Wednesday, October 9
Rather cloudy with showery rain pushing southwards across eastern parts of England. Some sunny spells developing elsewhere, mainly towards the south, but also the risk of some showers here too. A brisk northerly breeze, particularly in the north. Feeling colder.
Editorial 09.10.24
Domestic politics dominates the UK front pages, as continued speculation over the upcoming October Budget becomes the focus for the media again – after recent heavy coverage of international news.
Tuesday’s speech by the head of MI5, warning threats to Britain by Iran and Russia, also made many of the front pages this morning.
The Daily Telegraph reports Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering cutting the amount of tax-free cash that savers can take from their pensions. The paper says it understands government officials have asked for an assessment of the impact of reducing it to £100,000 – just over a third of the current limit.
The Guardian says the chancellor is going ahead with plans to borrow billions of pounds extra for infrastructure investment. Chancellor Reeves is committed to the proposals despite a recent rise in the government’s borrowing costs, a source tells the paper.
The Tory leadership race’s latest round of voting makes several front pages.
The i newspaper says there was a “Celeverly bounce” in the latest round of voting in the Conservative leadership contest – with Cleverly, the Shadow Home Secretary, on top and Tom Tugendhat voted out of the race.
The Times’ editorial writes Cleverly “feels like the best emotional support pet for the traumatised Tories”. She concludes that “he may not be a great visionary for the 21st Century, but he could at least make the Tory party appear nicer and more normal again”.
The Mail calls the warning from the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, “chilling”. The paper’s lead story also reports that the UK is facing a “staggering terror threat from radicalised teens” because of minors consuming, and being “poisoned” by, extremism online.
The Times’ lead article says “this unwelcome attention” is the price the country pays for being at the forefront of helping Ukraine and for supporting Israel. The paper argues the country should not stop “facing down tyrants and terrorists.”
The Daily Express’ editorial appeals for people to remain “vigilant” against terror plots and all foreign-orchestrated attempts to divide us and sow mistrust.
The FT picks up on the warning that Russian spies are on a “sustained mission to generate mayhem” in Britain. It says the number of cases of spying by other states against the UK has “shot up” by nearly 50%.
Elsewhere, domestic news makes up the rest of the newspapers this morning.
In other domestic news, the Daily Mirror leads with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann as the main suspect in the Britsh toddler’s disappearance was cleared of unrelated sex abuse crimes in Germany. Prosecutors say its a “race against time” to bring Christian Brueckner before a court because his current jail sentence for rape ends next September.
The Metro leads on the original WAGS – Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy. The pair are back in court in a dispute over Rooney’s legal costs during the so-called Wagatha Christie libel trial.
Vardy was ordered to pay 90% of Rooney’s legal fees, which were originally estimated at £540k, but have since risen to £1.8m. The paper focuses on the price of a bottle of water at a hotel minibar after it was revealed that Rooney’s legal fees included the cost of one of her lawyers staying at the five-star Nobu Hotel in London.
The Sun leads on news that the home secretary and the Mayor of London both pressed Scotland Yard to give Taylor Swift a “royalty-style blue-light” escort to her concerts at Wembley this summer.
The paper says that the police were reluctant to grant the service because of the huge expense to the taxpayer but senior politicians intervened. A Home Office source is quoted as saying what happened was an “operational decision” for the police.
Google threatened with break-up by US after its continued illegal practices. The US government says it is considering whether to ask a judge to break up search engine giant Google,
MI5 warns Russia and Iran attempting to cause mayhem in Britain Russia’s intelligence agency has been working to cause chaos on British and European streets, according to MI5 chief Ken
Millions flee as Hurricane Milton barrels towards Florida Millions of Florida residents are scrambling to evacuate their homes as Hurricane Milton, a powerful Category 5 storm, barrels toward the state’s
Keir Starmer pins hopes for economic growth on British Hollywood Keir Starmer has spoken of his own passion for the creative arts as he prepares to unveil a major new
Government opens new competition to find next generation of cybersecurity talent A new cybersecurity competition has been launched by the Government to help uncover the best young talent from across
Shock analysis shows four in every five pensioners struggling with money will see winter fuel payment cut Four in every five pensioners living below or just above the poverty line
X returns to Brazil after Elon Musk complies with court orders
A British scientist dubbed the ‘godfather of AI’ has been honoured with a Nobel Prize in Physics, but warned of the “existential risk” it posed if technology gets “out of control”.
Although the government is telling everyone the economy is on the mend, the reality is the economy is still on the verge of a double dip recession.
The inflation figures don’t show the real picture. Yes, inflation has stopped rising as much as it did, but the metrics they share is a decline rate not a drop. To understand this imagine the economy as a plane, it would still be falling, just not as fast as it was before, but it’s still on its way down.
The reason for that is FTSE companies from insurance to netflix subscriptions has increased its price, in some cases without any real justification, yet wages for the average joe have not increased.
The interest rates are still higher than they should be, and they will have you believe you that it is inversely linked to inflation. But the government could have maintained a price freeze for everyday services. But boosting profits for corporates is costing the average taxpayer more.
It is true, big companies have a stranglehold around the government policies; not just with lobby groups, but as we saw with Liz Truss, by having the power to tank the stock market. This power comes from the amount of American companies that have taken over British companies; because they don’t really care about the Brits, they are just focussed on their bottom line.
With Christmas around the corner, they will need to be some changes, and the government will have to bring that ‘feel good factor’ back in the market to boost spending and confidence, in order to avoid this being labelled as the ‘winter of discontent 2′.
No winter fuel payments, fuel bills rising by £150 per household (today), higher credit cards payments and mortgages equals parents with no money for presents. This will make this winter, not only, one of the coldest but also a thrifty one.
Earlier this morning Israel launched its invasion of Lebanon, despite the calls and protests from world leaders. Netanyahu is determined to push forward his agenda for creating a greater Israel and gain more land.
Despite the conflicts with Starmer on the issue, this provides a political opportunity that politicians will exploit. First and foremost it will take the limelight away from domestic policies. So politicians will use every soundbite to talk about the issue.
Additionally, politicians will use this opportunity to drive home the cuts at home. Although they are determined not to use words like ‘austerity’ – Labour will be making big spending cuts starting with winter fuel payments.
On the surface this may seem like a natural appointment, but once you dig deeper you see the problem. Labour has appointed oil baron Rachel Kyte as the lead UK’s return to high-level environmental diplomacy.
Until this year, she worked with Hedge fund (which has £1.2 Billion) invested in oil and fossil fuels and arms. And there’s more her company, through their foundation paid a £4 Million donation to the Labour party just before the election.
Furthermore Starmer has been accused to Rosie Duffield, MP for Canterbury, said she claimed Starmer had “a woman problem”, claiming that Downing Street was run by a male clique. “It’s clear the lads are in charge,”.
Copyright WTX News 2023
We bring you CNN BBC FOX EURO NEWS AL JAZEERA – all in one place. With a perfectly crafted email with your news summary
