Evening Briefing: Friday 4 September 2026
- Mortgages: Coventry Building Society becomes the first big lender to raise fixed rates from Monday after the week’s gilt turmoil — others are expected to follow; average two-year fixes already sit at 5.59%.
- Food resilience: The NAO says Britain is unprepared for food-supply shocks — and the environment secretary’s advice is blunt: keep “a store of a bit of food that can keep you going” through an emergency.
- Fuel: Brent holds near $96 into day four of the war — the pump prices that follow are already the highest since the conflict began.
Kyiv Endures Eighth Straight Day of Jet-Drone Bombardment
Wave after wave of jet-powered drones struck Kyiv and its suburbs overnight — an apartment block and a Coca-Cola plant among the targets, more than a dozen injured in a day — as the capital’s ordeal entered an eighth consecutive day. Russi…
Two Workers Pulled Alive From Nepal Tunnel After Nine Days
Foreman Sanjay Shah and supervisor Kabir Maharjan were rescued from 170 metres inside the Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel, nine days after the floods. Mr Shah’s first question: “What day is it?” He had stayed to warn colleagues — “I couldn’t…
Milei Escalates Falklands Claim as Trump Declines to Back Britain
Argentina’s president used a televised address to declare “winds of change” favour Buenos Aires, threaten sanctions on companies in the Sea Lion oil project, and announce a naval base in Tierra del Fuego: “Any further advance on the Malvin…
US Investigating Wedding Strike as Experts Point to American Missile
JD Vance confirmed the US military is investigating the Kuhestak strike — “We’re investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know” — while remaining “extremely sceptical” of Iranian accounts. Four weapons experts consulted by Re…
South Korea Reviews Hormuz Deployment Under American Pressure
Seoul is weighing sending a patrol aircraft, naval logistics ship and explosives-disposal team to the Strait of Hormuz, Korean outlets reported — though the presidential office insisted “nothing related to the matter has been decided” whil…
Reform Donations Sting: Farage's Right-Hand Man and Policy Chief Out
Channel 4’s undercover investigation showed senior aide Dan Jukes suggesting a way to route a £500,000 foreign donation through a donor’s UK-based son — claiming “we’ve done it several times before” — and policy head James Orr proposing th…
Army Ordered to Halt Non-Essential Training to Save Money
Collective training for UK-based units has been suspended for most of the rest of the year amid budget pressure — cancelled exercises reportedly include live-firing involving tanks and Apache helicopters. Troops deploying or on standby tra…
Watchdog: UK Unprepared for Food Shocks — Minister Says Stock Up
The National Audit Office warned that climate, disease and cyber-attacks pose growing risks to food supplies Britain is not prepared for — over a third of UK food is imported, most through four ports — and said Defra has “not done enough”…
Gilt Turmoil Reaches Households: Lenders Start Raising Fixed Rates
Coventry Building Society became the first notable lender to tell brokers it will raise fixed-rate mortgage deals from Monday, for new and existing borrowers, after the week’s jump in swap rates — with others expected to follow. Average ne…
Jackdaw Gas Field Set for Approval Within a Fortnight
Ministers are set to approve the Jackdaw field off Aberdeen as soon as mid-September, government and industry sources say — just before conference season. The field was blocked when courts ruled its approval unlawfully ignored the climate…