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Flight chaos for hundreds of thousands was caused in ‘millisecond’ by software error

A software defect in part of the UK’s air traffic control system corrupted flight data “in the space of a millisecond”, leading to a six-hour outage and mass airline cancellations and delays across the UK last week, National Air Traffic Services has said. But ministers said that the report into the incident still left questions unanswered, saying they needed “to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos”. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said the industry regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) would now “check their findings” and investigate Nats’ plans. Hundreds of thousands of passengers had their travel disrupted after the Nats failure on Tuesday 8 September, which initially only stopped flights departing in the London area but eventually spread to disrupt travel across the UK and beyond by the evening. Airlines called for the dismissal of the Nats chief executive officer, Martin Rolfe, after the third major air traffic control failure in the UK since summer 2023. However, Rolfe said the incident was unrelated to the previous failures and dismissed speculation that it was caused by military intervention. The preliminary report said that the failure was a software defect in part of the National Airspace System, which allocates codes to individual aircraft to identify flights on radar. The report said that while a manual request for an aircraft code was being processed, another request paused it, adding: “When processing of the aircraft code request resumed, the software defect meant it did not resume correctly and the resulting output was corrupted, and affected some subsequent flight data updates. This happened in the space of a millisecond.” Rolfe said: “The issue has been identified and mitigation is in place while a permanent fix is safety tested and deployed.” Nats said restrictions were put in place across the UK so that the system could be restarted. The restrictions were in place for six hours and it took more than two days for the backlog of passenger disruption to be cleared, with hundreds of thousands of passengers’ travel plans disrupted. Rolfe added: “I would like to apologise again, very sincerely, to everyone who was affected last week. It’s our job to get people where they want to go, quickly and without delay and we are devastated when that goes wrong. However, our primary role is to keep our skies safe, and everyone who flies through them. At no point last week was safety in question.” However, Alexander said: “The disruption we saw last week was completely unacceptable and I know how frustrating it was for passengers, airlines and airports.” She said she had received Nats’ report, adding: “While I am pleased to see that the safety of passengers was protected, it’s clear we need to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos. “I have therefore tasked the CAA with conducting an independent review to check Nats’ findings and investigate their investment plans to enhance resilience in the future, along with regulatory accountability. “It is crucial that our national infrastructure is fit for the future, and this government will make sure the aviation sector is as resilient as possible, so passengers can get to where they need to be.” The CAA’s review will be published within six months.

British woman who was kidnapped in Malawi rescued by police after shootout

A British woman kidnapped in Malawi last week has been rescued by police after a shootout in which four of her alleged abductors were killed. Nusrat Osman was abducted outside her home in the southern city of Blantyre on 11 September at about 12.30pm. Police had offered a reward of 30m Malawi kwacha (£12,950) for information leading to her rescue and the arrest of the perpetrators. Malawian police announced Osman’s rescue late on Thursday in a statement. “There was an exchange of fire between police and kidnappers, who were armed with [an] AK47 rifle and a Girsan Regard MC pistol. In the process, the criminals got shot and were taken to hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.” it read. A police officer, deputy inspector general Mlowoka Noel Kayira, was also shot during the operation. “He is currently receiving medical attention at the hospital and is in a stable condition,” police said. Osman, a 47-year-old auditor and mother of two, was safe and “not too shaken” after her ordeal, her brother Shobi Jiwa told the Sun, expressing his gratitude to Malawi’s police. Jiwa reserved special thanks for Kayira. “He is the hero of our family. He’s the hero of the country,” he said. “He’s the hero of the world, actually, for putting his life at risk and taking a bullet into himself for my sister.” Kidnappings are rare in Malawi, which has experienced a rise in pickpocketing and house burglaries by often armed men in recent years amid unstable, crisis-ridden economic conditions. The landlocked southern African country is one of the world’s poorest nations, with a population of about 22 million and an average annual income of just $672, according to the World Bank. In 2024, a country report by the US state department’s diplomatic security service said: “Kidnappings are not a widespread concern in Malawi, and there have been no recent high-profile incidents involving westerners. “Historically, expatriates have not been significant targets for kidnappings in the country. When kidnappings do occur, they often involve members of the Asian business community rather than foreign travellers or residents.” Osman, who is originally from Leicester, worked for a local audit firm and had lived in Malawi with her husband and children for several years. Before her rescue, her family said they had not had any news of her, including any contact from the kidnappers demanding a ransom. Her husband, Nazil Osman, told the local news outlet Nyasa Times: “I don’t know where she is or how she is. My wife is an auditor, and I have no issues with anyone.” Her brother told the Sun on Tuesday: “My sister has been missing for five days with no trace or call,” adding that the family could not think of a motive for her kidnapping. Police did not say whether information received in response to the offered reward had led to Osman’s rescue, adding that investigations were ongoing and more details would be shared “in due course”.

