French riots risk handing Far-Right a victory

It may have began with a large number of students venting legitimate concerns over education funding in France, but such concerns will unlikely to be addressed as the protests descended into mayhem with schools burned, teachers targeted, shops looted and members of the public and firefighters attacked.

The country's education minister has said that lessons will be "totally or partly suspended" at up to 500 high schools across France on Monday after days of sometimes violent protests against teacher shortages, dilapidated school buildings and overcrowding in classrooms [Guardian]

In the wake of the ‘protests’ at least 24 schools had been "burned or ransacked" according to the minister Edouard Geffray.

The demonstrations began on the 17th September in Paris but spread across the country last week with many turning to full scale riots as protesters clashed with police.

Geffray claimed that “activists – particularly from the far-left – have infiltrated the high school student movement.”

Over 5,000 people, 85% of them minors, have been arrested since the protests began [France24]. 

Footage and photographs circulating on social media has shocked France and people across the rest of Europe.

In one incident a person dressed in black and wearing a balaclava was filmed using an aerosol as a makeshift flamethrower which he aimed at a woman who had remonstrated with the protesters causing damage to a bus stop.

She sustained first-degree burns to the left side of her face and received medical attention at the scene. Friends later reported that her injuries were thankfully not severe. A 15-year-old male youth was later arrested according to authorities. As a minor, he can be held in a 12-hour restraint room before release, or removal to a young offenders’ institute [Telegraph / The Sun / Instagram].  

Following another violent incident a 16-year-old male was detained on Sunday for assaulting a teacher in the southern town of La Ciotat near Marseille. The teacher, 59, was doused with gasoline and beaten on the sidelines of a high school student protest on Friday.

A video circulating on social media showed an individual dressed entirely in black with a masked face splashing liquid onto the teacher, who then clutched his face while a tree burned nearby which the teacher had apparently attempted to extinguish.

Bally Bagayoko, the LFI mayor of the notorious Paris suburb Saint-Denis, has claimed the violence is "legitimate" and has been seen smiling and dancing alongside out-of control youths.

He is now being investigated over "alleged acts of incitement to commit a crime".

Several schools across the border in Liège, Belgium were also targeted by angry protesters, following what the interior minister Bernard Quintin said was a “minority of activists” who have been “fanning the flames, sowing chaos in education, and dragging the youth along in their wake [Independent].

In the western city of Nantes a fire ignited by rioters virtually destroyed the Nelson Mandela high school [Twitter/X].

Giovanni Colavecchi, headmaster of the Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes, was shocked at the destruction. “Many of the students are shocked, many have cried…”  he told France Ouest.

The school underwent major renovation in 2014 costing in excess of €64m [Divisaire]. The cost of damage caused by the rioters may be around €2m, according to local news reports.

As well as the destruction there are many other casualties. At least 83 police officers had been injured in the week leading up to the 1st October and one firefighter was engulfed in flames after an aerosol can exploded as he attempted to stamp out the small fire on the streets of Bordeaux as protesters stood by and filmed the spectacle on their phones [Metro].

Some of the grievances expressed by students across France do have some merit. President Emmanuel Macron’s government has played a difficult game of balancing public finances, deal with public debt against a backdrop of already strained state spending, while the education sector remains under-resourced and overstretched. Students complain of teachers not being replaced when they leave and schools being in a state of serious disrepair.

High schools in poorer suburbs of cities across France have been at the centre of the ongoing tensions with police particularly in Toulouse, Nantes, Rennes, Lyon and Lille which have seen some of the worst violence.

However, the destruction and some of the scenes may prove counterproductive. The burning down of schools is hardly likely to improve the students’ lot. At least says 24 schools have been burnt or ransacked in a little under a month of rioting. And with some 78 staff members injured and pictures appearing to show others being dowsed with petrol, many may decide to leave the educational sector altogether.

With many participants in disturbances clearly of African or Middle Eastern descent, the far-right are making political capital from the situation. Already the Macron government is losing ground to the far-right National Rally party which will, should it gain traction in upcoming French elections, create problems not only for immigrants and the left in France but also leaders in other countries.

For those looking at France ahead of the presidential elections in April 2027, the signs are ominous. The student riots which play into the hands of the National Rally, come after recent German elections saw the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party win big.

Marie Le Pen’s National Rally party already boasts the largest number of seats in the National Assembly after Macron called ill-advised snap elections in June 2024. Poll after poll now puts Le Pen ahead, despite her being found guilty of embezzling  more than €4m (£3.4m) of EU funds for her party’s financing.

It’s not a dead cert for the far right however. Le Pen is battling accusations of anti-Semitism in her party after National Rally leader Jordan Bardella was accused by investigative news outlet Mediapart of making anti-Semitic comments in 2013. She has so far stood by the leader and given him her "complete confidence".

For the electorate it is about optics, not necessarily facts.

It is clear that many rioters were of African or Middle Eastern descent. What is harder to clarify is whether they were students, migrants or second or third generation immigrants. For the likes of Le Pen’s party the pictured flowing on social media is enough to support their anti-immigration agenda.

The AfD in Germany has also capitalised on similar optics, be it terror attacks at Christmas markets or growing resentment towards Muslim populations.

Britain to has seen a surge of support for right-wing parties that have focused particularly on anti-immigration polices. The more extreme Restore Britain, led by Rupert Lowe, has called for removing all illegal residents within two to three years through a combination of enforced removals and a hostile environment encouraging voluntary departures. While they have only drawn a small number of votes in a number of by-elections, they have taken votes away from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK which has tried to present itself as having a moderate face even to the extent of putting forward ethnic candidates.

Immigration, the migrant crisis, the issues concerning small boats, and the costs of dealing with these problems are real. The left, centrist and moderate right parties need to address these issues quickly. If they don’t there is a very real risk that far-right parties take power and employ draconian or extreme methods to deal with such issues.

The scenes in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta when over 72,000 Moroccan nationals poured across the border were a wake up call for Sanchez and his left leaning government. Some ministers have already stepped down over the affair, but the right may capitalise on this and other issues plaguing the Spanish PM  Pedro Sánchez who faces domestic unpopularity driven by high-profile corruption scandals, polarizing alliances, and cost-of-living pressures.

