Notes from the UK

On My Radar

• Bank of England raises rates an unsurprising quarter of a percent, following that of the Federal Reserve the other week. This is the 12th rate rise in a row. Still maintaining the myth that inflation will be halved by the end of the year.

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• UK is the first country to send long-range missiles to Ukraine. Storm Shadow missiles have a range of ‘in excess of 250km’ according to the European arms group MBDA. It has been said that Britain has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia. However, these are air launched cruise missiles and Ukraine has a miniscule airforce and is shot down as soon as it goes into the sky. As conceded by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace;

these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian AS-24 killjoy hypersonic missile...

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• A major train operator in the UK, TransPennine Express, is to be nationalised at the end of the month for repeatedly poor performance which has seen months of cancellations. In March one in six trains were cancelled bringing misery to commuters. This amounts to four operators brought back under national control since 2018.

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• Train strikes hit ahead of Eurovision. Plus Volodymyr Zelensky has been barred from speaking at the Eurovision pop contest because an alliance of international broadcasters fears his speech could politicise the event. No kidding. Despite rules against politicising the event, Eurovision has always been a show ground for political alliances. Russia has been banned and Belarus has been suspended temporarily for political lyrics. Further, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro have all pulled out. All making this one of the smallest contests for many years.

Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra was the victor in the 2022 contest