Hello from The National and welcome to the View from London – your weekly guide to the big stories from our London bureau
Turning point
Populist-right politics may have changed a few things around Europe, most notably migration. But the insurgents have yet to surmount the commanding heights of power in a big country.
If it is a trek or an assured ascent remains open to question. I suspect Tuesday was something of a watershed.
Far-right French politician Martine Le Pen vowed to run as a candidate in the French presidential election next year after a court found her guilty on charges of embezzlement of public funds.
"Tonight, I am a candidate in the presidential election," Ms Le Pen said after a meeting at party headquarters with legal advisers and heir Jordan Bardella, 30.
But wait, there was a UK build-up to this announcement. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, quit as an MP and announced he would stand in his own showdown by-election to allow voters to cleanse his record. The people of his constituency, Clacton, will be asked to back him over allegations in front of inquiries by the UK parliament's standards commissioner in the months ahead.
A YouGov poll released on Wednesday found that three in five UK voters think Mr Farage has not been honest about his finances.
Stamina displayed
That showdown won't be Keir Starmer's problem. It is all but certain his government now has less than two weeks of shelf life.
There will be many metrics applied to its performance and that of its members. One standout is that it restored a Middle East and North Africa minister post and that minister went on to top the tables of most Urgent Questions answered in parliament.
It is an unheralded relevance in wider parliamentary life. But the 19 UQs answered by Hamish Falconer tells us about the importance of his brief. All the more remarkable then that half his tenure in the post so far he served unpaid. The government had used all its ministerial salary slots but the former diplomat took on the position with determination to use his experience well.
Mr Falconer made what could be his last appearance before the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.
The MPs did not let up in their hard-nosed questioning on Israel and Palestine, a topic on which he has so often defended the government’s position, which has infrequently reflected public opinion.
Launches galore
To London's Canary Wharf for a global launch of the investment platform eToro into an AI-driven world.
Chief executive Yoni Assia, who was there with his father, told me about the generational journey from his grandfather only investing in AAA bonds, through the middle generation's equity journey and his own risk attitudes to investments such as crypto, and now a new cohort going into prediction markets.
Regulatory environments for crypto and digital assets are very much to the fore as that world transforms.
Talking of a world transformed, I was also at Kensington Olympia's redevelopment as a cultural and recreational centre.
General manager of the Hyatt Regency hotel Georges Moura told me of the appeal of the area. "There is a strong potential because we are in the centre of London," he says. "We are close to most of the landmarks of London."
Bounty arriving
Is British investment following a familiar rule with the ITV and Easyjet buyouts?
Our writer Chris Blackhurst looks at how two prominent names in the UK's investment landscape are now folding into investment-led bids.
ITV’s chairman, Andy Cosslett, said that along with Sky it will form a new force as “a UK champion, with the scale and resources to better compete with global streaming platforms”.
Airline easyJet has also revealed it is being sold, for £5.5 billion to US finance firm Castlelake.
Both deals will be the subject of official scrutiny but the truth is easyJet’s typically bold moves have for a while been put on hold.
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