Financial scandals linked to Farage and far-right protests targeting British ports and Royal National Lifeboat volunteers have affected Reform UK's polling numbers. But far-left protests in France have helped the far-right and may well hand Le Pen a victory should such incidents as seen in recent days continue.

Some have dismissed the recent disturbances as nothing out of the ordinary. The French are always revolting, so the joke goes. From the Paris riots of May 1968 to the burning of sheep in the 1990s when French farmers attacked trucks carrying British sheep, setting fire to one transport and killing over 200 animals in violent protests over cheap meat imports and falling prices, the French have often been seen as extreme in their methodology of protest. In 2018 the Gilet Jaune protests began, motivated by rising crude oil and fuel prices, a high cost of living, and economic inequality as well as changes to the pension age. Nearly two thousand protesters were injured in the two years of demonstration alongside at least 1,000 police officers. Additionally, there were 11 fatalities. And in 2023 riots swept across much of France causing for than €650m in damage and an cost to businesses of around €1 billion. The riots followed the death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old French youth of Algerian descent, who was shot at point-blank range and killed by police officer Florian M., when he did not comply with an order to stop and instead attempted to drive away in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France. Misinformation quickly spread during these disturbances too with the far-right in particular using social media to discredit the protesters, cultural minorities in France, and the country's immigration policies.


That said, burning down buildings, schools, looting shops for trainers and attempting to set fire to teachers is not a good look and hardly likely to win many friends. Of course many of these instances of violence will have been perpetrated by individuals who aren’t students and who, for want of a better word are merely agitators, criminals or people seeking to use the disturbances as cover to create mayhem and loot from shops. But the fallout has drawn sharp critique on various social media platforms [YouTube]. 

There is the problem with events as seen these past few days as to who started the violence and whether overzealous or heavy handed policing played a part in adding fuel to the fire. There have also been reports that agent provocateurs have help stir things up [France 3 Regions].

There is a case for direct action, but it needs to be targeted. Just as a ‘justified war’ loses support when too many civilians die and civilian infrastructure is destroyed, so too does public support wane when protesters indiscriminately destroy property, target innocent bystanders and start looting. Burning down your school while complaining you don’t have enough books, chairs or teachers is like throwing away food while complaining you don’t have enough to eat.


tvnewswatch, London, UK

Troubling days for the Labour Govt

It has been a troubling week for the Labour Party this week.

Just as the memories of having lost the data of a third of the UK population were beginning to fade from the media spotlight, and along came another disaster.

It emerged that the Labour Party had received loans from donors who had given money through intermediatories. This in itself was illegal, but as further details were reported, it became clear it was far more serious.

Dodgy loans as they have come to be called has dogged Mr Brown who himself is looking particularly haggared. During PMQs on Wednesday, the Prime Minister was the subject of ridicule after the Liberal Democrat Vince Cable described the leader as have gone “from Stalin to Mr Bean in a matter of weeks”. The previous week in Parliament, David Cameron told the PM to “Get a grip”. But now Gordon Brown’s grip on his party looks tenuous.

As the Prime Minister attempted to deflect the barage of criticism he insisted he had followed correct procedure. Attempting to shift responsibilty from himself, he said, “The electoral commision will decide if it is a matter for the police.”
And within hours it was and the police were once more about to knock at the door of number 10.

And the only debate in the weeks media was Labour’s catastrophic series of bungles. From Northern Rock, Foot & Mouth leaks from government laboratories, lost CDs and illegal funding the Labour Party is now beginning to look corrupt and incompetent.

Speaking on BBC’s This Week the Labour MP Diane Abbot described the situation as being like “Sewage bubbling up under the door” and a hangover from “the Blair era”. But whilst Mr Brown may not be directly implicated in the latest fiasco, he is taking a great deal of flack from all sides.

Victim of circumstance or does the series of catastrophes befalling the current government show signs of a gradual disintigration of failed government policy.

Caroline Flint MP talking on Question Time said, “of course it doesn’t look great, but we need to have an enquiry and find out what happened and when”.

But many members of the public are incredulous of the Labour government and its leader. “He wasn’t that good a chancellor and he’s lost it. He should go” said one member of the audience of the BBC debate show.

Public Opinion polls also show labour’s lead to have fallen after the recent crises. It remains to be seen whether the party and Gordon Brown will recover before any future election.

How a Chinese immigrant shaped the history of computing

Few people will have heard of An Wang, but should the Shanghai born entrepreneur never have decided to leave China and set up shop in the US all of our technological experiences would be very different.

An Wang was born in 1920 in Shanghai. The son of a teacher, Wang went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in science from Chiao-t’ung University in Shanghai in 1940.

He made the decision to leave his ancestral home and left for the United States in 1945. There he earned a Ph.D. in applied physics and engineering from Harvard University in 1948.

Having been introduced to computers while at Harvard, Wang went on to invent the magnetic memory core in 1948.

His invention served as the core of computer memories until the advent of the microchip.

It has been argued that if An Wang hadn't invented magnetic memory core, the technological revolution may never have happened, or that it may well have been delayed by many years or even decades.

An Wang’s invention of the write-after-read cycle for magnetic cores solved early computing's biggest bottleneck. By allowing data to be read and immediately rewritten, it made reliable random-access memory possible.

Early computers used unreliable storage like acoustic delay lines or cathode-ray tubes that lost data.

The son of an English teacher, Wang had showed an early aptitude for mathematics. At just 13, he began attending the elite Shanghai Provincial High School, and in 1940 graduated Chiao Tung University, then widely regarded as the MIT of China. During World War II, Wang fled Japanese-occupied Shanghai for Guilin, where he led a small team that scavenged parts and improvised designs to build radios for military use. As the war drew to a close, Wang came an impressive second in a highly competitive exam that awarded two years of advanced training in the US to young engineers. Wang used his Nationalist government-sponsored study abroad opportunity to apply to Harvard.  

Wang joined the Harvard Computation Laboratory under Howard Aiken, a pioneer in computing who was then developing the Mark IV, his first purely electronic computer for the US Air Force. It was here, within his first month on the job, that Wang conceived the idea of magnetic core memory.

