Police State UK

29/07/2024

"The IFS repeatedly warned during the general election campaign that and the were engaged in a “conspiracy of silence” about future spending plans, with an £18bn public spending shortfall based on existing forecasts."

Rachel Reeves is expected to tell parliament that Rishi Sunak’s party left a £20bn black hole in the public finances, including making ‘significant funding commitments’ this year with no idea how they would be paid for

28/07/2024

"Reeves’s Commons statement will not mark the end of the review process on the government’s hunt for cuts, but will set out the first projects to be axed or curtailed."

Chancellor expected to announce cuts and delays to some projects as Labour tries to fill £20bn shortfall in finances

28/07/2024

"Addressing populism will require both a focus on improving living standards and developing a convincing story around the bigger policy areas of tackling inequality, restoring public services and preventing environmental catastrophe, all of which will take time. It is therefore doubly unfortunate that Labour’s leadership, in no current danger, has sought instead to marginalise its own internal critics..."

Letters: Dr Anthony Isaacs, Bernie Evans and Jerry Stuart respond to a piece by John Harris about the need to expose political lies

27/07/2024

“Britain is broke and broken – revealing the mess that populist politics has made of the economy and public services.”

The deputy PM is to announce new rules to boost affordable homes as a £20bn shortfall in UK public finances is revealed

27/07/2024

"For the last five years or so, watching the implode with little help from the opposition parties had become one of the country’s favourite spectator sports."

And the best news is, the leadership contenders can no longer do any harm to anyone but themselves

27/07/2024

'The former home secretary Priti Patel entered the Tory leadership contest last night, accusing potential rivals of waging “personal vendettas” and indulging in “a soap opera of finger-pointing and self-indulgence”.'

🤣

The former home secretary joins the contest with Kemi Badenoch expected to confirm she will run and Suella Braverman at risk of insufficient support

27/07/2024

"Two men were arrested at Tommy Robinson's London rally on Saturday after an anti-racism campaigner was attacked."

A counter-demonstration was organised by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's Peace & Justice project and the group Stand Up To Racism to oppose the Tommy Robinson-led "patriotic rally".

27/07/2024

"Most of the western world now finds itself in need of a tax reset, but what is lacking is the kind of crisis that triggers a deep questioning of how we pay for public services and welfare benefits. The pandemic and a war in Europe have not been enough to spark collective soul searching about the nature of 21st-century capitalism."

Making billionaires pay their fair share into state coffers would allow Starmer’s government to effect real change, but soaking the rich is a hard sell for voters

27/07/2024

27/07/2024

'“I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, _you don’t have to vote again_, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote,” Trump said.'

Former President Trump at a Friday event hosted by the conservative Christian organization Turning Point Action urged Christians to vote, saying they wouldn’t have to do it again if they got out th…

27/07/2024

"It’s misogyny – networked misogyny across multiple global platforms that will earn their tech bro owners billions upon billions of dollars – that is going to decide the 2024 election. And it’s misogyny that’s going to dictate the future of Nato, the outcome of the war in Ukraine, whether we have peace in Europe or more war..."

This time Kamala Harris will be the target for the social media platforms that promote prejudice

27/07/2024

"Despite all the apocalyptic forecasts, stopping Russian oil imports caused neither supply disruptions nor a surge in domestic fuel prices."

"Instead of giving to yet another fake blackmail, the EU must finally implement its sanctions policy."

Europe can survive without Russian oil. Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia are no exceptions, even though they lobbied hard for exemptions from the EU's ban on Russian oil imports after Russia invaded Ukraine, writes Martin Dimitrov.

26/07/2024

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26/07/2024

"At least three members, two of them councillors, have been summarily banned from the Green Party until 2029. One of those expelled said it seemed to go directly against the Green values of internal party democracy and tolerance."

‘Draconian’ expulsions including of two local councillors follow original candidate’s withdrawal at behest of local party

26/07/2024

"From Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” (MAGA) to Margaret Thatcher’s “There is no alternative” (TINA), political acronyms have long distilled what leaders stand for. Tom Tugendhat has now inadvertently created his own four-letter calling card: TURD."

Former security minister’s slogan altered after eagle-eyed social media users spot scatological shorthand

25/07/2024

"Almost one fifth—18%—of households with children experienced food insecurity compared to 12% of households without. Single-parent households with children were nearly twice as likely to be food insecure—31% compared to 16%."

