Can You Still Buy Sally Rooney Books in the UK? Titles Withdrawn Despite ‘Normal People’ Selling One Million Copies
Rooney’s publisher stops UK book supplies over her support for Palestine Action
ByRia Pathak Published 15 October 2026, 9:27 AM BST
Published in 2018, ‘Normal People’ was later adapted into a successful BBC television series starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. Image via Hulu/Element Pictures
Sally Rooney’s books are still available in UK bookshops, despite her publisher withdrawing new supplies over her support for Palestine Action. The move has reignited debate about the intersection of literature, politics and law in Britain.
On Wednesday, Faber, a leading independent publishing house, confirmed it would stop distributing the Irish novelist’s work in Britain in every format, with her agreement. The decision affects bestsellers, including Normal People, which has sold more than one million copies in the UK, but retailers can continue selling physical stock already on their shelves.
Availability of Rooney’s Books in the UK
Readers can still purchase existing copies of Normal People, Conversations with Friends, Beautiful World, Where Are You and Intermezzo while shops have them in stock. Waterstones confirmed that retailers are permitted to sell their remaining inventory, according to The Guardian. Second-hand bookshops and resellers may also have copies, although availability will vary.
The decision does not require booksellers to remove titles from display or return unsold copies. Once their remaining inventory is gone, they cannot replenish it through the publisher.
New orders through Faber have stopped. Digital editions have also started to be withdrawn from UK platforms, meaning readers seeking ebooks or audiobooks may find fewer options.
Faber clarified that the announcement applies only to the UK market. The publisher said it would continue selling Rooney’s work in other territories, including markets where the same legal restrictions do not apply.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s party plans to file a complaint against Meta with the Organisation of American States alleging election interference, his campaign said Wednesday. The party accuses Meta of restricting Lula’s online content ahead of the October 25 presidential runoff against far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. Meta denies the allegations.
The leftist leader is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term in an October 25 runoff, where he will face Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
His party maintains that Meta is harming his campaign by restricting his online content, which the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram denies.
“It’s time to denounce (Meta) before the international community, starting with the OAS,” party Communications Secretary Eden Valadares told reporters, adding that Lula himself had ordered the move.
His campaign earlier claimed that Meta in recent days “prevented President Lula’s profile from promoting Instagram feed posts”, while a post from his official account “experienced an interruption in view counts, which affected its reach”.
Meta’s Brazil office denied the charges, calling them “simply false” and “not supported by the facts”.
The incumbent’s campaign called a Thursday meeting with international election observers to discuss the alleged interference.
Lula has claimed that the United States is trying to interfere in the elections in favour of Flavio Bolsonaro, whose father is an ally of US President Donald Trump.
Following the first round of voting, Lula launched a social media push that includes videos of him addressing his online followers.
Nvidia, worth $5.5tn, donates $250m to UK for AI safety research
Pledge spanning five years from world’s most valuable firm comes as concerns about AI agents have risen
Dan Milmo Global technology editorWed 14 Oct 2026 11.10 BSTShare
The $5.5tn (£4.1tn) US chipmaker Nvidia is donating $250m worth of computing power to the UK to support AI safety research.
The donation from the world’s most valuable company comes as the UK government confirmed its AI Security Institute (AISI), which tests advance AI models, will be able to examine cutting-edge technology developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google before they are released.
Nvidia said the donation, which spans five years, would “support agentic safety and security research across the UK”.
Safety concerns about AI agents – highly capable computer programs that are able to design and perform sequences of tasks autonomously – have risen since the summer, when OpenAI confirmed that a “swarm” of agents had attacked Hugging Face, a tech startup.
Nvidia did not reference AISI in its statement but said most of the money would “support the wider UK AI safety and security research community”, with a proportion of the cash going to the British Open-Ended Learning and Discovery Lab, the Science of Fundamental AI Research Lab – run by the Edinburgh, Cambridge, Oxford and University College London universities – and Imperial College London.
