… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Cost of Living crisis

  • Britain braces for misery Budget

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britain-braces-misery-budget

     Chancellor of Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a visit to the Sipsmith Distillery in Chiswick West London, October 9, 2025

    BRITAIN must brace for a misery Budget of tax rises and spending cuts, beleaguered Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed today as experts also warned of rising unemployment.

    Ms Reeves alleged that the economic problems she is struggling with could be attributed to Brexit, as the government increasingly protests about Britain’s exclusion from the European Union, a pose with potentially far-reaching political implications.

    She brought an end to weeks of speculation by confirming that tax rises will feature in her Budget, scheduled for the end of November.

    However, she did not indicate where the burden would fall. Labour committed at the general election to not raise income tax, VAT or employees’ National Insurance, pledges now regarded as a straitjacket.

    While there are other measures the Chancellor could announce, they would not be likely to raise as much cash. She has firmly set her face against a wealth tax so far.

    Ms Reeves also indicated that spending cuts will be on the Budget agenda. Her drive to cut the welfare Bill through reducing benefits for disabled people was thwarted in the summer by a backbench Labour rebellion.

    …

    Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britain-braces-misery-budget

  • Greenpeace threatens to sue crown estate for driving up cost of offshore wind

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    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/13/greenpeace-threatens-to-sue-crown-estate-for-driving-up-cost-of-offshore-wind

    A windfarm off the Cumbrian coast. The crown estate commands hefty option fees from developers to secure areas of the seabed to build windfarms. Photograph: Rob Arnold/Alamy

    Environmental group accuses king’s property management company of ‘milking for profit’ its monopoly ownership of seabed

    Greenpeace is threatening to sue King Charles’s property management company, accusing it of exploiting its monopoly ownership of the seabed.

    The environmental lobby group alleges the crown estate has driven up costs for wind power developers and boosted its own profits, as well as the royal household’s income, due to the “aggressive” way it auctions seabed rights.

    The crown estate, as the legal owner of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is responsible for auctioning offshore wind rights. It has benefited from the huge growth in the industry, commanding hefty option fees from renewable energy developers to secure areas of the seabed to build their windfarms.

    It made a £1.1bn profit in its financial year ended in March, double its level just two years ago.

    Will McCallum, co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said the estate should be “managing the seabed in the interest of the nation and the common good, not as an asset to be milked for profit and outrageous bonuses”.

    “We should leave no stone unturned in looking for solutions to lower energy bills that are causing misery to millions of households,” he said.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/13/greenpeace-threatens-to-sue-crown-estate-for-driving-up-cost-of-offshore-wind

    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.

  • Zarah Sultana’s powerful speech at Your Party launch in Liverpool

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  • Five water firms to raise bills after appeal

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/five-water-firms-raise-bills-after-appeal

     A water bill from Southern Water

    PLANS to allow water firms to increase bills yet again, despite decades of mismanagement and ongoing pollution, were condemned by campaigners today.

    Five firms are set to raise charges by up to 5 per cent above the limits initially set by regulator Ofwat.

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed that Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Wessex Water have been permitted to hike their tariffs following an appeal.

    The firms argued that Ofwat’s original decision left them unable to meet the regulatory requirements set out for them.

    It follows a ruling in December, in which Southern had already been allowed to increase bills by 53 per cent over the next five years.

    …

    Kirstin Baker, who chaired the independent group of experts appointed by the CMA to consider the price controls, said that the request for significant bill increases were “largely unjustified.”

    River Action CEO James Wallace said: “Once again, water bill payers are forced to shoulder the cost of decades of failure.

    “Millions of households in England face higher bills while rivers continue to suffer from mismanagement by privatised water companies.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/five-water-firms-raise-bills-after-appeal

    April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
    April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)

  • It hurt when I crashed my bike into a pothole – and it taught me the true price of austerity George Monbiot

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    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/crashed-bike-pothole-cost-cycling

    …

    I was lucky. Last week, I was cycling downhill when I hit a pothole. The front wheel folded into an infinity symbol. I went over the handlebars and, with no time to put my hands out, landed on my face. My helmet and glasses took most of the impact. I emerged, remarkably, with just a few cuts and bruises.

    …

    Austerity – which leaves our potholes, alongside many other gaps in public provision, unfilled – does not save money. On the contrary, it costs us a fortune. What the rich might save in taxes, the rest must pay over and over again.

    False economies abound. For example, the government may at last be persuaded to remove the Tories’ vicious, Malthusian two-child benefit cap. But what many people have failed to grasp is that behind it stands another brick wall: the household benefits cap. If families now receive money for a third child, it could push them past the household limit, and they’ll be scarcely better off than before. This household cap has extreme and perverse consequences. It ensures that rents, even in the social sector, are almost everywhere unaffordable to the families affected, most of which are headed by lone parents. The result is that they are thrown into temporary accommodation, which local authorities must provide at far greater expense: roughly £2.3bn a year. Being forced into temporary accommodation also curtails adults’ employment opportunities and children’s performance at school, and generates great suffering, which can translate into physical and mental health problems, which of course means further economic impacts.

    In 2019, a parliamentary committee called on the government to “conduct a full cost benefit analysis of the benefit cap”. The government rejected the call, but said it would explore the possibility in future. I checked with the Department for Work and Pensions – it still hasn’t happened.

    …

    Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.