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High levels of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found off coast of southern England

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/19/toxic-pfa-forever-chemicals-channel-southern-england-solent

A family looking for marine life on the Isle of Wight. The study found one source of Pfas was from treated effluent from Southern Water plants on the mainland. Photograph: Nikreates/Alamy

Study of Channel finds levels of toxic Pfas in Solent at 13 times safe limits in some places, with much coming from treated sewage

Scientists have found high levels of toxic Pfas, or “forever chemicals”, in soil, water and throughout the marine food chain in the UK’s Solent strait, including at protected environmental sites, according to a new study.

In some samples, pollution was 13 times the safe threshold for coastal waters. Others, which were below legal limits for individual chemicals, failed tests for combined toxicity.

The samples were taken from the Solent strait, which runs between the Isle of Wight and the mainland, forming part of the Channel. The chemicals are thought to have entered the environment from wastewater treatment plants, sewage outflows, historic landfills and nearby military sites.

Researchers said their findings highlighted the need to monitor chemicals in combination and to make a blanket ban on Pfas part of the government’s water reform agenda.

Prof Alex Ford, a biologist at the University of Portsmouth and one of the study’s authors, said: “If there was an oil spill in the Solent that industry would have to pay for the restoration of those habitats, but that doesn’t happen with sewage.

But he added: “This is one thing I don’t necessarily pin on the water companies because they don’t have the capacity to treat these compounds. That’s why they should be banned at source.”

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[T]he Marine Conservation Society, which funded the Solent study, said: “We need to go further and faster.”

“It’s not good enough to plan to have a plan,” said Calum Duncan, head of policy at the environmental charity. “We urgently need action and we have this once-in-a-generation opportunity with the water reform process to get on and do that.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/19/toxic-pfa-forever-chemicals-channel-southern-england-solent

Continue ReadingHigh levels of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found off coast of southern England

Spending watchdog warns £38bn cost of Sizewell C nuclear plant is ‘risky’

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/20/spending-watchdog-warns-38bn-cost-of-sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-is-risky

The NAO overall savings for households from the plant could be outstripped by the cost of supporting its construction until almost halfway through its 60-year operational life. Photograph: Chris Radburn/Reuters

National Audit Office says potential benefits are ‘considerable but uncertain’ while risks are ‘immediate and substantial’

The cost of the government’s £38bn nuclear plant in Suffolk is subject to “significant uncertainty” and may outweigh the benefits for UK households until at least 2064, according to the government’s spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that although the potential benefits of the Sizewell C nuclear plant are considerable, they remain uncertain. The risks, however, are “immediate, substantial and borne by the public”.

The government claims the nuclear reactor, expected to generate the equivalent of enough low-carbon electricity to power 6m homes when it begins operations in the late 2030s, could save £2bn a year from the electricity system compared with using other low-carbon technologies.

However, for households the overall savings could be outstripped by the cost of supporting its construction until almost halfway through its 60-year operational life. The project could take even longer to “break even” if there are cost overruns or delays, the NAO warned.

“Sizewell C is a project of exceptional scale, complexity and significance for taxpayers,” said Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the public accounts committee, which oversees the work of the NAO. “Experience from comparable nuclear projects in the UK and overseas highlights their vulnerability to delays and cost overruns.”

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Stop Sizewell C said the risks surrounding the project “could easily turn Sizewell C into a financial disaster” while the funding model meant its investors were “the only ones who can’t lose”.

The NAO has urged the government to mitigate the risk by using “close monitoring, greater transparency to parliament, and by securing value for money from the significant public and private investment”.

Continues at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/20/spending-watchdog-warns-38bn-cost-of-sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-is-risky

A government spokesperson said investing in large-scale nuclear power was the “only way to get our country off the rollercoaster of volatile global gas markets”.

What about big renewable then e.g. generation from tides? We reliably have huge tides.

Continue ReadingSpending watchdog warns £38bn cost of Sizewell C nuclear plant is ‘risky’

UK ‘built for climate that no longer exists’ and needs urgent changes to survive global heating, report warns

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/20/uk-built-for-climate-that-no-longer-exists-and-needs-urgent-changes-to-survive-global-heating-report-warns

The Climate Change Committee report called for air conditioning to be installed in all care homes and hospitals within the next 10 years. Photograph: Posed by model; Olezzo/Getty Images

Landmark report calls for widespread air conditioning and says UK temperatures forecast to exceed 40C by 2050

British homes will need air conditioning to survive predicted levels of global heating, the government’s climate advisers have warned in a report, as measures such as drawing curtains, opening windows and growing trees for shade are not likely to be enough.

