We hold power to account. Our journalists investigate, interrogate and report without fear or favour. | | Daniel Martin Deputy Political Editor | Sir Keir Starmer has scrapped a flagship pledge in the workers’ rights bill championed by Angela Rayner. Yesterday, the Government announced that it was abandoning plans to allow employees to sue for unfair dismissal on day one of their employment.
The about-turn – agreed after two days of secret talks between businesses, unions and ministers – will pit the Prime Minister directly against the Left of his party and risks a public row with Ms Rayner, his former deputy.
It comes a day after the Government unveiled £30bn of tax rises to fund a rise in welfare spending that had been interpreted as an attempt to win over Left-wing backbench critics. The workers’ rights climbdown marks a second manifesto breach in two days, after Labour broke a pledge not to target working people by extending a threshold freeze on income tax.
Backbench Labour MPs are furious. John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, accused Sir Keir of selling out to business lobby groups while Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said Ms Rayner’s legislation was now a “shell” of its former self.
Business leaders were ecstatic: Tina McKenzie of the Federation of Small Businesses said the U-turn would remove the “cloud of fear” from businesses.
Speculation over Sir Keir’s future has grown over recent weeks and he had hoped that his tax-raising Budget would shore up his support in the Labour Party.
These changes, however, will reopen the rift in the party, and if Ms Rayner decides to criticise from the backbenches, it could provoke a leadership challenge sooner rather than later. Read the full story here ➤ Annabel Denham: Starmer has completely lost control. Things can only get worse ➤ |  | Maya Wilson Autzen Money Writer | Kirstie Allsopp does not mince her words. She told me a few weeks ago, in no uncertain terms, that the property market was dead – with buyers paralysed due to Labour’s pre-Budget kite-flying.
So when Rachel Reeves confirmed that owners of homes worth £2m or more would be hit with a so-called mansion tax worth thousands of pounds every year, I knew who to call.
She did not disappoint.
“We need to dust ourselves off and learn to live with a Government that doesn’t like people who have bought their own homes, and likes landlords even less,” the property expert and TV presenter told me.
Ms Allsopp said the council tax surcharge – and the Government’s “attitude towards people who own more valuable homes” – would “distort the market”. She also pointed out that a homeowner in the north of England may have a far larger home than one in London, yet avoid the levy because of regional property price disparities.
At least homeowners now know exactly what the Chancellor and her Labour chums think of them: “They now know that this Government doesn’t like them, doesn’t appreciate them, and doesn’t want them to flourish.”
Read the full story here ➤
More of our Budget coverage:
How £50,000 became the worst salary to earn ➤
Satellites to ‘spy’ on homeowners for Labour’s property tax raid ➤
Exodus as young workers flee high-tax Britain ➤
Families paying inheritance tax to double by 2031 ➤ | | James Frayne Labour is out of step with the public on welfare – and so is Nigel Farage. This is Kemi Badenoch’s opportunity Continue reading ➤ Jamie Carragher Arne Slot has a week to save his Liverpool job Continue reading ➤ Sean Thomas London’s demographic change is unprecedented in peacetime Continue reading ➤ | From Westminster to Washington… Follow trusted coverage of the stories that are shaping our world. | | Jessica ‘Decca‘ Mitford (pictured in 1930) railed against her family’s ‘bland‘ life of privilege | | The cultural fascination with the Mitford sisters has remained strong over the years, but history often overlooks the second-youngest sibling, Jessica “Decca” Mitford. The siblings are remembered for their beauty, eccentricity and aristocratic background, but she was the “red sheep” of the family: a committed communist. She fought the prison system, the funeral industry, government censorship, and even began a musical career, singing with Cyndi Lauper in 1995. If this isn’t evidence enough, here’s why the most rebellious sister deserves more attention. Continue reading ➤ | |  | | Within minutes of a fire breaking out at a residential tower block in Hong Kong, six other buildings were also engulfed in flames. It became one of the region’s deadliest fires in over 60 years: at least 94 people have been killed and almost 300 more are still missing. As firefighters work around the clock to put out the flames and rescue those trapped inside, The Telegraph has pieced together how the tragedy unfolded and the factors which might have exacerbated the blaze, like the building’s bamboo scaffolding. Continue reading ➤ | | | Between 1995 and 2013, Sam Eljamel, a neurosurgeon at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital, butchered up to 200 patients in a string of botched operations. Finally, as a public inquiry gets under way, victims talk to Lily Shanagher about their shattered lives and campaign for justice. Continue reading ➤ | | | When Hungarian start-up Wizz Air tentatively took flight in 2004, few would have predicted the stratospheric growth that would follow. This year it will carry almost 65 million passengers to destinations ranging from Aberdeen