The computing power will be delivered via UK-based datacentres using Nvidia chips.
“The UK brings world-class scientific rigour to this essential engineering challenge,” said Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive. “With this $250m commitment, Nvidia will put accelerated computing in the hands of UK researchers to develop, test and strengthen safeguards for increasingly powerful AI.”
Kanishka Narayan, the UK’s AI minister, said the announcement was a “vote of confidence in our world-leading strength and expertise in AI research”.
On Monday Narayan confirmed that AISI was conducting tests on US-developed AI models before they are released, after reports that the White House had restricted access.
The AI minister also warned that the UK faces agentic attacks similar to the one carried out by OpenAI agents on Australia’s healthcare system this year.
“It seems likely, if not inevitable, that our own cyber defences will be breached,” said Narayan.
China-linked malicious actors called out by UK and international partners for targeting sensitive data globally
Joint advisory with international partners highlights exploitation and compromise of networks belonging to organisations across the globe.
China-linked company Integrity Technology Group has been exposed by the UK and international partners for enabling cyber actors to target organisations worldwide.
AI-enabled tools, large-scale botnets and hands-on exploitation techniques being used to compromise networks and steal sensitive data.
Organisations are being urged to strengthen their cyber resilience and defend against this evolving threat.
A range of malicious cyber activities enabled by a China-linked technology company and the wider ecosystem poses a significant threat as the UK and international partners urge organisations to improve their defences.
Alongside eight international partners from six countries, the National Cyber Security Centre – a part of GCHQ – has issued a new advisory revealing how, Integrity Technology Group (Integrity Tech), a company based in China with links to the Chinese Government, has enabled malicious China-linked cyber actors to exploit and compromise networks belonging to organisations across the globe.
Malicious cyber actors, enabled by Integrity Tech, are uniquely using AI tools, such as automated scanning, alongside large-scale botnets and manual exploitation techniques to compromise and steal confidential data from companies around the world, including critical sectors.
Last year, the UK government sanctioned Integrity Tech, alongside another China-based information security company for their part in heedless malicious cyber activity against the UK and its allies.
The advisory also highlights that the company employs individuals who support a range of malicious cyber activities and contribute to the wider Chinese cyber ecosystem, including developing tools for use and sale, acquiring and hosting infrastructure and compromising networks across the globe.
The activity in the advisory is reported to be consistent with campaigns also publicly known as Flax Typhoon, Ethereal Panda and Red Juliett among others.
The extensive malicious cyber activities, and services by Integrity Tech, that have been exposed today should be extremely concerning for all network defenders.
The breadth of sectors that have been targeted across the globe demonstrate the extent of the threat and all organisations should take note of this warning and engage with NCSC advice and guidance.
We will continue to call out malicious actors and the malevolent ecosystem they operate in.
Paul Chichester, NCSC Director of Operations
Organisations are being urged to understand the threat and techniques used by these cyber actors and follow the mitigation advice to helpful defend against the activity highlighted in the advisory.
In September 2024, the NCSC alongside international partners, exposed Integrity Tech as the operator of a substantial botnet, where a network of internet-connected devices are infected with malware and controlled to carry out cyber attacks, and was utilised by advanced persistent threat group, Flax Typhoon.
Earlier this year, the NCSC alongside industry and 15 international partners from across nine countries issued an advisory and guidance highlighting how organisations can better defend against the cyber threat from covert networks.
The NCSC has co-sealed this new advisory alongside agencies from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United States.
Ukraine Loses Starlink Access as Musk Says Zelenskiy Went “Too Far”
SpaceX suddenly throttled access to Starlink with no warning, Ukraine says.
Is Elon Musk using SpaceX to kneecap Starlink access in Ukraine on behalf of President Donald Trump?
A Ukrainian military official claimed Wednesday that Musk’s SpaceX had interrupted functioning of the country’s military-grade Starlink terminals, Reuters reported. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian defense forces “did not receive warning about this limitation, and this led to the disruption of several missions.”
