UK - Four in 10 new babies had at least one foreign-born parent last year, official figures show. A total of 40.4 per cent of live births in Britain were to families with at least one parent not from the UK in 2024, up from 35.1 per cent in 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It follows a surge in net migration after the Tories loosened the rules following Brexit. The number of people moving to Britain hit a record high of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023. “The fact that more than one in three babies in England and Wales are now born to one or both parents who were born outside the UK should ring very loud alarm bells in Westminster. It raises profound questions about our identity, culture, way of life, and how we are going to hold our nation-state together over the longer term”.

UK - Low and middle-income households are being forced to divert more of their earnings into essentials. Millions of hard-pressed families are suffering a ‘comfort crunch’ as rising energy bills and everyday costs eat up nearly half their disposable income. A study by the Resolution Foundation reveals that low and middle-income households are being forced to divert more of their earnings into essentials like food, clothing, transport, and utilities, leaving less for holidays, meals out and other life pleasures. The biggest culprit is energy costs – which are now 150% higher in real terms than in 2000 – with annual bills more than £2,000 despite households cutting back. Among better-off families, the rise has been more modest – from 37-41% – exposing how Britain’s poorest are being hit hardest by the ongoing squeeze.

GREECE - Greece is suffering from an olive oil crisis as weather conditions across the Mediterranean have destroyed production. The climate impacts have become so severe that people are resulting to stealing olives. Olives have been a staple for thousands of years in Greece as the trees thrive in dry climates. Greece is one of the world's top olive producers, using it to produce high-quality extra virgin oil. The country exports over $1 billion (approx £729 million) worth of oil every year. However, climate impacts have left farmers struggling to prevent the trees from becoming too dry, as well as concerned about the growing risk of wildfires, which burned over 11,000 acres of olive orchards in 2024. Modern Greeks largely rely on olive oil for cooking, more so than residents of any other country, with each Greek using around 5 gallons of olive oil a year for it. It also makes up a huge 25% of the country's agriculture and 7% of its GDP.

MIDDLE EAST - Activists in this country are conveniently ignoring a huge piece of the problem Gazans face. Heroic Ahmed al-Masri recently led Palestinian protests against the ruinous rule of Hamas in Gaza. But pictures, last week, revealed he had his legs and feet broken by Hamas thugs in order to frighten others into not objecting to their tyrannical rule that has led to the utter destruction of Gaza. And yet, still simple-minded Westerners continue to march in support of the terrorist group that targets its own people in a murderous campaign of intimidation. The idiot children of the liberal elite waving Palestinian flags at Glastonbury should take note of the following. The last election in Gaza was held in 2006 and since then Hamas has become increasingly unpopular, crushing any dissent with extreme brutality. Why is this truth not more widely broadcast? It might actually dent the idiocy of those thousands of young people who think it’s cool and virtuous to march in support of this murderous death-cult.

MIDDLE EAST - US president urges Hamas to also accept deal ‘for the good of the Middle East’. Israel has agreed to the terms of a ceasefire agreement intended to end the war in Gaza, Donald Trump has claimed. The president announced on social media that Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed in principle to a 60-day break in the fighting, following long meetings between top US and Israeli officials on Monday. Although the full details of the proposed deal are unclear, it is thought to involve the release of some of the approximately 20 remaining living hostages and an increase in humanitarian aid to be delivered straight into population centres. During this time, discussions would also be held about ending the war for good. Mr Trump urged Hamas to accept the proposal on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday evening. “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better – IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

USA - The Pentagon has halted some shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low, two people familiar with the decision said on Tuesday. The slowing of some weapons shipments promised to Kyiv by former President Joe Biden's administration came in recent days, they said, adding that air defense interceptors to help knock down Russian drones and projectiles are among the items delayed. In an email, the Pentagon said it was providing President Donald Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine in line with the goal of ending Russia's war there. "At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving US forces' readiness for administration defense priorities," said Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary for policy.

UK - Civil servants have published a 150-page dossier on how to use the dot in the Government’s new £500,000 website logo. The Whitehall communications diktat explains the significance of the dot in the logo for GOV.UK, the Government’s main website, with detailed instructions on its “brand guidelines”. As part of a rebrand of the site, the full stop between the words “GOV” and “UK” has been moved upwards from its position at the bottom of the letters to halfway between them. The idea is explained in the guidance as a “concept” that can act as “the bridge between government 
and the UK, by the side of users to help make information and services easier and more useful”. The guidance – which at 150 pages is longer than the most recent Strategic Defence Review (144 pages) and three times as long as the recent National Security Strategy (55 pages) – gives examples of how the dot could be used. The reinvention of the dot is one part of a £500,000 upgrade to the Government’s digital identity.

