将“开始考虑进入社会护理领域的年轻人的晋升路径，这样他们也可以从社会护理转岗到 NHS 职位，并将此视为一个统一的劳动力群体”。

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“在提高服务最前线护理的强度和能力之前，我们无法获得大家都想要的护理服务，这意味着我们要尽可能地提升社会护理劳动力，”他说道。

Burnham 先生昨天下午举行了一次跨党派会议，讨论应对成人社会护理危机的问题，并承认真正的变革需要政府内不同派系之间的“妥协”。

“如果我们想达成解决方案，我们都必须倾听彼此，”他说道。“在政治中，我们做得并不太好的一件事就是[实际上]接触并倾听其他观点。我们必须在这里找到共同点。”

会后，自由民主党党魁 Ed Davey 爵士（他有一名残疾儿子，且一直积极发声关注社会护理问题）表示，他对 Burnham 先生的方法感到“希望”。

“我们进行了一次建设性的沟通，结束时我觉得很有希望。显然这仅仅是一个开始，我们需要更多跨党派会议来达成共识，”他说道。

保守党和自由民主党都接受了首相“从一开始就建立协作精神”的邀请，而 Nigel Farage 则指责 Burnham 先生忽略了 Reform UK。

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2026年7月30日，星期四

新闻/评论

抱歉，安迪，我是否错过了你讲述如何解决社会护理问题的部分？

对于一项新社会护理政策的发布，实质性的政策内容少之又少——这充分说明了安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）的情况，克里斯·布莱克赫斯特（Chris Blackhurst）如此评价道。

昨日，首相在访问伦敦北部恩菲尔德（Enfield）的犹太护理中心时与一名居民聊天（Getty）

当首相在伦敦北部的一家犹太护理中心讲述他改革社会护理的愿望时，在安迪·伯纳姆的身后，有一个穿着白衬衫的家伙坐在花园长椅上。

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有时，人们不由自主地会被他吸引。你希望那个家伙能跳起来，脱掉上衣，或者干脆做……点什么。

因为在这次伯纳姆的夏季巡演中，有些时刻远非引人入胜。或者应该称之为“旅程”，这是他在不将其称为“大对话”时一直重复使用的词。

看着他，人们会想起之前一位同样不看稿、随意地站在人群中的首相。对于戴维·卡梅伦（David Cameron）来说，那是“大社会”（Big Society），看看他以及那个构想后来怎么了。在英国媒体和政治得分机制的垃圾堆上消亡。在看过《奥德赛》以及那只狗的结局后，这个悲剧性的意象挥之不去。

安迪有三项宣布。第一，他要求路易丝·凯西（Louise Casey）将其对社会护理的审查提前一年完成。第二，他希望社会护理工作者立即获得公平的报酬，这也是基尔·斯塔默（Keir Starmer）一直在追求的。第三，他立即开始就改进该系统开展跨党派对话。

就这样。两组讨论，以及一项已经在进行中的举措。对于一项新社会护理政策的发布，实质性的政策内容少之又少。

正如我们被告知的，这些举措加入了近期 22 项关于社会护理的审查之中。凯西的审查以及与保守党和自民党的对话究竟如何衔接，并未交代清楚。那么 22 现在会变成 23，甚至 24 吗？“不要有既视感，”伯纳姆说，“我们会完成的。”

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“我们必须直视公众并询问：我们是否已经竭尽全力？”（AP）

令奈杰尔·法拉格（Nigel Farage）沮丧的是，现场没有英国改革党（Reform UK），但有趣的是，正如伯纳姆解释的，两名主要的反对党领袖在周末给他写信，请求参与其中。那么，奈杰尔，你的信在哪？这也很奇怪，因为凯米·巴德诺赫（Kemi Badenoch）在抱怨通知时间太短，但她显然请求过这样的会面。

不过，这是因为伯纳姆在匆忙行事。他的动力源于个人经历——他的父亲患有阿尔茨海默症——以及他之前的部长生涯，当时他担任卫生大臣，渴望推动变革，但那时离大选太近了。他决心不再犯那个错误，下一次大选预计在 2029 年。

但请等一下。如果像伯纳姆所说，凯西在 12 个月后提交报告，那么距离投票仅剩不到两年时间。这给她的建议被接受、讨论并成为法律留下的时间并不长。如果其中涉及加税——巴德诺赫已表示她将抵制这一步骤——这真的会发生吗，难道不会成为竞选中的一个议题吗？

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这就是伯纳姆作为首相首次发布、且并不完全像政策的公告所带来的感触：充满了诚恳和信念，但同样充满了困惑。

也许在伯纳姆安定下来之前，情况就是这样。目前，他像是一场由想法和活动组成的旋风，同时渴望被看到他在倾听。没人怀疑他的信念和决心，但人们好奇财务数据会告诉他什么。

他正确地向他的东道主表示了敬意，明确表达了对反犹主义的谴责，而我们就在当天早晨得知，反犹主义在英国正惊人之地增加。他还提到他们代表了社会护理的“金标准”，曼彻斯特的一家类似的犹太慈善机构 The Fed 亦然。随后，他向贝里议会领导人兼倡导者 Eamonn O’Brien 点头致意，后者专程前来——西海岸主线铁路（West Coast Main Line）一定在通过那些往返奔波以加入 Burnham “All Together Now” 巡演的政客们赚得盆满钵满。

他是一个情绪改变者，为此他值得赞赏。Starmer era 的犹豫和谨慎已经消失。这令人耳目一新

同样坐在前排的，与 Yvette Cooper、Angela Rayner 和 Casey 一起的，还有 Lord Levy，这位资深的工党筹款人兼 Jewish Care 主席。Levy 的慈善机构能够提供如此高质量服务的原因，恰恰在于他及其人脉广泛的同事们在积极募捐。其他人则没有如此幸运地拥有他们的网络、社区和不懈的努力。

Burnham 表示，他有信心提升其他养老院的水平，不是通过提高税收，而是通过清除牟利行为。他也没有排除增加税收的可能性，但他正坚持工党竞选宣言中不提高税收的承诺。目前如此。

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“我们必须直视公众并询问：我们是否已经尽了全力？我们必须利用现有资源做更多的事情，而我们想做的一些事情将需要做出坦诚的决定，我们将在适当的时间将其提交给国家。”

有一些曙光：将社会护理与 NHS 整合，创建“国家护理服务”（National Care Service），创建可以转向医疗保健的正规职业路径（从而也有助于缓解 Neets 危机）。

Burnham 擅长于此，擅长提供希望。他是一个情绪改变者，为此他值得赞赏。Starmer era 的犹豫和谨慎已经消失。这令人耳目一新。但最终，即使对于 Burnham 来说，言谈必须让位于行动，但我们还没到那个阶段。我们可以期待更多此类举措——他有自己的议程，并且正在将其付诸实施。

当他结束恳求和焦虑地搓手时，Burnham 肩膀后面那个穿着白衬衫的男人依然在那儿，现在似乎在凝视着虚空。

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Thursday 30 July 2026

新闻/分析

解决这场危机可以成为首相的政治遗产——但对他而言，这是私人的

政治编辑 David Maddox 探讨了一个想要解决困扰政府 30 年之久的问题的男人的深层动机

Andy Burnham 愿意在这一问题上投入个人的政治资本 (路透社)

每一位进入唐宁街的首相都希望确保在他们离任时，能够留下某种形式的遗产——一个能够让国家或世界变得更好的首相任期印记。

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Andy Burnham 从第一天起就明确表示，他希望他的遗产课题是解决这个国家持续存在的社会护理危机，但对他来说，这远不止是遗产的问题——这是私人的。

就在他接替 Keir Starmer 之前，Burnham 在一次采访中动情地讲述了他患有阿尔茨海默症的父亲的困境。令人心碎的是，他承认他的父亲本会为此感到非常自豪，但现在甚至不知道自己的儿子已经成为了首相。

在发表旨在推动解决当地护理问题的最新计划的情感演说开篇时，他几近落泪，在没有讲稿的情况下动情地讲述，他父亲的悲剧境遇意味着他及其家人拥有身处这场危机“内部”的“经验”。

这意味着 Burnham 本人亲身体会到了老年社会护理中那种如同“邮编抽奖”般的随机性，即有钱的人比没钱的人有多大机会获得所需的护理。

当然，就目前情况而言，提供急需的护理（尤其是针对老年人）通常意味着他们必须卖掉房子并动用积蓄，才能获得他们应得的支持水平。

但除了关于他父亲的悲剧故事，这对新首相来说在另一个层面上也是私人的。

回到 2009 年，当时他在 Gordon Brown 政府中担任卫生大臣，Burnham 试图通过跨党派共识来解决这个问题。

他邀请了时任保守党卫生事务影子大臣 Andrew Lansley 进行会谈，讨论他关于在人们去世时征收一项税费以资助社会护理的想法。

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Lansley 在会谈结束后立即向媒体发表言论，全面抨击 Burnham 计划中的“死亡税”。

正如卫生大臣 Yvette Cooper 和自民党党魁 Ed Davey 所指出的，自 1997 年以来，已有 22 次尝试解决该问题而失败

这成为了一个重大的政治问题，助推了 Brown 政府在 2010 年的失败，并使工党在荒野中徘徊了 14 年。

但当然，问题依然未得到解决；在随后的时间里，情况反而变得更糟。

正如卫生大臣 Yvette Cooper 和自民党党魁 Ed Davey 所指出的，自 1997 年以来，已有 22 次尝试解决该问题而失败。

这两位政治家也都拥有私人故事——Cooper 的母亲患有痴呆症，Davey 的儿子身有残疾——这表明该问题影响到了不同政党和全国各地的人们。

这就是为什么 Burnham 特意要求结束“政治得分”，并代之以一种“解决问题”的文化，不仅在这一主题上，在其他领域也是如此。他誓言“不会被尖叫的头条新闻分散注意力”，并要求媒体在报道此问题时给予一定的空间。

在再次争取保守党和自民党加入——尽管 17 年前遭遇过背叛——他实际上是在要求以“战时状态”的努力来解决这场危机。

Burnham 愿意在这一问题上投入个人的政治资本，不仅因为他希望被记住是一位伟大的首相，还因为他从个人经验中知道，这场危机不能继续下去。

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如果危机继续，那么正如他自己警告的那样，NHS 将在压力下崩溃。

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

新闻

首相将表示，£8bn 潜艇投资将提升国防并增加就业

Will Meakin-Durrant

前卫级 HMS ‘Vengeance’号在离开法斯莱恩的克莱德皇家海军基地后抵达加雷洛赫 (PA)

预计 Andy Burnham 今天将公布一项 £8.4bn 的投资，用于英国下一代核潜艇。

旨在使无畏级潜艇在 2030年代 前准备好投入使用，这些携带核武器的舰艇将取代当前的前卫级，并将配备发射 Trident 2 D5 弹道导弹的能力。

这些潜艇由在德比生产的罗尔斯-罗伊斯核动力系统驱动，将拥有几乎无限的作战范围。

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HMS Dreadnought 是四艘新潜艇中的第一艘。

资金将主要支持其向就绪状态的推进，其中一部分也将用于推动第二艘舰艇 HMS Valiant 进入海试阶段。

制造商也将获得支持，以引导第三和第四艘潜艇通过建设阶段。

Burnham 先生表示：“确保这个国家的安全是任何政府的首要责任。”

“但安全不仅仅关乎我们建造什么，还关乎谁在建造，以及谁从中获益。”

“在巴罗生产的潜艇将在未来数十年保护英国，而 47,000 个就业岗位和学徒机会将改变这个城镇以及数十个类似地方的生活。”

Burnham 表示“确保这个国家的安全是任何政府的首要责任” (Getty)

“英国的资金，花在英国工人、英国公司和英国技能上，花在那些被冷落了 40 年的地方。”

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“对于全国的每一个年轻人，我想让你们知道，你们有一条进入重新工业化英国的道路，而这条路始于我们今天通过这项投资资助的学徒计划。”

首相今天的宣布将紧随其解决年轻人失业问题的承诺之后。

在本周早些时候访问德比的铁路制造商 Alstom 时，Burnham 先生表示，他需要做的“第一件事”就是遏制不在教育、就业或培训中（Neet）的年轻人数量的上升。

5 月发布的最新数据显示， 16-24 岁之间既不工作也不学习的年轻人数量自 2013, 年以来首次超过 1 million，在 1 月至 3 月的三个月内达到 1.01 million。

“当我们拥有一个无法让他们做好充分准备的教育系统，有些人在 16, 岁时难以找到机会，且缺乏工作经验和实习机会时，责备年轻人是不正确的，”Burnham 先生说。

“我们必须建立这些基石，然后，随着时间的推移，那个数字会下降。”

据认为，更广泛的英国国防核事业支撑着约 47,000 个工作岗位，包括伯克郡奥尔德马斯顿和伯菲尔德的 9,000 个，普利茅斯德文波特海军基地的 8,000 个，以及坎布里亚郡巴罗的 13,500 个。

在无畏级潜艇计划中， £8.4bn 中的 £5.9bn 将流向 BAE Systems， £2.5bn 用于更广泛的供应链。

Burnham 先生面临着关于其国防政策的质疑，包括他将如何为到 2035 年国防支出达到 GDP 3.5 per cent 的承诺提供资金。

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在昨天的新闻发布会上被问及是否会履行该承诺时，首相指出了未来十年的截止日期。

“就我们的北约承诺而言，我一直非常明确，我们将履行这些承诺，”他说。“这意味着要准备好面对具有挑战性的问题。”

Burnham 先生选定的财政大臣 John Healey 上个月辞去了 Sir Keir Starmer 的国防大臣一职，并警告称，前任首相“无法，且财政部一直不愿，在威胁日益增加的时刻投入国家保卫国土所需的资源”。

随后的国防投资计划（Dip）——包括承诺资助在巴罗（Barrow）安装四艘“无畏级”（Dreadnought）潜艇——使未来四年的预计国防投资总额达到 £298bn。

根据该文件，到本十年末，国防支出将占 GDP, 的 2.7 %。

据认为，首相将把巴罗作为一个案例研究，展示纳税人对政府重大项目的投资如何能在长期内支持整个英国的机遇。

国防大臣 Wes Streeting 表示：“我们的核武装潜艇对于维持英国安全至关重要，在日益危险的世界中对我们的对手起到终极威慑作用。”

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Wes Streeting 在访问英国军队永久联合总部期间与军事人员交谈 (Adrian Dennis - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“这一里程碑式的投资为巴罗的历史传统注入了新生命，并通过支持英国工业，确保我们履行交付无畏级潜艇的承诺。”

“通过支持数千个高技能的当地就业岗位，我们将巴罗自豪的遗产与现代技术融合，以构建我们未来的安全，支持下一代像他们的父母和祖父母那样守护国家的安全。”

影子国防大臣 James Cartlidge 警告称，这笔资金“似乎是对 Dip 中此前已确认资金的重新宣布”，但他补充道：“尽管如此，我们欢迎无畏级计划的持续进展。”

这位保守党前沿议员继续说道：“令人担忧的是，关于战略国防审查的重大承诺——即采购‘多达 12’艘攻击潜艇——仍然没有任何细节。”

“Dip 本应明确‘多达 12’的具体含义，但我们仍然不得而知。”

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“与此同时，Burnham 因为未能承诺其在辞任国防大臣时其财政大臣所要求的通往 3 % 的具体路径，而增加了不确定性。”

“令人欢迎的是，我们现在与政府在支持核威慑方面达成了共识，而且我们向对手传递这样一个信号是正确的：我们全部支持巴罗和德文波特（Devonport）的劳动力，他们负责支持和建造我们的潜艇。”

“尽管如此，我们希望财政大臣和首相能通过为通往 3 % 的路径 [到 2030 年] 提供适当资金，来应对我们面临的威胁。”

PA

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

新闻

挪威少年“杀手”因参与与伊朗帮派有关的英国谋杀阴谋被裁定有罪

Johannes Natland 声称他宁愿开枪打自己的脚也不会执行杀人任务

Rich Booth

19 岁的 Natland 被一个受伊朗政权利用的瑞典有组织犯罪集团招募 (照片来源：大都会警察局)

一名来自挪威的少年杀手被裁定有罪，他前往英格兰，代表一个由伊朗支持的国际帮派执行一项杀人任务。

足球运动员 Johannes Kongsnes Natland，19 岁，在去年 3 月同意以 25,000 欧元（£21,500）的价格射杀一名未知目标。

在他从家乡斯塔万格乘飞机抵达英国两天后，武装警察迅速出击，在哈德斯菲尔德的一家酒店将其逮捕，并没收了两把枪和 12 枚实弹。

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Natland 承认持有枪支和弹药，但他声称他本会通过射击自己的脚来摆脱陷入的“困境”。

然而，陪审团听取证词称，他在被捕后多次撒谎，甚至在从监狱打出的电话中试图说服其女友不要提供证据。

Natland 同意以 £21,500 的价格射杀一名未具名人员

在经过重新审理后，老贝利法院的陪审团经过 17 小时 6 分钟的讨论，裁定他谋杀共谋罪名成立。

Natland 的招募者是一名被称为“Generalen”的 17 岁青年，他于去年 5 月在挪威被裁定企图“协助谋杀”罪名成立。

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另有三人被挪威警方起诉，检察官尚未决定是否对其提起“公诉”。

Generalen 为被禁的瑞典 Foxtrot 帮派工作，该帮派由伊朗政权支持，并以雇用年仅 13 岁的儿童从事毒品走私和暴力犯罪而闻名。

在另一名招募者退出后，他将 Natland 拉入了该阴谋。

他受一名名为“Agent 47”的英语上司控制，这显然是在引用《杀手》（Hitman）游戏和电影系列。

Natland 在被捕期间假装射击一名武装警员

Natland 在前往英国的途中通过群聊得知 Generalen 因谋杀共谋被捕，但他依然继续行程。

在 Agent 47 的密切指示下，Natland 持临时护照，于去年 3 月 17 日从挪威家乡斯塔万格飞往曼彻斯特机场。

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他在曼彻斯特被边境部队官员拦截，对方保释他返回机场乘坐下一班直飞回家的航班。

相反，他乘出租车前往哈德斯菲尔德，在当地领取了 £2,000 现金、两把枪和子弹，并被引导至一辆挂有伪造车牌的失窃日产汽车，准备用于杀人。

随后，Natland 入住 Briar Court 酒店的房间，告诉女友他已经拿到了“袋子里的家伙”（bangs in the bag），并拍摄了将枪支和现金铺在床上的自拍照。

在计划射击的前夕，Agent 47 警告被告：“我们明天有很多事情要做。”

去年 3 月 Natland 在曼彻斯特机场

次日凌晨 5.15 分，武装警察敲开 Natland 的酒店房间门将其逮捕。

Natland 笑着走出房门，仅穿着一条波克夏短裤，并用空手假装射击一名警员。

在对其房间的搜查中，警方没收了一把半自动手枪、一把左轮手枪、12 发实弹、手套以及 £2,000 现金。

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在审理过程中，Natland的一名足球运动员朋友回忆起一次关于“瑞典之狐”（Swedish Foxes）的对话，当时被告吹嘘道：“我将获得很多钱，而且有人会死。”

Natland 还向女友倾诉，在一条信息中写道：“我要去执行一个疯狂的任务。”

据她所述，他曾说：“现在我终于可以杀掉一个人了，而且因为有钱拿，这太完美了。我可以杀掉一个人，生活将变得美好。”

在被问及是否考虑清楚时，他告诉她：“杀掉一个人会有点酷。如果我没被抓到，我们得庆祝一下。”

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这张截取的视频图像显示，约翰内斯·纳特兰（Johannes Natland）在操作枪支时戴着手套，该图像已向陪审团展示。

在提供证词时，纳特兰表示他想在同龄人面前显得“酷”，但这只是“虚张声势”，而内心深处他感到“恐惧”。

纳特兰告诉陪审员：“我不是国际杀手。我认为人们有这种印象，并期望我成为那样的人。但我知道我不是。”

他表示，尽管父母很支持他，但在他染上毒瘾并被送入康复中心和护理之家后，他的生活开始走下坡路。

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他说，起初他同意在英国枪杀某人以换取钱财购买毒品，当时他认为这只是个“玩笑”或“骗局”。

在意识到自己陷入了瑞典 Foxtrot 帮的“困境”后，兼职披萨店员工纳特兰表示，他计划射击自己的脚以脱身。

他告诉陪审员：“我看起来会像个白痴，但绝境需要绝策。”

“面对被击中头部这种另一种选择，我认为被击中脚要好，是的。”

在交叉质询中， he 承认自己在关于事件经过的书面陈述中多次撒谎，且在审判提供证词之前从未提及过害怕。

检察官 Alistair Richardson 告诉陪审员：“事实是，被告是一个内心混乱但危险的年轻人。一个同意为了钱在异国他乡杀人的人。”

纳特兰的英语控制者 Agent 47 的真实身份和行踪仍然未知。

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

前建筑工人因杀害无家可归男子被判处两项终身监禁

警方正在调查与连环杀手住在同一旅馆的其他四人的死亡事件

Rod Minchin

James Desborough 在周二被裁定双重谋杀罪名成立（德文郡和康沃尔郡警方）

连环杀手 James Desborough 因去年在康沃尔郡谋杀 57 岁的 Claudio Aquilino 和 43 岁的 Daniel Coleman，被判处两项终身监禁令。

这名曾从事建筑行业的男子此前已因在埃克塞特监狱（HMP Exeter）谋杀狱友 Steven Kempster（65 岁）而被判终身监禁；他在等待这些罪行的审判期间杀害了后者。

在宣判时，Saini 法官表示 Desborough 将永远不会被释放。

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“你现在 40 岁。当然，我不能因为你谋杀 Kempster 先生而再次量刑，但鉴于你已经承受一项带有我所指定的最低刑期的终身监禁，我对你谋杀 Claudio 和 Daniel 的并发判决必须反映你的整体犯罪行为，”法官说道。

“在看过并听过你提供证据，并考虑到你谋杀 Kempster 先生的情况后，我确信你是一个极其危险的个体，对于那些你认为毫无价值的人的生命毫无顾忌。”

“你是一个可以在极度暴力中杀人，且对自己行为毫无悔意或反思的人。”

Claudio Aquilino 被 Desborough 谋杀

凶手与 Aquilino 及 Coleman 此前共同居住在纽基（Newquay）的 Sandy Lodge 酒店，该酒店安置无家可归者和成瘾患者。

鉴于 Aquilino 和 Coleman 的死亡，警方正在审查与 Desborough 在同一

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时间居住在那里的另外四人的死亡情况。

Desborough 在 2024 年 12 月至 2025 年 4 月期间居住在 Sandy Lodge 酒店，期间有两名男子和两名女子意外死亡。

Aquilino 和 Coleman 都患有长期成瘾症，此前与 Desborough 一起住在该无家可归者收容所，他们最后一次被目击生还时是与他在一起。

Daniel Coleman 被 James Desborough 谋杀并肢解

在两人失踪后，身材魁梧的 Desborough（身高 5 英尺 10 英寸，体重近 18 石）将他们的钱花在毒品和酒精上，并声称两人都离开了康沃尔郡。

他们的尸体在圣奥斯特尔（St Austell）附近的 Sticker Woods 地区被肢解，Desborough 当时住在那里的一座木屋里。

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警方在那里的一个溪流中发现了 1,900 片来自 Aquilino 尸体的烧焦骨碎片。

Coleman 身体的一部分，包括躯干、腿和脚，在附近的一个浅坟中被发现。他的生殖器从未被找到，不能排除被故意切除的可能性。

检察官表示，Desborough 嫉妒 Coleman，因为他对朋友的前妻 Hannah Creswell产生了性兴趣。

Desborough 告诉一名在森林中搜寻 Coleman 尸体的法医生物学家，他“特别喜欢”电视剧《德克斯特》（Dexter）中的肢解场景。

警方在 Desborough 的木屋里发现了几张手写便签，其中一张标题为：“逃离清单”（Bug out list），另一张为：“敌对目标”（Hostiles）。

James Desborough 居住的木屋

在被捕之前，他还计划离开英国。

这位单一名父亲否认了两起谋杀案，并告诉陪审团，这两名男子在短时间内死在他的土地上是“一系列不幸的巧合”。

他承认随后将他们的钱花在了啤酒和毒品上，但告诉陪审员：“他们是朋友，我与他们相处得很好。”

周二，温彻斯特刑事法院（Winchester Crown Court）的陪审团在经过五周的审理后，裁定 Desborough 谋杀 Aquilino 和 Coleman 罪名成立。

来自康沃尔郡 Lower Sticker, Old Oak Woods 的 Desborough 此前已承认妨碍合法埋葬两名男子尸体的罪名。

PA

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

奥斯卡获奖爱尔兰音乐家 Glen Hansard 在摩托车事故中去世

Roisin O'Connor

现年 56 岁的 Hansard 出身于都柏林的街头表演圈，随后组建了他的乐队 The Frames，并通过主演音乐剧情片《Once》（PA）获得了国际声誉。

爱尔兰音乐家兼演员 Glen Hansard 因独立电影热门作品《Once》在 2008 年获得奥斯卡最佳原创歌曲奖，现已在一次摩托车事故中去世，享年 56 岁。

爱尔兰警方表示，一名五十多岁的男子在昨日凌晨于都柏林西部发生的一起单车摩托车碰撞事故中死亡。急救服务于凌晨 4.30 分前接到警报，该男子在现场接受治疗后不久被宣布死亡。警方目前正在呼吁目击者提供线索。

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Hansard 的经纪公司 ATC 在一份简短声明中告诉《独立报》（The Independent）：“我们怀着沉痛的心情宣布 Glen Hansard 在今天凌晨去世的消息。我们仍处于巨大的震惊之中，因此恳请在这个困难时刻尊重 Glen 家人、同事和朋友的隐私。”

Hansard 1970 年出生于都柏林，他与合演及前伴侣 Markéta Irglová 在独立电影《Once》中共同创作并演唱了歌曲 “Falling Slowly”，并因此赢得了奥斯卡最佳原创歌曲奖。

Hansard 与 Markéta Irglová 在《Once》中，讲述了两个在都柏林的街头艺人相爱的故事（Fox Searchlight）

该片讲述了一名挣扎中的音乐家与一名年轻女性偶然相遇，两人随后通过音乐坠入爱河的故事。

爱尔兰演员 Cillian Murphy 最初签约与 19 岁的 Irglová 共同出演——在他退出该项目后，已经写好音乐的 Hansard 被导演兼编剧、他的朋友以及前 Frames 贝斯手 John Carney 聘请出演。

“Cillian 不太喜欢我说这个，但他对我的一些歌曲持有保留意见，” Hansard 在 2015 年接受《独立报》采访时说道。他之前在获得 BAFTA 奖的 1991 年电影《The Commitments》中饰演 Outspan Foster，因此具备一定的表演经验。“那些歌很难唱，非常激烈。不过，那个角色本身就相当阴郁。”

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Hansard 在 13 岁时辍学追求音乐事业，他在奥斯卡奖的获奖感言中表现出的不可置信而闻名：“你可能会想象我在获奖后会充满光芒，” 他说，“但事实上我变得相当阴郁，饮酒过多。我不知道为什么。”

一辆停在 Hansard 摩托车事故遇难现场附近的警车 (PA)

摇滚之星 Bruce Springsteen 是 Hansard 的朋友且偶尔有合作，他曾向他解释道：“他说我生命中曾经经历的一切，那个与世界对抗的挣扎之辈，已经在我们赢得奥斯卡奖的那晚死去了。我进入了生命的另一个阶段，穿上了一套不同的衣服。他说我应该学会接纳它，享受它。”

昨日，Springsteen 在 Instagram 的一份声明中表达了追思。声明称：“在 E Street，我们对 Glen Hansard 的去世感到心碎。我们很多年前在爱尔兰相识，他一直是一位伟大的音乐家，一个好朋友，一个慷慨且优雅的人。总是积极乐观，面带微笑，准备好放声歌唱。愿上帝保佑他及其亲人。”

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《Once》在英国及全球范围内被改编为成功的舞台音乐剧；2012 年，它在百老汇赢得了八项托尼奖。然而，其成功也给 Hansard 带来了一定的阴影；他在现场演唱会上停止表演 “Falling Slowly”，直到 Pearl Jam 主唱 Eddie Vedder 邀请他参加巡演并坚持要求两人合唱这首歌。

他与 Vedder 结识于 2010 年发生的一起悲剧事件。当时 Hansard 与 Irglová 演出，一名粉丝从灯架附近建筑物的屋顶坠落身亡——当时的报道称其为自杀。该男子坠落的位置距离 Hansard 仅几英尺之遥。

Hansard 与 Bono 和 Imelda May 在都柏林 Grafton 街参加一年一度的圣诞前夜街头表演 (PA)

“[Vedder] 只是想知道我是否还好，他真的太善良了。一周以来，我们每晚都会通话一小时，” Hansard 回忆道。“Eddie 是一个美丽的灵魂，非常有深度。他帮助了我。”

Hansard 曾与 Bob Dylan 一同巡演，他 2016 年凭借个人项目 Didn't He Ramble 获得了格莱美最佳民谣专辑奖的提名。他与 Irglová 组成了摇滚双人组 The Swell Season，该组合在 7 月发布了最新专辑 Forward。

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2025。Hansard 最新的个人专辑 All That Was East is West of Me Now 发布于 2023。

2022 年，他在圣诞前夜与两名乌克兰歌手参加了一场慈善街头表演，并将《Falling Slowly》献给乌克兰人民。他还参加了 Pogues 主唱 Shane MacGowan 的葬礼，与 Lisa O’Neill 共同演唱了《Fairytale of New York》，并由 The Pogues 的幸存成员伴奏。

爱尔兰总统 Catherine Connolly 表示，他将被铭记为该国最伟大的词曲作家之一，且 Hansard 和 The Frames 是“一代年轻人和音乐家的诸多灵感之源”。

