Traveling

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Mandelson’s Russian connection

Kane rescues victory from jaws of defeat | The Bayeux Tapestry comes to London
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Britain’s most popular daily newsletter, read by more than 850,000

Thursday, 2 July 2026

Issue No. 494

Good morning.

Lord Mandelson was considered a “privileged contact” by Russian intelligence, The Telegraph can reveal. Moscow spymasters regarded the former US ambassador as one of their “most significant” achievements, and allegedly began contact with him shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Camilla Turner has the story.

Elsewhere, Harry Kane saved England from what would have been an embarrassing early exit from the World Cup last night. Below, Oliver Brown, our Chief Sports Writer, looks ahead to the next knockout game against Mexico with a hint of trepidation and one message: it cannot go on like this.

Chris Evans, Editor

P.S. We’re giving email readers four months of The Telegraph for just 25p per month. If you’re already a subscriber make sure you’re logged in to read today’s stories.


 

In today’s edition

The projects that reveal how the MoD blows billions

What the French get right about food, weight loss and sex

Plus, a triumph or act of cultural recklessness? The Bayeux Tapestry comes to London

All Access: Just 25p per month

Enjoy free-thinking journalism, daily puzzles and more with your email-exclusive offer.

 

Russian spies considered Mandelson a ‘privileged contact’

Russian intelligence compiled a secret dossier on Lord Mandelson

Camilla Turner

Camilla Turner

Sunday Political Editor

 

For the past 30 years, Lord Mandelson has been a major figure in British politics, culminating in his appointment as US ambassador in late 2024.

His career came crashing down after his close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and convicted paedophile, came to light. It subsequently emerged that the disgraced peer failed security vetting amid concern over his links to senior figures in Russia and China.

Now, The Telegraph can reveal the existence of a secret dossier compiled by a former MI6 agent, which makes the extraordinary claim that Mandelson was considered to be a “privileged contact” by Russian intelligence.

According to the leaked report, codenamed Project Fish, Moscow spymasters regarded him as one of their most “significant” achievements in “manipulating” British politics for over three decades. Despite this, it does not provide evidence that Mandelson spied for Russia.

The dossier, compiled by Christopher Steele, the former head of MI6’s Russia desk, alleges that Mandelson was first contacted by the KGB shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Project Fish also alleges that the Russian intelligence services kept files on Boris Johnson, his former adviser Dominic Cummings, Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn, among others.

This report is available only to subscribers.
Continue reading

Secret dossier reveals top politicians spied on by the Kremlin

 

World Cup diary

Harry Kane rescues victory from jaws of defeat

Kane headed in England’s equaliser then smashed in his second with his right foot

Oliver Brown

Oliver Brown

Chief Sports Writer at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

 

Pure, unbridled relief. England were just 15 minutes away from one of their ghastliest World Cup humiliations when Harry Kane – who else? – engineered a glorious turnaround. His two late goals cemented his status as the country’s finest modern player and propelled him past even PelĂ©’s record with 13 goals on the grandest stage.

“Hero moments,” he called them, although that description had nothing to do with hubris. It came instead from overwhelming happiness, after the extraordinary striker dragged his team out of a hideous predicament once more and saved Thomas Tuchel’s job.

England cannot keep doing this. The semi-finals should be the time for brinkmanship, not a round-of-32 tie against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For all that Tuchel’s changes worked, as Anthony Gordon played a part in both goals and Declan Rice proved to be a revelation as a makeshift right-back, the manager should not have been relying on his second hydration break team talk to make the difference.

He has been living on the ragged edge all tournament and can hardly expect such an error-strewn performance to work for England in the thin air of Mexico City in four days’ time. That match at the Azteca Stadium, against the endlessly vibrant co-host Mexico, promises to be monumental.
Read the full report and Oliver’s column here

Jamie Carragher: Harry Kane would be England’s greatest ever – if he had better team-mates

Sign up to Total Football for daily updates during the World Cup

World Cup scores

The USA’s impressive win over Bosnia was marred by Folarin Balogun’s sending off, while Belgium staged a late comeback to beat Senegal

 

Opinion

Allister Heath Headshot

Allister Heath

Burnham has declared war on the South. Your homes and savings are no longer safe

London and the South East already vastly subsidise the rest of the country. The answer is to liberate the North, not seize southern wealth

Continue reading

 
<span style="color:#DE0000;">Tom Harris</span> Headshot

Tom Harris

Starmer’s spiteful, staggering £5bn hypocrisy

Continue reading

 
<span style="color:#DE0000;">James Innes-Smith</span> Headshot

James Innes-Smith

The last thing drivers need is cyclists snitching on us to the authorities

Continue reading

 
Matt Cartoon
 

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Headlines

Plane crash

The plane crashed at midday yesterday

Wimbledon diary

Centre Court or Ryder Cup?