For more than two decades, magnetic core memory powered nearly every computer in the world, making it one of the most important breakthroughs in making modern stored-program computers commercially viable.  

Without his invention so many historical events may have been delayed. His magnetic core memory was pivotal in the space race. The onboard computer that navigated the Apollo spacecraft to the moon relied on magnetic storage. Indeed, the flight software was permanently encoded into "core rope memory," where wires were threaded through or around magnetic cores to represent binary ones and zeros.

While modern technology using silicon chips is superior, without Wang’s innovation research may have not focused so strongly on the importance of reliable RAM.

Magnetic core memory used tiny rings to store data as magnetic states. Modern silicon semiconductor RAM uses tiny electronic switches on a chip to store data as electrical charges. Silicon RAM is much faster, much smaller, and holds much more data than magnetic core memory.

The patent for Wang’s innovation ended up in IBM’s hands. Wang went on to found Wang Laboratories. In 1965, he introduced a desktop computer called “LOCI” that could generate logarithms with a single keystroke. By 1984, he had built Wang Laboratories into such a successful enterprise that he was estimated to be the fifth richest American. In 1970 he was estimated to be worth $23 million, around $197.96 million today. Not quite a billionaire but certainly rich for that day and age.

Wang served as president of the company until 1986 and was succeeded by his son Frederick. However, as revenues declined because of IBM’s domination of the personal computer market, Wang returned to the company in 1989 and fired Frederick. An Wang invented many basic components for word-processing systems and held about 40 patents in all.

Despite having a key hold throughout the 1960s and 1970s Wang Laboratories ultimately failed as it stubbornly clung to expensive, proprietary hardware while the tech industry had largely shifted rapidly toward affordable, open-standard personal computers and networked software. Having dominated the office word-processing market in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company missed the personal computer revolution, piled up massive debt, and ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 18th August 1992 and acquired by the Dutch computer network company Getronics in 1999.

As for An Wang he passed away in Boston, Massachusetts on the 24th March 1990 aged 70 years after a fight with oesophageal cancer.

An Wang may not be a household name, but his legacy is in everybody’s hand, as a mobile phone, or on their desk, as a laptop, or pretty much every piece of modern technology.

Without core memory entirely, computers would have relied on slower, costlier Williams tubes or delay lines for years, delaying affordable RAM and the mini-computer boom until reliable semiconductors matured in the late 1960s.

Of course it is all speculation, but without An Wang’s invention mainframes might have continued to be slow and unreliable. Systems like the IBM 704 would have used fragile cathode-ray tubes, making high-speed random access expensive and unreliable.

Memory would have stayed bulky and expensive, keeping computers out of smaller businesses and mid-sized labs for a considerable time to come. By the 1970s Wang technology was in offices across America and Europe. Without his invention the rise of affordable computers in the 1960s might have stalled until integrated circuits became cheaper.

There are those that believe that should Wang not have invented magnetic core memory, researchers may have made greater efforts to look for better solutions to unreliable storage tubes resulting in a rush to develop silicon chips and skip the magnetic core era and jump straight from vacuum tubes or early drums to solid-state chips. Of course this is highly speculative.

Inventions and innovations have often followed small steps rather than major leaps.

Wang’s invention gave computer users RAM and thus impressed upon them the usefulness of retaining memory on a device when powered down.

Without that experience many early users would have put up with the misgivings that came with early computers that lost their memory every time they were powered down

Links: Mocanyc  / Britannica / Wikipedia: Wang Laboratories / Wikipedia: An Wang / LA Times

tvnewswatch, London, UK

A Pyrrhic victory for Farage

Yes Nigel Farage won. In many respects it was unlikely Count Binface would have pulled off an electoral win. But for Farage it is a somewhat Pyrrhic victory.

Farage took some 22,239 votes while his main rival - a self styled galactic space warrior with a bin on his head - took 9,455 votes. The other thirty candidates in this bizarre contest mustered barely a handful of votes and lost their deposit.

With a turnout of just 44.4% of the electorate Reform UK can hardly say that Thursday's win was a ringing endorsement for the party and Farage. And with nearly 80,000 people in the Clacton constituency, Farage has the mandate of only a little over a quarter of those eligible to vote.

While Farage can claim he increased his mandate, having increased his General Election win of 21,225,  it is clearly the case that three quarters of the population are no fans of the man.

The turnout in the General Election was down from 58.7%, a sign perhaps that apathy, incredulity and a growing sense of disappointment with parliamentary democracy has set in.

Binface took nearly 1 in 4 of votes cast and was hailing it a victory given he'd increased his Makerfield by-election result from 95 to nearly 10,000.

His unprecedented share of the vote was more due to the mainstream parties standing down and calling Farage's triggering of a by-election a pointless publicity stunt. But nonetheless it was an embarrassment for the Reform leader who shied away from appearing on stage with people he described as a bunch of "nobodies."

Farage had billed the contest as a fight between himself and the establishment, which he claimed was trying to smear him with false allegations.

Many of the allegations were that he had failed to declare monies received and which had triggered a parliamentary standards committee investigation. This was halted when Farage stood down as an MP, which triggered the by-election. However, having secured a victory and become an MP once again, the investigation began again within hours.

At the end of the political circus, which cost the British taxpayer over £250,000, the situation had little changed.

Farage forced the by-election in early July to try and control the narrative. After the Guardian revealed he had received a £5m personal gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto billionaire, in April 2024, he had been dogged by questions about his financial backing. Other revelations followed and questions mounted.

But now he was left in the same situation with the investigation restarted and with further questions surrounding his apparent lying about threats to his safety which prompted him to be the first winning candidate not to attend the count since the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands won Fermanagh and South Tyrone in 1981.

Sands had the excuse of languishing in a prison cell at the notorious H-block prison facility where he died a few days after his historic win.

Farage's excuse was that Essex police had conveyed concerns to him prompting him to hold a Farage-fest elsewhere. Essex police denied they had spoken to any campaign teams however.

It all made Farage look somewhat sheepish. Too chicken, despite his win, to stand on stage alongside Count Binface and the plethora of loony candidates.

After the reading of the results Count Binface took centre stage. “I came first in the Clacton byelection! Of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results.” He also revelled in his largest number of votes achieved by himself at an election.