“Glen 以其无可比拟的现场表演而闻名，在那些美好的音乐之夜，Glen 用故事和音乐款待观众，同时也演绎了数十年来影响他生活的许多人的音乐，”她说道。

总统还表示，Hansard 将因其分享名声的大度而被铭记，并举证他在帮助无家可归者等重要事业中的贡献，尤其是年度圣诞前夜的街头表演。

“Glen 是爱尔兰音乐界至关重要的推动力量之一，通过分享现场音乐将人们聚集在一起，”她

Hansard 和 Irglová 在 2008 年持有奥斯卡奖杯 (PA)

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说道。“所有认识他或体验过他作品的人都将深深地思念他。”

他的妻子，芬兰诗人 Maire Saaritsa 以及他们三岁的儿子 Christy 依然在世。

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2026 年 7 月 30 日星期四

新闻

爱丁堡边缘艺术节表演者支持过夜游客税

这项 5% 的访客征费预计每年将筹集 £50m，用于投资文化计划和住房

Lauren Morris 文化新闻编辑

爱丁堡节日期间住宿价格飙升 (PA Wire)

在爱丁堡边缘艺术节（Fringe Festival）即将到来之际，这座城市新出台的游客税被证明具有争议，因为游客在今后预订酒店和住宿时将需要支付更多费用。然而，许多在该年度活动中表演的人员却在支持这一征费——而且他们实际上认为这还远远不够。

这座苏格兰城市于上周成为全国首个引入游客税的城市，入住酒店、床铺早餐旅馆（B&Bs）和自助餐饮住宿的人员将在其预订成本之上被额外收取 5 per cent 的费用。爱丁堡市议会

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希望这项上限为五晚的访客征费每年能筹集 £50m，重新投入到城市的文化计划、新住房和警务中。

随着这座城市的艺术节仅剩几天时间，并非所有人都感到高兴；苏格兰芭蕾舞团（Scottish Ballet）——每年支付超过 £200,000 供其艺术家在爱丁堡住宿——透露其将取消 12 月的部分演出。该公司的执行总监 Steven Roth 表示，由于这项税收，“前往爱丁堡巡演的经济成本正迅速变得不可持续”。

然而，对于今年在边缘艺术节表演的许多演职人员来说，这项税收与该市已经天文数字般的住宿成本相比，并没有带来太大的影响。

苏格兰芭蕾舞团取消了 12 月在爱丁堡的演出 (Getty)

“额外增加的 5 per cent 并不是决定性因素，”今年在艺术节演出《狗之葬礼》（Dog Funeral）的 Zoe Wohlfeld 说道，“决定性因素在很久以前就出现了。参加边缘艺术节的人是那些已经负担得起的人。”

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她的搭档兼导演 Jack Grossman 补充说，围绕边缘艺术节住宿的问题比实施一项税收“复杂得多”。“确实存在价格欺诈现象，但同时需求量巨大且住房不足，所以这不会影响到那一块。”

众所周知，在 8 月份边缘艺术节期间，爱丁堡是一个住宿昂贵的城市。邮政局（Post Office）的城市成本晴雨表在 5 月报告称，访客在三星级住宿中仅两晚的平均支出就高达 £462。而去年，由于边缘艺术节恰好与 Oasis 乐队在市内的演出时间冲突，同月酒店房间的标价高达每晚 £4,000。

“长期以来，人们已经被爱丁堡的价格挤出去了，”爱丁堡居民、今年参演的英国艺术家团体 Forest Fringe 的创始联合导演 Deborah Pearson 说道。“我在这里住了 20 years，我从未见过这里是不伴随高额开销的。”

对于大多数边缘艺术节的表演者来说，他们的制作规模远小于苏格兰芭蕾舞团——因此，一项上限仅为五晚的 5 per cent 税收，对他们的总体成本不会产生太大影响，尤其是他们在住宿安排上通常采取将就和修补的方式。

“我们今年住在学生宿舍里，而且几个月前就付了款，”常驻纽约的 Wohlfeld 说。“我们参加边缘艺术节的第一年，住在一家有四个卧室的 Airbnb 房源里，那里随时有 15 to 20 people，因为人们在寻找一周内几天可以落脚的地方。我们甚至有人睡在走廊里。”

“现在的生活成本极其疯狂，因为很多不同的原因，目前做一个艺术家真的很难，”Pearson 说。“成本上涨总是让人感觉是负面的，但我认为我们也必须记住爱丁堡是一座城市，如果

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这些税收能够真正让城市受益，那么希望这是一件好事。”

相反，许多人渴望看到这项税收能用于改善这座城市。每年当近 1 million 人（为其常住人口的两倍）为了艺术节而涌入时，这座城市都面临着巨大的压力。

“艺术节为这座城市带来了一些好处，但也造成了很多破坏。在一个月的时间里，每天必须与如此庞大的人群打交道，在某种程度上是非常令人不堪的，而这座城市并不一定适应这种情况，”Wohlfeld 说道。

“这对环境卫生和警方来说是一个巨大的负担。几年前垃圾收集罢工时我也在现场，那简直疯了，”Grossman 说道，他指的是 2022 年该市发生的与艺术节时间重合的垃圾收集罢工。

2022 年垃圾收集罢工期间，爱丁堡街道上堆积的垃圾 (Getty)

他认为，如果非要征税，那么该税项不应仅适用于入住酒店的人员。“很多来参加艺术节的人来自苏格兰附近或英国其他地区，是来进行一日游的，所以他们不会支付任何费用，”他说。

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“有很多人纯粹是在破坏这里的环境——如果你在晚上 10 点后走到 Cowgate，那里的环境可能会有点糟糕。我们遇到过很多来自格拉斯哥的单身派对团体，他们破坏性很强，而且他们不需要交税。”

“这实际上是为了改善全年居住在爱丁堡的人们的生活状况，”Pearson 补充道。“我认为，那些来到爱丁堡艺术节的人记住这里是一座城市是非常重要的。

“如果没有这座城市全职居民的慷慨和帮助，我们的组织根本不可能存在。”

‘Zoe Wohlfeld: Dog Funeral’ 将于 8 月 5 to 30 日在 Underbelly 的 Jelly Belly 展出。Forest Fringe 将于 8 月 25 and 26 日在 Shedinburgh 展出。

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Thursday 30 July 2026

新闻

一份谴责性报告揭露英国对阿富汗特种部队的处理方式

《独立报》揭露，在塔利班接管后，数百名前突击队员被抛弃

Holly Bancroft 内政事务记者

2017年阿富汗危机反应部队 222 的成员（Getty）

国会议员得出结论，国防部在处理阿富汗特种部队士兵申请前往英国的问题上存在“严重缺陷”——而《独立报》在两年前及半年前就曾揭露过这些前突击队员如何被抛弃。

在国防遴选委员会发布的一份关于国防部（Mod）数据泄露的报告中，议员们审查了该部门如何处理来自前特种部队单位（被称为 Triples）的避难申请。

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他们得出结论，在处理前突击队员的申请时存在“实质性缺陷”——为了清理积压的任务，数千人的案件在没有进行适当调查的情况下就被拒绝了。

议员们在周四发布的报告中表示，国防部官员“未能充分理解或运用与 Triples 与英国关系相关的证据”。

结果是，数百名曾在阿富汗与英国特种部队单位并肩作战的前突击队员在塔利ban接管后被错误地抛弃了。

这一不公正现象最初是由《独立报》、Lighthouse Reports 和 Sky News 在 2023年 11月 进行的一次联合调查中公开揭露的，我们在其中透露前突击队员遭到了塔利班的殴打、酷刑或杀害。

我们揭露了 Triples 与英国军队密切协作，直接领取英国政府发放的薪水——而国防部此前却对此作出了相反的错误主张。

2024, 政府承认，决策失误导致这些阿富汗人被拒绝在英国寻求避难，并承诺重新审查数百件案件。

当工党执政后，武装部队大臣 Luke Pollard 确认，国防部否认阿富汗特种部队成员受雇于英国是错误的。他还宣布对约 2,000 份申请进行审查。

国防委员会的报告发现，到 2026, 3月审查结束时，已有 884 项决定被推翻。在约 2,000 宗案件中，约 30% 的人员随后被认定因此前协助英国人的职责而具备搬迁资格，另有 300 人因在阿富汗数据泄露中信息被暴露而被认定具备资格。

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周四发布的国防委员会报告总结道：“这一惊人的修正率表明，此次审查并非简单的清理工作，而是对原流程中实质性缺陷的必要回应”。

2016年赫尔曼德省的阿富汗国民军突击队员（AFP via Getty Images）

议员们表示，这些缺陷表明国防部“未能充分理解或运用与 Triples 与英国关系相关的证据”，并且“未能维护或查询”其自身记录。

基于这段历史，国防部“对那些申请被错误拒绝的前 Triples 成员负有特殊责任，这些人因为上述缺陷及随后的延迟，可能在潜伏中度过了额外的岁月，或者被迫自行前往第三国”。

4月，国防部告知获准在英国寻求避难的阿富汗家庭，他们必须自行逃离塔利班统治的国家。

活动人士警告称，这造成了一个“两级制度”，能够筹集必要资金的人

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可以搬迁，而弱势和贫困家庭则无法搬迁。

国防委员会的报告审查了政府对国防部数据泄露事件的处理情况，该事件暴露了数万名阿富汗人的个人详细信息。

这次泄露发生在 2022 年 2 月，但直到 2023, 年 8 月才被发现，期间通过一项前所未有的超级禁令（superinjunction）被掩盖，并导致数千个阿富汗家庭被秘密撤离。

作为首批向国防部（MoD）发出数据泄露警示的人员之一，独立个案工作者 Person A 表示，为受泄露影响者设立的秘密通道“将那些没有资格来英的人员的生命，置于拥有数十年服务经验支持英国任务的合格申请者之上”。

他们警告称，“即便在现在，仍有大量合格的阿富汗人正等待进入英国的初步批准”，并补充道：“我担心这些案件仍然在被常规且错误地拒绝”。

国防委员会透露，截至 6 月 1 日，国防部的阿富汗重新安置案件积压量约为 14,000 份申请，低于 2025, 年 7 月的 25,000 份。

国会议员警告称：“政府必须确保关闭该计划的压力不会降低决策质量”。

国防部表示，他们正在履行政府的承诺，支持曾在阿富汗支持英国任务的合格 Triples 人员。

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

今日图片

轻松骑行...

在法国东南部 Les Andrauts，一名儿童在消防员与火灾搏斗期间休息时，在他们之间骑着滑板车。路透社 (Reuters)

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虔诚祈祷

在缅甸仰光的 the Shwedagon Pagoda（舍伟择牙昂 the Shwedagon Pagoda），一名信徒在 Waso 满月日祈祷。这是缅甸阴历中的一个神圣日子，标志着佛教斋季的开始。AFP/Getty

巍然屹立

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欧洲最大的圣母玛利亚雕像，高度为 55.6 米（182 英尺），即将波兰 Konotopie 村的公众正式开放。路透社 (Reuters)

沉积物惊喜

在保加利亚 Ryahovo 村附近的河床中，由于多瑙河水位下降至历史最低点而显露出来的、被历史学家认为是古代猛犸象的遗骸。路透社 (Reuters)

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击倒！

亚利桑那红雀队的安全卫 Andrew Wingard（右）和 Joey Blount 在亚利桑那州 Glendale 的 NFL 橄榄球训练营中进行训练。美联社 (AP)

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

News

国内新闻简讯

Mitch Winehouse 站在他女儿 Amy 在伦敦北部 Camden Town 的雕像旁（PA 档案）

Winehouse 之父被判赔偿 £1m

在一次关于拍卖已故歌手遗物的高等法院索赔失败后，Amy Winehouse 的父亲必须向其女儿的两名朋友支付近 £1m。Mitch Winehouse 在针对 Naomi Parry 和 Catriona Gourlay 的失败诉讼中，自身还产生了至少 £950,000 的法律费用。

他声称这两名女性在 2021 年和 2023 年通过在美国的拍卖行出售 Winehouse 的数十件物品而获利，指控她们“蓄意隐瞒”了这些销售行为。但 Sarah Clarke KC 法官在今年早些时候驳回了该请求，认定他“一直都知道”拟议的销售计划，且事后才开始以一种“具有攻击性且令人不快的方式”向她们追讨资金。

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在昨天的判决中，她表示：“原告选择提出一项本质上十分薄弱的诉求，并将其激进且不懈地追究到底，同时对被告提出严重且毫无根据的指控，这严重损害了她们的名誉、职业前景、财务安全和健康。”法官表示，截至 4 月，Ms Parry 的费用估计为 £715,361，而 Ms Gourlay 的费用为 £487,132。

她命令 Mr Winehouse 在接下来的两周内向两名女性支付中期款项——向 Ms Parry 支付 £569,330，向 Ms Gourlay 支付 £394,521。他还必须按照赔偿原则（indemnity basis）支付这些女性的法律费用，这意味着追回成本的一方通常能获得比平时更高比例的支出补偿，这种情况通常在一方行为极其不合理时才会裁定。

Clarke 法官表示，Mr Winehouse 在追求其索赔时，“故意将此案变成大规模且昂贵的诉讼，其目的是为了向被告施加商业压力，迫使其按照他的条件达成和解”。

BBC 在预算削减中砍掉三大剧集

BBC 在尝试于未来两年内节省 £500m 的过程中，砍掉了三档最著名的节目。该广播公司已确认，《名人智力大挑战》(Celebrity Mastermind)、重启版的《空白填空》(Blankety Blank) 以及《阿波罗现场》(Live at the Apollo) 均已停播。后者在 22 年间一直是 BBC 的主打节目。

《空白填空》在历史上是英国运行时间最长的游戏节目之一，不过这次版本源自 2021, 当时 BBC 由主持人 Bradley Walsh 主持将其重启。《名人智力大挑战》已播出 24 季，最早于 2002. 以单次特别节目形式播出。目前仍有一季已拍摄完成等待发布。同样，《阿波罗现场》也有一季——现在是最后一季——准备播出。

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该节目最初于 2004, 推出，由喜剧演员在伦敦的哈默史密斯阿波罗剧院 (Hammersmith Apollo) 进行单口喜剧表演。它助力了包括 Jason Manford、Russell Howard 和 Michael McIntyre 在内的喜剧演员的职业起步，并接待了包括 Joan Rivers、Rob Brydon、Jo Brand 和 Julian Clary 在内的资深喜剧名将。

BBC 在一份声明中表示：“我们对这三档深受喜爱的节目感到无比自豪，并感谢所有参与其中的人员，无论是在镜头前还是镜头后，感谢他们将这些节目搬上屏幕并使其在多年间取得如此成功。”

伦敦警方将不再对波兰斯基采取进一步行动

伦敦大都会警察局表示，关于在社交媒体上分享的一张图片，将不再对绿党领导人 Zack Polanski 采取进一步行动。

在 Polanski 先生分享了一张图片后，英国改革党 (Reform UK) 领导人 Nigel Farage 向警方举报了。图片中一名男子穿着一件黑色 T 恤，上面印有断头台的图案以及文字：“我们只是在为 Nigel 制定计划。”

但在昨天的一份声明中，大都会警察局表示将不再追究此案，因为“一次广泛的调查被认为是不相称的，且不是警察资源的合理利用”。

绿党表示，Polanski 先生在分享该 Instagram 帖子时没有看到这张图片，该图片是一篇包含 20 张图片的帖子中的第 18 张，他在意识到该违规图片后将其删除。

英国改革党的一位发言人批评警方不对 Polanski 先生采取进一步行动的决定，称：“我们再次看到，我们生活在一个‘双轨制’的英国。”

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警方表示，关于穿着该 T 恤的行为应记录为一项犯罪，由于该行为发生在布里斯托 (Bristol)，此案已移交给埃文和萨默塞特警方 (Avon and Somerset Police)，以考虑应采取哪些进一步行动。

小男孩在夺走姨母生命的海滩悲剧中去世

一名七岁男孩在埃塞克斯郡 (Essex) 海滩发生的一起事故后去世，该事故导致他的十几岁表妹及其母亲死亡。Musa Ahmed 的家人表示，他于周二晚上在皇家伦敦医院“在安详与平静的状态下”去世。此前 22 July，他在与五名亲属在前往埃塞克斯郡西默西亚 (West Mersea) 的家庭旅行中陷入困境被救出水面，六天后他去世。他的姨母，41 岁的 Shelina Rahman 和表妹 Sameeha（15, 岁）均在现场死亡。

该家庭从东伦敦的伊尔福德 (Ilford) 前往海滩一日游。Musa 的家人昨天发布声明确认了他的死亡：“我们还要感谢皇家伦敦医院重症监护室的医生和护士团队，在我们在医院期间，他们展现出了卓越的关怀与尊严。我们也要感谢整个社区的支持和祈祷。”

改革党议员因网络帖被起诉

一名改革党（Reform）议员因在社交媒体上发布极其冒犯的消息而被起诉。据称，桑德兰市议会（Sunderland City Council）的 Glenn Gibbins 在 2024. 年发布了该帖子，其中提到了尼日利亚社区。诺森比亚警方（Northumbria Police）表示，他被指控违反了《2003 通信法》（Communications Act 2003）。

这位来自桑德兰的 66 岁男子预计将于 8 月 21 日在南泰赛德地方法院（South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court）出庭。警方表示，他们在今年 5 月接到了关于该帖子的举报。目前，警方已提交一份

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文件给皇家检控署（Crown Prosecution Service），后者已批准起诉。

教师详情在暗网泄露

在教育部（DfE）遭到黑客攻击后，数千名学校领导、大学工作人员和政府官员的姓名及电话号码在暗网中泄露。据报道，窃贼在此次攻击中窃取了 607,000 条记录，包括与该部门打交道的人员的全名、职称和电子邮件地址。

根据最早报道此次泄露事件的《泰晤士报》（The Times），黑客的目标是教育部的帮助台（help desk），该部门负责管理来自地方当局和学校领导的请求，以及图灵计划（Turing Scheme）的记录——这是教育机构用于监督在海外学习的英国学生的数据库。

然而，教育部消息人士告诉《独立报》（The Independent），受影响者的数据保护风险不被认为很高，并指出所获取的数据包括无法关联的不同数据集。

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2026 年 7 月 30 日星期四

世界 / 特别报道

“我没事。我很幸运……我还活着”

随着数千名疏散人员挤进波尔度各处的临时大厅，一些居民向 James C. Reynolds 讲述了他们如何在深夜逃离家园。

在圣让-迪拉克（Saint-Jean-d’Illac）的一场山火中，当火焰和烟雾升起时，消防员正在工作（Kara Nabil）

一名学生讲述了他如何从充满浓烟的家中救出年幼的表亲，此时有毒的山火正席卷法国西南部，迫使数十万人逃离。

Yanis Sharif 是一名 21 岁的工程系学生，他描述了自己如何在半夜被手机上的警报唤醒，并被敦促与他的姨妈及其两岁和七岁的年幼孩子一起离开位于波尔多西部的圣让-迪拉克（Saint-Jean d’Illac）的家中，因为火势正在逼近。

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“这真的太可怕了，”他在接受《独立报》（The Independent）采访时说。“我们没有多少信息。我们认为火很近了。带着孩子们，我们拿了东西。我们真的没有时间，所以必须行动得非常快。”

Sharif 先生是目前住在波尔多北部展览公园（Parc des Expositions）一排排行军床上的 500 人之一，他们只带了在深夜匆忙离开家时设法抓在手里的财物。

“我意识不到任何事情。我醒来发现自己正开车往这里开。孩子们在哭，因为我们不得不把他们叫醒。但我们在这里安顿下来了。第一晚有点艰难；我们是在车里度过的。没有床。”

Sharif 先生说，在匆忙中他只能抓到自己的笔记本电脑、一些文件和几件 T 恤，他说他们四个人此后一直住在一个大厅里，随着其他人的进入，他们移动了多次位置。

他赞扬了现场的志愿者和助手，他们确保他们有食物、遮蔽处、睡觉的地方和淋浴设施。他说，他们还为孩子们提供了婴儿车。

其他被毁灭性山火迫使离开家园的难民表示，在等待家乡消息时，他们很感激自己还活着。

Patrice Gaucher 同样被从圣让-迪拉克的家中驱离，他强调他非常感激这次救援响应，他认为这可能救了他的命。

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波尔多的一座大厅成为了数百名被持续山火迫使离开家园者的临时住所（James Reynolds / The Independent）

他说，在收到宪兵队的敲门通知后，他在周五深夜抵达这里，对方告诉他只有两分钟时间收拾一个包并向东前往市区。

“我们必须说‘谢谢’，”他说。“我们晚上 10 点到达，我被分配到一张床。我得到了缓解高温的药物、饮用水、清洁用品……每隔五分钟，就会有医生来看我们。他们非常照顾所有人。

“有些人抵达时一无所有。民众表现出了极大的团结。他们捐赠了很多。我对法国人感到非常惊讶。也许我们没有死去是因为看到了这种团结。因为现在的法国有许多个人主义者……但结果不，不。”

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周二，人们在波尔多繁忙的流离失所者中心分发必需品（James Reynolds / The Independent）

“有些人的心态不同，但我说，‘不，我没事。我很幸运能在这里。我还活着’……所以如果我回去发现我的房子不在了，没关系，我不开心，但这就是生活。

“之后我们不开心，因为涉及保险的文书工作。但更重要的是我还活着……我可以盖一座新房子，可以买一辆新摩托车，但我买不回一条新生命。所以我必须说谢谢。”

寻求支持的人数之多给该地区带来了巨大压力，在流离失所的高峰期，波尔多的三个大厅内分布着约 6,000 人。

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20 岁的护士 Gabin Bourdin Marchand 在自己被疏散后，于周二回到现场提供志愿帮助（James Reynolds / The Independent）

Eysines、Mérignac（环路以外地区）和 Le Haillan 市镇的居民现已返回家中，昨晚安置中心共有 850 人。

官员表示，许多人已被转移，或正在被转移至空置的学生宿舍或市内可用住房中。

周三，波尔多大都会区（Bordeaux Métropole）确认，由于食品、衣物和生活必需品的“大量涌入”，他们将暂停捐赠呼吁。

波尔多大都会区主席兼波尔多市长 Thomas Cazenave 表示：“我想感谢所有给予如此非凡支持的市民、协会、企业负责人、市长和地方当局负责人。

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周二，安全部队在安置中心现场 (James Reynolds / The Independent)

“我们收到了来自法国各地的捐赠；捐赠量现已超出我们的预期。这种团结的迸发使得我们能够为受火灾影响的家庭提供及时且切实可见的帮助。”

来自 Eysines 的 20 岁护士兼学生 Gabin Bourdin Marchand 表示，在营地生活四天后，他回来申请做志愿者，但发现由于帮手太多，当局对于让志愿者返回的意愿较低。

消防员和志愿者继续在西部和南部的市镇应对一场前所未有的山火季，已有约 220,000 人被迫逃离家园。

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人们不得不带着极少物品逃离家园。许多人两手空空而至，在等待关于家园状况的消息时，对捐赠表示感激 (James Reynolds / The Independent)

仍住在西部 Lacanau 的理疗师 Esteban De Riberolles 表示，当 Le Porge 镇成为首批撤离城镇之一时，他在那里的诊所被迫关闭。

“我们听到了许多朋友和当地居民的讲述，他们不得不在极其痛苦的情况下，在半夜逃离家园，”他回忆道。

“在接下来的几天里，我给所有病人打了电话，询问他们的情况并重新安排治疗。好几个人告诉我他们失去了家。我的好朋友就是其中之一，在找到新住所之前，他目前住在我的地方。”

“Lacanau 本身基本未受影响，只有郊区的部分地区受到波及，而市中心保持安全。”

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火灾产生的浓烟弥漫天空，波尔多附近的 Lacanau 海滩上的人们在观察着 (Mathias Monseigne)

De Riberolles 先生一直志愿为不懈工作以控制火势的消防员提供按摩缓解，他表示，火灾动员了当地社区共同提供帮助。

“我和朋友们一起搞到了一个安装在拖车上的 1,000 升水箱，用于向地面工作人员运水，并在适当的时候帮助处理小型火点，”他说。

“这是一次难忘的经历。我看到了在面对这样的灾难时，整个社区是如何凝聚在一起的。”

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2026年7月30日，星期四

世界

随着沙特加入特朗普通过对伊拉克进行空袭的战争，停火希望破灭

总统在美军基地遭遇“惊喜”袭击后发表激烈的愤怒抨击

Maryam Zakir-Hussain

在伊拉克人民动员力量成员在空袭中丧生后，摩苏尔的男子们在哀悼（路透社）

愤怒的唐纳德·特朗普在美军中东军事目标遭到“惊喜”袭击后，威胁要惩罚伊朗。

此次攻势发生在美总统暂停在该地区进行空袭几天之后。

在一次充斥着脏话的爆发中，他告诉福克斯新闻（Fox News）：“我们要把这些操蛋的家伙彻底打趴下。我们将沉重地打击他们。他们将遭到痛击。”

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在地区局势升级的一天中，沙特阿拉伯也加入了美国，打击了几个由伊朗支持的组织。

特朗普先生发表愤怒言论之前，美国中央司令部表示，伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）向美军部队发射了弹道导弹。

伊朗在周二晚些时候确认，其向约旦的美军基地以及霍尔木兹海峡的船只发射了导弹，并拒绝了阿曼关于共同管理该海峡的建议。

7月 29 日美沙对伊拉克的袭击导致一个包括亲伊朗组织在内的前准军事联盟中至少 20 名成员死亡（法新社/盖蒂图片社）

在其他海湾国家的支持下，阿曼提出了一个海峡区域共同控制计划，该计划将允许支付自愿服务费。但一名伊朗高级官员表示，伊朗拒绝该建议，认为其“不合理”。

该官员表示，与阿曼建立 50-50 的共同控制安排不符合伊朗的利益，尽管德黑兰认为阿曼是一个有价值的邻国。

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随着沙特阿拉伯加入美国的空袭行动，地区紧张局势缓和的希望在昨天破灭。华盛顿和利雅得表示，此次行动是对从伊拉克境内发起的针对沙特石油目标的无人机袭击的回击。

伊拉克人民动员力量（由伊朗支持的强大准军事组织，已并入伊拉克安全部队）表示，在袭击中至少有 20 名成员死亡，32 人受伤。

伊拉克 Al-Ahad 电视台的画面显示，当人们将战士的遗体抬出伊拉克北部摩苏尔的一家医院时，伊拉克男子们高喊什叶派教派口号和“美国之死！”。

伊朗表示，这些袭击是美国和以色列企图将战争进一步扩大到该地区的行为。

伊拉克一个由伊朗支持的武装组织“努贾巴真主党”（Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba）表示，美国和沙特军队将付出“沉重的代价”。

白宫表示，特朗普与本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的会面“积极且富有成效”（GPO）

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伊拉克由什叶派领导的政府是世界上少数几个与德黑兰和华盛顿同时保持密切军事和外交关系的政府之一，该政府召开了紧急会议。

伊拉克总统府谴责对准军事组织的袭击是“不可接受的攻击，是对伊拉克主权的公然侵犯”，同时也呼吁武装组织停止攻击伊拉克的邻国。

沙特阿拉伯在 X 上表示，其“不寻求升级”，但“将应对其面临的任何侵略”。

在也门胡塞武装威胁对经过红海的船只征费后，该王国已被卷入多线战争。

这一伊朗支持的组织计划在曼德海峡实施自己的收费，这与伊朗对霍尔木兹海峡的掌控如出一辙。

针对通过该海峡（处于胡塞武装无人机和火箭弹射程之内）的沙特船只的封锁已经宣布。因此，沙特自 2022 年以来首次对胡塞武装发起空袭。

在政治气氛紧张的一周里，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡周二访问了白宫，与特朗普先生讨论伊朗问题，这是两人自战争开始以来首次举行面对面会谈。

白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特（Karoline Leavitt）表示，会议持续了近 90 分钟，且是“积极且富有成效的”。

在会谈结束几小时后的一篇社交媒体帖子中，特朗普先生称其为一次“非常好的会议”，期间“讨论了许多重要议题”，但未提供进一步细节。

一名获悉白宫会议情况的以色列官员表示，内塔尼亚胡先生向特朗普先生及其内阁明确表示，如果伊朗

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攻击以色列，他们将会做出反应，但除此之外，他们将信任总统关于下一步行动的判断。

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2026年7月30日，星期四

世界

伊朗与乌克兰的战争在世界上最大的湖泊上相撞

专家告诉 Maryam Zakir-Hussain，基辅在里海攻击伊朗船只的举动是为了在关键时刻加强美国的支持

Volodymyr Zelensky 本周访问美国，并与特朗普总统进行了一次“良好的会谈”（Getty）

在乌克兰于里海攻击一艘伊朗船只且德黑兰誓言做出回应后，人们对世界上两场重大战争汇合的担忧日益增加。

伊朗声称在乌克兰的袭击中一名水手死亡，另一名受伤，同时外交部召见了乌克兰驻德黑兰代办，对被其描述为“敌对且犯罪”的行为表示抗议。

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外交部长 Abbas Araghchi 周日在与欧盟最高外交官 Kaja Kallas 及俄罗斯同行 Sergei Lavrov 的通话中表示，报道中提到的针对商船的袭击“不能不给回应”。

为什么里海很重要？

里海由五个国家接壤，包括伊朗和俄罗斯。

随着波斯湾和阿曼湾的伊朗港口被封锁，里海作为贸易路线具有了新的意义。

为什么乌克兰在里海攻击船只？

乌克兰官员声称，该伊朗船只正将无人机和导弹组件从伊朗运往俄罗斯，但德黑兰声称该船是“完全民用”的，且“没有携带军事货物”。

一位专家表示，乌克兰通过攻击伊朗船只向特朗普展示它能如何帮助他（AP）

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伊朗通过其 Shahed 无人机成为俄罗斯的主要武器供应商。2024 年 8 月，乌克兰在里海攻击了一艘货轮，摧毁了一艘据报道装载了 Shahed-136 无人机组件和伊朗弹药的船只。

