The United States and Israel are planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, with strikes possible throughout the weekend. 

There was some discussion about trying to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday because of concern about how the bombings will affect the U.S. and global economy, but an end point wasn’t locked in.

The Israelis have been notified and are coordinating with the United States, according to multiple U.S. sources. The president has yet to give the final ‘go’ orders for the strikes, the sources said.

A joint operation would mark Israel’s return to combat operations which it had halted during the U.S.-brokered truce. Iran has not hit Israel since the memorandum of understanding fell apart and the U.S. restarted combat operations in early July.

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BREAKING: The U.S. and Israel are preparing to bombard energy-related targets in Iran as soon as this weekend, sources say. https://t.co/6bfNrS93ta

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 31, 2026

Let thy continual mercy, O Lord, enkindle in thy Church the never-failing gift of love, that, following the example of thy servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Politician William Wilberforce died #onthisday in 1833. He is remembered for taking up the cause of abolishing slavery alongside Prime Minister Charles Grey. He is buried close to the grave of William Pitt in the Abbey’s north transept, and his statue can be found in statesmen's… pic.twitter.com/mY5QlNaZfQ

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) July 29, 2026

Church of England bishops have urged Ed Miliband to intervene to halt the executions and torture of Christians in Saudi Arabian jails.

Three bishops for Southwark, Chelmsford and Winchester have written to Mohammed bin Salman, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, urging him to call an immediate halt to the executions of more than 50 Ethiopian Christians currently on death row in the state.

They have also submitted their appeal to the Foreign Office seeking an intervention from Mr Miliband, the new Foreign Secretary, to save the lives of the Christian captives.

The bishops claimed there was evidence that the Ethiopians – who fled conflict in their own country – had been mistreated, with several of them tortured and forced to sign documents they could not read or understand.

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Good to see several English bishops calling on the Foreign Secretary to use British influence in Riyadh on behalf of 50 Ethiopian Christians facing execution. The Saudi regime remains brutally repressive.
Also good to read it all reported in the Telegraph.https://t.co/xmI8bFAmKW

— Philip Anderson (@P_G_Anderson) July 28, 2026

Mr. Goldman’s proposal won’t satisfy those Christians who want America to return to its Protestant roots. One of the most prominent spokesmen for Christian nationalism is Doug Wilson, an Idaho pastor and founder of a college and publishing company. His notoriety derives in part from associations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and his objections to gay marriage, transgender medicine, abortion and even women’s suffrage.

If forced to navigate between the Scylla of secular civil religion and the Charybdis of Christian nationalism, we might look to the deeply American religion of Presbyterianism. A recent report by the Presbyterian Church in America reaffirms a proposition that American Presbyterians have believed since 1788: that freedom of religion and assembly are crucial for Christian endeavor. At the same time, the PCA approved a paper that, with slight qualifications, rejects Christian nationalism.

A small denomination, with roughly 400,000 members, the PCA took on Christian nationalism after the circulation of these views on social media and in such books as Stephen Wolfe’s “The Case for Christian Nationalism” and James D. Baird’s “King of Kings.” But the most important theme in the PCA report isn’t a direct repudiation of Christian nationalism but an affirmation of religious liberty. Liberal political orders have, “in God’s providence,” secured religious liberty, limited political power and recognized human dignity—and one of government’s duties is “to protect the free exercise of religion, including liberty of conscience.” Government should “not interfere in matters of faith” despite having a responsibility to encourage “piety, justice, [and] public order.”

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"A recent report by the [PCA] reaffirms a proposition that American Presbyterians have believed since 1788: that freedom of religion and assembly are crucial for Christian endeavor….[and] with slight qualifications, rejects Christian nationalism." https://t.co/KrOmsIJuLl

— D G Hart (@ReallyOldLife) July 24, 2026

Artificial Intelligence poses a double challenge to the human mind. Not only will the most advanced models soon be able to think better than people, but AI has consequences for humanity which are so uncertain, so potentially vast and are approaching at such a rapid pace that even the best brains flinch. An example is Elon Musk.