Disabled people need right to travel abroad, say UK MPs amid ‘ridiculous’ restrictions row

Disabled people must have a guaranteed right to travel abroad, MPs and peers have said, as further cases emerged of individuals barred from taking holidays as a result of “ridiculous” rules imposed by local NHS care boards and local councils. Leading figures have called on the government to bring in clear national guidelines to ensure people who require full-time personal assistants (PAs) are not prevented from using funding for their 24/7 support team for breaks and work trips. Wide variations in local rules governing foreign travel mean whether a disabled person can take their care team abroad can depend on where they live, the whim of local officials or whether they are prepared to mount a legal challenge. The call came as it emerged two men with the same health condition and care packages, living 40 miles from each other, are subject to different rules regarding overseas travel with their PA support team. While Joel, 40, a graduate who works in marketing for a global brand, is barred by his local health board from using his personal health budget to contribute to the travel costs of his PAs when going abroad, David, 25, who lives in a neighbouring health board area, receives a travel costs allocation. While Joel (not his real name) has been effectively prevented from travelling overseas for the past eight years – he can afford his own travel costs but not those of his two PAs – David was free to take a trip to Europe this summer with his PA support team. “This is really unfair and brazenly discriminatory,” Joel said. “It is a fundamental human right that individuals with disabilities should have the same freedoms, opportunities and choices to travel as any able-bodied person would.” Jane Campbell, a leading disability rights campaigner, said: “These ridiculous care restrictions are against common sense. Stipulating where and when the person can use the support they’ve been assessed as needing is like tagging somebody, as if a prisoner out on parole.” The Guardian previously revealed NHS care boards and local councils were refusing to allow disabled people to use their care funding outside the UK, even when they paid PA travel expenses themselves. Joel’s case suggests other care boards are indirectly barring disabled people from travelling: while overseas travel is in theory allowed, in practice it is unaffordable without NHS funding for PA expenses. Lady Campbell said: “It’s as if those controlling the purse strings believe disabled people do not deserve the same experiences they enjoy. The government constantly says how important it is for disabled people to work and take responsibility for their lives and yet when we do, these kind of rules are imposed. “We need national guidelines on using care abroad now to protect disabled people’s rights and end this nonsense once and for all.” Debbie Abrahams, the chair of the Commons work and pensions select committee, said the restrictions potentially breached the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which the UK has ratified. “Disabled people should have the same freedom as everyone else to travel for work, to visit family or simply to go on holiday,” said Abrahams. Joel, who has spinal muscular atrophy, was initially allowed to use his health budget to pay for his PAs to travel with him and had two short breaks in Europe, at his own cost. Eight years ago, his NHS funder, now Cheshire and Merseyside NHS integrated care board, reversed its decision, ruling travel costs were valid for the UK only. He challenged the ruling but was rebuffed, being told earlier this year by the care board that the period in 2017 when it permitted him to use his personal care budget for overseas PA travel costs was a “historical error in decision-making”. Just 40 miles (64km) away David (not his real name) said his local care board made very different rulings. Greater Manchester integrated care partnership blocked his requests for holiday PA expenses for five years. Officials finally relented last year after he submitted detailed evidence suggesting its decision would breach NHS guidance and human rights law. It allocated £2,370 annually to enable David to contribute to his PA team’s travel and accommodation costs. David, a graduate with a first-class degree, last year took his first trip abroad without his parents, paid for by himself. He said: “It can feel like being in a prison for a person with my condition. I want to live how my peers live. I want independence. I want a change of scenery from time to time.” The MP Marsha de Cordova, who is a former minister for disabled people, said local variations highlighted the urgent need for national guidelines: “Disabled people’s right to travel should not be decided by the mood of local officials.” Cheshire and Merseyside’s most recent policy, approved last week [10 September] states that while