但前英国陆军军官兼武器专家 Hamish de Bretton-Gordon 认为，乌克兰最近在里海的袭击首先是一个“给特朗普的信息”。

他认为，通过在距离基辅约 500 英里远的地方发动袭击，乌克兰正在展示其能力，并向美国总统展示它如何能帮助对付伊朗。

他告诉《独立报》：“乌克兰试图向特朗普表明，俄罗斯人正在帮助伊朗。乌克兰证明他们可以阻止这一点，并帮助解决特朗普的伊朗问题，但作为回报，美国需要帮助乌克兰。”

与此同时，Volodymyr Zelensky 指责俄罗斯向伊朗提供海湾国家和美国中东军事基地的卫星观测数据以方便在那里的袭击，并向美国总统提供获取这些情报的机会，此举可能会加强人们认为乌克兰正试图获得更多美国支持以对抗俄罗斯的看法。

但俄罗斯及欧亚安全高级研究员 Natia Seskuria 认为，乌克兰在里海的袭击“符合该国针对俄罗斯军事能力的目标策略”，而非“开辟针对伊朗的新战场”。

她说：“关键的战略目标是中断伊朗对俄罗斯的军事支持流，并给能让莫斯科维持其军事行动的物流网络增加额外压力。”

在本周 Volodymyr Zelensky 在华盛顿与 Donald Trump 会面后，据宣布美国将给予乌克兰制造爱国者防御系统的许可，满足了基辅长期以来应对俄罗斯导弹袭击的请求。

伊朗将如何攻击乌克兰？

据伊朗国家媒体报道，伊朗驻俄罗斯大使 Kazem Jalali 呼吁俄罗斯对此次袭击做出回应。据报道，他表示俄罗斯是一个“友好国家”，此次袭击值得做出“严肃回应”。

然而，De Bretton-Gordon 表示，伊朗攻击乌克兰没有“战略优势”，且执行起来将有“很大困难”。

皇家联合服务研究所（Royal United Services Institute）军事科学高级研究员 Sidharth Kaushal 博士表示：“相当数量的伊朗弹道导弹可以击中乌克兰的至少部分地区，例如 Shahab 3 和 Khorramshahr 4。”

“一些标称射程较短的弹道导弹在携带较轻弹头的情况下也可能覆盖该距离。伊朗缺乏能够覆盖这些距离的巡航导弹，而对于 Shahed 类型的 uavs（无人机）来说，这段距离也稍微长了一些。”

不过，他补充说，伊朗实际上以侵略行为回应乌克兰几乎没有好处，因为他表示：“我怀疑伊朗人是否过于热衷于消耗其军火库中重要且数量相对有限、难以更换的导弹，同时在这个过程中扩大其敌手名单。”

“我的猜测是，伊朗人会将里海发生的事情视为开展业务的代价而将其撇开。”

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

世界

世界新闻简报

俄罗斯指控 Telegram 联合创始人 Pavel Durov 援助恐怖主义（Getty for TechCrunch）

迪拜亿万富翁向莫斯科竖中指

俄罗斯指控 Telegram 创始人 Pavel Durov 协助恐怖活动，声称他的即时通讯应用被乌克兰间谍用于组织在俄罗斯境内的袭击。作为回应，Telegram 在 X 上的官方账号发布了一张这位出生于俄罗斯的亿万富翁用中指做出下流手势的照片。

这些由联邦安全局（FSB）公布的指控，标志着针对定居迪拜的 Durov 和 Telegram 的长期调查达到了顶点。莫斯科已实际上扼杀了该服务，这是其一项旨在切断对外文科技平台访问并加强互联网控制的更广泛计划的一部分。俄罗斯人现在只能通过使用 VPN 来加密流量

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并隐藏其位置才能访问 Telegram。然而，包括克里姆林宫和国防部在内的国家机构仍然每天在上面发布内容。

该应用在俄罗斯与乌克兰的战争中被描述为“虚拟战场”，两国的官员、士兵和有影响力的博主都在使用它。FSB 和国家调查委员会在声明中表示，Telegram 上一个名为 “Daivinchik/Leo” 的聊天机器人被乌克兰特情部门用于招募俄罗斯年轻人执行破坏和恐怖活动。

Daivinchik/Leo 是俄罗斯一个受欢迎的约会聊天机器人，因为 Tinder 在那里已无法使用。声明称，伪装成年轻女性的乌克兰间谍利用该机器人联系并诱骗俄罗斯人，随后强迫他们实施犯罪。Durov 居住的迪拜与莫斯科关系友好，且在能源、商业和金融领域的联系日益增强。但将其移交给俄罗斯可能会冒损坏该酋长国作为企业和技术吸引力中心的形象的风险。Durov 发布消息称他上周在格鲁吉亚，但目前行踪不明。路透社

英国女性尸体在雅典手提箱中被发现

希腊警方昨日表示，已确认在雅典一个手提箱中发现的尸体为一名 38 岁的英国女性。受害者是一名苏格兰女性，她从美国经塞浦路斯前往希腊。她的指纹在美国数据库中被发现有记录。

一名高级警官告诉《泰晤士报》：“我们仍在继续收集关于该女性以及此案演变过程的更多证据。”由于她没有在希腊数据库中登记，警方正借助国际刑警组织（Interpol）追踪她的身份。国际刑警组织尚未公布该女性的名字。

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她的尸体于 7 月 18 日在首都基普塞利（Kypseli）区的一栋废弃建筑的手提箱内被发现。一名官员表示：“她是苏格兰人，我们怀疑她可能与这里的一名无家可归者取得了联系，对方将其诱骗至该特定地点 [在基普塞利]，并将其遗弃在被发现时的状态。”

15 头大象在神秘情况下死亡

在肯尼亚安博塞利国家公园（Amboseli National Park）地区过去一个月内有 15 头大象在神秘情况下死亡，相关调查已经启动。肯尼亚野生动物服务局报告称，其中 10 头动物在死亡前出现了部分瘫痪的迹象。其余 5 头被发现时已死亡，尸体被食腐动物部分吞噬。死者大多为雌象及其幼象，死者中仅有一头雄象。

这些死亡事件发生在公园周围的基马纳保护区（Kimana Sanctuary）和库库牧场（Kuku Ranch）区域。内罗比大学进行的初步实验室检测在这些大象的样本中发现了“潜在的有毒物质”。

潜在巴西决选中鲁拉领先博索纳罗

昨日一项 AtlasIntel/Bloomberg 的民调显示，巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦（Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva）在 10 月总统大选潜在的第二轮投票中，领先于反对派参议员弗拉维奥·博索纳罗（Flavio Bolsonaro）。

民调显示，在决选投票中，卢拉先生将获得 49.2% 的选票，而名声扫地的前总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗（Jair Bolsonaro）之子博索纳罗先生则获得 42.9%。6 月份，卢拉先生的得票率为 48.8%，而博索纳罗先生为 42.3%。路透社

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

观点

给父母钱以鼓励孩子成为学徒是非常值得的

面对一个令某些年轻人不愿从事技艺工作的福利制度，政府希望提供财政激励。Sean O’Grady 写道，情况十分复杂。

父母每年将获得最高 £4,500 的补贴，以鼓励其子女开始学徒培训，用以弥补他们因开始工作而失去的通用信贷（universal credit）付款（Getty/iStock）

那么，英国究竟是如何陷入这种局面的——据报道，如果孩子参加学徒培训，领取福利的父母将获得约 £4,500？

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很遗憾地告诉大家，答案很复杂，所以请耐心听我解释——因为细节至关重要。

首先，这笔 £4,500 的助学金并非给所有人的贿赂。它仅适用于相对少部分家庭，在这些家庭中，制度确实产生了反对工作的反向激励。

这仅适用于领取通用信贷（UC）且当前制度抑制了其参加学徒培训的家庭。社会保障咨询委员会（Social Security Advisory Committee）——这些拥有足够专业能力来理解该制度的专家——发现，如果家庭中的一名年轻人开始学徒培训，有残疾孩子的单亲父母每周可能会损失高达 £340 的福利金。

这笔数额巨大，反映了维持这样一个家庭的成本，因此超过了预期的每周 £258 的学徒工资。因此，如果有人离开学校接受某种有偿职业培训，而不是留在高中预科（sixth form），父母可能会面临每月损失近 £400 的情况。

当然，批评者可能会认为，与其用更多的纳税人资金来填补这个缺口，不如将通用信贷设定在能让“工作获得回报”的水平上。如果替代方案不是更大的艰辛，甚至在极端情况下导致赤贫，那么这将是一个合理的论点。

有些人可能认为，在税收高得不可持续的时期，回归那种维多利亚时代的境况，是我们为了恢复激励措施和加强经济而必须付出的代价。其他人则可能认为这样做太过分了，其他改革方案就足够了。

但你可以看到问题所在。没有任何福利框架能免于“非预期后果”定律的影响，也没有哪个社会没有企图欺骗和钻制度漏洞的人（及公司）。这就是为什么制度变得错综复杂，以至于没有人能理解它。

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如果我们认真对待那一百万名未就业、未接受教育或未接受培训的年轻人——即所谓的 Neets——我们就必须着手让他们在生活中有一个更好的开始

在这个具体问题的背后，隐藏着某种官方的困惑，即在近几十年来“继续接受学术教育（高中预科，然后是大学）”已成为假设和现实的世界中，如何对待 16 和 17 岁的青少年。如果你在这个年龄仍然在校，系统将你视为儿童。如果你在从事高科技制造或 AI 领域的工作，那么你就是一个独立的成年人。

根据专家的说法，当 16 或 17 岁的人离开学校或学院时，他们就不再被纳入父母的福利申请考量之列，并被含蓄地假设为依赖其赚取的学徒工资。在上一财年，这通常意味着每周工作 35 小时，时薪 £7.55，即每周约 £260。因此，财务后果确实截然不同——而且是不合逻辑的。

进一步深入分析，事实是英国的实际工资水平一段时间以来一直处于低迷状态，这是历史性生产力低下的结果。学徒的工资在这方面也不例外，尽管他们总是低于那些已获得资质且经验更丰富的同事。

通用信用（Universal credit）实际上倾向于被用作一种补贴低工资的方法，并在人们离开福利金进入工作时保持激励——从而消除“工资差距”。但这是一个难以实现的平衡，有时，就像选择性的学徒奖学金一样，它需要一些临时的、不那么整洁的解决方案。

目前关于福利改革存在着巨大的争论。但如果我们认真对待那 100 万名不在就业、教育或培训中的年轻人（25 岁以下）——即所谓的 Neets ——我们就

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必须致力于给他们一个更好的生活起点。如果不这样做，会给劳动力市场带来更多压力，并降低 GDP. 的长期增长。

这也会让那些没有过错的年轻人们永久性地陷入更差的生活机会，在未来的数十年中给他们的生活留下伤痕，让他们依赖福利金且没有前途——而这会让纳税人承担更大的开支。

这就是为什么 £4,500 的奖学金实际上是合理且具有性价比的。这也是为什么将授予招收学徒的中小企业的 £8,000 资金是十分合理的。新计划的总成本每年低于 £1bn。这是值得的花费。

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

观点/评论

为什么 34 岁以上的人应该让我们的收入被征收，来为你们的改革提供资金？

Emma Clarke 在青少年时期照顾父亲时没有得到国家支持。现在，作为一名独自租房工作的单身女性，她有一个问题想问 Andy Burnham。

Emma 表示，就目前情况而言，我们这一代已经抽到了最差的签（Emma Clarke）。

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在我 14 岁时，我父亲第一次病重。我妈妈在工作，我的兄弟姐妹那时都已经离家了，所以拨打 999 并陪他去医院的任务落在了我身上。“亲爱的，他的出生日期是多少？”

急救员问道，此时警笛在轰鸣，我们在救护车的后座上左右摇晃。

我当时不知道，但我很快就了解了他所有的这些细节——他的血型、病史，以及是否有过敏反应。在接下来的几年里，乘坐救护车成了常态，医生的术语成了我的第二语言。

因此，我亲眼见证了 NHS（国民医疗服务体系）的压力有多大，以及它在过去 15 年左右的时间里是如何逐渐衰落的。我并不陌生普通人在亲人患病时所面临的现实与挣扎。我也深知疾病带来的耻辱感是什么样子。即便是在他最后几天——甚至是最后几个小时里——我父亲所获得的护理也没有体现出他应得的尊重和尊严。我们，他的家人，几乎得不到任何支持。

在听说我们的新任首相 Andy Burnham 将宣布一项关于社会护理改革的重大新计划时，我特意收看了报道。我敏锐地倾听他计划如何修复这个已经崩溃到让忽视、恶劣环境和虐待的故事不再令人震惊或反常的系统。

我基本上感到很失望。他没有提到明确的政策或路线图，而是承诺了三项（相当模糊的）更新：第一，将路易丝·凯西男爵夫人（Baroness Louise Casey）的“护理大讨论”提前一年启动；第二，解决社会护理人员的薪资、培训和晋升问题；第三，改善工党、保守党和自民党之间的跨党派对话。他还未能解释这一切的资金将如何筹集。

当在新闻发布会上被追问时，他说：“我认为利用现有预算可以做得更多。”然而，据《电讯报》周二报道，Burnham 先生正在

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考虑对 34 岁以上的人征收一项新税——如果属实，这让我感到极大的恐惧。

目前，作为一名即将迎来 35 岁生日的 34 岁人士，如果这项理论上的额外税收被引入，我将被波及。这笔由卫生与社会护理部起草但尚未公布的缴款，将对收入在 £6,240 以上的 34 岁以上人群强制执行，税率可能设定为 1.8%。

现在计划我的未来似乎是不可能的，因为我在财务上总是处于被动地位

就目前情况而言，我们这一代已经抽到了最差的签。自 1997 年以来，进入房地产阶梯的年轻人数量显著减少；与此同时，全国房价持续上涨。仅在过去一年中，房价就上涨了 2.7%。

Lifetime FM 最近的一份报告还发现，超过 37% 的千禧一代认为房租或房贷支出是其最大的财务压力之一，而婴儿潮一代仅为 14.5%。

除房地产问题外，由于疫情的持续影响和生活成本危机，我们的整体生活质量也下降了。在截至 2025, 12 月的一年里，低收入和高收入家庭的成本均上升了 3.7%，而且可以说，食品价格已经波动了一段时间。

对我而言，作为一名单身且独自租房的人，情况感觉比以往任何时候都更糟糕。单身人士不仅要面对与其他人相同的价格上涨和税收增加，而且我们在必需品上的支出平均比情侣多出 7% 的收入，这意味着我们的可支配

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收入。目前看来，为我的未来做计划是不可能的，因为我在财务上总是处于被动局面。

我不反对伯纳姆（Burnham）关于需要采取果断措施来改善该国社会护理和医疗体系的观点——考虑到我自己的经历，我怎么能反对呢？但当现在的生活成本高得令人难以承受，每个人都感到压力巨大，而且我这一代人目前的奋斗成果寥寥无几时，我无法想象如果资源进一步减少，我们将如何应对。

让我们希望（为了我和全国其他 34 岁的人），我们的首相能够成功地让现有预算发挥更大的效用。因为，虽然我全心全意地同意帮助他人并改善那些在我们年长时（如果不是更早的话）将为我们提供服务的体系，但今天我们也需要一些值得生活下去的东西。

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Voices/Dear Vix

我希望我的多边恋爱伴侣停止约会——只和我在一起

《独立报》的情感咨询师 Victoria Richards 为您提供帮助

《挑战者》(2024) 讲述了一名受伤的网球明星兼教练（Zendaya）、她的低级别网球运动员前男友（Josh O’Connor，左）以及她的网球冠军丈夫（Mike Faist）之间的三角恋（Getty）

亲爱的 Vix：

在经历了很长一段时间的停滞（四年）之后，我在网上认识了一个人。起初我犹豫不决，因为已经过了很久，而且我对网络

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约会很不熟悉，但我最终还是尝试了，而这成了我生命中最快乐的几个月。

当我们第一次见面时（以及在他的个人简介中），他提到过他不是单配偶制，并且立即透露他正在与另外三名女性交往，其中一名他还会一起去恋物俱乐部。

我当时没想太多——而且已经过了很久——所以我就随他去了。他是我见过最善良、最温柔的爱人，而且非常体贴。他让我回想起生活中错过的一切。当我们不在一起时，我很想他。

我想他也有同样的感觉，尽管他偶尔还是会随口提到其他女性。我不想告诉他这让我感到嫉妒，以及我希望他只属于我，以免他不再想见我。我不想让气氛变得尴尬，也不想改变我们现在的状态。

我对这种情况感到越来越嫉妒和不安，但又太害怕失去我们现在拥有的一切。您有什么建议？

嫉妒者

亲爱的嫉妒者：

哦，我非常理解你的感受。我们可能都经历过这种情况：对方从一开始就告诉（或向我们展示）他们是谁，而我们却在希望他们以后会改变的幻想中，轻率地忽略了这一切。我肯定认识一些与明确表示不寻找“严肃”关系的人开始“暧昧关系”或短暂情缘的人，结果最后却自食其果。我想，对于想要孩子（或不想要孩子）的人遇到一个想法相反的心仪对象，情况也是如此。

在理想的世界里，我们会在产生感情之前就迅速离开，因为知道他们无法满足我们的需求，或者我们也无法满足他们的需求。但我们并不总是那么理智。我们所有人都会这样，所以请不要认为你孤单，或者你做错了任何事情。你唯一“有罪”的地方就是抱有希望。

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那么，现在该怎么做？我明白你不想冒风险推开你的爱人，不想让事情变得尴尬，也不想改变你们现状。我能感觉到你多么不愿失去他。所以这里有两种选择。一种是评估这件事对你的困扰程度——以及你是否能够应对目前这种情况，且可能需要长期应对。

只有你能回答你的感情有多深，以及嫉妒在多大程度上在吞噬你。这是你能处理的吗？还是说，随着时间的推移，这件事让你觉得自己在被消磨？如果你选择留下，并对他交往的其他女性采取“不问，不说”的政策，你是否面临心碎的风险？

如果你发现与一个并非专一约会你的人在一起变得过于痛苦，那么无论如何，你最终可能还是会选择离开

我预感最后一个问题的答案是肯定的，否则你不会给我写这封信。在这种情况下：恐怕你唯一能打的牌就是诚实。告诉你的爱人你的感受，讨论这件事，看看他对此的感受和想法——以及他的愿望。

他从一开始就对他约会风格公开透明，这一点值得赞赏。许多人会隐瞒这一点（这是错误的举动，因为它剥夺了你决定是否要与一个同时与多人约会的人在一起的自主权）。由于你从一开始就知道他是多边恋，他可能认为你对他约会以及谈论其他女性并不在意。

但这并不意味着，如果你意识到某件事困扰着你，或者你的感情变得复杂，你就必须现在保持沉默。在我看来，最好的

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做法就是准确地告诉他你的感受：至关重要的一点是，不要带有期待。

是的，这样做会有风险，如果你发现他并不打算改变他的约会方式，你可能不得不说再见。但如果留在一个并不与你专一约会的人身边已经变得过于痛苦，那么无论如何，你最终可能都会选择离开。在这种情况下，试探一下他的感受难道不值得吗？

我还认为值得记住的是，你已经与这个人发生了肢体上的亲密接触，因此没有真正的理由让你在情感上也无法表达亲密。我认为很有趣且有些奇怪的是，我们经常能让自己与他人处于极近的肢体距离，却在面对感情时如此胆怯。这很可惜。

至于如何告诉他，我会建议直截了当。下次你们在一起时，告诉他你想聊聊你们两人的关系，问问他的感受，并且（或许）进一步了解他为什么坚持多边关系的（poly）生活方式。这对他在意味着什么？他将其视为临时还是长期的偏好？他是否想安定下来并生孩子——以及他在面对这些可能的生命转变时，是否打算继续维持多边关系？至少如果你问这些问题，你就能大致了解他想要什么，以及这与你的想法是否共鸣。

我们对他偏好的关系状态和生活方式做了很多假设，但除非你问他，否则你不会知道他是否愿意为了你而考虑单一配偶制。你不是读心者——但重要的是记住，他也不是。

您是否有想要匿名向 Dear Vix 提出的问题？关于爱情、关系、家庭和工作的问题？请发送电子邮件至 dearvix@independent.co.uk

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2026年7月30日，星期四

第 2 节/专题

如何在感觉世界即将毁灭时应对“末日论”

随着山火在欧洲肆虐，我们中的许多人对地球的状态感到焦虑。Katie Rosseinsky 探讨了气候变化带来的心理代价，并请教专家在危机感如此失控时该如何应对。

余烬：气候变化的破坏性和紧急性正影响着我们的心理健康 (AFP/Getty)

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法国上空的火云。席卷西班牙的山火。亚洲的洪水和台风。以及关于另一波欧洲热浪即将来临的警告。此刻，头条新闻充斥着气候灾难的消息——无论你看向哪里，迎接你的又是另一幅燃烧星球的末日景象。

在这样焦躁的背景下，很难阻止你的思绪陷入恐惧的深渊。十年后世界会是什么样子？我们的生活将如何改变？采取行动是否已经太迟——在如此灾难性的背景下，我们该如何继续日常生活？

这种生态焦虑（eco-anxiety）的情绪正在上升。英国心理治疗委员会（UK Council for Psychotherapy）发言人、心理治疗师 Mark Vahrmeyer 解释说，这是一个概括性术语，描述的是“人们在面对气候变化及其预期后果时所经历的恐惧、痛苦和不确定性”。

Vahrmeyer 表示，特别引人注目的是，焦虑通常倾向于基于“夸大或虚构的威胁”——但“气候变化是真实的，而意识到我们所依赖的环境中某些根本性的东西正在发生变化，对此产生焦虑是一种可以理解的反应”。

去年，在英国咨询与心理治疗协会（BACP）的一项调查中，57 per cent 的受访者表示其心理健康受到了气候危机的影响，而在 16- 到 24- 岁人群中，这一比例上升至 63 per cent。

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法国最近经历了该国历史上首次记录到的火云 (AFP/Getty)

事实上，年轻人似乎受影响最深——这或许是不可避免的，因为正如专门研究气候焦虑的研究员兼心理治疗师 Caroline Hickman 所言，他们正在“继承这个问题”。她在 2021, 年共同撰写并发表在《柳叶刀》（The Lancet）上的一项研究中，调查了来自全球 10,000 名 16 和 25. 岁之间的年轻人。超过 45 per cent 的人报告称，这些感受“对他们的日常生活和功能产生了负面影响”。去年为绿色和平组织（Greenpeace）开展的另一项研究表明，近五分之四的小学年龄儿童担心气候变化。

对于 Hickman 来说，这个问题是双重的。她说，是的，“观看山火和洪水，观察我们变化的气候和生物多样性危机会让我们感到焦虑”，但担忧中还有另一层含义——一种“感觉掌权者没人知道自己在做什么，也没有从长远角度考虑”的感觉。因此，她说，在某种意义上，这也是一种“政治家焦虑”，因为它还关乎我们意识到“掌权者未能采取行动的失败”。

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Hickman 解释说，气候焦虑有“不同的程度”。她说，较轻微的担忧往往能对“安慰做出很好的反应”，但有些人发现，一旦他们开始“更多地了解发生了什么”，就更难相信模糊的承诺。“你在这一方面了解得越多，就可能越焦虑，”她说。

Hickman 补充道，严重的气候痛苦仍然相对罕见，但它可能会“主导一切”。“它接管了你的生活，让你感到不知所措，让你不想起床，”她说，这会导致徒劳感和无力感。“你不想开车，不想去上班，你会想，‘这样做有什么意义？’”

Ray Hopkinson 是公关与人才经纪公司 Swayed Studio 的创始人，她从事气候传播工作，因此她表示自己“时刻沉浸在气候科学、政策和新闻中，所以有些时候感觉无法抽身”。她补充道，“就像许多形式的压力一样”，她对气候相关的焦虑感“不仅停留在脑海中；我的身体也记录了这一切”。

如果那些最关心未来的人因为恐惧而决定不生育，我们可能会失去一代深耕于创造一个更好世界的人

Swayed Studio 创始人 Ray Hopkinson

她有时会发现自己在思考“20 或 30 年后的生活会是什么样子”，好奇“当气温经常推高至 40 甚至 45 度时，夏天会是什么感觉”。虽然像山火和热浪这样的大型事件可能会成为“触发因素”，但不仅仅是这些大规模危机——看似微小的时刻也可能令人痛苦。“坐在公园里，注意到草地变成了棕色而不是绿色，会突然让我充满悲伤，”她说。“正是这些日常的提醒——提醒我气候变化并非某个遥远的未来问题——往往对我打击最深。”

这些“日常提醒”也是一个被称为“solastalgia”（环境忧郁/故土之思）现象的强有力例子，这个概念经常出现在关于生态焦虑的讨论中。这个词是由哲学家 Glenn Albrecht 在 21 世纪初（Noughties）创造的，描述了当我们当地环境发生变化（通常是全球变暖造成的变革）时，我们可能会感受到的存在主义痛苦。从本质上讲，这是一种当你身在故乡却感到想家，当曾经熟悉的风景开始变得陌生时的感觉。

Hopkinson 说，她“一直想要孩子”，因为“对我来说，关怀他人和关怀地球始终有着深层的联系”。但她说，气候变化让她开始质疑那个未来。

事实上，在我的千禧一代同龄人中，对气候危机的恐惧极大地影响了我们对待这一人生重大决定的方式。在关于出生率下降的讨论中，这种考量往往被简化为一个侧注，但对我们中的许多人来说，它却占据了主导地位。

Hopkinson 说，这些想法“可能会变得相当具有侵入性”——但她正努力保持希望。“我总是回到同一个结论——如果那些最关心未来的人因为恐惧而决定不生育，我们可能会失去一代深耕于创造一个更好世界的人。”

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波尔多附近山火的惊人景象让我们感到无力 (AP)

获得 BACP 认证的心理治疗师 Georgina Sturmer 指出，气候焦虑“似乎以不同的方式影响人群的不同群体，但总体上是关于我们对未来的恐惧”。因此她补充道，对于年轻人来说，“这是关于他们即将成长进入的世界”，而对于年长一代，“可能是对他们的孩子或更广泛的年轻一代的担忧”。

记者兼《书迷威尼斯指南》（The Book Lover’s Guide to Venice）作者 Rachael Martin 有两个儿子，她说她担心“我的孩子们将继承的世界——一切都如此不稳定，而气候变化在其中扮演了巨大角色”。

她住在意大利北部，距离米兰约 20 英里。由于阿尔卑斯山前麓几乎就在家门口，她能看到全球变暖的影响。“我们知道冰川正在融化，如果你看照片，对比冰川以前延伸到多远，会让人深切感受到其影响。”接下来的几天内预计将再次出现热浪，她补充道，这种预感“真的让人精疲力竭”。

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值得注意的是，气候焦虑（climate anxiety）并非一项被正式认可的诊断。Vahrmeyer 解释说，这是因为该词“描述的是一个人痛苦的焦点和背景，而不是一种具有明确定义的诊断标准之截然不同的精神障碍”。

事实上，一些研究人员认为，它没有被正式化其实是一件好事。“对气候变化感到担忧并不意味着一个人精神不健康，”Vahrmeyer 补充道，“事实上，一定程度的焦虑可能表明他们正在关注此事。”

关键的问题在于“这种反应是否保持在比例相称且可控的范围内，或者是否已经变得如此普遍，以至于这个人无法再正常运作或充分生活”。

我们知道冰川正在融化，如果你看那些关于冰川曾经延伸到多远的照片，会深切感受到这件事

Rachael Martin，记者兼作家

对于那些容易陷入坏消息螺旋的人，Vahrmeyer 建议决定几个可靠的消息来源，在一天中的固定时间查看，并避免在睡觉前立即寻找与气候相关的新闻。他提醒道，保持知情确实很重要，但这样做与“情绪被淹没”之间存在区别——“一旦一个人理解了情况的基本事实，再消费 20 篇关于同一场灾难的报道可能几乎不会增加知识，却会大大增加痛苦”。

他还建议尝试寻找“除了报道灾难之外，还涵盖应对措施、适应方案和可靠解决方案的报道”，这一策略“并非为了制造虚假的乐观，而是为了获得一个更完整的全貌”。

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与此同时，Hickman 表示，建立我们的情绪韧性至关重要，这样我们才能应对这些困难的话题，而不是被它们压垮（并陷入不采取行动的困境）。她建议我们“练习一次一点地谈论那些令人不安的事情”。

她说，这并不一定意味着要咨询治疗师，尽管那样会有帮助。“你可以去气候咖啡馆，[在那些小组中]坐下来与其他人讨论这件事，”她建议道，甚至与朋友交谈也可能有帮助。这并不意味着你需要从生活中移除所有的快乐或逃避主义——关键在于寻找平衡。她说，你仍然可以“有意识地给自己放一晚假，坐在沙发上，吃披萨。记得也要享受今天的生命”。

Vahrmeyer 最后表示，我们需要避免陷入两种陷阱：一种是否认眼前发生的事情，另一种是“末日论（doomism）”，即认为气候变化已经无法挽回，人类所做的任何努力都无法阻止其破坏性影响。“更健康的状态处于两者之间，”他补充道，“严肃对待威胁，同时不放弃我们的整个生活，也不放弃影响后续发展的能力”。

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2026年7月30日，星期四

Section 2

今日在历史上的这一天

1966 年的今天，英格兰队长博比·摩尔（Bobby Moore）从伊丽莎白二世女王手中接过朱尔-里梅杯 (Getty)

1718： 贵格会创始人威廉·宾（William Penn）在宾夕法尼亚州去世。

1818： 英国小说家艾米莉·勃朗特（Emily Bronte）出生。作为著名的三姐妹之一，她于 1846 年以艾利斯·贝尔（Ellis Bell）之名创作了其唯一的杰作《呼啸山庄》。

