Burnham set to revive Help to Buy scheme in bid to boost housebuilding ft.trib.al/gpEan4o

I’ve spent a few weeks asking people if Britain is prepared for war, among other doom scenarios. The short answer is no and the condensed reason for why that happened is that we spent the last forty years stripping off and selling the most resilient systems in the country for parts.

This is nice, but the truth is that traditional (pre-musical theatre) opera is very very boring. The best way to help people enjoy it would be to put on “the best of opera” nights that just do the highlight songs and drop the terrible 3-hour plots in between them.

The Liberal Democrats want a tax free personal allowance of £15,000. Stupid, unserious policy. We need to expand the tax base, not shrink it. In which case: expect it to become very popular, and adopted by all the major parties and the media class.

James agrees that wages must increase and then more adults will pay income tax 🙄

BREAKING: Reform UK would win less seats than both Labour and the Conservatives if a general election were to be held today in a dramatic reversal of fortunes for Nigel Farage’s party, a YouGov MRP has found The new large-scale seat by seat MRP by YouGov suggests the UK is currently heading for a hung Parliament with Labour as the largest party with 241 seats The Conservatives would be in second place with 130 seats, better than their result in the 2024 general election, while Reform would be pushed into third place with 123 seats If replicated at the next election the poll suggests that both Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, who deserted the Tories to join Farage, would lose their seats to their old party Even if Reform and the Tories could agree a pact they would still not have enough seats to form a majority coalition government However Labour would also struggle to govern having lost 162 of the 403 seats that it holds at present It would have to rely on both the Liberal Democrats, predicted to win 71 seats, and the Greens, on nine, or one of the nationalist parties in order to command a majority in the Commons It marks a stark reversal of Reform’s fortunes compared to a YouGov MRP a year ago: September 2026 Seats Labour: 241 Conservative: 130 Reform UK: 123 Lib Dem: 71 SNP: 40 Plaid: 15 Green: 9 Other: 3 September 2025 Seats Reform UK: 311 Labour: 144 Lib Dem: 78 Conservative: 45 SNP: 37 Green: 7 Plaid: 6 Others: 3 thetimes.com/article/17f7462…

Please show an example so that its clear what level of UC can be claimed. I think you will find it is next to nothing.

BREAKING PM Andy Burnham has announced plans for a new National Centre for Information Defence to improve community cohesion and prevent a "distorted and untrue narrative about Britain". The new centre will draw up expertise and best practice, and ensure the UK has the defensive capability necessary to combat information warfare and build national resilience. Mr Burnham said: "There is no national security without a strong, cohesive society. That’s the starting point for everything we hold dear and everything we want to achieve. But the fact is that it has been under attack. "In recent years we have seen an industrial-scale assault by hostile actors on the information environment in the UK and many of our allies.   "Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fears. They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. "Forged the branding of 28 British organisations – including universities and the BBC. They’ve amplified far right narratives. And we have evidence that they tried to interfere with the 2019 General Election. "We also know that they have tried to stoke tensions and unrest in the wake of horrific events. The idea that anyone would try to use such things to their advantage is just repulsive – but it is what they do." More now at @GBNEWS.

EXC: Westminster City Council to Sell Waterloo Place Banksy Statue order-order.com/2026/09/22/e…

I have written about why Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should think very carefully before they declare that "Westminster is over"... observer.co.uk/news/business…

Caramelised onions, browned meat, glossy gravy, slow-cooked curries: the richest food on earth tends to come in the shades the algorithm ignores. But which one steals our critic’s heart? ft.trib.al/7XsFLVU

NEW: Bloomberg Saturday read Andy Burnham’s honeymoon ended this week as the realities of governing came into view — Labour officials are increasingly concerned the budget will be gloomier than expected. They think winter and early 2027 will see rises in energy bills, inflation and interest rates, threatening the PM’s defining mission to bring down the cost-of-living. — It’s led Burnham to shift his messaging, away from “hope” to preparing the public for “challenging” times and “difficult decisions.” The fear among Burnham supporters is how he can avoid a narrative of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” An ally of Rachel Reeves jokes that Burnham and John Healey now sound like her. — On Tuesday Burnham meets the man his allies blame for his problems: Donald Trump. Privately, aides are seething that Trump’s chaos is wrecking what might otherwise be an improving UK picture. But they can’t say so publicly. Burnham has to get him to give Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine and, somehow, end the nightmare in the Middle East. — For the PM’s critics within Labour, this was all so predictable. Starmerites have long argued Burnham was heavy on vibes but light on substance. For them, he focused on being a better communicator but never had a plan to overcome the geopolitical headwinds threatening Britain. Inside government there is frustration that No10 was slow to see what was coming. It surprised some that Burnham chose to define success on quickly improving the cost-of-living, something that’s not in his control. — Some executives who attended a private speech by Healey in Downing Street this week left underwhelmed at the lack of new ideas. One business representative says the speech was indistinguishable from one Reeves could have given. Another says it was a step down from Reeves, who they argued was more confident and able to show she was across the detail. — The current concern in No10/No11 is energy bills. Officials have been buoyed by evidence that previous policies to reduce bills went some way to paying for themselves by mechanically lowering inflation and gilt yields. They are looking at other ways they can do similar at the budget. But the looming 25% rise in the Ofgem price cap means any new scrapping of levies may be swallowed up. — It’s also hard to just blame Trump. Labour MPs on the left say the big danger is Burnham ends up like Starmer: tinkering around the edges and not living up to the generational transformation he promised. Inside the confines of the manifesto on tax, the triple lock and Europe, it’s unclear how different the Burnham project is from what Starmer would have done, as shown by the great @samcoatessky scoop this week. — Labour MPs also think Burnham was lucky his takeover coincided with Nigel Farage’s implosion. The poll boost Burnham has enjoyed might be a mirage, one says. The darkening mood has all-but ended talk in Labour of a snap election. Some aides had argued a spring poll would take advantage of Farage’s weakness. But an election amid tax rises, energy bill increases and interest rate hikes would be extremely ill-advised, a person close to Burnham says. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…