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Greetings lovely people,

Tomorrow is National Pub Day, so no prizes for guessing where we’re going to be.

But before that, there’s the important business of getting you all up to speed with what happened in the UK and beyond this week.

Also, we’re hosting a meetup in London (England, not Canada) soon. Let us know if you can make it below.

⏰ Today's reading time is 6 minutes

Europe has been forced to switch off huge volumes of solar electricity in recent weeks as ageing grids struggle to absorb a surge in renewable output, with industry analysts warning that the amount of wasted power is set to hit a record this summer.

Around 40 terawatt-hours of solar electricity, roughly enough to supply Greater London for a year, is expected to be discarded in the coming months, up by a quarter compared with 2025.

Hundreds of millions of solar panels have been installed across Europe over the past decade.

Kumbaya, let’s all hold hands and praise renewables. Where’s the issue?

The issue is that the rapid expansion of solar has now come face to face with some good old fashioned European uselessness.

Permitting timelines remain a key obstacle to updating the grids, with the permitting process for new high-voltage lines taking ten years or longer in some EU countries.

Some member states are now moving to streamline approvals. And by streamlining, they mean that new applications might get processed past 3:30pm, Monday-Thursday.

Lazy European tropes aside, it’s worth factoring in that these electrical grids were built for more old school sources like nuclear and fossil fuels, so it is quite the undertaking to transition them for the renewable age.

Nonetheless, Spain has approved new rules to fast-track battery deployment, as part of a package to future-proof its power grid and address key vulnerabilities identified after the Iberian blackout in 2025.

At a time of rising tensions between the US and China, Donald Trump has landed in Beijing for a two day diplomatic visit. It’s the first time in nine years that a sitting US president has visited China. 

The US President was pictured being greeted at bilateral talks by a military parade and children waving Chinese and US flags. Trump later told Xi “I was particularly impressed by those children: they were happy, they were beautiful”. 

Beyond bringing out children for his guest’s amusement, the Chinese President also showed his appreciation of ancient greek culture by asking Trump rhetorically if the US and China could avoid falling into the “Thucydides Trap” -  a phrase coined to describe a conflict between an established and a rising power, as first demonstrated between Sparta and Athens. 

We’re looking forward to hearing Trump’s take on the Thuycidedes Trap when he finds out what it means.

The trade and technology focus of the trip was highlighted by the fact that the US delegation also includes business leaders, which Trump described as the best in the world, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, and Elon Musk. 

While the other delegation members appeared to be sociable and respectful, Musk was spotted pulling odd faces when taking pictures with Chinese business leaders after dinner, definitely not off his tits on his “therapeutic” ketamine.

Given his track record of odd behaviour in public and unsuccessful stint running DOGE, it seems like an interesting choice of delegate for Trump to bring along.

A conspicuously absent face was that of J.D. Vance. You have to spare a thought for J D Vance at this time however, as while colleagues were in Beijing, he was allegedly due to appear on a Kick stream alongside Clavicular and Jake Paul (although, he didn’t actually attend). 

The last week in British politics really makes you understand why the most stable figure in Downing Street of the last two decades has been a bloody cat.

Luckily for you, we’ve been keeping tabs on the situation, mostly by getting the right staffers drunk in Westminster pubs and being more chronically on X than Elon himself.

After Labour were obliterated at the local elections last week, many called for Starmer to go on Monday.

His critics cite the election results, the fact that he has about as much personality as a bathroom mat, and his inability to face up to the threat of Reform UK as the main reasons.

Over 80 MPs have signed a letter urging him to resign. That number is just over the amount needed to trigger a leadership challenge that could see him ousted as Prime Minister.

Here’s the lowdown of the challengers jostling for one of the shittest jobs in politics:

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In the words of the philosopher and musician DJ Khaled: ‘Anotha one’.

Eileen Wang, 58, formerly mayor of the city of Arcadia in LA area, has pleaded guilty to acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. 

Elected to the city council in November 2022, Wang admitted to working at the direction and control of PRC government officials, including by promoting pro-PRC propaganda through a local newspaper, US News Center. 

Pro-PRC Content shared included an article stating that there is no forced labour in Xinjiang, and that spreading such rumours were defamatory towards China.

Either way, things aren’t looking great for Wang; a co-conspirator of hers was handed a 4 year sentence in late 2025, so she may well be looking at significant jail time when the sentence is handed down in a few weeks.

In a quick break between shotgunning piss Miller lites at his desk, FBI Director Kash Patel took the opportunity to highlight how federal agencies “continue to move aggressively to root out this kind of influence in American Institutions”.  

Nonetheless, Chinese covert activity appears to have ramped up in recent months as tensions between the US and China have escalated, including the PRC targeting government bodies more directly.

The NYT reported last week that an aide to the House of Representatives’ Threats from China committee allegedly having been offered $10,000 to pass on information about US foreign policy towards China to a Hong Kong based “consultant”.

Earlier this week Saudi Aramco’s chief executive, Amin Nasser, warned of the economic shock from the US-Iran conflict entering a new phase.

While Aramco reported increased revenues, Nasser warned that global oil inventories are rapidly depleting, with gasoline and jet fuel stocks running down the most quickly. 

Consumers have already been responding to potential shortages of refined fuels. For example, some airlines have even had to lower prices as consumers are not booking as many flights this year as in 2025. 

Western nations have been largely insulated so far, but India is already feeling the effects acutely, with PM Modhi asking the Indian people to stop buying gold, work from home, and carpool in order to protect the country’s foreign exchange reserves. 

We can’t imagine that the Indian take on carpooling gets decent miles to the gallon (or even saves any fuel), but it shows how the tight spot India finds itself in. 

Whatever the impacts, the conflict doesn’t appear to have an end in sight, as Trump seems keen to inflict as much damage on Americans’ financial situations as possible in the run up to the mid-term elections in the US. 

On the plus side, we see some benefits to a new phase of this crisis.

Flights being unaffordable and possibly cancelled will hopefully mean fewer serial “travellers” chewing your ear off this summer about how doing the Banana Pancake trail in the other direction this time was so much more enlightening than their first trip to South East Asia.

Spain's foreign minister is calling for an EU military to replace NATO, arguing Europe can no longer rely on American security guarantees.

The timing is awkward, given that Trump is currently threatening to kick Spain out of NATO for refusing to back his Iran war or raise defence spending to 5% of GDP (it currently sits at a mighty 1.3%).

So this whole thing is a bit like your roommate that is always behind on rent all of a sudden turning around and deciding you should buy a house together.

Talk of a European Army is nothing new, but the current geopolitical instability/lack of a dependable US has brought the discussion to the forefront once again.

NATO works (in theory at least) because Article 5 creates genuine deterrence: attack one, fight all 32.

The EU's equivalent, Article 42.7, has never been tested and lacks the firepower to make your average run of the mill Russian dictator nervous.

If an EU army ever did come about, it’s pretty ironic that even in spite of Brexit, its soldiers would probably all just default to speaking English.

It warms our hearts that French President Emmanuel Macron may have finally found love with someone his own age, with the added bonus of not having to be groomed by his high school teacher.

However, his ‘platonic friendship’ with Iranian-French actress Golshifteh Farahani may have gotten him into a spot of bother with his mum wife, Brigitte.

It is alleged that upon discovering a totally platonic “I find you very pretty” message on his phone, Brigitte lost her rag and slapped poor little Manu across the face.

The little domestic resulted in the viral meme that you may remember from this time last year.

Whilst he may be ineligible to run in the 2027 Presidential election, being caught having an affair may actually boost his popularity in France, paving the way for his return in 2032.

We’d love it if you left us some feedback as to how you found this edition.

Our intern will get back to you within 4-5 business days, once we’ve let them out of the basement for some fresh air.

Thanks to Sam & Max