Blue

With just over two weeks left until election day, Democrats can barely contain their glee.

Control of the House seems about to fall into their eager laps. Senate races in states that are normally cardinal red — Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Texas among them — have grown fiercely competitive.

And, for the first time since 2010, a Democrat may soon be sitting in the governor’s office in more than half the 50 states. As recently as 2017, just 16 of them had Democratic governors — the lowest number in nearly a century.

The party owes a big thank you to President Trump, whose political standing seems to be sinking, like a depth charge, lower by the day. The only question is how much damage he inflicts on fellow Republicans.

There are, however, exceptions to every political trend, outliers in every election, a contest that zigs when races just about everywhere else are zagging.

Oregon, that crunchy and damp citadel of Left Coast liberalism, hasn’t elected a Republican governor since President Reagan was midway through his first term. In 2024, Kamala Harris walloped Donald Trump by more than 14 percentage points, extending a decades-long Democratic presidential winning streak.

And yet the state’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, is on the defensive as she fights for a second term in November, burdened by a dismal approval rating and a sense that things have been pretty lousy in Oregon under her leadership.

The state “hasn’t thrived in the last decade, and certainly hasn’t thrived since COVID, the way other states have,” said John Horvick, one of Oregon’s leading independent pollsters.

Kotek, a former speaker of the state House — and a highly effective lawmaker in that role — made some very concrete promises.

“She was going to build 36,000 new homes. She was going to improve our educational outcomes and make improvements to behavioral health in the state,” Horvick said. “Voters give her poor marks on all those.”

Most notably, perhaps, the epidemic of homelessness — which has curdled Portland’s hipster image and agitated Oregonians more than just about any issue in recent years — hasn’t abated under Kotek, despite a promise to make the problem her top priority.

Gov. Tina Kotek speaks to opponents of data center development during a demonstration at the state Capitol in Salem, Ore., on Sept. 8, 2026.

(Alex Milan Tracy / Sipa USA / Associated Press)

The Democrat still remains the favorite to win reelection. Oregon’s gubernatorial races tend to be closer than presidential contests and voters have been shown a reluctance to heave their governor from office, even when they tell pollsters they’re not happy with the incumbent or the state of their state.

“We watch this movie every four years in Oregon, where it looks really, really close and then, in the end, the Democrat wins,” said Kari Chisholm, a political strategist in Portland.

That may happen again. But Kotek’s travails show the perils of incumbency this angry election season, even for a Democratic swimming with a blue tide.

Thirty-six states are electing governors in November. Most of the contests lean toward one party or the other, like in California, where Democrat Xavier Becerra appears a shoo-in to replace Gavin Newsom.

But a dozen races are at least somewhat competitive, including toss-ups in Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. All of the hardest-fought contests are in states that Trump carried in 2024 — several by double-digits — with Oregon being the lone exception.

Kotek, who’s been rated one of the least popular governors in America, is facing a rematch against Christine Drazan, a former GOP state House leader who now serves in the state Senate. In 2022, she lost narrowly lost to Kotek, 47% to 44%, in a three-way contest.

Unlike four years ago, Kotek has a gubernatorial record to defend and the case Drazan makes against her is succinct.

“Tina Kotek told Oregonians that she would solve the problems and challenges facing our state,” Drazan said in the candidates’ first debate this month. “She hasn’t.”

In a recent Fox News interview, Drazan elaborated.

“We have record high businesses that have gone out of business, bankruptcies, businesses that are leaving, family bankruptcies are at an all-time high,” Drazan said, exaggerating some. “Oregon is uniquely bad right now. It’s not a national issue, it’s here at home.”

Suggesting the state’s problems are indigenous is an obvious effort to lay responsibility on Kotek and absolve Trump, whose policies — ruinous tariffs, a reckless war, budget cuts — have slashed healthcare benefits, stoked inflation and driven fuel prices to all-time highs.

Further distancing herself from the Republican brand, Drazan has undergone a distinct makeover since winning the GOP primary in May. “Tough. Tested. Conservative,” is no longer the descriptive shorthand she uses on her campaign website. Now it’s “Mom. Public Servant. Champion for All.”

Drazan’s revised campaign biography also omits her opposition to various Democratic-backed policies, such as gun control, and her culture-warrior vow to “protect girls’ sports and keep men out of their locker rooms.” Instead, the Oregonian newspaper noted, her emphasis is now affordability and relatability.

Despite that, Kotek has continued wielding her sharpest-pronged political weapon, tying Drazan — an “out-of-touch MAGA extremist,” in her campaign’s parlance — to the unpopular president.

“I think we all know that there have been a lot of challenges facing our state and they’re still coming at us because of the confusion and disruption coming from Washington, D.C.,” Kotek said during the candidates’ third and final debate last week. “It’s just a fact. It’s upending who we are as a state and it is … making it harder for us to solve the problems that we have ahead of us.”