to Abu Dhabi. The budget carrier is also gearing up for another expansion, with plans to recruit 1,200 new pilots and reach 100 million annual passengers by the end of the decade. How did it succeed where so many airlines have failed? And can it supplant Ryanair at the top of the no-frills food chain? Continue reading ➤ | | | | | Flora Watkins was told that her supplier had no turkeys owing to a bird flu outbreak, so she decided to turn to an unconventional plan B. Watkins purchased a live turkey that they planned on hand-rearing in their rural Norfolk home. That is until Klaus clucked into their lives. His “gentle” disposition and great plume of black-and-white feathers are making the prospect of serving him up on a Christmas platter a rather harrowing one. Continue reading ➤ | | | The rise of Parkinson’s has previously been linked to bad luck and an ageing population, but two eminent professors believe otherwise. The Parkinson’s pandemic is, they say, down to the growing number of toxins in our environment, in the food we eat and the air we breathe. Here they present their plan for protecting ourselves and early signs to look out for. Continue reading ➤ Below are two more articles I hope you find helpful: | | Constable’s The White Horse (1819) | Exhibition Turner & Constable
Tate Britain ★★★★★ Few art-historical rivalries are spicier than that of Britain’s greatest landscape painters, JMW Turner and John Constable. To mark the 250th anniversaries of their births (in 1775 and 1776, respectively), Tate Britain examines their career-long jostling in a grand exhibition characterised by vivid storytelling, smart juxtapositions and superb loans. But which heavyweight wins this rumble in the gallery? There’s one clear victor in my eyes, says Alastair Sooke.
Read the full review here ➤ Television The Beatles Anthology
Disney+ ★★★★☆ The Beatles Anthology documentary series returns to TV, subtly polished up by Disney + and with an extra episode. Originally released 30 years ago, the series is an absolute joy, the intimate inside story of the still astounding rise, triumphant reign and bittersweet dissolution of the greatest and most influential musical force of our times. Watching it once again put a big smile on my face, writes Neil McCormick, and now it comes with a poignant footnote, featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison reuniting in 1995.
Read the full review here ➤ Television Stranger Things, season 5 volume 1
Netflix ★★★☆☆ There is a long and tragic history of television mega-franchises botching their final chapters. Such was the messy fate suffered by Lost and Game of Thrones. Will the same thing happen with Netflix’s adored Spielbergian retro romp Stranger Things? At least on the evidence of the first solid, if not especially spectacular, quartet of episodes of the farewell series, I think we’re going to get a respectable sign-off, writes Ed Power.
Read the full review here ➤
Plus, if you like to keep your finger on the cultural pulse, sign up for our Culture Newsletter here. | |
A 56-year-old British woman has been accused of stealing from a high-end restaurant – but what did she take? | My goodness, my Guinness! Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
If Guinness is good for you (as I’m pretty sure all scientists agree it is), why would you want to meddle with it? All-tolerant as I am, I admit to furrowing my brows theatrically when I read about a growing trend in pubs, apparently driven by booze-averse Gen Z customers. It involves mixing Guinness with the non-alcoholic version, to bring down the not-especially-high ABV. Why bother?
The hybrid version reminds me of something I saw in M&S the other day: halloumi in (bacon) blankets. Less appealing to meat-eaters than the porkier variety – and useless for vegetarians.
But perhaps my purism is misplaced. Tim Connell wrote in to point out that Guinness has long been combined with other drinks. The difference is that the aim used to be to make it stronger. “Examples include Black Velvet (Guinness and champagne) and Purple Velvet (Guinness and port). Once upon a time there was also the Tumbril, a lethal cocktail that you only got into when you felt like death.”
Peter Baker, meanwhile, suggested: “If you really prefer a stronger Guinness, the solution is to be found in bottled Guinness Foreign Extra Stout: a mighty 7.5 per cent ABV. For me, the perfect winter warmer is to mix the former 50-50 with a strong dark ale, or barley wine, to create a ‘Blacksmith’.”
The most disturbing concoction, to my mind, was described by Howard Buttery: “The new hybrid Guinness is nothing compared to what I witnessed earlier this month. While in transit at Toronto airport, I saw a barman – in an Irish-themed pub, no less – mix a Bloody Mary Guinness: a pint glass containing 70 per cent Guinness from the tap, topped up with Bloody Mary, including Tabasco and Worcester sauce. The waiter added an olive, celery and gherkin garnish.” Would you knock back one of those? Send your responses here, and my favourites will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. | Plan your day with the telegraph | Set your alarm to catch up with journalists on the Your Say page and listen to their analysis on our latest podcasts.
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Yesterday’s Panagram was VENIALITY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
Chris Evans, Editor
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