british

A British MP did not have permission to build a house in the countryside so he was left with only one option: dig it up

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Housing is one of the main problemsnot only because of the scarcity that makes its price skyrocketsbut because, even if you already have a plot on which to build the house of your dreams, urban planning and environmental legislation will not always allow you to build it. That is precisely what happened to British MP Bob Marshall-Andrews in the late 90s, when he wanted to build a house with sea views in Wales, but faced a huge dilemma. Environmental regulations did not allow him to erect any buildings since it was a natural space. There was only one way out so that your home was legal: dig it out. A house in a hole with sea views As and how did he count Wales Onlinelawyer and Labor Party MP Bob Marshall-Andrews and his wife Gill wanted to escape the bustle of the city and enjoy the leisurely pace of the waves crashing into St. Bride’s Bay on the Pembrokeshire cliffs in the far west of Wales. For years, he and his family had been spending vacations in an old military barracks. on Druidston Cliffuntil the structure began to deteriorate and the need to build something new became apparent. That’s where his problems began. The land of the MP and his wife Gill is located about 150 meters from the sea, in the heart of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, a protected area since 1949 that covers more than 300 kilometers of coastline with cliffs, open beaches, sheltered bays, marshes and dunes. In this environment, the authorities have been traditionally very strict: the neighbors considered practically impossible to obtain permission even for small glazed extensions in existing houses. To comply with the regulations and still stay in that place, the only way was to literally hide the new house underground, excavating the land and taking advantage of the natural ridge of the cliff as part of the construction. The idea came from his son Tom, who thought it would be a good idea to integrate the house into the landscape by excavating it between two hills. The result was Malatora semi-buried house, almost invisible from afar, which today has become one of the most striking examples of architecture integrated into the landscape of the Welsh coast. So much so that it even has your own reference on Wikipedia. A crazy idea that ended in genius The British parliamentarian left the commission to the architects Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levetefounders of the Future Systems studio, had a central premise: to obtain legalized housing that would not give arguments to those responsible for the park. to deny license. To avoid any feeling of privilege towards a parliamentarian, the project was planned from the beginning as a construction that would not compete with the landscape, but would hide in it and reduce its visible impact to a minimum, just as Tom, the son of the owners, had proposed. Thus, the architects chose build downexcavating the hill instead of raising a traditional construction, so that the house will be buried under a cover of earth and grass that continues the shape of the hill. This strategy is reminiscent of ancient techniques from northern Scandinavia, where layers of earth and grass were accumulated to form thick walls with good thermal inertia and great camouflage capacity in the terrain. The designers were inspired by the wing section of an airplane for its visible part. The façade facing the sea is resolved with a large glass plane and portholes, while the upper part and sides are buried and covered with grass and vegetation, so that from the park path the house is perceived as a simple mound covered with grass. This extreme integration with the landscape It was decisive for the local authorities to give their approval, since the construction does not break the undulating line of meadows and bushes nor does it introduce visible plot limits, fences or gardens separated from the rest of the park. Furthermore, technically, no construction had been “raised”. Inside, the curved floor plan is organized around a central fireplace, inspired by the great medieval halls. A large semicircular sofa and prefabricated walls that separate the rooms of the house without touching the ceiling, reinforcing the feeling of continuous space. Respect for the environment was taken to the extreme even during its construction, as many of the internal elements, including the bathrooms, were manufactured in workshops and brought in small pieces to the plot. A decision designed to reduce heavy truck traffic to a minimum on a narrow road adapted to the orography of the cliff. The house soon became popular in the area and, given its peculiar design, the locals have baptized it as “the Teletubbies house” due to its resemblance to the half-buried house from the children’s series, a nickname that its owner receives with humor. In Xataka | Of all the places there were to build a $400,000 house, this millionaire chose the most unusual: in a tree Image | Geograph.org (Cered, Deborah Tilley, Simon Mortimer, Michael Graham, Dave Challender)

The British skipped fuel tax by switching to an electric car. The Government’s solution: create another tax

