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LONDON—In a small windowless room in the basement of the British Museum sit some of the holiest relics of the Ethiopian Orthodox church: 11 small wooden plaques called Tabots that are considered by Ethiopian Christians to contain God’s presence. Each is meant to represent the biblical Ark of the Covenant. So holy are the pieces that they cannot be publicly displayed—Ethiopian Orthodox believers say only priests should look at them—and not even the director of the British Museum can view them. Covered in pieces of cloth, the 14-inch tablets with carved inscriptions have hardly been seen since they were looted from an Ethiopian fort in 1868 by invading British forces.

☆ King Charles III’s Trip to France Postponed Amid Unrest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Noemie Bisserbe | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

King Charles III is still set to visit Germany as planned. PARIS—The French government postponed a visit by Britain’s King Charles III amid widespread strikes that threatened to disrupt a protocol-heavy event aimed at solidifying Anglo-French ties that had been strained by Brexit. President Emmanuel Macron ’s office said the government decided to reschedule the king’s first overseas official visit after unions called for a day of new nationwide protests on Tuesday against the government’s pension overhaul.

☆ U.K. Inflation Resumes Its Rise, Defying Expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Paul Hannon | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Northern Ireland Impasse to Persist After Unionist Party Rejects Brexit Compromise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—Efforts by the British government to end political paralysis in Northern Ireland suffered a blow on Monday after the Democratic Unionist Party said it would reject a compromise agreement recently hammered out by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the European Union over the region’s trading status. The so-called Windsor Framework is aimed at appeasing the DUP and other unionist communities in Northern Ireland who felt cut off from the rest of Britain after the country agreed as part of its 2019 Brexit divorce deal to place a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., rather than a border between the province and Ireland, which remains an EU member.

Rishi Sunak , Britain’s prime minister, is trying to do what none of his recent predecessors have pulled off: Move the U.K. beyond Brexit, shore up the country’s rickety public services and sell the country as a profitable destination for business. He also has only about a year and a half to persuade British voters that, after 13 years in power, the Conservative Party of Brexit and Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss deserves a record fifth consecutive term in office.

☆ Britain’s Colin Kaepernick Moment: BBC Sparks Its Own Culture War Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( David Luhnow | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BBC commentator Gary Lineker was suspended over tweeting about politics. LONDON—The British Broadcasting Corp. now finds itself caught in a drama of its own making: By suspending a top sports broadcaster over tweeting about politics, it has inadvertently forced itself into the center of a U.S. style culture war. On Sunday, the state-funded broadcaster for the second day had to limit the availability of its sports programming after dozens of staff and leading sports announcers walked off in protest at the suspension of retired footballer Gary Lineker, one of England’s most popular sports figures and the BBC’s highest-paid broadcaster.

☆ British Prime Minister Says China Presents ‘Epoch-Defining’ Challenge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Paul Beckett | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

China poses an “epoch-defining systemic challenge” to the U.K. and its allies, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Sunday, as the U.K. government said it would spend an extra $6 billion on its nuclear-armed submarine fleet and replenishing munitions stockpiles to bolster support for Ukraine and deter an increasingly assertive China. “It’s a country with fundamentally different values to ours, and I think over the last few years it’s become increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad,” Mr. Sunak said of China, during an interview. “Its behavior suggests it has the intention—but also its actions show it is interested in reshaping the world order and that’s the crux of it.”

☆ Britain Bulks Up Military Spending to Counter Russia and China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Paul Beckett | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was traveling to San Diego on Sunday for talks with the U.S. and Australia about sharing defense technology. The U.K. government said Sunday that it would spend an extra $6 billion investing in its nuclear-defense capabilities and replenishing munitions stockpiles, as part of a refreshed national-security review that aims to bolster support to Ukraine and deter an increasingly assertive China. In a written statement, the British government said it would spend the extra funds over the next two years to reinforce its stretched military. The bulk of those funds would go into the country’s nuclear program, including enhanced support for its submarine fleet. The government is also buying fresh ammunition supplies to replace the equipment that it has given to Ukraine during its war with Russia.

☆ BBC Staff Revolts Over Suspension of Sports Commentator for Political Tweets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Max Colchester | David Luhnow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

BBC sports commentator Gary Lineker was suspended after publishing tweets criticizing the U.K. government’s new policies on migrants. LONDON—The British Broadcasting Corp. has sparked one of its biggest crises in years by suspending its top sports commentator for criticizing the U.K. government on Twitter, leading to a staff rebellion and allegations that the state-funded broadcaster had compromised its independence by folding to government pressure. The venerable broadcaster yanked Gary Lineker, one of England’s most famous former football players and its highest paid presenter, from the country’s most watched football roundup show after he published tweets criticizing the government’s new policies on migrants, comparing them to Nazi Germany. The BBC said it considered Mr. Lineker’s “recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines” and said he “should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.”

☆ France-U.K. Summit Seeks to Thaw Tensions Between Two Nations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Max Colchester | Noemie Bisserbe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron is rolling out the red carpet Friday for U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak , as Europe’s two biggest military powers look to end years of bad blood and present a united front against Russia. Mr. Sunak, accompanied by several senior members of his cabinet, will meet with the French president in Paris to discuss issues including defense cooperation, energy security and plans to tackle illegal migration. The aim of the fanfare at the Élysée Palace is to show how the two countries have moved on from years of bickering after Britain’s messy divorce from the European Union.

☆ France-U.K. Summit Rekindles ‘Le Bromance’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Max Colchester | Noemie Bisserbe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron is rolling out the red carpet Friday for U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak , as Europe’s two biggest military powers look to end years of bad blood and present a united front against Russia. Mr. Sunak, accompanied by several senior members of his cabinet, is meeting with the French president in Paris to discuss issues including defense cooperation, energy security and plans to tackle illegal migration. The aim of the fanfare at the Élysée Palace is to show how the two countries have moved on from years of bickering after Britain’s messy divorce from the European Union.

☆ Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page Battles Neighbor Robbie Williams Over a Basement Man Cave
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON— Jimmy Page shot to fame in the 1960s playing earsplitting concerts as the lead guitarist in the band Led Zeppelin. But in the past decade, the ponytailed 79-year-old Brit has pined for the quiet life. Page has said he doesn’t hold raucous house parties at his 19th-century manor the Tower House in west London. Instead, he has thrown himself into restoring the frescos and stained-glass windows that adorn the interior of the historic building.

☆ U.K. to Bar All Asylum Seekers Who Cross Channel on Boats
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Max Colchester | David Luhnow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The number of migrants arriving to England from France on small boats has soared. LONDON—The U.K. government is to introduce a law on Tuesday which bans asylum seekers who arrive on small boats across the English Channel from claiming British citizenship, the latest attempt by the ruling Conservative Party to fix Britain’s overwhelmed asylum system and bring under control a hot button issue that has damaged its standings in the polls. The new laws aims to deter and more quickly process tens of thousands of asylum seekers who make the sometimes perilous journey to the U.K. in small boats from France, a government spokesman said Monday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made tackling the issue a key pledge ahead of an election expected next year.

☆ At right-wing CPAC forum, Trump shows why he'll be tough to topple
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., March 4, 2023. The three-day conference illustrated the iron grip he holds over the right-wing, grassroots base of his party and how hard it could be for a challenger to deny Trump the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. DeSantis also attended a gathering for Republican donors in Florida held by the anti-tax group Club for Growth to which Trump was not invited. In his remarks, Bannon maintained that Trump should be the Republican nominee, saying DeSantis and other potential challengers lacked experience. Trump and DeSantis both are scheduled in the coming days to visit Iowa, which holds the first Republican nominating contest next year.

☆ U.K. Leader Touts His Revamped Brexit Deal in Northern Ireland
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled to Belfast to sell his Northern Ireland deal on Tuesday, amid tentative signs the pact could allow the U.K., and his Conservative party, to begin to move on from a Brexit saga that has dragged on for years. Mr. Sunak met in Belfast with major political parties in the province in a bid to win their backing of the deal, which reshapes the terms of the U.K.’s 2019 divorce from the European Union when it comes to Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. but shares the same island with the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU.

☆ U.K., EU Reach Deal to Resolve Northern Ireland Trade Issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Max Colchester | Laurence Norman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Windsor, England, on Monday. WINDSOR, England—The U.K. and European Union agreed Monday on a new trading arrangement for Northern Ireland, a move aimed at ending years of friction caused by Brexit and allowing greater cooperation between both sides at a time of mounting geopolitical risk to Europe from Russia’s war in Ukraine. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Windsor, near the royal castle there, to shake hands on a compromise that proposes to reduce trade issues between the British mainland and the province of Northern Ireland, which in practice remains in the EU single market for goods following Brexit.

