🇬🇧 UK Weekly Editorial – VE DAY 9 May 2025
Its VE Day and it’s ironic that as that UK celebrates the sacrifice of British soldiers saving Jews from concentration camps, Israeli wanted PM Netanyahu announces Gazans will be forced into concentration camps and given no choice but to leave the Gaza strip.
This reflects in the weather it’s been cool, bright week across much of the UK, with blossoms stubbornly clinging on in city parks with a fresh breeze hinting that summer isn’t far, but not here yet! Echoing the sentiment there maybe a growing support for Palestine in Westminster, but Brits won’t rest until Israel is held to account.
Over the long weekend, Londoners spilled into beer gardens while voters stayed quiet after a drubbing for Keir Starmer in the local elections. In Westminster, silence said more than speeches as Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch pulled punches in a curious PMQs detente. But elsewhere, there’s hope — Donald Trump should outline a US–UK trade deal, and warnings over economic and gender gaps resurfaced in Labour circles.
Britain’s creative pulse beats on this week with London Craft Week spotlighting makers who blend heritage with innovation, and bad luck to the Gooners; do you still believe in Arteta?
🐦 Bird of the Week – Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
The cuckoo has now arrived from Africa and can be heard calling across meadows and moorland. A master of deception, it lays eggs in other birds’ nests — a disappearing voice in Britain’s changing soundscape, now red-listed due to habitat loss.
🇵🇸 A quick round up of the action 📍Gaza
British boycotts by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaigns are paying off, although the MSM are not covering it, businesses are beginning to see the damage to their brands. And truly, it’s a hats off moment, despite all the smear campaigns and vicious lobbying, they have stuck to their guns and peacefully demonstrated within the power of protest to achieve their goal.
The UK Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin felt the pressure of Britain’s involvement in sharing intelligence and providing ariel missions to Israel, and more notably a wanted war criminal. He quickly avoided the questions and scurried away.
This was the Britain’s most powerful military man, who couldn’t stand and answer the accusations of doing business with a wanted war criminal.
The UK has sent more than 160,000 munitions to Israel since October 2023. Today, a groundbreaking new report reveals the extraordinary scale of UK arms exports to Israel since the start of the Gaza genocide.
Despite the September 2024 suspension of direct shipments of F-35 components from the UK to Israel, the data suggest such shipments are ongoing as of March 2025.
There’s pressure building as British MPs are calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to investigate Foreign Secretary David Lammy for misleading Parliament and the public and for him to resign based on the evidence in report.
🌼 Our Flower of the Week – Bluebell
The ancient British bluebell is reaching its peak in shaded woodlands across England and Wales. Often linked to folklore and enchantment, its carpets are vanishing due to climate shifts and hybridisation.
🗞️ Top UK Stories This Week
🇬🇧 Trump to outline a UK–US trade agreement, raising pressure on Starmer
US President Donald Trump is set to announce a trade deal with Prime Minister Starmer. The agreement should cut tariffs on British steel, opens markets for UK pharmaceuticals, and contains “Buy British” clauses on AI tech — all while sidestepping human rights guarantees. You can bet the Tories and Reform will criticise the deal for locking in deregulation and “tying Britain to Trump’s shadow foreign policy.”
Starmer now faces growing pressure to clarify his own post-election trade stance; are we playing to Trump’s tune or doing what’s best for Britain and making a stronger pact with the EU, our biggest trading partner. Business leaders are waiting to see if Trumps chaos can stabilised but unions warn of worker vulnerabilities.
#TradePolitics #UKUSA
🤝 Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch strike PMQs deal ‘non-aggression pact’
At this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch avoided any mention of last week’s low-turnout local elections. Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch strike PMQs deal ‘non-aggression pact’. The deal was tabled, informally, by the Friends of Israel group, who could sense backlash coming their way.
Observers noted a deliberate effort to de-escalate attacks, with Badenoch making only glancing jabs and Starmer sidestepping criticism. The exchange has been dubbed a “non-aggression pact,” raising speculation that both parties are recalibrating strategies for the general election.
