This Is Why

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is announcing some of the biggest reforms to the asylum system since WWII. Trump has U-turned on the Epstein files, calling for Republicans to vote for their release. And house prices have fallen below their expected level. Sophy and Wilf explain the reforms, give their take on Trump and discuss why house prices are one to watch in today's episode of cheat sheet - al...

Who is Sir Robbie Gibb and is he the most influential figure at the BBC?  In a week marred by controversy, the organisation has seen the departure of two senior figures and has made an apology to the US president over an edited clip of a speech to his followers on 6 January.   There are rumours that the BBC's director general and chief executive were brought down as part of an "insi...

Reports say income tax won't increase in Rachel Reeves's budget - but where will the chancellor find the money for government spending shortfalls? The BBC responds to Donald Trump's threat of a $1bn lawsuit as the US president's deadline looms. Plans are laid out for renters and landlords under huge reforms. And an intruder gets onto the Wicked 'yellow carpet' premiere in Singapore. He's been char...

A tricky week for Wes Streeting was eased ever so slightly by the news NHS waiting lists have shrunk – if not by much.  But the health secretary will still be nursing his bruises a day after having to deny he was plotting to oust the prime minister.   If he really is in the waiting room hoping to enter Number 10 it would help if his NHS record was given a positive diagnosis.  M...

New emails and documents provide an insight into the relationship between Donald Trump and the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. He has repeatedly denied any involvement or knowledge about Epstein's sex trafficking operation. Meanwhile, research shows children are using e-cigarettes more than adults and are even skipping school to vape. And toy sales are up as 'kidults' buy Minecraft and Lego....

Sir Keir Starmer is standing on the edge of a black hole. The budget is looming and Downing Street believes some of the prime minister’s own MPs may move against him if it is badly received.  Much of the jitters within Labour swirl around the filling of a black hole in the public finances that may actually be self-imposed and self-inflicted. Niall is joined by our data and economics editor Ed...

Nonita had a voice, but nobody heard it. Aged just 18 and in care, Nonita was hit and killed b y a moving train – despite repeatedly warning the professionals responsible for her that she planned to take her own life. Shocked by Nonita's untimely death, Katharine Bryson - a volunteer who had worked with her - became determined to find out who knew what, and when. What she uncovered horrified her –...

The row over how President Trump was portrayed in a Panorama programme has proved to be a scandal too far for embattled BBC bosses.  Director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness have both resigned.  Mr Trump's lawyers are demanding the BBC retracts the "false" statements in the documentary or face legal act...

A revenge record from the pop star Lily Allen has led to a storm of negative headlines for its alleged inspiration – her estranged husband, David Harbour.   It’s unfortunate timing for the Stranger Things star – with the final season of the Netflix hit dropping at the end of November.   As if that wasn’t enough, there have also been allegations of workplace bully...

Have you been feeling a bit more right wing recently? If you're an avid user of X then it appears Elon Musk is trying to make that the case. For the first time, a Sky News investigation has uncovered how the social media platform's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. Niall is joined by Sky News data and forensics journalists Tom Cheshire and Kaitlin Tosh. Producer: Tom Gillespie Ed...

With the leaders of some of the world's most polluting countries - the US, China and India - set to skip it, is the COP climate conference irrelevant? The event in Brazil next week marks three decades of target-setting and financial pledges - yet temperatures are still rising and so are emissions. Were all those promises a load of hot air? Have dreams of net zero gone up in smoke? Niall is joined...

Fatal crashes caused by young drivers inflict untold suffering on survivors and the loved ones left behind. But what about the trauma experienced by first responders?  They are part of the so-called ripple effect caused by the aftermath of tragedies on UK roads - and their stories are rarely told.  Niall is joined by Sky correspondent Dan Whitehead, who spoke to NHS workers about their e...