disabled individuals can request holiday travel expenses for their PAs it would “not ordinarily” pay for them. It states it has an obligation to use NHS funds “in a way which is fair and equitable”. NHS Greater Manchester said it had no ratified policy on holiday travel. The Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) position is that care boards should examine all requests for PA travel support and consider the health and wellbeing benefits for the applicant of overseas travel for the applicant. A DHSC spokesperson said: “Personal health budgets work best where people have real flexibility over how they use their budgets and we expect integrated care boards to examine each proposal on a case-by-case basis, in line with national policy and legislation.” NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and NHS Greater Manchester separately issued the following statement: “While we cannot comment on individual patient cases, all requests for personal health budget funding are assessed according to our personal health budget and integrated budget policy on a case-by-case basis according to patient need. This policy has been developed in line with national NHS guidance.”

Drivers ignoring roadwork closures to skip queues ‘wilfully putting lives at risk’

Drivers ignoring roadwork closures to skip queues are putting lives at risk, National Highways has warned, after recording hundreds of incidents this year where cars were deliberately driven through cones or barriers. The agency, which manages motorways and major roads, said there was increasing concern about incursions into closed-off roadworks and the danger they posed. It said its works contractors had reported an increasing proportion of such incidents as deliberate. According to National Highways data, 53% of the 814 incursions reported nationwide in England between January and July this year involved drivers trying to avoid queues, closures or diversions. Repeated dangerous driving around roadworks has led National Highways to close parts of motorways to protect workers rather than just closing lanes, causing significant delays for road users. To highlight the issue, the agency released clips showing drivers entering closed-off roadworks areas, which led to successful prosecutions and driving bans. They included footage of the M1 motorway in Hertfordshire, where repeated incursions earlier this year led to it being closed completely to keep workers safe, creating a 10-mile diversion for drivers. There were no casualties in any of the incidents shown. On average, about 30 incursions a week are recorded across England’s motorways and A-roads. While most are defined as “seeking benefit” – drivers deliberately entering restricted roadwork areas hoping for a short cut – factors including breakdowns or simple driver error also lead to dangerous incursions. In the latter cases, however, most drivers quickly stop and seek assistance, according to Melanie Clarke, the director of health, safety and wellbeing at National Highways. She said the latest figures showed “a worrying number of drivers wilfully ignoring roadworks to save time, putting road workers and other people at risk”. Clarke said: “This year alone there have been over 400 incidents of those ‘seeking benefits’ as we describe it. We are definitely seeing a rise. We really encourage our road workers to report these instances so we can understand the level of the risk that they are facing when they are simply just trying to do their jobs.” She added: “Drivers who just come through to avoid the closure or diversion are often travelling at speed and not necessarily aware of the activities that are going on within the roadworks. Often there’s plant, there’s machinery, the surface may already been treated. Obviously our concern is for our road workers – but those drivers need to understand that they also put themselves at risk.” At least one fatality had occurred because of incursions this year, Clarke said. She added that, contrary to occasional driver perception, roads were never sealed off without some activity ongoing or imminent. “If you don’t see people working, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people working nearby. Or maybe the road surface has been compromised in some way in order to complete the work. So it’s simply not safe for vehicles to travel through that road work session until the work is complete.” Regardless of the risk, drivers attempting to take a shortcut would normally not make their journey quicker, she said. “It’s simply not worth it.” Sinead Ryan, a lead traffic management operative for HW Martin, a contractor, said: “People don’t always realise how dangerous our job can be. We work close to live traffic and, while we can do everything possible to keep ourselves safe, we can’t control the actions of drivers. “When someone ignores a closure or drives into a work area, it only takes a second for someone to get hurt.”