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The British Government recently announced a new tax for electric vehicles in which drivers would pay per distance traveled (miles), with the intention of it coming into force in April 2028. The measure, which is included in this documenthas drawn criticism from many citizens and experts, and comes at a key moment, as the United Kingdom plans to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars in 2030. Its public coffers are losing revenue from fuel taxes while the adoption of electric vehicles grows. How the system is planned so far. Electric car drivers will pay 3p per mile traveled (about 3.4 euro cents), while plug-in hybrids will pay 1.5 pence. The calculation will be made through an annual mileage estimate that drivers will declare when renewing their road tax, and will subsequently be verified during the technical inspection of the vehicle. According to the Government, an average electric car driver who travels 13,680 kilometers a year you will pay about 255 pounds additional (approximately 295 euros). Why this change matters. Just like share According to The Telegraph, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves justifies the measure as necessary to compensate for the drop in fuel tax revenue. According to Dan Tomlinson, MP and Secretary of the Treasury, if no action is taken, by 2030 one in five drivers will not pay fuel tax while others will continue to contribute an average of £480 annually. According to the media, the Office of Budget Responsibility predicts that this new tax could reduce sales of electric vehicles by 440,000 units in the next five years. Industry reactions. Manufacturers such as Ford and the British manufacturers’ association SMMT have harshly criticized the measure. Ian Plummer, Commercial Director at Autotrader, declared that “we need more carrot and less stick if we are serious about the electric transition.” From Ford they pointed out that the budget sends “a mixed message” about the government’s goal of driving the shift to electric vehicles. Implementation problems. The system presents several practical challenges. Drivers will have to estimate their annual mileage without it necessarily coinciding with the date of their MOT (the equivalent of the MOT in the UK), which complicates the calculation. New cars, which do not require inspection for the first three years, will need additional checks. Furthermore, the Government recognize which could increase odometer fraud, a practice which, according to The Telegraph, already affects 2.3% of British vehicles. A controversial issue. As the current regulations are stated, drivers who use their vehicles outside the United Kingdom They would also pay for those milesdespite not using British roads. The Government justifies this decision by arguing that the percentage of drivers traveling abroad is small, although it recognizes that it will especially affect residents of Northern Ireland, as they frequently cross into the Republic of Ireland. The impact on the pocket. Although the Government insist With the rate equal to half of what gasoline and diesel drivers pay, many electric vehicle owners are already starting to worry. Stephen Walton, a driver who bought an electric car in 2023, counted to the BBC that “it will be my first and last electric vehicle because there are no tax advantages for electric car drivers.” A unexpected advantage for China. Analysts such as Sam Goodman, from the China Strategic Risks Institute, warn that the new tax could encourage British consumers to opt for cheaper Chinese models such as the BYD Dolphin Surfwhich sells for 18,650 pounds compared to the more than 26,000 that some eligible European alternatives cost. During the third quarter of 2025, Chinese models They already represented 11.8% of the British new passenger car market, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. What’s coming now? The Government has opened a consultation period to define the final details of the system before 2028. It also announced an additional investment of 1.3 billion pounds in aid for the purchase of electric vehicles, although only four models currently qualify for the maximum subsidy of 3,750 pounds, the cheapest being the Ford Puma Gen-E (£26,245 applying subsidies). The Office of Budget Responsibility esteem The new tax will raise £1.1bn in its first year and £1.9bn by 2030-31, although the actual figure will depend on how many Britons decide to buy electric cars in the coming years. In Xataka | Your car windshield has hundreds of small black dots. It is not decoration, it is technology to save our lives

There are so many English people living in Alicante that the largest British pub chain has decided something: open there

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The millions of British tourists who land in the province of Alicante each year will now have a piece of their country just before they leave. As if Benidorm, Torrevieja or the entire Costa Blanca had not been enough, next January the first Wetherspoon in all of continental Europe will open at the Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández airport. A “100 Montaditos British style”, but installed in the boarding area and designed, paradoxically, for those who are already queuing to return to the United Kingdom. The very British landing. According to The Guardianthe chain has confirmed that its premiere outside the United Kingdom and Ireland will be in Alicante, where it will open a newly built pub called Castell de Santa Bàrbera (when in Valencian it would be Castell de Santa Bàrbara), in “homage” to the fortress that crowns the city. This is a striking move for the company founded by Tim Martin more than four decades ago and which had never operated on continental European territory. For its part, as The Independent has detailedthe store will open every day from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and will be located in the departures area, aimed mainly at British people returning from vacation. The space will be about 93 square meters and will have an outdoor terrace. In addition, the menu will replicate 90% of the typical Wetherspoon pub menu: full English breakfasts, fish and chips, burgers and pizzas. Even so, it will also incorporate some typical Spanish dish such as garlic prawns or Spanish tortilla, an adaptation that the company has already confirmed. The choice is not accidental. British tourism in the province of Alicante is one of the most important in the region; Benidorm is well known for this. According to data collected by La Vanguardiaalmost 90% of English people choose the province as their favorite destination. Although a decade ago the owner publicly celebrated Brexitthe chain has recently experienced slowing growth in the UK: like-for-like sales of 3.7% in the first 14 weeks of the financial year, lower than in previous years. According to The Telegraphthe company is suffering from the increase in labor, energy and tax costs, which has led its president to explore new markets, and hence its strategy focused on airports: places where traffic is guaranteed and the clientele is usually predisposed to consume, even at times when most bars would not open. A British icon, almost invisible for Alicante. Despite the commotion that the news has generated in the province, the truth is that this first Wetherspoon on the European continent will be out of reach of the general public. It will be necessary to pass security control to access, which makes it a rarity: a British icon installed in Alicante, but almost invisible to the people of Alicante. Although Alicante will be the first, it will not be the only one. Tim Martin has reiterated in different British media that his intention is to open “several pubs abroad in the coming months and years, including some in airports”. The new location at Alicante airport will, therefore, be a test by fire. One last drink before heading home. Alicante can now boast of having the first Wetherspoon on the continent, although only travelers who fly will be able to enjoy it. For British tourists, it will be the last sip of home before returning; For the province, further proof of the weight that this market has in its economy. Time will tell if this little pub next to the departure gates is the start of a new European conquest or simply a last pint in the sun before heading home. Image | FreePik Xataka | Years ago Alicante thought it was a good idea to build an artificial island with a luxurious restaurant. It didn’t turn out as I expected

