Author: Miles Donavan

The chancellor has a unique opportunity to set the country on a course toward greater resilience, better living standards and ecological sustainability. Here’s what we hope she will address next week.  Chaitanya Kumar, is head of environment and economy at the New Economics Foundation As the autumn budget draws closer, all eyes are on Rachel Reeves, with anticipation and a cautious optimism that this will be a landmark budget for the UK. Facing pressing challenges—from cost-of-living pressures to the urgency of climate action—the chancellor has a unique opportunity to set the country on a course toward greater resilience, better living…

They are apples and pears. They really cannot be compared because they are so innately different. Jamie Stone is the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross and the chair of the House of Commons Petitions Committee. “You’ve been in both, Jamie, so what’s the difference between the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons?” If I had a penny for every time I’d been asked that…  Right, here goes: the first is formality versus informality. In the Scottish Parliament, where I had the pleasure to work for twelve years, the staff all called me Jamie. In fact,…

It was also reported earlier this month that Johnson’s book had been hit by delays and won’t be hitting the shelves in European capitals as quickly as he had hoped, due to Brexit. It’s not going well for Boris Johnson after sales of his memoir ‘Unleashed’ dropped by 62% in its second week since publication. Despite the former Prime Minister spending much time in promoting his book, including a prolonged media round, with the Guardian reporting that the book “only just managed to cling on to the No 1 spot in the official UK Top 50 this week, selling 133…

That claim led to Jenrick being mocked Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has claimed that ‘pensioners are waking up with illegal migrants in their bedrooms’ as he tried to justify his plans to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are the final two candidates in the Tory leadership race to replace Rishi Sunak and both have been condemned in recent weeks for making ludicrous claims and for drifting further to the right. Jenrick has made pulling Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights a major part of his campaign,…

Rachel Reeves will certainly be between a rock and hard place. Doing a future deal for no or lower tariffs on Chinese made EVs won’t help with the rebuilding the relationship with the EU Tony Burke is the Co-Chair Of The Campaign For Trade Union Freedom Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced she is to visit to China in early 2025 as part of Labour’s plan to boost international trade through free trade agreements and inward investment. In doing so she is looking to revive the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue Summit last held in June 2019  when Tory Phillip Hammond…

Farage: “That’s the game in America. They all insult each other.” Nigel Farage has endured another car crash interview, this time while trying to defend Donald Trump. Appearing on Times Radio, Farage took issue with Kamala Harris describing Trump as a fascist. He told presenter Rosie Wright: “Oh she’s in big trouble.” Farage continued: “When Trump’s smiling, Trump’s winning. “She’s desperate and I have no doubt these attacks will become even more hysterical over the next few days.” Hitting back, Wright told Farage: “But talking of hysterical attacks, Donald Trump himself, he insults Kamala Harris all the time. “Talking about…

Sunak, who led the Conservative Party to its worst election defeat in its parliamentary history, has been reported by the Express to be likely standing down so his by-election can coincide with next May’s local elections, according to a Tory source. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is said to be planning on resigning his seat and sparking a by-election after the result of this month’s leadership race to replace him has been announced. Sunak, who led the Conservative Party to its worst election defeat in its parliamentary history, has been reported by the Express to be likely standing down so…

Yet more hypocrisy from the leader of Reform UK. While Nigel Farage has been busy falsely accusing the Labour Party of ‘foreign interference’ in the US election, he seems to have forgotten his own record in supporting Trump and using donors’ cash in order to do so. Over recent days, right-wingers such as Liz Truss and Farage have expressed much outrage over Labour Party volunteers making plans, in their own time, to go to the U.S. to help Kamala Harris in her campaign to defeat Donald Trump in the U.S. election. They have falsely accused the Labour Party of election…

Ofcom is recommending that apps change their algorithms so that content which is illegal or harmful is down-ranked for children’s accounts. Media regulator Ofcom has called for social media organisations to change their algorithms to prevent misinformation from spreading so easily, following rioting that broke out after the killing of three girls in Southport this summer. Billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk, came in for criticism for allowing misinformation, fake news and extremist content to be shared on the platform following the horrific killings. The far-right were spreading misinformation about the identity of the attacker, claiming that he had arrived…

Where was the outrage from sections of the right-wing press when Farage and Truss went over to support Trump? Over recent days, right-wingers such as Liz Truss and Nigel Farage have expressed much outrage over Labour Party volunteers making plans, in their own time, to go to the U.S. to help Kamala Harris in her campaign to defeat Donald Trump in the U.S. election. They have falsely accused the Labour Party of election interference, after reports emerged that around 100 current and former party staff are heading to America before polling day to help Kamala. Trump and Musk have also…