‘I spend a bagful of money and don’t fill a bag’: the energy crisis hits Bangladesh

At 1am, Halder’s alarm goes off and the 34-year-old Bangladeshi bank employee rises and heads to her kitchen. She is up at this time not for work but to cook for her family. An energy crisis paralysing the capital, Dhaka, a city of almost 40 million people, means this has become the only time when the piped gas supply is strong enough to allow cooking. The city now operates in darkness, as people try to continue their lives with power even in public areas shut off early in the evening to preserve energy. It is a crisis created by the US war on Iran but exacerbated by Bangladesh’s reliance on imported energy. It is also a challenge that a government elected only weeks before the war began has struggled to meet. “I don’t want anything extraordinary from the government; I want to turn on the stove and find gas, I want to switch on the light and find electricity, I want clean water from the tap,” says Halder. “These are not luxuries. “Some nights I’m sleeping three hours, sometimes less. Then I’m expected to be a mother, run a household and do a full day at the office as if everything is normal.” The Bangladesh Nationalist party government was elected in February, following protests in 2024 that overthrew the previous government of the Awami League, which had been in power for 15 years and was accused of political repression, corruption and economic mismanagement. After a period of interim government, the BNP was tasked with forging a new path for the country but within weeks, war had broken out in Iran and the closure of the strait of Hormuz meant crucial gas shipments from the Middle East were disrupted. The government responded by rationing energy, and ordered shops, markets and shopping centres to close by 8pm – an hour earlier than previously permitted. Illuminated billboards must be switched off by 7pm, with exemptions only for hospitals, pharmacies, food shops and emergency services. The situation is worse in rural Bangladesh, where in August people were going without electricity for up to 16 hours a day. National load-shedding, or cuts in output, exceeded 3,000MW during the worst of the shortage, according to government data. But it is in Dhaka, a city usually in constant motion, that the change appears most dramatic. Long stretches of roads in areas packed with offices, businesses and shops, such as Mohammadpur, Kawran Bazar and Dhanmondi, are now eerily dark. The crisis has forced local residents to make calculations constantly, such as when the gas might be strong enough to cook with, how long a fan can be run during the humid summer, and how long the queue might stretch at the petrol station. As a result, almost 3 million more people are expected to be facing food insecurity in the final months of this year, a rise of 18% from the summer figure of 15.3 million, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global malnutrition monitor. Ahmed, 50, who wished to give only his last name, runs an electrical workshop in the central area of Mohammadpur but lives in Keraniganj, on the outskirts of Dhaka, where housing is cheaper. A commute he managed for years now fills him with dread. Once Ahmed has closed his shop, transport is hard to find and more expensive, and he fears being mugged in streets now left in darkness. “By the time I close the shop, it is already dark,” he says. “Then you are thinking all the way home about whether someone will stop you, rob you or take your phone and money. “Sometimes I think I should just leave the country and try somewhere else,” he says. “But I am 50; I don’t have the money needed to go. So I think about it, and then I feel there is nowhere to go.” Daily gas demand in Bangladesh is about 107-113m cubic metres (3.8-4bn cubic ft), far outstripping the available supply of roughly 74m cubic metres. The country produces little energy domestically, so it is reliant on gas from the Middle East, which provides almost half of Bangladesh’s energy supply. The US war with Iran has hit Bangladesh’s liquid natural gas (LNG) imports particularly hard – between July and August, imports fell by 83%. The situation was made worse on 21 July, when a fire put one of Bangladesh’s two floating LNG terminals out of action, temporarily adding to disruptions that have forced factories to run costly generators, cut production or even close down, raising manufacturing and transport costs. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka thinktank, says the disruption added to longstanding frailties in Bangladesh’s energy system, caused by mismanagement of public utilities. As well as leaving households struggling, energy-intensive sectors of the economy such as textiles, ceramics, glass and steel, transport, agriculture, fisheries and general commercial activity were all affected. “Almost all economic activities have been operating at significantly lower levels of their usable capacity because of the energy crisis,” Moazzem says. At Krishi vegetable market in Dhaka, 41-year-old Aleya Begum struggles to run her roadside stall selling tea and street food. It is her family’s main source of income and pays for her son’s education; she had also been saving for her daughter’s marriage. Begum says the price of vegetables has risen so much that she can afford barely enough for her family. “I used to be able to fill a bag with vegetables without spending very much,” she says. “Now I can spend a bagful of money and still not fill the bag.” She has cut back on fish and chicken, and has to think twice about whether she buys eggs. Begum does not pay much attention to statistics on lost megawatts of energy or debates over the extent to which the government inherited an economic crisis or if it was caused by events abroad. “Governments can say many things, but we look at the market,” she says. “If prices don’t come down and our lives don’t get easier, how are we supposed to understand that anything has changed? “I don’t need big promises,” she adds. “I need to be able to go to the market, feed my family and come home without worrying about how I will manage tomorrow.”

