The US launched a new wave of strikes against Iran for a sixth night in a row, its military said, as the two sides battled for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command (Centcom) said the attacks were intended to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities”, before saying it had boarded a vessel as part of its blockade of the strait.

Iran’s state media reported US missiles struck close to the island of Qeshm, near the strait, as well as in Bandar Abbas and Bushehr – the site of a nuclear power plant.

In an apparent escalation, it also said two bridges in Hormozgan province had been hit. The BBC has verified an attack on one bridge to the west of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants if the country did not return to talks.

After Trump said in April that the US would bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said “deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime”.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.

Centcom also said marines had boarded an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as part of the renewed US blockade of Iran’s ports that began on Tuesday night.

It added it had “redirected 3 commercial vessels trying to run the blockade”.

According to Centcom, US forces disabled nine ships and redirected more than 140 under its previous blockade of Iranian ports between 13 April to 18 June.

As the the renewed hostilities further strained the preliminary deal to end the war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump remained open to talks with Iran.

“The president will hold them accountable when they turn their back on the words that they state to the United States. But he is always open to diplomacy at the very same time,” she told reporters.

She said Iran has expressed it still wants to make a deal with the US, adding: “We’re talking to them, but again, the president is not going to allow them to fire on ships in the strait without paying a consequence for that.”

As attacks escalate, the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway off Iran’s coast that Tehran effectively blocked in response to US-Israeli strikes – has remained shut.

Earlier on Thursday, Tehran said it had struck US military bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, while the US said it had inflicted a six-hour wave of strikes on multiple locations in the strait.

Those exchanges came after Trump warned Iran it had “better behave” or face further military action should Iran not return to negotiations.

Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told state media that Tehran had “no reason” to abide by any agreement that did not benefit the country.

He added that Iran’s national security depended on maintaining what he described as “Iranian arrangements” in the Strait of Hormuz.

Andy Burnham‘s plans for a new land tax could trigger a house price slump in parts of the south, according to a new analysis.

The incoming prime minister has repeatedly backed the idea of imposing a new Land Value Tax, describing it as ‘aspirational socialism’.

The plan would replace both council tax and stamp duty, which have long been criticised by economists.

A new analysis reveals that the idea could slash annual council tax bills in the north, but lead to huge increases in parts of the south where the average value of land is higher.

The scale of the increase in parts of London and the south east is potentially so great that it could knock 20 per cent off house prices in some areas.

The findings will fuel fears that Mr Burnham, who plans to move part of his No 10 operation to Manchester, is plotting to launch a tax raid on middle class southerners to fund lavish spending in the north.

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride described the plan as an ‘unfair tax on aspiration’ – and urged Mr Burnham to focus instead on cutting Britain’s bloated benefits bill.

The new analysis conducted by the Tax Policy Associates think tank models the impact of levying an annual tax on land of 1.28 per cent – the level needed to replace the £56.7 billion annual revenue raised by both council tax and stamp duty.

It found that overall, 69 per cent of households would gain from the change, with 31 per cent losing out.

But it also revealed sharply differing regional outcomes.

In Blackpool, which has some of the cheapest house prices in the country, the average Band D council tax bill of £2,392 a year would be replaced by an annual Land Value Tax of just £662. The analysis suggests the scale of the change could spark a housing boom in the town with prices jumping by 28 per cent.

In Wigan, where Mr Burnham has his family home, Band D council tax of £2,031 would fall to £1,355 with properties in the town potentially benefiting from a nine per cent rise in house prices.

At the other end of the scale, Band D council tax in Bristol of £2,584 would be replaced by a new annual levy of £4,808 – almost double the amount. House prices could suffer a 12 per cent slump.

In Brighton, a Band D bill of £2,457 would jump to £4,284, with house prices taking a 10 per cent knock.

Worst hit would be London. In Kensington and Chelsea, which has some of the highest house prices in the country, a Band D council tax bill would more than treble from £1,592 to £5,455 a year. House prices in this bracket could drop by 21 per cent.

The impact on more valuable properties would be even starker.

A band H property in the commuter belt city of St Albans would see its annual council tax bill of £4,612 jump to a staggering £24,854, triggering a house price fall of 23 per cent.

Mr Burnham has indicated that he is planning new taxes on the better off to fund giveaways on things like energy bills. Asked about a potential wealth tax this week, he said people may be asked to pay ‘a little more’ to fund his plans. He said he would not ‘shy away’ from taking difficult decisions to balance the books but insisted it was too soon to set out his plans in detail.

But the former Greater Manchester mayor, who will become Labour leader on Friday, has campaigned for a Land Value Tax for years.

Speaking during last month’s Makerfield by-election he said he had ‘long been persuaded of the argument for a Land Value Tax’. Mr Burnham described council tax as ‘very regressive’ and said basing bills on valuations dating back to 1991 was ‘not justifiable’.

Sir Mel warned against the move, saying: ‘If Andy Burnham is planning a new property tax, that risks being an unfair tax on aspiration.

‘Nothing is safe under Labour – they’ve raised taxes on jobs, savings, pensions, and now possibly your home too.

‘The best way to reform property taxes would be to abolish stamp duty – which can be funded if we get on top of the ballooning benefits bill. That is what the Conservatives will do.’

Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, said the estimated impact on house prices was relatively ‘crude’.

But he said a blanket tax could produce ‘very substantial tax increases for some people’ creating a ‘sudden shock that, overnight, greatly reduces property prices in some parts of the country’.

Mr Neidle suggested the impact could be reduced by applying the policy on a regional basis, with each region collecting an amount equal to the sum raised locally in council tax and stamp duty.

He said that replacing stamp duty and council tax – two ‘terrible taxes’ – could also boost economic growth.

But designing a new property tax could take years.

Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of the Left-wing New Economics Foundation think tank, which has close links to Mr Burnham’s team, said he was more likely to focus on short term tax grabs, such as raising the rate of capital gains tax.

Jo Fuller has spoken out about how she made the decision to sell her house to fund her battle against an aggressive form of brain cancer. The dyslexia specialist from Nottinghamshire, who is 51, opted to have hyperthermia alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Hyperthermia heats tumour tissue to make it more vulnerable to other therapies but is not routinely funded on the NHS and is considered experimental for brain tumours (Jo Fuller/PA)

Butterfly Conservation’s head of engagement, Kate Merry, said: “After the colourful spring with seemingly lots of beautiful butterflies appearing across the UK, it’s tempting to assume we’re heading for a bumper summer, and we’d love nothing more as most of our butterfly species have undergone long-term declines.

Crews are working in ‘extremely challenging conditions’

Three separate fire services were tackling multiple blazes across the Peak District today (July 16) with crews working in ‘extremely challenging conditions’.

Firefighters from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service have been battling wildfires near to Dovestone Reservoir since Saturday night (July 11). Shania Care-Slede, 20, has since been charged with aggravated arson in relation to the incident.

They have also been tackling a separate wildfire near Swineshaw Reservoir which broke out on Tuesday (July 14). Both are said to be ‘deep within remote and inaccessible moorland’ only accessible on foot, from the air or on specialist vehicles.

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Officers said there had been ‘encouraging’ signs of progress but that firefighting operations were ‘likely to continue for a long time’.

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service are also tackling a blaze that has broken out at Tintwistle Moor, close by these two other fires, which has been burning on and off for more than three weeks.

Both fire services have thanked the public for their donations of food and drink and have pleaded with locals to avoid the area as much as possible.

In a dramatic update this afternoon, a moor fire has broken out in a third county nearby, with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service confirming that a fire had started off Woodhead Pass after a car set alight following a crash and came into contact with moorland.

The road remains shut in both directions between the A57 (Hollingworth) and A616 (Flouch), with SYFR telling National Highways they expect to remain at the scene fighting the fire ‘until at least Sunday’.

Shocking photos from the scene show a black car completely engulfed in the blaze, with smoke and flames billowing from the vehicle, having left the road and crashed on adjacent moorland just after 1.30pm.

All three fires, combined with recent warm, dry and windy conditions, have sent significant amounts of smoke blowing towards Manchester, with south Manchester and Stockport particularly affected.

Residents in Offerton reported tonight that the smell of smoke was ‘worse than ever’ and said they were forced to shut doors and windows after a slight improvement in air quality in recent days.

Health experts have advised people with underlying respiratory conditions and the very young and old to shut doors and windows, remain inside where possible and keep using prescribed medication to manage their symptoms.

In their latest update, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue said: “Firefighters returned this morning to the major wildfire incident at Tintwistle after scaling back operations overnight.

“Yesterday, around 80 firefighting personnel were working at the scene. Crews continue to contain and supress the fire while protecting nearby communities, property and the environment.

“Today, firefighters are tackling hotspots in the Digsbury Intake, Featherbed Moss and Crowden areas. The main focus of operations is currently near Arnfield Moor.

“Ground crews and aerial firefighting resources will remain in action throughout the day, supported by neighbouring fire and rescue services and partner agencies.

“Please continue to support us by avoiding the area and staying off the moorland. If you must travel through the area, please expect some disruption on the nearby section of the A628 while safe access to the incident scene is maintained.”

Of the fires near Dovestones and Swineshaw Reservoirs, GMFRS said in an update today: “Crews have continued working throughout the night and into today, making steady progress across both incidents.

“Today’s operations continue to remain focused on containing the fires, reducing hotspots and preventing further spread across the moorland.”

Paul Fearnhead, Incident Commander at GMFRS, said: “Our firefighters and partner agencies have been working tirelessly over the past week in extremely challenging conditions, day and night.

“Much of the fireground is deep within remote and inaccessible moorland, which can only be reached on foot, with specialist vehicles, or with support from the air.

“While there are encouraging signs of progress, both incidents remain active and continue to require a significant multi-agency response to tackle these wildfires.

“Although wind speeds have eased since yesterday and earlier in the week, resulting smoke still remains a challenge and may still affect nearby communities. Firefighting operations are likely to continue for some time.

“We would like to thank local communities for their continued patience, support and understanding. The best way people can help is by avoiding the affected areas, keeping access routes clear and following any public safety and health advice.”

When Daniel Bottger took 11-year-old Jamie Mckenzie to her parents’ outhouse to rape her, her mother gave her the morning after pill the next day.

Her stepfather then punched the creep – ‘it was their form of protection’ after all.

But when the monster was released early from prison for raping a little girl twice, Jamie, by then a mother of three, knew she had to get him off the streets.

She began a fearless campaign to get him back behind bars, which saw three other women to come forward with tales of abuse.

‘It was bloody horrific – there’s no sugarcoating the event,’ the 32-year-old told the Daily Mail.

Bottger, from Hull, was found guilty in 2023 of 11 offences against four girls between 2000 and 2008, including two rapes, attempted rape and indecent assault, and sentenced to a ‘spectacular’ 24 years in jail.

First introduced to her family ‘as a babysitter-slash mutual friend’ when Jamie was eight, she said they bonded because they both came from broken homes.

‘It was like this coexistence of dysfunction,’ Jamie explained.

Bottger, from Hull, was found guilty in 2023 of 11 offences against four girls between 2000 and 2008, including two rapes, attempted rape and indecent assault

Bottger was ‘calculated’ in his approach and managed to ‘weave his way in like a serpent’ – at first, it was ‘like flirtation and an invitation to connect with him, and interact with him, and play with him’, Jamie said.

It quickly became predatory, which Jamie now believes was targeted as he knew she came from an unstable family life – her biological father had not been around when she was born and Jamie experienced several stints in foster care – leaving her vulnerable.

When she first alerted an adult to Bottger’s ‘tickling’ – without understanding that he was inappropriately touching her – and that she ‘didn’t like it’, she was told she should just tell Bottger to stop it.

But this meagre advice was not enough to stop him grooming her: ‘I recall Daniel putting me on his knee when I was eight, nine, 10 and he would stick his tongue inside my mouth.

‘He would pry my jaw open with his hands, and squeeze the side of my jaw, just next to my ear so I’d have to open my mouth. I remember very distinctly he would brush my teeth with his tongue.

‘The only way I could get him off me was to tell him that I was going to wee myself.’

It was ‘years and years of kissing me, touching my thighs inappropriately, telling me how pretty I am’ which were all forms of attention – something that Jamie felt she was in a ‘deficit’ in due to her home life.

Jamie, now 32, began a fearless campaign to get Bottger back behind bars after he was released early from an unrelated child abuse sentence, which led to three other women to come forward with further disgusting tales of assault

At 11, Bottger would ply Jamie with alcohol, making her so intoxicated that she could not stand and carry her from her family’s kitchen to the toilet outhouse in the garden and raped her.

The brute left handprints on Jamie, searing deep indents on her thighs despite her body freezing from the panic.

‘I told my parents straight away, thinking, “Oh my god, like… I felt dirty”,’ she said, adding that ‘it hurt’.

Their response was practical: a punch and a pill.

He wasn’t invited back to the house – but it seems he wasn’t reported to the police.

There was almost a sense of anticipation for Jamie, she said that ‘all of these years have been leading up to this moment’ and felt that she subconsciously knew that this ‘was always going to happen’.

‘And part of me just let it, so that it would be over and done with quickly, then it’s done,’ she said. ‘How crazy is that?’

She saw him only once after the rape, some years later, when he brought a girlfriend and a baby girl round to the house.

‘I just thought, “please don’t hurt that baby”, but then I was like, “surely you wouldn’t. Don’t just presume, because he’s raped you, that he’s gonna hurt her too”.’

In 2013, he was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of two counts of rape of a child aged under 13, in a shocking case that left the jury in floods of tears.

He had been babysitting the child for a mere two and a half hours, and despite insisting nothing sexual had happened, there was scientific evidence of the assault and the girl left with injuries, immediately telling her mother Bottger had hurt her.

The girl then told a specially trained police officer ‘I have been brave at hospital, they gave me medicine’ in a recorded interview shown to the jury, with the child clutching a Disney Princess Belle doll while she played on a sofa.

Bottger, who had no fixed address at the time, was referred to the safeguarding authorities so that he could never work with children, while also being placed on the sex offenders register for life.

His imprisonment left a 17-year-old Jamie feeling that she could bury the painful memories of what he did to her, knowing that she would still be safe with him behind bars.

But when he was released early for good behaviour, Jamie’s ‘happy bubble’ of her growing family of four was quickly popped – and something in her broke.

‘Someone threw a match into my life and my whole world was set on fire,’ Jamie said, quickly developing severe insomnia and stopped eating, or vomiting when she binged.

‘I wasn’t trauma-informed and I wasn’t in intensive therapy, so I thought I was losing my mind. I’m going crazy. Certain colours would make me feel sick, I couldn’t let my kids kiss me.’

Quickly, she felt the ‘only thing to do now is die’.

‘I was crumbling, questioning, and physically exhausted. I could feel it in my bones that I honestly could not go on anymore.

‘I thought the best possible thing for me to do would be to not exist. I didn’t want to take up any space.’

Victims of child sexual abuse are believed to be up to six times more likely than the general population to attempt suicide – while Jamie’s attempt on her life left her in a psychiatric ward, it also provided an opportunity to speak with a professional about what had been the origin for her despair.

Once Jamie came forward with her devastating story, three other women also contacted the police with allegations of abuse against Bottger.

‘I’m really proud of the girls that found the strength to come forward,’ she said.

But, connected by the most devastating of violations, Jamie wanted the first little girl to know that she was sorry and that ‘she never leaves my mind’.

‘I felt so guilty for many, many years because of that little girl who he’d harmed.

‘I thought, “did I not shout loud enough? Did I not tell people loud enough? Did I not run fast enough? Did I not scream that I didn’t like Daniel enough for people to even listen to me?” And because I didn’t do all of those things, he went on to really seriously harm an innocent little girl who never leaves my mind.’

She paused: ‘She never leaves my mind… but I was a child too.’

Jamie added that ‘I don’t know how many more children he could have hurt if I didn’t speak out when I did. I’m glad that I got to put him in prison for life.’

Years on from the destructive crimes, it might look like Jamie has put her life back together: a loving family home, speaking on panels about sexual assault, an understanding about mental health.

But she can still be violently affected by the memories – ‘nobody’s seeing you at 3 o’clock in the morning, hyperventilating, taking a cold shower, because you need to regulate your nervous system or having to talk yourself through flashbacks’.

‘I’m not superwoman, this still happens,’ she adds.

When Jamie gives talks about her experience – where she says at least one woman every single time will come up to her afterwards to speak about their own stories of abuse – she hopes sharing her experience will change the way these crimes are investigated.

Jamie is now a mother to three children and gives talks about her experience of abuse in the hope that she can help change the justice system to better support abuse victims during trials

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Like many victims of sexual assault who have to undergo the gruelling process of cross-examination in court, cruelly dredging up some of her most painful memories and finding ways to smear her, the trial left Jamie shattered.

‘It was the most traumatic experience of my life, and then it was rehashed in a way that villainised me, and made me question the legal system, and the way that it holds victims of serious crime,’ she said.

The gaudy yellow of her victim room became a flashing reminder of some of her darkest months, causing her to throw away toys and clothes which could set her off.

‘It has that ripple effect which is very suffocating,’ she explained.

And yet, she still has faith in a system – one that could be improved if it was centred around supporting victims throughout.

‘I want people to trust the law, to trust their detectives and trust the police force. I want them to feel encouraged to run towards legal systems that are there to protect the innocent,’ she said.

‘I just want better. I want better for other women, and I want them to care about intricate things you might not consider.’

As well as modernising the justice system, she believes sex education must be compulsory to all children at school as it would give them the words and the knowledge to communicate should they be abused.

Up to 80 per cent of paedophiles know their victims before assaulting them – a reality that Jamie finds counter intuitive to the current standard of sending consent forms home to inform children about sex education.

‘If a child is being sexually groomed and conditioned, you’re not going to want them to learn about consent, are you?,’ she said

She added: ‘I wish I’d known that at 10 my body was mine and that I had the right language to say “don’t touch my vagina”.

‘As a child, you’re so vulnerable anyways, because you see the world so innocently and that’s why it’s so important to give yourself the tools to protect yourself.

‘It is statistically way higher for your child to see a domestically abusive relationship than to be in a car crash.

‘Why then are we telling our children to buckle their seatbelts, but not be aware of coercive control? And abusive situations? Why are we not teaching it in school?

‘This stuff isn’t just happening in the Epstein files, it’s on your estate, it’s two doors down, it’s someone you used to know from school.’

‘You think, “oh, surely this isn’t real”. And then you live it,’ she said bluntly.

Once allegedly described as a ‘promiscuous child’ by her parents – ‘two words that should never be in the same sentence’ – Jamie said the assault contributed to a lifestyle of hypersexuality when she was older.

‘I felt like I was conditioned to believe it was the only way I could get validation or affection.

‘It was so normal to me to be hypersexual, and to be encouraged to be that way, because you’ve got to think, if my attention is in a deficit and I’m not getting what I need at home, but if I act in a certain way…I get lots of attention.

‘I even remember being 14, and this boy being like, “I really like you, will you be my girlfriend?” And I was like, “no, but we can have sex if you want”.’

She added: ‘Sex was a transactional thing and physical touch felt great, right? It was connecting with another human. But the aspect of it… was… toxic.

‘And then once the act was complete, I was again in a deficit.

‘There was this big, gaping wound that could not be filled – and it was because I’d been harmed as a child.’

And yet, despite being victim to the worst of humanity, Jamie managed to find an optimism in life that feels contagious.

‘I keep reiterating, there’s joy, there’s love, there’s such a profound level of peace.

‘And there are so many good men out there too, my delivery driver who always makes a joke with me, the man in our local corner shop who gave me his coat when it was raining, you can have joyful, beautiful, sensual, open consensual relationships.’

The bleak statistics can sometimes feel like a prophecy – child sexual abuse victims are twice as likely as the general population to be depressed, 73 per cent suffer from PTSD, half of victims self harm and they are five times more likely to be charged with a criminal offence – but Jamie hopes her story can inspire other survivors to see that there is a future that can be joyful and fulfilling.

‘It’s so surreal to live a happy, a very happy and contented life when you think about everything I had to go through,’ she said.

‘I’ll always be in intensive therapy, I’ve made peace with that. This road will never be done, and that’s okay, because if it’s never gonna be done, that means that I’m living it. 

‘That means that I get to find joy, I get to love endlessly, I get to be authentic, I get to be listened to.

‘My message is just to hang on, because life is full of so much joy.’

For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit https://www.thecalmzone.net/get-support 

A breakthrough blood test for womb cancer could speed up diagnosis and spare thousands of women from having intrusive examinations, a study suggests. 

Womb cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women in the UK, with around 9,700 people diagnosed annually. However, many more – upwards of 90,000 – are referred for transvaginal ultrasound scans to check for the disease. 

The new blood test could spare many of them from having the intrusive procedure, while also speeding up diagnosis for those who have the disease, scientists said.  

