China’s trade surplus hits record $1.2tn in 2025 Exports soar as world’s second-largest economy shakes off Trump tariff threat

China’s trade surplus hits record $1.2tn in 2025 ft.trib.al/4Ff2X1R

Firm linked to Baroness Michelle Mone must pay £122m after breaching Covid PPE contract, judge rules The government wins its case against PPE Medpro - part of a consortium led by Baroness Mone's husband - after it supplied non-compliant gowns in 2020.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cy...

For receiving £122 million of govt funds for unusable PPE – at least £65 million of which went straight into your venal husband’s offshore accounts in the Isle of Man?

For being one of a small minority of corrupt grifters who saw a global pandemic as nothing more than a chance to get rich quick?

This is the judgment on the PPE/Medpro claim.

A cracking £122m win for the Government Legal Service

And is wonderful to see the government bringing a claim in contract against a shoddy supplier.

This does not happen often, and it should happen far more.

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...

Celebrating Maureen Duffy, a true pioneer | The Observer Older women writers are too often overlooked. My new Royal Society of Literature prize aims to change that – starting with Duffy, a literary trailblazer ...

Bravo to Bernadine Evaristo for setting up the RSL Pioneer Prize for older women writers, and for naming the working-class-born playright, poet, novelist, nonfiction writer, and activist Maureen Duffy as its first recipient.
observer.co.uk/culture/book...

How Botswana eliminated paediatric HIV Political will, free maternity care and digital health tools helped Botswana achieve high standards for ending mother-to-child transmission.

Amidst all the daily bad news, here is some good news to lift up your week!

Botswana eliminates paediatric HIV

www.nature.com/articles/d44...

What a lovely read on trade politics - written by a devastatingly handsome chap … @explaintrade.com

💊The NHS is battling "medieval" levels of untreated illness in some of Britain's poorest communities – at a cost to the health service of about £50bn a year, or the same as the defence budget.

My big read from Barrow, Blackpool, Burnley and Blackburn:

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Trump and Iran: ‘They know not what they do’ Recent history is littered with disasters rooted in leaders’ ignorance; Trump’s Iran debacle shows he hasn’t learned the lesson

Trump and Iran: ‘They know not what they do’

Recent history is littered with disasters rooted in leaders’ ignorance; Trump’s Iran debacle shows he hasn’t learned the lesson

By J 'Masharubu' Strauss

@yorkshirebylines.co.uk

things can be good

controversial, I know

AI art protection tools still leave creators at risk Popular tools meant to protect artists from AI misuse can be bypassed, researchers warn in new study

Artists thought tools like Glaze and NightShade would block AI from 'scraping' their work. But researchers have now found they can be bypassed. Creatives are still vulnerable to having their work stolen.

@eastangliabylines.co.uk

Lizard shampoo, bloodletting and other wellness tips from the Middle Ages Curiosity about health trends is not a modern-day phenomenon, academics reveal, as they uncover medieval texts sharing dietary regimes and medical advice

'Historians at St Andrews...led the research, which involved several European universities...it has redefined existing assumptions about medicine in the early medieval period....Their work means the known number of manuscripts from the first millennium containing medical texts...has doubled.' 1/2

🚨🚨God, in pure hysterical delusional 'Telegraph' style Sean Thomas has mastered the craft of writing one of the worst columns of the week.

Needless to say, 1) No, #bluesky is far from dying, 2) #Twitter/X is nastier than everything on social media (excluding the porn sites).

Time to appreciate Tom Lehrer … again tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/u...

John Deere Must Face FTC Lawsuit Over Its Tractor Repair Monopoly, Judge Rules Deere now must face two different major lawsuits over the repairability of its tractors.

New: A judge refuses to throw out the FTC's repair monopoly lawsuit against John Deere. Means two major antitrust suits over its repair practices are going to trial, which is a big deal:

www.404media.co/john-deere-m...

Mapping the ‘National Estate for Nature’ – and what it should do next This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Image: the Lulworth Ranges in Dorset, on a long lease from the Weld Estate to the Ministry of Defence. Back in March, the Government announced it was forming a new &#…

In March, Ministers launched the ‘National Estate for Nature’ group – bringing together some of England's largest landowners to do more to restore nature.

I've now mapped what these landowners own - & set out what the National Estate for Nature should do next 1/

whoownsengland.org/2025/06/10/m...