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy attends day three at Wimbledon

James Corrigan

James Corrigan

at Wimbledon

 

Such are the joys of the Great British summer of sport that every now and then your golf correspondent has the pleasure of covering Wimbledon.

Sometimes you just cannot escape the day job, and so it proved yesterday when reporting from Centre Court felt oddly similar to covering the Ryder Cup. Rory McIlroy arrived decked in his Masters jacket, with his wife Erica alongside him. McIlroy, who retained his Masters title in April, is allowed to wear his Green Jacket outside of the Augusta National golf course because he is the reigning champion. Otherwise, it has to remain in the ultra-exclusive club.

This was not McIlroy’s first time at Wimbledon. Formerly engaged to the one-time world number one Caroline Wozniacki, the Northern Irishman is a huge tennis fan. As well as turning up at majors – he was at last year’s US Open – he often plays with Harry Diamond, his caddie. This is the first time he has shown up in SW19 in his Green Jacket, as he did not attend last year.

In 2016, England’s Danny Willett wore his Green Jacket in the Royal Box, having made his major breakthrough three months earlier. Fellow Team Europe stars Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood were also in attendance with McIlroy. Two-time captain Luke Donald was also there, along with assistant captains, Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, as the Royal Box started to resemble the Europe teamroom.

Go deeper with our full coverage:

Defending champion Sinner overcomes slow start to reach third round

Djokovic produces mini highlights reel as he romps past Tsitsipas

Watch: Andreeva hurls racket at umpire’s chair in match disrupted by Harry Kane goal

The Poshcast: Is tennis still the poshest summer sport?

 

Your essential reads

The catastrophic projects that reveal how the MoD blows billions

From delayed armoured vehicles to cancelled communications contracts, the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) chronic mismanagement and shifting requirements have left our Armed Forces critically exposed, writes Roland Oliphant, our Chief Foreign Analyst. More military funding is finally on the way, but the MoD’s track record suggests the biggest battle will be spending it successfully.

For subscribers only

 

Supreme leader sends shockwaves through Iran with a single phrase

A single phrase from Iran’s supreme leader has plunged the Islamic Republic into chaos. By blessing a peace deal with the US “in principle” while admitting he favoured a different path, Mojtaba Khamenei has split his regime. As hardliners threaten Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, with his life and revolutionary guards prepare for war, Akhtar Makoii, our Foreign Correspondent, reports on a leader who refuses to be seen, leaving the men with the missiles to decide what happens next.

Continue reading

 

Dr Emilie Steinbach says families in France prioritise home-cooked meals over ultra-processed convenience foods

What the French get right about food, weight loss and sex

What is it about our Gallic neighbours’ approach to life that seems to make them happier and healthier than us? Emilie Steinbach, a French neuroscientist and nutrition expert who has lived on both sides of the Channel, may have the answer. She shares the everyday habits that differ between the two cultures, and how they affect our waistlines, minds and romantic lives. The question is: which is the better, the British or the French way?

Continue reading

 

What the world would have looked like if American independence had never happened

America will celebrate 250 years since declaring independence on July 4, but suppose it never happened and a United Kingdom of Great Britain and North America had bestrode the Atlantic to become a global superpower? A joint Pax Britannica-Americana might have been unchallengeable, writes David Blair, our Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, preventing any world wars in the 20th century. All fanciful, of course, except that American independence could have been avoided 250 years ago if only the British government had been more sensible.

Continue reading

 

Seize the day

The best new books to give to your children

When it comes to holiday reading, writes Emily Bearn, children tend to want something that is comfortable enough to enjoy in a deckchair, while still containing enough excitement to make them sit up straight. For younger readers, I would recommend The Adventures of Portly the Otter by MG Leonard – an enchanting collection of stories imagining what happened to Portly, the young otter cub from The Wind in the Willows.
Read the full review

For slightly older readers, Lauren St John’s latest novel Wild Horse Summer contains a winning combination of outdoor adventure and tack-room romance.

