6 d. ago Want to understand the sickness of Britain today? Look no further – a novel explained it all 20 years ago | Aditya Chakrabortty

The racism, the predatory politics, the banality and cruelty: we struggle to make sense of it, but JG Ballard foretold everything we are living through nowAn Englishman drives into a new town and can’t see the warning signs. Richard Pearson is visiting Surrey to close down his late father’s home and settle his affairs and, everywhere he looks, the flag of St George is flying “from suburban gardens and filling stations and branch post offices”. How nice, he thinks, how festive. Soon he learns the truth.So runs the opening not of a recent piece of journalism, but a novel by JG Ballard, Kingdom Come, which despite being almost 20 years old anticipates today’s Britain with eerie precision. In the mid-2000s, Pearson reads up on his new surroundings, only to find the same headlines that assail us in the mid-2020s: “Every day the local newspaper reported attacks on an asylum hotel, the torching of a Bangladeshi takeaway, injuries to a Kosovan youth thrown over the fence into an industrial ...

Politics

1 week ago What will be the cost of Keir Starmer’s new medicines deal with Donald Trump? British lives | Aditya Chakrabortty

More than £3bn that could have been used for UK patients will go to big pharma for its branded products – money for care siphoned off for profitOf Arthur Scargill it was said that he began each day with two newspapers. The miners’ leader read the Morning Star of course, but only after consulting the Financial Times. Why did a class warrior from Yorkshire accord such importance to the house journal of pinstriped Londoners? Before imbibing views, he told a journalist, he wanted “to get the facts”.In that spirit, let us parse a deal just struck by the governments of Donald Trump and Keir Starmer. You may not have heard much about this agreement on medicine, but it is huge in both financial and political significance – and Downing Street could not be more proud. A “world-beating deal,” boasts the science minister, Patrick Vallance. It “paves the way for the UK to become a global hub for life sciences,” claims the business secretary, Peter Kyle, with the government press release adding: ...

Economics

2 w. ago Prime Minister Keir Starmer to address UK today as 'apology' demanded from Rachel Reeves

During Prime Minister's Questions today (Wednesday December 10), Conservative MPs are set to demand an 'apology' from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves for 'misleading the country'

Politics

3 w. ago The most misleading thing about Rachel Reeves’s budget? Who it was really for | Aditya Chakrabortty

Labour backbenchers have been cheering it as a win for the most vulnerable in socety. In fact it was aimed at the bond marketsThe charge is a grave one: that Rachel Reeves has just lied to Britons, spooking them into paying billions in extra taxes that she can splash out on higher benefits. However hyperbolic, this isn’t the usual Westminster sparring; this time, someone might get hurt. A week ago, critics of Reeves and Keir Starmer were, rightly, calling their budget “chaotic”. Today, it’s denounced as lies, and Kemi Badenoch is demanding the chancellor quit. It’s an accusation that demands straightforward answers, so let me give mine. Did the chancellor tell lies? On the available evidence, no. There were no whoppers, no falsehoods, no porkies. But despite Starmer’s comments yesterday, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see here and we can all move along. Reeves did mislead the public about the factors shaping her decisions. Was it all to funnel cash to “benefits street”, as the...

Politics

3 w. ago Starmer says there was ‘no misleading’ by Chancellor ahead of Budget

Rachel Reeves has also reportedly been accused of misleading the Cabinet.

Politics

3 w. ago Rachel Reeves accused of misleading the UK over 'hard choices' and £30bn black hole

A letter from the Office for Budget Responsibility revealed it told the Chancellor that the spending gap would be much smaller, leading to claims she had 'lied to the public'

Economics

3 w. ago Rachel Reeves accused of misleading voters over £20bn Budget black hole – live updates

The fiscal watchdog said the chancellor knew about its revised prediction well before she changed course to raise taxes

Economics

3 w. ago Rachel Reeves accused of ‘misleading’ UK over £20bn Budget black hole – live updates

The fiscal watchdog said the chancellor knew about its revised prediction well before she changed course to raise taxes

Economics

3 w. ago Rachel Reeves's Budget shows Labour is reversing Tory injustice, Neil Kinnock says

Neil Kinnock, who called for the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped, says the Chancellor's decision to remove the policy is a 'fine way of combatting child poverty and good for the economy'

Politics

4 w. ago £14,000 handouts to 18,000 families: Reeves's Budget will raise taxes to fund benefits windfall for parents of six or more children

Official figures show the Chancellor's Budget plan to scrap the two-child benefit cap will be worth more than £14,000 a year each to 18,000 low-income families with six or more children.

Economics

4 w. ago £14,000 handouts to 18,000 families: Rachel Reeves's Budget will raise taxes to fund benefits windfall

Official figures show the Chancellor's Budget plan to scrap the two-child benefit cap will be worth more than £14,000 a year each to 18,000 low-income families with six or more children.

Economics