Passing the buck and pointing her finger is not exactly a message of triumph, uplift and achievement, but it may be enough to win Kotek a second term.

Grudgingly.

The BBC’s natural history unit appear to have done it again with Blue Planet III and David Attenborough once again telling incredible stories from our oceans

The new natural history series Blue Planet III with David Attenborough has taken four years to create – but it looks worth the wait.

It will build on the groundbreaking legacy of the previous two BBC series, redefining underwater wildlife film-making and telling untold stories and allowing us to see our oceans like never before.

The series will launch in the coming weeks, and follows on from Blue Planet II in 2017 which galvanised a global movement to rid our oceans of single use plastic. After invited guests were given a first glimpse of some scenes, the BBC released a trailer for the TV show.

Sir David, who turned 100 earlier this year, sent a recorded message to the launch event and said: “Twenty-five years ago, when I narrated the first Blue Planet series it didn’t occur to me that I would be narrating a third series in my centennial year. The ocean is an endlessly fascinating place.

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“In these new programmes we uncover a further wonderful array of under-water life, which is more surprising, more sophisticated and even more important than we ever realised. I am proud and delighted to be associated with Blue Planet III.”

The six part series will show remarkable marine wildlife alongside Sir David’s astonishing storytelling. The highly anticipated series was a project Sir David said he was “proud and delighted” to be associated with.

The new series is accompanied by an original score from Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music along with an original song, Into The Deep (Seas Cry) co-written by Jade, which features in the trailer.

Zimmer, who also scored Blue Planet II, said the series was the “most important work” he has ever done.

He said: “I’ve worked on a lot of films throughout my career, but nothing affects humanity, our world and our planet as much as the work being done by the Natural History Unit in Bristol.

“I think everybody who comes to Blue Planet comes to it with the knowledge that it is something that changes the world by making you fall in love with the world.

“It’s not something where you’re being lectured or cajoled about things but it’s something that just shows you how spectacular and beautiful our world truly is and how we need to preserve it and how we need to love it and how whatever we love we need to treat with great kindness and great respect.”

Jade, born Jade Thirlwall and best known for being a member of the pop group Little Mix, said she was a “huge fan” of the franchise and praised Sir David as being “a true hero” of hers.

* The six-part series Blue Planet III will air on the BBC later this autumn.

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Hit Northern Irish police series, Blue Lights, aired its second episode on Tuesday night with the series also available to watch in full on BBC iPlayer

Blue Lights recently returned with series four.

The hit Northern Irish police series is back with its fourth season, which is available to watch in full on BBC iPlayer now, and Tuesday night saw episode two air.

A teaser for series four reads: “Three years into their jobs as response officers, Constables Grace Ellis, Tommy Foster, and Annie Conlon are operating at their limit, facing a new threat on the streets that the police can barely control.

“Meanwhile, the murder trial of Gerry Cliff exposes a dangerous and long-buried secret that leads to chaos both inside the police and across the criminal underworld.

“As they grapple with big decisions about their future, Grace, Tommy and Annie must find the courage to face the greatest threat they have ever encountered: the truth.”

Meanwhile, a synopsis for episode two saw: “In the wake of the attack on Amira, Grace’s determination puts her in danger, while Mo spirals further with violent consequences.”

Many fans have already binged series four, taking to Twitter, now X, to share their thoughts one person said: “Such a brilliant show. Season 4 binged over 2 days. Not sure where it goes from here, would love more. I grew up with Cagney & Lacey, that really made me smile #BlueLights.”

Another viewer wrote: “@BBC thank you for another brilliant series of #bluelights, hopefully they’ll find a way to come back for a fifth season.”

A different account put: “Just finished episode two of #BlueLights it’s brilliant! No spoilers!” while another person added: “Two episodes into #BlueLights S4, @sgfmann you were indeed correct, it’s great – gripping & so pertinent.”

Elsewhere, another show watcher praised: “Just finished S4 of #BlueLights, surely one the best cop dramas ever produced, the writing, acting and filming are all top notch.

“Edge of my seat every episode. If that was the last, then what a way to go out! Deserves every award coming it’s way!”

While a different account added: “Finished watching #bluelights series 4 . I hope the BBC plan on doing more it’s probably one of the best shows I’ve watched on the beeb in recent years .. not sure how exactly most storylines seemed to be wrapped up!”

Blue Lights is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer

After composing the score for the BBC’s Trials of Life in 1990, Fenton went on to create the music for what became known as David Attenborough’s Earth Trilogy: The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.

Fenton’s music perfectly complemented the stunning visuals of the ocean’s depths and the polar ice caps, adding an emotional weight to the narrative, using the full might of the orchestra to evoke everything from wonder and awe to tension and suspense.

