Conservatives Win Big, UK Aide Quits, Snail Thrives

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned on February 8, 2026, over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, according to Al Jazeera. The resignation came after files revealed the extent of Mandelson's relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

McSweeney stated, "After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself," according to Al Jazeera.

In other news, according to BBC Business, voluntary student loan repayments are on the rise in England. Luke England, a recent graduate and new father, is voluntarily paying an extra 75 pounds per month on top of his regular 250-pound repayment. He hopes to clear his debt in six years instead of the projected 12. "There's a hundred other things that I could put that money to," Luke said, according to BBC Business.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the conservative governing party is on course for a landslide victory in the recent elections, according to The Guardian. Exit polls indicated strong public endorsement of the new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi. The Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win between 274 and 328 seats out of a total, according to The Guardian.

Also, a button-sized snail, the greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis), once thought to be extinct, is now thriving again after conservation efforts, according to The Guardian. Conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs. The snail was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago.

Finally, according to The Guardian, concessions made by Sussan Ley to reunite the Coalition may have damaged her credibility and potentially tipped MPs into the camp of a rival ahead of an expected leadership spill. One Liberal MP questioned the rationale of voting for a party in coalition with the Nationals, given the Nationals' policy objectives.