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  • Jerry Maguire, Top End Bub, and an Office spin-off: what’s new to streaming in Australia in September | Television

    Jerry Maguire, Top End Bub, and an Office spin-off: what’s new to streaming in Australia in September | Television

    Netflix

    Black Rabbit

    TV, US, 2025 – out 18 September

    “Everything’s falling apart,” says Jude Law’s restaurateur Jake Friedkin in Netflix’s new thriller series – which is bad for him, but good for the audience. Who doesn’t like to watch somebody else’s life go off the rails? Jake’s woes stem from Vince, his bad egg of a brother – played by Jason Bateman, who also directed the first two episodes.

    Vince returns to the family business; the restaurant is going gangbusters. But family have a way of creating chaos – particularly those, such as Vince, who’ve racked up big debts and upset the wrong people. Not exactly new terrain for a crime series; let’s hope the staging feels fresh.

    AKA Charlie Sheen

    TV, US, 2025 – out 10 September

    Remember Charlie Sheen’s “tiger blood” era? Those words entered the pop culture lexicon in a legendary TV interview he gave in 2011, the same year he got fired from Two and a Half Men. This particularly tumultuous part of Sheen’s bumpy career must surely get special attention in Netflix’s two-part documentary, which promises to dip into the dirty and debaucherous – tracking the star’s “dazzling Hollywood rise, tabloid-topping fall and road to recovery”. Sheen is featured prominently, of course; he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who wants to recede into the shadows.

    Honourable mentions: Wednesday season 2 part 2 (TV, 3 September), Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (film, 11 September), The Wrong Paris (film, 12 September), Maledictions (TV, 12 September), Insidious: The Red Door (film, 15 September), Wayward (TV, 25 September), The Lost City of Melbourne (film, 30 September).

    Stan

    Revealed – Death Cap Murders

    TV, Australia, 2025 – out 14 September

    It’d be an exaggeration to say that Erin Patterson’s world-famous beef wellingtons were still warm when the scramble began to make productions about the murders she committed in 2023, but it certainly felt that way. ABC for instance began commissioning a drama series before her trial had even concluded. The documentary world enables much faster turnaround times – and so, here comes Stan’s three-part doco series, which promises to offer “exclusive access into the investigation and trial”. How exclusive, and how interesting, remains to be seen, but I’ll be watching.

    Life of Pi

    Film, US/UK/Taiwan, 2012 – out 20 September

    In any other film, a line like “your mother is the orangutan” would sound like an insult. But not in Ang Lee’s visually sumptuous adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel, which builds a spiritual, unashamedly religious-minded space, philosophically connecting humans and animals. Literally connecting them too, in the sense that a large swathe of the story takes place on a lifeboat shared between Pi (Suraj Sharma) and a Bengal tiger. I’m not a big fan of the framing device – an older Pi recounting his story to a writer – but Lee builds a lovely, ponderous sort of spectacle.

    Honourable mentions: 28 Days Later (film, 1 September), 28 Weeks Later (film, 1 September), Mao’s Last Dancer (film, 2 September), Pig (film, 5 September), 10 Things I Hate About You (film, 13 September), Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut (film, 15 September), Oppenheimer (film, 22 September), A Most Violent Year (film, 23 September), The Social Network (film, 24 September), Walk the Line (film, 27 September), The Hack (date TBC).

    SBS on Demand

    The People vs Robodebt

    TV, Australia, 2025 – out 24 September

    SBS’ three-part series unpacking the robodebt scandal deploys a high-energy approach, combining interviews with victims, Centrelink employees and various others (including Guardian Australia’s own Christopher Knaus) with extensive dramatic recreations directed by Ben Lawrence (Ithaka, Hearts and Bones). Initially I found these recreations a strange fit tonally, but warmed to them with time; they help the series explore emotional as well as factual details.

    The Man Who Wasn’t There

    Film, US, 2001 – out 15 September

    With its sublime monochrome veneer and a gripping, The Outsider-esque story about a barber who shows no regret after committing murder, this cracking thriller from the Coen brothers seems unfairly overlooked in their admittedly very large and impressive oeuvre. Billy Bob Thornton is magnificent as Ed Crane, the barber who triggers a classic in-over-their-head narrative when he blackmails his bookkeeper wife’s boss. Crane’s extensive voiceover narration contrasts the much quieter and more reserved person we see on screen, throwing us into the mind of an introvert.

    Honourable mentions: The Old Way (film, 1 September), Sympathy for the Devil (film, 1 September), Barton Fink (film, 1 September), Shakespeare in Love (film, 1 September), Call My Agent (TV, 4 September), Dreaming Big (TV, 5 September), The Red Shoes (film, 5 September), Black Narcissus (film, 5 September), The Wedding Planner (film, 5 September), Code of Silence (TV, 10 September), Gosford Park (film, 12 September), A Matter of Life and Death (film, 12 September), The Big Lebowski (film, 15 September), A Serious Man (film, 15 September), The Patient (TV, 24 September), Reservation Dogs seasons 1-3 (TV, 25 September).