The disruption comes just days after Trump publicly criticized Ukraine for continuing to attack Russian oil refineries in the wake of the U.S. lifting sanctions on the sale of Russian oil, and called for the removal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Musk weighed in on Trump’s comments on social media Saturday, writing: “Zelensky has gone too far.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, whose country pays for Ukraine’s Starlink access, responded to reports of the disruption.
“Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you,” he wrote on X. Musk did not respond.
If the disruption really is some kind of political intervention, this is only further proof that Europeans—or really, anyone in the world—cannot rely on any of Musk’s products, as they will be at the whims of the billionaire technocrat that still finds himself at Trump’s beck and call.
In a last-ditch attempt to alleviate financial strain ahead of the midterm elections, the Trump administration announced last week that the U.S. would temporarily waive sanctions on Russian diesel sold to the global market through April 2027. Trump claimed that Russia would “immediately” supply more than roughly 2.2 million barrels of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace. (A small drop in the bucket, all things considered.)
The Trump administration is threatening to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons sales to Europe for Ukraine should Kyiv not halt its deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, multiple outlets reported Monday.
The State Department and the Pentagon made the warnings to officials in Ukraine and Europe over the weekend, with the U.S. military directly communicating the threat to Ukrainian commanders, CNN reported.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
The Financial Times was the first to report on the U.S. warning, which included threats to cut off the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List mechanism for buying American weapons for Ukraine. The initiative is managed by NATO and is used to procure U.S.-produced weapons to be sent to Kyiv.
“They are calling Kyiv … they are calling everyone [in Europe],” an official who received a call from a U.S. defense official told the outlet.
The warnings from Washington follow President Trump’s announcement late last week that the U.S. would purchase 300,000 tons of Russian diesel in an effort to lower fuel prices that have spiked as a result of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
Trump, however, insists Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries have caused U.S. diesel prices to surge ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lambasted the diesel deal as providing the necessary funding to sustain Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On Sunday, Trump surprised Ukraine by announcing that it and Russia had agreed to what he described as an “energy ceasefire.”
Zelensky said at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland that Ukraine had learned of the deal through news reports.
He wrote on the social platform X that Ukraine supported the proposal but made it clear that Kyiv would not agree to stop its retaliatory strikes without a corresponding halt to Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.
On Monday, Zelensky said Russia has continued to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including a power plant in Kharkiv.
Last night, while Russian ballistic missiles were landing on Kyiv for the second night in a row with zero American early warning, somebody at SpaceX reached over and turned a dial. Ukrainian drone crews watched their birds climb, stutter, and drop out of contact mid-mission. No notice. No explanation. No comment from the company. Ukraine’s defence forces woke up Wednesday to discover the backbone of their battlefield communications had been quietly throttled by the world’s richest man, four days after he posted that Zelensky “has gone too far,” and six days after Ukraine started burning down the Russian server farms that power the bot, crypto and disinformation economy his entire world runs on.
Garry Kasparov is the chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative, which publishes The Next Move.
America dealt two grave betrayals to Ukraine in the past week. More are surely coming.
Last Friday, Donald Trump announced that the United States would again buy Russian diesel. When Volodymyr Zelenskyy protested, Trump said that Ukraine needed new leadership (what is it they say about glass houses?).
Today, Ukraine is facing new restrictions on Starshield, the military version of Starlink, introducing a serious new handicap to Kyiv’s battlefield capabilities. Notably, Elon Musk—no fan of Ukraine and Zelenskyy—was quick to suggest that it was Trump who cut off access.
We cannot overstate the seriousness of these transgressions. Trump and Zelenskyy have butted heads before. Now, the administration is preparing for the next step, outright labeling the Ukrainian president an enemy. If Trump has a stake in Russia’s hydrocarbon sector, the US will declare Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure—essential for Kyiv to level the playing field—as attacks on American interests.
