Burnham hands missile blueprints to Ukraine

Graduates face worst jobs market on record | The man who cycled 6,000 miles across the world for love

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Monday, 24 August 2026 Issue No. 547

Good morning. Andy Burnham will give Ukraine his biggest show of support so far when he makes his first visit to the country as Prime Minister today. Burnham will hand Kyiv the blueprints for Storm Shadow missiles to allow production of the vital weapons closer to the front line. However, as Joe Barnes, our Diplomatic Editor, reports, the move will place further strain on Britain’s already fractured relationship with Russia. Elsewhere, the number of job vacancies for graduates plummeted to a record low in July, falling more than 45 per cent in a year. As an unprecedented number of young people prepare to begin undergraduate studies next month, it is a bleak indicator of what awaits them on the other side. Chris Evans, Editor P.S. As a valued reader, we’re giving you a year of The Telegraph for just £29 when you join us today. If you’re already a subscriber, make sure you’re logged in to read today’s stories.   In today’s edition Police officer killed in head-on crash was Iraq war veteran — Branson’s plan to make Eurostar feel like a second-class service — Plus, ‘I’m becoming a super-mover in my 60s to live longer’

Burnham hands Storm Shadow blueprints to Ukraine Joe Barnes Diplomatic Editor   Andy Burnham will hand Ukraine the blueprints for Storm Shadow missiles on his first visit to the country as Prime Minister today. He has agreed to release classified information on British components so Kyiv can manufacture the long-range weapons locally for use in its war against Russia. The latest show of support will be announced as Burnham and other world leaders descend on the Ukrainian capital to mark the 35th anniversary of the country’s independence from the Soviet Union. The Prime Minister will meet Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, and chair a meeting of the coalition of the willing. The Storm Shadow missile has a specialist penetrating warhead designed to destroy hardened and buried targets from long range France had agreed to hand Ukraine the blueprints for its Scalp-EG, the export name for Storm Shadow missiles, as part of a wider defence deal struck in July. However, Ukraine’s ability to manufacture the missile domestically hinged on Britain’s decision to allow the European missile maker MBDA to release sensitive information on British-made components. The decisions by Britain and France to entrust Ukraine with sensitive blueprints could convince other Western allies to follow suit. The British move to push through Ukrainian production of Scalp-EG will probably trigger a further deterioration in diplomatic relations with Moscow. Yesterday, the Kremlin revealed that it had withdrawn Andrei Kelin, its long-serving ambassador to London, after seven years in the country. Continue reading ➤ Russia sabotages weapons factories across Europe ➤   Graduates face worst jobs market on record Tim Wallace Deputy Economics Editor   Britain’s graduates are facing the bleakest jobs market on record, with the number of vacancies aimed at university leavers plunging 45 per cent in a year. Only 8,383 graduate roles were advertised in July, down 85 per cent from the peak in 2017. The slump comes as unprecedented numbers of teenagers prepare to head to university, with 262,820 18-year-olds securing places this autumn. It raises fresh questions over the value of a degree as young people face fierce competition for entry-level jobs, and AI increasingly takes on the routine work that once gave graduates their first rung on the career ladder. The average advertised graduate salary has fallen to £25,813, which is roughly equivalent to full-time work on the minimum wage. Meanwhile, youth unemployment has climbed above 16 per cent, with more than a million young people neither working nor studying. Employers blame rising costs, including higher National Insurance and the national living wage, for their decision to cut back on entry-level recruitment. The figures will add to pressure on Andy Burnham, who has backed a greater focus on technical qualifications as an alternative to university, to tackle the problem. Continue reading ➤   Opinion Richard Kemp Iran is at war with us. We must be at war with them Intelligence that said the chance of an Iranian cyber attack on British infrastructure was ‘unlikely’ was clearly faulty Continue reading ➤     Matthew Lynn This $2tn public listing will put Europe to shame Continue reading ➤     William Sitwell I can’t wait to mow my lawn again. How else can a man get some peace? Continue reading ➤   To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. In other news • Only 1,500 men in England are to be offered prostate cancer screening, with thousands at high risk of the disease in danger of “being left invisible”. • Gary Lineker has shared a social media post linking Zionism to the Nazis. He reposted a video of Tony Greenstein, an anti-Zionist who was cleared last week of inviting support for Hamas. • English cricket has become embroiled in another drinking episode after Brydon Carse was led away from a nightclub in handcuffs by police. Watch the full video here. • Civil servants from one of the Government’s largest departments have been paid more than £600,000 to help cover their heating bills while working from home, The Telegraph can reveal. • Finally, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are keeping their chickens in California, but will bring their dogs Mia and Pula with them when they arrive in Britain this week. The chickens will be looked after by household staff in the Sussexes’ absence   Your essential reads Police officer killed in head-on crash was Iraq war veteran In the early hours of Saturday morning, seven people, including two policemen, were killed in a collision near Middlesborough. The Telegraph understands that one of the officers, Pc Tom Clough, was an Iraq war veteran. Daisy Graham-Brown and Neil Johnston report as the former soldier’s family pay tribute to him online. Continue reading ➤ Apparently self-filmed footage, showing one of the five people who died in the car that crashed into the police vehicle driving recklessly a few months