Week 1 – 3-9 August

UK politics – Burnham's early polling test

●      A 5 August voting-intention poll put Labour first on 27%, with Reform UK close behind on 25% and the Conservatives on 19%

●      New PM Andy Burnham was the most positively rated leader tested, on +16 net approval

●      By contrast Kemi Badenoch slipped to -5 and Nigel Farage remained deeply negative at -25

●      Illustrates leadership approval, the state of the parties and a genuinely multi-party polling picture

UK politics – Labour and the constitution

●      The SNP attacked Labour's claim (4 August) that it would 'change the constitution', reviving the devolution debate

●      Burnham's government faced pressure from Wales's First Minister to hand the Senedd more powers

●      Feeds directly into the spec on devolution, the territorial constitution and the Union

●      Shows the tension between a centralising UK government and devolved nations

US politics – Justice Dept turns on 'weaponisation'

●      Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally terminated Trump's anti-'weaponization' fund

●      He pledged to 'make Dobbs permanent' nationwide – reviving the abortion federalism fight

●      The Senate confirmed Dr Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC, using its 'advice and consent' power

●      Capital One closed the Trump Organization's bank accounts after an internal probe

US politics – States sue over tariffs

●      25 Democratic-led states filed a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration over its tariffs

●      A textbook example of states using the courts to check federal power (coercive vs cooperative federalism)

●      State attorneys-general act almost as institutional 'pressure groups' against the executive

●      Insurgent Democratic primaries also delivered a defeat for AIPAC and the party establishment

Global politics – Gaza strikes and UK complicity

●      Israeli strikes killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza over the weekend; a mass funeral was held for 112

●      A Gaza Tribunal – co-chaired by Jeremy Corbyn – examined alleged UK complicity

●      Relevant to UK debates on Parliament, foreign policy and the fracturing of the left

●      Iran and Oman meanwhile closed in on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Week 2 – 10-16 August

UK politics – 'No 10 North' and the drought package

●      Burnham announced a support package on 15 August for farmers hit by the summer drought

●      It included £65m of funding and temporary adjustments to environmental land management agreements

●      The PM's 'No 10 North' initiative aimed to symbolise governing beyond Westminster

●      Badenoch dismissed No 10 North as a 'gimmick' that would not address the cost-of-living crisis

UK politics – Reform reshapes in the Commons

●      Reform UK abolished the role of 'Leader of Reform UK in the House of Commons' on 14 August

●      Deputy leader Richard Tice had held the short-lived post since 8 July

●      Reflects the party's continuing internal reorganisation as it professionalises

●      Comes as Reform sustains its long-running challenge to the two established parties

US politics – Courts check the presidency

●      A federal court ruled Trump cannot build the White House ballroom without congressional approval

●      A clean illustration of Congress's power of the purse and judicial checks on the executive

●      Federal judges terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudanese and Burmese immigrants

●      A federal judge also blocked Trump's USPS order restricting mail-in voting nationwide (11 August)

Global politics – Netanyahu rejects Trump's plan

●      Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected Trump's 15-point Gaza peace plan – a rare US–ally split

●      The plan required Hamas to fully disarm before Israeli withdrawal and Palestinian independence

●      Netanyahu demanded complete disarmament upfront before any phased implementation

●      A useful case study in US foreign policy and the limits of presidential leverage over allies

Global politics – Escalation on multiple fronts

●      Iran-backed Houthis attacked a Saudi Aramco refinery; Iran neared a final pact with Oman over Hormuz

●      A Ukrainian drone attack killed at least 13 people inside Russia

●      Right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as Colombia's president

●      A deadly earthquake in Colombia killed more than 250 people

Week 3 – 17-23 August

UK politics – Reform still leads the polls

●      Reform UK continued to run level with or ahead of Labour in national polling through mid-August

●      The Conservatives remained stuck in the high teens, squeezed between Labour, Reform and the Greens

●      The picture underlines a genuine four- or five-party contest under First-Past-the-Post

●      Key spec debate: is the UK's two-party system breaking down, and can FPTP survive it?

UK politics – Cost of living and the October budget

●      Burnham trailed cost-of-living measures – capping bus fares and removing VAT on energy bills

●      He promised full fiscal proposals in a budget statement in October 2026 and a 10-year plan

●      Badenoch urged the PM to rule out tax rises to fund higher public spending

●      Ed Davey welcomed Burnham's tone but wanted 'far more detail' before judging

US politics – The Supreme Court and elections

●      The Supreme Court intervened in the mail-voting fight, siding with executive power

●      In Trump v. California it stayed a lower-court injunction blocking Trump's election-integrity order

●      It lifted one of two injunctions on the USPS mail-ballot restrictions, largely via the 'shadow docket'

●      Feeds the 'imperial judiciary' debate and follows 2025's Trump v. CASA curbing universal injunctions

US politics – The 'unitary executive' entrenched

●      Context for essays: Trump v. Slaughter (6–3) overturned Humphrey's Executor

●      Presidents can now fire independent-agency heads at will – a major expansion of the 'unitary executive'

●      Trump v. Cook carved out the Federal Reserve as an exception, protecting its independence

●      Directly examinable under the presidency and the Supreme Court's role in civil rights