Read the full review

Here is another helpful article to read this morning:

 

Critic’s Corner

A triumph or act of cultural recklessness? The Bayeux Tapestry comes to London

Alastair Sooke

Alastair Sooke

Chief Art Critic

 

“A lovely idea, but it’s never going to happen.”

For years, that was how colleagues at Normandy’s Bayeux Tapestry Museum responded whenever English medievalist Michael Lewis suggested that the 11th-century embroidery should return to Britain for the first time in a millennium.

Others fretted that the risks involved in transporting across the Channel this unique but fragile artefact – which, at 224ft, is as long as a football pitch is wide and already pockmarked with 24,000 stains and almost 10,000 holes – were simply not worth taking. Thanks in large part to Lewis’s persistence, those doubters are about to be silenced.

This autumn, the Bayeux Tapestry will appear in a British Museum exhibition, curated by Lewis, that looks set to rank among its biggest blockbusters; when tickets went on sale this week, the museum’s website was inundated.

Ahead of the tapestry’s arrival in Britain, I talked to Lewis, Nicholas Cullinan, the museum’s director, and others in an attempt to understand whether this once-in-a-generation exhibition represents a victory for diplomacy and determination, or a reckless act of hubris.
Continue reading

 

Your say

In the driving seat

Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories.

Orlando writes...
The driving theory test is now a venerable 30 years old. Sitting mine was probably the high point of my motoring career to date. Oh yes, I was great at driving – top of the class – in theory. The difficulty was doing it in practice. It took me so long to pass that bit, in fact, that I ended up having to sit my theory test again. Which perhaps casts some doubt on the usefulness of the theory test in the first place.


 

This was Michael Dakin’s view after completing the condensed version included in our article: “All that little test confirmed for me was that knowing the correct answers bears little correlation with the ability to drive safely.”


 

David Cuthbertson added: “I don't think any of those questions were asked when I passed my test first time 40-odd years ago.”


 

Another reader complained: “I failed the hazard perception section because I spotted upcoming threats way before the test expected you to, and was told that ‘random’ clicking was not allowed.” I remember feeling similarly aggrieved about this during practice tests, so trained myself to be less superhumanly perceptive.


 

Others recalled a more relaxed system. E Parker wrote: “My theory test in the 1970s consisted of my examiner sitting in the car and asking me a few questions after the driving test. I got them all right and passed. Happy days.”


 

G Davies, meanwhile, looked back to the days before anyone thought a practical test might be a good idea: “My grandfather didn’t have to sit one. He just bought a licence from the post office. He never had an accident.”

How did you fare in our quiz? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.

Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name.

 

On this day

2005 | Ten Live 8 concerts are held around the world organised by Bob Geldof (and our front page the following day)

2014 | Nicolas Sarkozy is charged with corruption

2019 | Ursula von der Leyen is the first woman nominated to lead the European Commission with France’s Christine Lagarde, the first woman nominated to lead the European Central Bank

Birthdays: Margot Robbie (36), Lindsay Lohan (40), Larry David (79)

Telegraph front page

Plus, in the news today, Canada will compete in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, organisers have announced. Australia was the last country to join – in which year?

Canada will debut next year in the Eurovision Song Contest, which was won by Bulgaria this year

1. 2017
2. 2015
3. 2014
4. 2012

Click one of the options to reveal the answer...

 

Puzzles

Panagram

Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.


 

Yesterday’s Panagram was HALFPENNY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle.

 


Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.

Chris Evans, Editor

P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk.

All Access: Just 25p per month

Enjoy free-thinking journalism, daily puzzles and more with your email-exclusive offer.

 

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The reality of DEI at Oxbridge

Starmer’s creative accounting on defence | ‘What happened when I exercised for 10 hours a week at 63’
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Britain’s most popular daily newsletter, read by more than 850,000

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

Issue No. 493

Good morning.

Diversity schemes are meant to break down systemic barriers, giving everyone the opportunity to thrive. Today, Albert Tait, our Education Editor, reveals that white working-class students are being excluded from almost all Oxbridge diversity scholarships, despite being one of the most underrepresented groups in higher education. Below, one student tells his story about how he found DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) schemes to be anything but.

Elsewhere, Hans van Leeuwen, our International Economics Editor, finds Sir Keir Starmer’s defence plan guilty of creative accounting. Shuffling money around, he says, is not the same as adding to the pot.

