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Happy Friday to you all,

We extended our European getaway by another week, just before Europe starting cosplaying as one of the 7 rings of hell, becoming hotter than an asshole after an Indian takeaway.

Gross analogies aside, let’s get stuck into the news you need to know from this week, all delivered in meme form.

⏰ Today's reading time is 5 minutes

Quote of the Week

Even with a Saddam Hussein-sized majority in Parliament, the current Labour government are still struggling to get things passed without pissing off half the party.

The attempt to slash welfare spending has been the latest to backfire.

Hoping to save £5bn a year by 2029 through stricter disability benefit eligibility (mainly Personal Independence Payments, or PIP), the government is now scrambling after a major rebellion within its ranks.

The cuts were initially intended to plug a budget hole without breaching Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ strict borrowing rules — but the backlash has forced a climbdown, and will now end up costing money as opposed to saving.

That wasn’t why she was crying in Parliament by the way.

Critics say the reforms were more about short-term savings than long-term strategy. The bulk of the savings were aimed at people with health issues, despite around a quarter of working-age Brits already being out of work.

Experts argue the government missed an opportunity: investing to help people return to work part-time could have paid dividends later, both socially and fiscally.

Instead, the plan drew fire from within Labour itself. Some MPs said the policy was rushed to meet fiscal targets distorted by higher global borrowing costs.

Now, only new Pip claimants will be affected from late 2026, and the most severe universal credit claimants will retain support.

Meanwhile, claims for incapacity benefits are soaring — now at 7% of the working-age population, with playing video-games in their basement mental health cases growing fastest. A system that forces people to declare total unfitness to access help may be making things worse.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who just celebrated his one-year anniversary in the job, says he “isn’t being dictated by ideology” and has reframed the U-turns as “being practical.”

Burned out by the news? There’s a better way.

Outrage headlines. Never-ending feeds. Everyone shouting, no one listening.

Keeping up with political news today can feel more like emotional labor than staying informed. That’s why Tangle exists.

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Across America, businesses are warning that Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is gutting their workforces — and could kneecap the economy if it continues.

Many small businesses rely on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or other permits Trump is now targeting and nearly 20% of the US workforce is now foreign-born, up from 10% in the mid-1990s.

But Trump’s revived deportation push includes not just raids on undocumented workers, but broader efforts: ending TPS protections, curbing student visas and halting refugee admissions.

Well, not ALL refugees.

Businesses in farming, health care, construction, and hospitality are seeing workers disappear as a result. Economists warn of rising labour costs, slower growth, and higher inflation.

Even Trump himself has acknowledged the disruption, reportedly pausing enforcement in some industries after Republican blowback. But for now, enforcement remains the priority.

But don’t worry, Florida Governor “Meatball” Ron DeSantis has a plan to make up the numbers: children.

US Senate Republicans narrowly pass Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill

Donald Trump’s flagship tax and spending bill — dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” — narrowly cleared the Senate after a 50-50 vote was broken by Vice President and Peter Thiel’s favourite gimp JD Vance.

But the drama is far from over. It now returns to the House, where it faces razor-thin margins and growing rebellion from both the far-right and fiscal hawks.

The bill would make Trump’s previous tax cuts permanent and slash spending on social programmes like food aid and Medicaid. Those in favour say it's about ‘economic freedom’ (you can feel Reagan’s boner from beyond the grave), whilst critics say it's a handout to the rich, paid for by gutting help for the poor.

The House Freedom Caucus is furious, warning the plan could balloon the deficit by $650bn a year. Meanwhile, more moderate Republicans are uncomfortable with how deeply the Senate version cuts Medicaid.

Trump’s ex-boyfriend and world’s funniest man Elon Musk is also quite upset.

Once Trump’s cost-cutting czar, he's now threatening to back primary challengers against Republicans who vote yes, even hinting at launching a new political party. His primary gripe definitely isn’t the fact that Trump thinks electric cars are gay the bill guts subsidies for green energy and EVs, impacting the value of Tesla.

The GOP now has just days to wrangle a deeply fractured party and get the bill signed into law.

The S&P 500 closes at record highs, notching a third week of gains

US stocks surged on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closing at record highs thanks to a stronger-than-expected June jobs report that soothed fears of an economic slowdown.

The Dow jumped 344 points, while the S&P 500 rose 0.83% to 6,279.35 and the Nasdaq gained 1.02% to 20,601.10.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 147,000—beating forecasts of 110,000—and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, defying expectations of a rise.

The report squashed concerns raised by earlier weak private payroll data and suggested the US economy is holding up despite geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty.

Even with tariff risks looming, analysts say the market is choosing to stay upbeat. “We’ll see a real impact,” said Argent Capital’s Jed Ellerbroek, “but the market’s ready to digest it.”

All major indexes posted solid weekly gains: the Dow rose 2.3%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.7%, and the Nasdaq added 1.6%.

Drinks are on us tonight…

Heatwave breaks records across Europe

Europe is in the grip of a brutal heatwave, with June temperature records shattered across Spain, Portugal, France, the UK and Italy.

Parts of Italy have now banned outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day, with fines now being given out for teams found working between 12-4pm.

It’s not exactly news though, considering most of Italy hardly fucking works anyway.

Spain hit 46°C in Andalucía, and Portugal reached an all-time June high of 46.6°C in Mora. France closed nearly 2,000 schools, with teachers reduced to spraying kids with water to keep them cool (they’re going to protest about it any day now).

Severe wildfires have forcing evacuations in Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Floods and storms have followed the heat in parts of northern Italy, cutting off towns and halting train travel between France and Italy.

Meteorologists say June 2025 is officially the hottest ever recorded in Spain — 3.5°C hotter than the 30-year average. And with countries like Germany bracing for 40°C heat under a system named “Bettina,” this won’t be the last we’ll be seeing of this kind of heat.

Industry and unions are warning that Europe is simply not ready for climate-driven extremes — and it's the elderly, the sick and the working class who will bear the brunt.

Meanwhile, whilst the continent burns, Brits don’t seem too fussed.

Number of new UK entry-level jobs has dived since launch of ChatGPT

The number of new entry-level jobs in the UK has plunged by nearly a third since ChatGPT launched in late 2022, according to new figures from job site Adzuna.

Vacancies for graduate schemes, apprenticeships, internships, and non-degree junior roles have fallen by 32% in just over 18 months.

The timing coincides with the widespread adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which many businesses are using to automate tasks that would traditionally fall to junior employees — writing, research, admin, customer service and basic data handling among them.

While entry-level workers are now more likely to be out of a job, unemployment in that group still sits at a relatively modest 6%.

But the concern isn’t just about current joblessness — it’s about the erosion of career ladders.

If junior roles are disappearing or being absorbed by AI, there are fewer opportunities for young people to get a foot in the door and develop the skills that lead to mid-career roles i.e. they may have to skip the “reformatting useless powerpoints” stage and go straight into actually providing value.

This raises serious questions about the long-term health of the labour market. If companies continue to cut junior hiring in favour of AI, they may soon face a skills vacuum — with too few experienced workers to promote in future.

Screw office jobs anyway - the “Godfather of AI” thinks you should become a plumber.

🍻Half Pints

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Meme of the Week

Siesta of the Week

The president of Malta’s southern regional council has blamed “a lack of air conditioning” at an EU meeting for falling asleep during a speech by a Spanish politician.

“I’m being ridiculed for something that comes naturally. It can happen to anyone,” he protested.

Frankly, we think he was showing nothing but cultural respect—honouring his Spanish colleague with a workplace siesta, which, after football and eating tapas, is Spain’s most cherished national pastime.

That’s all for today.

We’ll be back, bigger and better, next week.

Our mission is to carefully curate and craft the best memes to help you get up to speed with what’s happening in the world and have a few laughs whilst doing so.

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Thanks to Jesus and Freddie