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By Victoria Seabrook, climate reporter

For years nuclear was a dirty word. Now, the tide is turning.

For the past 20 years or so, global nuclear power has stagnated amid concerns about its environmental damage and its safety after the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters.

Another nail in its coffin appeared to be its appalling record of delays and costs, while wind and solar plummeted in price and soared in supply.

But leaders are warming up to nuclear again, driven by a few key trends.

Demand for energy

First and foremost, they are anxious to keep pace with booming demand for low-carbon energy, driven by an explosion of data centres and the switch to electric cars and heat pumps.

Data centres for AI and cloud computing not only have a voracious appetite for energy, but as they operate 24/7, they need a more steady, reliable stream. Enter: nuclear, which can provide this most of the time.

The 'flat pack' power plant

Secondly, a new type of nuclear power plant may be on the horizon.

The much vaunted small modular reactors (SMRs) promise to be much faster and cheaper to build, as the parts can be built in a factory and assembled on site - the flat pack furniture of nuclear power.

The government wants Rolls-Royce to get the UK's first SMRs online "in the 2030s". That's most likely another 10 years from now, so a mid-term solution, with much more clean power is needed in the meantime, hence the announcement of 拢14bn for Sizewell C in Suffolk.

Beyond the UK, even Japan - which suffered the 2011 Fukushima disaster - and Germany - which detests nuclear - are warming up to it. So are tech giants like Google and Meta.

The undeniable price tag

That's not to say nuclear does no damage.

Sizewell C has been very unpopular with some local campaign groups that protest its local damage to trees, birds and coastline, and they recently launched a fresh legal challenge to additional flood barriers.

Large reactors like have also been eye-wateringly expensive and slow, and must be routinely taken offline for maintenance.

Critics argue solar and wind power, backed up by batteries, are faster, cheaper, and safer. Others want the money to be spent on reducing demand for power in the first place by insulating homes.

But societies and leaders are slowly becoming less concerned about nuclear disasters and other environmental impacts, and much more worried about climate change and reliable energy supplies.

The Wargame was designed to test the state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cuts to military spending after the end of the Cold War.  

A year in the making, the podcast was recorded in just one day with a cast of politicians and their advisers, all of whom had worked at the top levels of the British government.  

In today's episode, Dominic Waghorn talks to security and defence editor Deborah Haynes, who created and wrote The Wargame, about why she thought it was so important to make the podcast - and to former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who plays the prime minister. 

The government has announced plans to decriminalise rough sleeping by spring next year.

This involves revoking the 1824 Vagrancy Act, which was brought into law "to deal with rising homelessness which increased after the Napoleonic Wars and Industrial Revolution".

The government says the law's use has "significantly declined" in recent years "in line with modern attitudes and greater understanding around the causes of homelessness".

The last Conservative government tried to bring in tighter restrictions on rough sleeping, but withdrew them after a revolt from its backbenchers.

But it did announce plans to repeal the Vagrancy Act in 2022 - although this was never followed through.

'No one should be criminalised for sleeping rough'

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said:鈥� "We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support.鈥�

"No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again."

The changes have been welcomed by the likes of Crisis and St Mungo's.

Instead of the two century old legislation, police can use the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to manage begging and rough sleeping that is antisocial.

Further guidance will be provided for officers by the Home Office.

Yachad, a British Jewish organisation which advocates for a political resolution to the war in Gaza, has backed the government's sanctions on Israeli ministers.

In a statement, the group said the decision was "important" and "moral", describing far right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as "leading figures in opposing a ceasefire and hostage deal".

They are also "pushing for the continuation of the war in Gaza".

The group said the Israeli government was at odds with the country's public, who "want an end to the war and return of hostages".

It is "no wonder" 77% of British Jews do not support "these extremists", the group added.

The UK government has sanctioned two prominent Israeli ministers.

Both are opposed to Palestinian statehood and are on the far right of Israeli politics.

Itamar Ben-Gvir 

Ben-Gvir is a minister of national security and leads the Jewish Power party, one of the members of Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

He is in charge of the border police in the Palestinian territory.

Ben-Gvir has previously been convicted of being a member of a Jewish terrorist organisation and has supported the removal of Palestinians from their lands.

The minister has also called for the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to be replaced with a synagogue.

Bezalel Smotrich

Smotrich is a finance minister and leader of the National Religious Party - Religious Zionism, which is another part of Netanyahu's coalition.

He is in charge of Israel's administration of the West Bank - the occupation of which is illegal under international law.

He has also approved an expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and called for aid not to be let into Gaza.

Smotrich has recently said not "a grain of wheat" should be allowed to enter Gaza, saying it will be "entirely destroyed" and its people should be encouraged to leave in great numbers to go to other countries.

We've just had confirmation that Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer will give a statement in the House of Commons this evening on the sanctions announced today.

The UK government, alongside allies including New Zealand and Norway, sanctioned Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

According to the leader of the House of Commons, a statement will take place at the end of the main business in the chamber today.

Per today's order paper, the latest this will be is 7pm, when proceedings on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will be finishing up.

The Conservatives say they support a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine "in the right way and at the right time". 

Priti Patel has responded to the UK government's decision to sanction two Israeli ministers, but the shadow foreign secretary has made no mention of the sanctions or whether the Tories support them.

Instead, Patel said "the British government must leverage its influence at every opportunity" to ensure the remaining hostages are released, aid reaches those in Gaza, and a "sustainable end to the conflict is achieved".

Our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn says while the UK's sanctions against two top Israeli ministers is a "major step", critics will wonder why the prime minister himself, Benjamin Netanyahu, has avoided the same treatment.

That point has been put directly to the foreign secretary, David Lammy.

He told broadcasters the two ministers being targeted today, the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and the security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, had used "horrendous extremist language".

Lammy said he would "encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language", but didn't say whether the British government would encourage Netanyahu to sack them.

He also refused to label Israel's conduct in Gaza as genocide, or say whether ethnic cleansing was being carried out.

Lammy insisted it was not for him to determine whether Israel was breaching international law in any way, and stressed the need to be "careful with my language".

The UK has announced it is sanctioning two members of the Israeli government - here is everything you need to know at a glance:

Who is sanctioned?

Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Who has sanctioned them?

This action was taken by the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway - but notably not the US.

Why have they been sanctioned?

The action was taken due to "repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians".

Under what powers was this done?

The countries have used the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 to designate the ministers "involved persons".

What can't they do?

The ministers have had any UK assets frozen, and are banned from the UK. The same conditions apply in the other countries to have imposed sanctions.

What has the UK said?

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a joint statement with other sanctioning nations that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have "incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights" - adding "these actions are not acceptable".