"That means I’ve got – against Nigel Farage – 10,000% more votes than I got against Andy Burnham,” Binface said of his electoral tally. “What does that tell you? Well it tells you that Nigel, who said that he didn’t want to be humiliated, maybe has been. As for me, I’m over the moon – I’m over your moon, I’m over my moons – and what comes next, well we shall see. But you know what, we know this for a fact: over one in four people in this constituency would rather have Count Binface as their MP than the leader of Reform UK.”

Gathered with his supporters at an airfield on the outskirts of Clacton billed by his party as “Farage Fest” he told fans he would be damned if he was going to stand on a stage “having won a resounding victory” and “be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies”.

After Farage forced the election, support for Reform fell nationally, from just under 27% to about 24%, where it remains. The MP for Clacton’s seat looks safe, but his route to Downing Street is less certain.

tvnewswatch, London, UK

End of an era as BBC Radio 4 LW shuts down

In just a few days time the BBC will shut down the Long Wave service for BBC Radio 4. Its closure will leave the Long Wave dial deserted for listeners not only in the UK but further afield too [Guardian / RadioToday].

Broadcast from Droitwich in Worcestershire, BBC Radio 4 long wave, transmits on the 198 kilohertz frequency and relies on ageing transmitter equipment that uses a pair of the valves which are no longer manufactured [Wikipedia]. 

The site was chosen as the mast could send transmissions to most of Britain and, at the time of its erection in 1934, was described as the World’s most modern Long Wave transmitter [YouTube].

Droitwich replaced the Daventry transmitter which itself had taken over from Chelmsford on the 27th July 1925. While the Chelmsford and Daventry Long Wave transmitters were closed due to obsolescence, there was no hue and cry. Droitwich could now cover most of the country with one mast and broadcasts could even be received on the continent and far out to sea.

Long Wave is considered obsolete with few people having sets able to receive broadcast on the band. Nonetheless the imminent closure has broad loud voices of protest from a minority of listeners.

It is estimated that around 90,000 homes in Britain still listen in to BBC Radio 4 on Long Wave, particularly in areas where short-range FM and DAB [Digital Audio Broadcasting] does not penetrate.

An announcement that has been playing for some time on BBC Long Wave transmissions for some time informs listeners that they can listen online, via the BBC Sounds app, and on FM and DAB.

However in many parts of rural Britain this is virtually impossible. In many parts of Wales there is almost no FM radio reception and almost no cellphone coverage [Richard Mudhar].

For those in rural Wales or Scotland it’s not a matter of life and death, though boredom may set in for some without their daily fix of the Archers. But for some fishermen they could well be lost at sea.

The BBC Shipping Forecast has been feature of British broadcasting since the days of the telegraph in the 1860s [Wikipedia].

Established by Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy, the first professional weather forecaster, captain of HMS Beagle and founder of the Met Office, the shipping forecast has become a British institution.

Many listeners will be familiar with Dogger and German Bight even if the information imparted in the twice daily broadcasts is somewhat irrelevant to them.

But for ships at sea the BBC Shipping Forecast remains a vital failsafe for maritime safety while also functioning as a cherished national cultural institution, having celebrated its centenary.

July 4th 2025 marked the centenary of its first BBC broadcast. And in that time it has prevented the loss of countless lives at sea.

But what will happen when Long Wave ceases to broadcast? While the broadcasts will be relayed on maritime frequencies as well as BBC Radio 4 FM and DAB, some are concerned that the gap may not be filled.

Long Wave reaches far out to sea, beyond Fastnet and along the edge of Iceland. Fishermen have even received the midnight news south of the Azores. Through the shash and crackle, many seafarers have leaned over a radio and scribbling down details of the shipping broadcast.

Of course it is not just the vital information imparted by the twice daily shipping broadcasts that those at sea strain their ears to listen to. Others would huddle around the wireless to catch the latest installment of The Archers or a comedy show [Yachting Monthly]. 

For those on terra firma, or not living in the isolation of the Scottish or Welsh hills, the shutting of Droitwich will have little impact. For radio enthusiasts it will be the end of an era. Old radio sets such as the iconic Bush TR82B, designed by David Ogle, will become all the more obsolete. Even Medium Wave is falling into decline with the BBC having switched off most of its local AM and Radio 4 Medium Wave frequencies. National stations like BBC Radio 5 Live [909 kHz and 693 kHz] and commercial networks like TalkSport are still broadcasting on MW, but the dial is gradually filling up with static.

While there have been campaigns calling on the BBC to rethink its planned shutdown of Doitrich, and with it LW transmissions, the BBC says that it is economically unviable [Keep Longwave].

The transmitter relies on two 1 metre long tubes or valves which are no longer made. The BBC is said to have bought up the last of the available tubes. [R-Type / BBC Engineering].

It is unclear whether these remain in reserve or whether the corporation is down to the last two. Either way a failing tube could damage other parts of the transmitter, and maintaining the facility as it is has become more difficult.

Using tube and valve technology, the transmitter is more resilient to EMP, though it is likely that there are parts that use modern electronics which would be vulnerable. But it is the penetration that LW offers that will be lost by the shutdown.

LW can be picked up even under the sea and some have speculated that submarines might even monitor BBC Radio 4 broadcasts in order to determine whether Britain is still there!

The wide coverage of LW has made it valuable during a national emergency. One LW transmitter can cover the entire country while FM or DAB requires a multitude of transmitters and relay stations.

So this begs the question as to why the BBC doesn’t simply upgrade the transmitter to use modern components rather than rely on old valves and tubes. The BBC has said that while possible it would cost many millions of pounds and, as such, an upgrade is not cost-effective.

It maybe that the site will be mothballed and that some of the equipment may be maintained for a ‘rainy day’ when the transmitter might be needed, perhaps for military purposes.

It is not the only switch off that Britain has experienced in recent years. The television terrestrial switchover started on 17th October 2007 and was completed by the 23rd October 2012 resulting in the end of all analogue TV broadcasts.

But even digital TV broadcasting may not be safe. Freeview, as it is commonly referred to, is at threat of being shutdown as household switch to Freely, an internet based service, as well as internet streaming services such as Netflix, Prime and other providers.