Gibraltar airport was born as a British military bastion. Now Spain has imposed a veto that will be very expensive

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Since its construction during the Second World War on the narrow strip that separates the Rock from the isthmus, the Gibraltar airport It has been much more than a landing strip: an RAF military enclave, a nerve center for British logistics in the Mediterranean and, at the same time, a constant source of diplomatic friction with Spain. Today, and after Brexit, that old tension resurfaces in new forms. More restrictions. The United Kingdom has confirmed that the restrictions imposed by Spain on the overflight of British military aircraft remain in force, affecting flights arriving or departing from the Royal Air Force (RAF) air base in Gibraltar. Despite this, the British Ministry of Defense insists that the measure has no operational impact and that the base continues to operate as a sovereign military airfield under full authority of the United Kingdom. So he reiterated it Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, Alistair Carns, in response to a series of parliamentary questions posed by Liberal Democrat MP Helen Maguire, who asked for clarification on the logistical and financial consequences of this situation. Carns claimed that RAF aircraft simply They trace alternative routes to avoid Spanish territorial airspace, in accordance with the restrictions imposed by Madrid, and that Gibraltar’s operational capacity has not been compromised. The big doubt. Nevertheless, admitted that no formal study has been carried out on the economic costs derived from diverting flights through other international air information regions, despite the increase in fuel costs and flight time that this implies. The dimension of the blockade. The debate about the military overflights reflects a historical conflict between London and Madrid that has survived all diplomatic stages, from the Cold War to Brexit. Spain, relying on international law and its claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, maintains that all British military activity in the area must comply with its air traffic rules. For the Spanish Government, overflight restrictions are not a sanction, but a legitimate expression of its jurisdiction over the airspace it considers its own. An RAF Hawk at the airport What do the English say? From the British perspective, however, these limitations are a inheritance of tensions that surround the sovereignty of the Rock and a technical rather than political obstacle. In the Westminster Parliament, the issue continues to be a recurring theme, periodically reactivated by particularly combative deputies who see every Spanish gesture as a threat to the British integrity of the enclave. To them, successive governments of the United Kingdom have always responded in the same way: reaffirming their full sovereignty over Gibraltar and the right of its inhabitants to self-determination, without opening any loophole for territorial negotiations with Spain. A Lockheed Hudson of No. 233 Squadron RAF lands at Gibraltar in August 1942 Gibraltar after Brexit. Brexit introduced a new framework of relations that fully affected Gibraltar’s position. After months of negotiationSpain, the United Kingdom and the European Commission reached an agreement that established a joint system customs and border control. Under this pact, Spain will assume controls on the European side at the Peñón port and airport, which will allow more fluid transit to destinations within the European Union. However, the military issue was left out of those understandings. The Liberal Democrat Helen Maguire brought this sensitive point back to the table by asking whether the impact of restrictions Spanish reports on the operations and costs of the British Ministry of Defence. Carns’ response was blunt: air limitations continue, aircraft avoid Spanish space and the base maintains its sovereign status. But, as we said before, the absence of an official calculation on additional spending reflects political will to publicly minimize any consequences derived from the dispute, preserving the narrative of autonomy and absolute control over Gibraltar. Strategic impact. Although London maintains that the Spanish veto does not interfere In its operational freedom, the diversion of military routes involves a considerable logistical effort. Instead of crossing the Iberian Peninsula, aircraft must border it by the Atlanticprolonging the journeys from the British Isles to Gibraltar and complicating supply at a point of strategic value for British operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The RAF base in Gibraltar, next to the port used by the Royal Navy, constitutes an essential axis for surveillance, supply and military transit missions to Africa and the Middle East. The United Kingdom has not revealed figures on the economic impact of the diversions, but parliamentary sources acknowledge that fuel and planning costs are inevitable, especially in rapid deployment exercises or emergencies. Even so, the Ministry of Defense avoid recognizing officially these damages, aware that admitting them would imply granting Spain a political advantage in a matter where each diplomatic gesture has symbolic weight. A geopolitical symbol. If you also want, the conflict over Gibraltar’s airspace condenses centuries of friction between both nations and is projected as a microdemonstration of the balance of power in the Mediterranean. A pesar de los acuerdos pos-Brexit y de la cooperación en materia fronteriza y económica, la defensa del Peñón continúa siendo un terreno de maximum political sensitivity. The RAF base and the port of Gibraltar are more than simple military infrastructure: they represent the last vestige of British projection in southern Europe, a symbolic platform of sovereignty in disputed territory. The Spanish restrictions They do not prevent the operation of that presence, but they require a constant effort of logistical adaptation and a careful diplomatic balance. In this context, the United Kingdom maintains its usual line: denying any operational impact and reaffirming that Gibraltar continues to be, both in the air and on land, an unbreakable piece of its strategic identity. Image | Dicklyon, Harry Mitchell In Xataka | The Strait of Gibraltar was very different eight million years ago. So different that there were two In Xataka | In World War II, Hitler gave Spain the keys to Gibraltar. He did not have what Franco demanded in return