Chris Evans, Editor

P.S. We’re giving you a year of The Telegraph for £1.99 per month. Hurry, this email-exclusive offer must end soon. If you’re already a subscriber make sure you’re logged in to read today’s stories.


 

In today’s edition

The scramble to avoid Reeves’s pension death tax

‘What happened when I exercised for 10 hours a week at 63’

Plus, EasyJet is under threat – this is what it means for your holidays

Ends soon: A year for £1.99 per month

Stay ahead of every crucial update as Burnham closes in on No 10

 

White working-class students excluded from Oxbridge diversity schemes

Albert Tait

Albert Tait

Education Editor

 

For more than a decade, Oxford and Cambridge have been running outreach programmes, scholarships and bursaries specifically for ethnic minority students.

These have ranged from taster days and webinars to £20,000-a-year scholarships, including one created by the rapper Stormzy at Cambridge, exclusively for students from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Diversity schemes aim to recruit more students from groups that are underrepresented at these universities. Arguably, these students are now overrepresented, making up more than 30 per cent of the home-based intake at both establishments, despite people from a BAME background comprising only 17 per cent of Britain’s population.

Source: Hesa, Census. UK domiciled students only

White working-class students, who are one of the most underrepresented groups in higher education, remain excluded from almost all of the schemes.

The universities have been accused of having a “two-tier academic society” and running “racially discriminatory programmes”, particularly as other universities have started to offer scholarships specifically for white working-class men.

The revelation is just the latest case of companies and public bodies running diversity schemes that exclude white people.

Writing in The Telegraph today, a 20-year-old white student from a working-class family has described how such schemes have left him feeling like a “second-class citizen”.

Anonymous

 

I am white and working class, and took my A-levels at an inner-city comprehensive last year, where I got all A* and A grades.

Not many people from my background go to a Russell Group university, let alone Cambridge. Nevertheless, that was my dream, and, in the lower sixth, I looked into outreach programmes and financial-aid schemes, supposedly designed for pupils from deprived backgrounds, to see if I could get some advice and support.

Repeatedly, I found they were only available to applicants from black, Asian or other ethnic minority backgrounds. Unfortunately, it is clear that the DEI machine has chosen the groups it wishes to advance quite independently of the data. So, far from tackling disadvantage, DEI is entrenching it for the group that the evidence singles out as the most disadvantaged of all: white, working-class boys.

Looking ahead to see what training schemes, internships and placements might be on offer while I’m at university, I realise that I will face the same discrimination.

This report is available to subscribers only.
Continue reading

I’m a white, working-class male with straight As. In Britain, I’m a second-class citizen

 

The creative accounting behind Starmer’s defence plan

Hans van Leeuwen

Hans van Leeuwen

International Economics Editor

 

Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer gave Dan Jarvis, his Defence Secretary, an extra £15bn of cash to spend. The former Para duly stood up in Parliament and rattled off a volley of new defence projects.

As the smoke cleared from his fusillade, there was something hard to miss in the middle of the battlefield: a big black hole.

Only two-thirds of the defence investment plan kitty has been funded. The task of scraping together the remaining £4.7bn has now shifted from Starmer’s too-hard basket to Andy Burnham’s No 10 welcome hamper.

This year’s Budget will seek to plug the first £1.8bn of this shortfall. That sounds a lot like a tax hike, a spending cut, or a forgone boost to spending elsewhere.

Even for the £10bn that was funded, Labour has been creative with the accounting. Some of it is not new spending, but new “spending power”. This is essentially shuffling money around rather than adding to the pot.

If the cash-strapped Government is to hit the target of spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035, it will need every ounce of leeway in Nato’s spending rules.

Fortunately, one of the most potent weapons in Whitehall remains the Government’s impressive array of smoke and mirrors.
For subscribers only

Starmer leaves Burnham with £5bn defence black hole

 

Opinion

Allison Pearson Headshot

Allison Pearson

Shabana Mahmood’s migration plan will light the spark on civil unrest

With her new measures accelerating the numbers of unwanted refugees, the Home Secretary has as good as declared war on the British people

Continue reading

 
<span style="color:#DE0000;">Michael Deacon</span> Headshot

Michael Deacon

Should white people really stop having children?