In our long interview with him this week, featured in The Insider and our Business section, the engineer and entrepreneur sets out two paradoxes and one contradiction. The first paradox is that one of the world’s most power-hungry tycoons is enthusiastically helping create a technology that he says will render him—and all other human beings—powerless after as little as five years. The second is that the world’s richest man says he is preparing for a world of infinite abundance, where money, including his $750bn fortune, no longer matters. And the contradiction is that, despite these stated beliefs, Mr Musk continues to act as if they were not true.

Mr Musk is divisive. His political views, disseminated to his 240m followers on X, strike many as plain-speaking and strike many more, including The Economist, as plainly bigoted. By his own admission, his attempt to use DOGE to scythe through the federal bureaucracy went wrong.

But he is also one of a handful of men who are pioneering AI and who thereby have an outsize influence on its trajectory. When he speaks, he reflects the debates they are having. His data centres in space could power AI’s future. For all his political polemics, he has a record of being right about technology in fields such as electric cars, rockets and satellite communications that confounded other engineers and entrepreneurs. For those reasons, his claims about AI repay examination. Unfortunately, such an exercise only underlines how ill-prepared the world is for a technology that may soon throw everything up in the air.

Read it all.

AI is charging ahead. Not even its creators—including @elonmusk—know how to keep up https://t.co/8UwsIS9FQY pic.twitter.com/TndVl6q8ir

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 23, 2026

The price of crude oil is a broken barometer. Acute pain in the world energy market has switched to the trio of refined products that we actually consume: diesel, petrol and jet fuel.

The IATA jet fuel index for global airlines has hit $154 a barrel in Europe and $149 in North America, almost double the cost of underlying crude. In trade parlance, the “crack spread” has gone mad. It is arguably worse for diesel. The spread over crude has reached $80 in Rotterdam and $88 in New York, the highest since records began. The whole global market is seizing up.

“I’ve never seen an energy environment this stretched,” said Jeff Currie, perhaps the world’s best-known oil guru. We have been lulled into complacency by deceptively moderate oil headlines and by assumptions that the Iran war has settled into a low-intensity management problem. It is nothing of the sort.

Read it all.

Beware the rising energy dangers of Trump’s Gulf war (£) https://t.co/C5vRYPohmC

— Wolfgang Schremser (@WSchremser) July 22, 2026

…The Government stresses that the “permanence” of marriage will be strengthened by enabling more questioning of candidates ahead of their weddings.

“Many couples have a religious-only wedding that reflects their faith and traditions, followed by a separate legal ceremony — or no legal ceremony at all. Research shows around two thirds of women who had a religious-only Muslim wedding did not also have a separate legal ceremony,” the consultation document says.

“To protect against forced, predatory and sham marriages, couples must complete a two-stage process, including in-person interview, to verify their identity and demonstrate eligibility to marry.”

Anglican banns of marriage would continue “as an important part of the established Church”, the document says.

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Couples will be able to marry almost anywhere, including forests, beaches, cruise ships at sea, canal boats, and at home, under Government proposals that “shift the focus from bricks and mortar to people and promises”. https://t.co/1C2vRDXkpE

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 17, 2026

In 2025, Chinese leader Xi Jinping tried to capitalize on U.S. belligerence toward Europe by promoting China as the responsible great-power alternative. In a message sent to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union, Xi invited Brussels to join forces with Beijing, to “uphold multilateralism, safeguard fairness and justice,” and “oppose unilateralism and bullying.” Despite the lofty rhetoric, Beijing offered nothing of substance to Europeans, and did nothing to address their concerns about unfair trade practices that are threatening large swaths of European industry. Indeed, rather than seeking to conciliate, Chinese premier Li Qiang recently dismissed the concerns of Europeans worried about a “China Shock 2.0,” telling them to focus instead on “China Opportunity 2.0.”

Key EU leaders, as well as the Brussels bureaucracy, are not buying it. They have concluded that the very survival of Europe’s core industries is threatened by China. The first “China shock” describes the devastation of U.S. industry in sectors including furniture, textiles, and metals that came in the early 2000s, after China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. The new China shock will be different. It will happen mainly in Europe, and it will be more severe, devastating advanced industrial sectors—including automotive, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and green energy—and leading to immense job losses.

Increasingly, European leaders are arguing that the EU needs to take action to protect its industries. So severe is the threat that measures that were unthinkable a few years ago are now gaining momentum. Earlier this year, for example, the French government proposed “establishing a level of protection equivalent to a general tariff of around 30 percent vis-à-vis China.” And although Germany was initially hesitant, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has signaled that he is ready to act to deal with China’s unfair trade practices. Last month, every EU leader, with the exception of Spain, tasked the European Commission with coming up with options for action. An all-out trade war with China is becoming a real possibility.

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Sharing this piece by @thorstenbenner on the stakes of China-EU trade tensions and why Europe shouldn't submit to acceptance of the status quo.
https://t.co/ClED070DRZ via @ForeignAffairs

— Ryan Hass (@ryanl_hass) July 20, 2026

The United Kingdom on Monday installed Andy Burnham as its 59th prime minister, the seventh person to hold that position in a little more than a decade.

Burnham, a stalwart of the progressive Labour Party, is expected to bring his center-left perspective as a champion of the working class to address crises of social welfare spending, housing affordability and a sluggish economy. His election marks a major win against the rising tide of Reform UK – a right-wing populist party that has been compared to the MAGA movement in the U.S.

In remarks Monday, he said he was “acutely conscious” of the instability at the top of the British government in recent years and he pledged to provide an alternative.

“I know people at home are fed up with politics,” he said. “I hear you and I want to be honest with you: We have not been good enough and we need to be better.”

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The Times
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham purges Starmer loyalists from cabinet on his first day, naming John Healey as chancellor and promising a fully funded package to cut energy bills.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
A look at #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Xqo6H9CKBa

— Andrew Clifford (@newcastlejourno) July 20, 2026

When Donald Trump proposed peace with Iran, he could hardly have offered better terms. In return for Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz and forswearing all ambitions for a nuclear bomb, America held out the prospect of hundreds of billions of dollars of income and investment in an economy ravaged by sanctions and war. The horrified reaction of Iran hawks in America and Israel tells you that no other American leader would have surrendered so much.

The bleak message from the upsurge in fighting over the past week is that, for Iran, money alone is not enough. The hardliners are in charge. They want something more, and it cannot be good—be it revenge, control over the strait, regional dominance or a nuclear programme. America must not yield.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed a month ago, allows 60 days to bring peace. Halfway through, it has itself become the focus of conflict. It asks Iran to “make arrangements to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels free of charge for 60 days”. Iran takes that to imply it is in charge; for America it means that Iran must not restrict sea traffic.

The two sides are exchanging missile and drone strikes, and tankers are wary of sailing even with American offers of protection. Thankfully, these military exchanges have so far stopped short of a return to war. But the oil price is creeping back up. Meanwhile, there has been no progress in talks on tricky matters, including nuclear materials and Iranian efforts to enrich uranium.

Read it all.

America’s president looks bereft of good options for solving the stand-off in the Gulf https://t.co/ZqV1eOixNT

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 15, 2026

I’m pre-writing your obituary. I hope it does not have to get published immediately, but I did feel it would be interesting to have you speak to people from beyond the grave, if it does get published. So: Do you have anything you would like to say?

In the past few months, I had to make an interesting choice to go on this clinical trial that’s pretty nasty. And you do a little bit of introspection: What’s the point of extending life a couple of months? My girls are now 24 and 22, so they are launched and are doing well. And my wife is mindful of the truth that death is a wicked thief, but she is not despairing at all through this. So I really think that I made the choice to do this clinical trial and extend the few months of life because my boy’s only 14. I want him to have a dad for a little bit longer and slap him upside the head and love on him.

But it’s really a function of the two great commands, trying to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves.

And what does it look like to live well in this time? For me, these months have been largely about my son, Breck, but they’re also more broadly about the challenge of what it means to raise kids in this time and place. We spend so much time talking about the jobs apocalypse in light of AI and the digital revolution. And that’s an interesting question. I care about it a lot. But much more fundamental than just the paid-vocation piece, the jobs piece, is what does it mean to be human in this time when we’ve got technological tools that are distorting reality in such fundamental ways?

I think we have a big, big collective action problem of what it means to raise kids in a world that will be this disrupted this frequently. People who are 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 years old are going to have their world upended again and again. What are the fundamental truths and roots that give life meaning and place meaning? I’ve been reflecting about that a lot.

America works and thrives to the degree that people have thick local communities and places and small platoons and congregations to assemble for worship on Sunday morning and throughout the week. Right now, I think we’re living through a period of institutional collapse, and we’re going to need to go through a wave of Tocquevillian institution-building. We’ve been mostly harvesting the consumer benefits of a technology revolution without acknowledging the production, vocational, and communal costs of burning all the districts where local community happens.

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“I’m better at thanking God for the gifts he gives us. And it makes me more aware of my childlike dependence upon him.”@BenSasse spoke to CT from his hospital room as he underwent cancer treatment, discussing life, death, and our true hope in Christ.https://t.co/YimbwA6InI

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) July 14, 2026

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham — South Carolina’s senior senator who in his decades-long tenure rose to the highest levels of influence on the global stage — died the evening of July 11 in Washington, D.C., after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness” that the D.C. medical examiner in its preliminary review later ruled to be a torn aorta.

An aortic dissection is a tear in the body’s main artery. The examiner attributed the dissection to underlying cardiovascular disease, though the official cause and manner of death remain pending while toxicology and microscopic testing are completed.

Graham’s death comes as he was seeking reelection to a fifth term this year and also just days after reaching his latest birthday on July 9. He turned 71.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a news release shortly before 2 a.m. July 12. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

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The shocking sudden death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., appears to be from an aortic dissection — a rare condition where the main blood vessel tears and ruptures. It is rare and can be treated surgically. https://t.co/ptyfaGemca

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) July 13, 2026

Adroit, acerbic, and dry in his selective use of examples, Norman instanced Dr Robert McAfee Brown, Professor of World Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Addressing the World Council of Churches in 1975, in the guise of a penitent who now realised that he was a sinner, the Professor confessed his embodiment of “racism, sexism, classism, and imperialism”, and spoke of Jesus as a “liberator”, to be “identified with the demands of oppressed people”.

Another instance nearer to home was that of a sincere Anglican cleric interviewed on the radio, extolling the Sex Pistols’ song to change the world order as a model of true “Christian prophecy”.

Unconvinced by this unlikely juxtaposition, Norman highlighted the lacunae in the punk-rock gospel: nothing about the Christ who was the Lord of history or the sin that affects liberator and oppressor alike; silence concerning the need for the repentance and forgiveness, which are fundamental to prayer and spiritual maturity, or any acknowledgement of the final judgement of all human actions. Absent, too, was the unique Christian teaching concerning the place and ultimate end of humanity, along with any serious critique of secular visions of the future for the forsaken of this world.

The lecture series was praised for its clarity, intellectual depth, and the way in which it had facilitated a serious discussion of the relationship between Christianity, politics, and contemporary society.

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Edward Norman, who died in April, deplored the politicisation of Christianity, writes Rod Garner https://t.co/Bs176KKzH4

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 10, 2026

Yet this backlash is itself dangerous. AI promises to change the world for the better, much as electricity or the steam engine did. Not long ago, the era-defining problem for the rich world was stagnant economic growth and the populism it unleashed. Now it has a technology that could power a surge in productivity and incomes, help find cures for untreatable diseases and improve everything from education to green tech.

All this could be lost if countries starve the technology of computing power or regulate it into uselessness. Look at mRNA vaccines research, which has been held back after a backlash during the covid-19 pandemic.

Scenarios in which some countries give in to popular rage but others forge ahead are also worrying. If America succumbs, it could cede the global ai frontier, and the attendant cyber and military capabilities, to authoritarian China. Europe and Canada are more risk-averse than America. If they choked off AI while the rest of the world kept pushing forward, their losses could be unrecoverable. More than two centuries after the Industrial Revolution, few countries have managed to catch up with the first movers.

So the stakes are high. Can governments do anything about it? Grand proclamations about the shape of a “social contract” for a post-AI world are good fodder for blog posts but offer little help today. Besides, the unknowns are still large enough to make the exercise almost futile.

Better to be incremental. 

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Persuading voters that their interests are being served by AI’s disruption has become as important as making models better. The failure to do so would destroy vast opportunities for humanity https://t.co/5S9EGzPIHg

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 25, 2026

Child poverty is “not just an issue of economics, but a crisis of human dignity and a moral challenge to the kind of society we wish to build”, the Bishop of Peterborough, the Rt Revd Debbie Sellin, has said.

Speaking during a House of Lords debate last week on the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, Bishop Sellin referred to research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that “food is now the most common essential that low-income households are going without.”

A C of E primary school near Daventry had set up a community larder, she said, “providing affordable food to families struggling to make ends meet, along with ensuring that all children [have] a good breakfast each morning. Volunteer groups work hard to bring isolated families back into community life, but they find their efforts stifled by lack of investment in infrastructure.”

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Child poverty is ‘a crisis of human dignity’ and a ‘moral challenge’ https://t.co/05zMjJPM8x

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 23, 2026

The news is full of how an ignominious peace deal with Iran exemplifies a decline in American power. That conclusion could hardly be more wrong. On June 12th the Trump administration ordered Anthropic to block foreigners from Fable and Mythos, its latest and most capable frontier AI models. In an instant, everyone learned that the American government can decide who may use the world’s most important technology. You don’t get much more powerful than that.

The administration was responding to a supposed jailbreak for Fable, meaning a prompt that circumvents defences against uses such as hacking computers or making bioweapons. The chances are that it wanted Anthropic to switch off the models for everyone, and that targeting foreigners was a means to an end. Sure enough, that is what Anthropic did, while claiming that the concern about its model was overblown. The legal basis of the order remains unclear, and the ban seems unlikely to last.

What matters, though, is the demonstration that global access to the best AI may come down to a decision in the Oval Office. The administration showed in March that it is prepared to trample on the frontier AI companies, when it designated Anthropic a “supply-chain risk”. Now it has shown that it is prepared to trample on users, too.

America must decide how to wield this vast new power. The rest of the world must decide what to do about it. Even as it plans for an unreliable America in everything from defence to trade, it now has to cope with a new way of being captive to the world’s biggest economy.

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Even as the world plans for an unreliable America in everything from defence to trade, it now has to cope with America’s dominance in AI https://t.co/xrMSKZAFWb

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 18, 2026

The Christian faith is by nature conservative—in a theological sense. The Scriptures are replete with verses pointing to the unchanging and enduring nature of God and the Bible. Revelation 1:8 says, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty’” (ESV throughout). Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” These verses do not mean that the biblical text cannot be distorted or manipulated by self-serving people, but it does mean that the Bible is not a party platform that gets updated every four years.

Thankfully, there are countless others who are faithfully preaching and teaching God’s word. These congregations are often small and do not receive any media attention. Many are led by pastors more concerned with preparing their members for eternity in heaven than getting souls to the polls on Election Day. Some of these churches have vibrant ministries for men, women, and families. They are committed to remaining faithful to biblical ethics regarding sex, sexuality, marriage, family, and the sanctity of life without any concern for whether elected Democrats—or Republicans—agree.

Liberation-minded pastors who reject the biblical definitions and descriptions of sex and marriage are incapable of doing the work needed to rebuild the Black family. They fashion themselves as brave prophets, but they make race and politics twin idols that draw their hearts—and pulpits—away from God.

Christians are often told to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. That is wise counsel, but what’s even more dangerous is a wolf in shepherd’s clothing. The former can devour a few sheep before the others scatter, but the latter can lead an entire flock over a cliff.

One ray of hope is the biblical theme of God’s mercy on those who turn from their wicked ways and trust him. The pattern in both the Old and New Testaments is quite familiar. God’s people rebel. He rebukes them. They reflect on their sin and repent. He restores them. This is my prayer because the Black family needs the church to function in its God-given role now more than ever.

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“Instead, liberation theology has transformed the Black church from a religious institution dedicated to the pursuit of righteousness to the religious wing of the Democratic Party.”https://t.co/Bh1V8SBXWw

— TheQueenofLA 🇺🇸 (@Queenofla2) June 17, 2026

A ban on social media for under-16s, announced by the Government this week, will not guarantee child safety online, Bishops and safeguarding specialists have warned.

Two C of E Bishops — one in favour of the ban and the other opposed — nonetheless agreed this week that a ban in isolation was not enough, and that both scrutiny of big tech social media companies and investment in youth services was essential if children are to be protected from harm.

The Children’s Society warned against letting the tech companies off the hook, while Jim Gamble, the chief executive of INEQE, the safeguarding group currently auditing all Church of England dioceses and cathedrals, said that, while well intentioned, a ban was not practical.

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A ban on social media for under-16s, announced by the Government this week, will not guarantee child safety online, Bishops and safeguarding specialists have warned#socialmediaban #under16s #churchnews https://t.co/Os2gr5VbRw

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 16, 2026

For his part, while Hamilton favored a more active role for government in promoting commerce, his ultimate aim was almost the same as Jefferson’s: securing the rights proclaimed in the Declaration. But by enhancing commerce, Hamilton aspired to enable ordinary Americans to emulate his path of rising to prosperity through their own initiative and industry.  

Both men would surely have been horrified by the enormous and intrusive bureaucracy that the progressive movement bequeathed to us. As Rosen puts it, “in the name of Jefferson’s commitment to equal economic opportunity, Roosevelt had buried Jefferson’s commitment to limited government” (though Rosen surely errs in calling his program “Hamiltonian”). Rosen does cite Ronald Reagan’s “Jeffersonian criticisms” of the Great Society “antipoverty” program of FDR’s successor Lyndon Johnson for undermining welfare recipients’ incentive to work, while also noting how the articles of impeachment that Congress drew against Richard Nixon, drawing on Federalist no. 69, finally “refuted” Jefferson’s charge that Hamilton had been a monarchist

Finally, in the area of constitutional interpretation, Rosen quotes Justice Antonin Scalia’s embrace of “the interpretative approach of the Hamiltonian justice Joseph Story” according to which the Constitution’s words should be construed neither broadly nor strictly, but rather taking them “in their natural and obvious sense” (though that phrase obviously leaves considerable room for dispute in particular cases). But Rosen departs from Scalia by insisting that “the central dispute on the Supreme Court” since the Founding “has not been between originalism and non-originalism, but between liberal and strict construction of federal power”: how would that distinction apply to decisions applauded by “living constitutionalists” like Roe v. Wade, which have no grounding in the Constitution’s text at all?  

Whatever one’s judgment of these controversies, it is impossible to differ with Rosen’s concluding judgment that “the greatest threat to the American Idea” throughout our history has come not from those who inconsistently apply Hamilton’s or Jefferson’s principles, but “from those who have rejected the principles entirely,” from Calhoun and others who renounced the claim of natural human equality as “a self-evident lie” to “progressive and conservative ideologues today” who would replace the Constitution entirely with a “resort to violence.” Taken as a whole, Rosen’s book offers a learned and sober account of the relevance of Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s principles to America’s past, present, and possible future. 

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National Constitution Center President & CEO Jeffrey Rosen discusses his book, "The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America."

Watch here: https://t.co/pYS9vkWqTb pic.twitter.com/jj7ARdujMR

— Washington Journal (@cspanwj) December 25, 2025

Responding to the news that a Bill to permit assisted dying is to be reintroduced to Parliament, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has told the Church Times that she remains committed to scrutinising the legislation in the House of Lords — although MPs may use the Parliament Act to bypass the Upper House.

“The issues around workability and safety remain, as do the issues around the funding of palliative and social care,” she said.

The Bishop was speaking after the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood, Lauren Edwards, announced that she would use another Private Member’s Bill to reintroduce the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill into the House of Commons.

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Responding to the news that a Bill to permit assisted dying is to be reintroduced to Parliament, the Bishop of Newcastle has told the Church Times that she remains committed to scrutinising it in the Lords—although MPs may use the Parliament Act https://t.co/uHGU8uJZkN

— James Macintyre (@James_Macintyre) June 15, 2026

A new parliamentary network of cathedral cities with a remit to make a “sustained appeal” to the Government for funding support was established this week.

Cathedral deans and their constituency MPs met in Westminster on Tuesday. MPs were urged to propose a motion for debate in Parliament on the value of cathedrals to the nation. The deans also urged the Government to call on the Church’s own National Investing Bodies to meet their obligations to cathedrals.

Parliamentary debates on cathedrals have been held every year for the past few years, covering their economic contribution, choral music, maintenance, and sustainability.

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A new parliamentary network of cathedral cities with a remit to make a “sustained appeal” to the Government for funding support was established this week.#Cathedral https://t.co/1VMa9dOhhB

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 12, 2026

The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has welcomed a poll of more than 10,000 people which suggests that a majority in all 632 parliamentary constituencies oppose the proposed law on assisted dying being revisited without full scrutiny and approval by both chambers.

Dr Hartley was on the House of Lords select committee that examined the Private Member’s Bill brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in October 2024 (News, 18 October 2024), and spoke against it before it was defeated earlier this year in the Upper House (News, 1 May). She told the Church Times that the poll “confirms that the public does not support the suggestion of bypassing the House of Lords in order to force through an unsafe Bill”.

She said: “This would mean using a procedure never used for a Bill of this kind and acting against the advice of medical professionals, disability groups, and the concerns of all those who want to see legislation that is safe and workable.

“For a Bill of this magnitude in terms of societal change, the highest level of scrutiny is imperative.”

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The Bishop of Newcastle has welcomed a poll of more than 10,000 people which suggests that a majority in all 632 parliamentary constituencies oppose the proposed law on #assisteddying being revisited without full scrutiny and approval by both chambershttps://t.co/1fB16bi9sv

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 10, 2026

Social Security is expected to deplete the fund that helps pay out retirement benefits by late 2032, the program’s trustees said Tuesday.

That is earlier than their projection last year of 2033, partly because the fund expects to collect less revenue after President Trump’s new tax law. Passed last summer, the law gave senior citizens an extra deduction that reduced taxes on benefits for many Social Security recipients. . .

Unless Congress shores up the retirement program, the depletion of reserves would trigger a 22% reduction in benefits in late 2032. Because incoming payroll tax revenue doesn’t fully cover promised benefits, the program is forced to make up the difference by pulling money from its two Social Security trust funds—one for disability benefits and the other for the larger program for retirees…

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"Social Security Will Start Running Out Earlier Than Expected" https://t.co/c9X74I9lvM pic.twitter.com/fvWj2vcW9O

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) June 9, 2026

“My Fellow Americans:

“Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest — until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

“And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

“Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

“And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment — let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace — a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

“Thy will be done, Almighty God.

“Amen.”

You can listen to the actual audio if you want here and today of all days is the day to do that. Also, there is more on background and another audio link there.–KSH.

82 years ago #OTD 6 June 1944, the D-Day Landings had just begun, and the Liberation of Europe was underway. Part of the memorial in English, French and German outside the D-Day Story, Portsmouth. When I visited I found myself unexpectedly very moved, especially by the walls of… pic.twitter.com/T9xRmE3Pqo

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) June 6, 2026

A new style of architecture is rising in the sprawling suburbs of the Sonoran Desert: windowless data centers that hum 24 hours a day and guzzle as much electricity as a midsize city.

As Microsoft and other tech giants expand their footprints in one of the nation’s largest data-center markets, a high-stakes battle is unfolding over how to pay for the massive power-grid upgrades needed to drive the AI revolution. 

Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility, sits at the center of the firestorm. APS is proposing a 45% electricity-rate increase for “extra-large energy users,” primarily data centers, and a roughly 14.5% increase for residential customers.

Nearly everyone is unhappy.

Consumer advocates warn the plan would shift the financial risks of the AI build-out to households already struggling with high summer electricity bills and temperatures that often hit triple digits. If the AI boom fizzles or the energy consumption of data centers wanes, they worry residents could be left paying off the infrastructure upgrades years from now.

Read it all.