It has been predicted that by 2034 Freeview could drop to only 1 million UK homes from 9.7 million today. Its Internet based successor, Freely, is forecast to climb to 10.5 million in the same period. Sky is seeing more subscribers moving to Sky Glass, its Internet based service, rather than making use of a dish and satellite receiver.

And across Britain the telephone infrastructure is undergoing a major overhaul as the country switches from old copper analogue lines to digital VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) lines.

This too threatens to leave some people, especially in rural areas, at risk. Unlike traditional copper wired telephone line which are always live, digital Internet reliant lines are at risk if there are power outages.

Power outages don’t affect traditional telephone lines since back-up generators kick in should the national grid go down.

In a big town or city a modern digital line being unavailable may not pose a major problem since mobile networks would likely fill the gap and enable people to contact emergency services.

But those in rural areas such as the aforementioned Welsh hills could find themselves without any communications at all [Guardian].

There are advantages of digital switchovers. There are few that would argue that CDs sound better that scratchy records. Digital cameras have made photography more accessible and easier. The expensive days of using analogue film are long gone along with the annoying bits of dust on negatives when attempting to print an enlargement in the darkroom.

Perhaps LW is obsolete, given how few radio sets are out there. But the closing down of BBC Radio 4 on the 1500-metre wavelength will be a sad day for many.

tvnewswatch, London, UK

Makerfield by-election result not a dead cert

The media appear to have come out of hibernation following parliamentary recess and the Bank Holiday break.

With virtually nothing to report over the previous week apart from the exceedingly warm weather, June has begun with a swathe of headlines.

Polling day nears in the Makerfield by-election, with battle lines drawn. Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe's party, may take some of Farage's wind from his sails as traditional Reform voters drift towards Restore.

It’s been a week of rudeness, rows and revelations in the Makerfield byelection campaign. Not between Andy Burnham and his challengers for the seat – but between Reform UK and its even more rightwing rival, Restore Britain.

Restore has claimed increasing support for their candidate Rebecca Shepherd with polls varying between 7% and 24%. The higher figures may be somewhat optimistic but the swing away from Reform has appeared to rattle Farage who insisted only his candidate, Robert Kenyon, “can stop Andy Burnham." 

"This is a two-horse race – nobody else comes close,” Farage insists.


But it's far from a two horse race. The Makerfield by-election has become a circus with 14 candidates standing.

There are of course the traditional parties, the Conservatives represented by Michael Winstanley, Labour with Andy Burnham contesting the seat, in the hope of later challenging Keir Starmer and oust him from No.10, and the Lib Dems with their candidate Jake Austin. But there are the emerging parties which will certainly shape the political battle grounds.

The parties that will tip the balance in this election are Reform UK, with its  contentious candidate Robert Kenyon, Restore Britain, with its candidate Rebecca Shepherd, and the Green Party with its last minute replacement Sarah Wakefield.

But there are the fringe candidates that may also shape this key political battle.

Often dismissed as a wasted vote, the likes of Count Binface, Alan 'Howlin' Laud Hope of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party, and other single issue candidates could take away votes from the two main contenders, Burnham and Kenyon.

Remember that the by-election for the constituency of Runcorn and Helsby on 1st May 2025 was secured by Reform UK with just 6 votes. Collectively the minor candidates took over 1000 votes.


With many of these leaning to the left or fringe lunacy with the Monster Raving Loony Party taking 128 votes, Reform UK would be unlikely to gain from any of these. Indeed it's likely Labour lost votes to these fringe parties. Labour took 12,639 in Runcorn against Reform UK's 12,645.

While Labour, and particularly the incumbent prime minister Keir Starmer, may be fighting an existential crisis and upon which this by-election hinges, so too is Reform UK.

Farage and his party Reform UK feel as though they are on a roll. Certainly their support has grown. But their base has shifted as their policies and organisational structure has changed.

Traditional more right-leaning supporters have been dismayed as Reform UK has drawn in more ethnic minority candidates. The party's apparent softening of its immigration and repatriation policies has also angered the base who are abandoning the party for Restore Britain which are currently 3% in the polls.

Restore Britain is hardly likely to gain any seats with such low polling. Even with proportional representation, they might barely scrape a single candidate into parliament. But such splits could cost Reform UK many votes, and with many constituencies on a knife-edge, this may be as much an existential crisis for Reform UK.

In the 2024 general election Reform UK revelled in securing five seats in parliament. The impetus was Farage's last minute decision to push out Clacton's candidate and put himself forward. This brought media attention and publicity, and helped bolster the party's position. Farage took the seat from long standing Conservative candidate Giles Watling. With 21,225  votes he now had an 8,405 majority.

Richard Tice's majority was significantly smaller however. In his Boston and Skegness seat Tice has only a 2,010 majority. Lee Anderson, who defected from the Conservatives, maintains a larger 5,508 majority over his Labour rival.

James McMurdock and Rupert Lowe, with 98 and 1,426 majorities respectively, left Reform UK following their wins. Lowe was the first to go after being suspended and started his own party; Restore Britain. McMurdock courted controversy following his election concerning a conviction of assault on his ex-girlfriend dating back to 2006. McMurdock left the party in July 2025 following allegations that he had received £70,000 in Bounce Back business loans during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently stands as an independent MP.

Down to just three elected MPs, Reform UK increased its numbers through a number of Tory defections: Danny Kruger, Robert Jenrick, Andrew Rosindell and Suella Braverman. Its only electoral win since 2024 was the aforementioned Runcorn by-election which was secured by Sarah Pochin.

The Conservatives may have been kicked into the long grass, politically speaking, but Farage and his party are not gaining significant support. If anything much of the Conservative base has swung towards the Lib Dems who are the third biggest party in the Commons with 72 MPs.

Farage's comments following the murder of a white man in Southampton who was mistakenly arrested and handcuffed by police as he lay dying from 9 stab wounds will no doubt come back and haunt him.

Following the release of police body-worn camera footage and the conviction of a Sikh man who had falsely claimed he was the victim of racist abuse, despite being the murderer, Farage said, “I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage."

