The Week 1587

A commuter who suffered a cardiac arrest on his way to work has thanked the stranger who saved his life. Spencer Stevenson, 54, collapsed at Liverpool Street Station in December, after feeling dizzy. As he lay on the concourse, he was spotted by Hollie Page, a cardiac physiologist at nearby Bart’s Hospital, who performed chest compressions and used a public defibrillator to restart his heart, allowing him to make a full recovery. “Hollie is the reason I’m still here,” he told the BBC. A puppet from the TV show The Clangers has been put back on public display more than 50 years after it was stolen. Michael O’Connor, from Ireland, was 15 when he took the puppet of Mother Clanger from a London exhibition. Since then, it has resided in…

What happened Donald Trump hailed a “big day for world peace” on Wednesday after America and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire. The two sides abruptly accepted a truce proposed by Pakistan shortly before the latest deadline announced by Trump, who had warned the previous day that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” unless Iran agreed to unblock the Strait of Hormuz by 8pm EST. Global oil prices fell by roughly 13% following news of the ceasefire, and both parties sought to present the agreement as a strategic win. “Total and complete victory,” Trump insisted in an interview. “100 per cent. No question about it.” Iran’s supreme national security council, for its part, said Iran had inflicted a “crushing defeat” on America. Negotiations about a permanent end to the…

What happened Nasa’s Artemis II astronauts were hurtling back towards Earth this week, following their historic mission to the far side of the Moon. On Monday, the crew had reached a distance of 252,756 miles from Earth – more than 4,000 miles further than any humans had ever travelled from our planet before. The previous record, set by Apollo 13 in 1970, was broken as the Artemis crew flew by the side of the Moon that is never visible from Earth, during which time the astronauts lost contact with Nasa for about 40 minutes, as planned. The Moon’s far side has previously been photographed by satellites, but the Artemis crew, who passed 4,070 miles from the lunar surface, were the first humans to see it in its entirety, including lava…

Controversy of the week The end of Nato? Might the war in Iran “do what even Vladimir Putin couldn’t and blow up the North Atlantic Treaty alliance”, asked The Wall Street Journal. It’s “no longer an idle question”. Last week, President Trump vented his deep frustration with Nato, dismissing it as a “paper tiger” and declaring he is now “strongly considering” pulling the US out. If he does, it would be the “dumbest alliance breakup in modern history” – and it would be Europe’s fault. Spain and Italy blocked US military flights from their bases and Emmanuel Macron prevented use of France’s airspace. “Add its reluctance to help clear the Strait of Hormuz, and Europe is playing into every Maga stereotype about a one-sided Western alliance.” Europe’s reluctance to get…

According to a survey by Ofcom, only 49% of British social media users post, share or comment on the sites, down from 61% in 2024. It is thought that Britons are less likely to post now in part because of fears that such actions could come back to bite them in the future. However, another reason may be the growing popularity of video apps such as TikTok, which users tend to consume passively. 19% of Americans and Canadians confess to having had a sexual or romantic interaction with an AI chatbot, according to a survey carried out for the company ZipHealth. Half of those have yet to admit this to their partners. 23% would consider having sex with a humanoid robot. 55% say talking to an AI is easier than…

Cambridge University, which received a donation of £190m – said to be the largest given to a British university in 600 years – from the hedge fund manager Chris Rokos. The money will be used to create the Rokos School of Government. Motorists, with the news that councils may soon have to use one universal scheme for parking apps. Local authorities must now formally consider using the National Parking Platform (NPP), which means that drivers can pay for parking using any parking app, rather than having to use a range of apps and websites. Larry, Downing Street’s chief mouser, who finally caught a mouse. It was his first confirmed kill for many years; his poor performance had earned him the nickname “Lazy Larry”.…