Global politics – Iran ceasefire collapses

●      The US–Iran memorandum of understanding (a 60-day ceasefire) expired without a deal

●      Iran threatened a new offensive; the White House declined to extend the agreement

●      Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the 'toughest-ever' US sanctions on Iran

●      The US national debt passed $40 trillion, earlier than forecasters expected

Week 4 – 24-30 August

UK politics – Devolution pressure builds

●      Wales's First Minister continued pressing Burnham to give the Senedd more law-making powers

●      The SNP kept up demands over the constitution and Scotland's settlement

●      Highlights the ongoing devolution debate and asymmetric nature of the UK constitution

●      A live example of centre–periphery tension within the Union

UK politics – Immigration and the Channel

●      Small-boat Channel crossings remained a defining pressure on the Burnham government

●      Immigration continued to drive divisions Labour has struggled to ease since 2024

●      Reform UK kept immigration at the centre of its poll-leading pitch

●      Shows how a single salient issue shapes party competition and government agenda

US politics – Mail-voting rules cleared

●      Following the Supreme Court, a federal judge lifted the final injunction on Trump's mail-voting order (26 August)

●      The rules were cleared to take effect before the 3 November midterms

●      The district court → Supreme Court → district court sequence shows the judicialisation of elections

●      ICE also detained a record 50,000 people in July as a New York anti-cooperation law took effect

Global politics – Foreign-policy manoeuvres

●      The US delisted Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism

●      The CIA Director made an unannounced trip to Moscow

●      Both illustrate presidential control of foreign affairs and executive latitude abroad

●      Trump escalated the tariff war with Canada, floating renaming Lake Ontario 'Lake America'

Week 5 – 31 August-6 September

UK politics – Starmer quits Parliament

●      Keir Starmer announced on 1 September he would stand down as MP for Holborn and St Pancras after 11 years

●      He was formally appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds to vacate the seat, triggering a by-election

●      It marks his final exit, having already been ousted as PM and replaced by Andy Burnham

●      He framed it as time to focus on international affairs – defence, security, trade and technology

UK politics – A Green target seat

●      The Guardian reported the seat was likely to be targeted by the Green Party

●      The Greens finished third there in 2024 (10.4%), behind independent Andrew Feinstein in second

●      Green leader Zack Polanski had said he was 'tempted' to challenge Starmer while he was still PM

●      By 5 September the Greens had knocked on nearly 1,500 doors, before even selecting a candidate

UK politics – Realignment and Reform's surge

●      The summer's through-line is the strain on the Labour–Conservative duopoly

●      Reform UK has led or run level in national polls consistently since early 2025

●      The Greens are also rising, after their first-ever Westminster by-election win (Gorton & Denton, Feb 2026)

●      Key spec debate: is Britain becoming a multi-party system, and is FPTP under strain?

UK politics – Burnham's governing style

●      Burnham continued to push cost-of-living measures and his 'do politics differently' message

●      His October budget and 10-year plan loomed as the government's big fiscal test

●      The leadership change illustrates prime-ministerial power and how parties can remove a leader

●      It also shows the role of by-elections in reshaping Westminster

Global politics – Markets feel the strain

●      Analysts flagged bond-market turmoil driven by the Iran conflict

●      One widely-shared line: 'Trump wanted to blow up Iran, but blew up the bond market instead'

●      Ties the presidency's foreign policy to its economic consequences

●      Russia–Ukraine strikes continued through the window

Week 6 – 7-13 September

UK politics – By-election date is set

●      Politico reported on 7 September that the Holborn and St Pancras by-election was set for 8 October

●      Labour selected Sagal Abdi-Wali, the leader of Camden Council, to defend the seat

●      The Greens selected their leader Zack Polanski; independent Andrew Feinstein stood aside and endorsed him

●      A key test of Labour's grip on London and the Greens' ability to break through

UK politics – A fragmented contest

●      The Workers Party, Restore Britain, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all moved to field candidates

●      In the May 2026 Camden locals, Labour led on 38.8% with the Greens close on 28.8%

●      The crowded field is a vivid illustration of multi-party politics under First-Past-the-Post

●      Nominations were due to close on 15 September

Global politics – US–Iran tanker war

●      The US struck three Iranian oil tankers, disabling two and sinking a third

●      Iran retaliated by attacking three US-affiliated vessels

●      Trump played the conflict down as 'small potatoes'

●      Marks a sharp escalation in the Gulf and the wider US war on Iran

Global politics – The Gulf ignites

●      Iran-backed Houthis struck Saudi cities and energy sites, injuring more than 70 people

●      Saudi Arabia vowed to retaliate after launching 120+ strikes on Yemen in three days

●      Yemen's Ansarallah-led government moved to assert control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait

●      A critical chokepoint for global shipping alongside the Strait of Hormuz

Global / US ↔ UK – Ukraine and the special relationship

●      Russia fired drones and missiles at Kyiv; Ukraine struck Russian territory and Crimea

●      A three-day pause coincided with visits by US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Putin and Zelensky

●      On 9 September Trump questioned why the UK and others 'all of a sudden' sanctioned Israeli settlements

●      A concrete example of US–UK 'special relationship' tension; the 25th anniversary of 9/11 fell on 11 September