Wednesday briefing: Can Macron and Starmer solve the small-boats crisis?

<p>In today’s newsletter: As the French president arrives in the UK for a state visit, tackling migrant crossings in the Channel is top of the agenda</p><p></p><p>Good morning. Emmanuel Macron arrived in the UK yesterday for a three-day state visit. While the British royal family and political elite rolled out the red carpet for the French president, with all the expected pomp and pageantry, the real focus was, and remains, the politics behind the scenes. Top of the agenda: how Britain and France intend to deal with the small-boats crisis.</p><p>The UK has backed recent moves by French police to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/uk-government-support-france-police-small-boats-channel-crossings">immobilise the inflatable boats</a> used by people smugglers by slashing them. It’s not yet clear whether this was a one-off instance or part of the broader shift in strategy expected to be outlined soon by Keir Starmer and Macron.</p><p><em><strong>Middle East crisis</strong></em> | Medical officials, humanitarian workers and doctors in Gaza say they have been overwhelmed by almost daily “mass casualty incidents” as they struggle to deal with those <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/09/gaza-aid-workers-overwhelmed-by-mass-casualty-incidents-at-food-distribution-sites">wounded by Israeli fire on Palestinians seeking aid</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Post Office</strong></em> | More than 13 people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/post-office-scandal-inquiry-horizon-it-scandal">may have killed themselves</a> as a result of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, while it drove at least 59 more to contemplate suicide, according to the first findings from the public inquiry into what has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in UK history.</p><p><em><strong>NHS</strong></em> | Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, in England have voted in favour of strikes that could result in industrial action lasting until January next year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/08/resident-doctors-in-england-vote-to-strike-over-pay">the British Medical Association has announced</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Crime</strong></em> | Thousands of defendants in England and Wales could <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/09/jury-trials-must-be-limited-to-save-criminal-justice-system-from-collapse-inquiry-finds">lose the right to a jury trial</a> under plans designed to save the criminal justice system from collapse.</p><p><em><strong>UK News</strong></em> | Gregg Wallace has been sacked as MasterChef presenter ahead of a report into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jul/08/gregg-wallace-attacks-bbc-before-publication-of-report-on-masterchef-allegations">misconduct allegations</a>, including claims, denied by Wallace, of groping and indecent exposure. Over 50 new complaints have since been made to the BBC.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/09/wednesday-briefing-can-macron-and-starmer-solve-the-small-boats-crisis">Continue reading...</a>