Following the success of the documentaries, Fenton created a show – The Blue Planet in Concert – which has been performed by leading orchestras in venues around the world.

Among his other well-known soundtracks were The Long Walk Home, You’ve Got Mail, Sweet Home Alabama, The Lady In The Van and Mrs Henderson Presents.

Fenton also scored more films for British director Ken Loach than any other composer.

Their 18 collaborations included Ladybird, Ladybird; I, Daniel Blake and The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

He also founded the Association of Professional Composers, which later merged with The Ivors Academy; and he is one of only a handful of musicians to receive the Academy’s fellowship, alongside Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Elton John, Kate Bush, Bruce Springsteen and George Michael.

In addition, Fenton was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music and the University of Nottingham. He was made a CBE for services to music in 2023.

The composer often said that his musical career had been an accident, but nothing gave him greater joy than seeing his work come to life.

On his episode of Desert Island Discs, Fenton chose one of his own compositions – Reunion, from the soundtrack to the movie Accidental Hero – as it reminded him of watching pianist John Lowe play the melody in the studio.

“If I was sitting on a desert island and thinking about what a good time I’d had writing music, which I have, I want just one thing to remind me about the best part – which is the fact that you write something and then you’re so surprised and thrilled at the way it’s played,” he told Sue Lawley.

“For a composer, that’s the biggest kick you can get.”

We have a significant update on the fast-moving world of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) out of Mojave, California today. Northrop Grumman’s Talon Blue, which now has the official designation YFQ-48A, has taken to the skies for the first time. The existence of Talon Blue was first officially disclosed in December of 2025 at a media event in Mojave that we attended.

The uncrewed aircraft took to the skies over Mojave Air and Space Port, home of famed ‘bleeding0edge’ airframer and Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites, which built the aircraft. A release from Northrop Grumman reads:

“MOJAVE, Calif. – Oct. 3, 2026 – Northrop Grumman’s (NYSE: NOC) YFQ-48A Talon Blue completed its first fully autonomous flight, including taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers, and landing. Developed through company investment, Talon Blue combines modular design and advanced manufacturing to lower cost and support faster production without compromising mission capability. The flight builds on Northrop Grumman’s seven decades of autonomy experience and more than 500,000 autonomous flight hours, with lessons from Talon Blue informing future autonomous systems. 

Details on YFQ-48A Talon Blue:  

• Talon Blue is part of Northrop Grumman’s internally-funded Project Talon portfolio focused on accelerating the development of mission-ready autonomous airpower capabilities.  
• Manufacturing and design innovations cut part count and overall weight, lowering cost and enabling faster production to meet growing demand for autonomous systems.  
• Designed with flexible operational concepts in mind, Talon Blue’s high air intake, wide wheelbase and integrated weapons bay support a wide variety of mission needs for U.S. and allied partners.

Craig Woolston, vice president and general manager, research and advanced design, Northrop Grumman: “Our customers made it clear they need autonomous systems that can be fielded faster and more affordably without sacrificing mission effectiveness. We listened. Talon Blue’s first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities. Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next.” 

While the Talon Blue aircraft draws most of the attention, Northrop Grumman has put great emphasis on its back-end autonomy development ecosystem, which includes its purpose-built Model 437 demonstrator aircraft, now under the Talon IQ badge (formerly Beacon).

Talon Blue is entering a growing field of CCA offerings, with extremely intense competition, that are primarily aimed at equipping the USAF with its next CCA acquisition of hundreds of aircraft known as Increment 2, for which the requirements remain undefined. Currently, the USAF has moved its YFQ-44 from Anduril and its YFQ-42 from General Atomics, both of which are deep in flight testing, into production. Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat is another serious CCA contender and perhaps the most mature of all, while Lockheed Martin has its tailless Vectis, and on the lower end, Kratos’ FQ-58 Valkyrie continues to evolve and rack-up flight hours. Many more types are on the horizon, including those from new players and globally from foreign manufacturers.

With the loss of the F/A-XX next-generation naval fighter program to Boeing, Northrop Grumman winning a contract from the U.S. services for Talon Blue has become more important. Doing so would get the company back into the Pentagon’s tactical air combat portfolio. As we have discussed for years, advanced uncrewed tactical systems are set to be less risky and potentially more lucrative than traditional fighter programs as air combat rotates to predominantly uncrewed capabilities and mass production of them. Beyond U.S. needs, the demand for CCAs is likely to explode internationally in the coming years, so programs like Talon Blue could find success elsewhere if the Pentagon goes another direction, but getting the U.S. armed services’ stamp of approval and the scale of production that comes with it would surely help there too.

Author’s note: A big thanks to our friend @Task_Force23 for providing us with great photos for this story.

Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com