(Trump, meanwhile, shows complete indifference when Russia attacks US properties in Ukraine. Of course, he’s never been held back by hypocrisy.)
Meanwhile Starlink provides essential satellite communications and information to Ukrainian forces. In 2025, Musk wrote on Twitter that Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse if I turned [Starlink] off.” Perhaps Mr. Musk is a touch too proud of his own product. Still, his assessment is sadly not so far from the truth.
Trump is just a few weeks from a midterm election in which his Republican Party is expected to lose. Vladimir Putin is watching events from over Trump’s shoulder, and knows that a Democratic Congress could thwart many of his designs in Washington come January. These next three months are therefore critical.
People will look at this situation and ask whether the American president is a Russian asset. Here is my opinion: whether Trump is acting as Putin’s agent or merely an impressionable admirer is not relevant. The outcome would be the same, and the bottom line here is that this was coordinated between the White House and the Kremlin.
As I often say, I believe in coincidences, but I also believe in KGB.
And Elon Musk reveals his power to give and to take away:
Elon Musk Echoes Trump in Calling for New Ukrainian Leadership
In brief: American billionaire Elon Musk backed US President Donald Trump’s calls for Ukraine to replace President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that the Ukrainian leader had “gone too far.” Musk’s comments came after Trump claimed Zelensky missed chances to end the war and criticized Ukrainian refinery strikes following a controversial bilateral diesel deal with Vladimir Putin. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha made a sharp rebuttal, saying that only the Ukrainian electorate holds the legal and sovereign authority to determine national governance during wartime.
US President Donald Trump presents the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk during the “Golden Age of American Innovation Summit” at the Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, Oct. 8, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)
He’s Exhibit A on why billionaire wealth should be taxed, why we have to get big money out of politics, why billionaires shouldn’t be allowed to buy up major media, and why our government shouldn’t give them huge military contracts.
I’m talking about Elon Musk, of course.
Yesterday, former Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Musk for restoring his Starlink satellite’s vital high-speed connectivity: “Thank you, @elonmusk. We hope for your continued support.” (Connectivity had slowed after Musk posted Saturday that “Zelensky has gone too far.”)
But who gave Musk authority to slow his satellite service in the first place — or, for that matter, to publicly comment on Ukraine President Zelensky? (Musk says Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” But if that’s the case, why did Fedorov thank Musk?)
Every time I list another of Musk’s outrages, someone says, “Yes, but he’s an innovator!”
He’s not. As is made clear in Alex Gibney’s smart new documentary, “Musk,” Elon didn’t invent Tesla. He didn’t invent X. He didn’t invent SpaceX. He didn’t invent Starlink satellites. He didn’t invent squat.
Musk is to innovation what Trump is to governing. Both are conmen. Both are megalomaniacs. Both love authoritarians and detest democracy. Both are racist and misogynistic. Neither believes in (or harbors an ounce of) empathy toward anyone. Both think nothing of corrupting governments for personal gain. Both say they’re self-made men — and both worship their creators.
Poland has always funded Starlink in Ukraine:
Starlink will continue to operate in Ukraine with Poland’s support
22 February 18:12
Poland continues to support the operation of Starlink terminals in Ukraine, providing uninterrupted internet access to hospitals, schools, critical infrastructure facilities, and frontline regions even during blackouts.
During the full-scale war, Poland has provided Ukraine with more than 29,000 terminals and is financially supporting their operation, which is an important contribution to the country’s resilience.
The Ukrainian authorities expressed their gratitude to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalization of Poland, Krzysztof Haukowski, and the entire Polish government for their constant support, solidarity, and willingness to cooperate.
At the end of September, Polish President Karol Nawrocki signed a law extending funding for Starlink terminals in Ukraine. This decision will ensure uninterrupted communication for frontline communities and critical infrastructure when it is most needed.