Within hours hundreds of right-wing protesters battled with police in Southampton, throwing bins, bottles and other projectiles in residential streets as they attempted to make their way to the family home of the convicted murderer with some in the crowd shouting “Rupert Lowe”. Despite Hampshire Police saying 11 officers and a police dog were injured during the violent disturbances in Southampton only two arrests were made. [BBC / Daily Mail / Sun]

The following day at PMQs, and as the residents of Southampton were clearing up and repairing the damage caused by the rioters, Farage attempted to further capitalise on events asking whether Nowak’s death was a clear indication of two tier policing.

He was given short shrift by the PM who accused Farage of having no respect for Nowak’s family given they had specifically asked that their son’s murder not be politicised.

During the Reform UK Party leader’s question he was continually heckled from across the house with calls of “shame on you” and suggestions that he condemn the violence seen the previous day.

Instead, Farage went on to suggest there might be further violence to come, whilst battling against boos and heckles.

Amongst those seen to berate the right-wing leader were three Lib Dem MPs. Cameron Thomas, Danny Chambers and Luke Taylor were sitting directly behind the Reform UK leader, heckling and shouting "Condemn the violence!" and "Shame on you!"

They had clearly learnt the ropes of parliamentary protocol and secured their places ahead of Farage’s anticipated question to the PM.

Reform UK is on a "small parties rota" of leaders of the minor parties, and, with eight MPs, qualifies for a question to the PM every seven or eight weeks. Farage had not been in parliament for some time,  but was widely expected to attend this particular session.

Things did not go as swimmingly as he might have expected. He provoked a furious, if pre-prepared, response to his question from the PM and was condemned by MPs across the house both during and after the session.

While he and other Reform MPs sat with smug expressions upon their faces as they were criticised, their arrogance may turn some voters away from the party.

Of course it’s not a certainty that Andy Burnham will sail into a seat with ease. But the conceited attitudes of Reform UK may better his chances.

tvnewswatch, London, UK  

Bank holiday heatwave mayhem

Fights, stabbings and murder mar hot sunny weather on Britain's beaches.

Police across the UK were deployed this week to deal with disorder on many beaches as temperatures soared into the thirties.

In Bournemouth hundreds of youths, many of them black, marauded and chased individuals, some of which had to be rescued by police, who themselves were heavily outnumbered.

Footage posted on social media showed swathes of black men chasing people across the beach as innocent sun seekers scattered.

In Brighton a man was stabbed near to the beach, and police in Essex were deployed in huge numbers to disperse people believed to be heading to the area for a so-called Southend Purge.

Posts on TikTok and other social media platforms had encouraged people to head to beaches to party and bring drink and drugs, whilst other posts appeared to urge a day of violence by encouraging people to bring weapons.

In Southend a dispersal order was put in place and police were deployed at stations as well as along the coast after a beach party was advertised on social media as both the "Southend Takedown" and the "32C Southend Beach Step". [BBC / Twitter/X ]

A number of arrests were made throughout the day for offences including possession of drugs and bladed weapons. Police said they had seized three knives and made 13 arrests by the end of Tuesday.

In Wales a murder investigation was launched after a man was spotted in the water at a beach. Emergency services were called to the scene in Barmouth on Monday shortly after 15:00 BST, but despite efforts to save the 34-year-old he was later pronounced dead. A 24-year-old man from Birmingham was arrested on suspicion of murder and is in custody. [BBC]

Meanwhile a teenage boy was stabbed on Brighton seafront next to a crowded beach on bank holiday Monday, police said. Sussex Police said it received reports of a large group of people fighting in the area of Shelter Hall food court, on Kings Road Arches, at about 21:30 BST. The victim, a boy from Surrey, was taken to hospital for treatment, where his injuries were confirmed to be superficial. [BBC]

Further along the coast police officers were assaulted at Bournemouth beach during "disorder involving a large number of people", Dorset Police said. One local who saw the drama unfold told the Sun it was "absolute chaos." He described how a mob chased a man across the beach until he fell. “They were kicking him in the head and punching him multiple times. Someone stomped on his head and another person drop-kicked him.”

Police eventually moved in to rescue the man from the crowd. Despite large numbers of officers drafted into the area, violence continued into the evening with a number of police officers attacked with glass bottles and other missiles, though injuries were said to be minor. [The Sun / Daily Mail]

Many of the violent incidents appeared to involve large numbers of black youths prompting some racially critical social media posts to emerge. Some blamed the descendants of the Windrush generation and parents failing to instill discipline on their feral children. Other posts were critical of the London Mayor, blaming inner city decay for creating a breeding ground for large numbers of violent mainly black teenagers who had headed from the capital to Britain's coasts during the heatwave.

Whether predominantly black or otherwise there were several other factors that fanned the flames for the violence that ensued over the Bank holiday period.

Social media clearly played a part in attracting such large numbers to key locations, with many posts encouraging people to bring drugs and weapons.

Be it TikTok, Twitter/X or other online platforms, it is clear that there is little, if any, scrutiny or blocking of posts attempting to organise violent gatherings.

This is just the latest of a social media organised flash mob. Two months ago schools across parts of Britain especially in and around London were under alert after social media posts attempted to rally pupils of one school to attack rival schools. There was some suggestion that such posts were created by AI Russian bots to create problems on Britain's streets. But whoever creates such posts, the end result is the same.

Easily persuaded individuals take the bait and like sheep get drawn into the mêlée.

The disaffected youth, especially in deprived areas of urban areas across Britain, are a prime target for such online mischief. Often undereducated they are easily motivated and persuaded to join in without thinking through the consequences.

Another factor was the large amount of alcohol consumed, as well as drugs, during very hot weather.

Beach brawls are perhaps nothing new. The sixties saw mobs of Mods and Rockers converging on the likes of Brighton for clashes during Bank Holidays. But, the phenomena seen this last week has raised concerns that something else is happening in society which is more dangerous and sinister.

While the disorder and chaos seen in various coastal locations was significant, it could have been much worse. Pro-active policing managed to control some of the mayhem. But much more needs to be done. 