Revealed: how Russia uses mobile ‘super-app’ Max to spy on its citizens

Over the past 18 months, tens of millions of Russians have been forced to install a new app on their phones – a violet-blue button designed for messaging and payments, called Max. Authorities have touted it as a patriotic alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp; Russian glitterati have promoted it in rap videos and comic routines. This summer, it became the country’s most-used messaging app. It is a product of VKontakte, the Russian social media company, which is deeply entangled with the Russian state. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, reportedly owns an indirect stake in Max. Max is Russia’s version of a “super-app,” combining an ecosystem of services into a single platform. It is a container for a number of “mini-apps” that now facilitate everyday life in Russia – banking apps, a messaging service that aims to replace Telegram, and apps for essential government services. The best-known super-app in the world is WeChat, China’s everything platform which facilitates the state’s social controls. But while WeChat was developed over decades, in step with China’s other internet controls, Max has been imposed on a population that once had mostly-free internet access. Now, forensic research has revealed a fuller picture of Max’s powerful surveillance capabilities. These amount to a “backdoor” into its entire mini-app ecosystem on every user’s device, said Roya Ensafi, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Michigan. “We have studied Russia’s escalation of internet control for the past decade,” said Ensafi. “What Max provides is the cleverest and also the scariest tactic by authoritarian governments” to surveil their citizens. Max is “a blueprint any government can follow” towards digital authoritarianism, said Ensafi. It represents the cutting edge of what governments such as Iran, Kazakhstan and India may soon try to achieve. Ensafi’s team were able to download the version of the app used in Russia. They found that Max can screenshot users’ devices – and the contents of its mini-apps – without their knowledge. It can access all the information stored in these mini-apps, their messages and payments. It can impersonate its users without them knowing. It can even inject code into mini-apps – which would mean, said Ensafi, that the Russian government could use Max to launch cyberattacks. Their research adds new clarity into an ongoing debate on Max’s surveillance capabilities. Crucially, said Ensafi, it cannot break into apps like Telegram and WhatsApp, if users have these installed. However, Russia has banned both. Many Russians working in or around state institutions have in effect been forced to use Max. Officials and public-sector employees, university students, teachers and even schoolchildren have all faced pressure to move their communications on to the platform. One schoolteacher in Moscow said staff at their school were ordered to switch to Max after instructions from the city authorities. “The school director called us in last March and told us directly: from now on, everything is on Max. That included chats with parents, sending out homework and other school communication,” the teacher said. “There isn’t really an option to say no, so in the end you just use the app,” they added. Daniil, a university student in St Petersburg, said he reluctantly downloaded Max shortly before the start of the academic year after being told students would be denied access to university buildings or dormitories without a QR code generated through the app. He said he had concerns about the app’s security and privacy, but felt he had little choice if he wanted to continue accessing campus. Among Russia’s elite, use of Max often appears to be largely performative, with Telegram and Signal still widely used for day-to-day communication, according to several well-connected figures and prominent businesspeople. One person in the Kremlin’s inner circle said he and several friends had bought second phones solely to install Max, while continuing to use their main devices and preferred messaging apps as before. “It’s all for show. No one in politics really uses it,” the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Max has yet to replace Telegram as a major source of news for Russians. Public channels – used by media outlets, bloggers and officials to broadcast news and commentary to large audiences – remain far less developed on Max, where only a small number have built audiences comparable to the biggest channels on Telegram. Several Max users contacted by the Guardian said the app closely resembles Telegram, long Russia’s