WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
LA mayor under fire, democracy in question, and the renewal of Dutch prisons

 
today's international story

LA mayor defends fire response amid criticism

What happened
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (pictured above) has stood by her handling of California's devastating wildfires crisis as a petition calling for her resignation passed 100,000 signatures over the weekend.

Who said what
A petition posted on change.org accused Bass of "gross mismanagement" and said "basic resources, such as water and emergency services, have been inadequate, and leadership has been nowhere to be found when it was needed most". Bass has also come under fire for making a trip to Africa despite weather reports raising the possibility of "rapid fire spread and extreme fire behaviour".

Prior to drawing "intense public scrutiny" for her response to the wildfires, Bass was "held in the highest esteem by the Democratic Party's most prominent figures", said Fox News. Now her recent cuts to the LA Fire Department budget "stand out as a striking example of misplaced priorities" and offer a "lesson in leadership failure", said the conservative public policy website City Journal. Bass has rebuffed the criticism, insisting that the city's firefighting effort has not been affected by the LAFD cuts.

What next? 
There are still five active wildfires burning in Los Angeles County – Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, Hurst and Archer. A calmer wind and higher humidity helped firefighters make progress in battling the fires over the weekend, but officials have warned that wind gusts will pick up again this week and cautioned the public to stay on alert.

 
 
today's defence story

British troops 'should deploy to Ukraine after war'

What happened
British troops should be sent to Ukraine as part of a post-war peacekeeping force, former defence secretaries Grant Shapps and Gavin Williamson have urged. The advice comes ahead of an expected visit to the country in the coming weeks by Keir Starmer, his first since becoming prime minister.

Who said what
"British troops contributing to a post-war peacekeeping force would undoubtedly be a welcome move," Shapps told The Telegraph. Williamson said sending British troops as peacekeepers was "certainly something that I would support".

What next?
Donald Trump's return to the White House has "sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow's invasion of Ukraine", said Reuters. Penny Mordaunt, who served as defence secretary in 2019, told The Telegraph that potential British involvement in a post-war Ukraine would depend on any wider agreement between Kyiv and Moscow. "The key thing in all of this is what are the security guarantees that are going to be put in place to justify Ukraine compromising," she said.

 
 
Today's politics story

One in five Britons aged 18-45 prefer 'unelected leaders'

What happened
One in five generation Z and millennial Britons favour strong leaders installed without democratic elections, a report seen by The Guardian has found.

Who said what
The polling, due to be published this week as part of the FGS Global Radar report, found that overall 14% of people agreed with the statement "the best system for running a country effectively is a strong leader who doesn't have to bother with elections" rather than the alternative "the best system for running a country effectively is democracy". That figure rose to 21% among people aged between 18 and 45.

The survey also indicates that many people feel unrepresented by UK politicians, with 47% saying "none of the current political parties represent my views and values very closely".

What next?
Looking ahead to 2025, the report predicts that this will be Trump's year and people will experience a mixture of shock and awe as he begins to deliver his agenda.

 
 

It's not all bad

Wearable electronic textiles can be sustainable and biodegradable, research by University of Southampton and UWE Bristol universities has found. E-textiles are those with embedded electrical components such as sensors, batteries or lights. Named "sweet" (smart, wearable and eco-friendly electronic textiles), the newly developed fabric uses biodegradable Tencel and graphene-based electronics printed by inkjets to minimise waste and decomposes rapidly in soil. The scientists behind it hope that the innovation could help create sustainable wearable solutions for medical as well as fashion purposes.

 
 
under the radar

The transformation of Dutch prisons

You might assume that the 40 metre-high dome in the Dutch city of Haarlem is a religious building, said The Guardian – "until you notice the bars covering its 230 windows".

Koepelgevangenis ("dome prison") van Haarlem is just one of three so-called panopticons in the Netherlands: circular prisons with a central watch tower, built in the 19th century and designed to oppress inmates. All three have closed over the past decade as part of the country's drive to reduce its prison population and are now being "repurposed".

The panopticon, first envisioned by British philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham in the 1700s, is a circular structure with a domed roof and cells arranged in tiers on the circumference. From the centre, guards can observe all the inmates.

Koepelgevangenis van Haarlem, which opened in 1899, finally closed to inmates in 2016. The city then briefly used the prison as a shelter for Syrian refugees while the government attempted to sell it.

In 2022, however, following a "grassroots initiative led by the local population", it reopened as a cultural hub and community space. Nearly all the cells are rented; there is a "podcast studio, art school ateliers and gallery spaces", with a cinema bar and a café on the ground floor. The refurbishment has "generated hundreds of jobs" and up to 1,500 people visit the building every day.

The concept is now spreading, with another panopticon in Arnhem currently undergoing works to turn it into an event space and hotel. A third in the city of Breda is set to reopen in 2028 as an exhibition space for audio-visual projects.

 
 
on this day

13 January 2021

Donald Trump became the first US president to be impeached twice, accused of "incitement of insurrection" after he allegedly encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol and overthrow the 2020 election. Trump was again acquitted by the Senate, this time after he had left the White House. He has vowed retribution against investigators when he returns to office this month.

 
 
Today's newspapers

The Treasury has "ordered cabinet ministers to be ruthless in identifying public spending cuts", says The Telegraph. The Times carries a claim from former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove that in "courting Chinese investment for its renewable energy revolution" the government could leave the UK "vulnerable to Beijing". The i Paper reports that at least 13 cases of serious sexual offence cases against minors in 2024 listed the gay dating app Grindr as the first point of contact between suspect and victim. 

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Hell of a baby name

A couple in Redcar, North Yorkshire have defended the decision to name their new baby boy Lucifer. Jess Bell and Stefan Wake chose Lucifer for their son, who was born on January 1, after they enjoyed the Netflix series of the same name. The couple insist that the true meaning of Lucifer is "light bringer" – while Gary was chosen as the child's middle name to honour Jess's uncle, who died in childhood.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Ross Couzens, and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Jeff Gritchen / MediaNews Group / Orange County Register / Getty Images; Finnbarr Webster / Getty Images; Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.