It’s difficult to stay across all of the news at the best of times, never mind when a Tory civil war is unfolding.
Boris Johnson’s resignation and the battle for his place in No.10 has definitely dominated the news cycle for the last two weeks.
And while the appointment of the new prime minster is important, the government turmoil means other stories may have slipped under the radar.
So here are four other bits of news that you may have missed.
1. Russia makes progress in Ukraine
On Thursday, Russia targeted a densely populated area in Kharkiv, killing at least two people and injuring 21 more. It looks as though the shelling hit a market, a bus stop, a gym and a residential building.
It comes after Moscow’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia was expanding its military objectives in Ukraine on Wednesday.
This means it is essentially looking to take control of the entire southern regions of Ukraine, and that the Russian Armed Forces are moving beyond the so-called “People’s Republics” of Donestk and Luhansk in the east.
The invasion is now in its fifth month, and continues to take much longer than Russia initially predicted. But, despite the slow start and the strong resistance from Ukrainian forces and the repelling of Russian troops from other corners of the country (including the capital Kyiv), it seems Putin is not giving up.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted in response to the expansion of the Kremlin’s military aims that “Russians want blood, not talks”, and called for more help from allies.
Lavrov has warned the West that the Kremlin will continue expanding its objectives if Nato allies continue supplying the country with long-range weapons.
2. Worker strikes continue
The summer of discontent is still rolling on, with Royal Mail workers voting to go on strike over pay on Tuesday.
More than 115,000 employees who are part of the Communication Workers Union supported the action, which – if it goes ahead – could amount to the largest walkout ever by its members.
When Royal Mail tweeted that it was “disappointed” by the strike action, the CWU replied: “Dry your eyes mate.”
Disputes over pay are affecting industries across the UK, with railway workers and airport employees pushing back against their current salaries due to the cost of living crisis.
CWU is just one of many unions to ballot for strikes recently, as inflation climbs to highest rate in 40 years.
3. Annual grocery bills climb by £454
Shoppers across the UK will soon see their annual grocery bills for the year jump up by £454 due to food and drink inflation.
Grocery price inflation increased to 9.9% in the four weeks leading up to July 10, according to retail research firm Kantar, having been at 8.3% the previous month.
Fuel costs and supply chain issues are being passed onto consumers.
Fraser McKevitt, the head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, told PA news agency that he expects the record for grocery inflation to be broken “come August”.
4. NHS not coping with Covid
While the worst of the heatwave has passed (for now), the health service is still having to grapple with Covid infections, more than two years on from the first lockdown.
Editor of the British Medical Journal, Dr Kamran Abbasi, and Health Service Journal editor, Alastair McLellan, wrote an alarming editorial on Monday, warning that the NHS might buckle under the ongoing Covid pressures.
This is down a range of factors, including periods of underfunding over the last decade, “lack of an adequate workforce plan” and “a cowardly and short-sighted failure to undertake social care reform”.
Now, it seems the government’s “living with Covid” strategy might be the final straw with yet another wave of infections washing across the UK.
Abbasi and McLellan claimed that the government is “pretending it is not happening or implying it is all under control”, and said the health service was actually “dying” from Covid.
They called for the government to “stop gaslighting the public” and be honest that the pandemic is still very much looming over the NHS.
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