The false promise of North Sea oil and gas – Mar 18 2026

UK Edition – Today's top story: Would more North Sea drilling lower UK energy bills? Our analysis says no

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UK Edition | 18 March 2026

“Drill more, pay less” is a powerful political message that resurfaces every time oil prices spike. The UK should double down on North Sea oil and gas, goes the argument, so it can still enjoy cheap energy.

But the reality is not so simple. Cassandra Etter-Wenzel and her colleagues at the University of Oxford say that even a major expansion in North Sea drilling would only make a small dent in household energy bills – even if all tax revenues were used to subsidise costs. The more significant savings, they suggest, would come from something less obvious: moving away from gas-powered electricity and towards renewables.

Meanwhile, in their war on Iran, the US and Israel are making use of AI systems that process vast amounts of military intelligence in seconds. But some researchers worry that it reduces human oversight and can lead to devastating civilian casualties – albeit at a level the AI is programmed to accept.

And the movie Moulin Rouge! turns 25 this year. Richard Rushton, a film studies professor at Lancaster University, looks at how director Baz Luhrmann broke genre conventions and reinvented the musical for a new generation.

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Will de Freitas

Environment + Energy Editor

Would more North Sea drilling lower UK energy bills? Our analysis says no

Cassandra Etter-Wenzel, University of Oxford; Anupama Sen, University of Oxford; Nadia Schroeder, University of Oxford

Maximising North Sea production would reduce bills by just £16 to £82 per year, say researchers.

Iran war shows how AI speeds up military ‘kill chains’

Craig Jones, Newcastle University; Helen M Kinsella, University of Minnesota

The speed and scale of war are being enhanced by AI systems – but they also bring new risks for civilians and military combatants.

Moulin Rouge! turns 25: how Baz Luhrmann reinvented the movie musical

Richard Rushton, Lancaster University

The average shot length in Moulin Rouge! is under two seconds. While acceptable for an action movie, nothing like this had ever been done in a musical.

World

• Hungary’s Viktor Orbán reignites his hostility towards Ukraine as he prepares for April elections
  

  Marc Roscoe Loustau, Central European University

  Viktor Orbán has renewed his hostile approach to Ukraine with elections fast approaching.

• What you need to know about Mexico’s drug cartels amid escalating violence
  

  Raul Zepeda Gil, King’s College London

  Mexico’s cartel landscape has expanded significantly since 2006, fuelled by arms smuggling and drug consumption north of the border.

Politics + Society

• How did the courts backlog get so bad?
  

  Daniel Alge, Brunel University of London

  By autumn 2025 the Crown Court backlog had reached nearly 80,000 outstanding cases.

Arts + Culture

• What the 2026 Oscars revealed about the current political mood in Hollywood
  

  Luis Freijo, King’s College London

  Host Conan O’Brien kept the political references to harmless jokes.

• Horror won big at the 2026 Oscars – it’s time the genre was taken seriously
  

  Frazer Lee, Brunel University of London

  Four of the big winners at this year’s Oscars were horror films – is the genre finally getting some respect from the industry?

• Pets & their People explores the long, strange history of human-animal companionship
  

  Philip Howell, University of Cambridge

  What pets are and what they mean is still a puzzle, as this exhibition explores.

Business + Economy

• Why developing nations could be the first to suffer as the Middle East conflict raises food prices
  

  Lotanna Emediegwu, Manchester Metropolitan University

  Energy price spikes will force up the cost of grain imports.

• The graduate jobs market is tough right now. An entrepreneurship expert explains how to go it alone
  

  Spinder Dhaliwal, University of Westminster

  Resilient and not afraid to learn from your mistakes? Your passion could be the next big start-up.

Education

• Why universities still struggle to make degrees accessible for disabled students
  

  Holly Louise Parrott, The Open University

  Awareness of disability in higher education has improved. Disabled students’ access still depends on how reliably universities deliver support day to day.

Environment

• How a new plan for protein could transform the UK’s national security
  

  Chris Macdonald, University of Cambridge

  Emerging technologies such as lab-based meat could produce the same quality and quantity of protein on hundreds of times less land.

Health

• ‘Sleep divorce’: could separate beds improve your health?
  

  Laura Boubert, University of Westminster

  Sleeping together can synchronise heart rates and boost intimacy. But if a partner disrupts your sleep, separate beds may protect both health and relationship.

• Lupita Nyong’o revealed she has fibroids – here’s what you need to know about them
  

  Nicola Tempest, University of Liverpool

  Around 70-80% of women will develop at least one fibroid by the time they’re 50.

• Why arthritis in children can threaten eyesight
  

  Elizabeth Rosser, UCL; Beth Jebson, UCL

  Up to 30% of children with juvenile arthritis develop uveitis, an eye inflammation that can damage vision. New research highlights immune cells as treatment targets.

• Could Ozempic help people whose cancer has spread to the brain?
  

  Justin Stebbing, Anglia Ruskin University

  Weight-loss injections like Ozempic may help cancer patients with brain tumours live longer. But experts urge caution before drawing firm conclusions.

Science + Technology

• Why some people still believe that aliens shaped ancient civilisations
  

  Stephan Blum, University of Tübingen; Stefan Baumann, KU Leuven

  Debunking alien claims matters, but so does telling richer, more compelling stories about how humans shaped their own past.

The most clicked links from yesterday

• Two people have died from bacterial meningitis in the UK. An expert answers your questions
  

• Saint Patrick’s Day and the mystery of the second Patrick
  

• From the strait of Hormuz to Malacca, global trade relies almost entirely on these five narrow waterways
  

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