Continue reading

 
<span style="color:#DE0000;">Celia Walden</span> Headshot

Celia Walden

Psst, you didn’t hear this from me, but gossiping is good for you

Continue reading

 
Matt Cartoon
 

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Headlines

Summer of sport

Thomas Tuchel: I doubted if I was good enough for England

Tuchel was left searching for answers after England laboured to a 1-0 win over New Zealand in a World Cup warm-up match

Matt Law

Matt Law

Football Correspondent

 

Thomas Tuchel is not a man to hide from expectation and he knows only too well that England go into their last-32 World Cup tie against DR Congo as overwhelming favourites.

He expects England to win in Atlanta. The players expect England to win and the fans expect England to win. Tuchel is the man who must make sure England deliver. Fortunately, these are the games Tuchel was appointed for. His record in knockout cup football is excellent and England’s head coach thrives on everything being on the line.

Captain Harry Kane won’t need any more motivation to add to his three goals at this World Cup against Congo. He will have watched Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland add to their tallies and will want to respond. Then there’s Jude Bellingham, the man so often at the centre of England’s big moments. Five of his eight international goals have come at major tournaments and who would bet against him making it six from nine?

The pressure is on, but England have the head coach and the players to embrace it.
Continue reading

France, Mexico and Norway all progressed to the round of 16 overnight

Sonia Twigg

Sonia Twigg

Women’s Sport Reporter at Wimbledon

 

Centre Court felt like the centre of the universe as 15,000 fans lapped up the highly-anticipated return of seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.

Serena Williams put up a decent fight, but ultimately age caught up with her on Centre Court

The crowd had a night to remember as Williams fought back repeatedly before falling to a three-set defeat against Australian Maya Joint. After a grim first day for British tennis, Tuesday was much better as three wildcards – Katie Swan, Arthur Fery and Jacob Fearnley – booked their place in the second round.
Read the full report

 

Essential reads

The scramble to avoid Reeves’s pension death tax

Before Rachel Reeves’s Budget announcement, retirement savings were considered a safe haven from inheritance tax, but in less than 12 months, pension pots will become fair game. Beneficiaries of more modest estates risk being caught in the death levy, turning a previously efficient legacy into a complex, costly administrative nightmare. In preparation, savers are upending financial plans, giving away their wealth, spending with abandon or making risky investments.

Continue reading

 

Louise Thompson is a fierce campaigner for better NHS maternity care

Louise Thompson: ‘I nearly died giving birth and couldn’t engage with my son for months’

Nothing could have prepared Louise Thompson for the trauma of childbirth. After losing 75 per cent of her blood and undergoing multiple operations, she was left unable to bond with her baby boy. Now, the former Made in Chelsea personality has channeled her experience into a relentless campaign to reform NHS maternity care.

Continue reading

 

‘What happened when I exercised for 10 hours a week to boost my heart health’

When my editor set me a challenge – at 63! – to exercise for one hour and 20 minutes a day and stay sane, my heart sank, writes Liz Hoggard. Something in me also sparked. A new study found that 560 minutes of exercise per week slashed the risk of heart problems, and my genetic inheritance isn’t good. Could squeezing spin classes and gym sessions into my busy week help reduce my own risk?

Continue reading

 

A US investment fund, Castlelake, has made a series of bids for easyJet

EasyJet is under threat – this is what it means for your holidays

For 30 years, easyJet has transformed the way Britons travel, but despite its loyal customers and healthy profits, the airline now finds itself in the sights of a takeover bidder. As questions swirl over its future, Simon Calder, our Travel Correspondent, argues that easyJet is more than just another budget carrier, it’s a British success story worth protecting.
Continue reading

Sign up to Travel with Simon Calder for expert recommendations every week

 

Seize the day

Add these thought-provoking books to your reading list

You don’t have to switch off your brain at the seaside. In fact, it’s our best chance to gain perspective on our world, writes Cal Revely-Calder, our Literary Editor.

For instance, if you’ve made it abroad, listen to the speech around you. It was created by centuries of culture and history, but, as Sophia Smith Galer warns in How to Kill a Language, thousands of tongues are under threat. She shows us what we could lose.
Read the full review

As you fly back to a house chock-full of gadgets, clothes and stuff, ask yourself: has any of it made you fulfilled? I’ll wager not. The Life You Want, an extraordinary essay by Adam Phillips, will tell you why.