We know that the price of housing in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands is skyrocketing because neither the British nor the Germans can afford it.

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The price of housing in highly stressed tourist areas, such as the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, has reached levels so high that neither the British nor the Germans, traditionally the most active foreign buyers and wealthy people on the islands, can afford to continue acquiring properties at the rate of previous years. As and how they collected in Express this trend well supported by the latest data of the General Council of Notaries, in which a very relevant change can be seen in the Spanish real estate market, especially on the islands, where international demand has always been noted as part of the problem. Fewer houses are sold. According to the log data Notaries, during the first half of 2025, the Balearic and Canary Islands have experienced a real turnaround in the home buying and selling market. The percentage of home sales by foreigners fell by 7.7% in the Canary Islands and 6.8% in the Balearic Islands during the first half of 2025. In the same period, only two territories showed a behavior similar to the islands: Valencia, which fell by 3.6% and Navarra, which reduced the number of purchase and sale operations with foreigners by 3.7%. The reason: too expensive housing. It is enough to continue reviewing the data provided by the College of Notaries to find one of the reasons that could have caused this. drop in trading volume: prices have skyrocketed. The figures show how the traditional appeal for British and German buyers is declining. The data reveal that the average price paid by foreigners in purchase and sale operations in Spain as a whole was 2,417 euros per square meter, which represents an increase of 7.6% compared to the price in 2024. Non-resident foreigners continue to pay higher amounts for their homes (€3,126/m2) than resident foreigners (€1,912/m2) and nationals (1,809 €/m2). In the Canary Islands the average price rose by 14.1%, far exceeding the national average, while in the Balearic Islands the average increase was up to 9% compared to 2024. Source: General Council of Notaries Foreigners continue buying in Spain. The data indicate that the volume of foreign sales operations in Spain has not decreased in the territory as a whole, where the total number of homes bought by foreigners increased 2% compared to last year, reaching 71,155 operations. This variation in the volume of operations on the islands, together with the increase in their price, leads us to suspect that price pressure is differentially affecting the most touristic and stressed areas, especially those that, as in the case of the islandsthe options to expand the surface area for residential housing are very limited. That is to say, it is not that foreigners are buying less, but that they are doing so in less tense and with more reasonable prices. Who buys in Spain? Despite the drop in sales from the islands, the British continue to lead the list of foreign buyers in Spain, with 5,731 registered transactions, followed by Moroccans (5,654 transactions) and Germans (4,756 purchases and sales). However, operations carried out by foreigners represented 19.3% of total sales, a slightly lower proportion than that registered in 2024 with 20.3%. This loss of prominence is felt above all in the islands, where the British and Germans clearly dominated the statistics. The end of the “Golden Visa”. Besides, the advertisement of the elimination of the so-called golden visas or “Golden Visa”“, which allowed you to obtain residency in Spain in exchange for investing a certain amount of money in real estate, has also conditioned the decline in demand. In the first six months of 2025, foreign residents accounted for 60.9% of the purchases made, which represents 6.4% more than the previous year. On the other hand, non-resident foreigners who were affected by the elimination of the ‘Golden Visa’ and had to assume new tax limits, they reduced their purchases by 4.1%. In Xataka | Hoteliers dream of hanging the sign full in 2025. The rent that their employees must pay is their worst nightmare Image | Unsplash (Boris Busorgin)

Jaguar Land Rover continues in crisis for a cyber attack. The magnitude is such that the British government has had to intervene

