Labour is planning to give local officials sweeping new powers to buy land cheaply and develop on it, as part of the party’s new “pro-building” agenda. Party sources say that if elected next year, they will pass a law to allow local development authorities in England the power to buy up land at a fraction […]
Read MoreCategory: Politics
Cabinet Office may take legal action to deny Covid inquiry Boris Johnson material
The Cabinet Office could take unprecedented action to prevent Boris Johnson’s unredacted diaries and WhatsApp messages being handed over to the official Covid inquiry, the Guardian had been told. Officials are preparing to issue a response to the inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, by 4pm on Tuesday. Sources said they were likely to resist her demand […]
Read MoreNHS England workforce plan delayed amid rumours of cost issues
NHS leaders have raised concerns about the delay to the long-awaited workforce plan, after the health secretary, Steve Barclay, refused to give a deadline for its publication and with rumours suggesting it is considered too costly. The plan, which was expected to be published on Tuesday, appears to have been delayed, according to the deputy […]
Read MoreTo reform the NHS, Labour must learn from the past | Letters
As your editorial on Labour’s plan for the NHS points out (23 May), health is largely determined by political choices. To restore the NHS, we could learn from its history. The independent contractor model of primary care has been an NHS success story and, arguably, its collapse is at the root of the service’s wider […]
Read MoreStarting young on the politics of argument | Letters
Alastair Campbell inadvertently but accurately summed up everything that is wrong with politics in this country when he suggested that “arguing” could be the name for teaching politics in schools (Politics should be taught in primary schools, Alastair Campbell says, 25 May). Arguing is a sterile, counterproductive activity if it does not have a philosophical […]
Read MorePlan to scrap specialist sex offender teams ‘a danger to public safety’, says probation union
Plans to disband specialist teams that deliver treatment courses for sex offenders have prompted fears public safety will be jeopardised. Under the Ministry of Justice proposals, which are being fiercely resisted internally, behaviour programmes for a wide variety of offenders would be delivered by staff who are not fully qualified probation officers. A probation worker […]
Read MoreBritain’s ever-harsher welfare system means that now only the rich can afford to make art | Alex Niven
When John Lydon sang in 1976 that anarchy was coming to the UK, he wasn’t far wrong. Genuine anarchism (a noble political tradition) certainly didn’t descend on Britain in the wake of punk rock and Margaret Thatcher’s general election victory three years later. But since 1979, the consensus that the British state should empower individuals […]
Read MoreMore than 90 English primary schools to close or face closure for lack of pupils
More than 90 English primary schools – many of them in cities and towns – are to close or are at risk of closure because they are more than two-thirds empty, according to Guardian analysis of government data. A combination of falling birth rates and the urban exodus of young families in the face of […]
Read More
Is Minnesota a progressive ‘laboratory’ or an exceptional exception?
Fifty years ago this August, Time magazine ran the cover story “The Good Life in Minnesota,” proclaiming it “a state that works” where “a residual American secret still seems to operate.” The article, complete with a full-page splash of then-Governor Wendell Anderson holding an impressive looking (if relatively small) northern pike, presented the state as […]
Read More
Greg Casar Charts a Lonely Progressive Path in Texas
It’s a wisdom gained from experience. As council member, Casar worked with progressive activists to decriminalize public camping in 2019, a step he acknowledges couldn’t supplant the need for more resources to combat the city’s homelessness crisis. In 2020, he pushed to cut and redistribute police funding more following national protests over the murder of […]
Read More2% tax on UK rich list families ‘could raise £22bn a year’
A modest wealth tax on the richest 350 families in the UK could raise more than £20bn a year – enough to fund the construction of 145,000 new affordable homes a year – according to research by fairer taxation campaigners. A 2% tax on assets above £10m held by all members of the Sunday Times […]
Read More‘Social mobility is a fairytale’: Faiza Shaheen on fighting for Labour and hating Oxford
It was 12 December 2019; the first winter general election in Britain since 1923. Faiza Shaheen walked into Waltham Forest town hall in north-east London. The academic, economist, self-described inequality geek and Labour parliamentary candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green was about to find out if she had pulled off a feat so close to […]
Read MoreUK could break up unless it is rebuilt as ‘solidarity union’, says Mark Drakeford
The UK could break apart unless it is rebuilt as a “solidarity union” where every citizen’s rights to public services and financial security are protected, the first minister of Wales, has warned. Mark Drakeford said the social and political bonds that tie the different parts of the UK together have come under “sustained assault” from […]
Read MoreWe desperately need a government who will say it: Britain is still reeling from Covid | John Harris
Of all the factions and cliques in and around the modern Conservative party, none is grimmer than the small gang who think that Boris Johnson is the victim of conspiracies involving the fabled “blob”, and that the condition of their party – and, indeed, the country – would be a thousand times better if only […]
Read More
Japón advierte que destruirá cualquier misil norcoreano que entre en su territorio
(CNN) — El Ministerio de Defensa de Japón advirtió este lunes que destruirá cualquier misil norcoreano que entre en su territorio, después de que Pyongyang notificara al país sus planes de lanzar un “satélite” entre el 31 de mayo y el 11 de junio. “Tomaremos medidas destructivas contra los misiles balísticos y de otro tipo […]
Read More
El presidente de Cuba felicita a Erdogan por su reelección en presidenciales de Turquía