The purchase and consumption of alcohol clearly needs to be controlled where large crowds are expected to gather on very hot days. Social media companies are clearly unable to police themselves and need to be controlled with tighter laws and heavier sanctions. And possession of weapons such as swords and machettes need to be dealt with with stronger custodial sentences. Other anti-social practices also need to be policed also. Bringing loudspeaker systems to the beach might seem fun, but they can often create friction when one group of people take offence at the loud music being played. Far better, perhaps, to ban loudspeakers from the beach altogether. 

[pictures via social media and Essex police]

tvnewswatch, London, UK

Is Iran an existential threat?

While the US President Donald Trump's reasons and legality for striking Iran are tenuous there are some clear and present dangers that many people are ignoring.

It can reasonably be argued that Trump launched his military action in contravention of 'international law'. He did not seek prior approval from Congress or the Senate, nor did he consult other allies, except Israel with who it took part.

His reason however, is that Iran was nearing completion of building a nuclear bomb, and decisive military action was needed to eliminate the threat from the Islamic state.

Trump, nor indeed Israel, has failed to present 'proof' that Iran was close to developing a nuclear bomb. And this has left many allies reluctant to offer military support despite the effects on the flow of oil from the region that has resulted from Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

However, what cannot be disputed is that Iran has, for a long time, been developing projects which has produced significant quantities of 60% enriched Uranium 235.

The evidence for this lies with the International Atomic Energy Authority [IAEA] which calculated in its September 2025 verification and monitoring report that on the eve of the June 2025 attacks by Israel and the United States, Iran possessed 440.9 kg of uranium enriched up to 60% of the explosive uranium isotope, U-235 [Arms Control Center /  IAEA PDF]

Fearing that Iran was weeks if not days away from 90% weapons grade enrichment, the US launched a series of strikes aimed at sites where it was believed Iran was storing or enriching such materials.

On the 22nd June 2025, the United States Air Force and Navy attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran as part of the Twelve-Day War, under the code name Operation Midnight Hammer. The Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center were all targeted with fourteen GBU-57A/B MOP "bunker buster" bombs carried by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, and Tomahawk missiles fired from a submarine. 

Concerns grew over the weeks following the attacks that Iran may have moved some of their precious Uranium. Satellite pictures published later appeared to show lorries queueing at Fordow leading to speculation that Iran's enriched Uranium may have been moved to various secret locations around the country.

While the White House stated in June 2025 that there was no sign it was moved prior to the strikes with top officials suggesting it was buried under rubble, many news outlets raised concerns that Iran might have saved its nuclear material.

The Telegraph [Paywalled] reported in June 2025 that satellite images showed lines of trucks at Fordow before the US strikes, with analysts suggesting materials were frantically moved.

Other reports suggested the surgical strikes failed to completely destroy Iran's stockpiles and core components of the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back by months [CNN].

And even if the facilities had been destroyed there were suggestions that Iran could retrieve the material buried under the rubble [BBC / NYT].   

Such reports are supposition and cannot be independently verified. But even a small amount of nuclear material could pose a deadly threat to Iran's sworn enemies.

The big question on many people's minds is whether the US had actionable intelligence to warrant its military action against Iran.

The concern too is whether Iran was or still is pursuing the development of a nuclear weapon. Iran claims it isn't and that all nuclear research is for peaceful purposes, such as medical research or energy creation.

However, given the continued rhetoric over the years and statements suggesting it might develop a weapon should it be attacked, the fear is that Iran was already developing a weapon, or worse already developed and produced one.

Taking it as fact that Iran was seeking to develop a nuclear bomb, and that it still has at least some of the 440kg of 60% enriched U-235, how much of a threat is Iran following Operation Midnight Hammer and the more recent ad ongoing Operation Epic Fury?

It is widely believed that to build a viable nuclear bomb, one needs U-235 enriched to 90%. While many bombs created use highly enriched U-235, often referred to as 'weapons grade uranium', it is in fact possible to build a bomb with U-235 as low as 20% enriched.

Take at least 780 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium 235, slam two non-critical mass chunks of them together in a gun type assembly and you have a crude nuclear bomb.

The more enriched, the less fissionable material is needed. Moreover, after you've surpassed the hurdle of amassing the U-235 the making of a viable device is relatively simple.

While most modern nuclear bombs are extremely complex in order to promote a high yield device, the first nuclear bombs were relatively simple 'Gun-type' weapons.

In basic terms this requires sending a chunk of U-235 at high speed down a tube toward another chunk of U-235.

With regard to the risk of proliferation and use by terrorists, the relatively simple design is a concern, as it does not require as much fine engineering or manufacturing as other methods. With enough highly enriched uranium, nations or groups with relatively low levels of technological sophistication could create an inefficient - though still quite powerful - gun-type nuclear weapon. 

Conventional thinking is that no-one would make a weapon with anything below 90% enrichment because the bomb would be too cumbersome.

Uranium must have a minimum of 20% U-235 in it in order to be useful in making a nuclear bomb. However, a bomb made with uranium at this minimum level of enrichment would be too huge to deliver, requiring huge amounts of uranium and even larger amounts of conventional explosives in order to compress it into a supercritical mass. In practice, uranium containing at least 90% U-235 has been used to make nuclear weapons. Material with this level of enrichment is called highly enriched uranium or HEU. The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was made with approximately 60 kilograms of HEU. Highly enriched uranium is also used in research reactors and naval reactors, such as those that power aircraft carriers and submarines. The HEU fuel meant for research reactors is considered particularly vulnerable to diversion for use in nuclear weapons [IEER PDF].  

As little as 40 kg of 60%-enriched uranium can be used to build a crude nuclear weapon with a kiloton yield. While too large to fit on a missile, such a weapon could be delivered by shipping container.

Given Iran has [or at least had in June 2025] an estimated 440 kg of 60% enriched U-235 it could conceivably make ten 1 kt bombs.

Loaded into shipping containers and exploding in major cities around the globe, the shock to the global economy and world order would be more catastrophic than the potential physical damage.

A 1-kiloton (kt) nuclear ground burst in London would cause severe localized damage, creating a crater and immediate lethal radiation zone within a few hundred meters, with moderate structural damage extending up to 1 kilometer. The immediate blast radius would be relatively small compared to the city's size, but radioactive fallout would pose a significant hazard [Arxiv]. 