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August 31Jaguar Land Rover was forced to make a drastic decision: off the majority of its systems to stop a cyber attack. The gesture had immediate consequences. Its factories in the United Kingdom were paralyzed and the interruption also extended to other production centers abroad. Thousands of employees were forced to stay at home in the middle of a global break that lasted almost a month. Now, The company is planning A staggered return of his activity, although not without challenges. September 2, The company spread Your first official statement. He talked about a “cybercormer,” defended the decision to disconnect systems and wanted to reassure customers indicating that there was no data filtration tests. At that time it was thought that the interruption would be brief, just a few days. However, the reality was another: the break continued until September 24 And then one more week was extendedwith October 1 marked as the minimum date to initiate a gradual and phase recovery. The attack that has put Jaguar Land Rover in check Preventive disconnection not only stopped production, much of the internal systems of Jaguar Land Rover also knocked down. Design and management tools They were out of service and engineering processes were interrupted For weeks. The commercial network also suffered: retail and logistics were blocked, forced to operate with manual methods. In spite of everything, the company managed to keep its dealers open and established alternative procedures to process payments, deliver already finished vehicles and ensure the supply of replacement pieces. The blow was global. In addition to British plants, production was interrupted in other international centers, such as Slovakia, Brazil and India. The epicenter was in West Midlands, where Jaguar Land Rover concentrates its headquarters and key factories, surrounded by hundreds of suppliers. The break unleashed a domino effect that left many of those companies without orders. The company itself acknowledged that the impact extended to the entire supply chain, both in the United Kingdom and in other countries. Forensic research has not yet concluded, But the indications suggest a ransomware attack. Shortly after the crisis exploded, a self -denominated group “Scattered Laps $ Hunters” appeared on Telegram that published images of internal systems of Jaguar Land Rover. The denomination points to a collaboration between groups such as Scatrtered Spider, Lapse $ and Shinyhunters, all with history in attacks against large companies. Internal data filtration reinforces the extortion hypothesis, although the company has avoided confirming the authorship and has not revealed whether it received a specific rescue request. Attack management involves multiple actors beyond Jaguar Land Rover. ANDThe National Cybersecurity Center leaders Together with private specialists, the analysis of what happened, while the government receives regular information about the progress of recovery. Company managers They have attended meetings with ministers And they have explained that the lap should be done step by step. From there arises the restart strategy in phases: first critical systems proven in controlled environments, then a progressive resumption of production. It is a process still underway, with the priority set to run more risks. The cost of the break is measured in tens of millions. Every week without production was for Jaguar Land Rover losses close to 50 million pounds (about 59 million euros), a blow that forced the Moody’s A agency lower your perspective positive to negative financial. The interruption not only affected the company: Hundreds of suppliers They saw their orders frozen and some smaller companies began to cut template. To contain the crisis, the British government offered a loan guarantee for 1.5 billion pounds (about 1,790 million euros), to which Jlr added one Own financing line with commercial banking of 2,000 million pounds (about 2,360 million euros). The crisis has not only evidenced the fragility of Jaguar Land Rover, it has also lit the alarms throughout the automotive. A manufacturer of this size, with global resources and experience, has needed almost a month to try to start back after a computer attack. This vulnerability forces to review cybersecurity strategies in the industry, from network segmentation to continuity plans. The case will serve as a reference for other manufacturers: the question is no longer whether there will be new attacks, but how to minimize its effects when they arrive. Images | Robin Mee him | Jaguar Land Rover In Xataka | 200 people paid to see a drone show in Valencia. The problem is that the event did not exist

The culture of queuing in UK is so powerful that many British suffer a real cultural shock by “asking for the time”

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“The other day I go to the post office and everyone is sitting everywhere, in a corner of the room, etc … there is no tail.” So explained The British Tiktoker @edwardthelife What for him is “one of the greatest greatest cultural differences: the fact that in Spain” is asked at the same time. “ And it may seem an exaggeration, but (in the light of comments) it makes sense: “An English, even being alone, will form an orderly tail of a person,” said George Mikes and Check the anthropologist Kate Fox: The British loves to queue each other. Or, at least, they have them so within their cultural conception of the world that they make them by default, almost without realizing it. But does it make sense? The theory of tails. As it seemsthe first serious mathematical study on the queues was made by a Danish, Agner Krarup Erlang. His intention was to know how to dimension the telephone switches to attend optimally. At that time, the operators had to manage the calls manually and the intention of the Danish mathematician was how to reduce the queues without spending disproportionate. Since then we have learned a lot of interesting things. For example, now we know that common sense (the solution to bottles is to expand the number of lanes) It doesn’t always work. In the case of roads, for example, there is an optimal number for a certain amount of cars: if the number of lanes above that optimal lanes is wide, cars change too much lane and, in the end, the flow becomes slower. But in this case the two are tails, right? Indeed, the fundamental difference between the “English tail” (to call it in some way) and the “Spanish time” (to call it from another) is not that one is a tail and the other does not, but the rules that govern each one. The second, in fact, is still a social/virtual order without physical training. The English, requiring that all members physically make a line, allows us to better ponder the number of people in front of them. The Spanish, having verbal control, allows people to do things in the meantime (or to wait in more comfortable places). Is there any better than another? From what we know about virtual tails, order without physical formation usually Improve satisfaction of users (to the extent that you release the client from “being planted”). However, this system also encourages abandonment more than the other. That is why, when I wait for her It is not too long And therefore release user time does not make sense, a single long row (especially if there are several homogeneous attention positions) It usually favor the feeling of equity. ANDSa may be the most reasonable explanation. Because, in Spain, there are also physical tails. It is when the wait is long or when the physical space does not allow to create a tail easily when “asking for the time” emerges naturally. So I suppose that whoever has to take note of the Tiktoker comments is the mail itself. Most likely, neither space nor the time of waiting is the most recommended. Image | Xiangkun Zhu In Xataka | Charge 38 dollars an hour for saving a tail: the millionaire idea that was born after the launch of the iPhone 5