Read the full review

Here is another article I hope you’ll find helpful this morning:

  • At 53, George Chesterton was tired of people telling him that he looks terrible. He swapped soap for a multi-step skincare routine and found he looked and felt brighter. This is his regimen.
George Chesterton
 

From the sport desk

‘My surreal night camping in the Wimbledon queue with the Novak Nutters’

Annie Hayes became well acquainted with a group of Novak Djokovic fans during her time spent queueing in Wimbledon Park

Annie Hayes

 

Squashed between the Novak Nutters fan group and the Sinner Slammers, I hoped camping out in the Wimbledon queue in the dead of night would bag me one of the 500 coveted Centre Court tickets on offer.

You can only get one if you’re prepared to be British and queue, with tents counted in order of appearance and a man doling out the prized slips like a lottery win.

I scraped through with ticket number 420 – seven rows from the front, near the grunts of Sinner, Sabalenka and Djokovic, a whisper from the Royal Box and doing a Mexican wave with David Beckham. Someone even made a marriage proposal during Djokovic’s match, a moment that promptly went viral, Novak playing on regardless.

Camping or tennis – which did I enjoy more? Despite the warm wine, cold bed and no sleep, there’s something about the graft and the “Carry On” camaraderie of the queue that’s fairly priceless.
Continue reading

 

Your say

So long, long wave

Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories.

Orlando writes...
BBC long-wave radio is no more. After 92 years, the final transmission came in the early hours of last Saturday. Although this development wasn’t exactly a surprise, Telegraph readers have allowed themselves a moment of nostalgia for earlier, cracklier times.


 

Bob Repper recalled: “Some years ago, while I was in conversation with a multimillionaire who was regaling me with stories about his exotic car collection, he paused to ask about my most memorable moment. ‘That’s easy’, I replied.

‘It was driving my ancient convertible along a French autoroute in Normandy, top down, sun shining, while listening to Stuart Broad demolishing the Australians via Test Match Special on Radio 4 Long Wave.’ ‘Phew,’ he replied, ‘I can’t match that.’”


 

I also enjoyed this, from Alan Broderick: “In the olden days, commercial airliners were fitted with automatic direction-finding receivers. These could be tuned into Radio 4 Long Wave (and Test Match Special) during the less demanding stages of a flight.

“One evening, when I was a junior first officer and we were setting off across the Atlantic into a glorious sunset, the captain on my left was gazing out of the window with a wistful, almost tearful expression. I asked him if he was feeling OK. He turned and replied: ‘Yes, lad. There’s a lovely piece by Debussy on ADF 1.’ The comments of the flight engineer in the seat behind us are unprintable.”


 

Michael Fopp, meanwhile, sounded a note of concern: “The closure of BBC Radio 4’s long-wave service marks the end of an era. For generations, its transmission on 198 kHz carried the Shipping Forecast far beyond the shores of Britain, providing a reliable source of weather information to countless fishermen, yachtsmen and others.

“Today, commercial shipping relies on satellite communications. The Shipping Forecast is no longer an operational necessity for the merchant fleet. Yet for many smaller vessels, and indeed for millions of listeners ashore, it remains both a practical service and a cherished part of our heritage.

“Now that long wave has been switched off, the forecast’s usefulness to those offshore will inevitably diminish. It would be a sad day if, having consigned long wave to history, the broadcaster were eventually to conclude that the forecast itself had become expendable.”

Agreed. Will you miss BBC Long Wave? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.

Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name.

 

On this day

1916 | Battle of the Somme begins

1969
| Investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales in Caernarfon (see our front page from the following day below)

1980 | Steve Ovett breaks Seb Coe’s world record for the mile, running 3:48.8 in Oslo

2007 | Smoking is banned in all public indoor spaces in England

Birthdays: Debbie Harry (81), Dan Aykroyd (74), Pamela Anderson (59)

Telegraph front page

Plus, in the news today, Heathrow is offering compensation to residents whose homes will be demolished if a third runway is built. What will they give to these individuals?

Protest signs adorn lamp posts in the village of Harmondsworth, where homes will be flattened if Heathrow’s third runway goes ahead

1. A complementary flight
2. Free therapy
3. £10,000
4. Lifetime lounge access

Click one of the options to reveal the answer...

 

Puzzles

Panagram

Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.


 

Yesterday’s Panagram was MUNICIPAL. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle.

 

Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.

Chris Evans, Editor

P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk.

Ends soon: A year for £1.99 per month

Stay ahead of every crucial update as Burnham closes in on No 10

 

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