From stabbing attacks to assaults and antisocial behaviour, do you still feel safe taking the train?   On Saturday evening, 11 people were injured on board a high-speed train travelling between Doncaster and London.   The rampage might well have been worse if it wasn’t for the actions of the staff on the train and the swift response from the emergency services. But can we every truly be...

Police are still trying to work out the motive for Saturday’s mass stabbing on a train from Doncaster to London. Sophy has spoken to the sole survivor of the Air India crash which killed 241 people back in June. And Wilf has heard from the US ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens, who wants the UK to keep drilling for oil and gas.

From Monday, Sky News has a new podcast for your morning commute. Sophy Ridge and Wilf Frost will be up early to get across the news so you don't have to. Cheat Sheet is a 10 minute briefing of all the big stories as you start your day. And you'll still have the Sky News Daily to drill down into one topic as you come home.  In your feeds around 6am every weekday, from Monday November 3rd. 

The King has announced that his brother, Andrew, will lose the title of ‘Prince’ which he was born with, and will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The unprecedented move comes after ongoing revelations about Andrew’s relationship with the paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. It also comes after the release of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, a woman who claimed to have had sex with Andrew when she wa...

Tens of thousands of people were killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir in the days after it was captured by a paramilitary group, analysts believe.  The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war with Sudan's army since 2023 and have been accused of carrying out ethnically-motivated mass killings and other atrocities. Now, new satellite images appear to show ground stained with blood and scatt...

Why did the Home Office pay Hadush Kebatu £500 to leave the country?    Sky News has spoken to migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu hours after he was deported to Ethiopia. He claims he tried to hand himself in to police after he was released accidentally from prison last Friday but they ignored him.       Responding to Kebatu's claims, the Metropolitan Police told Sky News: "The Met is not aware of...

Less than two weeks after Prince Andrew announced he was giving up most of his royal titles he is now facing mounting calls to leave his 30-room home in Windsor.    Public anger over the prince’s links to Jeffrey Epstein has been reignited following revelations in the posthumous memoir of his sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.     Andrew continues to deny all the allegations against him – bu...

Ukrainian soldiers sprint away from a disabled tank on the battlefield while their control room desperately tries to help them evade the Russian drones pursuing them.   Later, a Russian soldier waves a white flag from the basement entrance of a gatehouse which was targeted by Ukrainian quad-copter drones. It's become a war of the future in the so-called "kill zone" in the Donbas region of Ukraine...

A former television presenter and heavy metal drummer has become the first woman to be elected prime minister of Japan. Sanae Takaichi is known for her right-wing views and cites Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration. But it's not just her political beliefs that are controversial – Ms Takaichi has a love of hard rock and motorbikes, despite her deeply conservative background. Why has it taken so lon...

Whether they are providing the beef for your roast dinner or the milk for your cup of tea – cows are undeniably useful animals. The problem is they also enjoy burping and breaking wind and it's having a huge impact on global warming. The steaks couldn’t be higher and that’s why an agricultural college in Scotland has developed the Cool Cows programme to breed the animals in a way that means they e...

With Ukraine highlighting the use of UK hardware in strikes against Russia and the US insisting British military personnel join a team monitoring the Gaza ceasefire, are we at risk of ending up in a wider conflict? The possibility, however slim, that UK soldiers could be engaged in fighting in the Middle East follows Ukraine's very public revelation that British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles were...

The rise of AI has been hailed as a new industrial revolution - a huge economic success story (depending on your point of view) with massive implications for energy, materials and jobs.     In the US, artificial intelligence has accounted for the vast majority of economic growth so far this year - not least because of the patronage of Donald Trump, who's also fond of taking AI-generated jibes at h...

The downfall and disgrace of Prince Andrew has taken another dramatic turn after he announced he was giving up some of his royal titles.     Reports have emerged that Andrew asked his personal protection officer to help with a smear campaign against Virginia Giuffre years before she filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault. The prince continues to deny any wrongdoing.      What role di...