British record looking for VPN

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The United Kingdom launched this Friday Its online Safety Act, a new regulation that forces various platforms to establish age verification systems. The excuse is to protect minors from access to harmful content for them – especially pornographic – but the activation of these requirements has caused a unique consequence: an absolute boom of VPN services. Who has a VPN, has a treasure. And more and more. These VPN services (Virtual private networks) have just become the great allies of those who consume pornographic content in the United Kingdom, whether minors or not. It was demonstrated by the most unloaded applications rankings in the App Store this weekend: of the 10 most downloaded apps, five were VPNS apps (Virtual Private Networks). The use of VPN is multiplied by 19. Such has been the impact of these measures that Chatgpt, which was the most unloaded app in the United Kingdom according to the classifications of the App Store, has now been surpassed by Proton VPN, one of the most popular services of this type. As indicated In Financial Timesthe Swiss company Proton, responsible for that service, said that the increase in records in its VPN app by British users was 1,800%. Great Winners. Other VPNS apps such as those developed by the Super Unlimited or Nord Security companies also grew in popularity after the activation of the online Safety Act. In the case of Nordvpn, its developers told FT that growth in the United Kingdom had been 1,000%. Because. These services allow users to simulate that they are visiting websites from a different country when enrupted traffic using IPS from any country that the user chooses. A minor British user who wants to visit pornographic content has it easy: it is enough to use one of these apps, configure it to simulate that he is sailing from another country without age verification controls, and continue navigating as if such a thing. How the story has changed. The original purpose of VPN services is to protect communication to prevent someone from infiltrating it and can extract it. Although initially it was oriented to professional environments in which sensitive information is handled, today its use has become popular to prevent authorities from monitoring our use of the Internet. Thus, it is common for VPN users to use for discharges of author protected by author rights or pornographic content. Five minutes to skip the controls. Using these services was somewhat more complicated in the past, but today starting them costs less than five minutes: it is enough to download them, pay the monthly subscription and choose the country from which we want to simulate that we are connected. Everything is theoretically hidden from regulators’ eyes, but there are certain risks. VPNS can imprison our data. Years ago we had already notified that Many free VPNS They collected their own users’ data – to which they do access, since they are the intermediaries – in their own benefit, but even in the payment VPNs there are suspicions about it. Although many services presume “non -log policies that do not create records of our activity, some can do so. If not directly, yes by cross data, for example of use analyzes. In addition, these “Internet traffic stores” become dangerous repositories If they end up being hacked: the creators of a VPN service may be perfectly correct with the use of that data, but if someone infiltrates their platforms, that data would be exposed. A prelude to what can happen in Spain and the EU. The age verification systems that have now entered into force in the United Kingdom are Starting to be implemented Also in Spain and in the European Union. In our country the controversial “Pajorte” –Officially, Beta Digital– It has become one of the reference projects. The European Commission He is working in A European digital identity which should be ready at the end of 2026 and that theoretically can also be used as part of an age verification system on websites. Challenges and VPN in sight. As our Xatakamóvil colleagues, the Open Source app for Android that is being developed in the EU to verify the age in online services, It depends too much on Google: I would not work in mobiles with the Google operating system without a license – as in Huawei mobiles. Criticism They have already begun to appear, and show that once again that obsession for putting doors to the field is very delicate. Not only that: it will not help much because again the VPNs probably allow to avoid this type of controls. VPNS rubbing his hands. With governments increasingly determined to try to control everything we say and do on the Internet, VPN services become the great indirect beneficiaries of these policies. If things follow this course, it seems clear that more and more users will end up hiring this type of services to try to avoid those controls. Hello, China. The situation is such that remember which has been lived in China for years. There the surveillance and censorship imposed by the Government It is absolutely brutal at the time of Navigate onlineand it is only possible to escape from it through VPN services, which are also highly restricted and persecuted. The risk for Western countries, which until not long presumed not to have such restrictive policies, end up adapting them. They have been doing it for years, in fact: before the excuse was terrorism, and now it is the protection of minors. Image | Petter Lagson In Xataka | Europe has approved that digital identity will be voluntary: we already know that in practice it will be mandatory

