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The Left’s constant demonisation of Reform was a ticking time bomb

When Jo Cox was murdered, a toxic political culture was blamed – but so-called progressives won’t say the same about Ann Widdecombe’s death Daily Telegraph 14/07/26 When the Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in June 2016, there was no hesitation in naming her killer’s motive or beliefs. “Political violence does not exist in a vacuum,” wrote one Left-leaning commentator, “That’s not political point scoring, that is reality. To deny it – as some have done over the last 24 hours – is at best naïve, at worst lethal.” Jo’s life was tragically taken by a far-Right terrorist “after the most poisonous, hate-filled month in UK politics in living memory”. He meant the Brexit campaign which was paused out of respect. You will notice that no such ringing moral certitude has been permitted after the murder last week of Ann Widdecombe (even writing about her in the past tense still has an air of unreality; it’s just too sad, can it please not be true?). Devon and Cornwall Police told the public not to...
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Wealthy planning to emigrate if Miliband becomes chancellor

  Ultra-high net worth individuals look for ways to avoid possible equalisation of capital gains tax with income tax Daily Telegraph 13/07/26 Wealthy Britons are preparing to leave the country if Ed Miliband becomes chancellor and launches a new tax raid on the rich, The Telegraph can reveal. Ultra-high net worth individuals based in the UK have contacted international tax advisers looking for a way to avoid the possible equalisation of capital gains tax with income tax in the first months of Andy Burnham’s government . Mr Burnham – who has said the country has “overtaxed jobs [and] undertaxed wealth” – is widely expected to launch a review of CGT ahead of his first Budget later this year. Although the incoming Labour leader has pledged to remain within the party’s manifesto pledges on tax, including not to raise VAT, income tax or National Insurance, he is thought to be considering a range of changes to personal taxation. They could include the equalisation of CGT with income t...
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Burnham’s council house blitz is a recipe for social disharmony

  The presumptive prime minister’s plans to build more local authority homes face multiple hurdles Daily Telegraph 11/07/26 Nostalgia. Ah, that gloriously intoxicating longing for the warm glow of an imagined past that never really existed.  But then, almost anything seems better than today’s broken Britain, with its stagnant living standards, rapidly changing demographic and failing public services. The decade most fondly remembered in this regard tends to be the 1950s, when Britons were said to have “never had it so good” . It scarcely needs saying that the reality for many people back then did not live up to this sugar-coated perception of Britannia at its finest. But one thing they did seem to get right was that lots of houses were built for Britain’s fast-growing, baby-boomer generation. This was the golden age of UK housebuilding, with more than two million new dwellings built across the decade. More than half of these were council houses to replace homes destroyed in th...
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Ann Widdecombe

 E Mail from Nigel Farage to Reform Members Ann Widdecombe was an extraordinary woman - without doubt, the best-known and most outstanding female politician in Britain since Margaret Thatcher. Ann spent many years in the Conservative Party. Then, in 2019, she joined us in the Brexit Party when we won the European elections, and was an outstanding colleague in the European Parliament. Beyond that, she became a loyal member alongside us all in Reform UK. Ann reached, of course, far beyond politics through Strictly Come Dancing, Big Brother and her theatre tours. She wasn’t just a politician; she became a celebrity. But the thing about Ann is that she never sought popularity for its own sake. She stood up and fought for what she believed in.  She was a devout Christian and somebody with strong socially conservative views - perhaps not popular in the top circles of modern Britain, but Ann stood up for what she believed, regardless of fashion. Ann could stand on a stage and give a ...
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The Labour Party is re-enacting the chaotic final season of Game of Thrones

  This Government has become as unpredictable as HBO’s adaptation after it ran out of George RR Martin’s source material Daily Telegraph 10/07/26 link There are those who think it matters not that innumerable journalists, sub-editors and email authors have got into the habit of referring to Andy Burnham, our prime minister presumptive, as “The King of the North” . I have gone to great lengths, in this column and on X, to remind everyone that if they’re going to use pop culture references, they should do so with greater accuracy. In the first season of Game of Thrones , the character Robb Stark is given the title of King in the North by his followers. In, not “of”. I do not need reminding that this doesn’t really matter. We all know to whom the reference applies, after all. It’s a well-chosen nickname because, even though Burnham is notoriously reluctant to mention it in public, he is, in fact, from the North himself . My contention is that there is no point in adopting any cultura...
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