Exclusive: Labour’s Makerfield byelection candidate advocates public ownership of water companies as he prepares for potential leadership bid
Thames Water should be nationalised, Andy Burnham has said, revealing public ownership of water companies would “absolutely be an option” under his potential leadership of the Labour party.
Burnham, Labour’s candidate in the Makerfield byelection, has previously called for “greater public control” over the companies. In an interview with the Guardian, he has confirmed this could mean nationalisation.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/05/2026 - 07:00
The bipartisan Roadless Rule is under fire. It’s just one way Trump could make our public lands unrecognizable
Modern roads in the United States will last for decades. And yet the damage they cause in our national forests is immediate.
Since 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has protected more than 58m acres of national forests from development, barring road construction and timber harvests. The policy came to be with huge bipartisan support; almost 2 million people submitted comments on it, the majority of whom championed the protections.
Charles F Sams III (Cayuse and Walla Walla) was director of the National Park Service from 2021 to 2025. He is now director of Indigenous programs at the Yale Center for Environmental Justice
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06/05/2026 - 05:00
Experts say dismantling the ocean observation system will ‘severely degrade’ the accuracy of weather predictions
The Trump administration’s plan to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would “severely degrade” the accuracy of weather predictions and El Niño forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned.
Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to research published last month.
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06/05/2026 - 03:00
UN report says global meat supply has risen fourfold in last 60 years and is expected to keep rising
Analysis: Ingredients in place for shift to plant-based diets but meat still dominates
The average person eats about six times as much chicken and twice as much pork as their grandparents’ generation did, data from a UN report suggests, with global meat supply having risen fourfold in the last 60 years and expected to keep rising.
The supply of poultry rose from below 3kg a person in 1961 to 17kg in 2022, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Pork supply doubled to 15kg a person over the same period, while beef, the most polluting food, stayed steady at 9kg.
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06/05/2026 - 02:00
Migrant insects have been seen in large numbers along east coast thanks to heatwave and benign southerly winds
If you’ve spotted a pale orange butterfly dashing at frenetic pace through streets, fields or gardens, you’ve noticed the new migrants that will add colour to the summer in record-breaking numbers.
What is expected to be the largest arrival of painted lady butterflies in Britain for 17 years is under way after heatwaves and favourable winds ushered thousands if not millions of the insects northwards.
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06/05/2026 - 02:00
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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06/04/2026 - 23:00
Experts say increased use of crops for fuel is ‘dangerous game’ that could send food price inflation soaring
Demand for biofuels is likely to leap by nearly a third this year, which could send food price inflation soaring further and push the world closer to a global food crisis.
More countries are opting to increase biofuel use as the price of oil has jumped to nearly $100 a barrel after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the closure of the strait of Hormuz.
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06/04/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00214-0
Northeast Atlantic blue mussel aquaculture using different technologies produces low-impact food despite shell formation emissions
06/04/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00212-2
The EU’s goal of 10% strict marine protection is unlikely to succeed without fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs. Yet this depends on Article 11 of the Common Fisheries Policy – an overlooked legal mechanism that has struggled to deliver fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs, undermining EU conservation efforts in the EEZ. Reforming this bottleneck is essential to deliver EU biodiversity targets and guide high seas governance under the BBNJ Treaty.
06/04/2026 - 19:22
The invertebrates were likely destined for the pet trade, including as reptile food
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More than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches have been seized from a commercial breeder in New South Wales in a record-breaking bust linked to the pet trade.
Biosecurity officials seized the animals, which have a commercial value of up to $200,000, from a breeder in Bathurst in the state’s central west this week.
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