D-Day, the counteroffensive that turned the course of the Second World War, was the culmination of years of painful, methodical planning by a coalition of more than a dozen nations – involving sophisticated contingency planning, decoys to throw off the Nazis, and careful logistics to make sure the landing of more than 150,000 troops onto hostile beaches was a success.
Donald Trump’s latest plan to beat Iran – dubbed by his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as an “economic D-Day” – is … not that. Rather, it looks like a haphazard collection of sanctions, thrown together at short notice, which could be largely shrugged off by the USA’s adversaries.
Sanctions – policies which ban companies from selling goods and services to anyone connected to the targeted nation – can devastate a country’s economy, to the point of driving it into blackouts or even starvation.
The four signs the UK’s stance towards Russia is escalating
Andy Burnham has faced down threats from the Kremlin over Britain’s increasing support for Ukraine by telling Vladimir Putin he “started the fire”.
Burnham says he won’t back down
The war of words broke out after Moscow warned that the UK sharing long-range missile blueprints with Kyiv would “add fuel to the fire” of the conflict.
During a visit to Kyiv on Monday, to mark the anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, Burnham insisted there would be no backing down from assistance to Kyiv.
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Tougher rhetoric from Burnham
While Sir Keir Starmer was a steadfast supporter of Ukraine, Burnham’s comments will be seen as more outspoken. They come as the perceived threat from Moscow has increased in the last few months.
With UK-made drones being used against Russia by Ukraine, Tobias Ellwood, a former defence minister, said Britain “should brace [itself] for grey zone retaliation. And for this we are woefully unprepared”.
Increased assistance
Britain has been contributing to Kyiv’s war effort since the start of the Russian invasion, but the revelation that UK-made drones were being used to strike Russia, as well as that Britain has shared blueprints for long-range missiles, reach a new scale of significance.
- Downing Street would not say whether this was a Starmer or Burnham policy, but a No 10 spokeswoman said the UK would continue to help arm Ukraine.
New battlefield data partnership
The latest support, announced on Monday evening, comes in the form of a new partnership between London and Kyiv on AI.
Under the deal, the UK will have access to Ukraine’s Avengers AI Labs database to develop tools for use on the battlefield.
Britain described the platform as a “goldmine of battlefield data”. In return, the UK will offer scientists and tech companies access to develop new battlefield tools.
Sorties by RAF planes
On Monday, an RAF “Rivet Joint” surveillance aircraft was spotted by military observers over Lithuania and northern Poland, near to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
While sorties such as these are not unusual, the timing of the mission – reported by the X account OSINT Defender – could suggest the UK is gearing up for potential retaliation from Moscow for its support for Ukraine.
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How much caffeine is in your favourite cup of high street coffee?
Coffees from high street chains can vary “wildly” in the amount of caffeine they contain, a new study by Which? has shown.
Costa tops caffeine leaderboards
The research found that a medium cappuccino from Costa contains 325mg of caffeine, almost three-and-a-half times that of the same drink at Starbucks, at 89mg.
This caffeine content is around the same amount as four cans of Red Bull. Costa also has the most caffeine in its espresso shots – 100mg per serving – and its flat whites (241mg).
Where the other chains stand
Greggs is second in the caffeine standings, with 235mg in its cappuccino and Caffe Nero third, with 221mg.
Starbucks serves the least amount of caffeine across all its drinks, but levels have increased in its espressos, cappuccinos and filter coffees over three years.
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The areas included in first wave of new housing fund
In an interview with The i Paper, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has said the Government is “tilting” towards council and social housebuilding in a bid to reduce the number of homeless families in expensive temporary accommodation.
A surge in social housing
A total of £10bn worth of funding is going to councils and housing associations to build more than 70,000 homes across England, 60 per cent of which must be social housing, according to Rayner.
- The £10bn announced yesterday is set to be followed by approximately £21bn for council and social housing, which has not yet been allocated.
The areas receiving the funds
Of the £10bn, the following mayoral authorities will receive:
- An additional 33 “strategic partners” that will receive the rest of the money will be announced in due course, the Government said.
- The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, will be given £6bn to spend.
‘Changing order of queue’ will not solve social housing issue
Reform UK has pledged to prioritise British-born workers under 35 when allocating social housing if the party enters government, but charities and experts have warned that “changing the order of the queue” would not solve the issue of social housing.
Plug-in solar panels go on sale this week – what to know
Plug-in solar panel kits are set to go on sale in the UK this Thursday, just in time for the end of the sunny weather.
Here’s where you’ll be able to buy them later this week – and what to look out for.
What solar panel can I buy?
UKSOL is the first company to produce a plug-in solar panel meeting new regulations.
Its one-panel solar kit is on sale now from £699 for collection on 27 August.
It is not expected to hit supermarket shelves before the end of the summer, though.
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Will they get cheaper?
There had been speculation that a solar panel could cost as little as £400, and there is hope that prices could come down if plug-in solar becomes popular here.
Retailers such as Lidl, Asda, B&Q, Currys, Screwfix and Wickes have all expressed interest in solar kits.
How will they work?
- UKSOL’s single panel system includes a kit to set up the panel.
- It is then monitored via an app.
- It must be set up in a garden – not on a balcony.
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What to watch out for
Making your money back
With an estimated saving of £85 a year you’ll have to wait a while.
Safety first
Get your wiring checked to avoid starting fires from power surges.
No storage
You have to be in to use the electricity, or it will go to waste.
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Millions of women to get at-home cervical screening tests
From Tuesday, women who have not attended their cervical screening appointments will get free at-home testing kits on the NHS.
The move has been described as a “gamechanger”.
The NHS aims to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.
Women can request kits online
Eligible women aged between 30 and 65 will be sent invitations to order an at-home swab kit if they have not attended a smear test.
The kits contain a swab, to be used to collect a sample from the vagina, which can then be posted to a lab for testing.
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How will it work?
- Samples will be tested for high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV).
- If a test is positive, the patient will be invited to an appointment.
- 13 types of HPV are responsible for 99.7% cervical cancers.
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More science from The i Paper
King Charles 10p coins enter circulation – but will you get one?
More than seven million coins bearing the King’s face are to enter circulation for the first time today, in response to rising demand for the 10p coin.
Fourth coin to bear Charles’s face
The new coins will join the 5p, 50p and £1 featuring the King’s portrait that are already in circulation. But these represent just 1 per cent of the 24,142 billion coins in use, so the new 10p will be rare.
The “tails” side will feature the capercaillie – an endangered bird found in the Highlands – reflecting the King’s passion for conservation.
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Capercaillie’s significance
We hope that by putting
Rebecca Morgan, director, Royal Mint
this extraordinary bird into millions of pockets and purses, we can spark a nationwide conversation about a species at real risk
of vanishing from Britain forever.”
Watch more from The i Paper
US sanctions are particularly devastating to those targeted because of America’s control over the global financial system – it has the ability to essentially ban financial institutions across the world from dealing with particular nations, cutting them off almost entirely from banking at a stroke.
So the threat of the US deploying a massive package of sanctions against you would be a terrifying one for most countries – and would be likely to bring almost any world leader to the negotiating table, even as they tried to push back through allies and other diplomatic channels.
But it is hard to terrify an opposing regime with sanctions when you have been bombing them for months. In the opening days of Trump’s war on Iran, he assassinated almost every senior leader the regime had. He has spent the months threatening to obliterate the country’s infrastructure on almost a daily basis.
Sanctions are generally a tool world leaders use before threatening war, not after they have already launched missiles. With his “economic D-Day”, Trump is doing everything in the wrong order – and so shouldn’t be surprised his sanctions threats are being met with Iranian shrugs, rather than a panicked dash to the negotiation table.
What’s more, there’s not really any trade for the US to threaten: Iran is already cut off from the global financial system, and hasn’t meaningfully traded goods or services with the US or any of its allies for decades.
The USA has had sweeping sanctions against Iran for decades, after the Islamist revolution in 1979. These were, for a time, relaxed as part of President Obama’s deal to stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment in exchange for opening up trade – but Trump scrapped this deal and reintroduced the tightest of sanctions against Iran.
Bessent is certainly sounding pretty threatening: he is not only promising to launch “the single greatest financial offensive ever” against Iran, one that will “block every potential source of revenue”, and promising to target any nation that continues to trade with Iran against the USA’s wishes.
This would be enough to devastate the economy of almost any world nation. But Bessent is threatening Iran with its status quo from before this latest war.
Where the US is trying to insist that this new threat is serious is Iran’s allies. Anyone who continues to do business with Iran, they warn, will face the same kinds of US sanctions as Iran itself. This has had some, limited, success already: the UAE has promised to cut off trade with Iran.
But Iran’s main trading partners are Russia and China, and for different reasons, both of these nations are a different story. Since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia is already a pariah state, sanctioned to the hilt by most Western nations. Given Trump’s complicated relationship with Putin, and his desire to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, the idea of serious economic escalation between Russia and the USA seems a remote one.
China is a different matter. Trump has enjoyed rattling the sabre against China during his presidency, but has gone notably quiet on that front during his second term. The US economy is reliant on cheap Chinese imports to keep ticking over – any trade war with China would mean huge economic disruption, and surging inflation.
No one believes Trump would start a trade war with China just months before crucial midterm elections that could see the Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress – especially since if Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, they could block his judicial appointments and launch endless investigations against his conduct.
In truth, Trump has never been further from a win in Iran, and his “economic D-day” is set to be another embarrassing bust.