ago, has emerged. Watch the footage here ➤   Britain’s equality boss: ‘We treated people who disagreed with us as stupid and wrong’ Mary-Ann Stephenson has been described as “anti-trans”, rejected by parliamentary committees and forced from her office after activists smashed the windows. However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission chairman is not backing down. In a forthright interview, she explains why single-sex spaces must be protected and where the equality movement has gone wrong. Continue reading ➤   Richard Branson’s plan to make Eurostar feel like a second-class service Eurostar has enjoyed a 31-year monopoly on trains through the Channel tunnel. Now Richard Branson wants to blow it apart, promising a dose of Virgin Atlantic pizzazz, more capacity and cheaper fares. With Virgin’s trains set to come on board in 2030, Europe’s rail revolution might finally reach Britain. For subscribers only ➤   The man who cycled 6,000 miles across the world for love In 1975, a young Indian street artist called PK drew a portrait of Lotta, a 19-year-old Swedish student who was visiting Delhi. They fell in love, and Lotta promised to return to India when she had finished her studies. When she didn’t come back, PK decided to go to her by the only means available to him – bicycle. Fifty years on, writes Jessamy Calkin, I met the delightful couple at their home in Sweden and heard the remarkable story of PK’s four-month, 6,000-mile journey. Continue reading ➤   Seize the day ‘I’m becoming a super-mover in my 60s to live longer’ Do you know your walking speed? With a new study finding that super-movers have a lower risk of dementia and younger biological ages, perhaps it’s time to find out, writes Liz Hoggard. I consulted experts, who revealed how to do the five-minute test and shared their top tips for improving your speed and longevity. For subscribers only ➤ Here is another article that I hope you’ll find useful this morning: As the sun sets on this long, hot summer, here are the 20 TV shows to look forward to this autumn.   CAPTION COMPETITION WITH... Matt Pritchett Cartoonist   Hello! In honour of the drought ending, we have a lovely rainy scene this week. Good luck to all, and congratulations to Philip McKinley, who made us laugh with his pirate entry below. Submit your caption here ➤ P.S. For an inside look at what inspires my weekly cartoons, you can sign up for my personal newsletter here. Catch up on last week’s here.   Your say The stuff of dreams or nightmares? 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... “Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs.” Bill says this to Jake, trying to persuade him to buy a stuffed dog, in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, a scene that has stuck with me. Jake passes up the chance, and so, I imagine, would Stephen Bayley, who wrote last week that “taxidermy is the worst kind of mawkish Fulhamite kitsch”. Readers weren’t so sure. Keith Gubbin mounted a stout defence of the art: “I have elegantly mounted antlers and horns of some 13 animals, the most memorable of a hunting career spanning four decades and three continents. By our fire, I have the bills of two marlin, caught off the coast of Angola, and the bill of a broadbill swordfish caught off the Darién Gap. None of these is remotely ‘mawkish’ or ‘moth-eaten’. They make much remarked-upon additions to our walls.” Hemingway would surely approve.   John Cooper recalled: “In 1972, my late wife Julia and I bought a house called Two Jays. A while later, we found two stuffed jays in a charity shop in Malvern. We bought them and put them on a shelf in my office, where they stood for many years, until one day she could bear them no longer and they were sold.”   In Steve Tremlett’s case, a similar purchase proved more enduring: “About 25 years ago we bought a Victorian cased fish at an antiques fair. It suited the decor of our 200-year-old Somerset cottage nicely, and we named it Michael. Fifteen years later, we moved to a more modern housing estate – not a natural setting for a stuffed fish. However, it has survived all decluttering and redecorating projects, so it looks like Michael is here to stay.”   Martin Bazeley added: “My 94-year-old mother recalls that her grandfather shot, stuffed and mounted two kingfishers. Unthinkable though this is now, one has to admit that he must have been a fine shot.”   Yes, this feels like an art that might not sit easily with today’s concern for animal welfare. However, Angus Jacobsen still sees the value in it: “Whenever my farming activities leave a decent profit, I open up my deep freeze and take out one or more of the animals and birds that I have found as roadkill, and get my taxidermist to do his work. I have a fox, stoat, woodcock, buzzard, robin for the Christmas table and a female sparrowhawk. The latter is mounted so it is swooping on a dunnock, its eyes focused on its prey. Getting close to such animals leaves one amazed at the wonder of nature. In the past 30 years, I have shown these wonders to many hundreds of people of all ages and backgrounds.” That’s all from me folks. I’ll be back tomorrow to bring you the best Telegraph talking points. In the meantime, you can contact me here. Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name.   On this day 1814 | British forces capture and burn Washington DC during the War of 1812 1949 | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) comes into being 1991 | Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 2023 | Donald Trump surrenders at Fulton County Jail to be arrested and gets a mugshot (you can see our coverage of this below) Birthdays: Rupert Grint (38), Jared Harris (65), Stephen Fry (69) Plus, in the news today, a hiker in Italy has been criticised by the country’s alpine rescue service for climbing a mountain dressed in swimming shorts and which type of footwear? 1. Socks 2. Crocs 3. Stilettos 4. Flip-flops Click one of the options to reveal the answer...   Puzzles 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 The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.   Yesterday’s Panagram was CRINOLINE. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle.   Please let me know what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor

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