It should be added that Starlink terminals from Elon Musk’s company play a key role in providing communications in Ukraine during the Russian aggression. However, they are used not only by Ukrainians but also by Russians on the front lines. Although Elon Musk’s SpaceX company has banned the use of Starlink in Russia, there are many intermediaries who buy terminals and send them to Russia.
Two Egyptian truck drivers were killed, and a third was wounded in Khartoum, Sudan, after a gunman opened fire on them, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said Monday, 12 October.
Sudanese police said the suspect had been arrested and had confessed, telling investigators he acted to avenge his brother, who died in an alleged airstrike on Saturday, 10 October, along the border of Egypt and Sudan.
Police identified the suspect as Ibrahim Abdullah Adam, 23. A Sudanese police officer was also wounded in an exchange of fire before the arrest, they said.
“The investigation is continuing to establish the circumstances of the incident and its motives,” police said in a statement late Monday.
Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, instructed the Egyptian ambassador, Yasser Sorour, to contact Sudanese authorities and check on the wounded driver. He also ordered steps to return the bodies to Egypt as soon as possible. Sorour met with the governor of Khartoum, who traveled to offer condolences, and doctors told the ambassador that the wounded man needed urgent surgery, the ministry said.
Did Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centres cause Russian bot activity to plummet?
Story by Sasha Vakulina
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Ukrainian strikes on Russian technology giant Yandex’s data centres have been followed by a dramatic decline in automated online activity, raising questions about whether the attacks may also have disrupted Moscow’s influence operations abroad.
The sudden drop fuelled speculation in Europe and the United States about just how much of the political debate on social media might have been driven by Russian bots.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighed in on Monday, saying social media platforms had become noticeably less hostile.
The Yandex outage probably didn’t blitz Russian bots
At least, not the troll traffic that blights social media.
by Jess Weatherbed
Oct 12, 2026, 4:43 PM GMT+1
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Jess Weatherbed
Multiple Ukrainian drone strikes over the last week have taken Russian data centers offline and reportedly caused online bot traffic to plummet — but in reality it’s probably not the kind of bot activity most people associate with Russia.
Over the past week, Ukrainian drones struck three data centers belonging to Yandex, the tech giant often called “Russia’s Google.” The first strike happened on Oct. 8, followed by a second attack on Oct. 9. On Sunday, Oct. 11, a third strike damaged a Yandex data center in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow. The company said operations at that facility were completely suspended and some of its services were unavailable, according to the BBC.
The attacks disrupted Yandex services, from its AI chatbot to its smart home devices. Per the BBC, the military strikes were meant to target “places that provide revenue streams for Moscow’s war machine.”
Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, Zelenskyy said “everyone noticed” a drop in Russian bot activity on social media after the strikes. On X, Reddit, and elsewhere, users in several Western countries reported seeing less right-wing activity in their feeds, from pro-GOP accounts in the U.S. to supporters of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Czech member of the European Parliament Tomáš Zdechovský also pointed to claims that online support for the AfD had dropped after the strikes.
Hackers turn supermarket fridges into ovens in ‘unprecedented’ cyberattack across France
An unprecedented cyberattack struck hundreds of supermarkets across France after hackers remotely manipulated internet-connected refrigeration systems.
According to French media, hackers raise temperatures in fridges at hundreds of supermarkets, sparking fires and spoiling food in ‘large-scale’ cyberattack.
A cyber incident disrupted a small UK power generation facility for about four days in July 2026, raising concerns over the security of operational technology (OT) used in energy sites.
The event did not cause consumer power outages, and the wider UK electricity network continued to operate normally.
The incident became public on August 22 after media reports claimed that hackers believed to be linked to Iran had affected a British energy facility.
The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero later confirmed that a cyber incident had impacted a small-scale power generator. However, authorities have not named the operator or the affected plant.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the generator was very small when compared with major UK power stations. Financial Times reporting identified the affected site as an approximately 15 MW gas-fired peaking plant.
