The Untold Battles

Ary Scheffer, The Battle of Tolbiac (1836): a 19th-century imagining of Clovis's victory. Public domain. The most famous prayer in Frankish history was uttered by a losing king. Around the year 496, somewhere near the Rhine, the Franks were being beaten. Their king, Clovis, watched his warriors die and, in desperation, called on the God his Christian wife had been preaching to him for years. If this account is true, and it may partly be legend, the prayer changed the course of European history. Key facts Battle: Tolbiac (Tolbiacum), between the Franks and the Alamanni, traditionally dated to c.496. The date is disputed by scholars. Site: usually identified as Zülpich in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 60 km east of today's German-Belgian frontier. Commanders: Clovis I and his ally Sigobert the Lame for the Franks; the Alamanni leader's name is not certainly known. Result: decisive Frankish victory. The Alamanni lost their autonomy and their hold on the Lower Rhin...

Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, whose defence of the pensions triple lock has split his party. (Photo: UK Parliament, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) Sir Ed Davey is facing an open revolt from his own MPs over the pensions triple lock, after a leaked internal party briefing handed rebels the very arguments they need to challenge his position. An internal Liberal Democrat memo seen by Sky News sets out the pros and cons of the triple lock and proposes a series of cheaper alternatives, the broadcaster reported on Friday morning. MPs opposed to Davey's defence of the policy have seized on the document, deepening one of the most serious internal splits of his leadership. Key facts Sky News has obtained an internal Liberal Democrat memo, prepared for MPs in September, that neutrally sets out the cases for and against the pensions triple lock and proposes money-saving alternatives. The analysis finds that none of the alternatives, including a double lock, would ha...

A Royal Marine of Zulu Company, 45 Commando during an amphibious landing from landing craft in Norway. File photo: LA(Phot) Nick Tryon / MOD. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0. Britain is leading its largest Joint Expeditionary Force exercise of the year as defence ministers from ten allied nations gather in Iceland, with Royal Marines carrying out the first British military exercise on the Faroe Islands since the Second World War. Key facts Exercise Lion Protector 26 has seen hundreds of British personnel train with nine allied nations across the North Atlantic, the High North and the Baltic Sea. Royal Marines from the UK's Special Operations Maritime Task Group trained on the Faroe Islands alongside Danish forces, the first exercise there since the war years. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting is meeting his JEF counterparts in Keflavik, Iceland, with Canadian and Ukrainian ministers also attending. Ministers are discussing Ca...

Admiral Sir Ben Key in his official portrait as First Sea Lord, August 2022. His knighthood and CBE have now been annulled. Photo: POPhot Will Haigh, Royal Navy / MOD. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The former head of the Royal Navy has been stripped of his knighthood and his CBE after a formal honours review concluded his conduct fell far short of the standards expected of service personnel, more than a year after an alleged affair with a subordinate brought his career to a sudden end. Key facts Ben Key's appointments as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) were annulled on 1 October 2026. He can no longer use the title Sir or the rank of Admiral, and must drop the letters KCB and CBE from his name. The decision followed a formal honours review of his conduct. The Royal Navy confirmed cases of this kind are referred to the Cabinet Office Forfeitures Com...

A Gurkha soldier on patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2010. (Photo: SAC Neil Chapman (RAF)/MOD, released under the Open Government Licence v1.0). Few fighting reputations survive two centuries of warfare. The Gurkhas have done more than survive. From mountain troops who fought the British Empire to a halt in 1815, they have become one of the most decorated and sought-after forces in the British Army. For more than 200 years, young men from the hills of Nepal have volunteered to serve the British Crown. They have fought in both world wars, in Malaya and Borneo, in the Falklands, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every year, more than 10,000 apply for a few hundred places. Here is how the legend was made, and what the Gurkhas look like today. Key facts Service began: 1815, after the Anglo-Nepal War; first recruited into the East India Company's armies Current strength: around 4,000 Gurkhas serve in the British Army Victoria Crosses: 26 awarded to Gurkha regiments, includi...

New homes under construction in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Ministers want routine schemes like this approved faster by cutting mandatory environmental checks. (Paul Harrop / Geograph Britain and Ireland, CC BY-SA 2.0) Ministers have moved to cut the number of housing developments that need an environmental check from Natural England before planning permission can be granted, in a bid to speed up housebuilding across England. Under new guidance published on 1 October, councils will get clear advice on when they must consult the environmental watchdog. The government intends to cut the number of applications requiring prior Natural England assessment by about a third, allowing routine schemes to be approved by local planning officers without waiting for the quango to respond. Natural England is currently required by law to assess more than 22,000 planning applications a year, no matter how small the environmental risk. Ministers say the process adds weeks or months to routine a...

The Palace of Westminster in London. Ministers are drawing up sweeping changes to the welfare system that could scrap a key disability benefit for under-25s. (Photograph: Aethonatic, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 public domain) Ministers are drawing up sweeping changes to the welfare system that could see a key disability benefit for under-25s scrapped and replaced with a multibillion-pound package of support to get young people into work. The plans, first reported by the Guardian and followed up by The Times, are being worked up inside Whitehall as Andy Burnham's government prepares a major push to move more people on benefits back into work. At the centre of the proposals is the possible removal of the health element of universal credit for claimants under 25, worth £217 a month. Key facts Ministers are considering scrapping the universal credit health element for under-25s, worth £217 a month It would be replaced with a multibillion-pound support package including subsidised...

A US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress after landing at RAF Fairford on 6 November 2024. The Gloucestershire base is at the centre of a continuing counter-terrorism investigation. (File photograph: Airman 1st Class Laiken King, US Air Force, public domain) Netanyahu Says Israel Warned Britain of Iranian Attack Before RAF Fairford Arrests Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Israel warned Britain about an Iranian-sponsored attack shortly before the RAF Fairford terror arrests, and accused London of then hitting Israel with sanctions almost immediately afterwards. The claim, made in a US television interview broadcast overnight, has opened a fresh diplomatic row at the centre of an investigation British counter-terrorism police are still calling hugely complex. Key facts Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel gave Britain intelligence about an Iranian-sponsored attack, and that "pretty much the next day they slapped sanctions on us". The Israeli lea...

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, has branded the new under-25s welfare plan 'tough love'. (Official Cabinet Office portrait, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons) The Conservatives have announced sweeping new work requirements for unemployed young people, saying under-25s who are fit to work should be barred from claiming benefits straight out of school. The plan, announced on Thursday ahead of the party's conference in Birmingham this weekend, would replace Universal Credit for the age group with a compulsory six-month "Get to Work" scheme. Key facts The policy would apply to 18 to 24-year-olds who are fit to work and have not worked continuously for at least six months, for a minimum of 16 hours a week. Instead of standard Universal Credit, they would join a six-month "Get to Work" scheme and receive a "Get to Work Allowance" paid at the same rate. Payments would be conditional on daily attendance at a job centre, work experience...

A US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress landing at RAF Fairford, 27 February 2025. The Gloucestershire base is at the centre of an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation. (File photograph: Airman 1st Class Luis Gomez, US Air Force, public domain) What has happened Counter-terrorism police have made a sixth arrest in the investigation into a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford. The 27-year-old man, a dual UK-Iranian national, was arrested in the borough of Westminster in London on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006. A second man, aged 26 and a UK national, has also been questioned under caution, and searches have been carried out at two properties in the Westminster area. Five men in their 20s, arrested near the Gloucestershire air base on Sunday 27 September, remain on police bail. The update was issued by Counter Terrorism Policing at 5.30pm on Thursday 1 October, the first official statement since the investi...