1863： 大规模量产汽车之父亨利·福特（Henry Ford）在密歇根州迪尔伯恩出生。他在底特律家后方的一间棚屋里利用业余时间制造了他的第一辆车。

1900： 伦敦地铁中央线由威尔士亲王（后来的爱德华七世）揭幕，所有目的地的统一票价为 2 便士。

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1930：东道主乌拉圭在决赛中以 4-2 击败阿根廷，赢得了首届足球世界杯。

1935：安德烈·莫鲁瓦（Andre Maurois）所著的《阿里尔：雪莱传》（Ariel: The Life of Shelley）成为第一本出版的企鹅平装书，售价六便士。

1945：巡洋舰印第安纳波利斯号（USS Indianapolis）在太平洋运送原子弹后，被日本潜艇 I-58 鱼雷击沉，导致 880 名船员死亡，其中许多人遭到鲨鱼袭击，这激发了电影《大白鲨》的灵感。

1963：“第三人”金·菲尔比（Kim Philby）在英国因从事间谍活动而逃避逮捕后出现在莫斯科。

1966：英格兰在温布利球场通过加时赛以 4-2 击败西德（杰夫·赫斯特上演帽子戏法），夺得世界杯冠军。

1973：反应停药（沙利度胺）案件在持续 11 年后结束，该案涉及数千名儿童严重的先天缺陷，由《星期日泰晤士报》代表受害者发起，最终获得 £20m 赔偿。

1990：东本恩保守党国会议员伊恩·高（Ian Gow）在其位于萨塞克斯郡汉克姆村的家中被 IRA 的炸弹杀害。

2006：世界上运行时间最长的音乐节目《流行之巅》（Top of the Pops）在播出了 42 年后在 BBC Two 频道进行了最后一次广播。

2011：女王的孙女扎拉·菲利普斯（Zara Phillips）与英格兰橄榄球明星迈克·廷道尔（Mike Tindall）在爱丁堡举行了一场简单的私人仪式结婚。

2013：维基解密披露者布拉德利（后为切尔西）曼宁（Bradley (later Chelsea) Manning）被裁定 17 项间谍罪名成立。

去年的今天： “巴勒斯坦行动”（Palestine Action）的共同创始人赢得了一项向高等法院提出挑战的申请，该申请针对该团体被禁为恐怖组织的问题。胡达·阿姆里（Huda Ammori）质疑内政大臣伊薇特·库珀（Yvette Cooper）根据反恐法禁绝该团体的决定；此前该团体声称对 6 月 20 日在布赖兹诺顿皇家空军基地导致两架航行者飞机受损的行动负责。

生日

巴迪·盖（Buddy Guy），蓝调吉他手，90；保罗·安卡（Paul Anka），歌手，85；弗朗西丝·德拉图尔（Frances de la Tour），演员，82；阿诺德·施瓦辛格（Arnold Schwarzenegger），演员及前加州州长，79；让·雷诺（Jean Reno），演员，78；哈丽埃特·哈曼（Harriet Harman），国会议员，76；凯特·布什（Kate Bush），歌手，67；戴利·汤普森（Daley Thompson），前运动员，68；劳伦斯·菲什本（Laurence Fishburne），演员，65；丽莎·库卓（Lisa Kudrow），演员，63；肖恩·摩尔（Sean Moore），摇滚鼓手（狂躁街头传道者），58；克里斯托弗·诺兰（Christopher Nolan），导演，56；杰森·罗宾逊（Jason Robinson），前橄榄球运动员，52；希拉里·斯旺克（Hilary Swank），演员，52。

PA

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

Section 2/ 影评

Bourdain 的角色捕捉到了……仅仅是

Anthony Bourdain 传记电影《Tony》展现了他的才华，但同时也展现了他的傲慢与脆弱

Clarisse Loughrey

Dominic Sessa 饰演早年时期的厨师、作家及纪录片导演 (Bob Gruen)

Anthony Bourdain 将“喂饱自己”这一必要的行为变成了某种摇滚哲学，一种能够抹除语言、文化和阶级所有界限的激进沟通形式。因此，他在 2018 年的自杀尤其令人心碎。对许多人来说，他已成为以开放之心和开放胸怀生活的象征。

Matt Johnson 执导的 Bourdain 传记电影《Tony》——该片由《坠落之都》（The Holdovers）的突破性演员 Dominic Sessa 饰演早年正处于天才之巅的厨师、作家及纪录片导演——

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利用成长叙事捕捉到了那种标志性的、Bourdain 式的烹饪启示感。作为一部关于拥抱眼前之物而非执念于心中之物的电影，它是一部迷人且深受喜爱的作品。

然而，Johnson 及其共同编剧 Matthew Miller、Todd Bartels 和 Lou Howe 似乎感到有压力必须以某种方式提及 Bourdain 的去世，就好像如果不这样做，这部电影就会显得失职一样。片中出现了一些令人不适的伏笔，你几乎能感觉到电影在此时停顿下来，庄重地转向观众并透露道：“当然，接下来的故事你们已经知道了……”。

《Tony》中的 Bourdain 既是对真实人物的反映，也是一个文学创作，其素材截取自他在 2000 年的回忆录《厨房机密》（Kitchen Confidential）中简短的两个章节，他在书中描述了在马萨诸塞州普罗温斯敦洗盘子的夏天。他认为当时的自己是一个“被宠坏的、痛苦的、自恋的、自我毁灭且轻率的年轻混混，急需被狠狠教训一次”。

Johnson 以 Bourdain（自称 Tony）开篇，他正在推销一个关于书的“想法的想法”，希望在 1975 年获得 瓦萨学院（Vassar College）的一个写作奖学金。他提到了一种 JD Salinger 式的倾向，却没意识到他实际上身上承载着《麦田里的守望者》中 Holden Caulfield 的所有特质，在本质上同样“被宠坏、痛苦、自恋、自我毁灭且轻率”。

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Sessa 和 Antonio Banderas 在《Tony》中 (A24)

他几乎无法在不提到自己是作家的前提下开始一段对话，包括与他痴迷的女孩（由 Emilia Jones 饰演的 Nancy，一个相对缺乏光彩的恋爱对象角色）交谈。在未能获得奖学金且不忍向挑剔的母亲（Dagmara Domińczyk 饰）坦白后，他跟随她去了普罗温斯敦。在那里，他偶然走进了一家名为 The Flagship 的当地海鲜店，那里有着平庸的木墙和简陋的菜单，但因为主厨的存在而显得异常宁静，很大程度上是因为主厨由永远充满灵性的 Antonio Banderas 饰演。他暗示在其他员工——Sal (Leo Woodall)、Stavros (喜剧演员兼播客主 Stavros Halkias，放大了自己粗鲁的人设) 和 Tyrone (Michael Jibrin) 所散发的雄性激素气息之外，存在着某种诗意。Johnson——他同时也执导了今年最有趣的电影《Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie》——将这些厨房场景拍得像一阵喧闹的微风。

这个版本的 Bourdain 与 Sessa 在《坠落之都》中与 Paul Giamatti 对戏时饰演的那个“被宠坏、痛苦、自恋、自我毁灭且轻率”的青少年没有太大区别，但

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这种角色类型很难把握，而这位演员处理得如此轻而易举，以至于我很乐意看他这样表演一百次。他皱着眉头，眼神空洞，偶尔嘴角抽动地冷笑，与每个人交谈，塑造出一个傲慢的、半个怪胎般的人物，而这个形象恰到好处地透出一种透明感，让我们能够看到并感受到潜藏在其之下的那个破碎、孤独的孩子。

事实上，Sessa 在他对 Caulfield 的演绎中注入了如此深层的维度和质感，以至于 Johnson 最终无需添加任何关于 Bourdain 内心深处更阴郁、更悲伤色彩的显性引用。那些东西已经在那儿了。在安静的时刻，一种挫败感会悄然爬上他的面庞。然而，《Tony》却在刻意努力将 Sal——一个药物沉溺且对女性持有征服性蔑视的人——转化为一种隐喻性的诱惑之路，从而引出几句关于“食罪者”以及某些人替他人承载黑暗以便他人生活在光明之中的笨拙台词。在这些时刻，你可以感觉到电影在努力抓取某些线索，试图为 Bourdain 的一生呈现一个更宏大的论题。这感觉没有必要。观众知道 Bourdain 是一个怎样的人，而其中一部分就是他是一位多么出色的讲述者。而这本身就是一个值得讲述的精彩故事。

导演：Matt Johnson。主演：Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas。分级 Cert 15，106 分钟

8月14日起在电影院上映

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2026年7月30日，星期四

商业

商业简讯

Aston Martin Lagonda 集团受到了美国关税上涨和中国豪华车更高税收的影响 (AFP/Getty)

阿斯顿·马丁亏损进一步扩大

豪华车制造商 Aston Martin Lagonda 在记录了超出预期的亏损后，揭示了其扭转局面所面临的挑战规模。该集团第二季度的税前亏损从一年前的 £61.2m 扩大至 £88.7m，导致其上半年整体亏损达 £154.2m。第二季度的基础经营亏损从一年前的 £57m 缩小至 £52m，但这仍低于预期。

该集团坚称其上半年业绩有了“实质性改善”，并对 220 辆新型 Valhalla 插电式混合动力超级跑车的销售感到乐观，订单预计将在最后六个月进一步增加。上半年营收增长 38% 至

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£628.6m，批发销量增长 21%。首席执行官 Adrian Hallmark 表示：“随着转型效益的显现和特种交付的持续，我们预计下半年的表现将更加强劲。”这家在伦敦上市的集团受到了美国关税上涨和中国豪华车更高税收的影响，同时为了支撑其资产负债表，在实施成本削减计划的同时，还向贷款机构寻求更多资金。

Dettol 制造商提高价格

家用消费品巨头 Reckitt Benckiser 表示，面对伊朗战争导致成本上升，公司正在英国及全球范围内提高价格。首席执行官 Kris Licht 表示，该集团正在大多数市场推进“温和的”价格上涨。在半年报中，该公司表示：“尽管仍然波动，但油价自 [四月] 以来已有所回落，我们目前预计 2026. 年投入成本的影响将有所减轻。我们继续将其视为一个可控的阻力，并正在采取行动减轻影响。”

这家拥有 Dettol 至 Durex 品牌的公司报告称，第二季度核心品牌的同类销售额增长 4.2%，好于预期，同时该集团维持全年营收增长 4% 至 5% 的指引，助力其股价在昨日交易中收盘上涨 4.33%。但截至 6 月 30 日的六个月中，集团总基础经营利润下降 14.3%，至 £1.47bn。

Licht 先生表示，下滑是由于公司去年决定出售其 Cillit Bang 和 Calgon 居家清洁产品业务 70% 的股权，交易金额最高达 $4.8bn (£3.6bn)。剔除这一影响后，上半年收益基本持平且好于预期。Reckitt 还宣布了一项价值最高 £500m 的新股份回购计划，此前已在今年上半年完成了一项 £1bn 的计划。

渣打银行在裁员后创纪录地获利

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渣打银行（Standard Chartered）在公布计划裁员约 7,800 个岗位数月后，随着利润增长，计划通过 $1 (£750) 的股票回购来增加股东回报。这家总部位于伦敦的银行巨头表示，其在 2026. 上半年的财务表现创下了“纪录”。该半年度的税前利润达到 £3.6bn，创历史新高，比去年同期增长 9%。其财富管理部门在今年为银行带来了更多收入，随着新客户的引入及产品的销售，该项收入同比增长 38%。

首席执行官比尔·温特斯（Bill Winters）表示，新的股东回报“反映了我们对业务的信心”。他在 5 月份就曾为暗示人工智能将取代“低价值的人力资本”而道歉，此前该银行宣布在加大技术应用的同时，计划裁员约 7,800 个岗位。这意味着在接下来的四年里，后台岗位将减少 15%。这位负责人表示，他收到了“关于我的措辞选择的问题，我知道这给一些同事带来了困扰”，并补充道：“对此我深表歉意。”

PA

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Thursday 30 July 2026

体育 / 足球

因凡蒂诺与特朗普帝国的交易将这项运动推向边缘

米格尔·德拉尼（Miguel Delaney）报道，在国际足联（Fifa）主席詹尼·因凡蒂诺（Gianni Infantino）透露计划出售世界杯股份后，欧洲足球的高层将讨论抵制行动。但在预料之中的愤怒之中，各足球协会是否有勇气面对这个管理机构？

因凡蒂诺将有望在新的国际足联企业中担任一个潜在的获利丰厚的“专员”角色（Getty）

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欧洲足联（Uefa）将于明天下午召开紧急会议，届时将讨论抵制世界杯的可能性，以此作为对抗詹尼·因凡蒂诺设立私营公司运行国际足联赛事的争议计划的筹码。

与欧盟的后续步骤也将被提及，因为欧盟委员会正在审查因凡蒂诺的项目是否违反了竞争法所提供的保护措施。

国际足联主席的计划引发了大多数欧洲足球界的愤怒，以至于所有主要利益相关方的联盟正在增强。

包括英格兰足协（Football Association）、欧洲职业联赛（European Leagues）、欧洲足球俱乐部（European Football Clubs）、欧洲俱乐部联盟（Union of European Clubs）、足球支持者协会（Football Supporters’ Association）和欧洲足球支持者（Football Supporters Europe）在内的机构已经发布了激烈的声明，大部分谴责缺乏正当程序，部分声明则走得更远，要求这项运动的最高层进行剧烈变革。

国家协会和欧洲足联结构内部的人员最愤怒的是，因凡蒂诺制定该计划的单方面性质，以及私有化这一前景本身，以及该计划是如何在只有 53 天的有限期限内提交给各协会的，且这相当于一次二选一的投票，而同意者将被保证获得更高的回报，这无异于“贿赂”。

一个被提出的关键问题是，在没有向足球治理的其他任何部门提交的情况下，这一切是如何决定的，甚至包括已经决定由摩根大通（JP Morgan）作为潜在合作伙伴。愤怒之情如此之深，以至于国家协会准备讨论抵制威胁，或者至少将这个想法作为扼杀因凡蒂诺计划的筹码。

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欧洲足联主席亚历山大·切费林（Aleksander Ceferin，左）是国际足联同行因凡蒂诺的坚定批评者（Getty）

虽然国际足联章程 14.1b 强制成员参加其赛事，但协会消息人士指出，这一策略在 2022 年乌克兰战争爆发时曾被如何使用。因凡蒂诺的领导层最初希望以某种形式让俄罗斯队进入世界杯，结果欧洲各协会坚持认为如果那样做，他们将抵制。

欧洲足联还一直在与欧盟委员会协商，调查如何挑战因凡蒂诺的计划。欧盟体育专员格伦·米卡莱夫（Glenn Micallef）已经在一份严厉的声明中暗示了这一点，据了解，潜在抵抗的主要途径将是通过赋予体育联合会的竞争法保护。

虽然像国际足联和欧洲足联这样的机构通常基于体育实现文化利益的观点而被给予某些豁免，但向私人利益的转变将彻底改变这一点。任何保护措施的移除都可能显著改变国际足联在欧洲的运作能力，特别是在其商业活动方面。

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早当因凡蒂诺开始真正讨好美国总统时，美国政治内部的顾问就曾警告，与唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）绑定通常是单向的。最终，更大的家族成员也会想要参与进来。

无论如何，我们现在面临的情况是，国际足联（Fifa）竟然愿意将足球界最珍贵的奖杯——作为全球公共利益的世界杯——将其部分权益出售给特朗普帝国。特朗普的女婿贾里德·库什纳（Jared Kushner）的兄弟乔什·库什纳（Josh Kushner），目前正在讨论成为因凡蒂诺（Infantino）这一荒唐新计划的领投人。

塞普·布拉特（Sepp Blatter）在他对这一切的描述中则更为大胆。

必须强调的是，对这位名誉扫地的前国际足联主席采取过于修正主义的看法是不正确的，因为如果没有他，这个世界将不可能如此；但他的经验不可避免地让他对这项运动政治活动的复杂细节洞若观火。

特朗普女婿贾里德·库什纳的兄弟乔什·库什纳一直在讨论成为领投人（路透社）

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“国际足联主席与美国总统之间的密切关系已经达到了一个对足球产生深远破坏的财务维度，”布拉特发帖称。

这总结了这个阴暗故事的一个巨大组成部分——但远非全部。

尽管如此，令人深思的是，据说“库什纳因素”让许多利益相关者感到愤怒，甚至“超过了对金钱的愤怒”。

因凡蒂诺与特朗普的关系还会走向何方？这是否与所有那些关于因凡蒂诺现在将自己视为某种科技巨头风格的创始人，而不仅仅是足球教父的说法相契合？

一些人认为，在世界杯的六周时间里，他沉溺于那个泡沫太深，以至于导致了现状，并且可能迎来一个破裂时刻。

因为，如果这一切在很大程度上源于因凡蒂诺对特朗普毫无廉耻的谄媚，那么它也引发了其他多项紧张关系——直到涉及国际足联在瑞士法律下的非营利地位问题，因为它实质上正在将其主要资产转变为一个私人商业实体。

目前，大多数人仍然对因凡蒂诺利用职权如此出卖世界杯的极其厚颜无耻的行为感到愤怒。

正是这种基本情绪促使安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）对此发表评论。

没有一个足球迷希望世界杯被私有化，更不用说在这样的情况下。这要求各国足协就他们是否支持对此发表公开评论

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政客们指出，这将导致新任英国首相与特朗普家族之间第一次发生间接冲突，但对于像伯纳姆这样真正的足球迷来说，这是一个原则问题，并且会获得大众的支持。

这也是自拟议的超级联赛以来，这项运动首次出现如此直接的大规模政府干预，这揭示了该事件的规模。

伯纳姆的介入可能会增加对英足协（Football Association）和其他联邦的压力。

这些机构的即时反应——正如最近许多涉及因凡蒂诺的事情一样——是沉默。但昨天上午，英足协对这些计划表示“深切关注”。一名发言人补充道：“当国际足联按照目前承诺的完整且透明的方式分享该提案时，我们将明确表达我们的观点并进一步评论。”

所有这一切被认为对英足协尤为重要，因为英足协被视为少数几个与因凡蒂诺关系亲近的欧洲联邦之一，原因在于其希望主办 2035 年女足世界杯以及 2038 或 2042 年的男足赛事。还是老一套。

尽管如此，他们中的没有人——直到英足协的国际足联副主席黛比·休伊特（Debbie Hewitt）——在媒体报道之前对此一无所知。英足协的声明确认，它在周二晚上之前被蒙在鼓里，对这些提案“完全不知情”。

现在，几乎所有人都面临发声的压力；这是另一个紧张点：各足协理应将代表其足球社区的利益放在首位。

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在票价以及国际足联在世界杯期间向特朗普低头等问题上，各国足协缺乏批评（美联社）

而最终结论现在是：没有一个足球迷希望世界杯被私有化，更不用说在这样的环境下。这要求各国足协就其是否支持此事发表公开评论。

这指向了这个故事的一个核心真相。

英格兰、西班牙、德国和法国这些欧洲足球大国只需通过展示肌肉，就能一举扼杀这一计划。

他们是否有这个胆量，或者勇气？

讽刺的是，正是这些国家为国际足联（Fifa）的计划提供了一个被误用的正当理由，因为它们吸引了足球运动绝大部分的财富。

尽管因凡蒂诺（Infantino）呼吁重新分配，但很容易看出这件事在长期内将如何演变。

对于更广泛的足球运动来说，资金实际上会减少而非增加，因为将最具商业吸引力元素最大化将产生财务激励。换句话说，就是那些顶级俱乐部以及像欧洲俱乐部协会（EFC）这类机构的利益。

如果现在这仅仅是一门生意，为什么会发生其他结果？

由卡塔尔的纳赛尔·阿尔-赫莱菲（Nasser al-Khelaifi）领导的 EFC 在这件事中也占据了一个耐人寻味的位置，因为该协会正尝试与欧足联（Uefa）和国际足联共同运营赛事。

国际足联出售地球上最值钱的“产品”的所有权，这怎么可能有理性的或财务上的依据？毕竟该机构本身坚持认为这些产品的价值只会增加。

不可否认，其中一段合作伙伴关系比另一段深得多。欧足联——客观地说——通过发表另一份强有力的声明地引领了方向，但许多人认为其中存在讽刺和政治机会主义，因为可以说正是欧足联开启了这条路径。它重组了欧冠联赛的控制权，使其现在部分通过一家商业企业，与包括 EFC 在内的大俱乐部共同运行。

尽管如此，两个机构内部的人士都坚称，领导层已经在探索——无论是法律上还是政治上——如何“挺身而出”并挑战因凡蒂诺的方法。

同样地，国际足联为球员参加 2026 World Cup 支付给俱乐部 $355m。如果世界杯部分私有化，EFC 真地会接受如此低比例的赛事收入吗？

与此同时，律师安托万·杜瓦尔（Antoine Duval）指出，国际足联目前的商业行为之所以在欧盟竞争法下被容忍，是因为它们有助于实现公共利益。而一旦引入私有维度，且一个重要目标是增加股东价值，情况将发生剧烈变化。

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在这种情况下，国际足联在瑞士法律下的非营利地位还能维持多久？

然而，即便纯粹从商业角度来看，也存在一个巨大的相关问题。

国际足联出售地球上最值钱的“产品”的所有权，这怎么可能有理性的或财务上的依据？毕竟该机构本身坚持认为这些产品的价值只会增加。

来自卡塔尔、巴黎圣日耳曼（PSG）和 EFC 的纳赛尔·阿尔-赫莱菲（Nasser al-Khelaifi，中），在反对或支持国际足联的阵营形成过程中是一个关键人物 (Getty)

他们不像巴塞罗那或皇家马德里那样，身负巨额债务，面临激烈竞争，为了满足财务公平竞争（Financial Fair Play）的限制而寻求资金，在这种情况下，出卖身份和未来即便如此之如此令人反感。

这就是为什么这件事糟糕得多。

国际足联不需要筹集这笔钱。它不需要用未来的部分利益来做交易。

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从资本利益到独裁国家，其他势力都在密切关注，特别是当他们试图从西欧手中夺取对这项运动的控制权时。

这是欧足联现在处于风暴中心的原因之一，也是多种紧张局势在起作用的原因之一。

然而，因凡蒂诺本人感到最紧张的时刻，就是球迷对他嘘的时候；当出现横幅，当出现抗议的时候。

这戳破了他的泡沫，即便只是短暂的一瞬。

但现在他可能要到 2030 年世界杯才能真正体验到这一点——而谁知道到那时比赛的面貌会是如何。

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2026 年 7 月 30 日，星期四

体育/ Commonwealth Games

创造纪录的 Kerr 准备在主场与英里赛对手展开“战争”

澳大利亚的 Cameron Myers 在预赛中与这位苏格兰选手的里程碑式成绩仅差两秒

James Toney 发自格拉斯哥

Josh Kerr 在本月早些时候打破了一项维持了 27 年的纪录 (路透社)

Josh Kerr 还没有停止追逐历史。

在出色地打破由 Hicham El Guerrouj 保持、已维持 27 年的英里赛世界纪录仅 11 天后，他回到了赛道，在 Scotstoun 开始他的英联邦运动会征程。

英里赛在六十年来首次回归此地的田径项目，而 72 年前，Roger Bannister 和 John Landy 曾在旧帝国运动会的一场被称为“奇迹英里”的比赛中双双跑进四分钟。

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相比之下，周六决赛的所有 13 位入围者都突破了那个传奇的门槛。Kerr 在两组预赛中较慢的一组中轻松晋级，但澳大利亚的 Cameron Myers 证明了为何他被视为该运动的下一个之星，他的成绩仅比 Kerr 创下的 3:42.66 世界最佳成绩慢了一秒多一点。

“那里将是一场战争，”Kerr 说道。“这是主场。这是我们的赛道，是我们从小到大比赛和学习这项运动的地方。观众也是我们的。其他那些家伙想要夺走属于我们的东西，周六晚上他们必须拿出一些特别的本事，因为他们绝不会轻易得手。”

Kerr 在本月早些时候打破了英里赛世界纪录 (PA Wire)

“在我的整个职业生涯中，我的心态其实没有太大改变，但从与时间赛跑转变为与这些人赛跑感觉是不同的，因为他们是世界上最顶尖的英里赛跑者。

“我只是试图与他们抗衡，并依靠我最自豪的东西，也就是我的比赛战术。有点不同，但差别不大。锦标赛就是这样——你必须在关键时刻出现。”

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Kerr 将在决赛中与苏格兰队友、前 1500m 世界冠军 Jake Wightman 共同出战，但四年前在 1500m 夺金的澳大利亚选手 Ollie Hoare 摔倒了，未能晋级。

Kerr 一年中的大部分时间住在新墨西哥州海拔 6,000 英尺的地方，甚至在阿尔伯克基的卧室里安装了一个高压氧舱。

Kerr 昨天赢得了预赛，率先发出了信号 (PA)

自从在伦敦打破纪录以来，他回到了苏格兰家乡，他承认在尝试重新专注于这次奖牌争夺战时，需要时间来缓解那一刻的高昂情绪。

“从伦敦回来后的情感落差很大，”他承认道。“我将另一个时代的的世界纪录带到了现代，也许这让人们更容易产生共鸣。为了达到那个目标付出了巨大的努力，我很庆幸能够引领这次冲锋。

“成为世界纪录保持者，能与那些历史人物并肩，被放在同一个对话维度中，是

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很特别的。希望我能为英国的英里赛带回更多活力。

“我一直关着手机，陪伴家人，一天天度过。我花时间做一些我成长时会做的事情。我带妻子去了几个我以前训练的地方，和她一起出去跑步。这就是为了重置状态。

“我知道年轻时的我会多么自豪——那个 15 年前在这里训练的孩子。我必须为了他而战。”

Jake Wightman 与 Kerr 一起进入了英里赛决赛 (Getty)

Scotstoun 为英联邦运动会进行了大规模翻新，但对于一个大型锦标赛来说，这里仍给人一种亲密的感觉，火车在直道后面缓缓驶过，发出欢快的鸣笛声以示支持。

在田径界，你很难找到比 Wightman 更友善的人，他似乎很乐意让 Kerr 在主场观众面前成为焦点。然而，他近距离观察到，年仅 20 岁的 Myers 拥有澳大利亚人与生俱来的那种寻找

当所有人都反对你时，他展现出了另一个层次的竞争力，他的无畏标志着他的迅速崛起。

“如果有人看了这一赛季，他们会对 Cam 了如指掌，”Wightman 说道。“两年前他在澳大利亚击败了我，当时我想，‘他会很出色。’他之后每年都在进步。”

“当 Cam 开始加快配速时，我认为我们要么跟上，要么就任由他将我们甩离大部队。我觉得这在周六之前起到了足够的磨练作用，但又没到让我过度劳累的程度。我们有两天时间恢复，这非常完美。”

“我可能带有主观偏见，但如果你从纸面实力来看，这将会是本届运动会最精彩的一场比赛。这对观众来说太棒了，尽管如果你身在其中会相当烦恼，因为现在的竞争激烈程度达到了前所未有的地步。但这正是你想要的——你想击败最强者，而这次参赛名单中没有一个人缺席。每一个能够参赛的运动员都在这里。”

Sportsbeat

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Thursday 30 July 2026

体育 / Commonwealth Games

Kai Taylor 瓦解“不列颠之战”夺得 200 米自由泳金牌

Charlie Bennett 发自格拉斯哥

右侧的 Kai Taylor 是意外的获胜者，而中间的 James Guy 和 Matt Richards 平分银牌 (Getty)

这场被宣传为“不列颠之战”的比赛，最终变成了澳大利亚在英联邦运动会泳池中统治地位的又一次有力证明。

随着奥运接力金牌得主 James Guy、Matt Richards 和 Tom Dean 全部参加男子 200 米自由泳决赛，加上巴黎代表队的替补成员 Jack McMillan，Tollcross 游泳中心内的人们希望不列颠这四位功勋将领中能有一人夺冠。然而，抢走风头的人却是澳大利亚的 Kai Taylor。

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Taylor 被分在最外道，从开局 50 米起就发起猛攻，设定了一个任何对手都无法企及的无畏节奏。尽管 Guy 和 Richards 在最后 25 米奋力追击，但这位澳大利亚选手始终没有显露破绽，率先触壁锁定了出人意料的英联邦冠军头衔。

在他身后，Guy 和 Richards 在激烈的冲刺中录得相同时间，平分银牌；而 McMillan 和 Dean 则失去了奖牌竞争力。

苏格兰的 Duncan Scott 也许是赛前最被看好的人，也是不列颠巴黎奥运接力夺金团队的一员，但在预赛中意外出局，甚至未能进入决赛。

作为训练伙伴和好友的 Guy 和 Richards 在赛后相拥，但气氛绝非喜悦。

Guy 在本赛季努力地重回自由泳顶尖状态，而现年 30 岁的他，可能刚刚目睹了自己赢得英联邦运动会个人金牌的最后希望从指缝中溜走。

2030 年的艾哈迈达巴德（Ahmedabad 2030）感觉还很遥远。

讽刺的是，他被一名采用了他本人最擅长战术的游泳运动员击败了。

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左侧的 Guy 与 Richards，这对训练伙伴兼好友在赛后相拥，但气氛绝非喜悦 (Getty)

这位来自博尔顿（Bolton）的人将自己的职业生涯建立在设定极快节奏、随后在最后时刻面对对手追击时尽力坚持的基础之上。

这种策略在 11 年前帮他在该项目上赢得了世锦赛冠军，但这次他却栽了。

“在半程时我看到 Kai Taylor 领先。在这种情况下，你想坚持自己的计划。公平地说，他率先触壁了，”Guy 表示。

“听着，我也尝试过那样做。我之前这么做过很多次。像火箭一样冲出去，然后你就会力竭。”

“当你被分在最外道时，这大概是唯一的办法。你不能只是坐以待毙。你必须冲出去，全力以赴。你在世锦赛或奥运会上看到的任何人都会这么做。”