Such facilities provide additional generation during high-demand periods, but the loss of one small site did not create a national electricity-supply risk.
Still, the four-day outage is significant. A small plant may not threaten grid stability, but it relies on digital systems to monitor, start, stop and manage physical equipment.
A cyber incident affecting engineering workstations, remote-access systems, industrial control networks or supporting IT can force operators to suspend production while they investigate and validate the environment.
Terrorists could use AI to target UK with drones and bioweapons, MI5 chief warns
Sir Ken McCallum said UK was entering ‘new era of national security’ with most threats since the Cold War, as he warned against rising danger from Russia and Iran
Terrorists could exploit artificial intelligence to target Britain with drones or biological weapons, the head of MI5 has warned.
Speaking after his annual speech at MI5 headquarters in London, Sir Ken McCallum said the UK had entered a “new era of national security” and the security service was directing more resources to keeping Britain safe now than in the Cold War, warning that essential services such as banking, flights, and healthcare were at risk of being disrupted by adversaries, including Iran and Russia.
He warned about the growing threat of AI provoking real fear that terrorists could use the technology for warfare, saying “we’ve caught terrorists seeking to exploit AI to improve their reconnaissance and attack methodologies”.
He said the possibility of AI-enabled drones added “a new twist” for bad actors and warned the greatest concern is “AI’s potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons”.
Russian and Iranian crude is being blended into Kazakhstan’s CPC oil exports, allowing sanctioned barrels to reach Europe under Kazakh documentation.
Discounted Iranian oil is financing Russian military supplies to Tehran, including missiles and surveillance technology, through an alleged oil-for-arms arrangement.
Russia and Iran are reportedly preparing to exploit the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from 2027, potentially routing 600,000–750,000 bpd through the corridor to circumvent Western sanctions.
Money man, Graham Edwards, Director , CX Tech Limited, seizes an opportunity to destroy a beautiful area in Scotland by building ‘the biggest datacentre in the world’.
Graham Edwards, a Tory Party Treasurer, has donated £5.5million to the Tories since 2011
The Tory Party Treasurer’s water company which he co-owns via an offshore trust in the British Virgin Island has won a £1.2m contract with HMRC, the Mirror can reveal.
……..
Graham Edwards, who has donated £5.5m to the Tories since 2011, is a director of independent water company Castle Water. Castle Water has profited from the deregulation of water supply to business customers by DEFRA in 2017, growing from a turnover of £2.9m in 2016 to £436m last year.
It is not currently profitable and runs thanks to £150m in loans from its offshore parent company in the BVI, our investigation with the Good Law Project found. Castle Water says it is UK tax resident but accounting expert Professor Richard Murphy says the offshore ownership arrangement means there could be “significant tax savings” for Castle Water’s owners, including majority shareholder Mr Edwards, if they ever sold the company.
Where companies are owned in tax havens, the new buyers typically acquire the shares in the offshore parent company rather than directly buying the UK subsidiary.
Prof Murphy, professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, said: “Castle Water Limited is owned by an offshore structure based in the British Virgin Islands which appears to exist for the benefit, at least in part, of one of its directors, Graham Edwards. The structure would be of greatest benefit if Castle Water Limited was sold.
“In that case the sale proceeds received in the British Virgin Islands would likely be tax free, subject to HM Revenue & Customs scrutiny. There could be significant tax savings arising in that case.”
John Reynolds, CEO and minority shareholder in Castle Water, told the Mirror: “You are correct that Castle Water Holdings is registered in the BVI but you should note that it is tax domiciled in the UK, so there is no tax structuring going on. Our funding structure is not unconventional and we comply with all tax legislation.
CX Tech Limited has submitted an application for Planning Permission in Principle (PPiP) for the proposed CX Technology Campus at the former Chapelcross nuclear power station site near Annan, Dumfries and Galloway………
work indicates that it could support approximately 1000 jobs during construction and create well over 100 permanent skilled roles, bringing long-term careers in engineering, technology, facilities management and security to a rural economy.”
