Finding good news can sometimes feel like an expedition in itself. With a Labour Government facing criticism over its domestic record and foreign-policy choices, it would be very easy to spend every week drowning in Westminster gloom.
But Britain is much bigger than Westminster.
That is why, once again, we have searched out the stories that remind us what this extraordinary country is capable of. And, for the second week running, there is a distinctly military flavour to our Great British News, alongside triumphs in sport, science, engineering and conservation.
We begin at the British Museum, where five years of discussions with Greece over the future of the Parthenon sculptures have reportedly collapsed. The central disagreement remains fundamental: the British Museum can lend objects from its collection under existing law, while Greece refuses any arrangement requiring it to recognise the Museum’s ownership of the sculptures.
Whatever happens next, the story has once again ignited the debate over the future of one of the world’s most famous collections.
Then, from ancient history to the new frontier of defence, Britain entered the space age in earnest.
The RAF has this week established No. III Space Effects Squadron, Britain’s first dedicated military unit designed to disrupt, degrade and deny hostile activity threatening UK interests in space. Satellites underpin everything from military operations and missile warning to communications and navigation, making their protection increasingly important to national security.
From orbit to beneath the waves, Britain’s newest attack submarine has finally headed to sea.
HMS Agamemnon, affectionately nicknamed “Awesome Aggie”, has left Barrow-in-Furness to begin sea trials. The sixth Astute-class submarine, nuclear-powered but conventionally armed, represents 13 years of work by British engineers, technicians, software specialists and shipwrights. Once operational, she will be capable of hunting hostile submarines and warships, gathering intelligence and striking land targets with Tomahawk missiles.
There was more maritime pride on Merseyside, where the Duke of Edinburgh visited RFA Tidesurge in Birkenhead and thanked the sailors and shipwrights carrying out her major refit. The 201-metre tanker is undergoing extensive work, including 42 days in dry dock, to prepare her for future operations supporting the Royal Navy.
British defence expertise is making its mark overseas too. The £8 billion agreement with Türkiye for 20 Typhoon aircraft has now moved into its training phase, with the first two Turkish Air Force pilots beginning instruction at RAF Coningsby. The deal places British aerospace skills and the Typhoon programme firmly on the international stage.
Meanwhile, Royal Navy bomb-disposal divers have received the Firmin Sword of Peace, the military’s highest humanitarian award, after Bravo Squadron safely dealt with more than 250 bombs, shells and explosive devices in just 12 months. Their work ranged from Second World War ordnance in Plymouth to historic chemical weapons in Wales and old demolition charges on Pitcairn Island. Quiet courage, extraordinary expertise, lives protected.
Britain’s scientists have given us another reason to celebrate. The Medical Research Council is investing £50 million in a new Centre of Research Excellence for Restorative Immunology, led by the University of Birmingham, with researchers pursuing something far more ambitious than simply managing chronic inflammatory diseases: treatments capable of restoring immune balance and potentially delivering lasting freedom from disease.
And then there was gold.
Mallory Franklin produced a magnificent performance at the European Canoe Slalom Championships in Ivrea, taking the women’s C1 crown by the almost absurd margin of 0.03 seconds. After missing the K1 final earlier in the day, the British star responded by delivering a clean 100.47-second run and becoming European champion for the third time. That is sporting resilience at its finest.
Finally, something wonderfully peaceful.
On the Lincolnshire coast, a former golf course has been transformed into Sandilands, a 30-hectare wetland nature reserve. Six years of work have turned fairways and greens into wetlands, grassland and coastal scrub, with more than 35,000 native shrubs planted and new habitat created for birds including lapwing, snipe and migrating black-tailed godwits.
From fairways to flyways. Not a bad British reinvention.
And that is the point of Great British News.
While politics dominates the headlines, another Britain carries on beneath the noise. Scientists search for cures. Engineers build submarines. Sailors protect lives. Pilots prepare for new threats. Shipwrights maintain the fleet. Athletes stand on podiums. Conservationists restore landscapes.
The British people continue to innovate, inspire and succeed.
So stay strong.
Difficult political periods pass. The deeper strengths of a nation, its people, institutions, skills, courage, imagination and determination, endure.
This week Britain reached into space, descended beneath the oceans, advanced medical science, strengthened its defence industries, protected communities from unexploded bombs, won European gold and gave a stretch of the Lincolnshire coast back to nature.
Britain still leads. Britain still builds. Britain still discovers. Britain still defends. Britain still wins.
And we still have an enormous amount to be proud of.
Here are our best-read and most shared positive stories from this week (21 – 27 September 2026):
By Claire Bullivant
For last week’s Great British News (14 – 20 September 2026) click here.
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