内容摘要："We've done it well for the last 80 years. And I'm worried there's the loss of understanding of the consequences of that."

"We've done it well for the last 80 years. And I'm worried there's the loss of understanding of the consequences of that."

In contrast, Reform's advance was more muted in wards that the Liberal Democrats and the Greens were defending. The party's average share in these wards was just 22%. As a result, Reform had relatively little success in taking seats from these two parties.Liberal Democrat and Green wards – unlike many Conservative and Labour ones - are heavily populated by university graduates.

Reform's success on Thursday undoubtedly reflects the mood of an electorate that still has little faith in the Conservatives and which now is disappointed by Labour's performance in office.However, it is evidently proving most popular in a very distinctive part of Britain that overturned the political tables a decade ago in voting for Brexit - and which now has done so again.Emma is the strategies director of Hatton Garden Metals, a family-run gold dealership in London's Hatton Garden jewellery district, and this unprepossessing tub of bric-a-brac is a small sample of what they buy over the counter each day. It is, in effect, gold scrap, which will be melted down and recycled.

Also on the table, rather more elegantly presented in a suede-lined tray, is a selection of gold coins and bars. The largest bar is about the size and thickness of a mobile phone. It weighs a hefty 1kg, and it's worth about £80,000.The coins include biscuit-sized Britannias, each containing precisely one ounce of 24 carat bullion, as well as smaller Sovereigns. These are all available to buy - and the recent surge in gold prices has led to a surge in demand.

Zoe Lyons, who is Emma's sister and the managing director, has never seen anything like it – often she finds would-be sellers queuing in the street. "There's excitement and buzz in the market but also nervousness and trepidation," she tells me.

"There's anxiety about which way the market is going to go next, and when you get those emotions, ultimately it creates quite big trades."Jeremy Binnie, an Africa and Middle East analyst at Jane's, told the BBC that photos of what appear to be the remnants of the smaller kamikaze drones suggest they are probably a different version than the RSF had used before, and might be better at penetrating air defences because of their shape.

One regional observer suggested the RSF had been able to breach the SAF's anti-drone technology with signal jammers attached to the drones, but cautioned this was still unproven.The South Darfur airport in Nyala, the presumptive capital and military base of the Rapid Support Forces, has been repeatedly bombed by the SAF, which destroyed an aircraft there earlier this month.

Some experts see the RSF's bombardment of Port Sudan at least partly as retaliation.The escalating drone warfare has again highlighted the role of foreign actors in Sudan's civil conflict.