Fire at the gates of Bordeaux

Burnham to crack down on NEETs | The British woman who paid a pagan in the US to kill her

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Monday, 27 July 2026 Issue No. 519

Good morning. Wildfires are raging just nine miles from Bordeaux, where officials are considering a full evacuation for the city with a population of more than 270,000. Thomas Cazenave, the mayor, said the fire was “at the city’s gates” and holidaymakers have been told to abandon their plans. Elsewhere, Andy Burnham plans to crack down on youth sickness benefits with a policy inspired by the Dutch. However, getting it through the Commons may require a showdown with Labour backbenchers. Nick Gutteridge, our Chief Political Correspondent, has the story. Chris Evans, Editor P.S. Don’t miss this season’s hottest offer. Try a whole year of The Telegraph for £19 – only in our Summer Sale. If you’re already a subscriber make sure you’re logged in to read today’s stories.   In today’s edition The British woman who paid a pagan in the US to kill her — Is this Labour’s maddest net zero project yet? — Plus, how many cups of coffee you need a day to protect your liver

Summer Sale: One year for just £19 Think outside your inbox. Unlock full access to our free-thinking journalism, plus thousands of fun puzzles. Subscribe now   British tourists urged to flee as wildfires ‘reach gates of Bordeaux’ Gironde firefighters battle to keep wildfires away from Bordeaux Vivian Song and Cameron Henderson in Bordeaux   Bordeaux is bracing for the arrival of deadly wildfires last night, with French officials considering an evacuation of the entire city. Fires are raging just nine miles from the famous wine capital, home to 270,000 people. Thomas Cazenave, the mayor of Bordeaux, said the fire was “at the city’s gates” and that he was “preparing for all eventualities”. More than 250,000 people, including British expats, have been ordered to leave their homes in the south-western regions of Gironde and Landes as fires continue to ravage the area. Farmers have rushed to the worst affected areas with water tanks attached to the backs of their tractors to try to support firefighters. The charred remains of vehicles after a wildfire in Le Porge, Gironde There are fears that the worst is yet to come. Tourists were urged to abandon their plans to travel to the area, while those already there were advised to leave. Laurent Nuñez, the French interior minister, said “the situation remains very unfavourable” and that the evacuation was “highly likely” to be the largest civilian operation ever carried out during peacetime in France. Around Bordeaux, France’s ninth-biggest city, some 50,000 people in the suburbs have already been ordered to leave. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has scheduled an “interministerial crisis meeting” for this morning. Last night, he thanked the emergency services, military, civil security forces and farmers for “relentlessly combatting the fires”. Read the full story here ➤ Tim Stanley: Climate change is real – and the Right needs to get serious about it ➤   Burnham to crack down on youth sickness benefits Nick Gutteridge Chief Political Correspondent   Andy Burnham is summoning some political Dutch courage as he steps up his efforts to bring down Britain’s soaring welfare bill. The Prime Minister is looking across the Channel to the Netherlands for inspiration on how to address Britain’s youth unemployment crisis. Source: ONS Young people could lose their sickness benefits unless they take up some form of education, training, voluntary activity or wider preparation for the world of work under plans that ministers are considering. It is a move that would probably prove popular with voters, but risks igniting tensions with Labour MPs who rebelled against Sir Keir Starmer over his attempt to cut benefits. Burnham knows he needs to do something as the ballooning welfare bill sucks money away from other priorities such as increasing defence spending or funding a new social care system to look after the ageing population, both of which will cost billions. He has insisted that he will not be “squeamish” about tackling the causes of rising benefits spending but has also said that “crude cuts” are not the answer. This ready-made Dutch solution would tick both those boxes, but will he be able to get it past his restless backbenchers? This report is available only to subscribers. Continue reading ➤ Burnham goes Dutch to save the young from worklessness ➤ PM wants to spend billions. Could cutting welfare pay for it? ➤   Opinion Michael Mosbacher The troubling think tank at the heart of government Anti-capitalist dogma is rife at the top of the new Labour Cabinet Continue reading ➤     Katja Hoyer What’s to be done with Hitler’s birthplace? Continue reading ➤     Melanie McDonagh Don’t fall for British Gas’s great AI ploy Continue reading ➤   To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. In other news • The machete-wielding Islamist extremist who drove into a crowd at Berlin’s Pride festival has been shot dead by police. Abdul Ballout, 21, was the subject of a manhunt for more than 20 hours. • The Home Office has given the Islamic Centre of England, an alleged outpost of the Iranian regime in London, the power to sponsor visas for “skilled workers” and religious ministers. • Andy Burnham has refused to say whether he trusts Donald Trump after his first phone call with the US president. The Prime Minister said he would continue to build on their relationship. • Gary Stevenson, the wealth tax campaigner, has quit his popular YouTube channel after a backlash against his recent TV documentary on inequality. • Finally, Tadej Pogacar won a record-equalling fifth Tour de France yesterday despite losing out to Mathieu van der Poel in the final stage. Tadej Pogacar is two shy of Lance Armstrong’s discredited tally of Tour de France wins   Your essential reads The British woman who paid a pagan in the US to kill her For the past nine months, I have been investigating the short life and appalling death of the young British woman Sonia Exelby, writes Max Stephens, our International