    ABC iView

    Mystery Road: Origin season two

    TV, Australia, 2025 – out 21 September

    Mark Coles Smith had very big cowboy shoes to fill when he took on the role of Jay Swan, the outback detective brilliantly played by Aaron Pedersen in two Mystery Road movies and two TV spin-offs. He more than delivered the goods in another small screen spin-off, Mystery Road: Origin, playing a much younger version of the Akubra-wearing sleuth in a show that felt more like a six-hour film than an episodic series.

    The second season focuses on another case involving the shady history of a small town. Joining the cast is Robyn Malcolm, who gave a wall-rattling performance in last year’s shockingly good New Zealand drama After the Party.

    Honourable mentions: Britain’s Great Cathedrals (TV, 14 September), PNG The Road to Independence (TV, 16 September), Mother and Son season 2 (TV, 24 September).

    Amazon Prime Video

    Top End Bub

    TV, Australia, 2025 – out 12 September

    I enjoyed, but didn’t love, the 2019 Australian romcom Top End Wedding, starring the ever-likable Miranda Tapsell as Lauren, a bride-to-be scrambling to track down her missing mother before tying the knot with her fiance, Ned, (Gwilym Lee). In this spin-off TV series, Lauren and Ned, who are happily married, unexpectedly become guardian parents to Lauren’s niece Taya (Gladys-May Kelly) after her sister dies in a car crash. Expect laughter, tears and Important Life Lessons.

    Jerry Maguire

    Film, US, 1996 – out 16 September

    “SHOW ME THE MOOONNEEEYYY!” Tom Cruise plays the titular sports agent who’s fired after taking a stand against dishonest practices in his industry. He’s supported by a colleague, Dorothy (Renée Zellweger), who jumps ship with him, though they retain only one client, Rod (Cuba Gooding Jr), who plays for the NFL. Maybe, just maybe, Rod will defy the odds and become a lucratively paid megastar.

    Honourable mentions: (TV, 1 September), Ice Road: Vengeance (film, 3 September), Gone Girl (film, 5 September), Poor Things (film, 7 September), The Dry (film, 9 September), The Girlfriend (TV, 10 September), Joker (film, 16 September), Hotel Costiera (TV, 24 September), The Bodyguard (film, 30 September), The Meg (film, 30 September), Crazy, Stupid, Love (film, 30 September), Kong: Skull Island (film, 30 September), 28 Day Later (film, 30 September).

    Binge

    The Paper

    TV, US, 2025 – out 4 September

    All roads lead back to Scranton! This spin-off of The Office is based in the same universe as the long-running US version of the show, but focuses on a different company, set in the headquarters of a struggling newspaper. I’ve watched the first episode, which feels pretty meh, with no big belly-ups and jokes that feel quite obvious. When one journalist, Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore), talks about an article she’s very proud of, the camera zooms in to reveal the headline: “You Won’t Believe How Much Ben Affleck Tipped His Limo Driver.” Ho ho ho. Maybe it finds a better rhythm.

    Honourable mentions: The Office Superfan Episodes, seasons 1-8 (TV, 1 September), Married … With Children season 1-11 (TV, 1 September), 28 Days Later (film, 1 September), Love Hurts (film, 14 September), Brilliant Jones: Mad About the Boy (film, 21 September).

    HBO Max

    Task

    TV, US, 2025 – out 8 September

    The new series from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby is set in working-class Philadelphia and stars Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, a former priest and avid birdwatcher. Oh! And he’s also an FBI agent, leading a taskforce investigating a group who violently rob drug dealers, escalating tensions between rival gangs. Will his bird-watching skills help save the day? The show has been generating good buzz. Variety critic Alison Herman drew attention to its “nail-biting set pieces” and Rolling Stone’s Alan Sepinwall called it “transportative“.

    Honourable mentions: Brian and Maggie (TV, 1 September) Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence (TV, 2 September), Most Wanted: Teen Hacker (TV, 5 September), Rocky (film, 1976), Rocky II (film, 1979), Rocky III (film, 1982), Rocky IV (film, 1985), Rocky V (film, 1990), Rocky Balboa (film, 2006), Tomb Raider (film, 2018), RoboCop (film, 2014), 21 Jump Street (film, 2012), 22 Jump Street (film, 2014).

    Disney+

    Only Murders in the Building season 5

    TV, US, 2025 – out 9 September

    Another season, another murder, another round of banter-filled sleuthing from our favourite amateur investigators and podcasters – played by Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. The chemistry between Martin and Short was established decades ago, and the addition of Gomez gives this frothy cosy murder series intergenerational appeal. The plot of the fifth season involves the trio investigating the death of their building’s doorman. All is not what it seems, of course; there are various sinister forces at play, yadda yadda.

    The fourth season brought the goods, though at this point the proverbial cow has been well milked. Will the show keep going until it jumps the shark? Let’s hope not.

    Honourable mentions: Lilo & Stitch (film, 3 September), Futurama season 13 (TV, 16 September), High Potential season 2 (TV, 17 September), Swiped (film, 19 September), FX’s The Lowdown (TV, 24 September), Chad Powers (TV, 30 September).

    Apple TV+

    The Savant

    TV, US, 2025 – out 26 September

    “The Savant” isn’t exactly a modest moniker for an investigator; it sets the bar rather high. Jessica Chastain plays the titular character, who spends her evenings hunched in front of a computer, infiltrating online hate groups in an attempt to prevent them from committing terrible crimes. The juiced-up trailer declares that “between 1994 and 2020, 893 extremist attacks took place in America” and “today, unseen heroes protect us from countless more”. So she’s kind of like a keyboard-powered superhero? I guess I’m in.

    Honourable mentions: Highest 2 Lowest (film, 5 September), Morning Wars season 4 (TV, 17 September), Slow Horses season 5 (TV, 24 September), All of You (film, 26 September).

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  • Football gossip: Martinez, Guehi, Lookman, Sterling, Wilson, Solomon, Osula, Isak, George

    Football gossip: Martinez, Guehi, Lookman, Sterling, Wilson, Solomon, Osula, Isak, George

    Manchester United failed to follow up on their interest in Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, Liverpool decide to hang on to Joe Gomez despite a bid from AC Milan while Chelsea look set to be lumbered with Raheem Sterling.

    Aston Villa didn’t receive a bid from Manchester United for Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez despite the 32-year-old being heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford. (Sky Sports)

    Manchester United decided against a move for Martinez because of his age and wages in the region of £200,000 a week. (Mirror)

    Martinez was not keen on a move to Galatasaray despite reports from Turkey of a bid worth £21.6m. (Daily Mail)

    Liverpool refused to allow Joe Gomez, 28, to join AC Milan after their bid to sign fellow England defender Marc Guehi, 25, from Crystal Palace fell through. (Fabrizio Romano)

    Guehi’s exit video from Crystal Palace was leaked on social media but he remains content to see out the remaining year of his contract at Selhurst Park and then leave on a free transfer next summer. (Talksport)

    Bayern Munich were keen to sign Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman, 27, from Atalanta on loan on deadline day. (Sky Sports)

    Chelsea’s English forward Raheem Sterling looks set to stay at Stamford Bridge with no interest the 30-year-old from clubs in Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the United States even though their transfer windows close later. (The Athletic – subscription required)

    Crystal Palace pulled out of a loan deal for Tottenham’s Israeli forward Manor Solomon, 26, despite a deal sheet allowing them extra time to complete the signing. (Sky Sports)

    Wales midfielder Harry Wilson’s move from Fulham to Leeds collapsed after the Cottagers had a late change of heart over selling the 28-year-old. (Yorkshire Evening Post)

    That Wilson deal collapsing also saw the end of a potential move from Chelsea to Fulham for 19-year-old English winger Tyrique George. (Evening Standard)

    Danish forward Will Osula, 22, will remain at Newcastle United despite deadline day interest from Eintracht Frankfurt for a season-long loan. (Athletic – subscription required)

    Newcastle United insiders have suggested Sweden striker Alexander Isak, 25, was behaving and playing like someone who did not want the team to qualify for the Champions League from April onwards. (Telegraph – subscription required)

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  • Gold prices hit all-time high on rising uncertainty, while U.S. stock futures little changed

    Gold prices hit all-time high on rising uncertainty, while U.S. stock futures little changed

    By Mike Murphy

    The price of gold has surged about 34% so far this year.

    U.S. stock futures edged higher Monday while gold futures hit a new all-time high, amid uncertainty around the Fed’s independence and the Trump administration’s tariffs, as well as rising optimism about potential interest-rate cuts.

    Continuous gold futures (GC00) on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose about 1% to a high of $3,552.40 an ounce on Monday. Gold was most recently trading around $3,550. The precious metal has seen its price soar about 34% year to date.

    Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00) rose 29 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures (ES00) and Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00) also gained about 0.1%. Bitcoin (BTCUSD) sank below the $108,000 level, while crude oil, as reflected by West Texas Intermediate front-month prices (CL.1), gained nearly 1%.

    Gold is seen as a safe-haven asset, and its appeal has gained amid fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve may lose its independence. President Donald Trump has, for months, pressured Fed Chair Jerome Powell to slash interest rates, and his recent attempt to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook is seen by many as an attempt to impose control over the central bank.

    The legality of Trump’s firing of Cook is still in dispute; a judge made no immediate ruling after a Friday hearing, and the case could eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The legality of Trump’s global tariffs is also in doubt. A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court’s ruling that they were illegal, but the tariffs will remain in place at least until Oct. 14 to allow the Supreme Court to review the case.

    Meanwhile, Wall Street is optimistic that the Fed will cut rates at its next meeting later this month. Lower borrowing costs can make gold a more appealing investment as opposed to interest-bearing investments, such as government bonds.

    September is expected to be a critical month for the markets.

    “The real question isn’t whether the rally can carry on but how the market will handle stress if the veneer of calm is ripped away,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a note Monday, suggesting a 5% to 10% pullback is “entirely plausible” before a recovery by year’s end.

    On Friday, stocks closed lower but still finished August with gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA slipped 0.2% on Friday, while the S&P 500 SPX fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP dropped 1.1%. For the month of August, the Dow rallied 3.2%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.9% and the Nasdaq gained 1.6%, with each index hitting record highs.

    Investors will be keeping a keen eye on jobs data later this week: July numbers on job openings on Wednesday, ADP employment data and initial jobless claims on Thursday and the government’s monthly jobless report on Friday.

    Read more: Why investors should brace for ‘extreme sensitivity’ in the stock market around this week’s jobs data

    Powell has suggested the Fed may cut rates if employment data is too weak, and investors will be hoping the reports hit a sweet spot – showing modest payroll growth, but a slight rise in unemployment that would be enough to trigger a rate cut without raising fears of a recession.

    -Mike Murphy

    This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. 

    
  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
    

    
  09-01-25 1821ET
    

    Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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  • Kim Novak’s Vertigo review – the dizzying demands on Hitchcock’s leading lady | Venice film festival

    Kim Novak’s Vertigo review – the dizzying demands on Hitchcock’s leading lady | Venice film festival

    At 92 years old, Hollywood movie star Kim Novak – legendary of course for her doppelganger starring role in Hitchcock’s Vertigo – is a vivid and, in fact, yearningly romantic and demanding presence in this gallant, cinephile documentary-interview filmed by director and Novak superfan Alexandre O Philippe. She is one of the very few golden age stars still with us, and maybe the title of this film is a playful pun: at the very apex of Hollywood history, perhaps Novak feels dizzy looking down from her mythic height.

    Philippe himself is more than qualified for this kind of intensely personal exegesis, having in the past made intriguing films about David Lynch’s debt to The Wizard of Oz and about the Psycho shower scene. With a touch of mischief and misdirection, he begins his film by simply playing a voice note that Novak has sent him, in which she talks sombrely about her health issues and about how much time she has left. She does sound poignantly frail. Then you see her in person and she is sensational; articulate, vibrant, youthful in ways that have nothing to do with cosmetic work, very engaged with the questions that Philippe puts to her – but concerned also to discuss her own life and personality, particularly her interest in painting and what she owes to her parents. And, of course, she has something to say about the most germane issue of all: how Hollywood, and society in general, imposes its male views on how a woman should look and behave, a trope famously embodied by Novak in Vertigo.

    Novak conducts her interview with Philippe at home, a conversation interspersed with clips and home-movie archive footage – but what makes it so absorbing is that Novak has been persuaded to open up boxes of personal material, live on camera, that she has not looked at for 60 years. And the climax comes when she gingerly prises off the lid of a box to find inside the grey two-piece suit that she wore for James Stewart’s Scottie in Vertigo. She even sniffs it to “find out if it smells of me”. For old Hollywood fetishists, that’s a real showstopper.

    Novak, who is of Czech heritage, began her career in her early 20s at Columbia Pictures, under the whip of studio chief Harry Cohn, who used an ugly racist epithet about her. (Cohn himself was reputedly subject to an antisemitic outburst from Walt Disney.) Cohn was irritable about any residual foreignness in the new acting name that would be assigned to her. Originally Marilyn Novak, she was renamed Kim with Cohn’s agreement and, perhaps oddly, the film does not talk about the other Marilyn. Novak herself talks about her passionate admiration for Greta Garbo, though two more different personalities can hardly be imagined.

    In the 1950s, Novak made the noir Pushover with Fred MacMurray, the romantic romp Phffft with Jack Lemmon, Pal Joey with Frank Sinatra and the stridently dramatic Jeanne Eagels with Jeff Chandler. Later, before her retirement in the 60s, she made bold and interesting choices with Of Human Bondage with Laurence Harvey and Robert Aldrich’s The Legend of Lylah Clare. For each of these (relatively) lesser-known films, it is possible to make the case that she gave a more animated and more interesting performance than the one she was most famous for: the tormented leading lady of Alfred Hitchcock’s great mystery thriller, who is often eerily still and trancelike. Novak herself has felt the corseted pressure of being a consciously created enigma.

    This is a very watchable and pleasurable film, though I was disappointed that Novak, despite speaking a lot about Stewart, had so little to say about Hitchcock himself. (Perhaps Philippe will now want to interview those other legendary Hitchcock survivors: Eva Marie Saint, 101, and Tippi Hedren, 95.) Either way, Novak shows herself to be a fierce, even heroic, figure.

    Kim Novak’s Vertigo screened at the Venice film festival

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  • Poland’s economic growth outshines CEE peers in second quarter | snaps

    Poland’s economic growth outshines CEE peers in second quarter | snaps

    The expenditure side of GDP was dominated by household consumption, which rose by 4.4% YoY following an increase of 2.5% YoY in 1Q25. The strength of consumer spending had already been signalled by quarterly retail sales data, and consumer demand was supported by calendar effects, among other factors. In 2025, the majority of the Easter spending took place in April, compared with March in 2024, which boosted the annual growth rate of consumption. Fixed investment disappointed, posting a 1.0% YoY decline after rising by 6.3% YoY in the previous quarter, even though we saw some encouraging signs in investment outlays of large enterprises in 2Q25. In 1Q25, investment growth was mostly propelled by the public sector as a result of rising defence investment. The change in inventories contributed 1.0 percentage point to annual GDP growth (1.5 percentage points in 1Q25) and domestic demand expanded by 4.0% YoY vs. 4.6% YoY in the previous quarter.

    The deterioration in the foreign trade balance translated into a negative contribution from net exports, which knocked 0.4 percentage points off annual GDP growth in 2Q25 i.e. less than 1.1 percentage points in 1Q25. Exports of goods and services advanced by 1.5% YoY and imports by 2.6% YoY compared to 1.1% YoY and 3.5% YoY, respectively, in 1Q25. The slower growth of imports in an environment of buoyant consumption indicated less robust defence investment via imported military equipment.

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  • My rent’s gone up by almost 20%

    My rent’s gone up by almost 20%

    Georgina HayesBBC Scotland news

    BBC Elle Glenny, who has bobbed blond hair, looking directly at the camera and wearing a turquoise fleece. There is a bed frame in the background.BBC

    Elle moved into the flat in the Govanhill area of Glasgow in 2023

    Govanhill is one of the most deprived areas in Scotland – but Elle Glenny is still facing the rising cost of living in this part of Glasgow.

    The rent on the 31-year-old community worker’s one-bedroom flat in the south of the city has jumped from £590 to £700 a month.

    The increase came just months after the landlord served Elle with an eviction notice, which is being challenged at a tribunal.

    “I’m now paying up to 50% of my income every single month just to live,” says Elle, who moved into the flat in 2023.

    “The impact of the rent increase alone has been catastrophic. I’m cutting back on essentials, which is making my life feel really unliveable and uncomfortable.

    “I’ve never missed a rent payment, I’ve never been late for rent… I’ve been a perfect tenant as far as I’m concerned.”

    The landlord says the rent increase reflects the market rate for the area.

    Elle is also facing eviction because the landlord wants the property back to move in a family member – a legal method through which tenants are allowed to be evicted.

    Elle, who uses they/them pronouns, is challenging the move and will remain in the flat while the case is heard by a first-tier tribunal.

    Housing charities encourage tenants to remain in their rented property during this process, which can take months.

    Elle has not been able to find another affordable flat and wants to secure a place in social housing instead.

    However, Elle – who is in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction and receives disability benefits – has been on waiting lists for social housing for almost three years.

    Despite having 100 out of the 120 priority points needed, Elle has been told that because waiting lists are so long they would likely have to become homeless before being prioritised for a home.

    Elle now fears being placed in temporary accommodation, having to sofa-surf or even ending up on the streets if they have to leave the flat.

    “I’m really proud of myself to get to the place that I’m at right now, to keep a stable tenancy and a stable job,” Elle said.

    “That does give me more points in the social housing system, but unfortunately not enough to prevent me from having to go through the homelessness system.”

    PA Media Housing Minister Màiri McAllan looking off to the side of the camera. She has bobbed, light brown hair.PA Media

    Housing Minister Màiri McAllan will unveil details of an action plan in the Scottish Parliament

    The Scottish government declared a national housing emergency in May last year after coming under sustained pressure from opposition parties and campaigners.

    Housing Minister Màiri McAllan is due to announce details of an action plan to tackle the crisis in Holyrood on Tuesday.

    She said this would include “direct and immediate action to tackle the housing emergency, strong support for vulnerable communities and significant action to create the optimum conditions for confidence and growth in our housing sector”.

    There is no standard definition of a housing emergency and the declaration placed no new legal duties on the government to act.

    However, it was an admission from ministers that the current situation needed to be urgently addressed.

    One of the main reasons is that demand for housing of all kinds, but especially social housing, is vastly outstripping supply.

    In addition, rents are rising in the private sector and the cost of living crisis means that people who previously may not have struggled are finding it harder to afford higher rents or get on the property ladder.

    How many new homes are needed?

    In 2021 the Scottish government set a target to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, delivering 10,000 homes each year.

    Affordable housing includes social housing, mid-market rent and affordable home ownership. Campaigners say social housing is needed the most desperately.

    A new report has been produced by experts at Sheffield, Liverpool and Sheffield Hallam universities, who were commissioned by Shelter Scotland, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Chartered Institute for Housing.

    Their research suggests that at 15,600 new affordable homes now need to be built in Scotland each year.

    They estimate this would cost £1.64bn annually, a total of £8.20bn over the next five-year session of the Scottish Parliament.

    Shelter Scotland says this is “a very significant increase” and that it has seen “no evidence thus far of an emergency response” from the government.

    Director Alison Wilson said: “We face a simple choice – invest in the homes we need now, or pay the price for generations.”

    The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations says the research makes clear that ending the housing emergency will require “building a lot more social homes and a radical and sustained increase in the housing budget”.

    There are now more than 99,000 households on the waiting list for social housing in Scotland.

    This is housing designed for people who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market, such as those on lower incomes or some with disabilities.

    It covers homes which are rented out by councils, housing associations or housing co-operatives at a lower cost than is available elsewhere.

    The number of social houses available across the UK fell dramatically in the 1980s after the Thatcher government gave tenants the right to buy their homes at a discount.

    Since then, the number of homes built has not matched the number sold off. The right to buy was abolished in Scotland in 2016.

    In recent years, the Scottish government has faced intense criticism from campaigners and housebuilders for a failure to build enough homes of all types.

    And the number of affordable homes being completed has only reached the 10,000 per year target once in the last decade.

    Most campaigners and experts agree that the creation of more social housing offers the best route to get people out of homelessness.

    The number of live homeless cases reached a record high in 2024, when it stood at more than 31,000 households.

    They are also now over 16,000 households in Scotland living in temporary accommodation, including over 10,000 children. Both these figures are also record highs.

    Meanwhile, private rents in Scotland have been steadily rising over the last decade.

