Danny Callaghan

Another week, another migration gimmick. Under a ”one in, one out” deal, the UK is set to forcibly return a small number of asylum seekers back to France in exchange for admitting the same number of people wanting to come to Britain. The deal aims to deter deadly journeys across the English Channel,…

Charli xcx, Nile Rodgers, or opposition to genocide? By far, the biggest talking point from Glastonbury Festival was Israel's assault on Gaza. ”I just don't like seeing people killed,” Nadine Shah said at the end of her set, which featured digital artworks depicting Western complicity in ongoing war…

Imagine sitting on a mountain of money – and just not collecting it. That's essentially what's happening in the UK, where nearly £50 billion (€55 billion) in tax went uncollected last year. How much is this figure, published a few days ago, in relatable terms? More than the national economies of at …

French police tear gassed people, including children and elderly, attempting to cross from mainland Europe to the UK on Tuesday. Images show police in uniform entering the water with riot shields and spraying tear gas at groups wearing life jackets. One man appeared from the sea, needing crutches, a…

A hard cheese rolls down a steep hill in rural England. Dozens of people chase after it. Whoever catches the cheese (or gets to the bottom first) wins – and is crowned champion until next year. With official records dating back to 1826, cheese-rolling takes place every springtime. But some believe c…

Suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bury it deep underground. That's the idea behind a £2 billion (€2.35 billion) project just announced in the UK, which aims to remove around 2.5% of the country's current emissions. The technique is known as carbon capture. It works by separating carbon dio…

In the UK, immigration authorities can detain non-British citizens indefinitely – and they do. More than a third of those taken into immigration facilities last year spent longer than a month in detention. One in ten were held beyond half a year, all without a court ruling or judicial review. Immigr…

London's Underground is louder than ever, according to the train drivers' union in Britain, consistently hitting noise levels far above the World Health Organization's (WHO) safe limit. The culprit? ”Rail squeal”, the screeching sound of metal wheels grinding against worn tracks. According to the WH…

Feeling anxious at night? Science says you're not alone. People typically feel happier in the morning and more anxious late at night, a new study by University College London has found. Our mood also seemingly peaks between 6.00 and 10.00 on the weekend, while the study suggests we experience a seco…

For the first year in more than a century, Britain will produce no coal in 2025. The UK phased out coal power, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, last September – becoming the only G7 country to have achieved this landmark so far. As a result, the UK's electricity supply recorded its cleanest ye…

Unlike in most of Europe, traffic in Britain travels on the left. Historians trace this back to the mediaeval era, when it was important to keep the dominant right hand closer to any potential attackers approaching from the opposite direction, allowing a sword to be drawn more quickly. As horse-draw…

Live facial recognition cameras are increasingly present on London's streets. This year, police have deployed this controversial surveillance technology on more than 115 occasions – up from a total of 32 times over the previous four years. When used in public, facial recognition cameras create biome…

Three years ago, a boat of people fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka landed on Diego Garcia, a British colonial island in the Indian Ocean. They claimed asylum upon arrival – and have been stuck awaiting a verdict since. Asylum has never previously been claimed on Diego Garcia. The island is part of a…

Five years ago, I headed to Europe along with 16,000 other young Brits under the Erasmus+ exchange programme. Even more students and trainees travelled in the other direction that year. But Brexit put an end to the UK's involvement in the programme from 2020 onwards – and last month Britain's govern…

Equal parenting advocates are wrapping slings with model babies around the necks of some of London's most iconic statues of male figures. These include engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, actor Laurence Olivier and footballer Thierry Henry. The campaign seeks to improve paternity leave conditions in t…

Banksy, the anonymous yet infamous UK-based graffiti artist, has had an active August; for nine days in a row, he sprayed animal-themed pieces across London. One placed above a fish and chip shop depicts two pelicans, another has two elephants appearing from window sills. The most recent shows a gor…

British politics is in flux, but one constant political face remains popular: Larry the Cat. Born stray, Larry was welcomed into Downing Street – the UK prime minister's main residence – in 2011 and has since lived with six PM housemates. He was initially employed to address ongoing rodent infestati…

A serving politician placed a bet on the UK’s general election taking place in July, days before the election was announced. He also happens to be the British prime minister’s private secretary. The ‘flutter’ – as described by the politician-turned-bettor – has reportedly led to an inquiry by the Ga…

Almost 2,000 items have been reported missing, damaged or stolen by the British Museum, with the prime suspect being a (now former) staff member. Among the stolen items are rare gemstones and golden frames. The thief allegedly targeted unregistered items from the museum’s storeroom, before selling t…

”Tackling climate change together,” reads a heading on Barclays’ homepage. For the British bank, this included co-financing fossil fuel companies to the tune of almost €40 billion in 'sustainability-linked' lending last year – <a href=”https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-05-13/barclay…

Tens of thousands of people arbitrarily detained, transported to hostile territories and abandoned – funded and facilitated by the EU:<a href=”https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/desert-dumps/” style=”text-decoration: underline !important;”> an investigation led by Lighthouse Reports</a>…

Eagerly hoping to cast his vote, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station during last week’s local elections – after forgetting to bring a valid ID. Two years earlier, it was his very own government that made photographic ID a legal requirement to vote. The …

Between 2017 and 2023, Britain’s top tier universities received more than €325 million in anonymous donations, according to an openDemocracy investigation. Among the alleged donors are fossil fuel giants, arms industry representatives and individuals tied to authoritarian regimes. Responding to the …

Squatters occupied one of British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s vacant restaurants — in an alleged attempt to combat intense gentrification. The 19th-century building located in central London had been up for sale since the end of last year and is worth an estimated £13 million (€15.3 million). Sha…

Averaging over a marathon a day for almost a year, a British man has run from L'Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa, to Tunisia’s Mediterranean Coast. Russ Cook made his way through 16 countries, culminating in a voyage across the Sahara desert. The journey totalled 16,300 kilometres – the equiv…

Established in 1831, the Garrick Club is a very wealthy, very influential, male-only club. Among the 1,500 privileged members – as revealed by The Guardian last week – are King Charles, judges of the highest order and the Deputy Prime Minister. A long list of renowned actors, artists and journalists…