most popular messaging platform, in its design and functionality, but concerns about privacy and surveillance were widespread. “Using Max feels like you never quite know who else might be watching,” said Nikolai, a 34-year-old consultant in Moscow. While the app looked modern and slick, Nikolai said there was always something slightly sinister about using it. “You end up using it more and more because the alternatives are becoming harder to access. But it still doesn’t feel right.” Russia’s success in rapidly pushing out Max should be a “wake-up call”, said Ensafi. China reached its current state of digital authoritarianism over the course of 35 years. But Russia has imposed these sweeping restrictions – shepherding people on to a state-controlled internet – in just a decade. “The world is changing, the infrastructure of private communication is changing – and the assault by authoritarian governments is very aggressive,” she said. Max and VKontakte were approached for comment.

Friday briefing: After two months as PM, is Andy Burnham passing his own test?

Good morning. Remember the Makerfield test? When Andy Burnham was elected as an MP back in June, he reassured wary voters that the constituency was not a “stepping stone” (to be fair, it was a bit) but a “touchstone”. He meant that the policies his government devised would have to matter on the high streets of Ashton and Hindley Green. “A Makerfield test at the heart of British politics will make sure that the places Westminster has neglected will now get fairness,” he said. As the Commons breaks for the jamboree of high ideas, low gossip and crap karaoke that is party conference season, it’s a good moment to ask how Burnham’s early decisions as prime minister – he’s been at it under two months, right enough – meet that test and what it tells us about his government. I spoke to someone who, since that byelection, has immersed himself in the opinions of Makerfield voters, and those living in constituencies like it, Luke Tryl, UK director of the research agency More in Common. But first the headlines. Five big stories UK news | Shabana Mahmood has described the anti-asylum activist Daniel Thomas as “a far-right and outright racist” who will feel “the full force of the law” if his organisation commits crimes near contested asylum sites such as Piddington. Russia | Russians are going to the polls to elect a new State Duma in a tightly controlled vote stripped of meaningful competition and with little doubt about the result. UK politics | Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company. Royal family | The brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has claimed in published extracts of his new memoir that King Charles sounded “giddily elated – like a lottery winner” in a phone call to him immediately after her death. Nature | A diminutive wild cat that inhabits Bolivia’s ⁠cloud forest has been identified as a previously unknown species, marking the first time a new living feline species has been formally named and described in more than a century. In depth: ‘The top thing for people in Makerfield was that life was a struggle’ “Who cares what Makerfield man or woman thinks? I’m a Holborn and St Pancras via Caerphilly gal myself,” you might be muttering into your overnight oats. But here’s why it matters: Makerfield, like dozens of similar post-industrial seats in the north of England, is the sort of seat Labour used to win so easily they could put up a ham sandwich as a candidate. Things have since changed. The area voted to leave by 65% in the Brexit referendum, and in the May council elections, Reform won all eight council wards in the constituency with about 50% of the vote. In his byelection dispatches from Makerfield, Luke Tryl found a pervasive sense of being left behind and forgotten – despite being “at the centre of the universe”, as one constituent put it, for one frantic month of campaigning. According to the voters Tryl spoke to, the Makerfield test should consist of three elements: Burnham showing that he “gets it”; a record of delivery; and a national plan to address the issues that Makerfield residents share with people across the country. So how has Burnham fared on some of the early challenges he’s faced? Cost of living measures “The top thing we heard in Makerfield was a sense that too much of life was a struggle,” Tryl tells me. And More in Common’s polling has found that, so far, Burnham’s early cost of living measures are very popular across the country: 86% of Britons had heard about the bus fare cap, seven in 10 thought it reflected well on the government; about 8 in 10 had heard about the VAT cut on household electricity bills (amounting to