Badenoch denies calling for UK to join US-Israeli war on Iran
Kemi Badenoch has denied calling for the UK to join Donald Trump’s war on Iran, after previously saying Keir Starmer should do more to “stop the people who are attacking us”.Labour accused Badenoch of having a confused position after the Conservative leader said she was not urging the government to join the US and Israel strikes on Iran but that the UK should “do more than catch the arrows” and “take out” missile launchers.On the BBC on Tuesday, Badenoch was asked whether it was “coherent to call for the UK to join the war, to not question the endgame strategy and at the same time complain about rising energy bills?”She replied that she had not called for the UK to join the war but that she did support the actions of the US and Israel.“I said that we support their actions.I never said we should join,” Badenoch said.
“I did say that where British bases are being attacked, we should do more than catch the arrows,We should stop the people who are attacking us,Stop the archer,”Pressed on what that meant, she said: “When missiles are being fired, the launchers which are kept deep underground come out,If you take out the capacity, that means that they will stop sending missiles over.
So don’t just catch the arrows.Stop the archer.“If all you do is try and catch arrows, you will get hit … Although I do say that when it comes to the two sides, I will always be on the side of the US and Israel, not Iran.“That doesn’t mean that we should join … those strikes.It’s very, very important that we let people know what is going on.
The government is trying to muddy the waters and stop criticism.I will not accept that – I’m going to do my job and make sure that they are held to account.”Badenoch has repeatedly said she thinks the UK should be targeting Iranian weapons to prevent the country threatening British bases, but she has made clear she does not want to see “troops on the ground”.Downing Street’s position is that the UK believes taking out Iranian launch sites would be legal as a defensive act, but the government is not planning to join this action other than allowing the use of its military bases by the US.
Middle East crisis could push UK inflation back up to 3%, says OBR
UK inflation could end the year higher than previously expected at 3% because of the US-Israel war in Iran, the government’s economics watchdog has said.David Miles, a senior figure at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said inflation could end the year a percentage point higher than expected before the war, because of the energy price shock triggered by the crisis in the Middle East.The oil price fell on Tuesday after rising above $100 a barrel on Sunday, but it is still significantly higher than before the US and Israel began bombing Iran just under a fortnight ago. A barrel of Brent crude was trading at $85 on Tuesday evening.Miles told the Commons Treasury committee that if current energy prices were sustained, the UK would face a “material, significant” increase in inflation, delivering a noticeable and unwelcome increase in living costs for British households
Pipeline of new drugs to fight superbugs is ‘worryingly thin’, experts warn
The pipeline of new drugs to fight superbugs remains “worryingly thin” and has shrunk by 35% in the last five years, experts have said, predicting the annual number of deaths linked to drug-resistant infections globally will double to 8 million by 2050.The number of antimicrobial projects from large pharma companies has shrunk by 35% over the past five years, from 92 to 60 medicines in development, according to a report from the Access to Medicine Foundation (AMF), a Netherlands-based non-profit group, backed by the Wellcome Trust. Only five medicines are in development for children under five, who are more vulnerable to infections.“Overall, the research and development pipeline remains worryingly thin, and industry investment has lost momentum,” said Jayasree K Iyer, the foundation’s chief executive. She described drug resistance as the biggest single threat to healthcare worldwide
Datacenters are becoming a target in warfare for the first time
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to someone you think would as well.Iran is bombing datacenters in the Persian Gulf to blow up symbols of the Gulf states’ technological alliance with the United States. Added bonus: they will be extremely costly to rebuild, being among the most expensive buildings in history
‘I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI
Lea Pao, a professor of literature at Stanford University, has been experimenting with ways to get her students to learn offline. She has them memorize poems, perform at recitation events, look at art in the real world.It’s an effort to reconnect them to the bodily experience of learning, she said, and to keep them from turning to artificial intelligence to do the work for them. “There’s no AI-proof anything,” Pao said. “Rather than policing it, I hope that their overall experiences in this class will show them that there’s a way out
Cheltenham festival 2026: Lossiemouth leaves rivals in wake to win Champion Hurdle – as it happened
Here’s Greg Wood’s report on day one, thanks for following today’s action and please join us tomorrow. We go again.No sooner had Lossiemouth lifted the roof off Cheltenham with a staggeringly dominant Champion Hurdle victory than the skies around Prestbury Park also began to brighten too. The buildup to the festival had been dominated by talk of civil war, of feuding and internecine conflict. But this was a reminder of the sport’s simple pleasures
Former Super Bowl champion asked ChatGPT about injuries before girlfriend’s death, court hears
Former New York Jets linebacker Darron Lee appeared in a Tennessee courtroom on Tuesday as prosecutors outlined evidence they say ties him to the killing of his girlfriend, including messages where he asked ChatGPT questions about injuries and how to handle an unresponsive person, according to Chattanooga’s CBS affiliate WDEF.Lee, 30, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Gabriella Perpétuo at the couple’s home in Ooltewah, about 20 miles northeast of Chattanooga. Deputies were called to the residence last month for a reported medical emergency and found Perpétuo unconscious on the living room floor. The medics were unable to save her and WTVC NewsChannel 9 reported she had suffered a suspected stab wound in addition to other injuries.During a preliminary hearing in Hamilton County court, prosecutors introduced body-camera footage from deputies who responded to the scene
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