The dream of a university degree was once a guaranteed ticket to financial stability, yet for a generation of British graduates, the reality has become a lifelong debt trap. While the system was originally designed to be affordable, a toxic combination of frozen repayment thresholds and soaring interest rates has quietly transformed student loans into a punitive "graduate tax".

This video explores how the current framework is stalling the middle class, preventing young professionals from hitting key milestones like homeownership. As the interest added to these loans reaches billions of pounds, we examine whether the political solutions on the table are enough to fix a system that many argue is fundamentally broken.

#studentloansuk #ukpolitics #graduatefinance #ukeducation #personalfinanceuk

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European leaders are raising the alarm over the unravelling of the Western alliance as President Trump continues to move further away from an old world order.

JD Vance told European leaders to get over their “crazy overreactions” to Trump’s designs on Greenland and work to improve the island’s security and UK ministers are concerned that Trump is cooling relations with Russia, increasing the possibility for new security threats on the continent.

Is the US-UK "special relationship" dead?

#trump #ukrainewar #russia #uk

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Europe faces a critical 1-to-5-year window to prepare for potential conflict as Russia's expansionist goals threaten the continent. Security services are now shifting from deterrence to active defense, including secret regional plans for high-intensity artillery and long-range strikes.

REPORTER
Oliver Moody

PRODUCER
Tom Grant

00:00 - The Russian expansionist threat to NATO
01:30 - Putin's strategic goal: The 1997 border demand
02:50 - The 1–5 year timeline for European rearmament

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The foreign secretary has ruled out joining President Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza while there are still concerns about President Putin’s involvement. Yvette Cooper confirmed that the UK had been invited to join the board, but said ministers would instead discuss a “different supportive role” that the government could play in the peace process with the UK’s allies.

#trump #gaza #putin

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/britain-will-not-join-trumps-board-of-peace-over-putins-involvement-gjg839fvn

Cooper said Britain strongly backed Trump’s wider 20-point plan for peace in the Middle East, but when asked about joining the board, said there was a “huge amount of work to do”.

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Sir Keir Starmer has been accused by the families of Israeli hostages of handing Hamas “its greatest prize” after he formally recognised a Palestinian state.

The prime minister said that recognition could help “revive the hope of peace” and end the “horror” of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. “We cannot let the light of peace go out,” he said.

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/will-uks-recognition-of-palestine-help-bring-about-a-lasting-peace-jlsgjb2tf

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#israelhamaswar #palestine #gaza #netanyahu #starmer

Tehran’s bitter winter had penetrated the dungeon and left the frail inmate shivering with cold. Houshang Asadi, a communist dissident, took pity on his cellmate and gave him his sweater. The man refused it at first before tearfully accepting the gift. “Houshang,” the man said, “when Islam will come to power, not a single tear will be shed.”

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/israel-iran/article/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-iran-supreme-leader-phd8p3z85

That memory of Ali Khamenei in 1975 as an idealist who suffered for his opposition to the Shah stayed with Asadi for decades to come. Years later, in 2003, Khamenei, now the undisputed dictator of Iran who threw young men and women into those same dungeons, repaid Asadi’s kindness by forcing him into exile.

“He changed from a man who fought for freedom into a dictator,” Asadi told an interviewer. “Now Mr Khamenei is more of a dictator than a shah.” If he met him again, he said, he would ask: “Who are you, Mr Khamenei?”

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#iran #israel #tehran #ayatollahkhamenei

The Vatican has released video of the Pope's body lying in rest at a chapel, where mourning rites are continuing.

The funeral for Pope Francis will be held on Saturday at 0900 BST, the Vatican confirmed.

READ THE LATEST: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/pope-francis-latest-news-vatican-conclave-funeral-9tqtlptlv

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#news #popefrancis #vatican

Two Russian ballistic hit the city centre of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 117 in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, officials said.

READ THE LATEST ON THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war

Sumy police released bodycam footage of the initial moments after the strike, and a video livestream of a church service being held also captured the moment.

