Keir Starmer is embroiled in a “blazing row” with the Labour left, says Politico, after being accused of “ruthlessly purging their Corbynista comrades”. Veteran MP Diane Abbott has pledged to stand for re-election “by any means possible” after a deal with party leaders over her retirement broke down, while two other leftwing candidates – Faiza Shaheen and Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle – have been deselected. Early results in South Africa’s election suggest the African National Congress will lose its majority for the first time since coming to power 30 years ago. With 18.7% of the vote counted the ANC was on 42.9%, says the FT, “worse than many polls had predicted”. Iceland’s Blue Lagoon has been evacuated after a volcanic explosion nearby. The geothermal spa – the country’s biggest tourist attraction – is located on the Reykjanes peninsula, which has experienced five such eruptions since December.

Mandela “must be turning in his grave”

Thirty years ago, I was in South Africa to witness “constitutional apartheid being exorcised” in the country’s first ever democratic elections, says Peter Hain in The Independent. After yesterday’s vote, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) looks set to lose its majority for the first time – making this the most important election since that historic day when Nelson Mandela came to power. Looking at the state of South Africa today, Mandela “must be turning in his grave”. Corruption has spread “into every corner of life”; during Jacob Zuma’s decade in charge, a fifth of the country’s national wealth was lost to “looting, money laundering and economic collapse”. There are daily blackouts and crushingly high unemployment, and public services like water and education are paralysed. The murder rate is now one of the highest in the world, and income inequality has soared, with the top 0.1% holding a quarter of the country’s wealth.

It’s little surprise, then, that the population has lost faith in democracy: two-thirds claim they’d prefer authoritarianism, in a grim indictment of Mandela’s “rainbow nation”. And although President Cyril Ramaphosa has restored the country’s graft-riddled prosecution service and tax agency, voters are disappointed by the “snail-like” pace of change. The fact that there are a whopping 52 parties on the ballot paper signals “a huge demand for new leadership”, but the ANC’s possible coalition partners include the communist Economic Freedom Fighters, who have said they would arm Russia and Hamas, and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), which is backed by Zuma. Perhaps former activists like me who marvelled three decades ago at the dramatic change we had fought for were “expecting too much, too soon”.

🗳️ 35 days to go...
Election day on 4 July falls just before the quarter-finals of the Euros, and Rishi Sunak will be “desperately hoping” England are still in the tournament, says The Times. According to a 2010 study, incumbents get a lift from the “positive feelings provided by a sporting triumph” of around 2.4 percentage points. The last time a national vote coincided with a major tournament – the 1970 World Cup – England suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to West Germany in the quarter-finals. Four days later, voters booted Harold Wilson out of No 10.

Is it a boat? Is it a plane? No, says The Economist, it’s the AirFish – a new high-tech fast ferry with a top speed of 138mph. The design is based on a Cold War-era naval craft nicknamed the “Caspian Sea Monster” and exploits an area of high pressure created between the wing and the water to glide over the ocean waves. It’s cheaper to produce and run than helicopters or seaplanes, and can operate directly from a small dock or even a beach, making it the ideal ride for its first planned use: island hopping in the Mediterranean.

Ireland is freeloading on defence

Despite the war raging on the EU’s doorstep, there’s one member of the bloc not lifting a finger to help defend the continent, says Eoin Drea in Politico. “That country is Ireland.” Even though 75% of transatlantic undersea cables “pass through or near Irish waters”, Ireland is “totally defenceless”. Its “navy” consists of six patrol vessels, only one of which is currently operating due to “chronic staff shortages”. Things are so embarrassing that when Russian navy ships conducted drills near Irish waters weeks before their invasion of Ukraine, “it was a fleet of Irish commercial fishermen who confronted them”. It’s even worse in the skies. Ireland has no combat jets – instead, it has outsourced its security to Britain “in a technically secret agreement between Dublin and London, which effectively cedes control over Irish air space to the Royal Air Force”.

This isn’t due to a lack of cash. Thanks to Ireland’s strategy of attracting the business of big US companies with rock-bottom tax rates, Dublin is on track to generate yearly budget surpluses of €50bn by 2027. Yet it still stumps up barely 0.2% of GDP on security and defence. Not only does it have an EU opt-out from “European defence responsibilities”; at this year’s Munich Security Conference, the then taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, even flaunted Ireland’s neutrality to attendees who were much more serious about defending their borders. “While the EU – including even Germany – stumbles forward on security and defence, Ireland remains aloof on its island oasis.”

Beverage boffins in Australia have been blasting ground coffee beans with sound waves in their quest for the perfect cup, says Nicholas Jordan in The Guardian. Chemical scientists at the University of New South Wales found that the process sends tiny bubbles into the water and coffee; when these explode, it sends mini shockwaves that can pierce the insides of the grounds, extracting more flavour and caffeine. The result is an “extraordinarily powerful” brew – “aromatic, acidic, rich and viscous”.

It’s the home from Home Alone, which has just gone on sale for $5.25m. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom house in Winnetka, Chicago has undergone extensive renovations since Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, was abandoned there at Christmas in the 1990 film. The “unforgettable staircase” the 10-year-old famously sleds down is still there, but there’s now also a gym, cinema room and state-of-the-art basketball court. Put in an offer here.