La Habana, 28 may (EFE).- El presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, felicitó al actual jefe de Estado de Turquía, el islamista Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tras ganar la reelección en la segunda vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales de este domingo. “Nuestras más sinceras felicitaciones a Recep Tayyip Erdogan con motivo de su reelección como presidente de […]
Read More‘Shocking’ figures show 8% of muggings result in a charge, say Lib Dems
Slightly more than 30,000 muggings in England and Wales did not even result in a suspect being identified by police last year, research released by the Liberal Democrats has shown. Just 8% of all offences of robbery of personal property reported to the police last year saw someone being charged, the data from the House […]
Read More
Just one in 12 violent muggings resulted in charges in 2022, shocking figures reveal
ONLY one in 12 muggings resulted in charges last year, official figures show. The violent offence is being “effectively decriminalised” as offenders are let off the hook, it is claimed. 1 Of all muggings, half — 30,000 in all — went unsolved last yearCredit: Alamy Of all muggings, half — 30,000 in all — went […]
Read MoreGender pay gap for women in their 50s won’t close before 2050, claims Labour
The so-called equal pay generation of female workers born near the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act are unlikely to see the gap close during their working lives, a Labour analysis has shown. Research carried out for Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, calculated that such is the slow […]
Read MoreSure Start director says childcare reform is for UK economy not children
Naomi Eisenstadt remembers her excitement as she started as the first director of the government’s Sure Start unit in 1999. “I felt like Lyndon Johnson had run up and asked me to set up Head Start,” she says, referring to the US president’s key 1965 policy to fight the “war on poverty”. “For decades many […]
Read MoreUK ministers discuss voluntary price limits for basic foods but rule out imposing caps
The UK government is working with supermarkets to voluntarily cap the price of basic food items in an effort to ease the cost of living squeeze, but insists it is not considering imposing price caps. With food and drink prices rising at the fastest pace in more than 40 years and no let-up in sight, […]
Read MoreImmigrants deserve to be valued, not vilified | Letters
The excellent article by Gaby Hinsliff (The Tories should be proud of Britain’s migration numbers – and they have Boris Johnson to thank, 25 May) and your editorial (25 May) together encapsulate the necessary reframing of the tired numbers-driven immigration debate that has gone on unchallenged for decades. The bipartisan political and media-amplified consensus that […]
Read MoreLabour confirms plans to block all new North Sea oil and gas projects
Labour’s shadow work and pension secretary has confirmed the party’s plans to block all new domestic oil and gas developments if it wins power, instead proposing to invest heavily in renewable sources such as wind, and also in nuclear power. Jonathan Ashworth said details would be announced soon when asked about a report in the […]
Read MoreDavid Miliband calls his support for Iraq war one of his ‘deepest regrets’
David Miliband has said that his support for the Iraq war was “one of the deepest regrets” from his time in politics. The former foreign secretary also said that the war and the period around it has subsequently caused “real damage” to western claims to stand up for core values of international order and justice. […]
Read MoreSteve Barclay admits 40 new hospitals will not be built by 2030
The health secretary has admitted the government is not building 40 new hospitals by 2030, as long promised, but said the projects involved “a range of things” including new wings and refurbishments. Steve Barclay, who nonetheless sought to insist that this did not break the Conservatives’ manifesto promise for 40 new hospitals, also argued that […]
Read MoreTerrible news for Sunak and Hunt puts election victory all but out of reach | Larry Elliott
There was only ever an outside chance that the Conservatives would win the next general election after the tumultuous period that resulted in Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister last October. The events of the past week mean the prospect of a fifth Tory victory is now vanishingly small. Ironically, things started so well for the […]
Read MoreThe Covid inquiry is digging up Boris Johnson’s blunders and the mess keeps piling up | Gaby Hinsliff
It is almost a year to the day since it finally dawned on most Conservatives that Boris Johnson would ultimately have to go. And yet, a whole two prime ministers later, it’s almost as if he never left. This time last May, he was trying to bluster his way out of trouble following the publication […]
Read MoreFirms fined most by regulators still on UK government’s list of top suppliers
Companies that have paid hundreds of millions in fines and penalties, have defrauded Whitehall or have faced corruption investigations are among those making the most money from UK government outsourcing, the Observer can reveal. Observer analysis of data from UK regulators has found the Strategic Suppliers, the 40 private companies that play the biggest role […]
Read MoreMedia shuns Tory party conference over demands for attendance fee
It looks as if there will be empty seats in the rows usually reserved for members of the press at the annual Conservative party conference in Manchester this autumn, with media organisations across the political spectrum refusing to pay recently imposed fees. No other British political party charges for press accreditation, but last year a […]
Read MoreSuella Braverman’s leadership hopes dented as public support plummets
Suella Braverman has suffered a collapse in personal support among the public in the wake of rows over a speeding fine and her handling of immigration, a new poll for the Observer has revealed. With some Tories accusing the home secretary of positioning herself as a future leader, the latest Opinium poll found that her […]
Read More‘We’re both romantic about what politics can be’: Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart on their double act
The Royal Hall in Harrogate has a long and interesting history. Designed by Robert Beale and the great Frank Matcham, it opened on the site of the former Cheltenham Pump Room in 1903 as the Kursaal – a name inspired by the building on which it was based, the Ostend Kursaal in Belgium (a German […]
Read More