Price five times more than estimate as A4 sheet bought by Tasmanian museum official acting for private collector
David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics to his 1972 song Starman have sold for more than £200,000 at auction, five times their estimated sale price.
The song featured on his fifth album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which propelled the musician to international rock and pop stardom.
Continue reading...First signs of friction between PM and chancellor emerge as pound falls to historic low following mini-budget
The first signs of friction between Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng over how to deal with the tanking pound have emerged, after the pair met in No 10 to thrash out how to respond on Monday.
Downing Street rebuffed talk of a split between No 10 and No 11 over how to deal with the market reaction to the mini-budget, and denied that there was a row.
Continue reading...Sir Mark Rowley says he is not interested in ‘labels’, while vowing to root out racism in the force
The new commissioner of the Metropolitan police declined to say whether his force was institutionally racist or not, saying he was not interested in “labels”, while vowing to root out racism in the force.
Sir Mark Rowley’s comments, as he carried out a round of media interviews were criticised by black officers and the surviving brother of Stephen Lawrence, whose murder by a racist gang was botched by the Met and which led to the Macpherson inquiry in 1999 finding the Met was institutionally racist.
Continue reading...Bank of England’s chief economist speaks out after mini-budget, with financial markets expecting rates to reach up to 6%
Britain’s homeowners have been warned to brace themselves for a “significant” increase in interest rates from the Bank of England in response to Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting mini-budget last week.
Huw Pill, Threadneedle Street’s chief economist, added to the concerns of millions of mortgage payers who have already seen hundreds of home loan products pulled by lenders in anticipation of a big increase in the cost of borrowing.
Continue reading...The details behind Keir Starmer’s proposed publicly owned energy company when Labour take power
The key pledge of Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech was the proposed launch of Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company to invest in clean UK power as part of the party’s commitment to “fight the Tories on economic growth”. But how does it work, and is it the same as renationalising energy?
Continue reading...To make the sums work, some suggest Kwasi Kwarteng may include deep spending reductions in his medium-term fiscal plan
When Kwasi Kwarteng met City figures on Tuesday, the Treasury said he had “reiterated the government’s commitment to fiscal sustainability”: though the grim faces of attendees in the official photos suggested they may not have been terribly reassured.
Some analysts are now warning that with borrowing costs rising sharply, and the chancellor determined not to water down his radical tax plans, “fiscal sustainability” points to one thing: spending cuts.
Continue reading...Latest updates: the Labour party leader used his conference speech to spell out his plan for the UK
The decision to pay Liz Truss’s new chief of staff, Mark Fullbrook, through a private company has been dropped after criticism from within the Conservatives as well as from opposition parties.
The government admitted over the weekend that Fullbrook would be paid through his lobbying firm, a move that could have helped him avoid paying tax. He had previously claimed the firm had stopped all commercial activities.
The world we are heading for is a bumpy few weeks. The chancellor is now going to have quite a tough time because he has now set out plans to balance the books in November. That is going to be very hard.
Actually balancing the books in November is going to be harder than it would have been to show you are balancing the books last week because higher interest rates will make it harder to do. You might need £15bn worth of tough choices now that you didn’t need last Friday.
In the end, lower taxes will mean worse public services, or other people’s taxes having to go up, and it is those choices and ducking those choices that markets are looking at and saying that is not what serious policymaking looks like.
Continue reading...Shadow health secretary condemns Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘reckless gamble’ and says Labour ‘cavalry is coming’
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said the “cavalry is coming” with the Labour party as he warned that the current turmoil on financial markets was “just the tip of the iceberg”.
Streeting criticised last week’s mini-budget from the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, as a “reckless gamble”.
Continue reading...UK firms now temptingly cheaper, with a ‘wave of bids’ from overseas buyers meaning payouts for bankers
Bankers could rake in bumper bonuses from a “wave of bids” by overseas buyers for UK businesses made temptingly cheaper as a result of the plunge in the pound against the dollar. A fresh frenzy of merger and acquisition activity would mean a ramp-up in payouts for City dealmakers.
Sterling fell by nearly 5% at one point on Monday to $1.0327, its lowest since Britain went decimal in 1971. The currency has fallen by more than a fifth against the dollar this year.
Continue reading...Zoologists say they have never seen this low a number, after unprecedented hot weather
As dewy dawns break across the UK’s pumpkin patches and allotments, gardeners across the land are waking up to the absence of at least one slippery pest. Slug numbers appear to have shrivelled as a result of the ongoing drought.
“I went to survey a woodland site last week and it took me over 30 minutes to locate a slug. Usually, I would expect to find them under almost every log in that habitat,” said Jake Stone, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge. “I thought that there would be fewer around, but I’ve never seen this low a number. But I suppose that’s to be expected, because it’s rarely been this hot and dry.”
Continue reading...Matt Wrack of Fire Brigades Union says ‘historic cuts’ have angered and demoralised his members
A “horrible complacency” about the impact of the climate emergency on the fire service has left it under-funded and ill-prepared, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union has warned.
