Author: Percy Blakeney

This Weeks News Briefing Editorial looks at the real cost of political priorities. How can a modern economy cut welfare like 3rd world economy.

UK welfare cuts are increasingly out of touch with the needs of the public, especially against the backdrop of rising foreign aid to Ukraine and increased NATO spending. This has left many Brits asking: why is our health and well-being not being prioritised?

The answer may be simpler—and more strategic—than it seems. When people are struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table, they have less time to question the actions of those in power.

By keeping the public in a state of financial insecurity, politicians maintain control while diverting spending towards areas that benefit their financial backers. But where is all our tax money actually going, and why are we always told to tighten our belts while government spending skyrockets?

DOGE’S WORK INSIDE the Social Security Administration is being led by three men with no apparent experience with the agency’s work. A three man team who is loyal to Elon Musk, not the American government. DOGE’S work inside the Social Security Administration Akash Bobba, a 22-year-old engineer who previously interned for Meta as well as Musk ally Peter Thiel’s Palantir; Steve Davis, a Musk deputy who has spent 20 years finding ways to cut costs…

The UK was once ranked the best country in the world for end-of-life care, in fact the NHS was the envy of the world – But that’s not the case any longer, patients are endlessly waiting and when they eventually do get seen to, they are suffering until their last breath. These are the people who have funded the NHS for the last 70 years. They have worked for the longest period and paid the…

The good news for Keir Starmer is that he emerged from this moment under the microscope able to say he achieved some real positives. But when it comes to a trade deal, the devil will be in the detail.  These days politicians are experts at making the infallible sound like a victory, and now doubt him and his PR team will be highlighting the ‘selling-points’ of this trip to the United States. It was a…

Keir Starmer has announced that Britain will fight for peace in Europe with a generational increase in defence spending paid for by slashing the foreign aid budget. The move, just two days before the prime minister is due to meet Donald Trump, raised immediate concerns that he was pandering to the US president, and fury from aid groups that say it could cost lives in countries that rely on UK support. Britain will fight for…

Wes Streeting will axe thousands of jobs at NHS England after his ousting of its chair and chief executive in what health service staff fear is a power grab. The health secretary’s plan follows Amanda Pritchard’s shock announcement on Monday that she was stepping down as the organisation’s chief executive next month. She will be replaced, for the foreseeable future, by Sir Jim Mackey, the widely admired chief executive of the NHS trust that runs the acute hospitals in…

Scottish police under fire after being overwhelmed by a surge in Hate Crime reports, Leading to fewer cases being solved. Taking the focus away from crimes of shoplifting, theft and assault. Scottish police under fire Recent figures suggest that Scotland’s police force is struggling to solve everyday crimes like shoplifting, theft, and assault crimes due to the overwhelming number of reports made under the country’s new hate crime law. The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) chairman,…

There is a new Television series that started this week focusing on fare dodgers on London Transport

Even George Orwell couldn’t have predicted this chaotic constitutional crisis afflicting the so-called Mother of Parliaments. Political events are not only changing rapidly, but they are also shockingly perverse in their outcomes. We now have a Conservative Party ruled by the extreme right. An ugly hybrid of the worst kind of English Nationalism we have not seen since the rhetoric of Enoch Powell. Indeed sitting there on the benches of those Tories who believe passionately…

A few weeks ago I wrote about the outcry from the public over the lavish multi-million pound costs British taxpayers had to fork out to cover the costs of renovating the country pile given to Harry and Meghan by The Queen. It has now been revealed that one of Her Majesty’s cousins, the 74-year-old Duke of Gloucester, is downsizing from a lavish 21 room mansion within Kensington Palace to the smaller Old Stables building. The taxpayer, of…

Contemplate who your true allies may be in your fight for equality and dignity and respect.

A poll in The Independent this January found 66% of the population do not feel represented by political parties.

The moral fibre of our establishment is rotten at the core

What strikes me is how skewed our principles have become as a society