Starmer expected to announce departure on Monday as growing numbers of MPs back Burnham for PM – UK politics live 21. June 2026 (11:45) Business secretary says PM spending the weekend ‘making time to reflect on the political realities’ he facesKeir Starmer expected to announce departure as prime minister on MondaySome commentators have said Andy Burnham is just a better communicator than Keir Starmer, but have questioned how different he is on policy.The Guardian’s policy editor, Kiran Stacey, has helpfully looked at the political projects a Burnham government would likely pursue in this useful explainer: Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Keir Starmer expected to announce departure as prime minister on Monday 21. June 2026 (11:03) Business secretary says Starmer is reflecting on ‘political realities’ amid overwhelming pressure from MPsUK politics – live updatesKeir Starmer is expected to announce on Monday that he will step down as prime minister, after overwhelming pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham to become Labour leader.Speaking for the government on Sunday, Peter Kyle, the business secretary, refused to comment on Starmer’s specific plans but said the prime minister was aware of the “political realities” and would do what was best for the country. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Condemned to plutocracy? The relentless rise of US inequality 21. June 2026 (10:00) Elon Musk is a beneficiary of America’s lopsided prosperity – does the country have any appetite for redistribution?As Barack Obama’s presidency was coming to a close, Jason Furman, then chairman of the president’s council of economic advisers, laid out the strides his administration had made to curb the nation’s exorbitant income inequality in “the largest investments in reducing inequality since the Great Society”.Indeed, by the end of 2016, taxes and transfers cut the share of income accruing to the richest 1% of households by just over a fifth, according to estimates from the congressional budget office (CBO), more than under any government since at least Jimmy Carter’s. They raised the slice of income going to the poorest fifth from 3.9% to 7.9%, the highest share since at least 1979.Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Sweat, tears and camaraderie as 20,000 runners take on world’s largest ultramarathon 21. June 2026 (10:00) For one day every June, South Africa’s searing racial inequality seems to melt away at Comrades raceIn the early morning dark, thousands of runners waited, jostling with anticipation. South Africa’s national anthem rang out. Then the haunting swell of Shosholoza, first sung by Zimbabwean migrant workers in South Africa’s goldmines. Finally, that unmistakable, spine-tingling piano: Chariots of Fire.Runners gather before the start of the marathon Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Canada’s policies force asylum seekers into US to face deportation, critics say 21. June 2026 (09:00) Advocates say the Safe Third Country Agreement forces immigrants to head to an unsafe country: the United StatesIt was the threat of gang violence in Honduras that pushed Carlos and Antonia to flee their home. In 2021, with their toddler, Alejandro, and a handful of belongings, the married couple ventured north hoping to reach safety in the US.The journey, through Guatemala and Mexico, was filled with danger and uncertainty Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Build Vice City’: the GTA 6 scam that’s hitting Grand Theft Auto fans 21. June 2026 (08:00) Bank details at risk as criminals use AI to create fake sites and emails offering pre-release beta test versionLike millions of gamers around the world, you have been waiting years for Grand Theft Auto VI to be released. Now you have the opportunity to play the much-anticipated game before everyone else.An email has arrived inviting you to play a pre-release “beta” version of the game so that you can alert the makers to any bugs before its official release later this year. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
From the US-Mexico border to protests in Poland: highlights of PhotoEspaña 2026 21. June 2026 (08:00) Spain’s leading festival of photography showcases the work of more than 300 visual artists in nearly 100 exhibitions across the countryPhotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists.From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Film producer’s 50 firms struck off companies register, leaving workers unable to chase fees 21. June 2026 (08:00) Scores of Alan Latham’s firms were removed by Companies House, including one set up for movie starring Liz HurleyA prolific film producer, whose projects have starred the likes of Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer and Four Weddings and a Funeral’s Anna Chancellor, has had scores of his production businesses forcibly removed from the UK’s companies register, leaving workers unable to chase unpaid fees.Alan Latham, whose low-budget films have previously raised questions over his use of tax credits, has seen 50 of his film businesses compulsorily struck off by Companies House, according to data compiled by the film workers’ union, Bectu. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘There’s no jobs’: struggle and regret in a Welsh town that backed Brexit 21. June 2026 (07:00) Ten years ago Ebbw Vale had the highest proportion of leave voters in Wales despite huge EU funding, which has not been fully replacedWhere Ebbw Vale’s steelworks once stood is now a cluster of gleaming modern buildings including a hospital, a leisure centre and a college. Over the past decade, these public facilities have been joined by a public-private cybersecurity research centre and two tech firms. A new railway station opened at the site in 2015.Yet, during the Guardian’s visit to the Welsh valleys town last week, the area was quiet. Nearly as many sheep as people appeared to be using the new facilities: a ewe and three lambs, escaped from somewhere, busied themselves in a strip of rewilded land next to the tech buildings. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Colombia’s runoff election expected to trigger shift in decades-long armed conflict 21. June 2026 (07:00) Frontrunner Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to return to full-scale military confrontation with armed groups Colombians go to the polls on Sunday in a presidential runoff expected to trigger to a dramatic shift in the country’s decades-long armed conflict, now at its most violent point since the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).Polls show the frontrunner is the Trump-admiring far-right lawyer and millionaire businessman Abelardo de la Espriella, who has vowed to abandon President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan of negotiating the disarmament of all criminal organisations and instead return to full-scale military confrontation with armed groups. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
