"DANA 'DING DONG' PERINO..."

MERIDYTH: Britain’s climate isn’t drizzle anymore. It’s chaos! Heatwaves one week, Hurricane Erin’s leftovers the next. This is climate change in action. We can’t keep dithering with fossil fuels. Green policy isn’t optional, it’s survival.

ALISTER: True, but billions are flowing, £2.65bn on flood defences and a £725bn infrastructure strategy! We’ve already reduced our fossil fuel consumption down to 20%. We need to invest in climate resilience, but not in ways that hike energy bills for families who are already £3.8bn behind on payments.

MERIDYTH: Other countries aren’t dithering. They’re passing binding laws. Germany’s Climate Action Act forces a 65% cut by 2030, Sweden’s net-zero by 2045 is written into law, and Switzerland just got condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for doing too little. Britain’s excuses won’t hold.

ALISTER: You make it sound like nothing’s happening. We have our own net-zero legally binding agreement by 2050. And the govt has linked climate plans to a Nature & Biodiversity Strategy to restore peatlands to absorb carbon, plant trees to slow flooding, and protect habitats to buffer extreme weather.

MERIDYTH: Balanced policies won’t stop Hurricane Erin’s successors. Heatwaves, floods, coastal erosion. This isn’t quirky British weather. It’s crisis that’s happening now.

ALISTER: And yet Britons adapt. Insurance schemes, flood-resilient homes, community upgrades. These are helping families now. Bold action is fine, but it must keep bills realistic. Pragmatic resilience isn’t denial. It’s survival with the lights still on.

🪪 Fingerprints and photos. New post-Brexit border controls are set for October. All Brits aged 12+ will have their photograph taken and provide fingerprints when entering the EU. Term break holidays may become more chaotic at the airport. 😬 

📖 Yay for paperbacks! Waterstones has been having stellar results and is opening 10 new stores per year. What’s been the driving force? BookTok, which is the book reading and recommendation side of TikTok, is being credited with helping younger adults embrace reading.

🏦 Banking on your phone. Monzo, the banking app is now looking to offer mobile phone services. There is not a lot of disruption in the space, as it’s dominated by VodafoneThree, O2, and BT. Then again, Monzo’s customer service hasn’t been the greatest. Hopefully that doesn’t carry over…

🏗️ Medieval survivors. Two iconic London markets are closing for good from their historic locations - Smithfield Market and Fish Market of Billingsgate. The City of London will be providing support for the vendors, but it’s a shame to see them go. 🥺

🚀 Failure to lift off. The independent UK Space Agency is being closed. The gov’t will be merging the body into Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Critics say the disruption will set the UK back, but the gov’t is focused on saving costs.

GOOD NEWS… for the Ukraine, who has received more than $4.44 billion from the European Union to support their state budget. BAD NEWS… for Russia and Trump, after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s demand to cede the still-unoccupied areas of Donetsk Oblast.

🇩🇰 Cheap reads. Denmark is scrapping VAT on books. They have the world’s highest tax, at 25%, making this a meaningful cut! Stats showing one in four 15yr olds struggle to understand text, which has spurred gov’t action.

💻️ Cyber warfare. Russian and Chinese linked hackers have been causing disruption. In the Netherlands, speed cameras are offline indefinitely. In Norway a dam was opened releasing 132,000 gallons of water over four hours!

🌲 “Slap on the wrist." That’s what one Australian MP has criticised after a property developer illegally cleared hundreds of trees with little consequence, just a fine worth ~$100k. The trees were torn down to improve the view for a $3m (AUD) new mansion in Sydney. 😩

🧠 Improve attention and memory. A walk through nature could improve both! In a recent study, students were tested on recounting number sequences… backwards. Walking outside through nature (not just through town) improved scores by almost 20%. So can I blame London living for constantly losing my keys. 😅

😪 Chronic fatigue. New research has potentially uncovered the biological cause behind chronic fatigue syndrome. For years, it wasn’t clear if this was a mental or physical concern. Now we’re able to see common DNA patterns between patients.

🦁 Sleep animals. Forget spirit animals. We have sleep animals! Are you a Lion, Wolf, Bear, or Dolphin? More complex than just Larks and Owls, which details your peak energy levels throughout the day, as well as your common sleep schedule.

🎂 Happy birthday! 🎶 The world’s oldest living person is based in the UK. Ethel Caterham, living in Surrey, has just turned 116. To put this into perspective, the Titanic disaster happened when she was three, and she lived through both world wars.

👹 You’ve been shrekked. We’ve heard of ghosting and even catfishing when it comes to dating, but Shrekking? It’s when you lower your standards for someone in the hopes of being treated nicer. But a life coach warns that you could still end up getting hurt. Always be treated like a princess!

🌕️ “That’s no moon!” If you are a big kid like us, you'll love impressive Lego builds. Melbourne is showing off a 6.5ft wide Death Star made out of Lego. Over 183,600 bricks were used! I think even we’d struggle to follow those instructions 🤯 

By Meridyth

I’m a Korean-American, who’s been living in the UK for 10 years exactly. (Happy anniversary to me!) Growing up in a small city in North Carolina, I heard my fair share of “ching, chong, chang” and jokes like, “How do you blindfold Asians? With dental floss.”

But that was decades ago. The world has changed or so I thought. Swatch released an ad showing an Asian man pulling his eyes back. Gobsmacked doesn’t adequately describe my reaction.

Thankfully, I’m not the only one who made a fuss, because Swatch has apologised and pulled the advertising. But come on… seriously! Who’s running their marketing?!?!?

By Meridyth

The White House has officially launched on TikTok (@whitehouse) in an attempt to connect with younger people.

The only problem… TikTok users don’t seem to be happy about it. The comments are filled with anti-Trump replies.

@whitehouse

Making America Great Again

My favourite comment? 😅

Whew, you made it!

Hopefully you didn’t read this first thing in the morning, mistakenly thinking it’s a working day. Make the most of the four day week and join us for next week’s squabble.

Alister & Meridyth