The PinPoint test uses AI to analyse markers in the blood to predict a patient’s cancer risk. It was trialled on 16,481 women, including 2,953 with suspected cancer, at hospitals across Yorkshire, England. A study finds that the test has a 99% accuracy rate at both detecting gynaecological cancers and ruling out its presence.   

“High-risk patients could be diagnosed more rapidly, leading to potential earlier-stage diagnosis and a better diagnostic experience, [while] low-risk patients could avoid unnecessary invasive medical testing for cancer,” it noted. “[Furthermore] the software can be deployed rapidly … without the need for additional hardware.” 

Further research is planned.

Image: Gabriel Silverio

Copyright is built on the idea that human creativity deserves protection. Legally, this is known as “originality”. The principle is simple: people create valuable cultural works and the law protects that effort.

But artificial intelligence (AI) is challenging one of copyright law’s most basic assumptions. In doing so, it may force us to rethink what we mean by intellectual property.

AI can now generate songs, images, novels and artworks in seconds. Many of these works are already being streamed, licensed and sold. This raises an increasingly important question: should works produced without direct human authorship receive copyright protection?

Most legal systems currently say no. They continue to place human creativity at the centre of copyright. But the history of copyright suggests things may not remain that way for long.

In the US case Thaler v Perlmutter (2023), a federal court confirmed that copyright requires a human creator. European law takes a similar approach. The Court of Justice of the European Union defines originality as the author’s “own intellectual creation”.

So, at first glance, that appears to settle the issue. But copyright has never evolved according to a single, consistent theory of creativity. Again and again, it has adapted to new technology and commercial pressures. AI is not the first disruptive technology to force a rethink. The history of sound recordings offers a revealing example.

When recordings weren’t considered creative

When recording technology emerged in the late 19th century, it transformed how people experienced music. Before Thomas Edison’s phonograph appeared in 1877, music was largely encountered through live performance or written notation.

Recordings changed that. Performances could be captured, copied and distributed by machines. Today, recordings feel like an obvious form of creative property. But that was not how they were initially viewed.

Early recordings were often seen as mechanical reproductions rather than original works. They copied music rather than creating it. By the standards of traditional copyright thinking, they struggled to satisfy the ideal of originality. As a result, recordings were denied copyright protection for decades.

It took 34 years for English and Welsh law to recognise them in the Copyright Act 1911. The US did not grant federal protection until the Sound Recording Amendment of 1971. France waited until 1985.

As the recording industry grew, copyright law changed with it. Gradually, lawmakers abandoned the view that recordings were merely technical reproductions. Instead, they became recognised as a form of protected intellectual property.

Technically, sound recordings are protected through neighbouring rights rather than traditional authors’ rights. In practice, however, they sit at the heart of the modern music industry. Economic importance succeeded where strict theories of originality could not. AI-generated works may be following a similar path.

Many experts argue that AI outputs differ from sound recordings because they lack human creativity. But history suggests that copyright’s boundaries have often shifted when new technology becomes economically valuable.

The signs of this are already visible in the UK. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 states that for computer-generated literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, “the author shall be taken to be the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken”.

The law was written long before modern generative AI. Even so, it shows that copyright has not always depended on a traditional understanding of human authorship.

The UK government’s recent consultation on copyright and AI points in a similar direction. While it emphasises protecting creators (whoever they are), it also frames copyright as a tool for growth, innovation, investment and competitiveness.

Is copyright still ‘intellectual’ property?

Copyright appears to have evolved through successive technological phases. First, the protection of sheet music, then sound recordings and maybe in the future, AI-generated works too.

Each stage has been reflective of copyright’s capacity to adapt to technological and economic change. Each time challenging the idea of “intellectual” property.

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Can a rhythm be owned? What a reggaeton lawsuit reveals about how copyright misunderstands music

If that pattern continues, the central question may soon change. The debate may no longer be whether AI-generated works deserve legal protection. Instead, society may find itself asking whether copyright can still be described as a form of intellectual property if human intellect is no longer essential to what it protects.

In that sort of future, intellectual property could gradually become little more than property, a system shaped less by creative principles than by commercial interests. That outcome is not inevitable, however. Copyright’s connection to human creativity can survive. But it will survive only if it is actively defended, rather than simply assumed.