Happy Friday!

We are (yet again) in a week where the news is not great. Well Donald Trump being indicted is pretty good news! But someone, probably the Russians have blown up a damn and flooded Kherson, the Canadian wildfires have caused smog down the East Coast of the US (a friend in Washington DC reports that that whole area smells like BBQ and it’s apparently the equivalent to smoking 12 cigarettes a day!), and children were stabbed in France.

Rishi Sunak admitted defeat and pulled together a trade agreement with the US (it’s not the agreement he was looking for but it’s probably better the free trade agreements the Govt ‘negoiated’ with Australia and New Zealand!). Finally, the Labour Party seems determined to do the most damage to it’s election chances by showing us what a bunch of factional control freaks they are…

Atlantic declaration shows Sunak and Biden’s willingness to simply make do

Macron to visit Annecy knife attack victims as two children remain critical

Holiday lets nearly negate supply of new homes in tourist areas, study shows. However, the type of people that buy houses for holiday lets probably vote Tory and it won’t change.

Why is eastern Canada on fire — and when will the smoke clear?

Since when was an affordable rent the stuff of our dreams?

The charges mount, but Trump’s not worried. He’s just the guy to make jail great again

Notes on a scandal: this is how Starmer’s bullies took out Jamie Driscoll – and why it matters

Caroline Lucas was the best PM Britain never had – but she’s shown us how to fix our politics

If Macron doesn’t know why he’s despised, he hasn’t been listening. He’s always struck me as a bit Napoleon in that sense. Not that he wants to take over Europe but that he seems not to want to discuss, just be obeyed.

If you want to go bold and blousy, peonies are for you. But do you have the space?

Past senses: English Heritage signs point out historic sites’ sounds and smells