Aryna Sabalenka’s French Open run ended in a shock quarter-final defeat as Diana Shnaider produced one of the tournament’s biggest upsets, after recovering from a set and double-break deficit to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Sabalenka, the overwhelming favourite after the early exits of Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, appeared in control at 6-3, 4-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier and later served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. From there, Shnaider broke three times to take the set, and raced through the third without reply.

Echoes of past struggles

The turnaround carried echoes of Sabalenka’s defeat in last year’s final. She lost 10 straight games and 12 of the last 13, unable to halt the slide as Shnaider took over.

The wind, a recurring issue for Sabalenka in Paris, played its part. Blustery conditions disrupted her rhythm, just as they had in previous years. Shnaider, by contrast, stayed composed, extending rallies and forcing Sabalenka to hit one more ball. The world No 1 game unravelled as the Russian’s belief grew.

For Shnaider, this marked a breakthrough win. Seeded 25th and playing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, she adjusted quickly after a shaky opening set. Her baseline hitting grew heavier, her court coverage sharper, and her consistency in longer rallies paid off as Sabalenka’s performance dipped.

By the third set, Shnaider was in control. She raced to a double-break lead, held firm under pressure, and ended the match with authority. The 22-year-old will now move into her first major semi-final, where she faces Polish qualifier Maja Chwalińska. This represents a remarkable opportunity for both players.

Sabalenka left with questions

Sabalenka’s wait for a maiden French Open title continues. Despite her power and early dominance, she could not steady herself once the match became tight. Her serve faltered, her shot selection wavered, and the composure from earlier rounds faded.

This defeat marks one of her most painful exits, given the draw had opened up favourably. It is only the second time in her last 14 Slams that she has failed to reach at least the semi-finals.

With Sabalenka gone, the women’s draw is guaranteed a first-time Grand Slam champion. Shnaider’s semi-final against Chwalińska adds another twist to a tournament already defined by upsets and breakthroughs.

For Sabalenka, the challenge now is to regroup. For Shnaider, the opportunity is enormous  and after this comeback, she arrives in the last four with momentum, belief, and nothing to lose.

Featured image courtesy of Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

By Faz Ali

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4 min read25 min

Former health secretary Wes Streeting has said Reform UK’s response to the murder of Henry Nowak “has echoes of the 1930s”.

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Speaking on Wednesday night, Streeting accused Nigel Farage’s party of “weaponising” the murder of 18-year-old Nowak to “stoke rage”.

Nowak was fatally stabbed by 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa in Southampton in December. 

Digwa, who falsely claimed he had been racially abused and attacked by Nowak, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years on Monday.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the conduct of police officers who handcuffed Nowak after he had been stabbed and repeatedly told police he could not breathe as he lay dying.

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Farage has urged the public to respond to the case with “pure, cold rage”.

Riots took place in Southampton on Tuesday night in response to the case, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday.

At PMQs, Farage said it was “now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two-tier policing”, and claimed that police guidance effectively instructed officers to “treat different ethnic groups in different ways”.

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Streeting gave a speech at the LabourList parliamentary reception last night, alongside Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell, Education Secretary Bridget Philipson, and backbench Labour MP Jeevun Sandher.

“We have seen it in the last 24 hours, the way in which [Reform] have sought to weaponise an absolutely heinous crime and situation,” Streeting said. 

“To weaponise it against their political opponents, and to stoke rage, and to incite rage is really dangerous, and it’s not too dramatic to say this has echoes of the 1930s.

“We have to take this seriously when you have political propaganda that weaponises the words of the Leader of the Opposition, bends and twists them out of context to suggest that a Black woman leading the Conservative Party doesn’t think that white lives matter, that is a moment for all of us, especially those who are not Conservative, to speak up and challenge and call this out.”

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Reform has been heavily criticised after publishing an attack ad about Kemi Badenoch that displayed only part of a comment she made in response to Nowak’s murder. 

Badenoch told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I don’t want to hear about Black Lives Matter. I don’t want to hear about White Lives Matter. Everyone matters.”

However, the Reform ad only included: “I want to hear about White Lives Matter.”

Streeting told the reception that the Labour Party had a responsibility to “follow Henry Novak’s father’s leadership” and show “what moral courage and clarity looks like”.

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Streeting also said that following the local elections in England and devolved administration elections in Scotland and Wales, for the first time in history, “nationalists are in power in every corner of the United Kingdom”.

“While some of those nationalists would consider themselves progressives, I take the view that there has never been anything progressive about nationalism as separatism, where even if it’s the nationalism of the SNP and Plaid Cymru,” he said.

He added that in England, “we have something altogether more dangerous” – referring to Farage’s party.

A formal leadership challenge has not yet been launched to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer, following a set of disastrous local and national election results for Labour in England, Scotland and Wales last month.

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However, either a contest or a coronation is widely seen as likely soon, after Streeting stepped down as health secretary in May and announced his intention to stand when a contest is underway, and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham announced that he will stand in the Makerfield parliamentary by-election to re-enter Parliament.

Streeting also addressed the latest release of files containing messages between cabinet ministers and former US ambassador Peter Mandelson, saying it gave a troubling insight into decision-making in government, which excluded women.

“There were exchanges about tech policy, about trade policy, and what those conversations had in common was the total absence of any women,” he said.

“The most prominent reference to a woman was the reference to the most powerful woman in the country, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and how she would need to be managed on the issue.”

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He said it exposed “unconscious bias, the everyday sexism, even among people, particularly men in politics who would consider ourselves progressives and committed to equality across the board, including gender equality”.

“That is a culture that we all of us, but particularly men in politics, have a responsibility to help change.”

 

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Liverpool’s search for Arne Slot’s successor is over, with the club moving quickly. Andoni Iraola is expected on Merseyside to sign his contract. This completes a process driven by sporting director Richard Hughes, accelerated by urgency following Slot’s departure.

Hughes leads appointment

Liverpool reached a verbal agreement with Iraola on Tuesday, clearing the final hurdle in that process which Slot’s dismissal set in motion.

Iraola will arrive to complete formalities, with a club announcement expected shortly after. The 43‑year‑old Spaniard has been the leading candidate throughout. Hughes identified early as a strong fit for Liverpool’s preferred tactical style and vision.

The appointment has Hughes’ fingerprints all over it. The sporting director previously hired Iraola at Bournemouth in 2023. That move was transformative for the Cherries. When Hughes moved to Anfield the following year, Iraola remained a name to watch. Once Slot was removed, he quickly became the frontrunner.

Liverpool followed a structured process helped by the alignment between Hughes and Iraola. The talks which began earlier this week have progressed quickly.

Style and identity

Iraola is expected to bring several key figures with him. He wants Pablo de la Torre, Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper and Tom Webber to join his staff at Anfield. This group helped underpin Bournemouth’s rise under his leadership.

Liverpool have not yet approached individuals directly, with the club working to finalise negotiations before formalising staff decisions.

Liverpool’s priority throughout this process has been clear — find a coach whose football aligns with the club’s identity.

Iraola’s Bournemouth side delivered exactly that; a high‑energy, front‑foot, aggressive style, producing one of the Premier League’s stronger runs last season.

The Cherries went 18 games unbeaten in the second half of the 2025/26 campaign. They finished sixth and secured Europa League football. They also ended the season just three points behind Liverpool.

That form was no fluke, but the product of a clear tactical blueprint Liverpool believes will translate to a bigger stage.

From Bournemouth to Anfield

The challenge awaiting Iraola is enormous. The shift from Bournemouth to Liverpool is a different scale of scrutiny. The expectations will be of another level entirely. The reality is he will be expected to make an immediate impact and hit the ground running.

At Bournemouth, a Friday press conference might draw four or five journalists. At Liverpool, he will face dozens, and that is before Champions League nights, global media cycles, and the relentless pressure of competing for titles.

This is not just a managerial appointment, it is a strategic alignment. Hughes and Iraola share a footballing philosophy built on structure and adaptability. Their past success at Bournemouth gives Liverpool confidence in a smooth transition.

The club’s goal has been to recruit the individual who best suits their preferred playing style. Iraola is seen as that fit.

Liverpool turns the page

With the contract signing imminent, Liverpool will move quickly into phase two. This includes finalising coaching staff, ensuring alignment on summer transfers, preparing for pre‑season, and communicating the club’s direction to supporters hungry for clarity.

Liverpool’s decision to move decisively for Iraola signals a commitment to continuity of style, modern coaching principles and long‑term planning. The club believes his energy, tactical intelligence and proven ability to elevate players will translate to success at Anfield.

The expectations are bigger, but Liverpool are convinced they’ve found the right man, and today the next chapter begins.

Featured image via Justin Setterfield / Getty Images

By Faz Ali

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10 May 1926: Troops in armoured cars on the streets of London | Image by: World Image Archive / Alamy

4 min read19 min

Meticulously researched, David Torrance’s study of the 1926 General Strike is both erudite and engaging

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In this erudite and engaging study of the nine-day General Strike, in May 1926, David Torrance reveals a much more nuanced political history in place of the usual comic-strip class war between the toffs and the trade unionists.

But while it certainly shook the nation, did it bring it to the ‘edge of revolution’? It certainly raised constitutional questions, but was it a constitutional crisis?

As Torrance’s meticulous research reveals, at its heart was the vexed history of the coal industry compounded by decades of deadlock over miners’ wages in a country where coal was still king but coal owners had the power. Miners had the nation’s sympathy but it still took raw courage for other trade unionists to put their own jobs at risk. The ‘Triple Alliance’ they formed in 1926 – comprising miners, railwaymen and transport workers – had already failed miserably in an earlier attempt at a general strike in 1921.

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In the end, not even that remarkable generation of trade union leaders – Ernest Bevin (Transport and General Workers Union), Jimmy Thomas (National Union of Rail) and Arthur Cook (Miners Federation of Great Britain) – could maintain the necessary solidarity.

These were, therefore, hardly revolutionary men or conditions. Yet, in those febrile post-war days haunted by the bloody memory of the 1917 Russian Revolution, they felt like revolutionary times to many, fed by political paranoia about the power of trade unions. In 1920, these fears were recognised in the Emergency Powers Act, passed by the coalition government led by David Lloyd George.

In this context, although the trade unions in 1926 acknowledged that they were hopelessly unprepared, they were incapable of halting the drift into a general strike. On 16 April, after protracted negotiations over miners’ wages had broken down, the mine owners (“the stupidest men in Britain” according to the Conservative politician Lord Birkenhead) posted lockout notices.

On 11 May, the strike ended in total surrender and confusion. The miners got nothing

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The drift might have continued had it not been for the printers at the Daily Mail refusing to run a leading article declaring a general strike a revolutionary moment rather than an industrial dispute. This was the justification the Cabinet needed to invoke the Emergency Powers Act and the General Strike started at one minute to midnight on 3 May 1926.

Many people volunteered to step into vacant roles and what followed for some, who had once only dreamed of driving trains, was the prospect (if voluntary) of “new and exciting jobs”. Some things went on as normal – namely cricket at Lords – proving to some that the nation still stood firm if divided.

While Hugh Gaitskell distributed the British Worker (the TUC’s antidote to the government’s British Gazette, edited by Winston Churchill, the chancellor of the exchequer), Chips Channon signed up “for England” as a special constable.

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In a chapter packed with glorious detail, many people found inventive ways to get to work – by penny farthing or roller skates. For others however, there were no larks – only riots, arrests, hunger and even railway fatalities.

The political establishment also weighed in. King George V and church leaders urged reconciliation. Parliament sat day and night. The legality of the strike was a moot issue. Not surprisingly, Conservative prime minister Stanley Baldwin seized on Liberal MP Sir John Simon’s singular interpretation that the strike was utterly illegal because it involved more than one trade union.

The end to the strike was even more muddled than the beginning, with Jimmy Thomas in particular desperate for resolution. Independent of the Miners’ Federation, judged to be too intransigent, separate negotiations for an end to the strike were informally brokered with the general council of the TUC by Liberal MP, Sir Herbert Samuel. On 11 May, the strike ended in total surrender and confusion. The miners got nothing.

What did it all add up to? Had the leader of the opposition been allowed, like Conservative leaders, to broadcast to the nation, Labour’s Ramsay Macdonald would have been emphatic: “It never entered into the mind of the Trades Union Council to challenge the government… It is not a political strike nor has it in any sense a revolutionary significance.” Yet, as Torrance rightly concludes, ‘Who governs Britain?’ was to be a question which would challenge successive generations.

Baroness Andrews is a Labour peer

The Edge of Revolution: The General Strike that Shook Britain

By: David Torrance

Publisher: Bloomsbury Continuum

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Reform’s Nigel Farage, Restore’s Rupert Lowe, and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch are all busy squabbling over the weaponisation of the tragic death of Henry Nowak.

Farage and Reform took Badenoch’s words out of context to make it seem as though she’d said white lives do not matter. And, of all people, racist Rupert popped up to defend Kemi via attacking Nige:

Reform putting out an attack ad on Kemi Badenoch misquoting her over Henry Nowak’s tragic death is a deeply misguided, ugly and offensive move.

A young British man was murdered. He died cuffed and begging for his life, alone in the street.

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To weaponise his death, so…

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) June 2, 2026

Lowe: Farage put out ‘a viciously deceitful graphic’

Ordinarily, agreeing with Rupert Lowe would be unthinkable given his consistently hard-right politics and willingness to push beyond Reform UK on many issues. Yet in this instance, Nigel Farage has descended so deeply into blatant misinformation and divisive rhetoric that even Lowe has been unable to outflank him from the right.

This has led to the reality that his latest post leaves little that could be disagreed with – and further underscores how opportunistic and vindictive the millionaire ‘politician’ actually is.

We put hyphens as it mustn’t be forgotten how little the self-interested Reform leader has actually showed up to work or taken part in important, impactful votes in the House of Commons. He hasn’t exactly behaved like a politician, well not the traditional sense that is – modern politicians appear to be all out for themselves.

Instead, it seems he only wants to show up when he can further incite the ‘cold rage’ he has been feeding across British public, leading to a white riot in Southampton.

Farage at #PMQs today, the first time he’s shown his face in Parliament for months. I suspect he may regret it. He was absolutely slated for failing to condemn the violence in Southampton, for ignoring the appeal made by Henry Nowak’s father, and for using his son’s death to stir… pic.twitter.com/kllcElTyGh

— The Rev. Anton Mittens (@MittensOff) June 3, 2026

The latest cynical ploy used by Farage’s Reform is to take Badenoch’s comments made yesterday on Good Morning Britain completely out of context. In the segment and subsequently on an X post, Badenoch stated:

I don’t want to hear about Black Lives Matter.

I don’t want to hear about White Lives Matter.

Everyone matters.

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Henry Nowak matters

Misinformation opportunity – quid’s in for Nige

Reform then saw an opportunity – and clearly assumes his followers won’t check receipts, which very well may be the case.

Kemi Badenoch, just like Starmer, doesn’t care.

Only Reform UK will openly say that white lives matter too. pic.twitter.com/dAUd7FRUvR

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— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) June 2, 2026

Nevertheless, Farage’s opposition have done their research and have thus called out the cynically game the Reform leader is playing to further whip up anger amongst the white supremacists living in the UK.

Since the misinformed social media post, Lowe has pretty powerfully shut it down – don’t worry, we feel nauseous too even writing that.

On X, he wrote:

Reform putting out an attack ad on Kemi Badenoch misquoting her over Henry Nowak’s tragic death is a deeply misguided, ugly and offensive move.

A young British man was murdered. He died cuffed and begging for his life, alone in the street.

To weaponise his death, so vindictively, in order to make a viciously deceitful graphic attacking a political opponent is low.

I am not in the same party as Kemi Badenoch. In fact, we are competing for votes in Makerfield. I disagree with her on a great many number of policies.

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I would never manipulate the death of an innocent young man to score petty party political points, especially using such blatant lies.

It’s just not how we conduct ourselves in Britain.

Principles still matter, or at least they should.

However, even pointing out this reality and the actual context of the comments seems to be ineffective for devout white supremacist Reform followers. Of course, none of this means that Lowe actually cares about Henry Nowak, police violence, or how Badenoch interpreted. Anything to get one over on Nigel is the only thing that matters to Lowe.

Even so, Reform supporters were less than impressed:

Anyone who still doesn’t believe Lowe is a Tory plant never will by now https://t.co/XR3maH893d

— Anglo (@Nawjryw) June 2, 2026

Restorers and Tory loyalists teaming up with the left and the establishment to attack Farage is so typically useless Dork Wet Right https://t.co/uH6ZhGvTCV

— Gammon Worshipper (@itaintwhiteboy) June 2, 2026

@ZoomerHistorian

Mate, are we simping for Nigerians now? https://t.co/lT8e1rOefG

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— UNN (@UnityNewsNet) June 2, 2026

Stirring up racism does not end well for anyone

The tragic death of Henry Nowak is horrifying – no one can possibly deny that. But the very fact that we have divisive elite figures like Farage stirring up and inciting racism across UK society is arguably what makes these fatal misunderstandings more possible in the first place.

After all, far-right politicians contribute to an atmosphere of suspicion and racial division by repeatedly framing immigration, multiculturalism, and minority communities as threats. Over time, this rhetoric can shape public perceptions and encourage people to jump to conclusions before the facts emerge.

In the case of Henry Nowak’s death Farage chose to plummet down into the racist abyss – which has resulted in white riots, injuries, and bloodshed in Southhampton – with more unrest feeling inevitable.

All the while, Nowak’s own grieving family have requested that their son’s death not be used to stir up more division and hate.

Farage, clearly, intends to do quite the opposite.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

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Wes Streeting has announced he will challenge Andy Burnham for the Labour leadership, should the latter win the Makerfield by-election. Strangely, he announced in the same breath that he remains a “monarchist”. We say ‘strangely’ because this has been a rough year for monarchism, given the newly exposed links between the toyals and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Exclusive: Wes Streeting tells Bloomberg’s @flacqua he will not allow an Andy Burnham coronation

“I’m a monarchist, but this is one coronation that I’m not enthusiastic about”

He blasts Starmer’s “lack of vision, direction and drive”

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By @LucyGJWhite > https://t.co/qOeaVx4Qiy

— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) June 3, 2026

Oh, and as if this wasn’t bad enough, Streeting was scabbing when he said it.

Streeting, apparently: God save the nonce

As we’ve covered extensively, the former-prince Andrew Windsor was good pals with dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. This first came to the public’s attention several years ago when accuser Virginia Giuffre went public with allegations against Windsor. In her own words:

Back at the house, [Ghislaine] Maxwell and Epstein said goodnight and headed upstairs, signalling it was time that I take care of the prince. In the years since, I’ve thought a lot about how he behaved. He was friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright. I drew him a hot bath. We disrobed and got in the tub, but didn’t stay there long because the prince was eager to get to the bed. He was particularly attentive to my feet, caressing my toes and licking my arches. That was a first for me, and it tickled. I was nervous he would want me to do the same to him. But I needn’t have worried. He seemed in a rush to have intercourse. Afterward, he said thank you in his clipped British accent. In my memory, the whole thing lasted less than half an hour.

The next morning, Maxwell told me: “You did well. The prince had fun.” Epstein would give me $15,000 for servicing the man the tabloids called “Randy Andy”.

My second encounter with Prince Andrew took place about a month later, at Epstein’s townhouse in New York. Epstein greeted Andrew and brought him to the living room, where Maxwell and I were sitting. Another one of their victims, Johanna Sjoberg, arrived soon afterward. Maxwell then announced to the prince that she’d purchased him a joke gift, a puppet that looked just like him. She suggested we pose for a photo with it. The prince and I sat down next to each other on the couch, and Maxwell put the puppet in my lap, positioning one of its hands on one of my breasts. Then she put Sjoberg on the prince’s lap, and the prince put his hand on Sjoberg’s breast. The symbolism was impossible to ignore. Johanna and I were Maxwell and Epstein’s puppets, and they were pulling the strings.

By the time the above was published, Giuffre had died by suicide.

Handouts for Andy

Epstein and Maxwell pulled many young women and girls into their orbit, and they trafficked them to wealthy men like Windsor. While some may think Windsor is simply a bad apple, other revelations demonstrate complicity from our current king and former queen.

In 2022, Andrew faced a sex abuse lawsuit from Giuffre. That same year, it emerged that the queen would fund her pervert son’s defence. When that case came to a resolution, she contributed towards the $16m settlement. Our current king chipped in too.

The late Liz didn’t just fund his legal defence; in 2021, she also fought to retain his prestige. According to an unnamed military source in the Sunday Times:

The Queen has let it be known to the regiment that she wants the Duke of York to remain as colonel, and the feeling is that nobody wants to do anything that could cause upset to the colonel-in-chief.

It is a very difficult, unsatisfactory situation.

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After more Epstein revelations came out in 2025, the royals eventually stripped Windsor of his titles. This clearly happened because the firm felt a need to save face. And for sycophants like Streeting, the ploy seems to have worked.

It doesn’t end with the handouts, either. As Skwawkbox reported for the Canary on 31 May:

Buckingham Palace had emails six years ago showing the queen’s second son, Andrew, was abusing his position as UK trade envoy. It was a position the late queen had pressured the government into giving the Epstein pal formerly known as Prince Andrew.

So Windsor was running around – seemingly breaking the law and betraying the country – and his family knew.

Yet Streeting remains a “monarchist”.

Wes Scabbing

Streeting was speaking at SXSW London. As we reported, several speakers pulled out of the event after it refused to condemn the UK barring two of its speakers from entering the country (Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur). Streeting clearly doesn’t care about his government’s latest crackdown on civil liberties, it seems, despite arguing at the same event that Starmer has a:

lack of vision, direction and drive.

If there’s a difference between the “vision” or “direction” of Streeting and Starmer, we haven’t found it yet. We’ll admit he’s more “driven”, but the things he’s driving towards are more of what nobody wants – whether it’s privatisation in the NHS, or funding a family of nonce-tolerating secret leakers.

Featured image via Jack Taylor (Getty Images) 

By Willem Moore

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If you subscribe to the theory that it’s better to fight 100 duck-sized horses than a single horse-sized duck, the SNP is knocking it out of the park today.

Because the papers just can’t make their minds up about the biggest story with which to attack John Swinney’s beleaguered party.

While the Sun leads with Sean Clerkin reigniting his police complaint over the missing fundraiser money, the Herald goes with Peter Murrell’s receipt of legal aid for his non-defence against embezzlement charges.

The Express and the Mail, on the other hand, focus on Swinney’s bombshell public admission of yesterday that the fundraiser money has in fact been spent.

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In the Times, the big news is that Murrell managed to have almost £60,000 of thefts – most of them apparently for the benefit of Nicola Sturgeon – removed from his charge sheet in exchange for his early guilty plea.

Whereas the Daily Record takes some pity on the poor former CEO while also feeding its own unending obsession with “gangland” by leading on suggestions that the small, hamsterish executive might be picked on in HMP Edinburgh.

The Record is in fact remarkably charitable to the party all the way through today’s edition. Yesterday’s astonishing, unprecedented ruling of contempt of court against the Scottish Government over the Salmond inquiry is relegated to a tiny bar on the bottom of page 4 that doesn’t even mention the word “contempt”, (reporting merely that the government was “criticised” in the Court of Session) while Swinney’s admission that the fundraiser money was stolen is hidden away in a small side column on the left-hand page of its prison pity piece.

The Scotsman and Telegraph also go relatively easy, both of them putting Swinney’s fundraiser admission on the front page but in sidebars, not as the main splash.

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And God bless the dear old National, a Scottish newspaper which tries to make the day all about Westminster MP Douglas Alexander, Westminster lord Peter Mandelson, NHS England and some Welsh Senedd minister nobody’s ever heard of.

Though they do reluctantly include the Swinney admission in a very thin flash at the bottom of the page, somewhat in contrast to the degree of prominence they gave their last big story about the fundraiser money.

So great work, SNP comms team. We’re sure things will calm down any day now.

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Ex-spy chief David Omand has decided military AI can be taught to be moral. Which is nice for him. And probably nice for the various private defence interests he advises too. The Guardian published an extended interview with Omand.

He told the paper he used to think AI drones were a bad thing. But changed his mind:

My call is to really get some work done on this, so that we’re not left in a situation where there isn’t a moral component built into future AI-powered weapon systems.

Omand is an advisor to Paladin Capital Group. Paladin has major AI and cybersecurity interests. Campaign against the Arms Trade (CAAT) has reported Omand worked with arms firms Leonardo and Babcock. He previously led UK spy agency GCHQ during his time in the civil service.

The Guardian reported Omand felt:

AI technology was now capable of weighing the factors that go into a human drone operator’s targeting decisions, such as whether a target was legitimate, whether there would be civilian casualties and whether the target has been correctly identified.

Adding:

This was not inventing new ethics, added Omand, but putting the current one used by the military into a form that can be deployed by a machine.

UK officials use Palantir software to decide what Palantir products to buy. Palantir founders Alex Karp and Peter Thiel openly espouse a far-right ideology.

The UK military, police, NHS and, allegedly, the Telegraph newspaper have started to use Palantir technology. Palantir is involved in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It maintains a permanent desk in southern Israel. Trump’s paramilitary immigration operations also use the firm’s gear.

Military AI: in or on the loop?

Omand said it was a matter of “on the loop” systems versus “in the loop” systems:

The term “in the loop” is commonly used in debates about reining in powerful AI systems and refers to a human being intimately involved in the decision-making process.

For Omand increasing AI decision making is:

It’s a physical and operational inevitability. The term ‘on the loop’ means you still have human supervision and it’s humans setting the parameters of a mission.

Adding:

In that sense humans still have moral control. But individual decisions in the heat of combat, or where time is very short, you just won’t have time for a human to make them.

Omand said he felt that it is now possible that:

The ultimate result [of AI advances] could be a moral decision-making system that is ethically superior to human decision making.

The former spy said:

It could actually work, whereas relying on humans in a very fast-moving seconds matter for warfare is probably going to lead to far worse results in terms of collateral damage.

Not everyone is quite so chipper about the idea. Drone Wars director Chris Cole said:

AI is simply not capable of making a judgment. It merely processes data, completely lacking the ability, for example, to distinguish civilians from combatants or to judge whether loss of life is proportionate to military advantage.

Cole is right, of course. Omand seems to enjoy nerding out over the abstract philosophical questions, but AI is a product of whatever is loaded into it. And that depends who controls it. In the case of firms like Palantir, we are talking about a clique of hyper-wealthy far-right Trump allies who are at ease with genocidal violence. In short, David Omand can jog on.

Featured image via Getty/Cheng Chia Huang

By Joe Glenton

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Credit: Adobe Images

Professors William Powrie, Chris Rogers and Liz Varga on behalf of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) address the challenge of keeping our infrastructure systems operational by distinguishing between the consequences of maintenance, repair, refurbishment and renewal, and between the cost, value and investment involved.

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The infrastructure systems that support society, and for which all of us individually pay, are rightly the subject of continual public scrutiny. These infrastructure systems may be categorised as ‘economic’ (including transport, energy, water, waste, and information and computing technology) and ‘social’ (including health, education and justice). Contemporary concerns around the economic infrastructure systems focus on affordability, interrupted service delivery and the ageing of the physical infrastructure along with the adverse social, environmental and economic consequences that result. Many of society’s current challenges are considered to result from inefficient or ineffective infrastructure systems, with the economic infrastructures typically featuring as much as the social. The poor state of our roads (encapsulated by potholes), the unreliability and expense of public transport, the environmental pollution deriving from our combined waste (sewage) and surface water drainage systems, and solid waste systems that fail to eradicate littering and fly tipping are presented to our politicians and civil servants as issues requiring prioritised action. Civil engineers have the skills, experience, remit and above all responsibility for designing and delivering the necessary improvements.

The state of the economy is crucial to this discourse. Maintenance of our ageing physical infrastructures is viewed simply as a cost – a drain on resources, politically uninteresting and an expense that would, if spent otherwise, deliver political capital. This view is economically and societally damaging and does not accurately reflect the true situation. Timely maintenance is essential: there is a ‘rule of thumb’ that repair costs ten times as much as timely maintenance, and renewal ten times as much as repair. A simple example of this is a steel bridge: if protected against corrosion by timely, regular painting, it will last indefinitely. If we decide to take a ‘maintenance holiday’ and cease painting, before long we will be replacing the bridge. In roads, maintaining the tarmacadam ‘wearing course’, should avoid water ingress and damage to the sub-base, which results in large surface deformations (or rutting) that require expensive reconstruction. Refurbishment of existing infrastructure to a higher standard of capacity, resilience or service support may also be more cost-effective than conventional rebuilding or replacement. Effective maintenance, refurbishment and planned renewal as well as avoiding the considerable economic and social harm of major service disruption caused by emergency repairs can contribute to economic activity in terms of jobs and technologies, and should be embraced as an opportunity rather than a burden.

As a start, we need to change the language of the discourse from cost to value, and from expense to investment. Investment is naturally associated with creating something better and fit for the future; something forward looking, from which multiple benefits will accrue if creatively and systemically applied. The need for better operational infrastructure is there: climate hazards, uses that were unanticipated, and demand for capacity exceeding engineering solutions all of which reduce design life significantly. There are many opportunities now available both to deliver more sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems and manifestly improved infrastructure system services. This is the goal UKCRIC has set itself to deliver.

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One of the most important innovations of the 19th Century was the provision of sanitation (the safe disposal of wastewater) alongside the supply of clean water, which served to dramatically improve the health of the UK’s population. Joseph Bazalgette’s brick-lined sewer and wastewater systems in London stand out as politically valuable investments, and are still the backbone of London’s wastewater system today. Their design, being egg-shaped to cater for different volumes of flow and allowing people to enter them for maintenance purposes, enabled their continuing use in the face of a vastly increasing population. An equally impressive super sewer, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, has recently been created to provide adequate far-future capacity, hence resilience for the system and to overcome one of the philosophical limitations of the original, which was not to separate foul water from surface run-off. However, more generally across the UK, the sewer and wastewater systems are in need of maintenance and often (at short notice) repair, yet this action and expense, although an investment, does not attract political cachet.

Rather than like-for-like pipeline replacement, a whole industry has grown up around the trenchless relining and upsizing of pipelines – examples of refurbishment and renewal. Refurbishment leads to enhanced operational and structural performance, making the pipe networks fit for the future and creating a whole new investment proposition. The inclusion of embedded sensors and/or autonomous sensing monitoring the system provides a further radical enhancement, enabling deterioration or damage to be identified immediately and rectified by maintenance before damaging and disruptive failure requiring a disruptive repair or renewal occurs. This delivers functional enhancement and resilience, evident additional value, a strong sense of investment rather than expense, and political kudos.

A newly constructed or full-width reconstruction of a road, with freshly painted road markings, is costly but can be presented as evidence of investment with associated political value. However, technology has developed to the point where full-width excavation of an asphalt road surface, heating and mixing with the addition of new materials to rejuvenate the asphalt, relaying and compaction can be carried out in an almost continuous, seamless process. A refurbished road would transform a cracked and potholed surface, with multiple utility cuts and evident signs of ageing, into something that looks newly constructed and provides a smooth riding surface. If this were combined with future proofing of the buried infrastructure – planned maintenance and refurbishment in advance of the surface rejuvenation, combined perhaps with the provision of additional capacity in the form of ducts for future use and a commitment to the future use of trenchless technologies in anything other than wholly exceptional circumstances – the investment case will be strengthened and the political value enhanced.

These things are all possible and could start to be implemented now: what’s stopping us is an adherence to out of date contractual arrangements and artificial systems boundaries.

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