an average of about £45 a year per household), and 67% said that it landed well. Voters in Makerfield-like areas are realistic, says Tryl: “They say: ‘£45 is not going to change my life’, but they see it as a statement of intent”. People who are slightly more engaged with politics specifically mention the budget as a test point: earlier this week Burnham warned of “difficult choices” ahead. The cut-through of these measures to voters is striking: “Part of it is just the ubiquity of Andy Burnham,” says Tryl. Most recent More in Common polling shows people are more likely to have seen him on social media than any of the other party leaders. A fifth of Britons (22%) have seen “Cool Dad” Burnham on social media in the past week, compared to 20% for Reform leader Nigel Farage. I’m fascinated to see that for under-25s that rises to 35%, compared with 13% for Green leader Zack Polanski, who is often touted as catnip for younger voters. Immigration More in Common polling in June estimated that 62% of Makerfield residents consider immigration to be a top issue, making it one of the most concerned constituencies in the country about that issue. Here, Burnham gets a mixed review. The idea of taking in refugees through capped, controlled routes is popular in Makerfield, where voters worry over a lack of control. That’s why Tryl argues that one policy that really does pass the Makerfield test is the community sponsorship scheme, part of Shabana Mahmood’s controversial asylum reforms. But while Burnham has won back Labour-Green switchers over the summer, he’s not been so successful with Labour to Reform defectors – and Tryl believes that’s because he has yet to move the dial on migration. Take, for example, the shift in people’s perceptions: 52% of Britons now cite concern that local women and girls would be at risk of sexual violence as the top reason why they’d oppose asylum accommodation in their area (previously, they were more likely to refer to pressure on services). In socially conservative areas such as Makerfield, voters feel this “much more strongly”. “I think this is an achilles heel”, says Tryl. Prisoner release It’s not just constituencies such as Makerfield where voters think the criminal justice system isn’t tough enough: across the country, nearly two-thirds of Britons think prison sentences are too lenient. “The case of Andrew Harper outrages people across the board,” Tryl tells me, “but particularly in somewhere like Makerfield.” So Burnham played a bad hand well, by explaining the competing priorities to the public, and taking time to examine options before finding a partial solution. “Taking the public on that journey – especially in Makerfield where people are very distrustful of politicians – was important,” says Tryl. Climate Burnham, who is now facing intense pressure over whether to approve oil and gasfields in the North Sea, wrote in the Guardian yesterday that the UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050. While Labour-Reform switchers in places like Makerfield are often deeply worried about climate change, there’s also concern that net zero policies will unfairly punish ordinary people. For many, the issue of climate change falls below more pressing daily concerns like the cost of living crisis. In this context, More in Common’s polling suggests the main test for Britain’s energy policies will be whether they can lower household bills. Party donations Tryl’s fieldwork has found that the public aren’t deeply engrossed in the minutiae of donations limits, although they do want the system to be fair. So Burnham’s early failure to support a domestic cap on donations is unlikely to be a decisive factor when constituents in Makerfield next head to the ballot box. But for the recipient of those crypto-millions, the damage has been done: more than one in three voters now name Farage’s “sleaziness and corruption” as a barrier to them voting Reform. Rather than the party’s core voters, who seem unmoved by the continuing financial scandals, it is Labour-Reform switchers in seats such as Makerfield whose faith has been shaken. But Tryl cautions against over-stressing the issue. “At the next election, if the status quo on cost of living, core public services, andimmigration still feels pretty bad, I don’t think donations in themselves will be an issue” he says. We want to hear from you What do you want to know about the US midterms, and how the Guardian plans to report them? I’ll be putting your questions to our Washington bureau in the coming weeks, so send them in by hitting reply or emailing first.edition@theguardian.com What else we’ve been enjoying I loved our pics gallery of eastern Europe’s socialist hotels, which I hadn’t read about until now. Poppy Noor, newsletters team Cracker of a You be the judge this week: Ayaan lent her brother Ahmed some money thinking it was for something important … then he spent it on a holiday. But does it matter what he did with the cash? Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team I found Zoe Williams’s interview with academic/author/policymaker Camilla Cavendish, on all the reasons we’ve stopped having babies, utterly fascinating. Poppy In case you missed it, make sure you read this viral essay from The Cut (£) on friendless husbands and the wives who try desperately to build social lives for them. Charlie The photos in our piece on the Tate’s Edward Enninful-curated show, c, about how the 90s art and fashion changed British culture, are beautiful and nostalgic. Poppy Sport Cricket | England extended their extraordinary hex over Sri Lanka to a 14th game, Tom Banton and Harry Brook leading them to a six-wicket victory with 47 balls to spare in the second T20 international. Football | Two first-half goals inspired Bournemouth, playing in their first European match, to a 2-1 win against Real Sociedad in the Europa League, while Crystal Palace had a comfortable 4-0 win over Lech Poznan. Athletics | Keely Hodgkinson has lifted the lid on how plans to chase the 800m world record this summer were ruined by a freak accident that her team has likened to whiplash. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now Music Beabadoobee: Pylon | ★★★★☆ The Filipino-British songwriter’s fourth album sprinkles 90s alt fuzz with disarmingly sweet melodies and an impressive host of guests including Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Turnstile’s Brendan Yates. Read Alexis Petridis’s full review. Film Resident Evil (in cinemas now) | ★★★★☆ Weapons director Zach Cregger delivers a seat-edge thriller with a standout lead performance from Austin Abrams as an everyman navigating chaos. Read Jesse Hassenger’s full review. TV 70 Up (ITVX) | ★★★★☆ The landmark documentary series looked like it was done for good – until one participant was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Asif Kapadia takes the helm for its most elegiac, thoughtful outing ever. Read Lucy Mangan’s full review. Games Marvel’s Wolverine | ★★★☆☆ Logan is well realised by Liam McIntyre and some exquisite character art, but there are lapses in narrative and emotional arcs and some of the combat feels like a chore. Read Keith Stuart’s full review. The front pages “UK must fully commit to hitting net zero by 2050, says Burnham”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Telegraph has “Labour’s tax raid on holiday cottages”, and the FT writes “BoE warns of higher rates ahead to tackle rising inflation”. On Earl Spencer’s claims, the Times leads with “Charles was elated after Diana died, earl claims”, the Mail splashes “Queen offered to restore Diana’s HRH … after she died”, the Mirror says “War of words”, and the Sun asks “Why is he doing this to the King now?”. The i Paper runs with “Palace on the defensive after Earl’s new claims against King”, and the Express has “Charles was ‘emphatic we respect Diana’s memory’”. Lastly, Metro says “A royal crisis? What crisis?”. The Latest Taking on Trump? Canada and EU forge closer ties Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has welcomed the EU’s proposal for Canada to become the bloc’s first ‘associate member’, despite threats from Donald Trump over the plan. The US president said Washington could impose ‘very serious tariffs’ or halt trade if the EU went ahead with the plan. But in a defiant speech to the European parliament, Carney called for ‘deep cooperation’ and said polling showed the overwhelming majority of Canadians supported closer ties with Europe. Lucy Hough speaks to Europe correspondent Jon Henley. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad West Yorkshire’s moors include beautiful pinks and purples; boast rich biodiversity and a variety of flora and fauna, and play an important part in tackling the climate crisis. But, before now, much of the area’s rural beauty might have gone unnoticed by the wider public. But, on Saturday morning, the Bradford Pennine Gateway Trail will open, the first reserve of its kind in West Yorkshire. It will showcase the area’s astonishing landscape, and it is hoped that it inspires people to explore more in the region. Writer Chris Moss described a trip to the area as embodying a “ local, low-carbon, cheap-as-chips tourism before the jet age” kind of throwback vibe, adding that the new route could offer “a model for how we travel in the future” Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply