Former prime minister Gordon Brown speaks at a child poverty event, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Child Poverty Action Group (Cpag), at Somerset House, in central London, November 6, 2025
FORMER prime minister Gordon Brown piled pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves today to tackle the “shameful epidemic” of child poverty.
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Marking the 60th anniversary of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), he planned to say: “This is urgently needed to take half a million children out of poverty from April next year and to meaningfully tackle Britain’s shameful epidemic of child poverty.”
The Chancellor is expected to make changes to the two-child benefit limit in her Budget.
Reforms to gambling levies could generate the £3.2 billion needed to scrap both the two-child limit and benefit cap, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research.
Official estimates say 4.45 million children were in relative low income households, after housing costs, in the year to March 2024 – the highest number since comparable records for Britain began in 2002/03.
CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Now more than ever with child poverty at a record high, we need decisive action from government and the first step must be full abolition of the two-child limit.
“Half-measures and compromises will not shift the dial. The policy must be removed in its entirety or a generation of children will grow up cut off from opportunity.”
The sun rising behind a redundant oil platform moored in the Firth of Forth near Kirkcaldy, Fife, April 27, 2020
THE Treasury is considering changes to the windfall tax which could hand billions to oil and gas corporations, campaigners warned today.
Proposals drafted by oil and gas lobby group Offshore Energies UK suggest removing the Energy Profits Levy at the end of this year, which would save the industry a mammoth £5.8bn in tax over the next decade.
Politico, which first reported the story, said that the Treasury was weighing up energy bosses’ proposals to scrap the tax as soon as next year.
At the same time, promised investment in energy efficiency to cut household bills could also potentially be slashed.
Sources told the Guardian that the government is looking at reducing obligations under which energy firms help pay for measures such as insulation and new heating schemes.
Campaigners have suggested that the giveaway could effectively cut Britain’s energy efficiency budget by £6.4bn.
Uplift deputy director Robert Palmer said with firms already making billions while Britons struggle with unaffordable energy bills, considering scrapping measures to cut household bills while cutting taxes for profiteering oil companies would be deeply unfair.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak describes his benefit to already filthy rich fossil fuel investors and how he hates poor people.
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Israel’s newly appointed armed forces chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visits the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem on March 5, 2025. [Menahem KAHANA / AFP / Getty Images]
Around one hundred reserve soldiers and officers in Israel have signed a letter claiming that several incidents during the war show a “decline in the values of the Israeli army,” including what they described as the erosion of the army’s “purity of arms” principle.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, the letter, addressed to Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, was signed by reservists with ranks up to lieutenant colonel. The signatories raised serious allegations about the conduct of Israeli forces in the field and the harm caused to civilians across various fronts during the war.
In the letter, the soldiers described what they called “a collapse in the values of the Israeli army,” writing: “During the fighting in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, there have been, and still are at times, incidents that do not reflect the spirit and values of the Israeli army—values on which we were raised and have educated those who serve under us.”
The reservists added: “Now, as the war draws to an end, we call on you to work to strengthen the moral values of the Israeli army and to firmly eliminate any conduct that contradicts the law, the army’s ethical code, and the procedures and directives issued over the past two years.”
Toward the end of the letter, they stressed: “Our military experience also proves that in many cases where discipline and adherence to the army’s values have collapsed, the operational effectiveness of our soldiers and our ability to win the war have also been damaged.”
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Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Trucks carrying food and fuel are passing through the Kissufim Border Crossing and heading towards Gaza under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and reach the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on November 06, 2025. [Mohammed Nassar – Anadolu Agency]
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Thursday that he urged Israel to expand access to humanitarian aid to “alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians” in Gaza, Anadolu reports.
During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Balakrishnan said he also conveyed “Singapore’s longstanding support for a negotiated two-State solution… as the only viable option to achieve a comprehensive, just and durable solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said a statement on the US social media company Facebook.
While visiting Ramallah, Balakrishnan also witnessed the handover of Singapore’s donation of $500,000 to the World Food Programme to “support its vital work in providing food assistance to civilians in Gaza.”
“Singapore will also continue to support the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s capacity-building efforts through our Enhanced Technical Assistance Package (ETAP),” he said, explaining Singapore’s aim to roll out two additional courses in 2026 on the digital economy and digital entrepreneurship as part of the ETAP.
“We hope these courses will be relevant to the PA as they prepare for eventual statehood,” he said.
Balakrishnan visited Palestine and Israel from Monday to Thursday.
The Israeli army has killed nearly 69,000 Palestinians and injured over 170,000 others in a brutal offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The assault came to a halt under a ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10, under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Palestinians including children, wait in long queues to receive hot meals distributed by charity organizations at al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 5, 2025. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]
The UN said Thursday that Israel rejected 107 requests for the entry of relief materials into the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 10 ceasefire, blocking essential humanitarian supplies, Anadolu reports.
“Our partners report that since the ceasefire, the Israeli authorities have rejected 107 requests for the entry of relief materials, including blankets, winter clothes and tools and materials to maintain and operate water, sanitation and hygiene services,” spokesperson Farhan Haq said during a news conference. “Almost 90% of these rejected requests were from over 330 local and international NGOs, of which more than half of the requests were denied on the grounds that the organizations were not authorized to bring relief items into Gaza.”
Emphasizing that the UN and its partners on the ground “can do more when other impediments are lifted,” Haq reported that “some relief items rejected for entry into Gaza are ones which Israeli authorities deem to fall outside the scope of humanitarian aid.”
“Other items are classified as dual-use, ranging from vehicles and their spare parts to solar panels, some types of mobile latrines, X-ray machines and generators,” he added.
Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Haq noted that “continued detonations of residential buildings have been reported daily in multiple areas where the Israeli military remains deployed, especially in eastern Khan Younis, Eastern Gaza City and Rafah.”
Saying that Israeli strikes near the so-called “yellow line” continue, resulting in casualties, Haq stressed that “these military activities put civilians, including aid workers, at risk.”
He reminded “the Israeli military of its obligation to take constant care to spare them throughout its operations.”
The “yellow line” is the first withdrawal line outlined in the initial phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which took effect Oct. 10.
It separates areas still under Israeli military control in the east from those where Palestinians are permitted to move in the west.
On the continued movement of civilians across the enclave, Haq reported that “more than 680,000 movements from southern to northern Gaza have been observed since the onset of the ceasefire, while nearly 113,000 movements from western to eastern Khan Younis have also been reported.”
“However, our partners say that many displaced people have reported a desire to remain in their current locations due to widespread destruction, lack of alternatives and continued uncertainty about safety and services in their areas of origin,” he said.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown speaks at a child poverty event, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Child Poverty Action Group (Cpag), at Somerset House, in central London, November 6, 2025
