British actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong and Alan Cumming have spoken out against the proposed merger of US media giants Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, and urged Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to object about its effect on the UK.

The £83 billion deal would create one of the world’s most powerful media empires, bringing together HBO, CNN, TNT Sports, Channel 5, Paramount+, as well as the DC Universe, “Harry Potter”, “Game of Thrones” and “The Lord of the Rings” franchises.

‘Consequential’ decision
Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong cite among their concerns the potential threat to the livelihoods of British film and TV crews, and to independent film financing, as well as worries about the consolidation of news production.

Nandy has said she is “minded to intervene” in the deal on public interest grounds. “My focus has been, and will remain, on the UK public interest and the range of services available to UK audiences,” she said in a letter to the current and proposed owners of Warner Bros. Discovery.

If the UK government were to issue a public interest intervention notice, it would trigger further scrutiny from media regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority. Nandy’s decision “could end up upsetting” major US studios, streamers and tech giants, “not to mention the Trump administration, which is strongly backing the deal”, said Deadline. This makes her “one of the most consequential culture secretaries in recent memory… in America, that is.”

‘Costly’ delay
The call for the British government to intervene comes after 12 American states, led by California, sued to try to block the merger, warning that it would raise prices, shrink the number of films made, and fall foul of strict anti-trust laws. Last week, a US district judge temporarily paused the merger to consider the lawsuit. This prompted Paramount to agree not to close the deal until June 2027 or five days after the court issues a ruling on the case, whichever is earlier.

This delay “may prove costly” for Paramount, said The Hollywood Reporter. The merger agreement states that Warner’s shareholders are owed roughly £485 million per quarter, or £5.1 million per day, if the deal is not completed by the end of September this year.

Greater Manchester’s two million voters go to the polls today for the largest by-election in British political history. Opinion polling suggests Labour is on course to pass its first test with voters since Andy Burnham took over as prime minister, with the party’s candidate the favourite to succeed him as Manchester mayor.

Who’s in the running?
Bev Craig (pictured above), the current leader of Manchester City Council, is standing for Labour, with the Reform UK councillor for Baguley, Sian Niamh Astley, making it a heated contest between the two parties. Others throwing their hat into the ring include Altrincham councillor Geraldine Coggins, representing the Green Party, Bowdon councillor Phil Eckersley for the Conservatives, and Didsbury West Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Kilpatrick.

How does a mayoral vote work?
UK mayoral elections use a system known as supplementary voting that gives voters the option to choose their first- and second-choice candidate. If any candidate secures more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they will automatically be elected mayor; if no candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, the field is narrowed to the two frontrunners, and second-choice votes are counted.

Who will win?
YouGov polling from 17 July placed Craig on 38% to Astley’s 24%, with Coggins in third on 17%. But, in a second-round run-off, the Labour candidate would trounce Reform’s by 62% to 38%.

The real mark of success for Labour will be if it is able to push back the Green tide in Manchester and close the gap in Reform-leaning areas such as Wigan and Bolton, politics professor Rob Ford, of the University of Manchester, told The Guardian.

When both the Greens and Reform were offering radical alternatives to a deeply unpopular Starmer government, this election would have been “a mighty close battle and very difficult for Labour to hold on”, Jon Tonge, a politics professor at the University of Liverpool, told The Independent. But indications are that voters in Greater Manchester are “prepared to support Labour, for now at least”.

A polar bear rolls in a pile of ice cubes inside its enclosure at Prague Zoo, with temperatures in the Czech capital set to reach up to 37C today. Keepers have already distributed 10 tons of ice throughout the zoo.

Michal Cizek / AFP / Getty Images

Get the kids out of the house and keep them entertained with these fun activities from around the UK.

Crabbing, Cromer, Norfolk
For a “quintessentially British day out”, go crabbing at the “gorgeous” Cromer beach in Norfolk, said Stylist. If you can, catch August’s Cromer Carnival: a “gloriously traditional seaside” event full of “old-school bucket-and-spade fun”, said The Telegraph. The best part? It’s free.

West Midlands Safari Park, Worcester
An overnight stay at the West Midlands Safari Park is “unfiltered magic” that “layers nostalgia with science” and “theatre with husbandry”, said The Standard. You can still see the park’s rhinos, meerkats, elephants, and more, if you just decide to visit for the day.

Bat punting, Cambridge
One of the “most atmospheric ways” to see bats is on a Bat Safari Punting tour along the River Cam, said The Guardian. Catch a trip with a local wildlife guide on a Friday or Saturday evening between now and the end of September for a chance to hear the “clicks and squeaks” of a Daubenton’s or a pipistrelle.

World of Beatrix Potter museum, Cumbria
For anyone who read Beatrix Potter’s beautifully illustrated books as a child, or reads them to their own children or grandchildren now, this museum brings “Peter Rabbit’s world to life”, said The Telegraph. The attraction also offers themed afternoon tea and live shows.

The only British institution you’re still not allowed to criticise
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The i Paper
“The Ministry of Defence guzzles public funds and expects never to be scrutinised,” writes Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Despite it falling into “incompetence and excess”, an “unholy alliance of politicians”, “policy wonks” and journalists “uncritically transmit the messages” of its “top brass”. It has squandered millions on “over-budget” projects and “cancelled contracts”; “imagine the screeches of right-wing commentators if this happened in the Department for Work and Pensions”. But “defence spending will not be cut”. As ever, “warfare wins; welfare loses”.

If you think your profession is dying, it could soon be gone
Sarah O’Connor in the Financial Times
It’s “often easier to see the future coming than to predict how quickly it will arrive”, writes Sarah O’Connor. When anticipation of “technological obsolescence” runs “too far ahead of reality”, young people “choose not to enter” a particular profession. And that’s a problem. Take the current shortage of lorry drivers: the “antisocial hours” don’t help, but concerns over autonomous vehicles are “worsening the problem”. “Nobody knows the future. But in our attempts to anticipate it, we also shape it.”

King Charles just handed Prince Harry the chance of a lifetime – he has to take it
Jasmine Carey in the Daily Express
Prince Harry “could be back in Britain this September” and his father has handed him “a chance to start over”, writes Jasmine Carey. It’s “rumoured” that the King “will be inviting Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace” and so “discreetly welcoming” his youngest son “back into the royal world”. It is “a sign of trust” and an opportunity to take family relations “back to how they were” before those “damaging memoirs”. Accept it, Harry, and “don’t mess it up”.