“Kai 游得非常好，率先触壁，他的家人也很友善。他们一直在和我父母聊天，所以祝贺他们。”

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Kai Taylor 在格拉斯哥抢走了“不列颠之战”的风头 (Getty)

他的这枚银牌是他参加成年组锦标赛获得的第 49 枚奖牌，而 Richards 则创造了威尔士历史，成为该国首位在单届运动会上赢得四枚奖牌的游泳运动员。

“如果我说我不想赢得更多，那就是在撒谎，”这位 2023 年世锦赛冠军兼奥运银牌得主说道。

“我想在那儿拿一枚金牌，但今晚 Kai 表现得更好，这就是体育。虽然令人沮丧，但它给了我一个在四年后再次追求的目标。”

“这项记录本身就非常特别。能从这次比赛中带走两枚铜牌和两枚银牌是不可思议的。尽管今晚这一场很痛，但本周有很多积极的收获。”

“当你觉得自己能做得更好时，很难不责备自己。但这已经是一个非凡的星期，是我非常享受的一周。”

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Richards 创造了威尔士历史，成为该国首位在单届运动会上赢得四枚奖牌的游泳运动员 (Getty)

对于一群狂热的观众来说，这是一个不尽如人意的结果，而这正是本次赛事的重头戏。

但就像绝大多数的 56 场决赛一样，最后展现的色彩只有绿色和金色。

这标志着澳大利亚在本周第 29 次获胜，任何在比赛期间靠近 Tollcross 的人都能在耳边听到他们的国歌。

Taylor 的获胜是较为令人惊讶的之一——这是他首个个人金牌。他们又赢了七枚，将总数增加到 36。

《前进澳大利亚》(Advance Australia Fair) 的旋律暂时停歇，一些本土国家取得了成功，Angharad Evans 宣布自己成为苏格兰游泳的新女王。

这位 23 岁的选手在早些时候赢得 100 米冠军后，又增加了 200 米冠军，完成了蛙泳双冠，随后在 4x100 米混合泳接力中获得一枚银牌。

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“这真的像梦一样，”她说。“我参加这次比赛时并没有期望获得任何奖牌。我只是想要更多的经验，并在经历了艰难的 2025 年后摆脱阴影，在一些奖牌的帮助下，我做到了。我真的很为自己感到自豪。”

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Thursday 30 July 2026

体育

体育简讯

凯特·奥康纳（Kate O'Connor）昨晚在格拉斯哥赢得七项全能金牌后庆祝（Getty）

奥康纳的获胜可能开启金色夏天

凯特·奥康纳改写了历史，但她渴望在下个月结束前，为另一个传奇般的夏天增加新的篇章。由于两届世界冠军卡塔里娜·约翰逊-汤普森（Katarina Johnson-Thompson）缺席了英联邦运动会的七项全能比赛，使得奥康纳成为了最被看好夺冠的人，这对这位北爱尔兰运动员来说是一种全新的感受。

她在去年东京世界田径锦标赛上获得银牌，凸显了她的潜力，但纸面上的胜算与实际的获胜是两回事。她是北爱尔兰队首位在此赢得金牌的成员，是 40 年来首位登上领奖台顶端的田径运动员，也是自 1974 年玛丽·彼得斯女爵（Dame Mary Peters）以来首位获得此荣誉的女性。

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虽然获得首个成年组重大锦标赛冠军时的激动心情如同一片模糊，但在 13 天后于伯明翰举行的欧洲锦标赛之前，她将很快重新集中注意力。

在承认对第一天的表现感到沮丧后，她在跳高中记录了 1.82m 的稳健跳跃，在标枪中取得了赛季最佳的 52.85m，并在最后的 800m 比赛中轻松获胜。她领先于英格兰银牌得主杰德·奥多达（Jade O'Dowda）的分数差距高达 291 分。奥康纳的获胜分数为 6,569 分。

来自谢菲尔德的 26 岁选手奥多达曾在 2022 年伯明翰运动会上获得铜牌，但她需要在最后一项 800m 比赛中比奥康纳快 18 秒。最终，她落后 2.28 秒完赛，尽管在该距离上跑出了赛季最佳成绩。

与此同时，乔治亚·亨特·贝尔（Georgia Hunter Bell）在安全晋级女子 800m 半决赛后，也向奖牌迈进了一步。这位伦敦跑者表现冷静，以 1:59.88 的轻松成绩赢得了她的半决赛。她说：“这是一场不错的比赛。我希望发生的情况发生了，也就是有人一开始就全力冲刺，这意味着我就不必那么做了。”

兰格回应英格兰主帅传闻

贾斯汀·兰格（Justin Langer）暗示他对英格兰测试赛主教练的空缺职位可能感兴趣，尽管他坚持表示尚未有人就该职位与其接触。这位前澳大利亚队主教练目前执掌 The Hundred 联赛中的曼彻斯特超级巨星队（Manchester Super Giants），并迅速成为接替本月早些时候被解职的布伦丹·麦卡伦（Brendon McCullum）的热门人选。

在《Stick to Cricket》播客节目中，兰格表示：“我还没有收到任何人的消息。这都只是纸面谈论。”随后他承认了该职位的声望，称：“世界上有三个（重要）教练职位——澳大利亚主教练、印度主教练和

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英格兰主教练。但这都是假设性的，不是吗？我对板球运动充满热情，尤其是对测试赛板球。”

兰格曾为澳大利亚队参加过 100 多场测试赛，并执教国家队四年，他补充道：“我认为，现在的世界板球已经如此全球化，如此多元。我从未梦想过我会执教特许经营板球（franchise cricket），也从未梦想过我会执教澳大利亚队。谈到执教，这是一份职业，每个人都会关注所有机会，不是吗？”

Harrington被任命为赖德杯副队长

帕德里格·哈林顿（Padraig Harrington）被任命为2027年赖德杯（Ryder Cup）欧洲队的副队长，该赛事将在他的祖国爱尔兰举行。这位三届大满贯冠军将与意大利兄弟埃多阿尔多·莫利纳里（Edoardo Molinari）和弗朗切斯科·莫利纳里（Francesco Molinari）一同加入队长卢克·唐纳德（Luke Donald）的赛事团队。该赛事定于明年九月在利默里克郡（Co Limerick）的阿达尔庄园（Adare Manor）举行。

哈林顿在赖德杯中的参与非常广泛，包括六次作为球员代表欧洲队，三次担任副队长，并在2021年担任队长率队参赛，当时唐纳德担任副队长。

哈林顿对这次任命表示惊讶和欣喜，他说道：“这是我没想到的。老实说，我以为我再也不会穿上欧洲赖德杯的标志衫了。所以我很高兴能参与其中。赖德杯一直是我生命中特殊的一部分。代表欧洲队一直是我高尔夫职业生涯的亮点之一，在这种情况下能够再次参与，尤其是在爱尔兰，是非常特别的。”

温布尔登庆祝创纪录的观众人数

全英草地网球俱乐部昨日宣布，尽管面临足球世界杯的竞争，温布尔登网球赛仍创下了观众人数纪录，并产生了近 5 billion 次社交媒体“曝光”。在为期两周的比赛期间，累计有 550,151 名球迷入场

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，比去年的记录略高，其中许多人是在当天购买门票的。

在锦标赛期间，共有三天创下了单日观众人数记录。组织者将这些惊人的数字归功于自2019年以来首个无雨的温布尔登赛事，以及英国外卡选手亚瑟·费里（Arthur Fery）出人意料地闯入半决赛。

F1负责人准备替换中东赛事

一级方程式赛车（Formula One）负责人斯特法诺·多梅尼卡利（Stefano Domenicali）透露，如果由于中东冲突导致赛季末的卡塔尔站和阿布扎比站被取消，2026年赛季将在欧洲结束。多梅尼卡利补充说，这项运动有一个大约在“九月中旬”的截止期限，在此之后官员们将为通常的最后两站——卡塔尔站（11月29日）和阿布扎比站（12月6日）寻找替代方案。

由于今年二月开始的美国-伊朗战争，F1已被迫取消了四月份在巴林和沙特阿拉伯的分站赛。负责人已在十月份增加了一场马来西亚分站赛，并制定了计划以防止比赛场数低于目前的 23 场。

“我们将尽可能利用时间观察局势发展；我们在九月中旬之前不会做出决定，”多梅尼卡利昨日表示。他还坚持认为拉斯维加斯不会举办两场比赛，尽管此前有此类猜测。

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THURSDAY 30 JULY 2026

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

The

INDEPENDENT

The Independent View PM has grasped the nettle of social care – but the sting remains in paying for it

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Social care overhaul will end ‘major dereliction of public duty’, says PM

Millie Cooke Political correspondent

Andy Burnham spoke of his plans at a care home in Enfield, north London, yesterday (PA)

Carers should be the best paid people in society, not the worst, Andy Burnham has said as he promised a sweeping reform of the social care system – but experts have raised questions over how much money will be needed to fund it.

The prime minister announced he would be expediting Baroness Louise Casey’s commission into social care, bringing forward the original 2028 deadline to next year. Mr Burnham also vowed to immediately begin reforming the workforce – saying staff should also be integrated with the NHS – as well as promising to work with the other major parties to reach a consensus on the issue.

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While Mr Burnham acknowledged tax rises could also be necessary, he insisted Labour’s manifesto commitments not to increase workers’ income tax, national insurance or VAT rates would remain in place.

But experts have raised the alarm over how much funding will be needed, with the Health Foundation warning that the current £500m fair pay agreement for care workers – agreed by Sir Keir Starmer’s government and due to come into force in 2028 – “equates to only roughly 20p extra an hour per worker”.

“Burnham is right that further reform to improve training and progression will be needed too. Additional investment will likely be needed too,” the body said.

Burnham condemned the ‘poverty pay’ social care staff were forced to live on (Reuters)

The Local Government Association (LGA) echoed its concerns, warning that “proposed funding is not likely to be sufficient to cover the full cost of a fair pay agreement (FPA)”, urging Mr Burnham to make sure that local government is part of decision-making on funding to “avoid a scenario where an FPA jeopardises the supply of care and sustainability of council finances”.

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Mike Padgham, honorary president of the Independent Care Group (IGC), made a similar argument, explaining that while he agrees social care staff deserve higher pay, it must be sufficiently funded.

“If we’re going to pay staff more, then they have to pay local authorities more... the reason [pay] is so low is because we are, I use this word, screwed down by local authorities to deliver the high-quality care at the lowest possible price.

“So if we are going to raise the pay, then they have got to fund local authorities more, so they can afford to pay for better pay,” he told The Independent.

The prime minister – who teared up as he spoke about his father who is currently receiving care for Alzheimer’s – said it was a “major dereliction of public duty” that politicians had failed for decades to resolve the crisis in social care, suggesting he wants to make sweeping reform a key part of his premiership.

Speaking at a care home in Enfield, North London yesterday, Mr Burnham argued that social care in England was as unfair as American healthcare as he reflected on the many people forced to whittle down their pensions and savings to care for family members due to the current system.

He said that as well as improving pay for social care workers, he wanted to support better training and security in roles, so the workforce conditions were in line with NHS standards.

During his speech, the prime minister:

• Said he had accelerated Baroness Louise Casey’s review of social care so it will report next year
• Promised reforms to improve the “strength and the capability” of the social care workforce
• Confirmed he would begin cross-party talks with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, insisting it was the

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“right thing to do” to try to find a consensus

• Acknowledged there would have to be “difficult decisions” on tax as part of social care reform, but vowed to “be honest with people” and “do more” with existing resources first
• Said in an “ideal world” people would not be forced to sell their homes to fund their care

“It’s shameful, to be honest, that politicians have put point scoring before fixing this issue, but that’s what’s happened,” he said.

“It’s created a feeling in Westminster that this is too difficult, and if you take it on, you’re taking on too big a political risk.”

Although the prime minister stopped short of announcing concrete funding commitments, he said the savings to the NHS from fixing issues around social care could help fund a reformed system.

The prime minister – who said he felt urged to speak “from the heart” rather than from notes as he addressed the care home in London – said it costs the NHS around £2.5bn a year to have people who are medically fit to leave remaining in hospital because there is no care available in the community.

“I think we owe it to the public before we talk about tax rises” to “do more with what you’ve got”, he said.

Reflecting on how care workers were on “poverty pay”, Mr Burnham described the “humbling” experience of watching carers look after his father, concluding: “They should be the best-paid people in society, not the worst.”

He added that the government will “start to think about progression routes for young people coming into social care, so they can progress from social care into NHS positions as well, and think about it as one workforce”.

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“We will not get the care service we all want until we improve the strength and the capability of care at the very front of the service, and that means lifting up the social care workforce as best we possibly can,” he said.

Mr Burnham held a cross-party meeting to discuss tackling the crisis in adult social care yesterday afternoon, acknowledging that real change would require “give and take” from different factions within the government.

“If we’re going to get to a solution, we’re all going to have to listen to each other,” he said. “Something we don’t do particularly well in politics [is] actually, engage and listen to other perspectives. We’re going to have to find common ground here.”

Speaking after the meeting, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey – who has a disabled son and has been vocal on the issue of social care – said he feels “hopeful” about Mr Burnham’s approach.

“We had a constructive call, and I come out of it feeling hopeful. Clearly this is just the beginning and we will need many more cross-party meetings to find consensus,” he said.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats accepted the prime minister’s invitation “to build that spirit of collaboration from the start”, while Nigel Farage hit out at Mr Burnham for ignoring Reform UK.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News/Comment

Sorry, Andy, did I miss the bit when you said how you’d fix social care?

For a launch of a new social care policy, there was precious little policy – which speaks volumes about Andy Burnham, says Chris Blackhurst

The prime minister chats with a resident on a visit to Jewish Care, in Enfield, north London, yesterday (Getty)

All the while the prime minister was speaking at a Jewish care home in north London about his wish to reform social care, over Andy Burnham’s shoulder was a bloke in a white shirt sitting on a

garden bench.

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At times, it was impossible not to be drawn to him. You wished for the chap to jump up and down, to take his top off, to just do… something.

Because there were moments when this Burnham summer roadshow were far from compelling. Or should that be “journey”, a word he kept repeating when he wasn’t calling it a “big conversation”.

Watching him, the mind went back to a previous PM who also spoke without notes, standing casually in the middle of the throng. For David Cameron, it was the Big Society, and look what happened to him, and it. Perished on the dung heap of British media and political points-scoring. Having seen The Odyssey and what happened to the dog, the sad image sticks.

Andy had three announcements to make. One, he’s asked Louise Casey to expedite her examination of social care by a year. Two, he wishes immediately for social care workers to be paid fairly, something that Keir Starmer was also pursuing. Three, he’s beginning instantly cross-party talks about improving the system.

And that was it. Two sets of discussions, and a move that is underway already. For a launch of a new social care policy, there was precious little policy.

They join, as we were told, 22 recent reviews into social care. Quite how they fit together, Casey’s and the chats with the Tories and Lib Dems, was not made clear. Will 22 now become 23, or even 24? “Don’t have deja vu,” Burnham said. “We’re gonna do it.”

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‘We have to look the public in the eye and ask: are we doing everything we can do?’ (AP)

There was no Reform UK, to Nigel Farage’s consternation, but intriguingly, as Burnham explained, the two main opposition leaders had written to him at the weekend asking to be involved. So, Nigel, where was your letter? This was also odd, since Kemi Badenoch was complaining of too little notice, yet she had apparently requested such a get-together.

This, though, is Burnham in a hurry. He’s motivated by personal experience – his father has Alzheimer’s – and his ministerial past, when as health secretary, he was keen to drive change but it was too close to a general election. He’s determined not to make that mistake again, with the next one due in 2029.

Hang on, though. If Casey reports 12 months from now, as Burnham said, that leaves barely two years until the ballot. That does not leave long for her recommendations to be accepted, debated and become law. If what is involved entails tax rises – a step that Badenoch has said she will resist – will that really happen, and will it not become an issue on the hustings?

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That was the takeaway from Burnham’s first not-quite-policy announcement as prime minister: plenty of earnestness and conviction, but also befuddlement.

Maybe that is how it is going to be until Burnham settles down. At present, he is a whirlwind of ideas and activity, accompanied by a desire to be seen to be listening. There’s no doubting his conviction and determination, but you wonder what the financial numbers will tell him.

He paid tribute, rightly, to his hosts, making plain his condemnation of antisemitism, which as we had learned only the same morning, is horrifyingly on the increase in Britain. He also said how they represented the “gold standard” of social care, as is The Fed, a similar Jewish charity in Manchester. Cue a nod to Eamonn O’Brien, the Bury council leader and advocate who had travelled specially – the West Coast Main Line must be doing welcome business with politicians rushing backwards and forwards to join Burnham’s “All Together Now” cavalcade.

He’s a mood-shifter, and for that he deserves acclaim. Gone is the hesitancy and caution of the Starmer era. That’s a breath of fresh air

Also on the front row, alongside Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner and Casey, was Lord Levy, the veteran Labour fundraiser and president of Jewish Care. The reason Levy’s charity is able to offer such high quality is precisely down to him and his well-connected colleagues rattling the tin. Others are not blessed with their network and community and indefatigability.

Burnham said he was confident that other homes could be boosted, not by hiking taxes but by purging profiteering. Nor did he rule out increasing taxes, but he is sticking to Labour’s manifesto pledge not to put them up. For now.

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“We have to look the public in the eye and ask: are we doing everything we can do? We have to do more with what we’ve got, and some of what we want to do will require honest decisions which we will put before the country at the right time.”

There were glimmers: of integrating social care with the NHS, of creating a “National Care Service”, of creating proper career paths that can move across to healthcare (thus also helping relieve the Neets crisis).

Burnham is good at this, at providing hope. He’s a mood-shifter, and for that he deserves acclaim. Gone is the hesitancy and caution of the Starmer era. That’s a breath of fresh air. But eventually, even for Burnham, the talking must give way to action, but we’re not there yet. We can expect more of this – he’s got an agenda, and he is putting it out there.

When he finished imploring and hand-wringing, the man in the white shirt over Burnham’s shoulder was still there, now seemingly staring into space.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News/ Analysis

Solving the crisis can be the PM’s legacy – but for him, this is personal

Political editor David Maddox looks at the deeper motivations for a man who wants to be the one to fix a problem that has bedevilled governments for 30 years

Andy Burnham is willing to invest personal political capital in this issue (Reuters)

very prime minister who enters Downing Street wants to ensure that by the time they go, they have left some sort of legacy – a mark of their premiership that has changed the country or the

world for the better.

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Andy Burnham has been clear from day one that he wants his legacy issue to be fixing the ongoing social care crisis in this country, but for him this is far more than just a matter of legacy – it is personal.

Just before he took over from Keir Starmer, Burnham gave an interview where he spoke movingly about the plight of his father, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Heartbreakingly, he admitted that his father, who would have been so proud, does not even know his son has become prime minister.

As he opened an emotional speech to launch this latest push to solve local care issues, he was close to tears and speaking without notes as he talked movingly about how his father’s tragic circumstances mean he and his family have the “experience of being on the inside” of this crisis.

It means that Burnham himself has had firsthand experience of the postcode lottery that is social care for the elderly and that those with money stand a much better chance of getting the care they need than those without.

Of course, as things stand, the provision of much-needed care for the elderly in particular often means they have to sell their homes and use their savings to receive the level of support they deserve.

But beyond his tragic story of his father, this is personal for the new prime minister on another level.

Back in 2009, when he was health secretary in Gordon Brown’s government, Burnham attempted to fix this problem with cross-party consensus.

He invited the then Tory shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley for talks to discuss his idea for a levy when people die to help pay for social care.

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Lansley came out of those talks and immediately went to the press with a full attack on Burnham’s plans for a “death tax”.

As health secretary Yvette Cooper and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey have both pointed out, since 1997, there have been 22 failed attempts to solve this problem

It became a major political issue which helped bring about the defeat of Brown’s government in 2010 and leave Labour in the wilderness for 14 years.

But, of course, the problem went unresolved; in the time that followed, it has just got worse.

As health secretary Yvette Cooper and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey have both pointed out, since 1997, there have been 22 failed attempts to solve this problem.

Both these politicians also have personal stories – Cooper with her mother’s dementia and Davey with his disabled son – which show this problem touches people across parties and the whole country.

This is why Burnham has gone out of his way to ask for an end to “political point-scoring”, and replace it with a culture of “problem-solving”, not only in this subject but in other areas too. He vowed “not to be distracted by screaming headlines” and asked for space in the media coverage of this issue, too.

In bringing the Tories and Lib Dems on board again – despite the betrayal 17 years ago – he is effectively asking for a wartime effort in resolving this crisis.

Burnham is willing to invest personal political capital in this issue, not just because he wants to be remembered as a great prime minister but because he knows from personal experience that this crisis cannot continue.

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If it does, then, as he himself warns, the NHS will collapse under the pressure.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

£8bn submarine investment will boost defence and jobs, PM to say

Will Meakin-Durrant

Vanguard-class HMS ‘Vengeance’ in Gare Loch, after departing HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane (PA)

Andy Burnham is expected to unveil today an £8.4bn investment for the UK's next generation of nuclear submarines.

Aimed at preparing Dreadnought-class boats for service by the 2030s, the nuclear-armed vessels are set to replace the current Vanguard-class and will be equipped to launch Trident 2 D5 ballistic missiles.

Powered by a Rolls-Royce nuclear propulsion system, produced in Derby, the submarines will boast an almost unlimited operational range.

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HMS Dreadnought is the first of four new submarines.

The funding will primarily support its progress towards readiness, with a portion also allocated to advance the second vessel, HMS Valiant, to its sea trials.

Manufacturers will also be supported to get the third and fourth boats through their construction phases.

Mr Burnham said: “Keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any government.

“But security is not only about what we build, it is about who builds it, and who benefits from it.

“The submarines produced in Barrow will protect Britain for decades to come, and the 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships will change lives both in this town and in dozens of places like it.

Burnham said ‘keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any government’ (Getty)

“British money, spent on British workers, British firms and British skills, in the places that were written off for 40 years.

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“To every young person across the country, I want you to know that there is a path for you into a reindustrialised Britain and it starts with the apprenticeships we are funding through this investment today.”

The prime minister’s announcement today will follow his pledge to tackle joblessness among young people.

On a visit earlier this week to Alstom, a rail manufacturer in Derby, Mr Burnham said the “first thing” he needed to do was stop the rise in young people not in education, employment or training (Neet).

The latest data, published in May, showed the number of young people aged 16-24 neither working nor learning passed 1 million for the first time since 2013, reaching 1.01 million in the three months from January to March.

“It would be wrong to blame the young people when we have an education system that doesn’t set them up properly, where some struggle to find opportunities at 16, where work experience and work placements aren’t there for them,” Mr Burnham said.

“We’ve got to put those building blocks in place, and then, in time, that number will come down.”

The wider UK Defence Nuclear Enterprise is thought to support around 47,000 jobs, including 9,000 in Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, 8,000 at Devonport naval base in Plymouth, and 13,500 at Barrow in Cumbria.

On the Dreadnought-class submarine programme, £5.9bn of the £8.4bn will go to BAE Systems, with £2.5bn for the wider supply chain.

Mr Burnham faces questions about his defence policies, including how he will pay for a commitment to reach 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence spending by 2035.

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Asked at a press conference yesterday whether he would meet the commitment, the prime minister pointed to the deadline in the next decade.

“In terms of our Nato commitments, I have been very clear that we will honour those commitments,” he said. “It does mean being prepared to look at challenging issues.”

Mr Burnham’s pick for chancellor, John Healey, resigned as Sir Keir Starmer’s defence secretary last month, warning that the former prime minister was “unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats”.

The Defence Investment Plan (Dip) which followed – including a pledge to fund the fitting of four Dreadnought submarines in Barrow – took expected total defence investment over the next four years to £298bn.

Defence spending by the end of the decade will be 2.7 per cent of GDP, according to the document.

It is thought the prime minister will hail Barrow as a case study for how taxpayer investment in major government projects can support opportunities in the long term throughout the UK.

Defence secretary Wes Streeting said: “Our nuclear-armed submarines are essential to keeping the UK secure, acting as the ultimate deterrent to our adversaries in an increasingly dangerous world.

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Wes Streeting talks with military personnel during his visit to the UK Military's Permanent Joint Headquarters (Adrian Dennis - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“This milestone investment breathes new life into Barrow’s historic traditions and secures our commitment to deliver Dreadnought Class submarines by backing British industry.

“Supporting thousands of skilled local jobs, we are fusing Barrow’s proud heritage with modern technology to build our security for the future, supporting the next generation to keep our country safe as their parents and grandparents did.”

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge warned the money “would appear to be a reannouncement of funding previously confirmed in the Dip”, but added: “We nevertheless welcome continued progress on the Dreadnought programme.”

The Conservative frontbencher continued: “It’s concerning that there is still no detail at all on the big promise of the strategic defence review, which was the procurement of ‘up to 12’ attack submarines.

“The Dip was meant to clarify exactly what ‘up to 12’ meant but we are still none the wiser.

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“At the same time, Burnham is adding to the uncertainty by failing to commit to the very pathway to 3 per cent which his chancellor demanded when he resigned as defence secretary.

“It’s welcome that we now have a consensus with the government on backing the nuclear deterrent and it’s right we send our adversaries the message that we are all behind the workforce of Barrow and Devonport, which supports and builds our submarines.

“Nevertheless, we hope that the chancellor and prime minister will respond to the threats we face by properly funding a pathway to 3 per cent [by 2030].”

PA

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Norwegian teen ‘hitman’ guilty of UK murder plot linked to Iran gang

Johannes Natland claimed he was going to shoot himself in the foot rather than carry out killing

Rich Booth

Natland, 19, was recruited by a Swedish organised crime group used by the Iranian regime (Photos Metropolitan Police)

A teen hitman from Norway has been found guilty of coming to England to carry out a killing on behalf of an international gang backed by Iran.

Footballer Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, agreed to shoot an unknown target for 25,000 euro (£21,500) in March last year.

Two days after he arrived in the UK on a flight from his home in Stavanger, armed police swooped to arrest him at a hotel in Huddersfield and seize two guns and 12 live bullets.

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Natland admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition but claimed he would have shot himself in the foot to get out of the “pickle” he was in.

However, jurors heard he had lied repeatedly following his arrest and even tried to persuade his girlfriend not to give evidence in phone calls from prison.

Natland agreed to shoot an unnamed person for £21,500

An Old Bailey jury deliberated for 17 hours and six minutes to find him guilty of conspiracy to murder following a retrial.

Natland’s recruiter, a 17-year-old youth known as “Generalen”, was convicted in Norway of attempting to “contribute to murder” in May last year.

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Three more people have been charged by Norwegian police with a decision yet to be taken by prosecutors on whether to “indict” them.

Generalen was working for the proscribed Swedish Foxtrot gang, which is backed by the Iranian regime and known for deploying children as young as 13 in drug smuggling and violent crimes.

He brought Natland in on the plot after another recruit backed out.

He was controlled by an English-speaking boss called “Agent 47”, in apparent reference to the Hitman gaming and movie franchise.

Natlan pretended to shoot an armed officer during his arrest

Natland was on his way to the UK when he heard via a group chat that Generalen had been arrested for conspiracy to murder but carried on anyway.

Under Agent 47’s close direction, Natland took a flight from his home in Stavanger in Norway to Manchester Airport on a temporary passport on 17 March last year.

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He was stopped by Border Force officials in Manchester, who bailed him to return to the airport to catch the next direct flight home.

Instead, he took a taxi to Huddersfield where he picked up £2,000 in cash, two guns and bullets and was directed to a stolen Nissan with false plates to be used in the killing.

Natland then settled into his room at the Briar Court Hotel telling his girlfriend he had got the “bangs in the bag” and taking selfies with the guns and cash spread on his bed.

On the eve of the planned shooting, Agent 47 warned the defendant: “We have much to do tomorrow.”

Natland at Manchester Airport in March last year

At 5.15am the next day armed police banged on Natland’s hotel room door to arrest him.

A smiling Natland emerged wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and pretended to shoot one of the officers with his empty hands.

In a search of his room, police seized a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, 12 rounds of live ammunition, gloves, and £2,000 in cash.

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At his trial, one of Natland’s footballer friends recalled a conversation with him about “Swedish Foxes” in which the defendant had bragged: “I’m going to get a lot of money and somebody is going to die.”

Natland had also confided in his girlfriend, saying in a message: “I’m going on crazy mission.”

According to her, he said: “Now I can finally kill someone and it’s perfect as I get money to do it. I can kill someone and life will be wonderful.”

Asked if he had thought it through, he told her: “It will be a bit cool to kill someone. If I don’t get caught, we have to celebrate.”

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This video grab image of Johannes Natland wearing gloves while handling a gun was shown to the jury

Giving evidence, Natland said he wanted to look “cool” to his peers but it was just “bravado” and inside he was “terrified”.

Natland told jurors: “I wasn’t an international assassin. I thought people had this impression and expected me to be this guy. I knew I wasn’t.”

Despite Natland having supportive parents, his life went downhill after he got hooked on drugs and he was placed in rehab and a care home, he said.

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He initially agreed to the plan to shoot someone in England for money to pay for drugs, thinking it was a “joke” or a “scam”, he said.

After realising he was in a “pickle” with the Swedish Foxtrot gang, part-time pizza restaurant worker Natland said he planned to shoot himself in the foot to get out of it.

He told jurors: “I was going to look like an idiot but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Faced with the alternative of being shot in the head, I thought being shot in the foot is better, yeah.”

Under cross-examination, he agreed that he had lied repeatedly in his written account of what happened and never once mentioned being scared before giving evidence at his trial.

Prosecutor Alistair Richardson told jurors: “The reality is the defendant is a troubled but dangerous young man. A young man who agreed to kill in a foreign country for money.”