USA - Renowned radio host, filmmaker, book author and archeological dig expert Steve Quayle is saying the recent wins in the Supreme Court on nationwide injunctions, Biden autopen scandal and Iran nuke program bombings are all setting America up for very hard times. The Deep State globalists are increasingly desperate and will now have to turn to more violent warfare to destroy America. Quayle says, “Everyone should learn the term ‘asymmetrical warfare.’ This is what you see when you are talking terrorism, refineries blowing up and wildfires being started at a much higher pace than ever before.

VATICAN - Pope Leo XIV once again echoed his call for unity within the Catholic Church on Friday after years of political and liturgical division. The pope made the comments at St Peter’s Basilica as part of this year’s Holy Year week celebrations dedicated to the clergy. Pope Leo XIV urged priests not only to act in conciliation and obedience with their superiors, but also to model such obedience. “Today, I share this desire once more with all of you,” the pope said, recalling the message of unity he shared with the faithful after his ascent to the papacy on May 8. The pontiff then quoted St Augustine to stress the point of unity among priests and bishops: “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian.” Finding a pope who would heal the divisions within the church was a prominent theme of the conclave that ultimately led to Cardinal Prevost becoming Pope Leo XIV.

USA - Trump’s mad that Japan ships millions of cars to the US but won’t return the favor. His fix? Japan should start buying a whole lot more American oil and other stuff to shrink the trade gap. Meanwhile, Japan is in full panic mode, trying to dodge a brutal 24% tariff starting July 9, on top of the 25% they’re already dealing with.

USA - The US dollar just keeps getting weaker and weaker, and that is a major problem because our current standard of living depends on having a strong dollar. When the US dollar is strong relative to other national currencies, our paychecks stretch farther and we can buy more stuff. Conversely, when the US dollar is weak relative to other national currencies we can’t buy as much stuff and our standard of living goes down. So the fact that the US dollar is “having its worst start to the year since 1973” should deeply alarm all of us…

USA - Two public statements to compare and contrast. The first, from John Swinney, in the aftermath of the US bunker-bomb attack on Iran’s nuclear sites: “I share the concerns of Scots about the events in Iran… That’s why I have made a strong plea for every resource of the international community to be deployed to de-escalate the situation and to get the world to step back from the brink.” The second, from President Trump, as Israel and Iran swapped missile attacks: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”

UK - As we know, Sir Keir Starmer is planning to give the vote to 16 year-olds. According to some radical thinkers, however, that’s simply not good enough. Because they say we should give the vote to all children – including babies. This fascinating proposal was examined at the weekend by the The Guardian – which concluded that the arguments for it are “hard to refute”. It cited John Wall, a political philosopher, who thinks it’s “unjust that up to a third of the population [is] excluded from the democratic process”. It also cited Clémentine Beauvais, an education researcher, who says children are good at asking important questions about major issues, such as “war”, “money” and “meat”. And it cited Harry Pearse, another researcher, who believes that five-year-old voters would add “some healthy chaos” to “the system”. Come election time, politicians would be constantly lurking outside playparks and primary schools, in the hope of buttering up infant voters with pledges of later bedtimes and free sweets on the NHS.

USA - Therapy-speak has taken over our language. It is ruining how we talk about romance and relationships, narrowing how we think about hurt and suffering, and now, we are losing the words for who we are. Nobody has a personality anymore. In a therapeutic culture, every personality trait becomes a problem to be solved. Anything too human — every habit, every eccentricity, every feeling too strong — has to be labelled and explained. And this inevitably expands over time, encompassing more and more of us, until nobody is normal. Some say young people are making their disorders their whole personality. No; it’s worse than that. Now they are being taught that their normal personality is a disorder. This is part of a deeper instinct in modern life, I think, to explain everything. But in exchange for explanation, we lost mystery, romance, and lately, I think, ourselves.

UK - Starmer’s U-turn on welfare cuts now makes the UK’s coming reckoning irreversible. Make a note of last Friday’s date: June 27 2025. It was the day that Britain’s coming financial crisis became inescapable. In backing away from his attempt to slow, however feebly, the rise in benefits spending, Sir Keir Starmer was signalling to the world that Labour would never bring Britain’s budget back into balance. The storm might break in 2026 or 2027 or even later. Labour politicians will do everything in their power to postpone the reckoning. But debts are not just paper liabilities; they end up being recovered. Starmer might manage to limp on until the next election, a prisoner of the 400 standard-issue big-government Labour MPs who want him to stick to the Corbynite policies on which he was elected party leader. Either way, Labour itself is finished. Last week will be remembered as the moment when its MPs took the decision to check out.