A British F-35 has been stranded in India. Almost as surreal as the day a hunt landed in a Spanish container

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The truth is that the United Kingdom expected The F-35b out A practically invincible huntbut today it flies little, and the times that does certainly surrealist situations like the one that is happening right now In India. Be that as it may, not even the current scene approaches what happened in 1983, when the indescribable episode known as the incident in the Alraigo occurred. The hunt does not start. British f-35b furtive furtive hunt, one of the most advanced and expensive on the planet, remains stranded more than a month In India since he made an emergency landing on June 14 at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (Kerala) due to a technical failure related to the hydraulic system and the auxiliary power unit. A team of British engineers and military He arrived in the country on July 6 To take exclusively responsible for the repairs that are carried out under strict security measures in a deprived hangar of Air India, completely sealed and with restricted access to local forces. Although the aircraft was transferred from its initial location after three weeks immobilized, there is no news about when it will be operational again. The Government of India has taken the opportunity to take advantage of the hunting situation Everything goes wrong. But as we said at the beginning, the story, although difficult to believe, is little compared to What happened several decades ago. In June 1983, during NATO maneuvers off the coast of Portugal, the young British lieutenant Ian “Soapy” Watson took off from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious aboard a Hunt is Harrier For a simulated search mission under combat conditions. Together with another pilot they had to locate a French aircraft carrier keeping the radio silence and the radars off until they reached the assigned area. After activating them, they both separated and, at the end of the search, Watson tried to meet with his partner, but failed to contact. When running out of precise navigation references and with the inoperative radio, It was disoriented In full ocean. Without any contact, without a signal in the radar and with the fuel running out, the pilot knew that he had to make a drastic decision. The impossible maneuver. Looking for maritime traffic signs, its radar finally detected a goal: the Spanish merchant ship Alraigowhich was heading to Tenerife. Unable to communicate with the crew, Watson decided to make a past to get his attention. When observing that the containers on the roof formed a flat platform similar to a training track, he opted for Try the unthinkable: land your vertical hunting on load containers. Although He managed to perchthe aircraft began to slide back until its landing train partially fell from the edge, even impacting Against a van destined for a florist on the island of Tenerife. However, the hunt did not fall and was embedded on the containers. The scene (and images) were forever in the history of aviation. Arrival. The Captain of the Alraigo, impassive, notified the British authorities that they would deliver the pilot and his plane In Tenerife in four dayswithout altering your route. Upon arrival in Puerto, a multitude of journalists waited for the surreal scene with the Sea Harrier mounted on a merchant ship. This was the hunt after the “impossible” maneuver Diplomatic consequences. Upon arriving at Puerto, both Naviera García Miñaur and the Red Crew considered that they had starred in an authentic Maritime rescueas contemplated by Spanish legislation. The value of the Harrier, then encrypted at 1,500 million pesetas, was not a small thing. To ensure the collection of a fair award, lawyer Fernando Meana He requested without success The preventive embargo of the plane. Given the judicial refusal, it was decided to go to An arbitration in Londonwith the certainty that British legislation (unlike the Spanish) would grant the entire reward to the shipowner, leaving out the crew. Legal justice. It was then when He entered the scene The lawyer José María Ruiz Soroa, who defended the sailors commissioned by the Merchant Marine Free Union. Thanks to a thorough investigation, Ruiz Soroa located in his father’s archives a forgotten British law, The Maritime Conventions Act of 1911, which established that the distribution of the prize should be made according to the legislation of the country of the Salvador ship. That norm changed everything. After harsh negotiations, he managed to be signed A new contract with the British embassy in Madrid that guaranteed the application of Spanish law. Thus, the crew and owners of the ship received compensation close to The 570,000 pounds (about 1.14 million dollars of the time). The case became a mixture of diplomatic anecdote, media circus and legal rarity. Responsibilities Initially, Watson underwent A research board aboard the Illustriumus, which did not take disciplinary measures. But once the aircraft carrier returned to Puerto, a second board attributed partial responsibility, claiming that it had only completed 75% of its training and that the hunting had technical failures, especially in the radio system. The pilot was reprimanded and relegated to administrative functions. However, Watson continued his career, accumulating more than 2,000 flight hours in Sea Harriers and 900 more in F/A-18 before leaving the Navy in 1996. Despite the controversy, always He assumed responsibility Without excuses: “It was my fault. I was there. And there should end everything.” Thus, what began as a routine operation ended up becoming one of the most unique and bizarre episodes of British naval aviation. Image | Navy, Reddit In Xataka | The United Kingdom was waiting for an invincible hunt. Today, the F-35 flies little and cannot shoot its own weapons In Xataka | The hunt that still resists in Iran more than 40 years after his arrival. It is not Russian or Iranian. It is the American F-14