Air conditioning should be installed in all care homes and hospitals within the next 10 years, and in all schools within 25 years, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which published a major report on adapting to the impacts of global heating on Wednesday.

The government should also set a maximum temperature for working, indoors and outdoors, the advisers said. The UK should prepare for 2C of global heating by 2050, as attempts to limit temperatures to 1.5C above preindustrial levels under the Paris agreement appeared likely to fail.

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Julia King, the chair of the adaptation subcommittee of the CCC, said of the many climate threats laid out in the report, extreme heat posed the most immediate risk to life. “Extreme heat is certainly the most deadly of the climate impacts on the UK, so we need to see cooling rolled out at scale,” she said.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/20/uk-built-for-climate-that-no-longer-exists-and-needs-urgent-changes-to-survive-global-heating-report-warns

Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Continue ReadingUK ‘built for climate that no longer exists’ and needs urgent changes to survive global heating, report warns

Unions hit out at ‘epidemic of insecure work’ as economic fallout from Iran war revealed

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unions-hit-out-epidemic-insecure-work-economic-fallout-iran-war-revealed

 General view of the Job Centre Plus on Benalder St in Glasgow

UNIONS hit out at an “epidemic of insecure work” as the economic fallout from the Iran war was revealed for the first time today.

Youth unemployment has risen to its highest rate in more than a decade with one in seven (14.7 per cent) 16 to 24-year-olds looking for work.

Zero-hours contracts have hit a record high of 1.23 million — up 65,000 on the year.

The first official statistics since the war broke out in late February also showed job vacancies down to their lowest level for 11 years outside of the pandemic. They fell by 28,000 to 705,000 in the three months ending in March.

Youngsters looking for their first job face a fiercely competitive jobs market with 22.7 per cent now out of work for more than a year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found.

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TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The ongoing economic fallout from Donald Trump’s illegal war in Iran risks dashing hopes of a stabilising jobs market.

“There is an epidemic of insecure work in this country. 

“That’s why the government needs to deliver on its promise to give all workers a right to a contract which reflects their regular hours and end the scourge of insecure work for good.”

…

Article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unions-hit-out-epidemic-insecure-work-economic-fallout-iran-war-revealed

Continue ReadingUnions hit out at ‘epidemic of insecure work’ as economic fallout from Iran war revealed

Reform UK Councillors Told to Speak Only to GB News’ as Party Shuns Local Press

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Reform UK Councillors Told to Speak Only to GB News’ as Party Shuns Local Press

The editor of an independent local news outlet, which has been shunned by Reform UK, says Nigel Farage’s party is borrowing ‘straight [from] the Trump playbook’ in its approach to the press.

Oliver Rouane-Williams, the founder and editor of Ipswich.co.uk, an independent local title in Suffolk, is warning of US-style attacks on independent journalism by Nigel Farage’s party, after the Reform chairman in his patch reportedly ordered Ipswich candidates not to engage with reporters – directing them towards GB News instead.

Media freedom groups are worried it is part of a trend. Last week, Clacton MP Farage published the name and photograph of a photographer who had been undertaking his duties in a public place near the Reform leader’s home, in a move condemned by his employers at The Guardian.

Rouane-Williams told Byline Times that his publication has no working relationship with Reform UK locally following an edict from the Ipswich party chairman.

The local news chief said his outlet had attempted to engage Reform candidates ahead of the elections through a standard ‘meet the candidate’ format, putting the same five questions to every candidate of every party, but received nothing back from Reform.

The publication subsequently faced pushback from Reform voters who felt the coverage was biased – forcing Rouane-Williams to explain the absence of Reform voices was not down to editorial bias but to the party’s refusal to engage.

The Ipswich.co.uk founder says he then learnt that Shayne Pooley, the chairman of Reform in Ipswich, had instructed all of the party’s candidates in the town not to engage with the media, and had specifically told them not to answer questions from Ipswich.co.uk.

Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
Continue ReadingReform UK Councillors Told to Speak Only to GB News’ as Party Shuns Local Press