Phoenix Is a Data-Center Mecca—and Test Case for How to Pay for AI’s Power Needs
State’s largest utility is proposing a 45% electricity-rate increase for data centers and a 14.5% hike for households. No one is happy.https://t.co/m1xMQtoJsq

— Giovanni Staunovo🛢 (@staunovo) June 4, 2026

Ben Sasse: The Senate needs to be less like Instagram. The Senate needs to be more deliberative. And that means less smack-down nonsense. One of the fundamental mistakes we’ve made over the last 30 or 40 years is putting cameras everywhere in Washington, D.C. This is not an argument against transparency. We should have reporters around. We should have pen and pad. We should have people recording what’s happening. But we should make the Senate less of an institution that is built as a backdrop platform for people to get sound bites. That’s not what the Senate is for. The Senate should be plodding, and steady, and boring, and trustworthy.

Scott Pelley: To be too frank, you were expected to be dead by now.

Ben Sasse: That’s frank. I like it. Let’s be blunt.

Scott Pelley: What changed?

Ben Sasse: Let’s go with– providence, prayer, and a miracle drug. In mid-December I was given a three- to four-month life expectancy. I am on extended time already. I have pancreatic origin cancer that has metastasized a number of places. So, I’ve got lung, vascular, liver, other. Liver’s pretty far along…

Read it all.

I heartily recommend the full 40 minute interview which may be found

there.

“Many senators I know would not be able to breathe without that job. It would kill them to leave,” says Scott Pelley.

“I don't want what you said to be true. But I fear that that is true. And that is a sign of a much, much deeper problem,” responds former Sen. Ben Sasse.… pic.twitter.com/lXfzeDWr7Y

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 26, 2026

President Trump sought to reassure skeptical Americans that the war in Iran is in the national interest, arguing that the operation was necessary to decimate a regime threatening the U.S. and insisting that economic pain would be short-lived.

In a 20-minute address from the White House, his most direct sales pitch to the nation since the war began a month ago, Trump said the U.S. had succeeded on the battlefield and declared that U.S. military objectives would be completed “very shortly.”

Trump said he still aims for a diplomatic agreement to end the war. But in the meantime, he vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks and pummel the country “back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

Read it all.

President Trump sought to reassure skeptical Americans that the war in Iran is in the national interest, arguing that the operation was necessary to decimate a regime threatening the U.S. https://t.co/k1db0hosas

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 2, 2026

President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.

In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade. If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said.

There are also military options the president could decide on, but they are not his immediate priority, they said.

Read it all.

My war, your Hormuz problem:

“..: President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said…” — @WSJ https://t.co/PkwPlwgPGy

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) March 31, 2026

The Israeli military is increasingly sceptical that regime change in Iran will be possible in the coming weeks, casting doubt on one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s core war aims as the Islamic republic shows its ability to endure intense bombardment.

Two people familiar with the matter said the prevailing view within military intelligence was that the war had not created the conditions for ousting the Islamic regime in the near future. One of them, who is familiar with briefings from the Israel Defense Forces’ intelligence directorate Aman, said it appeared that the aerial campaign had yet to measurably erode the Iranian regime’s hold on power since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28.

Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the evolving thinking within the IDF, rather than an official assessment.

Read it all.

Israeli military doubts war will topple Iranian regime https://t.co/hphrOjqqGv

— Financial Times (@FT) March 26, 2026

The Scottish Parliament’s rejection of a Bill to legalise assisted dying has been welcomed by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Revd Rosie Frew, and by Christian campaigners in the country.

On Tuesday evening, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) rejected, by 69 votes to 57, the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which had been introduced by Liam McArthur MSP. The Bill sought to allow an assisted death for terminally ill adults who had decision-making capacity and had six months or less to live.

In a statement issued shortly after the vote, Ms Frew said: “I recognise that the outcome will be a disappointment to many, but it was clear that the safeguards included did not offer sufficient protection.

“We have been consistent in our position that we need to prioritise the development of excellent palliative care services that are universally available and fully funded. Without that, had the Bill passed, we would fear that many vulnerable people might have seen an assisted death as their only realistic option.”

Read it all.

The Scottish Parliament’s rejection of a Bill to legalise assisted dying has been welcomed by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Revd Rosie Frew, and by Christian campaigners in the country#churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/NhNTeIZ6GR

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 18, 2026