With Bio-Waste Spreader: "The recent cabinet reshuffle has resulted in the first ever all-female team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Emma Reynolds has been appointed Defra secretary, Angela Eagle farms minister, while Emma Hardy, Mary Creagh and Baroness Hayman all remain in post. But can Reynolds and Eagle bring a much-needed fresh perspective to Defra which continues to ignore the UK's mushrooming food trade deficit?…"
With M.D.: "Dr Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist with no substantive NHS post who was appointed as a senior adviser to the US health secretary and vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy, was invited to speak at the Reform UK party conference, and didn't disappoint the loons. 'One of Britain's most eminent oncologists, Professor Angus Dalgleish, said to me to share with you today that he thinks it's highly likely that the Covid vaccines have…"
With Dr B Ching: "Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week urged cabinet colleagues to join the fight against high inflation – but her own approach to rail fares isn't helping. Having raised them by twice the rate of Consumer Price Index inflation in March, the Treasury is doggedly eradicating affordable walk-up travel on government-owned LNER. In 2023-24 LNER scrapped off-peak return tickets…"
With Remote Controller: "Current affairs could not be much more current, but audiences are falling due to so-called 'news avoiders' who are appalled and depressed to live in such interesting times. So the challenge is to come up with formats that package the headlines palatably. The Donald Trump Show sounds like something the former host of The Apprentice might present, but actually features the 45th and 47th president as the central character in a reality show…"
With Old Sparky: "Much is at stake as the Financial Conduct Authority investigates whether tree-burning electricity generator Drax has, since 2022, misled investors by deliberately lying or making reckless or negligent sustainability claims about the fuel against Drax suits – far worse than anything energy regulator Ofgem could do – are possible…"
With Lunchtime O'Boulez: "Perhaps the greatest surprise of the cabinet reshuffle was that culture secretary Lisa Nandy stayed in office. For months she's been under fire from the arts community for being an invisible figure in the Commons, with little to commend her time in office other than rustling up some money for repairs to performance venues. With a growing body of detractors, she looked seriously insecure but survived…"
Letter from Abidjan
From Our Own Correspondent: "Peace after a brief civil war, more than 12 years of sustained economic growth and a football team that won the Africa Cup of Nations: what's not to like about Côte d'Ivoire, as it heads towards elections next month? Well, quite a lot if you happen to be Tidjane Thiam – one of the world's cleverest, according to Oxford economist Paul Collier, or a prickly know-it-all, according to Lionel Barber, former editor of the Financial Times…"