Rosa Prince

The U.K.’s center of gravity is shifting. It’s hard to say yet whether this is a permanent recalibration or even a substantial one, but the arrival of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has moved the country’s focus northward. A former mayor of...

London is so dominant as a global city that any recalibration is unlikely to hurt. Its real competitors are New York and Dubai — not Manchester.

Six years on from their dramatic UK departure, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are returning from California with their two small children. Royal watchers have many questions: Where will they live and where will Archie and Lilibet go to school? What does this say about Harry’s strained relationship with his father King Charles and brother William? And can Meghan forgive William’s wife Catherine after they fell out over whether the latter’s daughter wore tights to Harry’s wedding?

There’s a corner near my home in south London where young men gather after dark and smoke marijuana. They often play music and shoot a few hoops. There’s a slightly menacing aspect, but they don’t seem to bother anyone. I certainly don’t sense any furtiveness that would suggest a fear of being reported to the authorities.

Six years on from their dramatic UK departure, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are returning from California with their two small children.

Six years on from their dramatic UK departure, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are returning from California with their two small children.

Lawmakers returning to Parliament Tuesday after the long summer recess will notice a new portrait commemorating Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister turned Reform UK spokesperson who was killed in July. And that won’t be the only reminder of that tragic event: Dozens of police and security staff will be arriving in Westminster, picking up passes and acquainting themselves with the lay of the land.

The alarming spike in global bond yields and the brutal impact on the UK’s borrowing costs have sharpened Westminster minds about the unpleasant economic choices ahead. Happily, we appear at last to have a government and opposition offering voters serious competing visions on what those choices should be.

Andy Burnham won power in Britain this summer by proving to his own Labour Party that he could beat the hard-right populists of Reform UK. Now, thanks to a flounce out of Parliament by the prime minister he usurped, he has a chance to show he can slay dragons on the left too.

When Nigel Farage returned to the House of Commons after triggering an unnecessary by-election this summer, he marked the occasion with a video filmed from Parliament’s rooftop. The honey-hued stonework of the Palace of Westminster, set against a clear blue sky, created a fabulous social-media backdrop. Unfortunately, for safety and security reasons, filming on Parliament’s roof is strictly forbidden — as anyone who’s worked on the estate knows. The authorities duly reprimanded Farage.