☆ U.K., EU Reach Deal in Bid to Resolve Northern Ireland Trade Issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Max Colchester | Laurence Norman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WINDSOR, England—The U.K. and European Union agreed Monday on a new trading arrangement for Northern Ireland, a move aimed at ending years of friction caused by Brexit and allowing greater cooperation between both sides at a time of mounting geopolitical risk to Europe from Russia’s war in Ukraine. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Windsor, near the royal castle there, to shake hands on a compromise that proposes to reduce trade issues between the British mainland and the province of Northern Ireland, which in practice remains in the EU single market for goods following Brexit.

☆ Roald Dahl’s Children’s Books Changed to Make Them More Inclusive
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( David Luhnow | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Cloud Men in Roald Dahl’s book ‘James and the Giant Peach’ were changed to Cloud People in the latest edition. LONDON—The British publisher of Roald Dahl ’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and other children’s books has made hundreds of changes to their texts—altering passages that refer to body weight, race and gender—in an effort to make them more acceptable to contemporary readers. The modifications drew criticism from Britain’s Conservative government as well as some high-profile authors and free-speech advocates. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s spokesman said Monday that “you should not gobblefunk around with words,” using a word coined by Mr. Dahl and used in his book “BFG” that means roughly “to tinker.”

☆ The Crisis at the NHS, in Eight Charts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Max Colchester | Rosie Ettenheim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The wait times start as soon as someone calls 999, the equivalent of 911. Patients in England wait far longer than the NHS targets, from getting a call answered to the handover from ambulance to hospital staff.

☆ Ukraine’s Zelensky to Visit U.K. as Britain Steps Up Training, Military Aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit the U.K. to address Parliament on Wednesday, his second known overseas trip as he seeks to build Western support for greater military aid to his country amid signs of an impending Russian offensive. The U.K. government has proved a firm ally and vocal advocate of military aid to Ukraine ever since Russia’s attack on the country last February. Successive U.K. leaders have urged allies in The North Atlantic Treaty Organization to be more forward leaning in boosting support for Ukraine by providing more lethal weaponry and funds, to try to tip the war decisively in Ukraine’s favor.

☆ David Carrick, Former London Police Officer, Gets At Least 30 Years in Prison for Rape
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Max Colchester | David Luhnow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Protesters gathered earlier this week outside Southwark Crown Court in London during the sentencing of former police officer David Carrick. LONDON—Former British police officer David Carrick on Tuesday was sentenced to at least 30 years in jail after he was found guilty of committing a series of rapes over the last two decades as an active policeman, raising difficult questions over how London’s Metropolitan Police force vets its officers. Mr. Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 charges relating to 12 victims between 2003 and 2020. The admissions made him one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders. Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said during sentencing that Mr. Carrick, 48, felt untouchable because of his job and had caused “irretrievable devastation” in the lives of the women he raped and abused.

☆ The U.K.’s Government-Run Healthcare Service Is in Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( David Luhnow | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For more than a decade, the British government has run its National Health Service, the world’s largest government-run healthcare system, on a tight budget. The NHS prided itself on being one of the leanest healthcare systems in the developed world, spending less per head on average than its large European neighbors—and far less than the U.S.Now the state-funded service is falling apart. People who suffer heart attacks or strokes wait more than 1½ hours on average for an ambulance. A record 7.1 million people in England—more than one in 10 people—are stuck on waiting lists for nonemergency hospital treatment like hip replacements. The NHS on Monday faced the biggest strike in its history, with thousands of paramedics and nurses walking out over pay.

☆ The U.K.’s Healthcare Crisis Sounds an Alarm for Aging Countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( David Luhnow | Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ In a health system in crisis, Britain's heart care suffers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Alistair Smout | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

Britain's cardiology departments are a microcosm of the problems that have spread through the system. In November, around 8,000 people like Cogan had been waiting more than a year for heart treatment, up from a couple of dozen pre-pandemic. Reuters GraphicsTeams were still trying to restore cardiac services to pre-pandemic levels, NHS England said. Pandemic disruptions to diagnosis and treatment, in addition to delays in emergency care, had an outsized impact on cardiological care, she said. On one visit to his local Colchester hospital, staff could not find a working ECG machine to read his heart's electrical activity when he felt a twinge.

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