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#news #russiaukrainewar #sumy #sumyattack

Gaza’s health authorities, which are overseen by Hamas, said 100 people were killed in airstrikes on Thursday, including at least 27 who were sheltering in a school in northern Gaza.

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-war/article/israeli-troops-expand-security-zone-in-northern-gaza-f7ntwt873

Israel’s military said the Dar al-Arqam school building had been used as a “Hamas command and control” centre and had taken steps to minimise civilian casualties.

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#news #middleeast #israelhamaswar #gazacity

At least 28 people were injured when a car was driven into a crowd of demonstrators in central Munich in a suspected deliberate attack.

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/munich-incident-car-crash-news-latest-driver-arrested-wzl8b380h

A police spokeswoman said the suspect had been identified as a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, who has a record for drug offences and theft.

The apparent attack happened at 10.30am local time near Munich’s main railway station on Seidlstrasse. It comes ten days before a general election in Germany in which crime and immigration are key issues.

Some people are believed to have been critically injured and the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, said children were among the victims in the incident involving a white Mini Cooper.

The car is said to have approached the crowd from behind as the protesters walked down the street, closing up to a police vehicle that had been accompanying the demonstration before accelerating and driving into the end of the column.

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#news #germany #europe #munich

An arson attack on a warehouse in London exposed Russia’s network of proxy agents conducting sabotage missions on behalf of foreign intelligence. The firebombing in 2024 was orchestrated, in part, by a British drug dealer, who was acting on behalf of the Russian state. Their target, a storage facility housing aid relief for Ukraine.

#russia #spy #uk #documentary

Shadow warfare is changing. Countries are now using proxy agents: criminals, freelancers and online recruits to carry out acts of sabotage while keeping their own agents out of sight.

Mark Urban shows us how these networks are built and deployed, from arson attacks in London to railway explosions in Poland and drone teams inside Iran.

Today, proxies are hired through encrypted apps, online portals and face-to-face meetings. Agencies like MI5 and GCHQ are fighting back using new spy laws, digital forensics, financial tracking and technical surveillance to uncover hidden cells and expose modern espionage.

00:00 Intro
01:03 Russian Attacks on Britain
02:39 Russian Attacks on Europe
03:19 How Does Russia Recruit Brits?
05:09 Russia's Spy Network
05:38 UK Counter-Intelligence Work
07:18 Spy Technology

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As the conflict in Gaza continues, developments in the West Bank have drawn increased attention. The territory has been under Israeli military control for more than 50 years, and Israeli settlements have continued to expand during that time.

#gaza #settlements #explained

0:00 West Bank conflict explained
0:48 1948 Nakba & 1967 Six-Day War
1:50 Oslo Accords — Areas A, B & C and control of the West Bank
3:22 700,000 settlers in the West Bank & East Jerusalem
4:17 Illegal outposts & Hilltop Youth
5:40 Checkpoints, demolitions & daily life

Since the events of 7 October, tensions, land disputes and restrictions in the West Bank have increased, raising questions about the future of the territory, Palestinian governance and whether a two-state solution remains viable.

Producer, editor and voiceover:
Stephanie Bosset

Assistant producers:
Sophia Crothall
Tom Grant

Graphics:
Darren Burchett
Paco Anselmi

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Sabre-rattling is driving a wedge in the MAGA camp as President Trump imposed a $50m bounty on Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator, who is training a citizen army amid the largest US military build-up in the Caribbean.

The rise in tension comes after the US launched deadly airstrikes on what they claim were Venezuelan drug boats attempting to transport narcotics into America. Trump claims those on board were members of a Venezuelan gang, the Tren de Aragua, and operating under the control of Maduro.

Maduro denies the allegations, and condemns the build-up of US forces as “aggression”. Venezuela has responded with large-scale military exercises, deploying thousands of troops.

So how did we get to a point where the US is bombing boats hundreds of miles away?