The true identity and whereabouts of Natland’s English-speaking controller, Agent 47, remains unknown.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Former builder handed two whole-life sentences for killing homeless men

Police investigating deaths of four others who lived at same lodge as serial killer

Rod Minchin

James Desborough was found guilty on Tuesday of double murder (Devon and Cornwall Police)

Serial killer James Desborough has been given two whole-life orders for the murders of Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43, in Cornwall last year.

The former builder is already serving a life sentence for murdering his cellmate Steven Kempster, 65, at HMP Exeter, whom he killed while awaiting trial for these offences.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saini said Desborough would never be released.

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“You are now aged 40. I cannot, of course, resentence you for the murder of Mr Kempster, but given you are already subject to a life sentence with a minimum term as I have specified, my concurrent sentences for the murder of Claudio and Daniel must reflect your overall criminality,” the judge said.

“Having seen and heard you give evidence, and considering the circumstances in which you murdered Mr Kempster, I am sure that you are a highly dangerous individual who has no regard for the lives of people who you think are worthless.

“You are a person who can kill in extreme violence, with no remorse or indeed reflection on your actions.”

Claudio Aquilino was murdered by Desborough

The killer and Aquilino and Coleman previously lived together at Sandy Lodge Hotel in Newquay, which housed homeless people and those suffering from addictions.

In light of the deaths of Aquilino and Coleman, police are reviewing the deaths of four others who lived there at the same

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time as Desborough.

Desborough lived at Sandy Lodge Hotel between December 2024 and April 2025, during which time two men and two women died unexpectedly.

Aquilino and Coleman, who both suffered from long-term addictions, had previously lived with Desborough at the homeless hostel, and the last time they were both seen alive was in his company.

Daniel Coleman was murdered and dismembered by James Desborough

After their disappearances, the powerfully built Desborough, who is 5ft 10in and weighs nearly 18st, went on to spend their money on drugs and alcohol, and claimed they had both left Cornwall.

Their bodies were dismembered in an area of Sticker Woods, near St Austell, where Desborough lived in a wooden cabin.

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It was there that police discovered, deposited in a stream, 1,900 burned bone fragments from the body of Aquilino.

Parts of Coleman’s body, including his torso, legs and feet, were found in a shallow grave nearby. His genitals have never been found and deliberate removal could not be excluded.

Prosecutors said Desborough was jealous of Coleman because he had developed a sexual interest in his friend’s ex-wife, Hannah Creswell.

Desborough told a forensic biologist who was searching the woods for Coleman’s body that he “particularly enjoyed the dismemberment scenes” in the television series Dexter.

Police found several handwritten notes inside Desborough’s cabin, including one headed: “Bug out list” and another: “Hostiles.”

The cabin where James Desborough lived

He had also made plans to leave the UK before he was arrested.

The father-of-one denied both murders and told the jury it was a “series of unfortunate circumstances” that the two men died on

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his land within a short space of time.

He accepted then spending their money on beer and drugs, but told jurors: “They were friends, I got on well with them.”

On Tuesday a jury at Winchester Crown Court found Desborough guilty of murdering Aquilino and Coleman following a five-week trial.

Desborough, of Old Oak Woods, Lower Sticker, Cornwall, had previously pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of the two men’s bodies.

PA

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Glen Hansard, Oscar-winning Irish musician, dies in motorbike crash

Roisin O'Connor

The 56-year-old Hansard emerged from Dublin's busking scene before forming his band The Frames, going on to achieve international fame by starring in the musical drama film 'Once' (PA)

Irish musician and actor Glen Hansard, who won the Best Original Song Oscar in 2008 for the hit indie film Once, has died in a motorcycle crash aged 56.

Irish police said that a man in his fifties died in the early hours of yesterday morning after a single-vehicle motorcycle collision in the west of Dublin. Emergency services were alerted shortly before 4.30am, and the man was pronounced dead a short time after being treated at the scene. Police are appealing for witnesses.

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Hansard’s management company ATC told The Independent in a short statement: “With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning. We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”

Born in Dublin in 1970, Hansard won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly”, which he wrote and performed in the independent film Once alongside his co-star and former partner Markéta Irglová.

Hansard with Markéta Irglová in ‘Once’, a tale of two buskers in Dublin falling in love (Fox Searchlight)

The film followed a struggling musician who has a chance encounter with a young woman; the pair then fall in love through music.

Irish actor Cillian Murphy was originally signed on to act alongside the 19-year-old Irglová – when he backed out of the project, Hansard, who had already written the music, was enlisted by the director and screenwriter, his friend and former Frames bassist John Carney.

“Cillian doesn’t like me saying this, but he had reservations about some of my songs,” Hansard, who had some acting experience due to his role of Outspan Foster in the Bafta-winning 1991 film The Commitments, told The Independent in a 2015 interview. “They were quite hard to sing, quite raging. But, then, the character was pretty dark.”

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Hansard, who quit school at the age of 13 to pursue a music career, was famously incredulous in his acceptance speech at the Oscars: “You’d imagine I’d have been full of light after winning,” he said, “but in fact I went quite dark, drinking far too much. I don’t know why.”

A police car stationed near the scene where Hansard was killed in a motorbike crash (PA)

Rock star Bruce Springsteen, Hansard’s friend and occasional collaborator, explained things to him: “He said that everything I had ever been in my life, that guy struggling against the world, had died the night we won the Oscar. I was in a different part of my life, a different suit. He said I should learn to embrace it, enjoy it.”

Yesterday, Springsteen paid tribute in a statement on Instagram. “Here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Glen Hansard,” the statement read. “We met in Ireland many years ago and he was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man. Always positive, smiling and ready to sing. God bless him and his loved ones.”

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Once was adapted as a successful stage musical in the UK and around the world; in 2012, it won eight Tony awards on Broadway. Yet its success cast something of a shadow over Hansard; he stopped performing “Falling Slowly” at his live concerts until Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder invited him on tour and insisted they sing it together.

He and Vedder became acquainted after a tragic incident in 2010 in which a fan died after falling from the roof of a building near the lighting rig while Hansard was playing with Irglová – reports at the time said he had taken his own life. The man landed a few feet away from Hansard.

Hansard, with Bono and Imelda May, singing in the annual Christmas Eve busk on Grafton Street, Dublin (PA)

“[Vedder] just wanted to know if I was OK, which was incredibly kind of him. We spoke for an hour each night for a week,” Hansard recalled. “He's a beautiful soul, Eddie, really deep. He's helped me.”

Hansard, who also toured with Bob Dylan, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album in 2016, for his solo project Didn't He Ramble. With Irglová, he formed one half of rock duo The Swell Season, who released their latest album Forward in July

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2025. Hansard’s latest solo album, All That Was East is West of Me Now, was released in 2023.

In 2022, he took part in a charity busking session on Christmas Eve with two Ukrainian singers, and dedicated “Falling Slowly” to the people of Ukraine. He also performed at the funeral of Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, singing “Fairytale of New York” with Lisa O’Neill and backed by the surviving members of The Pogues.

Ireland’s president Catherine Connolly said he would be remembered as one of the country’s great singer-songwriters, and that Hansard and The Frames were the “source of so much inspiration to a generation of young people and musicians”.

“Glen was renowned for his incomparable live performances, beautiful evenings of music where Glen would regale audiences with stories as well as his music, along with that of many of those who had touched his life over the decades,” he said.

The president also said Hansard would be remembered for the generosity with which he shared his fame, and cited his work assisting in important causes such as helping the homeless, in particular the annual Christmas Eve busk.

“Glen was one of the vital driving influences of the Irish music world, bringing people together in the sharing of live music,” she

Hansard and Irglová with their Oscars in 2008 (PA)

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said. “He will be sorely missed by all who knew him or experienced his work.”

He is survived by his wife, the Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Edinburgh Fringe Festival performers back tourist tax for overnight stays

The 5% visitor levy is expected to raise £50m a year to invest in cultural initiatives and housing

Lauren Morris Culture news editor

Accommodation prices soar during Edinburgh’s festival season (PA Wire)

Edinburgh’s new tourist tax has proved to be divisive ahead of the city’s Fringe Festival, with visitors set to pay more when booking hotels and accommodation going forward. However, many of those performing at the annual event are championing the levy – and they actually don’t think it goes far enough.

The Scottish city became the first in the country to introduce a tourist tax last week, with those staying in hotels, bed and breakfasts and self-catering accommodation being charged an extra 5 per cent on top of their booking cost. Edinburgh’s council

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is hoping that the visitor levy, which is capped at five nights, will raise £50m annually to invest back into the city for cultural initiatives, new housing and the police.

With the city’s arts festivals just days away, not everyone is happy; Scottish Ballet – which pays more than £200,000 annually to accommodate its artists in Edinburgh – has revealed that it would be cancelling some of its shows in December. The company’s executive director, Steven Roth, said that the “economics of touring to Edinburgh are fast becoming unsustainable” with the tax.

However, for many of the acts performing at the Fringe this year, the tax doesn’t make much of a difference to the already astronomical cost of accommodation in the city.

Scottish Ballet has cancelled shows in Edinburgh in December (Getty)

“An added-on 5 per cent isn’t the make-or-break,” says Zoe Wohlfeld, who’s performing her show Dog Funeral at the festival this year. “The make-or-break happened long ago. The people attending the Fringe are people who can already afford to do it.”

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Her partner and director Jack Grossman adds that the issues around Fringe accommodation are “much more complicated” than implementing a tax. “There’s definitely price gouging that goes on, but also tonnes of demand and not enough housing so that’s not going to affect that.”

Edinburgh is famously an expensive city to stay in during the month of August, when the Fringe is on, with the Post Office’s City Costs Barometer reporting in May that visitors pay an average of £462 for just two nights in three-star accommodation. While last year, hotel rooms were listed for up to £4,000 a night the same month when the Fringe happened to clash with Oasis performing in the city.

“People have been priced out of Edinburgh for a long time,” says Deborah Pearson, an Edinburgh resident and a founding co-director of UK artist collective Forest Fringe, which is performing this year. “I’ve lived here for 20 years and I’ve never known it to be something that doesn’t come with its expenses.”

For most performers at the Fringe, the scale of their productions are much smaller than that of the Scottish Ballet – and so a 5 per cent tax, which is capped at just five nights, won’t make much of a difference to their overall costs, especially as it’s usually make-do-and-mend where sleeping arrangements are concerned.

“We’re staying in student accommodation this year and we paid for it months ago,” New York-based Wohlfeld says. “In our first year at the Fringe, we stayed in a four-bedroom Airbnb and we had 15 to 20 people there at all times because people were looking for places to stay for a couple of days of the week. We had people sleeping in the hallway.”

“The cost of living right now is insane and being an artist is really hard at the moment for so many different reasons,” Pearson says. “The rising costs always feel like a negative but I think we also have to keep in mind that Edinburgh is a city and if

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those taxes are going to actually benefit the city, then hopefully that’s a good thing.”

Instead, many are keen to see the tax fund improvements to the city, which faces the strain every year when almost 1 million people – double its usual population – descend for the festivals.

“The festival does some stuff for the city but it also does a lot of damage too. The sheer number of people you have to interact with every day for a whole month is very overwhelming in a way that the city is not necessarily used to,” Wohlfeld says.

“It’s a huge burden for sanitation and police. I was there a few years ago when there was the trash strike and that was crazy,” Grossman says, referring to the 2022 bin collection strikes in the city, which coincided with the festivals.

Rubbish piled up on the streets of Edinburgh during the bin collection strikes in 2022 (Getty)

If anything, the tax should apply to more than just those staying in hotels, he argues. “A lot of people who come to the festivals are coming from nearby in Scotland or around the UK for day trips so they’re not going to be paying anything,” he says.

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“There are a lot of people who just trash the place – if you go on The Cowgate past 10pm, it can be kind of a rough environment. We’ve met a lot of hen dos from Glasgow that are pretty destructive and they’re not going to have to pay the tax.”

“It’s really about improving the situation for the people who live in Edinburgh all year,” Pearson adds. “I think it’s quite important that those who come to the Edinburgh Festival remember that it’s a city.

“Our organisation never could have existed without the generosity and help of the city’s full-time residents.”

‘Zoe Wohlfeld: Dog Funeral’ is at the Jelly Belly at Underbelly from 5 to 30 August. Forest Fringe is at Shedinburgh on 25 and 26 August.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Britain’s treatment of Afghan special forces laid bare in damning report

Hundreds of ex-commandos abandoned after Taliban takeover, as revealed by The Independent

Holly Bancroft Home affairs correspondent

Members of Afghanistan's Crisis Response Unit 222 in 2017 (Getty)

There were “serious failings” in how the Ministry of Defence handled applications from Afghan special forces soldiers to come to Britain, MPs have concluded – two years and a half years after The Independent exposed how the former commandos had been abandoned.

In a report published by the defence select committee into a Ministry of Defence (Mod) data breach, MPs reviewed how the department handled sanctuary applications from former special forces units, known as the Triples.

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They concluded there were “material defects” in how the former commandos’ applications were handled – with thousands having their cases rejected without proper investigation in a push to get through the backlog.

Officials at the MoD “did not adequately understand or apply the evidence relevant to the Triples’ relationship with the UK”, MPs said in the report published on Thursday.

The result was that hundreds of the former commandos, who had fought alongside UK special forces units in Afghanistan, were wrongly abandoned after the Taliban take-over.

The injustice was first exposed publicly by a joint November 2023 investigation by The Independent, Lighthouse Reports and Sky News, in which we revealed that the former commandos had been beaten, tortured or killed by the Taliban.

We revealed that the Triples served closely with the British, receiving a salary directly from the UK government - in the face of incorrect claims by the MoD to the reverse.

In 2024, the government admitted that flawed decision-making had led these Afghans to being turned down for sanctuary in Britain and pledged to re-examine hundreds of their cases.

When Labour took power, armed forces minister Luke Pollard confirmed that the MoD had been wrong to deny members of Afghan specialist units were employed by the UK. He also announced a review of some 2,000 applications.

By March 2026, when the review was closed 884 decisions had been overturned, the defence committee report found. Of the approximately 2,000 cases, around 30 per cent were subsequently found to be eligible for relocation due to their previous roles helping the British and a further 300 were found to be eligible due to their data being exposed in the Afghan data breach.

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The defence committee report, published on Thursday, concluded: “This striking rate of correction indicates that the review was not simply a tidying-up exercise, but a necessary response to material defects in the original process”.

Afghan National Army commandos in Helmand in 2016 (AFP via Getty Images)

MPs said that the failings showed the MoD “did not adequately understand or apply the evidence relevant to the Triples’ relationship with the UK” and “failed to maintain or interrogate” their own records.

Because of this history, the MOD “has a special responsibility to former Triples whose applications were wrongly refused and who, because of those failings and subsequent delay, may have spent additional years in hiding or been left to make their own way to a third country”.

In April, the MoD told Afghan families approved for sanctuary in Britain that they will have to flee the Taliban-run country on their own.

Campaigners have warned that this has created a “two-tier system” where those who are able to raise the necessary funds

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can relocate but vulnerable and destitute families cannot.

The defence committee report examined the government’s handling of a MoD data breach that exposed the personal details of tens of thousands of Afghans.

The breach, which happened in February 2022 but was not discovered until August 2023, was covered up by the use of an unprecedented superinjunction and led to the secret evacuation of thousands of Afghan families.

Person A, an independent caseworker who was one of the first people to alert the MoD to the data leak, said that the secret pathway set up for those affected by the breach had “prioritised the lives of people with no claim to come to the UK over eligible applicants with decades of service supporting the UK mission.”

They warned that “even now there are large numbers of eligible Afghans waiting for initial approval to come to the UK”, adding: “I am concerned that these cases are still being routinely, and incorrectly, rejected”.

As of 1 June, the MoD’s Afghan resettlement cases backlog stood at around 14,000 applications, down from 25,000 in July 2025, the defence committee revealed.

MPs warned: “The government must ensure that pressure to close the programme does not reduce the quality of decision-making”.

The MoD said that they were delivering on the government’s promise to support eligible Triples who contributed to the UK mission in Afghanistan.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Pictures of the Day

Easy rider ...

A child rides a scooter between firefighters as they take a break while battling a blaze in Les Andrauts, southeast France. Reuters

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Sitting pretty

A devotee prays at the Shwedagon Pagoda during the full moon day of Waso in Yangon, a sacred day in the Myanmar lunar calendar that marks the beginning of Buddhist Lent. AFP/Getty

Standing tall

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Europe's largest statue of the Virgin Mary, measuring 55.6 metres (182 feet), ahead of its official opening to the public in the village of Konotopie, Poland. Reuters

Sediment surprise

The remains of what historians believe is an ancient mammoth, which emerged after the Danube River's water level receded to a record low, lie on the riverbed near the village of Ryahovo, Bulgaria. Reuters

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Take down!

Arizona Cardinals safeties Andrew Wingard, right, and Joey Blount work out during an NFL football training camp in Glendale, Arizona. AP

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Thursday 30 July 2026

News

Home news in brief

Mitch Winehouse next to a statue of his daughter Amy in Camden Town, north London (PA Archive)

Winehouse’s father ordered to pay £1m

Amy Winehouse’s father must pay just under £1m to two of his daughter’s friends after a failed High Court claim over the auctioning of the late singer’s items. Mitch Winehouse also racked up at least £950,000 in his own legal costs in the failed bid against Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay.

He claimed the women had profited from selling dozens of Winehouse’s items at auctions in the US in 2021 and 2023, accusing them of having “deliberately concealed” their sale. But Judge Sarah Clarke KC threw out the claim earlier this year, finding that he “knew all along” about the intended sale and only afterwards began to pursue them for money in an “aggressive and unpleasant way”.

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In a judgment yesterday, she said: “The claimant chose to bring an inherently weak claim, pursue it aggressively and relentlessly to the end, and make serious and unfounded allegations against the defendants which significantly damaged their reputations, career prospects, financial security and health.” The judge said that, as of April, Ms Parry’s costs were estimated to be £715,361 while Ms Gourlay’s were £487,132.

She ordered Mr Winehouse to pay interim payments to each of the women – £569,330 to Ms Parry and £394,521 to Ms Gourlay – within the next two weeks. He also must pay the women’s legal costs on an indemnity basis, which means those recovering their costs generally get a higher percentage of what they spent than is usual, and it is often awarded when one side has behaved particularly unreasonably.

Judge Clarke said that in pursuing his claim, Mr Winehouse had “deliberately turned this case into large-scale and expensive litigation, in circumstances calculated to exert commercial pressure on the defendants to settle on his terms”.

BBC axes three big series in budget cuts

The BBC has axed three of its most famous shows in its attempt to make £500m in savings over the next two years. The broadcaster has confirmed that Celebrity Mastermind, the Blankety Blank revival and Live at the Apollo have all been put to rest. The latter has been a BBC mainstay for 22 years.

Blankety Blank is historically one of Britain’s longest-running game shows, though this incarnation stems from 2021, when the BBC rebooted it with host Bradley Walsh. Celebrity Mastermind has run for 24 series, having first been broadcast as a one-off special in 2002. It has one filmed series waiting in the wings for release. Likewise, there is one – now final – series of Live at the Apollo ready for broadcast.

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Originally launched in 2004, the show sees comedians perform a stand-up set at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. It helped launch the careers of comedians including Jason Manford, Russell Howard and Michael McIntyre, and played host to established comedy veterans including Joan Rivers, Rob Brydon, Jo Brand and Julian Clary.

“We are incredibly proud of all three of these much-loved shows and would like to thank everyone involved, both in front of and behind the camera, for bringing them to screen and making them such a success over many years,” the BBC said in a statement.

Met to take no further action against Polanski

The Metropolitan Police has said no further action will be taken against Green Party leader Zack Polanski over a picture shared on social media.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage reported Mr Polanski to the police after he shared an image depicting a man wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of a guillotine and the words: “We’re only making plans for Nigel.”

But in a statement yesterday, the Met said it would not be pursuing the case as “an extensive investigation was deemed to be disproportionate and not a reasonable use of police resources”.

The Green Party said Mr Polanski had shared the Instagram post without seeing the picture, the 18th in a post containing 20 pictures, and deleted it when he was made aware of the offending image.

A Reform UK spokesperson criticised the police’s decision to take no further action against Mr Polanski, saying: “Once again we see that we are living in two-tier Britain.”

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The force said a crime should be recorded in relation to the wearing of the T-shirt, and as that happened in Bristol, the case has been transferred to Avon and Somerset Police to consider what further action should follow.

Young boy dies after beach tragedy claimed aunt

A seven-year-old boy has died following an incident at an Essex beach that killed his teenage cousin and her mother. The family of Musa Ahmed say that he died “in a state of ease and peace” at the Royal London Hospital on Tuesday evening. That came six days after he was pulled from the water after he and five relatives got into trouble during a family trip to West Mersea, Essex, on 22 July. His aunt, 41-year-old Shelina Rahman, and cousin Sameeha, 15, both died at the scene.

The family had travelled to the beach from Ilford in east London for a day out. Musa’s family released a statement yesterday confirming his death: “We would also like to thank the Royal London Hospital intensive care unit team of doctors and nurses who demonstrated outstanding care and dignity whilst we have been at the hospital. We would also like to thank the whole community for their support and prayers.”

Reform councillor charged over online post

A Reform councillor has been charged with posting a grossly offensive message on social media. Glenn Gibbins, of Sunderland City Council, allegedly made the post, which referenced the Nigerian community, in 2024. Northumbria Police said that he has been charged with an offence under the Communications Act 2003.

The 66-year-old, from Sunderland, is due to appear before South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on 21 August. The force said that it was alerted to the post in May this year. It has now submitted a

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file to the Crown Prosecution Service, which has authorised a charge.

Teachers’ details leaked on dark web

The names and phone numbers of thousands of school leaders, university staff and government officials have been leaked onto the dark web after the Department for Education (DfE) was hacked. Online thieves reportedly stole 607,000 records in the attack, including full names, job titles and email addresses of people who have engaged with the department.

According to The Times, which first reported the breach, the hackers targeted the DfE help desk, which manages requests from local authorities and school leaders, as well as records from the Turing Scheme – the database education institutes use to oversee UK students who study overseas.

However, DfE sources told The Independent the data protection risk to those affected is not considered high, noting that data obtained includes different sets of data that cannot be connected.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

World / Special dispatch

‘I’m okay. I’m lucky ... I’m alive’

As thousands of evacuees crowd into makeshift halls across Bordeaux, some residents tell James C. Reynolds how they fled their homes in the night

Firefighters work as flames and smoke rise during a wildfire in Saint-Jean-d’Illac (Kara Nabil)

student has told how he rescued his young cousins from their smoke-filled home as toxic wildfires sweep through south-west France, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.

Yanis Sharif, a 21-year-old engineering student, described how he was woken in the middle of the night by an alert on his phone and urged to leave his home in Saint-Jean d’Illac, west of Bordeaux, with his aunt and her young children, aged two and seven, as the fires closed in.

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“It was really scary,” he said, speaking to The Independent. “We didn’t have much information. We thought that the fire was close. With the babies, we took our stuff. We didn’t really have any time, so we had to act very fast.”

Mr Sharif is one of 500 people now living in rows of camp beds at the Parc des Expositions in the north of Bordeaux, having brought just the possessions they managed to grab in a hurried late-night departure from their homes.

“I didn’t realise anything. I woke up and found myself driving here. The babies were crying because we had to wake them. But we settled here. The first night was a little tough; we spent it in the car. There was no bed.”

Mr Sharif, who said he was only able to grab his laptop, some paperwork and a few T-shirts in the rush, said the four of them had been living in a hall ever since, and moved around several times as others came in.

He praised the volunteers and helpers on site who ensured they had food, shelter, somewhere to sleep and showers. They provided strollers for the children, he said.

Other refugees displaced by the devastating wildfires said they were grateful to be alive as they waited for news of their homes.

Patrice Gaucher, also displaced from his home in Saint-Jean d’Illac, stressed how grateful he was for the response that he believes may have saved his life.

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A large hall in Bordeaux has become a temporary home to hundreds displaced by the ongoing wildfires (James Reynolds / The Independent)

He said he arrived late on Friday evening after receiving a knock on the door from the gendarmerie, telling him he had two minutes to pack a bag and head east to the city.

“We have to say ‘thank you,’” he said. “We arrived at 10pm and I was given a bed. I was given something for the heat, to drink, to clean ... Every five minutes, a doctor comes for us. They take a lot of care of all of the people.

“Some people arrived with nothing. There is a lot of solidarity from the population. They give a lot. And I’m very surprised by the French people. And maybe we did not die because we saw that solidarity. Because now in France there are many individuals... But after no, no.

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People hand out essentials at the busy centre for displaced persons in Bordeaux on Tuesday (James Reynolds / The Independent)

“Some people have a different mentality but me, I say, ‘no, I’m okay. I am lucky to be here. I am alive’ ... So if I come back and my home is no more, it’s okay, I’m not happy, but that’s life.

“And after we are not happy because it’s paperwork with the insurance. But the more important thing is I’m alive ... I can make a new house, I can buy a new motorbike, but I cannot buy a new life. So I have to say thank you.”

The sheer volume of people seeking support has put immense strain on the region, with some 6,000 people spread across three halls in Bordeaux at the height of the displacement.

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Gabin Bourdin Marchand, a 20-year-old nurse, returned to the site to volunteer his help on Tuesday, after being evacuated himself (James Reynolds / The Independent)

Residents of the municipalities of Eysines, Mérignac (areas outside the ring road), and Le Haillan have now been returned to their homes, and last night there were 850 at the displacement centre.

Many have also been moved, or are being moved, to vacant student accommodation or available housing in the city, officials said.

On Wednesday, the Bordeaux Métropole confirmed that due to the “massive influx” of food, clothing and essentials, they were suspending their call for donations.

Thomas Cazenave, president of Bordeaux Métropole and Mayor of Bordeaux, said: “I would like to thank all the citizens, associations, business leaders, mayors, and heads of local authorities who have shown such exceptional support.

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Security forces were on site at the displacement centre on Tuesday (James Reynolds / The Independent)

“We are receiving donations from all over France; the volume of donations has now exceeded our expectations. This outpouring of solidarity has made it possible to provide an immediate, tangible response to the families affected by the fires.”

Gabin Bourdin Marchand, a 20-year-old nurse and student from Eysines, said he had come back to volunteer after four days spent living in the camp, but had found the authorities more reluctant to let volunteers back in as they had so many helpers.

Firefighters and volunteers continue to battle an unprecedented wildfire season in the communes to the west and south, with some 220,000 people already forced to flee their homes.

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People had to flee their homes with few possessions. Many arrived with nothing and were grateful for donations, while awaiting news about the state of their homes (James Reynolds / The Independent)

Esteban De Riberolles, a physiotherapist still living in Lacanau, to the west, said his clinic in Le Porge was forced to close when the town became one of the first to be evacuated.

“We heard many accounts from friends and local residents who had to flee their homes in the middle of the night under very distressing circumstances,” he recalled.

“In the days that followed, I called all of my patients to check on them and reorganise their treatment. Several told me they had lost their homes. My best friend is one of them and is currently staying with me while he finds a new place to live.

“Lacanau itself was mostly spared, with only some areas on the outskirts affected, while the town centre remained safe.”

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Clouds from the fires filled the sky, watched by people on a beach at Lacanau near Bordeaux (Mathias Monseigne)

Mr De Riberolles, who has been volunteering to offer massage relief to the firefighters working tirelessly to contain the blaze, said the fires have mobilised the local community to help.

“Together with friends, we obtained a 1,000-litre water tank mounted on a trailer to transport water to those working on the

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ground and, whenever appropriate, help deal with small fire spots,” he said.

“It has been an unforgettable experience. I’ve seen how an entire community can come together in the face of a disaster like this.”

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Thursday 30 July 2026

World

Hopes of ceasefire fade as Saudis join Trump’s war with airstrikes on Iraq

President lashes out in explosive tirade after ‘surprise’ attacks on US bases

Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Men mourn in Mosul after members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces were killed in airstrikes (Reuters)

A furious Donald Trump has threatened to punish Iran following a “surprise” attack on US military targets in the Middle East.

The offensive took place days after the US president suspended air strikes over the region.

In an expletive-ridden outburst, he told Fox News: “We’re going to beat the fucking shit out of them. We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”

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In a day of escalation in the region, Saudi Arabia also joined the US in striking several Iran-backed groups.

Mr Trump’s angry comments came after the US Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had launched ballistic missiles at US military units.

Iran confirmed late on Tuesday that it had fired at US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also rejected an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.

US-Saudi strikes on Iraq on 29 July killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups (AFP/Getty)

Backed by the other Gulf states, Oman has proposed a plan for joint regional control of the strait that would allow the payment of voluntary service charges. But a senior Iranian official said Iran rejected the proposal as “unreasonable”.

The official said a 50-50 joint control arrangement with Oman would not serve Iran’s interests, though Tehran considers Oman a valuable neighbour.

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Hopes of a cooling of regional tensions faded yesterday after Saudi Arabia joined the US in airstrikes that Washington and Riyadh said were in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 wounded in the attacks.

Iraqi men shouted Shi’ite sectarian slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of fighters out of a hospital in Mosul in northern Iraq, footage from Iraq’s Al-Ahad television showed.

Iran said the attacks were an attempt by the United States and Israel to spread their war further in the region.

One of the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, said US and Saudi forces would pay a “heavy price”.

A meeting between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu was ‘positive and productive’, the White House said (GPO)

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Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government, one of the few in the world to maintain close military and diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington, called an emergency meeting.

The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes on the paramilitaries as “an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”, while also calling for a halt to attacks by armed groups against Iraq’s neighbours.

Saudi Arabia said on X that it “does not seek escalation” but “will respond to any aggression it faces”.

The kingdom has been drawn into the war on more than one front, after Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened to impose fees on ships passing through the Red Sea.

The Iran-backed group was planning to implement their own tolls on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in an echo of Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

A blockade of Saudi ships through the strait, which is within range of the Houthis’ drones and rockets, has already been announced. As a result, the Saudis launched airstrikes against the Houthis for the first time since 2022.