Just days after Keir Starmer saw off a rebellion to scrap the two-child benefit cap, a survey revealed the devastating impact of the policy.

25/07/2024

"Health secretary Wes Streeting has vowed to improve the wellbeing and safety of trans people – a promise that flies in the face of pretty much everything he has said in recent months."

Health secretary Wes Streeting has claimed he is pro-trans, despite literally everything he has said over the past few months.

25/07/2024

"Robert Jenrick has joined the race for the Conservative Party leadership, promising to win back Reform UK voters who deserted the Tories in the recent general election. The 42-year-old was an ally of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but resigned from his cabinet last December arguing the government's Rwanda legislation did not go far enough."

Mr Jenrick will launch his bid promising to win back Reform UK voters, the BBC understands.

24/07/2024

"Rather than cutting public spending, the ought to support countries to increase their tax-to-GDP ratios by five percentage points in the medium term. This could allow a doubling of spending on education and health in many countries."

From Kenya to Pakistan, protesters want the International Monetary Fund to stop exploiting countries in debt crisis

23/07/2024

"Before the Conservatives came to power in 2010, who would have predicted the political culture in which Britain would leave the European Union? Or one that would back movements against immigrants and anti-racism? Or one that incubated sexism inside and outside the Commons? The Conservatives oversaw a rise in poverty, as well as the shrinking of the public sector..."

Editorial: Since 1900, only four Tory leaders have not gone on to become prime minister. Rishi Sunak’s successor is likely to become the fifth

23/07/2024

"Decades of neoliberal devastations, combined with fears about climate change, set the ground for our politics today. The dismantling of social states is key, that floor is gone. At the same time, wages became stagnant or worse. Unions became so weakened that they lost their capacity to work against capital, and states largely gave up regulating capital. The rise of finance capital which spikes the cost of everything from housing to health care made things worse."

Communities ravaged by neoliberal capitalism want real change. Why do they think Trump is the man to deliver it?

23/07/2024

"Improving how MPs vote isn’t just about adopting new technology. The sudden move in the pandemic from MPs physically packing into voting lobbies to voting on their phones felt like catching up with a century of technology all at once. But that period was over quickly and things are now (roughly) back to how they were before."

Changes to how MPs vote can improve both transparency and the parliamentary working culture.

23/07/2024

"A corporate LLP entity obscures the identity of the individuals operating it, and many overseas jurisdictions increase this obscurity by having minimal transparency requirements for the corporate entity, or minimal enforcement of those requirements."

This should be a priority for the new UK government – and here's how it can do it

23/07/2024

“Start with whatever you’re passionate about. It could be as simple as the kids’ football club. Get involved, volunteer, connect with your community – do stuff.”

Danny Sriskandarajah hoped this would be the century of the citizen. Instead the autocrats and the billionaires are on the march. Can his new book make a difference?

23/07/2024

"By far the biggest challenge humanity faces remains an environmentally limited world leading to climate breakdown, grotesquely divided wealth distribution, and governments addicted to preparing for war."

Starmer is unlikely to bring radical change in most policy areas. But on the climate, there is some cause for optimism

23/07/2024

“The fact that we will now work with a government that does not challenge the European convention on human rights on a daily basis is an enormous step.”

Former leader rallies pro-EU MPs who German ambassador says now vastly outnumber ERG group of Eurosceptic Tories

22/07/2024

"Over the course of more than three hours, a series of unelected and recently de-elected Conservative politicians revealed a long list of people and institutions they blamed for the fact that their own brand of ‘Popular Conservatism’ had inexplicably proved to be quite so unpopular."

22/07/2024

"Friday’s international court of justice (ICJ) ruling was a wholesale repudiation of Israel’s legal justifications for its 57-year (and counting) occupation of Palestinian territory. But it is not a magic bullet. Political pressure will be needed to back it up."

The Israeli government has long stressed that there was no Palestine whose land it could occupy and that the territories are ‘disputed’. The court has rejected this

22/07/2024

"Dark Arts has asked every firm that has provided Labour with a staffer the all-important question: how do you expect to benefit from this arrangement? We’re yet to receive an answer – funny that."

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