Is Trump striking legitimate targets?

And why is he trying to oust Maduro from power?

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#venezuela #trump #documentry

In 2024, violent anti-immigration protests erupt across Britain. A year later, and Britain is again grappling with a wave of similar fury. Hundreds of angry locals and hard-right activists have been taking to the streets and protesting outside asylum hotels in scenes that threaten widespread unrest.

Ireland, too, is experiencing a similar surge in anti-immigration violence. But why is this happening again? What makes the protests this year different? And who are the hard-right players driving them?

The latest series of protests ignited in Epping in July 2025. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the town's Bell Hotel, where he had been housed alongside other migrants.

The demonstration became violent as some of the protesters brawled with police and counterprotesters, leading to several arrests.

Anti-immigration protests have also been taking place in Ireland and Northern Ireland. A wave of violence swept through the town of Ballymena in June 2025 after two Romanian boys were accused of an attempted sexual assault. They deny charges.

Successive governments have ramped up rhetoric to solve the political crisis that asylum has become — but the technicalities of planning law could put a spanner in the works for Labour.

Appeal judges last week overturned a decision from the High Court in August that migrants should be removed from an Essex hotel, which threatened to scupper the government’s accommodation scheme and its statutory duty to house asylum seekers.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Eyre had granted a temporary injunction to Epping Forest district council to prevent the Bell Hotel from housing asylum seekers and gave its owner, Somani Hotels, until September 12 to rehouse its 138 residents.

00:00 Intro
00:41 What is going on?
02:22 Protests Spread to Ireland
03:13 Southport Riots
03:33 Hard-right Goes Mainstream
05:23 Misinformation
07:42 Politics

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#uk #migrantcrisis #reformuk #documentary

An undercover journalist, from The Times, was hired at one of the country’s most dangerous jails and was then able to walk inside and interact with prisoners without security searches.

Read the story here: Concerts have better security than some jails, says top prison officer - https://www.thetimes.com/article/24406ddc-92fa-433d-aa20-edfef2c2f086?shareToken=28dfb29011e657cb9881da1838731829

Paul Morgan-Bentley entered work at HMP Bedford amid a nationwide staffing shortage.

On two out of eight days that he worked at the prison, there was no one manning the security scanners at the front entrance when he arrived for work. This allowed him and several others to walk inside the jail and through to prisoner wings without even the most basic searches.

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said jail staff across the UK wanted to crack down on prisoners getting hold of illicit items but that the UK’s prison bosses were “not up for the fight”.

He said jails were routinely failing to stop drones making deliveries to prisoners at night and that staff were terrified that guns would soon start entering jails this way.

“I’ve never seen it so bad. I’ve never seen it so overcrowded and I’ve never seen it so violent,” he said.

“If we had to lock down a wing or an area day after day after day to get rid of mobile phones, weapons and drugs, the staff on the frontline are up for that. At the moment there’s a lot of people getting appeased because the people in charge of our prisons are not up for the fight.”

Fairhurst’s comments were made during an interview on Britain’s prison crisis for a new Times Investigates video series.

They come after a Times reporter went undercover last year as an agency worker at HMP Bedford, one of the country’s most dangerous jails.

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#crime #prison #documentary #uk

Morten Morland, political cartoonist for The Times and The Sunday Times, has been drawing Donald Trump for many years. He explains how he draws his satirical Trump cartoons - and why his local art shop had to order more orange ink ahead of the inauguration.

Trump will begin his presidency by signing a “blizzard” of up to 100 executive orders to tackle illegal immigration, shake up the US economy and refocus domestic and foreign policy goals.

The orders will kick-start plans for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, more aggressive import tariffs and the replacement of climate-focused energy targets with a boost for oil.

His tax cuts will require legislation that will take several months but his team is confident he can exploit executive powers on day one far more than any predecessor dared: President Biden issued 17 upon taking office in 2021 and Trump only one in 2017.

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#trump #illustration #politics #maga