21 July - The Knowledge

In the headlines

France will double the number of police patrolling its beaches, using £54m from the Home Office, after 287 migrants made it to England in 12 boats yesterday. The number of people heading across the Channel this year has now overtaken the total for 2020, including 1,000 in the past three days. Calm, sunny seas are encouraging crossings. Jeff Bezos went to the edge of space for 11 minutes yesterday afternoon. “Best day ever,” he said as he left his capsule. More than a million children missed school last week because of Covid, and the British Meat Processors Association has warned the Today programme that Britain’s “pingdemic” is threatening food supply chains.

Noted

A “tornado” of mosquitoes has been captured on film in eastern Russia. In recent years temperature increases attributed to climate change have intensified the “giant pillars” of frenzied mozzies looking for a mate on the Kamchatka peninsula. “Move over, Sharknado,” says the New York Post.

Zeitgeist

Jeff Bezos went to space and back yesterday – but how did his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, feel about the journey? Pretty positive, one Twitter user thought: “Hard to imagine a better divorce outcome than getting 50 billion dollars and then your ex literally leaves the planet.”

Tomorrow’s world

Invasive feral pigs pose a bigger climate risk than a million cars. Australian researchers estimate that, over five continents, 4.9 million metric tons of trapped carbon dixoide are released each year by pestilent pigs digging for food. That’s the equivalent of the annual carbon emissions from 1.1 million passenger vehicles.

Quoted

Quoted 21-07

“Happy is what you realise you are a fraction of a second before it’s too late.”

Author Ali Smith

Snapshot answer

It’s Sajid Javid. The Health Secretary, who tested positive for Covid on Saturday, is celebrating his 24th wedding anniversary with his wife, Laura – in isolation. Javid shared a wedding picture on Twitter with the caption: “To the love of my life. Happy 24th wedding anniversary! (Not quite how we planned to spend it).”

Love etc

Pornhub has made an unexpected entrance into the art world by “re-enacting” masterpieces with adult movie stars. Botticelli’s Venus is played by Cicciolina (a porn star and former Italian MP who married artist Jeff Koons), and the Renaissance portrait morphs into an orgy. Titian’s Venus of Urbino suddenly starts masturbating. Sex-crazed art fans may be won over, but museums aren’t happy – the Louvre and the Uffizi are suing Pornhub for reproducing the images without permission.