Crime Correspondent. Why did the 32-year-old music tutor fly to Florida to meet Dwain Hall, a man known as “Alphasadist”, with whom she had been speaking online? Hall is currently awaiting trial for Sonia’s murder. I have covered many interesting and unusual stories, but Sonia’s stood out. By earning the trust of her family, who hadn’t spoken before, I was able to get to the heart of this story: her fatal vulnerability. Continue reading ➤ Don’t miss our 20-minute video documentary on the story in this afternoon’s From the Editor PM. Sign up here ➤   Is this Labour’s maddest net zero project yet? Ed Miliband’s final act as energy secretary may prove his most ambitious (and costly): a pledge to make Britain a global leader in sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Backed by taxpayer funding, the technology is seen as vital to achieving net zero without grounding flights or curbing farming. Critics question whether the eye-watering costs and immense energy demands make carbon capture a climate breakthrough, or an expensive political fantasy taxpayers may ultimately fund. For subscribers only ➤   Daniela Grudsky Ekstein reflects on her brush with terror and her fears for UK-Israeli relations Israel’s envoy to Britain: ‘I’ll feel safer back home, where there’s no anti-Semitism’ A failed terror attack on Israel’s embassy in London offers a stark illustration of the security concerns facing Britain’s Jewish community, writes Jake Wallis Simons. As she prepares to leave her post, Israel’s outgoing senior diplomat reflects on rising anti-Semitism, the strain on UK-Israel relations and why she will feel safer in Israel than in Britain. Her assessment is both deeply personal and a sobering warning about the challenges facing the country. Continue reading ➤   Seize the day How many cups of coffee you need a day to protect your liver Scientists are increasingly discovering that coffee can boost our health, from the gut to the brain. Some of the clearest benefits apply to the liver, with a study finding that those who consumed five cups per day had a significantly lower risk of liver scarring and liver cancer. Here’s how to reap the benefits. Continue reading ➤ Here is another article that I hope you’ll find useful this morning: Seven hours and 48 minutes is the sleep sweet spot, and research has linked falling short of or exceeding this precise window with poorer health. Here’s how to achieve it.   CAPTION COMPETITION WITH... Matt Pritchett Cartoonist   Hello! For this week’s caption competition, you have a policeman and a hosepipe ban flouter. Congratulations to Steve James who came up with my favourite caption for this England supporter. Keep it up everybody! Send me your captions here ➤ P.S. For an inside look at what inspires my weekly cartoons, you can sign up for my personal subscriber-exclusive newsletter here.   Your say Rags for railways While Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, is away, Joe Burgis is on hand to share an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Joe writes... What to do with all those ancient jumpers and T-shirts stuffed into the bottom of the wardrobe? Sarah O’Boyle was unsure. “I have a pile of clothes that are old, ragged and beyond saleable in a charity shop. Our local stores now apparently have to pay for textile disposal, so will not accept them. “The bins at the recycling centre appear to be for clothes that are collected by various charities, then sold on. Does anyone know of any alternatives to putting them in our household general rubbish bin?”   As you’d expect, Telegraph readers were quick to respond with helpful advice. George Adams wrote: “If the items are cotton, they could be cut into quite large pieces and given to a local heritage steam railway. “Such items are widely needed, and rags that have become greasy or oil-soaked after cleaning locomotives are then used in lighting up the boilers. Bundles of rags have become more expensive to buy, and I’m sure that engineering departments would be glad of such donations.”   John Williams had an equally practical suggestion: “Old cotton socks make very good firelighters in a wood stove.” I wonder if their fragrance fills the room.   Geraldine Blake pointed out that you can, in fact, dispose of old clothes fairly easily: “Retailers like Primark, H&M and Marks & Spencer have in-store boxes that accept any brand of clothing in any condition.”   I think I favour Andrew Rixon’s rather more ambitious proposal: “Many years ago, when I was very hard-up and buying my first home, I bought a cheap blanket made of shoddy, which I still use. Shoddy is made from torn-up old rags, and was always the cheapest of materials, hence the usual pejorative use of the word today. We should use all our worn-out clothing to produce this material.” That’s all from me folks. I’ll be back tomorrow to bring you the best Telegraph talking points. In the meantime, you can contact me here. 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 1586 | Sir Walter Raleigh brings the first tobacco to England from Virginia 1890 | Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later 1962 | Martin Luther King Jr is jailed in Albany, Georgia 2012 | The epic opening ceremony of London 2012, with help from Queen Elizabeth II and 007 (we’ve recreated our souvenir edition for you below) Birthdays: Taylor Schilling (42), Maya Rudolph (54), Christopher Dean (68) Plus, in the news today, a village cricket club is embroiled in a row with commoners over plans to install a stretch of fake grass. Where is this row occurring? The club intends to install an artificial wicket and extend a pavilion 1. New Forest 2. West Sussex 3. Durham 4. Chester Click one of the options to reveal the answer...   Puzzles 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 IMPLEMENT. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle.   Please let me know what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor Summer Sale: One year for just £19 Think outside your inbox. Unlock full access to our free-thinking journalism, plus thousands of fun puzzles. Subscribe now

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