The project, they noted, will be subject to an environmental impact assessment, further community consultation and “independent scrutiny” through the planning process.
The Scottish and UK Conservatives did not respond to a request for comment.
CX Tech Limited has submitted plans for a £16.5bn data centre campus at Chapelcross, led by Chief Executive Graeme Anderson in the south of Scotland
Plans have been formally submitted for a 1GW data centre-led technology campus in Scotland, in what could become one of the UK’s largest new digital infrastructure developments.
CX Tech Limited has lodged an application for Planning Permission in Principle for the CX Technology Campus at Chapelcross, near Annan in the South of Scotland, a site once home to one of the country’s first commercial nuclear power stations.
If the plans are accepted, CX Tech would invest a total of £16.5 billion in the project, equivalent to US$21.83bn.
Scottish Green MSP calls for rejection of data centre at former nuclear plant
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The site of a former nuclear plant could become home to a massive data centre if plans are approved.
The facility at Chapelcross was the first in the country when it opened near Annan in 1959 on what had been a World War II airfield.
Production stopped in 2004 and decommissioning began. Now plans have been submitted to build a £16.5bn data centre at the site.
With a capacity of 1GW, it would be amongst the biggest in the world with annual power consumption equivalent to that of up to two million homes.
The application comes amidst debate over data centre strategy in Scotland, with new national guidance expected by the end of the year.
Developers claim the Dumfries and Galloway project could result in 750 jobs during the construction phase and support 500 full-time posts thereafter. If approved, it would take up to eight years to complete.
Graeme Anderson, chief executive of applicant CX Tech, called the scheme “a once-in-a-generation opportunity” for the region and the country.
He said: “Chapelcross has the potential to bring together our renewable energy strengths, digital infrastructure and high-value jobs in a way that few other sites can.
“We have an opportunity to seize that potential now, creating a new economic future for a site that has played an important role in Scotland’s energy story for generations.”
However, there is opposition to the development, with concerns raised over the environmental impact and effects on local communities.
South Scotland MSP Laura Moodie, of the Scottish Greens, has called for the bid to be rejected. She said: “The site at Chapelcross should be the best place to put a data centre by utilising a decommissioned brownfield site.
“But the proposal which has been lodged is reckless and endangers our energy supply and natural environment.”
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The site is not on the old nuclear site and most is greenfield
The proposed data centre is at least half on green-fields used for grazing and not on brownfield land.
The 2024 prospectus for development at the site notes that the area which is now being proposed for the data centre (the larger purple area in the map below) is outside the nuclear licenced site. On p23 of the prospectus it says about these purpule areas: “Unlicensed NDA Landholding – this land is owned by NDA but is outside of Nuclear Licensed area and therefore potentially available for development in the short-medium term. It comprises a mix of brownfield land (former airfield) and greenfield land to the north, south and east of the former Power Station which is currently in low intensity agricultural use (grazing).”
The brownfield land being referred to as brownfield comprises the old RAF airfield, this is species-rich grassland and the request for a scoping opinion from D&G council notes that “The uncultivated areas at Chapelcross are known to be extremely valuable for biodiversity having been sympathetically managed since the 1940’s. We understand that these areas now support some of the best examples of species rich grassland in the region, supporting rarities such as butterfly orchid and dingy skipper butterfly. Within the footprint boundary for this consultation, the land around NY21507045 and NY21927054 is likely to be important for nature and therefore thorough survey and assessment will be required to determine if these areas are suitable for development or whether they should be more appropriately managed to deliver positive effects for biodiversity in line with NPF4.”
