11 h. ago Chuck Schumer should quit – but would his imaginary friends agree? | Arwa Mahdawi

The US government was shut down for weeks – and then Democrats shrugged their shoulders and gave upChuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has a pair of very sweet imaginary friends. They’re a middle-class couple called Joe and Eileen Bailey and they live on Long Island. At one point the imaginary couple, who feature in Schumer’s 2007 book, Positively American, were called the O’Reillys. According to the Hill, one Schumer aide said the name then was changed because the publisher thought O’Reilly was “too ethnic” for mass consumption. Another aide said that claim was false, and Schumer just wanted a name that “sounded more national”. Naming strategy aside, the key point here is that Schumer has said he runs all his policy decisions by this completely fictional couple. He’s referred to them hundreds of times throughout his political career.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

49 h. ago How 1million will pay tax for the first time if Budget raid goes ahead – min wage and pensioners will be hit hardest

A MILLION extra people will be dragged into paying income tax if Rachel Reeves presses ahead with a punishing stealth rise, a new report reveals. Pensioners and minimum wage earners face being hit by tax thresholds being frozen for a further two years to help balance the books. Income tax thresholds are frozen until 2028, so...

Economics

8 d. ago Reeves ‘targets tax raid on employee pension contributions at Budget’

Employees contributing more than £2,000 a year into work-based pensions could face additional tax, according to a report by The Times

Economics

8 d. ago Work of art on display in museum DESTROYED after volunteer wiped the dust off it using toilet roll

A VOLUNTEER inadvertently destroyed a work of art on display in a museum — by wiping the dust off it. The misguided clean-up attempt ruined Inverted Syntax-16, which features a dust-covered mirror on a plain wooden board. It also has a smudge in the middle — said to symbolise the cultural consciousness of the middle-class....

Politics

8 d. ago All Her Fault review – Sarah Snook’s terrifying thriller is an absolute pleasure to watch

This extraordinarily tight child kidnap drama knits all its threads together brilliantly – and the mighty Snook of Succession fame shines as a mother whose son is missingLook, I am a mother, a neurotic and – if one of my HRT patches sloughs off without me noticing – very quickly a clinical paranoiac. But even if that were not true, this latest tale of a playdate gone unthinkably wrong would have me firmly in its grip. All Her Fault, an adaptation of bestselling thriller writer Andrea Mara’s 2021 book of the same name, braids a number of popular TV trends together, interrogating White Lotus-style the phenomenon of middle-class US affluence and the protections it offers and corruptions it encourages, a missing child narrative and an examination of the penalty women pay for motherhood. It is rare that all these things are held in balance, without at least one element becoming preachy or the thriller part becoming baggy or preposterous, but All Her Fault manages it brilliantly.We are pl...

Events

8 d. ago Almost 9million pensioners to be hit by Rachel Reeves's income tax raid as Chancellor 'tells Budget watchdog she will break Labour's manifesto pledge'

The Chancellor has paved the way for fresh levy hikes later this month after she used a Downing Street speech on Tuesday to warn Britons: 'Each of us must do our bit.'

Economics

8 d. ago Almost 9million pensioners to be hit by Rachel Reeves' income tax raid as Chancellor 'tells Budget watchdog she will break Labour's manifesto pledge'

The Chancellor has paved the way for fresh levy hikes later this month after she used a Downing Street speech on Tuesday to warn Britons: 'Each of us must do our bit.'

Economics

9 d. ago Sainsbury's 'doing everything' to win supermarket price war amid Budget tax raid fears

Sainsbury's is 'doing everything' to win a supermarket price war, the group's chief executive has said, as he cautioned the Chancellor against further tax rises.

Economics

1 week ago UK's Reeves set to spare banks from budget tax raid, FT reports

UK's Reeves set to spare banks from budget tax raid, FT reports  Reuters

Economics

1 week ago Labour set to hit middle class earners with £60BILLION tax bomb to plug Budget gaps, top economists predict... amid fears Rachel Reeves could send Britain into a fiscal 'doom loop'

In trying to meet her Budget targets, the Chancellor may face a £20billion to £30billion black hole, according to analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

Economics

1 week ago Kate Middleton and Prince William’s college classmate dead after 100

Kate Middleton and Prince William’s college classmate dead after 100-foot fall from London rooftop bar  New York Post

Politics

1 week ago Kate Middleton and Prince William’s College Classmate Dies After 100

Kate Middleton and Prince William’s College Classmate Dies After 100-Foot Fall from Rooftop Bar in London  People.com

Politics

1 week ago Now Labour faces revolt over tax raid on 'working class' as Reeves warns EVERYONE will suffer from Budget not just the 'rich'

Left-wingers have demanded Rachel Reeves spares the 'working class' after she took the highly unusual step of laying the ground for her fiscal package with a speech in Downing Street.

Events

1 week ago Labour revolt over tax raid on 'working class' as Reeves warns EVERYONE will suffer from Budget not just the 'rich'

Chancellor Rachel Reeves talked up the need to 'invest' as she took the highly unusual step of teeing up her fiscal package with a speech in Downing Street .

Events

1 week ago How much more council tax could YOU be paying under Rachel Reeves' desperate Budget assault on the 'wealthy'?

The Chancellor is said to be plotting a Budget tax raid on 'wealthy' households by dramatically hiking the charge for the top council tax bands.

Economics

1 week ago Britain 'doomed' under Labour as wealthy scramble to 'get the hell out of London', Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary warns

The UK is doomed under Labour, the boss of Ryanair has warned as he claimed wealthy people were scrambling to 'get the hell out of London' before being hit by a Budget tax raid.

Events

1 week ago Death by a HUNDRED tax hikes? Reeves looking at blizzard of increases on 'wealthy' middle earners in Budget

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering a blizzard of measures targeting the 'wealthy' as she scrambles to drum up huge sums.

Economics

2 w. ago RUTH SUNDERLAND: Labour's typically resentful attack on the aspirational middle

Having wriggled on the hook for more than a year over her definition of a 'working person', after promising not to raise taxes for such people, finally, she has an answer.

Events

2 w. ago Rachel Reeves ‘eyes tax raid on expensive homes’ in crunch Budget

Mansions and other high value houses in Labour chancellor’s sights as she prepares for crucial Budget later this month

Economics

2 w. ago Rachel Reeves plans Budget tax raid on expensive homes in England

UK chancellor predicted to plump for ‘least worst option’ of creating higher council tax bands

Economics