AI plundering scripts poses ‘direct threat’ to UK screen sector, says BFI Film institute’s report raises fears AI will eliminate junior roles in film, TV, video game and special effects industries

'In a wide-ranging report analysing the benefits and threats posed by AI to the UK’s film, TV, video game and visual special effects industries, the BFI also raises fears that automation will eliminate the entry-level jobs that bring in the next generation of workers.' 1/2

EXCLUSIVE: Osborne to give Elgin Marbles to Greece | Parliament Square | The Critic Magazine The Critic understands that George Osborne, Chairman of the British Museum, has agreed to give the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The move is unlikely to be blocked by the Government since the Prime…

thecritic.co.uk/exclusive-os...

Using the legal fiction of a permanent loan. The only moral approach for the UK at this current time.

The ECHR needs practical reform Conservatives who say the UK should withdraw from the ECHR have the wrong solution to a political problem

NEW

The European Convention on Human Rights needs practical reform, not quitting

Why the Conservatives have the wrong solution to a political problem

By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Yale-NUS’ book dumping was a tiny crime against culture A library is not a fast-fashion store. You don’t discard last season’s items because nobody wanted them, says Andrew Hui

'Last month...something else happened in academia: Yale-NUS College, a liberal arts college founded by the National University of Singapore and Yale University in 2012, quietly ceased to exist. And with it, thousands of books and DVDs disappeared.'

It’s complicated, and that’s the problem no one wants to face A number of stories suggest a common thread this morning. Elon Musk has walked away from Trumpo and the US government, having very obviously failed. And now he's turned on Trump (as I predicted he wo...

It’s complicated, and that’s the problem no one wants to face www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... Government decision-making is hard. And no one wants to admit it, hence the mess we are in.

Men are extremely keen to explain to me that Britain *needs* a domestic steel production plant and doesn't necessarily *need* universities. Okay. Steel contributed about £1.7bn to the UK economy in 2024. Universities contributed more than £200bn.

Britain has no idea - in terms of its self-image, not economists obviously - what economy it actually has

One of my favourite facts to point out is: at over £8bn annually, the *videogames industry* is more than twice as valuable to the UK economy as fishing and steel combined.

But it also sends a critical message about the value of fundamental and translational scientific research. The work that led to this breakthrough, using "genetic scissors" to repair a faulty gene, began in laboratories pursuing basic science and was later adapted for therapeutic use. If we are to safeguard the breakthroughs of the future, governments must recognise and protect the pipelines that lead from curiosity-driven investigation to real-world benefit.

On the value of investing in curiosity driven research - which in this case contributed to the personalised gene therapy for a rare disease
on.ft.com/45rXI50 @anjahuja.bsky.social

Nigel Farage Is Voters' Last Choice To Be Prime Minister, Poll Shows He's behind Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and even Kemi Badenoch.

As Nigel Farage sets out his plans to become the next prime minister, a YouGov poll drops showing voters would rather have Starmer, Davey and Badenoch in No.10 rather than him.

Story by @katenicholson.bsky.social 👇

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nigel-...

US Copyright Office director sues Trump administration over firing The U.S. Copyright Office director fired by the Trump administration sued President Donald Trump and other government officials on Thursday, arguing her firing was unconstitutional and should not be allowed to take effect.

Woah, US Copyright Office (USCO) Director is suing the Administration for her firing!

Also this is a great opportunity to share the @authorsguild.bsky.social open petition to reinstate Shira Perlmutter as the USCO Director that I think everyone should sign 🔥

authorsguild.org/petition-to-...

After Trump Firings, Who Will Lead the Library of Congress? The Copyright Office? It's Complicated After the shock firings of Carla Hayden and Shira Perlmutter, the future of the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office remains in flux.

"Overlooked in the outrage over Perlmutter's firing is that Congress, *with the support of the publishing industry,* voted to hand the Copyright Office over to Trump in 2017" [emphasis ours].

Didn't pass, but...

www.wordsandmoney.com/after-trump-...

@mrjamesob.bsky.social on very good form this morning on #Brexit 😅😅

Today’s UK-EU summit is a big moment, a new chapter for the relationship, even while there won’t be full and final agreements, and much will be left out. Yet as late haggles show, difficulties aren’t going away, and both sides are still struggling… thread (with apologies...)

The Measure of Progress by Diane Coyle — has GDP run its course? News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

The Measure of Progress by Diane Coyle — has GDP run its course?

www.ft.com/content/3008152a-4c8a-4e...