Skip to content
The punchline arrives first, Gentle Reader, and it is this: the leader of the Verdant Society has, on this the hottest Wednesday of the year, managed to be simultaneously the victim of a misunderstanding, the author of his own misfortune, and the one man in the Kingdom who will not simply say sorry. We shall return to him presently.
Dearest Gentle Reader,
There is a particular species of political theatre that flourishes in heat, and this Wednesday – with the thermometer nudging 35 degrees Celsius across the Southern Kingdom and amber alerts issued by the Crown Health Security Agency for the Capital and the south-east – the ton has not disappointed. One could almost hear the collective perspiration of the Grand Assembly from here.
But first, to Sir Polanski, the Verdant Society‘s leader, who has refused – not once, not twice, but three times – to apologise to Viscount Farage for re-posting a photograph of a gentleman wearing a shirt bearing a guillotine and the slogan “we’re only making plans for Nigel.” Sir Polanski insists it was an inadvertent mistake: the fifth image in a carousel of twenty from a party, accepted via a photographer’s Portrait Gallery collaboration, and thus – apparently – entirely beyond his notice. This Author does not doubt that twenty photographs is rather a lot to inspect. Nevertheless, a guillotine is not a subtle motif. Reform Society‘s home affairs spokesperson called it an incitement to murder; Viscount Farage posted a cropped screenshot on Elon’s Lair; Sir Polanski was reported to the Metropolitan Constabulary. He told the Broadcasting Society‘s Newsnight programme that he had not been contacted by police, that he condemned political violence, and that he would commit to being “better on social media.” He has also, he noted, received a death threat. One is left with the image of all parties involved reaching simultaneously for the moral high ground, finding it rather crowded, and sliding back down in the heat.
Speaking of things that will cost you more than you expected: those planning to traverse the skies via Heathrow in the years ahead should brace themselves for a surcharge of some fifteen pence per ticket from 2028, rising to thirty pence thereafter. The aviation regulator has permitted Heathrow to recover up to £320 million through higher airport charges, covering the early planning and design costs of its proposed third runway. A further £4.1 million is owed to the unsuccessful rival bidder, Heathrow West, for their trouble. Heathrow’s spokesperson, displaying a talent for optimism that This Author can only admire, described the project as “making travel more affordable.” Fifteen pence today, one recalls, is merely the down payment. What the actual construction of a runway will add to one’s ticket remains, as the regulator delicately noted, unclear. One suspects the figure will prove considerably more bracing than a warm Wednesday afternoon.
This Author sets aside all levity for what must be reported with plain gravity. A new report from the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism has found that the Kingdom recorded the largest rise in antisemitic incidents of any country with a major Jewish population outside Israel in 2025 – a 5% increase, the highest among seven nations surveyed. Across those seven nations, reported antisemitic incidents have risen by 136% since 2022. The year 2025 was the deadliest for Jewish people outside Israel in more than three decades: twenty people were killed in antisemitic attacks across the globe, a toll not seen since 1994. In this Kingdom specifically, two men were killed during an attack upon a Manchester synagogue in October. These are not numbers to be dressed in wit. They are numbers to sit with, and to act upon.
Now, the heat. This Author had hoped – vainly, it seems – that the fourth widespread heatwave of this year might have the decency to arrive on a day when the news was less crowded. Amber heat health alerts cover the East Midlands, the East of England, the Capital, and the south-east from nine o’clock this very morning. The Crown Health Security Agency warns of significant impacts upon the National Health Society, with heightened risk particularly for those aged 65 and over. A plume of heat surging north from North Africa, having already tormented Iberia and France, has arrived at our shores with characteristic Continental self-assurance. Thursday is promised to bring relief – though temperatures in the mid- to high twenties will linger into the weekend, and the lack of rainfall in already dry areas gives cause for real concern. North Britain and the Northern Province, reaching a modest 20 degrees at best, may feel, for once, rather smug.
Finally, a cautionary tale for the travelling classes. Investigators from Electrical Safety First have tested fourteen travel plug adaptors purchased from the likes of the Dancing Lantern‘s shopping feature and various digital marketplaces, and found that every single one failed to meet the Kingdom’s safety requirements. Multiple live pins exposed simultaneously, missing fuses, missing safety shutters, pins that snapped off under force – leaving the unwary abroad-goer at risk of electric shock merely for attempting to charge a hairdryer. All fourteen products have since been removed from sale by the relevant merchants, who assure us that product safety is their very top priority, which This Author notes they might usefully have confirmed before listing the products. The advice is simple: purchase your travel adaptor from a trusted retailer. The alternative, it turns out, may be considerably more electrifying than one had bargained for.
I am, as ever, your most devoted observer – Lady Whistledown.