What happened
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is facing mounting turmoil after secretly recorded footage exposed some of its members making racist, sexist and violent comments. The revelations featured in an ITV investigation that aired yesterday following a year spent observing candidates and councillors during elections and by-election campaigns.

Several party figures have since quit or been suspended. Solihull councillor Alan Feeney resigned after describing Asian families as “absolute parasites” while Bromley councillor Dean Miller also left the party following recordings of his remarks about migrants and King Charles. An aspiring parliamentary candidate, Jason Powell, was suspended after reportedly advocating the building of concentration camps to house asylum seekers.

Who said what
The footage also captured Farage discussing how to handle allegations against Hampshire mayoral candidate Chris Parry, who faced criticism over a post about David Lammy. Farage urged him to apologise, telling an aide: “Just take the f***ing deal.”

The show was full of “bombshells”, said Harriette Boucher in The Independent. Reform has been accused of “appalling behaviour” and “extreme racism” in light of the investigation’s “staggering revelations”.

The party said its screening procedures had been strengthened, but acknowledged that some individuals had passed through checks despite not sharing its principles.

What next?
The disclosures have intensified scrutiny of Reform’s candidate selection process and its efforts to distance itself from extremist views. Further fallout may follow as the investigation receives wider attention.

What happened
A new study has concluded that William Shakespeare was the principal writer of “Edward III” – a historical drama published anonymously in 1596 – and that fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe also contributed to the work.

The researchers used several forms of computerised linguistic analysis to compare the play with authenticated works by 10 dramatists active during the period. Twenty-three sections were attributed to Shakespeare, with nine others identified as Marlowe’s work – suggesting a more substantial partnership between the pair than previously recognised.

Who said what
Dr Rory Loughnane, a University of Kent scholar who co-led the research, said the evidence established Shakespeare’s authorship “beyond any reasonable doubt”. He described Marlowe’s involvement as an unexpected discovery that had major implications for understanding both writers’ careers.

This “dramatic new evidence” demonstrates that Edward III “should be added to William Shakespeare’s canon”, said Dalya Alberge in The Guardian, and also shows that it was a “major collaboration with his contemporary rival”.

What next?
The findings are due to appear in Shakespeare Quarterly later this year. They also build on earlier research that identified Marlowe as a co-author of Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” plays, indicating that the supposed rivals may have worked together repeatedly before Marlowe’s death in 1593.

Redwood leaves “exhibit significant decreases in photosynthesis and carbon uptake” at higher temperatures, according to a study published in the journal JGR Biogeosciences. Leaves contain pores called stomata, which take carbon dioxide in and let water out. When the stomata are open the tree is “breathing” and photosynthesising. When they are closed the tree is conserving water, but not photosynthesising. During periods of heat stomata tend to open to release water, essentially sweating.

However, during prolonged heatwaves “coast redwoods hit a point where they can’t cool down fast enough and they just keep their stomata closed”, said Vox. It saves water, but it also means that the “tree isn’t taking in more carbon” and is therefore not “‘eating’ or building up energy stores it can use to keep growing”.

Slowed photosynthesis could have a “big impact” on redwood forests, “creating a vicious cycle where trees don’t have enough carbon stored to replenish their leaves in the future”, which will “starve them even further”, added Vox. And there could be larger environmental implications as redwood forests “store more carbon dioxide per acre than any other forest in the world”.

Heatwaves “also burn off the coastal fog that redwoods depend on for much of their water”, exacerbating the stress further, said a release about the research. “We don’t know what the upper temperature thresholds are for redwood photosynthesis and mortality,” said Lily Klinek, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis. This research is an “important start” for figuring out “what parts of the redwood range are at risk, knowing what to expect and trying to intervene for the health of redwood ecosystems”.