The Context

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his first Labour Conference speech since succeeding Keir Starmer to promise to revive Britain and tackle its deepest problems. He said the triple lock would be adjusted from April 2030 so the state pension continues to rise each year by at least prices or 2.5% and holds its value relative to earnings, with savings used to build a national care service free at the point of use. He also promised options later this year for closer EU relations, greater public control over essential services, a publicly owned Great British grid, leasehold reform, and a proposal on electoral reform in the next Labour manifesto. An economics editor said the change would remove the annual link to wages and replace it with a long-term average link, and a political commentator welcomed the speech.

The Premier League confirmed that Manchester City had been found guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of its financial rules over almost a decade. An independent commission ruling said the club breached rules between 2009 and 2018, failed to cooperate, used sham commercial deals to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by around 900 million pounds, and made egregious acts of non-cooperation and dishonest statements. Manchester City said it was disappointed and surprised and would appeal. The government minister responsible for sport, Lisa Nandy, called the findings incredibly serious and said the investigation needed to conclude swiftly and fairly. Former chairman David Bernstein said he was shocked, embarrassed and angry, and that financial sanctions would not be sufficient if the findings were upheld. A law professor said a heavy points deduction, and possibly expulsion, was likely.

Relatives of Sir Ranulph Fiennes told the BBC he had not been seen in public for nearly two years and they did not know where he was. The explorer, who is in his 80s and has Parkinson's, has been admitted to several care homes under assumed names after a family rift involving his second wife, according to allegations in the report. Some friends and family members blame his wife, Louise Millington-Coates, who holds power of attorney, and accuse her of moving him around care homes and refusing visitors. She has not commented on the claims about her conduct.