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Andy Burnham’s pledged shake-up of the academic system comes amid a surge in youth sickness benefits |
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Nick Gutteridge Chief Political Correspondent |
For a new Labour leader there are few more sure-fire ways to win an instant popularity boost with your MPs and members than having a pop at Sir Tony Blair.
Andy Burnham will hope that trend continues today as he categorically disowns his predecessor’s drive to get more young people to go to university.
The former Mayor of Manchester will call an end to three decades of promoting higher education as the best route to a well paid job, saying that under his leadership Britain will “value the hard hat every bit as much as the graduation cap”.
In his first major intervention on youth unemployment, he will argue that an overly narrow focus on university has “let down” a generation of young people.
The Prime Minister will instead unveil plans to encourage more pupils as young as 14 to pursue technical qualifications such as bricklaying, nursing and computing, and will get schools to link them up with employers to boost their job prospects.
He will hope that his proposed solutions to what he calls a joblessness “crisis” amongst the young can bring down Britain’s spiralling benefits bill, whilst also signalling to the country that he is the radical reformer voters were promised.
This report is available only to subscribers.
Continuing reading ➤
PM appoints aides from Labour’s most Left-wing faction ➤
Poll puts Labour ahead of Reform ➤
Burnham hints at 10pc death tax on all estates ➤ |
The drone is an advanced version of Iran’s standard Hadid 110 |
Akhtar Makoii Foreign Correspondent |
Iran has added a new weapon to its arsenal that has changed how modern air defences work – and the US may not have enough tools to stop it.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it deployed the weapon for the first time in the last fortnight and fired it towards US bases and warships in the Middle East.
The Telegraph understands that the object is an advanced version of a standard Hadid-110 suicide drone, one that is jet-powered and capable of flying at speeds exceeding 300mph.
Armed with a 30kg warhead and with a 217-mile range, it is designed to reach its target before air defences can react.
The Hadid 110 carries a 30kg warhead |
The drone’s seamless, boltless airframe and radar-absorbing materials make it difficult to detect, while its S-shaped air intake conceals the engine’s fan blades from radar systems.
It launches via a solid-fuel booster, reaching high speed and altitude in seconds before the jet engine ignites. This creates a critical problem for defenders.
Air defence systems work by detecting, tracking, and intercepting incoming threats – a chain that requires time. The Hadid 110’s speed shrinks that window.
The drone gives the IRGC more firepower at a critical time: Iran’s supreme leader is dead and his reclusive successor Mojtaba Khamenei is yet to appear in public, creating a leadership vacuum that threatens to leave the country appearing weakened in the eyes of its adversaries – and vulnerable to internal unrest.
It shows that real authority has drifted towards the men who command the missiles and the drones.
Continue reading ➤ |
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Tony Sewell People from all backgrounds have thrived here because of our pragmatic approach to identity. Now that is under threat Continue reading ➤
Charles Moore Having to sell your house to pay for care isn’t unfair Continue reading ➤
Ysenda Maxtone Graham Cottage pie is finally getting the praise it deserves Continue reading ➤ |
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King Edward VI High School for Girls offers great value for money despite raising its fees |
It’s no secret that private schools are becoming more expensive. A combination of the Government’s tax rises and persistent inflation means that getting good value for money is as pertinent as ever for parents. Here, The Telegraph allows you to compare independent schools in your area, from facilities to academic results, and how they perform compared with local state schools. All you need is your post code. Continue reading ➤ |
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Writer Kate Mulvey met Riccardo Gravina through mutual friends in Sicily earlier this year |
Resigned to a midlife of iced Horlicks and single pillows, Kate Mulvey assumed her romantic sell-by date had passed. Then a trip to Sicily led to a terrace overlooking Mount Etna, and Riccardo, a 67-year-old poet bearing arancini. What began as a cautious holiday fling soon reignited a passion she thought had been lost forever. Continue reading ➤ |
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The Duchess insisted she be introduced as ‘Meghan’ on MasterChef Australia |
The Duchess of Sussex benevolently dropped by the Masterchef Australia quarter-final, which aired on Sunday night, to tell us mere mortals how we should be living, writes Marianka Swain. By parading her veggie-loving children and doting husband, the Duchess’s preachy cameo offered a masterclass in tone-deaf smugness. Continue reading ➤ |
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Firefighters battle wildfires in Gironde, south-western France |
The Online Right is going wrong, eschewing compassion or charm, talking itself into corners of angry irrelevance, writes Tim Stanley. Take climate change. This is no longer a matter of speculation: the wildfires of Europe, pitiless and persistent, are the way we live now. Global warming – yes, we can call it that – is killing things conservatives claim to love. Farming. Rural tradition. Millions of French chickens, the poor things practically boiled alive.