In a politically charged week, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House on Tuesday to discuss Iran with Mr Trump in the pair’s first sit-down since the war began.

The meeting lasted nearly 90 minutes and was “positive and productive”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

In a social media posting several hours after the talks, Mr Trump called it a “very good meeting” where “many important subjects were discussed” but offered no further details.

An Israeli official briefed on the White House meeting said Mr Netanyahu made it clear to Mr Trump and his cabinet that if Iran

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were to attack Israel, they would respond, but that beyond that, they would trust the judgement of the president regarding next steps.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

World

Wars in Iran and Ukraine are colliding on the world’s largest lake

Kyiv’s attack on an Iranian vessel on the Caspian Sea is a move to bolster US support at a crucial juncture, expert tells Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Volodymyr Zelensky visited the US this week and had a ‘good meeting’ with President Trump (Getty)

F ears have mounted over the world’s two major wars converging after Ukraine attacked an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, with Tehran vowing to respond.

Iran claimed one sailor was killed and another injured in the Ukrainian attack, as the ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest against what it described as a “hostile and criminal” act.

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Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday the reported strike on a commercial vessel “cannot go unanswered” in a call with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Why is the Caspian Sea important?

The Caspian Sea is bordered by five countries, including Iran and Russia.

With the blockade of Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, the Caspian has taken on new significance as a trade route.

Why is Ukraine attacking ships in the Caspian Sea?

Ukraine officials have claimed the Iranian vessel was carrying components for drones and missiles from Iran to Russia, but Tehran claimed the vessel was “entirely civilian” and was carrying “no military cargo”.

Ukraine was showing Trump how it could help him by attacking an Iranian ship, one expert said (AP)

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Iran is a major supplier of weapons to Russia with its Shahed drones. In August 2024, Ukraine attacked a cargo vessel in the Caspian Sea, destroying a ship reportedly loaded with Shahed-136 drone components and Iranian munitions.

But former British army officer and weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon believes that Ukraine’s most recent attack on the Caspian Sea is a “message to Trump” first and foremost.

He argued that by executing an attack around 500 miles away from Kyiv, Ukraine is demonstrating its capability and showing the US president how it can help take on Iran.

He told The Independent: “Ukraine is trying to show Trump that the Russians are helping Iran out. Ukraine is demonstrating that they can prevent that and help with Trump’s Iran problem, but the US needs to help Ukraine in return.”

It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of providing Iran with satellite observations of the Gulf States and US military sites in the Middle East to facilitate strikes there, and offered the US president access to this intelligence, in a move that could strengthen the view that Ukraine is trying to gain more US support against Russia.

But Natia Seskuria, a senior fellow in Russian and Eurasian security, believes Ukraine’s strike in the Caspian Sea is “in line with the country’s strategy of targeting Russian military capabilities” rather than “opening a new theatre against Iran”.

She said: “The key strategic objective is to disrupt the flow of Iranian military support to Russia and create additional pressure on the logistical networks that enable Moscow to sustain its military campaign.”

Following Mr Zelensky’s meeting with Donald Trump in Washington this week, it was announced that the US will give Ukraine a licence to make Patriot defence systems, granting a

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long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.

How could Iran attack Ukraine?

Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, has called on Russia to respond to the strike, according to Iranian state media. He reportedly said Russia is a “friendly nation” and that the attack deserved a “serious response”.

However De Bretton-Gordon said there is no “strategic advantage” to Iran attacking Ukraine, and it would be done with “a lot of difficulty”.

Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow of Military Sciences at Royal United Services Institute, said: “Quite a few Iranian ballistic missiles can hit at least parts of Ukraine, the Shahab 3 and Khorramshahr 4, for example.

“Some ballistic missiles with shorter advertised ranges might also cover the distance with a lighter warhead. Iran lacks a cruise missile capable of covering these distances, which would also be a bit long for Shahed-type uavs (unmanned aerial vehicles).”

However, he added there would be little benefit in Iran actually responding to Ukraine with aggression, as he said: “I doubt the Iranians are overly keen to expend missiles from a part of their arsenal that is important, relatively numerically constrained, and difficult to replace while widening their list of adversaries in the process.

“My guess is that the Iranians will shrug off what happened in the Caspian Sea as the cost of doing business.”

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Thursday 30 July 2026

World

World news in brief

Russia has charged Pavel Durov, the co-founder of Telegram, with aiding terrorism (Getty for TechCrunch)

Dubai billionaire gives Moscow middle finger

Russia has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, alleging that his messaging app was being used by Ukrainian spies to organise attacks inside Russia. In response, Telegram’s official account on X posted an image of the Russian-born billionaire making an obscene gesture with his middle finger.

The charges, announced by the Federal Security Service (FSB), marked the culmination of a long investigation against Dubai-based Durov and Telegram. Moscow has effectively throttled the service as part of a wider campaign to cut off access to foreign tech platforms and tighten control over the internet. Russians can only access Telegram now by using a VPN to encrypt traffic

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and conceal their location. Yet state bodies including the Kremlin and the defence ministry continue to post to it on a daily basis.

The app has been described as a “virtual battlefield” in the war between Russia and Ukraine, where it is used by officials, soldiers and influential bloggers on both sides. In statements, the FSB and the state Investigative Committee said a chatbot available on Telegram called “Daivinchik/Leo” had been used by Ukrainian special services to recruit young Russians to carry out sabotage and terrorist operations.

Daivinchik/Leo is a popular dating chatbot in Russia, where Tinder is no longer available. The statement said Ukrainian spies posting as young women were using it to contact and entrap Russians before coercing them into committing crimes. Dubai, where Durov lives, has friendly relations with Moscow and growing ties in energy, business and finance. But handing him over to Russia could risk damaging the emirate’s image as an attractive hub for enterprise and technology. Mr Durov posted that he was in Georgia last week, but his current whereabouts are unclear. Reuters

British woman’s body found in suitcase in Athens

Authorities in Greece have identified the body found in a suitcase in Athens as a 38-year-old British woman, police said yesterday. The victim was a Scottish woman who had travelled to Greece via Cyprus from the United States. Her fingerprints were found registered in American databases.

“We are still in the process of collecting more evidence about the woman and how this case evolved,” a senior police official told The Times. Her identity was being traced with the help of Interpol because she was not registered on Greek databases. Interpol has not released the name of the woman.

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Her body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in the Kypseli district of the capital on 18 July. “She is Scottish, and we suspect she may have linked up with a homeless person here who lured her to the specific location [in Kypseli] and left her in the state she was found,” an official said.

Fifteen elephants die in mysterious circumstances

An investigation has been launched after 15 elephants died mysteriously in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park region over the past month. The Kenya Wildlife Service reported that 10 of the animals exhibited signs of partial paralysis before succumbing. The remaining five were discovered dead, their carcasses partially consumed by scavengers. The majority of the deceased were female elephants and their calves, with only one male among the fatalities.

The deaths occurred in the Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Ranch areas surrounding the park. Preliminary laboratory tests conducted by the University of Nairobi detected a "potential toxic substance" in samples from the elephants.

Lula leads Bolsonaro in potential Brazil runoff

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva leads a potential second-round vote in the October presidential election against opposition senator Flavio Bolsonaro, an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll showed yesterday.

Mr Lula would receive 49.2 per cent of votes in a runoff, compared with 42.9 per cent for Mr Bolsonaro, the son of the disgraced former president Jair Bolsonaro, the poll showed. In June, Mr Lula had 48.8 per cent of votes versus Mr Bolsonaro’s 42.3 per cent. Reuters

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Voices

Paying parents to let their children become apprentices is well worth it

Faced with a benefits system that discourages certain young people from entering a trade, the government wants to offer financial incentives. It’s complicated, writes Sean O’Grady

Parents will be given up to £4,500 a year to encourage their children to start apprenticeships, to replace universal credit payments lost by them starting jobs (Getty/iStock)

So, how did Britain ever end up in a situation where, as has been reported, parents on benefits will be given some £4,500 if their children take up an apprenticeship?

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I’m sorry to say the answer is complicated, so bear with me – because the details matter.

In the first place, this £4,500 bursary isn’t a bung for everyone. It only applies to a relatively small number of households where the system has indeed created a perverse incentive against work.

This only applies to families on Universal Credit (UC) for whom the current system disincentivises apprenticeships. The Social Security Advisory Committee, experts who have the intellectual clout to understand the system, discerned that single parents with a disabled child could lose up to £340 per week in benefits when a young person in the family started an apprenticeship.

This, a significant sum, reflecting the costs of running such a household, thus exceeds the expected apprenticeship salary of £258 per week. So a parent might be faced with losing almost £400 a month if someone leaves school and takes up some paid vocational training, as opposed to remaining in the sixth form.

Of course, a critic might argue that, rather than plugging this shortfall with yet more taxpayers’ money, universal credit should be set at levels that “make work pay”. That would be a reasonable argument – were the alternative not greater hardship and, in extreme cases, destitution.

Some might view a return to such Victorian conditions as the price we pay for restoring incentives and strengthening the economy at a time of unsustainably high taxation. Others might think that would be going too far, and other reforms would be sufficient.

But you see the issue. No welfare framework is exempt from the law of unintended consequences and no society is without people (and companies) keen to cheat and game the system. That’s why it gets tangled and no one can understand it.

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If we are serious about the one million young people not in employment, education or training – the so-called Neets – we have to get on with giving them a better start in life

Behind this particular issue lies a certain official confusion about how to treat 16- and 17-year-olds in a world where the assumption and reality in recent decades has increasingly been to stay on in academic education – sixth form, then university. If you’re still at school at this age, the system treats you as a child. If you’re working in high-tech manufacturing or in AI, then you’re an independent adult.

According to the experts, when someone at 16 or 17 leaves school or college, they then drop out of consideration on their parents’ benefit claim, and are implicitly assumed to rely on the apprenticeship wage they earn. Last financial year, that would typically have been 35 hours at a £7.55 rate, or about £260 each week. The financial consequences are, thus, very different indeed – and illogically so.

Drilling down some more, there is the fact that real wage levels in the UK have been depressed for some time, and that is a result of historically poor productivity. The wages of apprentices are no different in that respect, albeit they have always been lower than for their qualified and more experienced workmates.

Universal credit has, in effect, tended to be used as a method of subsidising low wages and to preserve incentives as people move off benefits and into work – removing the “wages gap”. But it’s a tricky balance to achieve, and sometimes, as with the selective apprentice bursary, it requires some ad hoc, untidy solutions.

There’s a big debate going on about welfare reform. But if we are serious about the one million young people (under 25) not in employment, education or training – the so-called Neets – we

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have to get on with giving them a better start in life. Not to do so puts more pressure on the labour market, and reduces long-term growth in GDP.

It also condemns those blameless younger folk to permanently worse life chances, scarring their lives for decades to come, and leaving them in benefits and without prospects – and at greater expense to the taxpayer.

That is why the £4,500 bursary is, in fact, justified and value for money. It is also why the £8,000 that will be awarded to small and medium-sized businesses that take on apprentices is well justified. The combined cost of the new plans is less than £1bn a year. Money well spent.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Voices/Comment

Why should the over-34s have our earnings raided to fund your reforms?

Emma Clarke spent her teenage years caring for her father without state support. Now a working single woman who rents alone, she has a question for Andy Burnham

As it stands, says Emma, my generation has already drawn the short straw (Emma Clarke)

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I was 14 the first time my dad got seriously ill. My mum was at work and my siblings had all left home by that point, so it fell to me to call 999 and go with him to hospital. “What’s his date of birth, sweetie?”

asked the paramedic, as the sirens blared and we swayed side to side in the back of the van.

I didn’t know, but I soon learnt all those details about him – his blood type, his medical history, whether or not he had allergies. In the years that followed, riding in ambulances became the norm, and doctor talk became my second language.

So, I have witnessed at first hand how stretched the NHS is, as well as its gradual demise over the past 15 or so years. I am no stranger to the realities and struggles regular people face when a loved one is sick. And I know all too well what the ignominy of illness looks like. Even in his final few days – hours, even – my dad’s care didn’t reflect the respect and dignity he deserved to be shown. We, his family, had little to no support.

On hearing that our new prime minister Andy Burnham was going to announce a major new plan for social care reform, I made sure to tune in. I listened keenly to how he proposed to fix a system so broken that stories of neglect, poor conditions and abuse are no longer shocking or abnormal.

I was largely disappointed. Speaking of no clear policy or roadmap, he instead pledged three (rather vague) updates: the first, to bring forward Baroness Louise Casey’s “Big Conversation on Care” by a year; the second to address the pay, training and progression of social care staff; and the third, to improve cross-party talks between Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems. He also failed to explain how this will all be paid for.

“I think it is possible from existing budgets to do much more,” he said, when pressed during the press conference. And yet, it was reported by The Telegraph on Tuesday that Mr Burnham was

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eyeing up a new levy for the over-34s – something that, if true, fills me with utter dread.

Presently, as a 34-year-old whose 35th birthday is looming, I would be hit by this theoretical extra tax, should it be introduced. The contributions, drawn up by the Department of Health and Social Care but as yet unannounced, would be mandatory for those aged over 34 earning above £6,240, and could be set at 1.8 per cent.

It seems out of the question to plan for my future right now, because I am always on the financial back foot

As it stands, my generation has already drawn the short straw. The number of young people on the property ladder has significantly decreased since 1997; meanwhile, house prices have continued to increase across the country. In the past year alone, they have gone up by 2.7 per cent.

A recent report by Lifetime FM also found that more than 37 per cent of millennials find rent or mortgage payments to be one of their top financial pressures, compared to just 14.5 per cent of baby-boomers.

Property woes aside, our general quality of life has declined, too, owing to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and cost of living crises. Costs for both low-income and high-income households rose by 3.7 per cent in the year to December 2025, and food prices have been volatile for a while now, to say the least.

For me, as a single person and solo renter, the situation feels more dire than ever before. Not only do single people have to navigate the same price hikes and tax increases as everyone else, but we also spend, on average, 7 per cent more of our income on essentials than couples do, meaning we have far less disposable

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income. It seems out of the question to plan for my future right now, because I am always on the financial back foot.

I don’t disagree with Burnham that drastic measures need to be taken to improve this country’s social care and health systems – how, given my own experiences, could I? But when life is impossibly expensive right now, and everyone’s feeling the pinch, and my generation has very little to show for these struggles already, I can’t imagine how we will cope with less still.

Let’s hope (for mine and the sake of other 34-year-olds across the country) that our prime minister does manage to make existing budgets work harder. Because, while I wholeheartedly agree in helping others and improving systems that will serve us when we’re older, if not sooner, we also need something worth living for today.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Voices/Dear Vix

I want my polyamorous lover to stop dating – and just be with me

The Independent’s agony aunt Victoria Richards is here to help

‘Challengers’ (2024) follows the love triangle between an injured tennis star turned coach (Zendaya), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend (Josh O’Connor, left), and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist) (Getty)

Dear Vix,

After a long period of hiatus (four years), I connected with someone online. Although I was hesitant at first, because it’s been a long time and I am new to online

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dating, I gave in and it has been the happiest few months of my life.

When we first met (and on his bio), he mentioned he was not monogamous, and he disclosed straight away that he is seeing another three women, one of whom he attends fetish clubs with.

I did not think much of it – and it has been a long time – so I just went along with it. He is the kindest, most gentle lover and very attentive. He reminds me of what I have missed out on in my life. I miss him when we are not together.

I think he feels the same, although he still mentions the other women in passing. I don’t want to tell him it makes me jealous and I want him exclusively, in case he stops wanting to see me. I don’t want to make things awkward or change what we have.

I am getting jealous and uncomfortable with the situation but am too scared to lose what we have. What do you advise?

Jealous

Dear Jealous,

Oh, I feel for you. We have probably all been in situations where someone has told us (or shown us) who they are from the beginning, only for us to blithely ignore it all in the hope that they’d change later. I certainly know people who have embarked on “situationships” or casual flings with people who have stated they weren’t looking for anything “serious”, only for it to come back and bite them. The same goes, I imagine, for people who meet someone they like who doesn’t/does want children, when they want the opposite.

In an ideal world, we’d run before we got attached, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to meet our needs – or us theirs. But we’re not always that sensible. And we can all do it, so please don’t think you’re alone or that you’ve done anything wrong at all. The only thing you’re guilty of is being hopeful.

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Now, what to do about it? I understand that you don’t want to risk pushing your lover away, to make things awkward or to change what you have. I can hear how reluctant you are to lose him. So there are two choices here. One is to assess how much this bothers you – and whether you are able to cope with it as it is currently, potentially long term.

Only you can answer how deep your feelings are and to what extent the jealousy is eating you up. Is it something you can handle? Or is it something that feels like it will reduce you, the longer it goes on? Are you at risk of getting your heart broken if you stay and try to operate a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on the other women he’s seeing?

If it’s becoming too painful to stay with someone who isn’t dating you exclusively anyway, then either way you are probably going to end up walking away

I have an inkling the answer to that last question is yes, or you wouldn’t be writing me this letter. In which case: I’m afraid the only other card you have to play here is your honesty. To tell your lover how you are feeling, to discuss it and to see what he feels and thinks about it – and what he wants.

He has been open from the beginning about his dating style and that’s a credit to him. Many people hide it (the wrong move, as it takes away your agency to decide whether or not you want to be with someone who is dating multiple people at once). He probably assumes you are fine with him dating, and talking about, the other women – because you knew he was polyamorous from the outset.

But that doesn’t mean you have to stay quiet now, if it’s something that you’ve realised bothers you – or if your feelings have become complicated. In my opinion, the very best course of

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action would be to tell him exactly how you feel: crucially, without expectation.

Yes, this runs the risk that you may have to say goodbye, if he isn’t looking to change the way he dates. But if it’s becoming too painful to stay with someone who isn’t dating you exclusively anyway, then either way you are probably going to end up walking away. Isn’t it worth a shot of seeing how he feels, then, given the circumstances?

I also think it’s worth remembering that you’ve been intimate with this person physically, so there’s no real reason you shouldn’t express yourself intimately emotionally, too. I think it’s funny and a little strange that we can often place ourselves in eye-wateringly close situations with people, but are too afraid to do the same with our feelings. It’s a shame.

As for how to tell him, I’d play it straight. The next time you’re together, say you’d like a chat about the two of you and ask him how he feels and (perhaps) find out a little more about why he’s committed to a poly lifestyle. What does it mean to/for him? Does he see it as a temporary or long-term preference? Does he want to settle down and have kids – and does he intend to remain poly throughout those possible life changes? At least if you ask these questions, you’ll have some idea of what he wants – and how it resonates for you.

We are making a lot of assumptions about his preferred relationship status and lifestyle, but you won’t know if he’s willing to consider monogamy with you unless you ask him. You are not a mind-reader – but it’s important to remember that neither is he.

Do you have a problem you would like to raise anonymously with Dear Vix? Issues with love, relationships, family and work? Email dearvix@independent.co.uk

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Section 2/Feature

How to deal with ‘doomism’ when it feels like the world is ending

As wildfires rage across Europe, many of us are feeling anxious about the state of the planet. Katie Rosseinsky explores the mental toll of climate change and asks the experts how to cope when the crisis feels so out of control

Afterburn: the devastation and urgency of climate change is having an impact on our mental health (AFP/Getty)

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ire clouds over France. Wildfires sweeping across Spain. Flooding and typhoons in Asia. And warnings of another European heatwave on the horizon. Right now the headlines are teeming with news of climate disaster – wherever you look, you’re greeted by yet another apocalyptic image of a burning planet.

Against this febrile backdrop, it can be hard to stop your mind from spiralling into frightening territory. What will the world look like in a decade’s time? How will our lives change? Have we left it far too late to take action – and how are we supposed to go about our daily lives with such a catastrophic backdrop?

These feelings of eco-anxiety are on the rise. It’s an umbrella term that describes “the fear, distress and uncertainty people experience in response to climate change and its anticipated consequences”, explains Mark Vahrmeyer, a psychotherapist and spokesperson for the UK Council for Psychotherapy.

What is particularly striking is that anxiety typically tends to be based “upon an exaggerated or imaginary threat”, Vahrmeyer says – but “climate change is real, and anxiety is an understandable response to recognising that something fundamental about the environment on which we depend is changing”.

Last year, in a survey from the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), 57 per cent of respondents said that their mental health is impacted by the climate crisis, with this rising up to 63 per cent in 16- to 24-year-olds.

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France recently experienced the first recorded fire cloud in the country’s history (AFP/Getty)

Indeed, it is young people that seem most acutely affected – perhaps inevitably, as they are “inheriting the problem”, as Caroline Hickman, a researcher and psychotherapist specialising in climate anxiety, puts it. A study she co-authored in 2021, published in The Lancet, surveyed 10,000 young people from around the world, aged between 16 and 25. More than 45 per cent reported that these feelings “negatively affected their daily life and functioning”. Another study for Greenpeace, published last year, showed that almost four out of five primary school-aged children were worried about climate change.

For Hickman, the issue is twofold. Yes, she says, “watching wildfires and flooding, and observing our changing climate and biodiversity crisis will make us anxious”, but there is another layer to the worry – the “feeling that no one in charge knows what they are doing, and is looking at this long term”. So, she says, in a sense it is also a form of “politician anxiety”, because it is also about our awareness of “the failure of people in power to take action”.

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There are “different degrees” of climate anxiety, Hickman explains. More mild worries tend to “respond really well to reassurance”, she says, but some people find that once they start to “learn more about what is going on”, it can be more difficult to believe in vague promises. “The more educated you are around it, the more anxious you can get,” she says.

Severe climate distress is still relatively rare, but it can “dominate everything”, Hickman adds. “It takes over your life, and it overwhelms you, and you don’t want to get out of bed,” she says, and it can lead to thoughts of futility and powerlessness. “You don’t want to get in the car, you don’t want to go to work, you think, ‘what’s the point?’”

Ray Hopkinson, founder of PR and talent agency Swayed Studio, works in climate communications, so she is “constantly immersed in climate science, policy and news, so there are periods where it feels impossible to switch off”, she says. “Like many forms of stress”, she adds, her sense of climate-related anxiety “doesn’t just stay in my mind; my body keeps the score too”.

If the people who care most about the future decide not to have children because they’re afraid, we risk losing a generation of people who are deeply invested in creating a better world

Ray Hopkinson, founder of Swayed Studio

She sometimes finds herself thinking “about what life will feel like in 20 or 30 years’ time”, wondering “what summers will feel like when temperatures are regularly pushing 40 or even 45 degrees”. And while major events like the wildfires and heatwaves can be “triggering”, it is not just about these large-scale crises – seemingly smaller moments can be painful too. “Sitting in the park and noticing that the grass is brown instead

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of green can suddenly fill me with grief,” she says. “It’s those everyday reminders that climate change isn’t some distant future problem that often hit me the hardest.”

Those “everyday reminders” are also a pretty powerful example of a phenomenon known as “solastalgia”, a concept that often crops up in discussions around eco-anxiety. It’s a term that was coined by the philosopher Glenn Albrecht in the early Noughties, and describes the existential distress we might feel when our local environment changes, often as a result of transformations wrought by global warming. It is, essentially, the feeling of being homesick when you are at home, when a once familiar landscape starts to feel alien.

Hopkinson has “always wanted children”, she says, as “caring for people and caring for the planet have always felt deeply connected to me”. But, she says, climate change has made her question that future.

Indeed, among my millennial peers, fears about the climate crisis have had a huge impact on how we’re approaching this big life decision. It’s a consideration that often gets reduced to a side note in discussions about the declining birth rate, but for many of us it looms large.

These thoughts, Hopkinson says, “can become quite intrusive” – but she is trying to remain hopeful. “I always come back to the same conclusion – if the people who care most about the future decide not to have children because they’re afraid, we risk losing a generation of people who are deeply invested in creating a better world.”

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The shocking images from the wildfires near Bordeaux are making us feel helpless (AP)

Climate anxiety, notes BACP-accredited psychotherapist Georgina Sturmer, “seems to cut across different sections of the population in different ways, but it’s generally about our fear for the future”. So while for young people, she adds, “it’s about the world that they are growing up into”, for older generations, “it might be worries about their children, or the younger generations more generally”.

Rachael Martin, journalist and author of The Book Lover’s Guide to Venice, has two sons, and says she worries “about the world my children are going to inherit – everything is so unstable and climate change plays a huge part in this”.

She is based in northern Italy, about 20 miles from Milan, and with the pre-Alpine foothills practically on her doorstep, she can see the impact of global warming. “We know the glaciers are melting, and if you look at photos of how far down the glaciers used to go, it really hits home.” Another heatwave is due in the next few days, and the anticipation, she adds, “really wears you out”.

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It’s important to note that climate anxiety is not an officially recognised diagnosis. This, Vahrmeyer explains, is because it is a term that “describes the focus and context of somebody’s distress, rather than a distinct mental disorder with a clearly defined set of diagnostic criteria”.

Indeed, some researchers reckon it is in fact a good thing that it hasn’t been formalised. “Feeling worried about climate change does not mean that somebody is mentally unwell,” Vahrmeyer adds. “Indeed, a degree of anxiety may indicate that they are paying attention.”

The important question is “whether the response remains proportionate and manageable or whether it has become so pervasive that the person can no longer function or live fully”.

We know the glaciers are melting, and if you look at photos of how far down the glaciers used to go, it really hits home

Rachael Martin, journalist and author

For those who tend to become caught up in the spiral of bad news, Vahrmeyer recommends deciding upon a couple of reliable sources to check at set times of day, and avoiding seeking out climate-related news immediately before going to sleep. Staying informed is important, yes, but there is a difference, he cautions, between doing so and “being emotionally flooded” – “once somebody has understood the essential facts of a situation, consuming another 20 accounts of the same disaster may add little knowledge while greatly increasing distress”.

He also suggests trying to find “reporting that covers responses, adaptation and credible solutions as well as disasters”, a strategy that is “not about manufacturing false optimism but about receiving a more complete picture”.

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Hickman, meanwhile, says it is important to build up our emotional resilience so that we can tackle these difficult topics rather than becoming overwhelmed by them (and getting stuck in inaction). She suggests that we “practice talking about uncomfortable things a bit at a time”.

This doesn’t necessarily mean speaking to a therapist, she says, although that can be helpful. “There are climate cafes you can go to, [groups] where you sit and talk with other people about this,” she suggests, or even talking to a friend could help. It doesn’t mean that you need to remove all the joy or escapism from your life either – it’s about striking a balance. You can still, she says, “consciously take a night off, sit on the sofa, eat pizza. Remember to enjoy life today as well”.

Ultimately, Vahrmeyer says, we need to avoid falling into the traps of denying what is happening in front of us, and of “doomism”, the belief that climate change is already too far gone and that nothing humans do can prevent its ravaging effects. “The healthier position lies between them,” he adds, “taking the threat seriously without surrendering the whole of our lives or our capacity to influence what happens next”.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Section 2

On this day

England captain Bobby Moore received the Jules Rimet Trophy from Queen Elizabeth II on this day in 1966 (Getty)

1718: William Penn, founder of the Quakers, died in Pennsylvania.

1818: Emily Bronte, English novelist, was born. One of the three famous sisters, she wrote her single masterpiece Wuthering Heights under the name of Ellis Bell in 1846.

1863: Henry Ford, father of the mass-produced car, was born in Dearborn, Michigan. He built his first car in his spare time in a shed behind his house in Detroit.

1900: London Underground’s Central line was opened by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) with a flat rate of tuppence for all destinations.

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1930: Hosts Uruguay won football’s first World Cup, beating Argentina 4-2 in the final.

1935: Ariel: The Life of Shelley, by Andre Maurois, was the first Penguin paperback book to be published, price sixpence.

1945: After delivering the atomic bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58, killing 880 of the crew, many of whom were attacked by sharks, inspiring the film Jaws.

1963: “Third Man” Kim Philby turned up in Moscow after escaping arrest in Britain for spying.

1966: England beat West Germany 4-2 in extra time – with a hat-trick from Geoff Hurst – to win the World Cup at Wembley Stadium.

1973: The thalidomide case, which involved severe birth defects in thousands of children and was taken up by The Sunday Times on behalf of the victims, ended after 11 years, with compensation of £20m.

1990: Ian Gow, Conservative MP for Eastbourne, was murdered by an IRA bomb at his home in the Sussex village of Hankham.

2006: The world’s longest-running music show Top of the Pops was broadcast for the last time on BBC Two after airing for 42 years.

2011: The Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips married England rugby star Mike Tindall in a simple private ceremony in Edinburgh.

2013: WikiLeaks discloser Bradley (later Chelsea) Manning was convicted of 17 espionage charges.

On this day last year: Palestine Action’s co-founder won a bid to bring a High Court challenge over the group’s ban as a terror

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organisation. Huda Ammori was challenging home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the group under anti-terror laws, announced after the group claimed responsibility for action in which two Voyager planes were damaged at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June.

Birthdays

Buddy Guy, blues guitarist, 90; Paul Anka, singer, 85; Frances de la Tour, actor, 82; Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and former governor of California, 79; Jean Reno, actor, 78; Harriet Harman, MP, 76; Kate Bush, singer, 67; Daley Thompson, former athlete, 68; Laurence Fishburne, actor, 65; Lisa Kudrow, actor, 63; Sean Moore, rock drummer (Manic Street Preachers), 58; Christopher Nolan, director, 56; Jason Robinson, former rugby player, 52; Hilary Swank, actor, 52.

PA

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Section 2/ Film review

Bourdain’s character captured ... just

Anthony Bourdain biopic ‘Tony’ showcases his talents, but also his arrogance and vulnerability

Clarisse Loughrey

Dominic Sessa as the chef, author, and documentarian in early adulthood (Bob Gruen)

Anthony Bourdain made the necessary act of feeding ourselves feel like a rock’n’roll philosophy, a radical form of communication that could obliterate all boundaries of language, culture, and class. His suicide in 2018 was, therefore, particularly hard. For many, he’d become an emblem of what it means to live with an open heart and an open mind.

Matt Johnson’s Bourdain biopic film Tony – which casts The Holdovers breakout Dominic Sessa as the chef, author, and documentarian in early adulthood, on the cusp of brilliance –

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uses the coming-of-age narrative to capture that recognisably Bourdain-esque sense of culinary revelation. As a film about what it means to embrace what’s in front of you and not what’s in your mind, it’s a lovely and deeply likeable work.

Yet Johnson and his co-writers Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels, and Lou Howe seem pressured to address Bourdain’s death in some way, as if the film would be neglectful not to. There’s some jarring foreshadowing where you can almost feel the film pause to turn solemnly to its audience and disclose, “and, of course, you know the rest of the story…”.

The Bourdain in Tony is as much a reflection of the real person as he is a literary creation, carved out from two brief chapters in his 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential in which he describes the summers he spent washing dishes in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He considered himself, at that time, to be “a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking”.

Johnson opens with Bourdain, calling himself Tony, pitching his “idea for an idea” of a book in the hopes of securing a writing fellowship at Vassar College in 1975. He mentions a JD Salinger slant, without realising that he is, in fact, carrying around all shades of The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield, as “spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless” in nature.

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Sessa and Antonio Banderas in 'Tony' (A24)

He can barely initiate a conversation without mentioning he's a writer, including with the girl he's infatuated by (Emilia Jones's Nancy, a relatively thankless love interest role), and follows her to Provincetown when he fails to land the fellowship and can't bear to tell his judgemental mother (Dagmara Domińczyk). There, he stumbles into a local seafood joint named The Flagship, unremarkable in its wood-clad walls and sparse menu, yet oddly serene when blessed by the presence of its chef, largely because he's played by the ever-soulful Antonio Banderas. He hints at something poetic beyond the testosterone fumes emitted by the rest of the staff, Sal (Leo Woodall), Stavros (comedian and podcaster Stavros Halkias, playing up his own abrasive persona), and Tyrone (Michael Jibrin). Johnson – who also directed this year's funniest film, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie – makes these kitchen scenes a boisterous breeze.

This version of Bourdain isn't so different to the "spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless" teen Sessa played across from Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers, but it's

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such a tricky character type to get right and the actor does it so effortlessly that I’d happily watch him do it a hundred more times. He talks to everybody from beneath a furrowed brow, a dead-eyed stare, and the occasional twitch of a smirk, delivering an arrogant semi-creep who’s just translucent enough for us to see and feel for the broken, lonely child beneath.

In fact, Sessa adds such depth and texture to his Caulfield riff that it feels ultimately unnecessary for Johnson to add any explicit reference to the darker, sadder shades of Bourdain’s psyche. It’s already there. In quiet moments, a sense of defeat will crawl across his features. Yet Tony makes a concerted effort to transform Sal, a heavy drug user with a conquering disdain for women, into the metaphorical path of temptation, leading to a few clumsy lines about “sin eaters” and the idea some people carry darkness with them so others can live in the light. You can feel, in these moments, the film grasping at the threads in some effort to present a greater thesis about Bourdain’s life. It feels unnecessary. The audience knows who Bourdain was and part of that was what a wonderful storyteller he was. And this is a wonderful story to tell.

Dir: Matt Johnson. Starring: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas. Cert 15, 106 minutes

In cinemas from 14 August

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Business

Business news in brief

The Aston Martin Lagonda group has been knocked by rising tariffs in the US and higher taxes on luxury cars in China (AFP/Getty)

Aston Martin posts further losses

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda has laid bare the scale of its challenge to turn around its fortunes as it recorded worse-than-expected losses. The group saw pre-tax losses widen to £88.7m in its second quarter from £61.2m a year ago, leaving it slumping in the red by £154.2m overall in the first half. Underlying operating losses narrowed to £52m in the second quarter from £57m a year ago, but this was still worse than forecast.

The group insisted it has seen a “materially improved” first-half performance and cheered the sale of 220 of its new Valhalla plug-in hybrid supercar, with orders set to ramp up further in the final six months. Revenues in the first half jumped 38 per cent to

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£628.6m, with wholesale sales by volume up 21 per cent. Adrian Hallmark, chief executive, said: “We expect an even stronger second half, as transformation benefits flow through and special deliveries continue.” The London-listed group has been knocked by rising tariffs in the US and higher taxes on luxury cars in China, while it has also turned to lenders for more funding to help shore up its balance sheet, alongside a cost-cutting programme.

Dettol maker raises prices

Household goods giant Reckitt Benckiser has said it is increasing prices in the UK and worldwide in the face of rising costs due to the Iran war. Chief executive Kris Licht said the group was pushing through “moderate” price increases in most of its markets. In half-year results, it said: “While still volatile, oil prices have moderated since [April] and we currently expect a reduced input cost impact in 2026. We continue to view this as a manageable headwind and are taking actions to mitigate the impact.”

The Dettol-to-Durex firm reported a 4.2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales of its core brands in the second quarter, which is better than forecast, while the group also kept its full-year guidance for 4 per cent to 5 per cent revenue growth, helping shares close up by 4.33 per cent in trading yesterday. But total group underlying operating profits were down 14.3 per cent at £1.47bn in the six months to 30 June.

Mr Licht said the decline was due to its move last year to sell off a 70 per cent stake in its Cillit Bang and Calgon essential home-cleaning products business for up to $4.8bn (£3.6bn). With this impact stripped out, first half earnings were broadly flat and better than expected. Reckitt also announced a new share buyback worth up to £500m, having completed a £1bn programme in the first half of the year.

Standard Chartered’s record profits after job cuts

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Standard Chartered is boosting returns to shareholders with $1bn (£750m) of share buybacks as it posted higher profits, months after unveiling plans to cut about 7,800 jobs at the bank. The London-based banking giant said it had a “record” financial performance over the first half of 2026. Pre-tax profits reached £3.6bn for the half-year, an all-time high and up 9 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Its wealth arm has particularly helped bring in more income for the bank this year, which increased by 38 per cent year-on-year as it brought on and sold products to new clients.

Bill Winters, chief executive, said the new shareholder returns “reflect our confidence in the business”. He apologised in May for suggesting artificial intelligence would replace “lower-value human capital” as the bank announced plans to cut around 7,800 jobs while ramping up the use of the technology across its operations. This equates to a 15 per cent reduction in back-office roles over the next four years. The boss said he received questions “about my choice of words, which I know has caused upset to some colleagues”, adding: “For that I am sorry.”

PA

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Sport / Football

Infantino’s deal with Trump empire pushes the game to the brink

Senior figures in European football will discuss a boycott after Fifa president Gianni Infantino revealed plans to sell off stakes in the World Cup, reports Miguel Delaney, but amid the predictable outrage, will the federations have the courage to front up to the governing body?

Infantino would be set for a potentially lucrative ‘commissioner’ role in the new Fifa enterprise (Getty)

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efa will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow afternoon, where the prospect of boycotting the World Cup will be discussed as leverage against Gianni Infantino’s controversial plan to set up a

private company to run Fifa’s competitions.

Next steps with the European Union will also be raised, as the European Commission scrutinises whether Infantino’s project contravenes protections that are afforded as regards competition law.

The Fifa president’s plan has provoked fury in most of the European game, to the point that an alliance of all major stakeholders is gaining strength.

Bodies including the Football Association, European Leagues, European Football Clubs, the Union of European Clubs, the Football Supporters’ Association and Football Supporters Europe have already released strident statements, mostly condemning the lack of proper process, but with some going much further and demanding drastic change at the top of the game.

Figures within the national associations and Uefa’s structure are most infuriated by the unilateral nature in which Infantino has come up with the plan, as well as the very prospect of privatisation, and how it has been presented to federations with a limited timeframe of 53 days before what amounts to a binary vote amid the “bribery” of those who agree being guaranteed higher returns.

A key question being asked is how any of this was decided without presentation to any other part of football governance, right up to how JP Morgan has already been decided upon as a likely partner. The anger is such that national associations are prepared to discuss the threat of boycott, or at least to use the idea as leverage to kill Infantino’s plans.

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Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin (left) is a staunch critic of Fifa counterpart Infantino (Getty)

While Fifa statute 14.1b obliges members to play in its competitions, association sources are pointing to how this tactic was used at the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022. Infantino’s leadership had initially wanted to get a Russian team into the World Cup in some form, only for European associations to insist they would boycott if that were the case.

Uefa has also been in consultation with the European Commission to survey how Infantino’s plan can be challenged. European commissioner for sport Glenn Micallef has already intimated as much in a scathing statement, and it is understood the main avenue of potential resistance will be through the competition law protections granted to sports federations.

While bodies like Fifa and Uefa are usually given certain exemptions through the idea that sport fulfils a cultural good, a shift towards private interests would drastically change this. Any removal of protections could significantly alter Fifa’s ability to operate in Europe, especially as regards its commercial activities.

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Back when Infantino first started to really ingratiate himself with the US president, advisers within American politics were warning about how integrating yourself with Donald Trump normally goes one way. There’s eventually a will for the wider family to be involved.

In any event, we now have a situation where this Fifa is willing to sell off parts of the most precious prize in football – the global good that is the World Cup – to the Trump empire. Josh Kushner, the brother of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, is in discussions to be a lead investor in Infantino’s absurd new plan.

Sepp Blatter was willing to go further in his description of all this.

It should be stressed that it is wrong to be too revisionist about the disgraced former Fifa president, given that this world wouldn’t be possible without him, but his experience has inevitably given him an eye for the intricacies of the game’s politics.

Josh Kushner, the brother of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been in talks about becoming lead investor (Reuters)

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“The close relationship between the Fifa president and the US president has reached a financial dimension that is deeply damaging football,” Blatter posted.

That’s a huge part of this dismal story summed up – but far from all of it.

It is nevertheless instructive that “the Kushner element” was said to be infuriating many stakeholders “more than the money”.

Where else was Infantino’s relationship with Trump going? Does this not tie in with all the claims that Infantino now sees himself as some kind of tech mogul-style founder, as much as the pope of football?

Some believe that the six weeks of the World Cup saw him descend too deep into the bubble, to the point we get this, and a point that could bring a bursting moment.

Because, if so much of this has evolved out of Infantino’s shameless obsequiousness with Trump, it has also raised multiple other tensions – right up to the future of Fifa’s not-for-profit status under Swiss law when it is essentially converting its primary asset to a private business entity.

For now, most remain infuriated by the sheer brazenness of Infantino using his position to sell off the World Cup like this.

It was this base emotion that prompted Andy Burnham to comment on it.

There is not a single football fan that wants the World Cup to be privatised, let alone in circumstances such as these. It demands public comment from the national associations as to whether they are in favour or not

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Politicos have pointed out that it sets up the new UK prime minister’s first indirect clash with the Trumps, but it’s a point of principle for an authentic football fan like Burnham, and one that will gather popular support.

It’s also the first time since the proposed Super League that the game has seen such a direct major government intervention, which points to the story’s scale.

Burnham’s input may only increase pressure on the Football Association and other federations.

The immediate response from such bodies, as with so many involving Infantino of late, was silence. But yesterday morning, the FA expressed “deep concern” over the plans. “When the proposal is shared in the full and transparent way now promised by Fifa, we will make our views clear, and comment further,” a spokesperson added.

All of this has been viewed as especially pertinent for the FA since it has been cast as one of the few European federations edging close to Infantino due to the will to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup and a men’s tournament in 2038 or 2042. Same old, same old.

Despite that, none of them – right up to the FA’s Fifa vice-president Debbie Hewitt – knew about any of this until the media reports. The FA’s statement confirmed that it was blindsided and “completely unaware” of the proposals until Tuesday night.

Now, there is pressure on virtually all of them to speak up; another tension: the federations are supposed to represent the interests of their football communities above all else.

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There was a lack of criticism from national associations over issues such as ticket prices and Fifa kowtowing to Trump at the World Cup (AP)

And the bottom line is now this: there is not a single football fan that wants the World Cup to be privatised, let alone in circumstances such as these. It demands public comment from the national associations as to whether they are in favour or not.

This points to a core truth of this story.

The major European football countries of England, Spain, Germany and France could kill this at a stroke, by simply flexing their muscle.

Will they have the nerve, or the courage?

There’s an irony in how these are the same countries offering one misused justification for Fifa’s plans, in how they attract most of the game’s wealth.

For all of Infantino’s appeals to redistribution, though, it’s easy to see how this will evolve in the long term.

There will actually be less money, not more, for the wider game since there will be a financial incentive to maximise the most

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commercially appealing elements. In other words, the major clubs and the interests of bodies like the European Football Clubs (EFC).

Why would anything else happen if it is now just a business?

EFC, headed by Qatar’s Nasser al-Khelaifi, also occupies an intriguing place in this, given that it is trying to run competitions with both Uefa and Fifa.

What rational or financial argument can there be for Fifa selling off ownership of the most valuable ‘products’ on the planet, something that the body itself would insist is only going to increase in value?

One partnership is admittedly much deeper than the other. Uefa – to give Europe’s governing body its due – has led the way with another strong statement, but many see an irony and political opportunism there since it arguably started this path. It restructured control of the Champions League so it’s now partly run with the big clubs – through the EFC – via a commercial enterprise.

Figures within both bodies were nevertheless adamant that the leaderships were already exploring ways – both legal and political – to “front up” and challenge Infantino.

By the same token, Fifa gave clubs $355m for the participation of players at the 2026 World Cup. Is the EFC really going to accept such a comparatively small percentage of competition revenues, if the World Cup is part privatised?

Lawyer Antoine Duval meanwhile pointed to how Fifa’s commercial practices are currently tolerated under EU competition law because they contribute to fulfilling public interests. That drastically changes with such a private dimension, where a considerable aim is increasing value for shareholders.

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And, in such a scenario, how sustainable is Fifa’s not-for-profit status under Swiss law?

Even from a purely business perspective, though, there is a huge pertinent question.

What rational or financial argument can there be for Fifa selling off ownership of the most valuable “products” on the planet, something that the body itself would insist is only going to increase in value?

Nasser al-Khelaifi (centre), of Qatar, PSG and the EFC, is a major figure in how the opposition to or support for Fifa could form (Getty)

It’s not like they’re Barcelona or Real Madrid looking to meet Financial Fair Play restrictions, under a mountain of debt, and against huge competition, where selling off your identity and your future was objectionable as it was.

It’s why this is so much worse.

Fifa doesn’t need to raise this money. It doesn’t need to trade off parts of the future.

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Other forces are keenly watching, from capitalist interests to autocratic states, especially as they seek to wrest control of the game from Western Europe.

It is one of many reasons Uefa is now at the centre of this, as one of many tensions at play.

Except, one of the moments when Infantino feels most tension himself is when fans boo him; when there are banners, when there are protests.

It bursts the bubble he’s in, even if it’s brief.

But now he won’t really experience that until perhaps the 2030 World Cup – and who knows what the complexion of the competition will be like by then.

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Sport/Commonwealth Games

Record-breaker Kerr ready for ‘war’ on his home turf with mile rivals

Australia’s Cameron Myers finishes heat within two seconds of Scot’s landmark time

James Toney in Glasgow

Josh Kerr broke a record that had stood for 27 years earlier this month (Reuters)

Josh Kerr isn’t done chasing history.

Just 11 days after brilliantly breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s world mile record, which had stood for 27 years, he was back on the track to start his Commonwealth Games campaign at Scotstoun.

The mile has returned to the athletics programme here for the first time in six decades, 72 years after both Roger Bannister and John Landy dipped below four minutes at the old Empire Games in a race dubbed the “Miracle Mile”.

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By contrast, all 13 qualifiers for Saturday’s final have broken that fabled barrier. Kerr came through the slower of the two heats with ease, but Australia’s Cameron Myers underlined why he’s viewed as the sport’s next big thing, his time just a little over a second slower than Kerr’s new 3:42.66 world best.

“It’s going to be a war out there,” said Kerr. “This is home ground. This is our track, where we grew up racing and where we learnt the sport. It’s our crowd as well. The rest of those guys want to take what’s ours, and they’re going to have to come with something special on Saturday night because they’re not going to get it easy.

Kerr broke the mile world record earlier this month (PA Wire)

“My mindset hasn’t really changed throughout my career, but it is different going from racing the clock to racing these guys because they’re some of the best milers in the world.

“I’m just trying to battle against them and rely on what I’m most proud of, which is my racing tactics. It’s a little different, but not too different. That’s the thing with championships – you’ve got to show up.”

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Kerr will be joined in the final by Scottish teammate and former 1500m world champion Jake Wightman, but Australia’s Ollie Hoare, who won gold in the 1500m four years ago, fell and did not progress.

Kerr spends most of his year living 6,000 feet above sea level in New Mexico, even installing an altitude chamber in his bedroom in Albuquerque.

Kerr won his heat yesterday to lay down an early marker (PA)

Since his record-breaking run in London, he’s been back home in Scotland, admitting it’s taken time to get over the high of that moment as he attempts to refocus on this medal bid.

“The emotional comedown from London has been a lot,” he admitted. “I brought a world record from another era into the modern day, and maybe that makes it something people can relate to a bit more. It took a huge amount of work to get there, but I’m glad I was able to lead that charge.

“To be the world record holder and to be rubbing shoulders with those guys from history, to be in the same conversation, is

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special. Hopefully I can bring a bit more energy back to the mile in the UK.

“I’ve kept my phone off and spent time with my family, taking it day by day. I spent time doing the sort of things I did growing up. I showed my wife some of the places where I used to train and went out running with her. It was about resetting.

“I know how proud the younger version of myself would have been – the kid training here 15 years ago. I’ve got to show up for him.”

Jake Wightman joined Kerr in reaching the mile final (Getty)

Scotstoun has been given a serious makeover for the Commonwealth Games but still feels an intimate setting for a major championship, as trains trundle behind the back straight and give a cheery toot of support.

You’ll be hard pushed to find a nicer guy in athletics than Wightman, who seems quite happy to let Kerr have the spotlight in front of the home crowd. However, he saw at close quarters that Myers, just 20, boasts that innate Australian ability to find

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another level when everyone is against you, his fearlessness marking his rapid rise.

“If anyone’s watched the season, they’ll know all about Cam,” said Wightman. “He beat me two years ago in Australia and I thought, ‘He’s going to be good.’ He just kept getting better every year.

“When Cam started pushing the pace, I thought we could either go with it or let it drag us away from the field. I felt like it was enough of a sharpener ahead of Saturday, but not so much that I overexerted myself. We’ve got two days to recover, which is perfect.

“I’m probably biased, but if you look at it on paper, it’s going to be the race of the Games. That’s great for the spectators, although it’s pretty annoying if you’re in it because it’s as hard as it’s ever been. But that’s what you want – you want to beat the best, and nobody is missing from this field. Every athlete who could be here is here.”

Sportsbeat

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Sport / Commonwealth Games

Kai Taylor disarms the Battle of Britain to claim 200m freestyle gold

Charlie Bennett in Glasgow

Kai Taylor, right, is the surprise winner while James Guy, centre, and Matt Richards shared silver (Getty)

What had been billed as a Battle of Britain instead became another emphatic demonstration of Australia's dominance in the Commonwealth Games pool.

With Olympic relay gold medallists James Guy, Matt Richards and Tom Dean all lining up for the men's 200 metre freestyle final, plus Jack McMillan – the reserve member of the Paris squad – the hope inside Tollcross Swimming Centre was that one of Britain's decorated quartet would come out on top. Instead, it was Australia's Kai Taylor who stole the show.

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Drawn in the outside lane, Taylor attacked the race from the opening 50 metres and set a fearless pace that none of his rivals could match. While Guy and Richards closed relentlessly over the final 25 metres, the Australian never looked vulnerable, touching first to secure a surprise Commonwealth title.

Behind him, Guy and Richards shared silver after recording identical times in a frantic finish, while McMillan and Dean faded out of medal contention.

Scotland's Duncan Scott, perhaps the pre-race favourite and another member of Britain's Olympic relay-winning team in Paris, had not even made the final after an unexpected exit in the heats.

Guy and Richards, training partners and friends, embraced at the end but it was hardly jubilant.

Guy has fought his way back into elite freestyle form this season and, aged 30, may have just seen his last remaining hope of an individual Commonwealth Games gold medal slip through his fingers.

Ahmedabad 2030 feels a long way away.

Ironically, he was beaten by a swimmer who displayed the very tactics for which he is renowned for.

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Guy, left, and Richards, training partners and friends, embraced at the end but it was hardly jubilant (Getty)

The man from Bolton has made a career out of setting a searing pace and then trying to hang on as best he can while the field comes back to him at the end.

It helped deliver him a World Championship in this discipline 11 years ago but here he was caught out.

"I saw at the halfway mark Kai Taylor was out in front. In those situations you want to stick to your plan. Fair play, he got his hand on the wall first," Guy said.

"Listen, I've tried that. I've done it so many times before. I go off like a rocket and then you die.

"When you're in the outside lane, that's probably the only way you can do it. You can't just sit back and wait. You have to go out and smoke it. That's what you'll see anyone do at a World Championships or Olympic Games.

"Kai had a great swim, got his hand on the wall first and his family's lovely. They were chatting to my mum and dad, so fair

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play to them.”

Kai Taylor stole the thunder of the Battle of Britain in Glasgow (Getty)

His silver brought up medal number 49 at senior championships, while Richards made Welsh history by becoming the first swimmer from the nation to win four medals at a single Games.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't want more," said the 2023 world champion and Olympic silver medallist.

"I wanted a gold there but Kai was the better man tonight and that is sport. It's frustrating but it gives me something to target again in four years.

"The record is pretty special in itself. To walk away with two bronzes, two silvers from this game is incredible. As much as that one stings tonight, there's a lot of positives to take away this week.

"It's tough not to beat yourself up when you feel like you are capable of more. But it's been a phenomenal week and one that I've thoroughly enjoyed."

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Richards made Welsh history by becoming the first swimmer from the nation to win four medals at a single Games (Getty)

It was an underwhelming result for a partisan crowd, with this the blue-riband event of the meet.

But like most of the 56 finals, the only colours on display at the end were green and gold.

This marked Australia’s 29th win of the week, their national anthem ringing in the ears of anyone who has been near Tollcross during the Games.

Taylor's win was one of the more surprising – this was his first ever individual gold. They won seven more to take their tally to 36.

There was some respite from Advance Australia Fair and some home nations success, as Angharad Evans announced herself as the new queen of Scottish swimming.

The 23-year-old completed a breaststroke double by adding the 200m crown to the 100m title she won earlier in the week, before playing a part in a 4x100m mixed medley relay silver.

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“It's really surreal,” she said. “I didn't go into this meet expecting any sort of medal. I just wanted more experience and to put the demons to bed after a tough 2025, and I have done that, with the help of some medals. I'm really proud of myself.”

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Thursday 30 July 2026

Sport

Sports news in brief

Kate O'Connor celebrates in Glasgow last night after winning gold in the heptathlon (Getty)

O'Connor win could kickstart golden summer

Kate O'Connor rewrote the history books but is keen to add another chapter to another storied summer before next month is out. The absence of two-time world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson from the Commonwealth Games heptathlon made O'Connor the one to beat, a new feeling for the Northern Irish athlete.

Her silver medal at last year's World Championships in Tokyo underlined her potential, but there's winning on paper and winning in practice. She's the first Northern Ireland team member to win gold here, the first track and field athlete to top the podium in 40 years and the first woman to do so since Dame Mary Peters in 1974.

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And while the emotion of her first major senior championship title came in a blur, there won't be long to reset her focus before the European Championships in Birmingham in just 13 days.

After admitting her frustration with her opening day, she recorded a solid leap of 1.82m in the high jump, a season's best 52.85m in the javelin and won the concluding 800m at a canter. Her winning margin over England's silver medallist Jade O'Dowda was a huge 291 points. O'Connor's winning score was 6,569 points.

O'Dowda, 26, from Sheffield, was a bronze medallist at the Birmingham Games in 2022 but needed to beat O'Connor by 18 seconds in the final event, the 800m. In the end, she crossed the line 2.28 seconds back, though clocked a season's best over the distance.

Meanwhile, Georgia Hunter Bell also moved one step closer to a medal after safely progressing through the women's 800m semi-finals. The London runner produced a composed performance to win her semi-final in a comfortable 1:59.88. "It was a good race," she said. "What I hoped happened, that someone would go out hard, which meant I didn't have to."

Langer addresses England coach rumours

Justin Langer has indicated a potential interest in the vacant England Test coach position, despite insisting he has not yet been approached for the role. The former Australia coach, who is currently at the helm of the Manchester Super Giants in The Hundred, has quickly become a leading candidate to succeed Brendon McCullum, who was dismissed earlier this month.

Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast, Langer said: "I haven't heard from anyone. It's all paper talk." He then acknowledged the prestige of the role, saying, "There's three [big] coaching roles in the world – the Australian head coach, the Indian head

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coach and the England head coach. But it’s all hypothetical, isn’t it? I’m passionate about the game of cricket but mainly about Test cricket.”

Langer, who played more than 100 Test matches for Australia and coached the national side for four years, added: “I think, with world cricket, it’s so global. It’s so different. I’d never have dreamed I’d be coaching franchise cricket. I never dreamed I’d coach Australia. When it comes to coaching, it’s a career and everyone looks at all opportunities, don’t they?”

Harrington named Ryder Cup vice-captain

Padraig Harrington has been named a vice-captain for Europe’s team for the 2027 Ryder Cup, which will be staged in his home country of Ireland. The three-time major winner joins Italian siblings Edoardo and Francesco Molinari on captain Luke Donald’s staff for the tournament, which is set to be held at Adare Manor, Co Limerick, next September.

Harrington’s extensive involvement in the Ryder Cup includes representing Europe six times as a player, serving as vice-captain three times and leading the side as captain in 2021, when Donald served as a vice-captain.

Expressing his surprise and delight at the appointment, Harrington said: “It’s something I didn’t expect. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever wear the European Ryder Cup logo again. So I’m very happy to be part of it. The Ryder Cup has been a special part of my life. Representing Europe has always been one of the highlights of my golfing career and to be able to do it again in this situation, especially in Ireland, is special.”

Wimbledon celebrates record attendance

Wimbledon achieved record attendance and generated nearly 5 billion social media “impressions”, in spite of competition from the football World Cup, the All England Club announced yesterday. A cumulative 550,151 fans passed through the gates

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during the fortnight, slightly up on the figures recorded for last year’s tournament, with many purchasing tickets on the day.

Daily attendance records were also set on three separate days during the championships. Organisers credited these bumper figures to the first rain-free Wimbledon since 2019 and the unexpected semi-final run of British wildcard Arthur Fery.

F1 bosses ready to replace Middle East races

Formula One boss Stefano Domenicali has revealed that the 2026 season will end in Europe should end-of-season rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi be cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East. Domenicali added that the sport has a rough deadline of the “middle of September” before officials will look at alternative arrangements for the usual final two rounds in Qatar (29 November) and Abu Dhabi (6 December).

F1 has already been forced to cancel rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April due to the US-Iran war, which started in February. Bosses have added a race in Malaysia in October and have plans in place to prevent the number of races from dropping below the current number of 23.

“We will take the maximum time to see how the situation develops; we won’t decide before the middle of September,” Domenicali said yesterday. He also insisted that Las Vegas will not host two races, as has been speculated.

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QA Report - The Independent - 30.07.2026.pdf

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Authorities, August

Back, Benjamin Netanyahu, Best Folk Album, Best Original Song, Best Original Song Oscar, Big Conversation, Birmingham Games, Birthdays

Buddy Guy, Bob Gruen

Anthony Bourdain

Model QA

这是一份针对该 PDF 翻译的 QA 审核报告。

🚩 翻译质量审核报告 (QA Report)

审核结论： 存在交付缺陷 (Delivery Defect) 虽然正文翻译质量较高，但文档中包含明显的内部清理标签/质量预警块，且存在个别关键术语的遗漏。

1. 交付缺陷 (Delivery Defects)

• 残留内部标签/清理块： 翻译件开头出现了一个巨大的 [!WARNING] 警告块，列出了“翻译质量评估未完全通过”以及一系列缺失的专有名词（如 Abu Dhabi, Academy Award, All England Club 等）。
  • 缺陷： 这种内部 QA 检查清单应在交付前删除。将其留在最终译文中属于严重的交付缺陷。

2. 忠实度与完整性 (Faithfulness & Completeness)

• 专有名词遗漏/未译：
  • 在“世界新闻简报”部分，原文 Durov 在部分段落被译为“杜罗夫”，但在某些地方直接保留英文，虽然不影响理解，但一致性欠佳。
  • 开头警告块中提到的 All England Club 在正文中被正确译为“全英草地网球俱乐部”，但警告块本身的存在证明了译后处理流程不完整。
• 幻觉/误译：
  • 未发现严重的语义幻觉。译文准确捕捉了政治评论的讽刺语气（如“抱歉，安迪...”部分）。

3. 关键数据与格式 (Numbers & Formatting)

• 数字准确性： 经抽样核对，关键数字（£500m $\rightarrow$ 5 亿英镑, 20p $\rightarrow$ 20 便士, 550,151 $\rightarrow$ 550,151, 1.82m $\rightarrow$ 1.82m）均翻译正确。
• 截断问题： 预览显示正常，未发现非预期的文本截断。
• 顺序问题： 章节顺序与原文一致。

4. 语言质量 (Language Quality)

• 英语残留： 除了正常保留的专有名词（如 The Hundred, F1）外，正文中无大块英语残留。
• 翻译流畅度： 整体流畅，尤其是体育部分对比赛细节的描述非常地道。

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📝 修改建议 (Action Items)

1. 立即删除 文档最顶端的 [!WARNING] 翻译质量评估未完全通过... 及其随后的单词列表。
2. 检查 文本中是否还有类似的“Internal Note”或“QA List”残留。