Matt Wrack said firefighters were at the sharp end of tackling the impact of climate change and warned that this summer’s wildfires had to act as a “wake-up call” to the UK government to engage with those on the frontline.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson may have failed to meet standard of public life when mayor over links to Jennifer Arcuri, GLA finds
Ethics rules for the London mayor must be strengthened as Boris Johnson may have failed to meet the standard expected of public figures over his failure to declare personal links to the US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri, an inquiry into the affair has found.
An investigation by the Greater London Authority’s oversight committee said Johnson had opened himself up to “a perception of lack of due process and favouritism” over Arcuri’s inclusion on trade missions in an unofficial capacity.
Continue reading...Letter undermines Priti Patel’s claim that Albanians arriving with ‘spurious’ claims could be removed quickly
The Home Office has conceded that it does not have the right to fast-track the deportation of Albanian asylum seekers after their arrival in the UK, in an abrupt policy U-turn.
Priti Patel, the former home secretary, signed a deal with the Albanian government in August to return those who arrive illegally. She claimed it meant the UK could quickly return asylum seekers who arrived in the UK and made “spurious” claims.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Labour delegate says current electoral system allows Tories to get away with measures like ‘protecting bankers’ bonuses’
In June, as the RMT union launched what has become an ongoing series of strikes, Keir Starmer ordered Labour frontbenchers and shadow ministerial aides not to join picket lines. This infuriated leftwing Labour MPs and some union leaders, notably Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite.
At one point it looked as if there might be a huge row at conference about whether shadow ministers should or should not be allowed to join picket lines. But, in an interview with the Today programme this morning, Graham suggested that a truce of sorts has been agreed – even if the two sides do not entirely see eye to eye.
My issue about this … isn’t necessarily around one person on a picket line because, quite frankly, that isn’t the issue. The issue is the mood music [ordering shadow ministers not to join picket lines] suggests. It suggests a mood music that being on the picket line is somehow a bad thing. It’s a naughty step situation.
The party who is there to stick up for workers should not give the impression – that’s the problem, it gives the impression – that they are saying picket lines are not the place to be. And I think that it was unfortunate. I think it was a mistake. I think, to be honest with you, Labour knows it was a mistake. And I don’t actually think it’s holdable.
When people go on strike it is a last resort at the end of negotiations. And I can quite understand how people are driven to that … I support the right of individuals to go on strike, I support the trade unions doing the job that they are doing in representing their members.
I’m incredibly disappointed that as delegates we’ve been excluded from this key part of the conference’s democratic process.
This is an unprecedented move silencing members’ voices. Our CLP sent us here to Liverpool to promote our motion on public ownership and a Green New Deal, but we’ve been unfairly denied that right.
Continue reading...Bank of England issues statement saying it ‘will not hesitate’ to change interest rate but has not implemented an emergency rise
We’ve now reached the point where the Bank of England needs to step in in order to regain the initiative, warns Paul Dales of Capital Economics.
Dales says governor Andrew Bailey has two options.
That could involve something like a 100bps or 150bps hike in interest rates (to 3.25%/3.75%), perhaps as soon as this morning.
By bringing forward a lot of the policy tightening that might needed to have happened anyway, the Bank would demonstrate in no uncertain terms that whatever the government does it will ensure that inflation returns to 2%. This would go a long way to easing the crisis.
“The bank, and indeed the Government, have indicated that they are going to take their next decision in November and publish forecasts and, so on that point, the worry is that they may have to take action a bit sooner than that.”
Continue reading...Boys, 15 and 16, remanded in custody after stabbing of teenager outside school in Huddersfield
Two teenage boys have appeared in court charged with the murder of 15-year-old Khayri McLean, who was stabbed outside his school on Wednesday.
The boys, 15 and 16, were also charged with possession of a bladed article at Leeds youth court on Monday.
Continue reading...Sources at largest banks say the did not lobby for move nor expect it to result in major changes to pay packets
When City of London executives were summoned to No 11 Downing Street earlier this month, they were promised reforms that would boost growth, attract talented bankers and usher a new era of prosperity for financial services.
But what the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, failed to mention to bank bosses was that their pay would become a lightning rod for controversy in the mini-budget that followed.
Continue reading...Against a backdrop of the falling pound, the opposition sets out an alternative vision
“It will fall to us to fix the damage the Tories have done. We have done it before, we will do it again” – Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, making her speech to conference on the day the pound hit a record low against the dollar.
Continue reading...Phishing attacks have started to target people in difficult financial situations, ONS reports
Fraudsters have adapted their tactics to exploit the rising cost of living, officials have said.
A report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said anti-fraud squads had identified new trends as phishing attacks – when perpetrators attempt to trick users into clicking a bad link – have started to target those in difficult financial situations.
Continue reading...Dozens assembled to call for an end to the Islamic republic, some of whom became involved in altercations with officers and one another
Twelve people have been arrested during protests in London calling for an end to Iran’s Islamic republic, including outside the country’s UK embassy, after the death of a 22-year-old woman.
Angry protesters could be seen shouting and pushing officers who had formed a cordon in front of the embassy in Princes Gate, Knightsbridge.
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