Reform won a contrived byelection, but scrutiny continues – while the party increasingly attacks the watchdogs and journalists asking awkward questionsNigel Farage didn’t attend the count of the byelection he forced upon Clacton. Instead, Reform UK’s leader celebrated his win with supporters at a “Farage Fest”, filmed by a friendly TV channel. For a politician who claims to speak for the people, it was telling that at his triumph he preferred an audience of believers.Mr Farage won because his toughest opponent on the campaign trail was a comedian in a jumpsuit with a bin on his head. That Count Binface nevertheless won 27% of the vote captured the absurdity of a contest the main parties had boycotted as a Faragist stunt. Reform UK’s leader wanted to turn scrutiny of his finances – notably an investigation into whether he failed to report a £5m gift from an overseas crypto billionaire – into a “fight” with the “establishment”. But the result determined who represents the Essex seat, not whether he broke parliamentary or electoral rules.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 17:06 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Couple die in Salamis, while multinational forces and local farmers tackle Belgium’s biggest fire in a century near Liège An elderly couple died in fires on the Greek island of Salamis on Sunday and Belgium is battling its largest modern-day wildfire at an inaccessible area near Germany, in the latest wave of European wildfires.The couple died outside their home in the Peristeria beach area of Salamis, Greece’s coastguard said. More than 500 people were ordered to evacuate. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 21:27 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Head-on collision between two vehicles on M9 in County Kildare also injured four other people, say policeFive teenagers have died and four other people have been seriously injured in a crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction on a motorway in the Republic of Ireland, police said.Gardaí confirmed the bodies of the youths, all male, had been removed from the scene of the two-vehicle collision, which happened at about 3am on Sunday on the M9 in County Kildare. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 21:50 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Exclusive: Fake consultancy impersonating Brisbane firm online is one of 13 websites seized by the US Department of JusticeFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen the first emails arrived, they were easily dismissed as spam. But as strangers continued to boast about their defence and security credentials, they became impossible to ignore.From mid-2025, a small Australian consultancy firm called Horizzen started receiving emails and strange calls from people applying for vague jobs in the United States. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 15:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

US attorney general says no one in his role ‘should ever’ make this vow amid concern over Trump steering DoJUS attorney general Todd Blanche on Sunday declined to assure that the federal justice department he helms would always act independently of the White House and Donald Trump.“No, I’m not going to pledge that,” he said when asked about the topic by NBC’s Meet the Press host, Kristen Welker. “And no attorney general should ever pledge that.” Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 16:33 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Robert Jenrick takes aim at disabled people and foreign nationals after saying UK guilty of ‘suicidal empathy’Reform UK has been accused of excluding the most vulnerable from society and punishing non-Britons living in the UK as it prepared to outline £50bn of cuts to benefits for disabled people and foreign nationals.Robert Jenrick, Reform’s finance spokesperson, will detail the plans for £20bn of cuts to disability benefits overall, as well as another £21bn from stopping foreign nationals – including EU citizens with settled status – claiming almost any benefits, among other cuts. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 21:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Low river levels have stalled German freight traffic and forced closure of nuclear plants in FranceAcross Europe this scorching summer, workers have struggled in the heat as wildfires raged and critical infrastructure was shut down.Here we look at the impact of the heatwaves on several major economies across mainland Europe – with the help of analysis from economists at the Dutch bank Triodos, who estimate a total of €180bn could be wiped off EU GDP by the heatwaves. In the UK, the green thinktank Verdant said this week that the heat had already cost the economy £4.4bn by the end of July. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 08:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN