Jonathan Jones 🦆

This is un-British nonsense. Churches should not enjoy special privileges to hold mass prayer in public spaces while other faiths are restricted. The British instinct is straightforward: either everyone is allowed, or no one is. In truth, I suspect most of the public would prefer the latter. In the UK, faith has traditionally been treated as a private matter. Overt public displays of religion tend to sit uneasily with that cultural norm. I say this as a practising Christian. Few things irritate me more than street preachers with loudspeakers turning public spaces into platforms for performance rather than reflection. My church, the Church of England, should stay out of it.

This story below reveals the true extent of Angela Rayner's cluelessness when it comes to economics, the public finances and financial markets. I say that not with glee - but deep alarm and regret. If this is really how the probable next Prime Minister of the UK thinks - betting markets put a more than 50% chance on leadership coup by June - then the ousting of Starmer/Reeves by Rayner (or Miliband) is likely to spark an instant spike in gilt yields, from their already elevated levels. Just the fact that Rayner has said what she has below will put yet more upward pressure on the market-driven borrowing costs – whatever the Bank of England says is these days mere mood – that drive the interest rates faced by firms and households. I have nothing against more social housing – on the contrary, the arguments in favour of building more are at the heart of my book "Home Truths", along with policy mechanisms that could get that done. But if you think that, in the current environment, hard-nosed international creditors do - or even should - give a monkey's about the "social benefits" of subsidised housing then you are utterly and dangerously deluded. Again, I say this in sorrow, not glee. I knew plenty of smart people at the top of successive Blair governments. The architects of New Labour – at least the Blairites – always made sure there were financially literate and market-savvy people in the room when big decisions were made. That was important back then - when the national debt Britain had to service was 35pc of GDP. Now – with the same metric pushing 100pc of GDP and Britain paying more than Morocco to borrow money – it is absolutely vital. It seems that there is no-one – NO-ONE AT ALL – near the top of today's Labour government who has the first clue about the realities of public accounts and global finance. These are – once again – NOT tribal or party-political points, but statements of cold fact ....

This is the biggest reform to our Parliament in a generation. 🇬🇧 This morning, the 700-year-old system of hereditary membership in the House of Lords was abolished. Membership is now earned through public service and merit, not granted by an inheritance. ✅

The A303 Stonehenge tunnel has been scrapped after years of planning. £180 million. Gone. Not a single mile built. Not a single benefit delivered. Just taxpayer money burned. Who is actually held accountable for this?

People who ‘follow the data’ would probably use a sample period that’s a little longer than 12 hours How about, say, the last 12 months? In which time renewables have generated 42% of the UK’s electricity Gas, meanwhile, is at 28%