    The average price for a rented property in Scotland is now £999 per month – compared to £673 in July 2015.

    Cities are particular pinch points. Research from Zoopla in 2024 found that Glasgow recorded the highest average rent increases of any UK city over the past four years at 44.4%. Edinburgh also saw average rents rise by 41.3%.

    The Scottish government introduced rent controls during the pandemic and cost of living crisis, but these came to an end in April this year.

    They will eventually be replaced by longer-term rent controls in the government’s Housing Bill, which will allow ministers to decide which parts of Scotland could come under rent control areas.

    These powers, which are expected to come into force in 2027, would limit increases to 6% in those zones.

    Campaigners have broadly welcomed these measures – but landlord groups have warned they would exacerbate the housing crisis by putting people off renting their properties and disincentivising investment.

    ‘Deeply flawed’ system

    While tenants wait for this system to be put into place, they can use the government’s rent adjudication system if they feel a proposed increase is unfair.

    However, tenants’ rights group Living Rent described the system as a “disaster”.

    It said that in 24% of cases, the adjudication actually increased the rent by a higher amount than the landlord’s original proposal.

    This is because the increase is measured against open market rents in the area – and this can often be higher than the landlord’s original rent notice, especially in cities with rapidly rising prices.

    Living Rent’s national campaigns chair, Ruth Gilbert, said the system was “deeply flawed” and called for protections to be introduced until the new controls come into law.

    The Scottish government says it has invested “heavily” in affordable homes, and will be spending £768m this year alone.

    The government says it has supported the delivery of 139,000 affordable homes since 2007.

    It added: “Along with our significant investment, we are working closely with local authorities so they can acquire more homes, return empty homes to use and prevent homelessness in the first place – including by providing £97m to fully mitigate the UK’s bedroom tax.

    “Scotland already has some of the strongest rights in the UK for tenants, and we are taking forward measures in the Housing Bill that will further strengthen these protections.”

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  • Net-zero ‘not a platitude’ for oil and gas sector

    Net-zero ‘not a platitude’ for oil and gas sector

    Kevin KeaneEnvironment, energy and rural affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland

    BBC A man with brown hair wearing a dark tie, white shirt and dark suit stands in front of a blue wall with the North Sea Transition Authority's logos.BBC

    Stuart Payne, who heads the North Sea Transition Authority, said being a political football was “not a good thing”

    The head of the oil and gas regulator says cutting the sector’s carbon emissions is not “a platitude or a soundbite” but presents significant commercial benefits.

    Stuart Payne, who leads the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), told BBC Scotland News the energy transition was “well underway” and has been “for decades”.

    His remarks follow a pledge by UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to rid the NSTA of the net-zero “burden” and task it with the sole job of maximising oil and gas production.

    Mr Payne said about half of the £6bn expected to be invested in the North Sea over the next few years will be in alternative energies like carbon capture and storage (CCS) and floating wind.

    The leader of the Conservatives is due to address the huge Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen later, where around 35,000 delegates will gather for the next four days.

    It’s a showcase for the sector where multi-million pound deals are agreed between the supply chain and operators.

    Over recent years, the event has pivoted towards alternative energies.

    Getty Images A helicopter sits idle on a helipad attached to the Culzean oil production platform in the North SeaGetty Images

    About £6bn is expected to be invested in the North Sea over the next few years

    Stuart Payne said the NSTA’s focus on green technologies has already delivered a 34% cut in emissions from producing oil and gas.

    However he said there was “much more to do.”

    He added: “The words we use matter. How we talk about this industry, whether that’s in the wind side, whether that’s in CCS, in oil and gas, in decommissioning, it matters.

    “And it’s vital that we do everything we can to ensure that we’re attracting and retaining investment in all of those things.”

    He said it was “not a good thing” for his organisation to be treated like a political football and that “how we talk about this industry” is important.

    “The net zero opportunity for the UK is not something that is a platitude or a soundbite,” he added.

    “There are real, very significant, commercial benefits for the UK from the projects around net-zero.”

    ‘Energy independence’

    Originally called the Oil and Gas Authority, the regulatory body was renamed by the UK Conservative government in 2022 to reflect its growing role in the wider North Sea energy industry.

    The NSTA’s job is to “regulate and influence the oil and gas, offshore hydrogen, and carbon storage industries” as well as holding the sector to account on reducing its operational emissions.

    But Kemi Badenoch says she would rename it the “North Sea Authority” with a mandate to “maximise the extraction of our oil and gas.”

    She will also promise later to scrap the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences and allow the UK government to finance promotional support for the fossil fuel sector overseas, which was scrapped by the previous Tory government.

    In a speech to the conference, she will add: “The Conservatives are focused on securing jobs, investment, and energy independence.

    “The foundation of economic growth is cheap, abundant energy – and that must be our priority.

    “That’s why it is time to overturn the absurd anti-prosperity, anti-business, anti-oil and gas, anti-British ban on supporting UK companies who export their world-leading technologies overseas.”

    Getty Images Rigs stacked up on the Cromarty Firth. Getty Images

    The UK Conservatives hope to scrap the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences

    Oil and gas production in the North Sea has been in decline for more than 25 years since it peaked in 1999.

    Three years ago, an energy profits levy – or windfall tax – was introduced when prices spiked, taking the headline rate of tax on profits to 78%.

    The industry has been lobbying for the tax to be cut and says up to a thousand jobs a month are being lost because of the pressures it is under.

    It also wants a more “pragmatic” approach to exploration licensing than the UK Labour government’s blanket ban introduced last year.

    A government consultation is currently examining the future shape of the North Sea.

    Tessa Khan from the environmental campaign group Uplift said the UK has already burned most of its oil and gas.

    She added: “The idea we can unleash a golden age of oil and gas is a tired gimmick that’s been tried by Badenoch’s predecessors and flopped.

    “The North Sea is a mature basin with dwindling oil and gas reserves.

    “It’s like a piñata at the end of a kids party – it doesn’t matter how many times you hit it, you’re not going to get much more out of it.

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  • How next Mipel will recall attention on next leather goods’ trends

    How next Mipel will recall attention on next leather goods’ trends

    From September 7 to 9, 2025, Mipel will return to Pavilions 1 and 3 of Fiera Milano-Rho, in conjunction with Micam Milano.

    The show will hit its 128th edition while it will exceptionally bring forward its dates, breaking with the traditional overlap with other fashion system trade shows (Milano Fashion&Jewels, Lineapelle, and TheOne Milano).

    The decision was made necessary by the work that will be carried out on the exhibition center in preparation for the 2026 Winter Olympics. This change of course, dictated by exceptional circumstances, will only affect this September’s edition, as from the next edition taking place on February 22-24, 2026, the show will return to its usual calendar.

    Promoted and organized by Assopellettieri with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and ITA-Italian Trade Agency, and with the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, the event confirms its status as the international benchmark for the leather goods and fashion accessories sector.

    With over 60 years of history, Mipel represents a crossroads of trends, inspiration, and business opportunities, with a highly qualified audience and over 200 brands presenting their s/s 2026 collections, including both historic names and emerging realities, equally divided between Italian and international brands.

    To further support the event and offer greater business opportunities to exhibiting companies, this edition of Mipel will once again be able to count on the support of ITA – Italian Trade Agency—through dedicated communication activities and, in particular, the international buyers incoming project. Thanks to this initiative, 23 selected professional operators from ten countries will participate in the show, helping to strengthen its international dimension.

    Alongside the wide range of exhibits, the fair will also host special projects and areas designed to promote the sector and offer visitors an immersive experience that combines tradition, innovation, and entertainment.

     

    Informal networking and convivial opportunities and DJ sets will make the visit even more dynamic and engaging.

    After the huge success of the February edition, Mipel Factory will return in Pavilion 3 as a true interactive workshop, where artisan excellence dialogues with the most advanced technological in-novations.

    Created in collaboration with Arsutoria and some leading companies in leather goods technology and supplies, Mipel Factory will offer visitors an immersive experience: they will be able to watch live demonstrations of some of the stages involved in the creation of small leather goods items, made using the latest generation of machinery equipped with automatic vision systems and artificial intelligence.

    Along with a trend area, the show will also host The Italian Startup Project, an initiative that focuses on a selection of promising young Italian brands that have distinguished themselves for their creativity, contemporary vision, and ability to create products that meet market needs.

    Finally, Showcase Milano, the space where design meets research and craftsmanship blends with innovation, will once again be in the spotlight with a selection of fashion and design companies chosen for their creative approach and strong stylistic identity.

    The international vocation of the event will also be expressed through its partnership with Viamadeinitaly, the digital platform that connects over 24,000 buyers with Italian manufacturers of excellence.

    Thanks to this collaboration, Italian companies at MIPEL can benefit from an exclusive showcase and cutting-edge digital tools. This concrete support amplifies opportunities for contact and promotes internationalization and digitalization.

    The section The Eastern Edge, the area inside Pavilion 3, and a section of Pavilion 5 will host a selection of companies from emerging markets such as India, China, and Pakistan, which, together with exhibitors from over 18 countries, were selected with the aim of making the fair a privileged observatory on global trends and developments in the sector.

    Claudia Sequi

    “Mipel is a strategic moment for the entire leather goods supply chain. In a complex phase for the sector, it is essential to maintain solid reference points and continue to create spaces for openness, discussion, and business opportunities, especially in support of the small and medium-sized enterprises that form the backbone of the sector,” commented Claudia Sequi, president, Mipel and Assopellettieri.

    “The event remains an essential opportunity to showcase craftsmanship, support innovation, and promote the competitiveness of our companies on international markets,” she added.

     

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  • New Plant-Eating Dinosaur Species Unveiled

    New Plant-Eating Dinosaur Species Unveiled

    Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of early eusauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic period of China.

    Mamenchisaurus youngi, a sister species of Huashanosaurus qini. Image credit: Steveoc 86 / CC BY-SA 2.5.

    Named Huashanosaurus qini, the new dinosaur species is estimated to have been around 12 m (39 feet) long.

    It lived in what is now China’s Guangxi autonomous region from the Early to Middle Jurassic, 200 to 162 million years ago.

    “Jurassic sauropods are well represented in China, especially in Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing and Xinjiang, with only a few localities known in Gansu, Ningxia, Anhui, Tibet and Guizhou,” said lead author Dr. Jinyou Mo from the Natural History Museum of Guangxi and colleagues.