The two grid references referred to, denote the grassland within the old airfield site. So although this could potentially be referred to as brownfield, because there is a portion of old runway but the remainder of the site is species rich grassland that the scoping reports says ‘supports some of the best examples of species rich grassland in the region’
Extract from a Scottish voice, Maggie Sale on FB, protesting against the advance of data centres for AI:
Imagine what our communities could look like if we put more money into public libraries instead of offering huge incentives to big tech companies.
Libraries give people a place to learn, read, study, use computers, and access resources they might not have at home. They welcome children, students, families, and older adults. They help people find jobs, learn new skills, and connect with their communities. And they do all of this without requiring anyone to buy a subscription.
Meanwhile, data centers are expanding across the country to support cloud computing, AI, and the digital services we use every day. These facilities serve a purpose, but they also require enormous amounts of electricity. Some use significant amounts of water for cooling. Their construction can also affect nearby land, wildlife habitats, and local communities.
The question is not whether we need technology. We clearly do. The question is whether taxpayers should help pay for private data center projects while many communities are still fighting to fund schools, libraries, parks, and other essential services.
When a company wants to build a massive facility, it should have to show that the project benefits the community, not just its bottom line. Public money should come with public benefits.
We should be able to embrace new technology without ignoring the needs of people, wildlife, and the environment.
An attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group exchanged text messages about election fraud with Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in November 2020. The general counsel for the Oath Keepers, Kellye SoRelle, who has been charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, said she was in […]
The general counsel for the Oath Keepers, Kellye SoRelle, who has been charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, said she was in touch with Andrew Giuliani while he was a White House public liaison assistant in the Trump administration. The texts were only related to allegations of election fraud and not the attack on the Capitol two months later, SoRelle said.
“None of that was like, ‘Hey, we should go storm the Capitol,’” SoRelle told NBC News. “It was like, ‘We have this affidavit,’ or whatever.”
Andrew Giuliani, who recently ran for the Republican nomination for New York governor, confirmed the interaction and said his last contact with SoRelle was on Nov. 10, 2020, according to his phone records.
“Until you mentioned her, until I looked it up, it didn’t really ring a bell,” Andrew Giuliani told the outlet.
SoRelle additionally tried to send a text message to the White House in December, according to a new book by former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), and journalist Hunter Walker. However, the message failed to be delivered because it was sent to a White House switchboard line. For Riggleman, the connection between Andrew Giuliani and a member of the Oath Keepers was not surprising.
“The phone data my team compiled makes clear the militant aspect of the Capitol attack and high-level associates of the former president were inextricably linked together,” Riggleman said. “It is so important for the American people to be aware of the direct links between the Trump White House and militant groups including this newfound connection between Kellye Sorelle and a former White House aide.”
SoRelle was photographed with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes outside the Capitol during the insurrection, along with several other leaders of the far-right militia. She has been charged with four counts, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of justice, obstruction of an official proceeding, and one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, according to a three-page indictment. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
This book makes a simple case. There is a growing militant, farright, Christian nationalist movement that is being fueled by online disinformation. That movement now constitutes an extremist wing of the Republican Party—the party that I once belonged to—and it poses a serious danger to our democracy. Fringe movements of any political stripe can turn violent. The Left is not immune and certainly not blameless. However, at the moment, the Far Right is more organized and more militant. My story lays out the concrete proof and data showing the scope of this threat and what I hope is the beginning of a blueprint for how we can confront it.
Steve Bannon and The Movement:
The movement: How Steve Bannon is spreading populist Trump-style politics across Europe
After being forced out as White House chief strategist, former Breitbart News chief determined to ignite his brand of nationalism in the rest of the world
DOJ grand jury investigating former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson
What Happened: The Justice Department is investigating Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who testified against Trump during the January 6 investigation. Prosecutors have presented evidence to a federal grand jury and are investigating allegations that she lied to Congress, along with possible civil rights charges. The case is being handled by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division under Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon.
Why It Matters: The Justice Department is investigating a key witness who testified about his actions during the January 6 insurrection. The investigation puts other witnesses on notice that testifying against Trump can lead to federal harassment.
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