Continue reading ➤
French flee for their lives as wildfires ravage homes ➤ |
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Holidaymakers look on as wildfires blaze on the shores of Lake Lacanau, France |
Many prospective holidaymakers have contacted me asking what to do if they are booked to travel to south-west France, where devastating wildfires have taken hold, writes Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent. My advice depends on the destination and how the trip was booked. Here are the essentials you need to know, whether you are in the region at the moment or plan to travel in the near future.
Continue reading ➤
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Family doesn’t always come first
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Lizzie Newton |
We’ve all been sold the comforting belief that family comes first. It’s a sentiment repeated so often it acquires the status of moral law, nestled somewhere between “honesty is the best policy” and “don’t text your ex”.
The older I get, the less convinced I am.
Family matters enormously, but not because shared DNA automatically makes someone the most important person in your life. The people who shape us the most are often those with no obligation to stay.
I learnt the true value of friendship when my mum died. We’re told familial love is unconditional, and that in times of hardship, family translates to a cocoon of comfort that’ll be ready on speed dial. Sadly, I discovered that it has its limitations.
While I didn’t initially hear a word from some of my relatives – perhaps because they “didn’t know what to say” – it was my 25-year-old friend Mollie who stepped up.
After a week of exhausting night shifts working as a doctor in Bristol, Mollie drove 225 miles across the country to be with us. I hadn’t asked her to come. There was nothing she needed to do. She came because she wanted to be there. It’s an act of selflessness that I’ll never forget.
Unlike family, friends have escape routes and exit clauses. They are not bound by blood, shared surnames or the underlying contract to attend the Boxing Day walk. The relationship is a subscription renewed daily, not an inheritance accepted at birth.
Every day, someone wakes up, considers your values, your questionable humour, your irritating tendency to send voice notes instead of texts and decides that life would be better with you still in it. That is surely one of the greatest compliments a person can receive.
Friendship even masquerades as family. Enter “Aunty” Lynda, whom I discovered was not, in fact, a blood relative, but my mum’s close friend from school. A universal experience, I assume – or is it just a northern thing?
None of this is to disparage family. Most of us are fortunate enough to love ours, and of course, relatives can also walk out the door and never look back. There is something uniquely powerful about relationships built entirely by choice. Biology explains where we come from, but it says little about who actually deserves our loyalty.
Family gives us our beginnings, while friends, more often than not, shape the people we become.
Do you agree with Lizzie? Send your replies here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter. |
Dinner is served!While Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, is away, Joe Burgis is on hand to share an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Joe writes:
As a recent convert to trifle, I had to disagree with Jane Shilling’s claim that retro food, which includes other classics like prawn cocktail and duck à l’orange, is revolting. Indeed, just hours before reading her article, I could be found guzzling vol-au-vents at a family party.
I was glad to discover that readers were with me. Brian Cole wrote: “Last weekend we celebrated 50 years since we purchased our house. We had a wonderful time with the family in the garden, enjoying cheese and pineapple, devilled eggs and the most wonderful black forest gateau from M&S.”
These dishes aren’t just party food, Paula Sivil argued: “I scoffed a family trifle at the weekend, enjoying it over three days. I also love home-made rice pudding. Nothing wrong with ‘a bit of what you fancy’ if you ask me.” Quite right!
I grew up hearing stories about the glorious pies of my father’s youth, to which no effort has come close in the ensuing decades, so I enjoyed Evert Dax’s contribution: “In my university days in the 1960s, I had a vac job near Bristol. The owner of the house where I stayed used to make the most delicious steak pies. I’ve never had anything like them since.”
Finally, be careful not to leave certain retro foods unattended. Diana Hitchcock sent a cautionary tale: “In 1917 my mother, aged six, was carried home drunk after finishing up the sherry at the bottom of a bowl of trifle at a children’s party.” That’s all from me, folks. I’ll be back tomorrow to bring you the best Telegraph talking points. In the meantime, send your responses here and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1886 | Conservative government led by Lord Salisbury forms
1948 | Flying Squad foils a bullion robbery in the so-called Battle of London Airport
1959 | Britain begins using postal codes
1977 | Ian Botham makes his debut for England, taking five for 74 against Australia at Trent Bridge (and our main sports page covering his performance can be seen below)
Birthdays: Harry Kane (33), Hannah Waddingham (52), Aléxis Tsípras (52)
A volunteer known as “Mop Man” has become one of the stars at the Commonwealth Games after breaking into a dance routine. At which event did he rise to fame?
‘Mop Man’ becomes Commonwealth Games star with Queen dance routine |
1. Weightlifting
2. Netball
3. Cycling
4. Bowls |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was CHOCOLATY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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