But under the surface this allows the two to avoid hostile questions regarding trade with Israel, and the military support for the genocidal regime.
#PMQs #UKPolitics
🩺 Women’s health overlooked again, warns Guardian editorial
A Guardian editorial this week warns that systemic gender bias in UK medical research continues to under-serve women, particularly on pain, reproductive health and chronic illness. It highlights how “male default” assumptions still shape funding decisions and clinical trials. Though recent reviews have called for change, activists say action has lagged.
Labour has pledged a £1bn investment in women’s health — but critics argue that unless research itself is restructured, the problem won’t be fixed and women’s health overlooked again.
#HealthInequality
💷 Rachel Reeves warned Labour could miss £60bn fiscal rules as bank drops interest rates
Economists have warned that a Labour government could breach its own fiscal rules by as much as £60 billion unless major revenue-raising measures are introduced. The Institute for Fiscal Studies flagged pressures from NHS and defence spending, along with sluggish growth. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves reiterated her commitment to “discipline and fairness,” but refused to be drawn on future tax hikes.
Business leaders remain split — some welcome Reeves’ caution, others fear she’s leaving a policy vacuum.
The Bank of England cuts interest rates from 4.5% to 4.25% – the lowest rate since May 2023. This uncertainty has left the committee’s vote split three ways, even the Bank’s governor said he was undecided in the run-up to the latest vote.
#Economy #RachelReeves
🎟️ Events worth putting in your diary – This Week
- 🧵 London Craft Week – From Savile Row to Shoreditch, a celebration of British design, heritage and emerging makers.
- 🎭 National Theatre: Underdog – A bold new political satire set in post-Brexit Britain, running this week in London.
- 🥁 Brighton Festival 2025 – Music, theatre and visual arts converge in Britain’s most eclectic seaside celebration.
- 🖼️ Tate Liverpool – “Technofossils” Exhibition – Art meets climate science in this haunting look at the Anthropocene.
- 📚 Bradford Literature Festival – From spoken word to philosophy, a multicultural hub of ideas and stories.
🐦 Political Tweets – Do you need a laugh?
- @Keir_Starmer:
“We need an economy that works for working people — not just the top 1%.” (18.4k likes, 2.9M views)
➔ Starmer leans into cost-of-living pressure and fair wages as Labour’s framing tool. and this week he’s refused to give pensioners a life saving winter fuel allowance. - @Nigel_Farage:
“Sunak is selling out sovereignty to a man who’s not even president.” (32.1k likes, 4.6M views)
➔ Farage goes viral again with a jab at the Trump – does anyone remember the tweet, one minute he’s a friend, the next a foe. - @KemiBadenoch:
“We don’t apologise for opportunity. We build it.” (9.7k likes, 1.5M views)
➔ Positioning herself as the Tories’ unapologetic voice for business and reform. No pun intended!
🎧 Podcast recommendations and Analysis
🎙️ The News Agents – Trump, Israel, Far Right
- Hosts analyse Trump’s new transatlantic power moves and how Far Right politics is quietly reshaping Europe.
- Israeli settler violence and US Republican silence draw sharp scrutiny.
- Big takeaway: 2024 was about headlines; 2025 is about infrastructure — who controls what behind the scenes.
- Emily Maitlis warns, “Democracy is being monetised — and few are noticing.”
🎙️ Today in Focus – Local elections and Labour’s muted joy
- Explores Labour’s gains in councils — but notes how turnout dipped alarmingly.
- Experts argue Labour’s base is lukewarm: “winning by default, not momentum.”
- Kemi Badenoch’s strategy is profiled as “high-risk, high-visibility” — appealing to culture war anxieties.
- Host warning: if Labour doesn’t inspire turnout by autumn, it risks a credibility wobble.
💬 Final Thought
“To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon…and taxed.” – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
The 19th-century French philosopher was railing against the state — but this week, it’s the political class watching each other, although they did try to curb your freedom to protest, but lost in court.
With elections looming, trade deals inked, and silence louder than slogans, Britain feels like it’s holding its breath. But in the quieter corners — theatres, workshops, parks in bloom — the country still speaks clearly. You just have to listen.