Author: Miles Donavan

The continuing tragedy of the Middle East will continue to sap support for Starmer unless and until his policies become braver and more decisive. Beyond the headlines of a Labour landslide and the collapse of the Conservatives, one aspect of the general election that received far less attention was the shift in Muslim and ethnic minority voters away from Labour. For the first time on record, Labour secured less than half of the non-white vote. The Conservatives meanwhile saw their best results in constituencies with large Hindu populations. In five of the seven seats Labour lost in July, over 25…

“Ludicrous, expensive and probably unworkable.” Wine companies are urging customers to write to their MPs to “urgently” address a tax that has been placed on wine because of Brexit. Labelled Sunak’s “sneaky Sauvignon surcharge,” the charge will see wine drinkers face paying more for their favourite bottles from February. Critics warn that the additional tax will raise some red wines by over 40p a bottle, as the number of tax band for wine goes from one to 30. The change was announced in 2021 by the then-chancellor Rishi Sunak, who promised a “simpler, fairer and healthier” system. Sunak claimed that…

The IEA has widely been credited as the inspiration for Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget. The charity regulator has reopened a complaint into the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), to reassess whether the right-wing charity has broken charity law. The IEA, which has been widely credited as the inspiration for Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget, and which has previously received a warning from the Charity Commission for using its resources to campaign for a hard Brexit, once again finds itself at the centre of an investigation. The charities regulator took just 12 days to clear the IEA when the initial…

Farage also continues to rake it in from the channel, making £60,000 for just 20 hours of work according to his latest register of interests. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has increased his shareholding in GB News, as the arch Brexiteer continues to deepen his relationship with the right-wing channel. According to the latest documents filed to Companies House this week, Farage has increased his shares from 300,000 to 500,000. It comes as Farage continues to rake it in from the channel, making £60,000 for just 20 hours of work according to his latest register of interests. According to the…

Farmer is the son of former treasurer of the Conservative party and life peer Lord Michael Farmer, who is also already a shareholder in GB News. Right-wing Channel GB News has filed its latest documents to Companies House, and it’s revealed that the lossmaking broadcaster has a new shareholder. His name is George Farmer. What do we know about the newest conservative media executive to join the broadcaster as a shareholder? George Farmer Farmer is the son of former treasurer of the Conservative party and life peer Lord Michael Farmer, who is also already a shareholder in GB News. George…

A bid by Wes Streeting to encourage the public to come up with ideas to improve the NHS has been hijacked by pranksters.The health secretary this morning launched a consultation exercise looking for feedback from patients as he draws up a 10-year strategy for the health service.Within hours, hundreds of suggestions had been made via the NHS website.However, some of the ideas which have been submitted suggest a large number of people are not taking the exercise entirely seriously.They included “waffles for every meal”, a “public BMI test for ministers” and “cinema tickets on the NHS”.“Waffles should be provided free…

Monsters: Menéndez Brothers star Cooper Koch has revealed what his reaction was when producer Ryan Murphy presented the idea for episode five of the Netflix-topping series to him.The latest season of the TV super-producer’s true crime series Monsters centres around Erik and Lyle Menéndez, who are both serving life sentences for killing their parents in the late 1980s.At the time, the siblings claimed they were acting in self-defence after years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, while the prosecution argued that the Menéndez brothers’ motivations were financial.Episode five – titled ‘The Hurt Man’ – features a 35-minute single shot of…

I reckon most people hold a Richard E. Grant film close to their heart (for me, it’s the 2018 gem Can You Ever Forgive Me? co-starring Melissa McCarthy). But according to the actor himself, not all of his classics have been fun to film. Speaking to Metro about his career, the Loki scene-stealer ― who says his character in the upcoming Sky series The Franchise is a “complete narcissist” ― revealed “The most chaotic film that I ever worked on,” calling the ’90s “box office bomb” a “disaster.” “The most chaotic film that I ever worked on was a disaster…

I don’t think I could go a week without using my grater. But by “using my grater,” I mean what most of us mean: using the one, coarse grating side that’s perfect for shredding Cheddar. When I’m making a dressing or baking, the finer testing side does get some use. But the flat, wide, slicing side of my box grater has never been used ― and as for the spiky side, I won’t even touch it for fear of losing a knuckle. If Reddit’s r/Cooking is anything to go by, it looks like I’m not alone.Site user u/Hansekins recently posted…

A former Tory cabinet minister has been enlisted by Labour to help reduce the size of the prison population.David Gauke will head up a sentencing review after being drafted in by justice secretary Shabana Mahmood.Gauke, who was justice secretary himself when Theresa May was prime minister, will report his findings next spring.The sentencing review comes in the wake of the crisis which saw the government release thousands of prisoners early to free up space in England’s jails.Gauke, who was one of 21 Tory MPs stripped of the party whip by Boris Johnson after rebelling over Brexit, said: “Clearly, our prisons…