In World War II, the British were looking for an antibunker bomb. So they copied a Disney idea

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The morning of last Sunday, June 22, The United States deployed its B-2 With a mission: launch, for the first time, its new MOP pumps on Iranian bases. These mass bombs have a single function: eX PLACE IN Underground Bases And, despite being avant -garde armamentits technology began to be tested decades ago, in the Second World War. It was the British who developed a bomb capable of bursting a bunker, and their inspiration came from the most unexpected place. A Disney movie. Need. It is in the war when the brightest minds of each country gather to invent new ways of killing. Even if they don’t know what the consequences of their creations will be. The World War I It was a period of Technological Revolutionthe second more of the same and In the Cold War The Explosion of nuclear bombs (and almost that of chickens). In short: each country in conflict wants have the “fattest” bomb. In the mid -2GM, the British sought a powerful bomb, but with a more concrete objective than that of causing all possible damage: they wanted something capable of advising a blow to the bunkers heart and Nazi submarine factories. Thus, they developed the Tallboy and the Grand Slampumps of five and ten tons respectively designed to hit near the target, penetrate the earth, exploit and cause damage to the shock waves transmitted through the ground. The idea was good, but they still needed something more concrete than those “earthquake” bombs. And then, someone saw this propaganda movie of Disney: Drawing pump. Leaving aside that you could keep your mouth open because … yes, that Disney produced ithe who saw the short was Edward Terrellof the Royal Reserve of Naval Volunteers. It is said that, after watching the film, Terrell and other officers, they would ask if it would be possible to design a bomb that directly crossed the concrete and destroy objectives such as the Nazi submarinesas seen in one of the frames, instead of waiting for the expansive wave of an earthquake to damage the underground base. In September 1943, engineers got to work while the viability of the pump was discussed. There were those who opposed, but Churchill was approved and, there, the development began. Edward Terrell and two other RAF officers with a Disney bomb Promising. The Disney pump, baptized Officially as “4,500 pump assisted by rocket to drill concrete” (‘Disney bomb’ has much more stuck, where we are going to stop) it was massive not so much because of the dimensions, but because of the weight and its explosive capacity. With just over five meters long and 43 centimeters in diameter, it had a weight of 2,000 kilos. As his name indicated, he was driven by RP-3 rockets And as an explosive it was loaded with 230 kilos of ‘Shellite‘, a mixture designed during World War I. Thrown from Boeing B-17 or B-29 aircraft, its operation was simple: to boost with the rockets to reach a speed of more than 1,500 km/h, penetrate everything possible due to accumulated kinetic energy and detonate late within the installation. In addition, its maximum penetration was about 5 meters of reinforced concrete, enough to cause great damage to enemy structures. Afternoon, too late. The bomb was promising, but it took too long. They began to develop late (when they had the idea, go) and that caused that it was not ready until almost the end of the conflict. In January 1945 they carried out some tests and, although the bomb was British, it was the United States Air Force that had of it. Between February and April 1945 they launched a total of 158 Disney bombs against bunkers and submarine factories in Germany. A clear objective was Valentin, a U-Bats factory That it was about to be completed, something that the allies could not allow and managed to cause damage to the target with armor 4.5 meters thick, but had a trick: it had already been previously damaged by the Grand Slam bombs of the British. A fair shotgun. The Disney bomb was a disaster for two reasons. The first and most obvious is that it came very late and attacks on underwater bases did not mean a real difference in the outcome of the conflict in the European territory. But, in addition, they failed. During the Valentin bunker attack More than 60 pumps were launched, but only one directly impacted and, as we say, the damages caused were preceded by the explosions of the British bombs thrown days before. For more inri, in evidence during the years after World War II with controlled releases in the Helgoland Islandof 76 bombs released, it was discovered that the lighting of the rockets failed in 37% of the cases, very limiting the penetrating power of the projectile. In addition, some bombs exploited prematurely and would not serve to achieve the objectives. Yes one thing was discovered: the maximum penetration of 5.08 meters in concrete. The MOP, Disney’s legacy. In the end, between technical, tactical and temporary problems, the efficacy of the Disney pump was extremely limited, but it is clear that it represented an important technological advance in the Antibunker war. So much that he laid the foundations for future penetration weapons. And of those rains, these sludge, as they say. The GBU-57A/B. launched by the US against Iran is the latest technology of the MOP bombs, or ‘Massive Ordnance Penetrator’. The big difference with the Disney pump is that this huge 6.25 meters long projectile and the FRIOLERA OF 13,600 KILOS (2,400 of them are explosives) Yes it works, also penetrating up to 60 meters of concrete. And another difference is that it is launched from such high (12 kilometers from a B-2) that does not need engine, since it is gaining speed as it falls, being very precise thanks to its laser guidance. In short, technology that is not so much of science fiction and that shows that we are great … Read more

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