    “In Guangxi, the Jurassic record of dinosaur fossils is poor, compared with the Cretaceous dinosaur fossil record.”

    Two specimens of Huashanosaurus qini — including a partial skeleton — were collected at Huqiu Quarry of the Wangmen Formation near Dongshi village in Guangxi, southern China.

    Some bony fish scales and teeth (possibly Lepidotes sp.), several incomplete plesiosaurian teeth, and several fragmentary dinosaur bones were found at the site.

    “The geological age of the Wangmen Formation is under debate,” the paleontologists said.

    “It was originally regarded as early Early Jurassic, but paleontological evidence was lacking.”

    “Scientists regarded it as the Early to Middle Jurassic based on the discovery of charophytes from this formation.”

    According to the team, Huashanosaurus qini is a basal member of the Eusauropoda, a derived group of sauropod dinosaurs.

    “It is the second eusauropod from Guangxi,” the researchers said.

    “The first described eusauropod, Jingia dongxingensis, was excavated from the Late Jurassic Dongxing Formation.”

    The discovery of Huashanosaurus qini provides additional information about the evolutionary radiation of eusauropod dinosaurs.

    “Huashanosaurus qini is later-diverging than the Early Jurassic Vulcanodon, Tazoudasaurus, and Gongxianosaurus, as well as the Early to early Middle Jurassic Barapasaurus,” the scientists said.

    “Generally, it is recognized that the major radiation of eusauropods occurred during the end of the Early Jurassic and Middle Jurassic interval.”

    “From this point of view, the discovery of the eusauropod Huashanosaurus qini provides additional evidence for an Early to Middle Jurassic age for the Wangmen Formation.”

    The findings were published in the journal Acta Geologica Sinica.

    _____

    Jinyou Mo et al. 2025. A New Eusauropod Dinosaur from the Lower and Middle Jurassic Wangmen Formation of Ningming County, Guangxi, South China. Acta Geologica Sinica 99 (4): 909-924; doi: 10.1111/1755-6724.15331

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  • Google Confirms Gmail Data Breach Warning Is Fake News

    Google Confirms Gmail Data Breach Warning Is Fake News

    Republished on September 1, with Google issuing a formal denial as viral headlines get “out of hand.” This story was originally published on August 31.

    There is a viral story (1,2,3) suggesting Google has issued an emergency warning to all 2.5 billion Gmail users with accounts at risk following its recent Salesforce breach. The only problem is the story is completely misleading – there is no such warning.

    Google has now responded, telling me that “unfortunately, several inaccurate claims surfaced this week incorrectly claiming we issued a broad warning to all Gmail users about a major Gmail security issue. This is entirely false.”

    The company is concerned that the viral nature of the story is creating a “dangerous” sense of panic amongst users. “While it’s always the case that phishers are looking for ways to infiltrate inboxes,” I was told, “our protections continue to block more than 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts from reaching users.”

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    That doesn’t mean Google and Gmail account are not at risk — of course they are. They remain a prime target for phishing and other attacks — but that’s business as usual. They are not at risk en masse because of a data breach within its B2B ad systems.

    Google offers a raft of protections you can apply to your accounts — all of the Google platforms you use, and those you access with your sign-in with Google credentials. That makes it critically important to ensure your account security is robust.

    That’s why the company recommends passkeys and a strong form of two-step verification, which means anything but SMS one time codes. An authenticator app is best. But it’s passkeys that are the real stronghold for accounts. They can’t be bypassed or stolen, and they ensure only someone with physical access to your unlocked devices can access your accounts — they can’t be stolen or used remotely. You should also ensure you have a strong, unique password that’s not reused anywhere else.

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    “We want to reassure our users that Gmail’s protections are strong and effective,” the company says in the wake of this misleading story doing the rounds. It points users to its guidance on phishing attacks and available remedies.

    On Monday, stories about a worldwide, emergency Gmail data breach story continued to come, dominating newsfeeds for Google and Gmail around the world. These Gmail data breach stories “have gotten so out of hand,” Google tells me, that it has taken the extreme and unusual step of publishing an official denial.

    “Gmail’s protections are strong and effective, and claims of a major Gmail security warning are false,” the company posted on Monday.

    “We want to reassure our users that Gmail’s protections are strong and effective. Several inaccurate claims surfaced recently that incorrectly stated that we issued a broad warning to all Gmail users about a major Gmail security issue. This is entirely false.”

    The company added that “while it’s always the case that phishers are looking for ways to infiltrate inboxes, our protections continue to block more than 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts from reaching users.”

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    Google says “security is such an important item for all companies, all customers, all users — we take this work incredibly seriously. Our teams invest heavily, innovate constantly, and communicate clearly about the risks and protections we have in place. It’s crucial that conversation in this space is accurate and factual.”

    That said, business as usual attacks remain a risk, and so “best practices for additional protection, we encourage users to use a secure password alternative like Passkeys, and to follow these best practices to spot and report phishing attacks.”

    Bottom line — there is no large scale Gmail data breach or mass warning for 2.5 billion users worldwide. A number of separate stories have been conflated into a data breach that never was, and users are understandably alarmed. Don’t be.

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