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Tony Blair’s state pension plan is bewildering in its complexity

Can we really expect the Government to estimate the life expectancy of every individual in the country? Daily Telegraph 01/05/26 The proposals by the Tony Blair Institute for radical reform of the state pension system are well-intentioned, but – in several ways – would be a complete disaster. For starters, they would involve a shocking degree of intrusion into our private lives. The institute proposes that citizens build up rights to a pension via a flexible new “Lifespan Fund” which includes provision to draw it early to fund periods of caring or retraining. Entitlement to a pension would be based on age, health and years of contributing. Under these plans, a person in average health would be entitled to a payout similar to today’s new state pension. This would be from the point at which their life expectancy stood at 20 years (currently around 67, but likely to rise). Someone in worse health could get that same pension earlier, and someone in better health would have to wait ...

Green Party candidates arrested over anti-Semitism

Social media post allegedly by candidate for Clapham Town claimed synagogue attacks ‘were revenge’ Daily Telegraph 30/04/26 Two Green Party candidates have been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred for allegedly posting anti-Semitic comments online. Saiqa Ali, who is standing in Streatham, in the borough of Lambeth, and Sabine Mairey, the candidate for Clapham Town, also in Lambeth, were detained by Metropolitan Police officers on Thursday morning. One of the social media posts by Ms Ali shows an image of an armed man in a Hamas headband under the slogan “resistance is freedom”. The militant group is a proscribed terrorist organisation. A post by Ms Mairey includes a picture of a man holding a placard that reads “ramming a synagogue isn’t anti-Semitism, it’s revenge” above a picture of two children that it says have been “murdered by Israel”. She also suggested that Israel was worse than Nazi Germany with a photo of Auschwitz which said the Nazis “had to hide what...

The Golders Green attack was sickeningly predictable

The sewers of Jew hatred have burst. Time for action. Spiked 29/04/26 Jews have been stabbed in Golders Green. Are you sickened, horrified, appalled? I should hope so. The more troubling question is: are you surprised? To our eternal shame, I don’t think anyone can claim to be. Just after 11am this morning, British Jews had their worst fears realised. Again. A little more than six months after Jihad al-Shamie slashed at worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, an attack of savagery that left two dead, Jewish blood has now been spilled on the streets of Jewish north London. The suspect reportedly slashed at someone outside the synagogue on Highfield Avenue, before turning down Golders Green Road and stabbing a ‘visibly Jewish man’. A man in his 70s and another in his 30s are in hospital. The alleged knifeman, 45, was tasered and arrested. It’s now been declared a ‘terrorist incident’. The usual caveats, legal backcovering and journalistic restraint apply...

Labour MPs defy Starmer and demand ethics inquiry

Daily Telegraph 28/04/28 Labour MPs have demanded Sir Keir Starmer refer himself to the privileges committee over the Mandelson scandal. Backbenchers have said that despite pressure from No 10, they will not vote to protect the Prime Minister from an ethics inquiry over claims he misled MPs. The crunch vote is seen as a vote of confidence in Sir Keir’s leadership, after the Prime Minister held a meeting with MPs on Monday urging them to back him. John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said Sir Keir should refer himself to the committee to clear his name. “When you’re under attack like this you don’t run from the attack, you run to face it,” he told the Commons. Andy McDonald agreed, adding that the Prime Minister had made it clear “he has not misled this House. So in those circumstances, would it not be the right thing to do to embrace this process and wipe the floor with the critics that put these things to him?” Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Sou...

Labour MP opens door to handing Burnham his safe seat

Peter Dowd refuses to deny reports that he would step aside for Greater Manchester mayor, seen as a front-runner to replace PM Daily Telegraph 27/04/26 A veteran Labour MP has opened the door to giving up his safe seat to help Andy Burnham return to Parliament. Peter Dowd, who has represented Bootle, on Merseyside, since 2015, refused to deny reports that he was prepared to stand down for the Mayor of Greater Manchester. Mr Burnham’s previous attempt to return to Westminster by standing in Gorton and Denton by-election was blocked by Sir Keir Starmer and his allies on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee. Sir Keir is widely expected to face a challenge in the aftermath of next week’s local elections as a backlash continues to grow over his handling of the Mandelson vetting scandal. Mr Burnham is seen as a front-runner to replace Sir Keir but is ineligible for any Labour leadership contest because he is not an MP. Reports surfaced at the weekend that Mr Dowd was one of ...

Nigel Farage is winning the battle for the soul of my beloved Wales

Labour’s hold on my homeland began with a Keir and will end with a Keir Daily Telegraph 24/04/26 Nigel Farage moves closer to Keir Starmer and reaches out to touch him. Keir feels the hand of history on his shoulder. No, not that Keir, but let me explain. It is a glorious spring morning in Aberdare, and the leader of Reform UK is standing on an overgrown patch of dewy grass next to a handsome bronze bust of Keir Hardie. In 1900, the former Scottish miner became MP for the seat of Merthyr Tydfil, which encompassed Aberdare, and was the heart of Welsh coal production. In the same year, Hardie helped to form the union-based Labour Representation Committee, soon to be called the Labour Party. After the 1906 general election, Hardie was elected as the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party. He remains a giant in its mythology. With a keen sense of political symbolism, Farage has come here today, to the birthplace of Labour, in the belief that he is about to read its last rites...