Such scenarios are dismissed by many as being far-fetched and the stuff of Hollywood movies such as the Sum of All Fears. But fundamentalist, radical terror states have already been seen to carry out major atrocities.

Terror attacks by fundamentalist groups in the past three decades seen planes flown into buildings, trains and buses blown up or crowds targeted with vehicles used as weapons. The use of a nuclear weapon is not beyond the realms of possibilities.

But there are other just as nightmarish threats from Iran's possession of nuclear material. Even if it cannot assemble a nuclear bomb Iran possesses the technical expertise and access to many radioactive isotopes, such as Cesium-137 and Cobalt-60 from medical/industrial sectors, to develop radiological dispersal devices. Some analysts suggest Iran might employ these through proxies such as Hezbollah or the Houthis for plausible deniability.

There are growing concerns that it could use what nuclear material it can salvage to construct a number of so-called 'dirty bombs', or radiological dispersal devices [Remm].

In the same way a small 1 kt nuclear bomb would not cause much physical damage, an RDD is designed less for mass destruction and more for contamination, disruption, and psychological impact.

Such concerns have long existed with many nations having conducted exercises to determine how they might identify or deal with such an event.

In London, around 20 years ago, part of the financial district was sealed off as authorities conducted several counter-terrorism exercises in the city to prepare for potential chemical, biological, or radiological attacks, including scenarios involving a "dirty bomb" or RDD [Guardian]. No similar exercises have taken place since.

An RDD attack is unlikely to kill large numbers of people in a short time. The problem instead is a potential cancer timebomb hanging over the affected area for a generation [BBC].

Clean-up would cost millions of pounds, but the perceived threat could linger even after authorities declare the area safe. Should such a device be placed in the centre of a major city it could arguably kill the economy of that city. Tourists would be unlikely to visit for years, workers would insist on relocation, and transport infrastructure would be decimated, cutting off links between parts of the city.

Delivery of such a weapon could be carried out in any number of ways. One threat is via missile. It is now widely believed that Iran has the capability of hitting any European country.

It is unknown what stockpiles Iran still possesses after three weeks of US bombing, but its inventory prior to Operation Epic Fury was far more extensive than most people realize [Iran Watch]. Media reports indicate growing concerns that Iran could resort to using a 'dirty bomb' [India Today / e-arc].

Iran's capability may of course be severely degraded, as the US president maintains. But there is another concern should Israel or the US hit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, either deliberately or accidentally. Indeed there have already been some strikes close to the plant [Al Jazeera].

Any strike, deliberate or accidental, would result in the release of radioactive material. Given the prevailing wind patterns and maritime conditions in the Gulf, contamination would almost certainly drift westward, potentially affecting population centres and critical infrastructure across Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.

As seen following Chernobyl and more recently, Fukushima, the regional consequences of a nuclear 'accident' would be significant and long-lasting.

There is another serious and overlooked threat. That is Iran's chemical weapons capability [Telegraph paywalled].

Although Iran is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention [CWC] and has formally renounced the development and possession of chemical weapons, it has faced international scrutiny regarding potential covert chemical capabilities [FDD].

There are many - critical of the US and Israel - that have suggested military action is only likely to antagonise Iran into retaliation and that it would be unlikely to make a first strike deployment, be it with conventional, chemical or nuclear weapons.

The behaviour of Iran over the years would suggest otherwise.

It has since the 1979 Islamic revolution funded proxy terror group including, but not confined to, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has engaged in a sustained campaign of violence, terrorism, and clandestine operations against Western nations, primarily targeting the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, alongside Israeli interests. Using the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] and proxies such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, Tehran has conducted embassy bombings, kidnappings, hijackings, and assassination plots.

Key Attacks and Operations (1979–Present)

1979–1981: U.S. Embassy Hostage Crisis: Iranian students, backed by the new regime, took 66 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for 444 days.

1983: Beirut Bombings: Hezbollah, with Iranian support, bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut (63 dead) and the Marine barracks (241 U.S. service personnel killed).

1984: CIA Station Chief Kidnapping: Hezbollah kidnapped CIA Station Chief William Buckley in Beirut, who was later tortured and killed.

1985: TWA Flight 847 Hijacking: Hezbollah hijacked a flight from Athens to Rome, murdering a U.S. Navy diver on board.

1985–1986: Paris Attacks: Hezbollah agents carried out a series of bombings in Paris, killing 20 people and wounding hundreds.

1996: Khobar Towers Bombing: Iran-backed Hezbollah Al-Hijaz bombed a U.S. Air Force housing complex in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen.

2003–2011: Iraq War Proxies: Iran provided explosives (EFPs) and training to Shia militias in Iraq, which killed hundreds of U.S. and coalition troops.

2011: Washington D.C. Assassination Plot: The US foiled an IRGC plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington.

2012: Burgas Bus Bombing: Hezbollah bombed a bus of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, killing 6 people.

2019: Saudi Aramco Strikes: Attacks on Saudi oil facilities, widely attributed to Iran, caused major disruptions to global energy supplies.

2020: U.S. Base Attacks: Following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Iran launched ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, causing brain injuries to over 100 U.S. personnel.

2024-2026: Ongoing Threats: Iran has escalated its use of criminal proxies to target Israeli and American interests in Europe and the UK. In early 2026, amid intense regional conflict, Iran was linked to over 20 potentially lethal attacks on UK soil [FDD / Wikipedia].

While there is some legitimacy to take the decision to wage against the rogue state, reasons and focuses keep changing. At first Trump appeared to point to regime change, but soon focused on the nuclear threat that Iran posed. As the war continued into its third week and Iran essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz, the war threatened the flow of oil. As this threatens to trigger an global energy crisis, a slump in food production as fertilisers become unavailable and the risk of a global recession grows, Trump appears to have little if any plan as to how to proceed.

He claims to have forced Iran to the negotiating table but described Iran's negotiators as strange. Meanwhile, Iran have insisted they are not negotiating with the US. And in the meantime missiles continue to rain down across the region with no apparent end in sight, and with a growing risk the whole region could go up in flames. Worse still, the war could spread to other parts of the world with lone wolf terror attacks and growing economic fallout.


tvnewswatch, London,UK