The competition is hotting up to develop a "fleet" of mini nuclear reactors for the UK.

Keir Starmer plans "to make a nuclear 'moment'" when he announces a new generation of small modular reactors – and the firms chosen to build them – alongside his government's formal approval of funding for the construction of the large Sizewell C nuclear power plant, said The Times.

What are small modular reactors?
SMRs generate heat through nuclear fission but are smaller than conventional plants and don't need access to as much cooling water, so they don't have to be sited on the coast. This means they can be built on smaller sites across the country, closer to where electricity is needed. Building a new fleet of them could potentially provide thousands of jobs. 

Are they safe?
Some people will have concerns about the possibility of nuclear accidents near areas of "dense populations", said The Guardian. The risk is "very low" but the impact would be "catastrophic". The UK's rules on nuclear safety, though, are "some of the most stringent in the world". The last "serious" nuclear accident in the UK was in 1957.

What would they mean for energy bills?
It might depend on where you live. Ministers are considering dividing the UK into different wholesale electricity markets, with energy costs lower in areas where power generation is higher than demand, and higher in areas of high demand where power generation is lower.

Nuclear power "is vital for our energy security", said The Spectator's Sam Dumitriu. "It runs whatever the weather" and "makes us less reliant on the volatile gas market".

Should we being going more nuclear?
The Conservative government announced plans 10 years ago for the UK to be a global leader in the production of this affordable, low-carbon energy. And now net zero targets and volatile energy prices have made it "an opportunity that the country must seize with both hands", said Dave Philp in New Civil Engineer.

"Get it right and tech companies are ready to invest billions in British reactors to power their data centres," said The Spectator's Dumitriu. "Get it wrong, and Britain will be stuck with the highest industrial power costs in the world." 

But Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist and a director at Greenpeace UK, told The Guardian that the government had "swallowed nuclear-industry spin whole", which is either "courageous" or "stupid". As for the "unsolved problem of nuclear waste management", the government "doesn't see the need to mention it at all".

Grandparents are providing hundreds of millions of hours of free childcare each year but their efforts are not always recognised.

The price of childcare has risen as its availability has shrunk, leaving 57% of parents with children under 13 relying on support from at least one grandparent, usually a grandmother.

'Unpaid labour'
"More and more grannies are acting as unpaid nannies to their grandchildren," said the Financial Times. They might have thought their "child-rearing years" were behind them but a "childcare crisis" has come along to "take another bite" out of "the more mature woman's retirement prospects".

Grandparents are expected to be ready to "spring into action as an unpaid social safety net", said The Guardian. But this "unpaid labour" is more than "just a family matter; it's an invisible pillar of modern economies".

The "unpaid, sometimes physically demanding" childcare that grandparents provide "supports the country's economic stability", while "remaining largely unrecognised". And the "assumption" that grandparenthood is "a calling" can be "alienating" for those with "more ambivalent feelings", who can be seen as "off-track".

'Not physically able'
Of course, some older grandparents may not be physically able to care for their grandchildren. Amy Grier said in The Times that her parents were approaching their 80s when her son was born. "My mum was diagnosed with Parkinson's", so "she can't change a nappy". My dad and stepmother couldn't "chase after a speedy toddler" and "picking a wriggling 12kg weight off the ground is no joke".

Any grandparents who want to calculate how much their work as their grandchild's "childcare provider, chauffeur, chef, cleaner, nurse or private tutor" is worth can calculate their "Grandparent Salary" on the insurer SunLife's website, said the FT. The result "may surprise you".

Berkshire: Bankside, Pangbourne
Striking Grade II Edwardian house in a lovely setting overlooking the Thames. 4 suites, 1 further bed, kitchen/breakfast room, 3 receps, garden, garage, mooring and fishing rights. £1.35m; Warmingham

Essex: Barnes Mill & Barnes Mill House, Chelmsford
A beautifully converted water mill and adjoining mill house with double bank access to the River Chelmer. Barnes Mill House: 4 beds, 3 baths, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 receps, garage; Barnes Mill: 4 beds, 2 baths, shower, open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, garden. £2.5m; Savills

London: Prospect Quay, Wandsworth SW18
The Caracoli is a stylish houseboat on the Thames with dramatic river views and plenty of outdoor entertaining space. Main suite, 4 further beds, 1 bath, shower, kitchen/open-plan recep, 55ft sun deck. Residents of Prospect Quay benefit from a swimming pool, gym and parking. £2m; River Homes

Devon: Applewharf, Totnes
A ground-floor flat in a scenic setting on the River Dart. Located in the heart of Totnes, close to many of its amenities. 2 beds, family bath, open- plan kitchen/dining/living room, parking. £300,000; Stags

The rise and fall of Jess Phillips
Ben Sixsmith in The Critic
Jess Phillips, safeguarding minister and "proud campaigner for women's rights" has cancelled "inquiries into the grooming and rape of girls", writes Ben Sixsmith. How "sad and ironic" her career has been. At first, the "forthright" MP seemed an "ideal" progressive, "destined to spend many happy years "owning dudebros in Parliament". But she's "struggled, time and again, to combine her commitment to feminism" with her "commitment to multiculturalism".

The big lesson for Europe? Trump backed down under pressure
Alexander Hurst in The Guardian
The tariffs twist shows Donald Trump will "back down under pressure", writes Alexander Hurst, so no more need to "grovel". The rest of the world is "ready to bypass" America's "chaos" but it "needs Europe" as the alternative. The bloc "must act" to replace "fossil-fuel imports" with renewables "built in Europe", and further its clean-tech edge. If Trump wants "to move fast and break things", Europe should "move fast and build things".

Would you steal from a restaurant?
Olivia Potts in The Spectator
Restaurants report that diners sometimes "slip some silverware into a handbag", writes Olivia Potts. People who would "never dream of running out on a bill" or "palming" something from a shop seem to feel differently in the "liminal space" of restaurants. It's not just "tableware": anything "not nailed down is seemingly up for grabs". It's a "tricky one" for hospitality, because "a confrontation is likely to turn sour".