London Luton Airport hopes to almost double annual passenger numbers to 32 million by 2043 after the government approved expansion plans, including a new terminal.
It came despite the Planning Inspectorate recommending Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander rejected them over environmental concerns.
Luton Rising, the airport’s owner, said the decision could bring “significant economic, employment and social benefits for our town”.
However, environmental campaigners said “with climate change worsening, the last thing any of us need is 70,000 more aircraft a year”.
Luton was the UK’s fifth busiest airport last year, with 16.9 million people travelling on 132,000 flights.
The expansion plans involve building a new terminal, new taxiways and increasing capacity in the existing terminal, from its current 18 million passengers a year.
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A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “pleased” with the decision.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
BRITISH billionaires’ wealth surged by £35 million a day last year, new research reveals, as the rest of the nation worries about energy bills.
According to a report by Oxfam released today, the collective wealth of billionaires in Britain increased to a total of £182 billion in 2024.
The amount would be enough to cover the whole of Manchester in £10 notes one and a half times, the charity said.
The same report revealed that global billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion (£1.6bn) in 2024 — three times faster than the year before.
Oxfam inequality policy lead Anna Marriott said that the world is on course for the emergence of at least five trillionaires within a decade.
“The global economic system is broken, wholly unfit for purpose as it enables and perpetuates this explosion of riches while nearly half of humanity continues to live in poverty,” she said.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy.Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), left, joins Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on stage before speaking at “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” rally Thursday, March 20, 2025, in North Las Vegas. (Photo: Ronda Churchill for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“People are starting to put the pieces together, and ironically the most divisive forces in this country are actually starting to bring more of us together,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
A stop on Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ nationwide town hall tour “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” in Tempe, Arizona that also featured Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Thursday broke the record for the number of attendees at an event hosted by Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, in the state, according to his director of communications.
“This is a big deal,” wrote communications director Anna Bahr on X of the gangbusters turnout.
“Just to be clear about the moment we’re in: Bernie Sanders’ biggest crowd in Phoenix previously was 11,300 in 2015 when he was running for president. Tonight, in a non-campaign year, when he is running for nothing, 15,000 Arizonans turned out,” she wrote. Bahr also said that more than 123,000 people watched the livestream of the event online.
Just to be clear about the moment we’re in:@BernieSanders biggest crowd in Phoenix previously was 11,300 in 2015 when he was *running for president.*
Tonight, in a non-campaign year, when he is running for nothing, **15,000** Arizonans turned out.
Footage of the event shows a completely packed event space at Arizona State University’s Mullet Arena. At least a 1,000 people could not enter the arena because there was no room inside, according to the Arizona Mirror.
Sanders launched his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour, which focuses on working-class districts that President Joe Biden won in 2020 but were won by a House Republican in 2024, in February, with the aim of talking to Americans about the “takeover of the national government by billionaires and large corporations, and the country’s move toward authoritarianism.”
In their remarks on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders spoke about Republican efforts to target programs like Social Security and Medicaid and billionaire Elon Musk’s influence over the GOP.
“The billionaires who are taking a wrecking ball to our country,” said Ocasio-Cortez—alluding to Musk’s efforts to slash federal spending and personnel with the Department of Government Efficiency, and other billionaires in U.S. President Trump’s orbit—”derive their power from dividing working people apart.”
“People are starting to put the pieces together, and ironically the most divisive forces in this country are actually starting to bring more of us together,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
“Their disdain for working people,” she continued, “is a shorthand for the right’s entire political agenda and a certain kind of ugly politics in this country—and that is lying to and screwing over working at middle class Americans so that they can steal our healthcare, Social Security, and veterans benefits.”
When Sanders took the stage, he said, “Trump and his billionaire friends have never, ever had it so good in the history of this country.”
.@AOC takes the stage to completely full arena in Tempe — with thousands more in the overflow outside the arena pic.twitter.com/t1YNu3Gp9e
Sanders also argued that if a Republican voiced opposition to Republicans’ plan to deliver tax cuts that will primarily benefit the wealthy, “Musk in five minutes would say, ‘we are going to primary you’… That is not a democracy.”
Musk—who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump and other GOP candidates in 2024—has threatened to fund moderate candidates in heavily Democratic districts.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.
There is a problem with the climate crisis that effects are locked-in before they are noticed. For example, we are basically at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels now but it is likely that 2.0C is already “locked-in” so that if we were to stop all emission of climate gases now, we would still reach 2.0C. This is a serious problem because it means that real, effective change to avoid climate disaster is likely to be to late. That raises the question is it worth the bother trying to prevent further climate disaster and the planet becoming uninhabitable: if it’s wasted effort shouldn’t we just enjoy our final years instead?
22.35pm GMT There’s more to it than that. There’s the problem that the climate-destroyers are in ascendance and now blatantly disregarding climate destruction. It’s then more of a question should we continue campaigning if we’re not being effective, achieving. I consider that we are achieving and the situation would be worse otherwise. It appears that we are achieving in UK despite Ed Miliband being so taken with the carbon capture false solution promoted by fossil fuels.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy.
Protests against the Rosebank oilfield in Edinburgh in 2024. Labour pledged in its manifesto to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank was awaiting final approval when the party won the general election. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Lobbyists argued it was unfair for their industry to be treated the same as others as end product – oil and gas – inevitably produced emissions
Experts have accused the fossil fuel industry of seeking special treatment after lobbyists argued greenhouse gas emissions from oilfields should be treated differently to those from other industries.
The government is embroiled in a row over whether to allow a massive new oilfield, Rosebank, to go ahead, with some cabinet members arguing it could boost growth and others concerned it could make the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 impossible to reach. Labour made a manifesto commitment to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank and some other projects had already been licensed and were awaiting final approval when the party won the general election.
Documents seen by the Guardian show the industry group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) asking for Rosebank and other oilfields’ “scope three emissions” – those caused by the burning of extracted oil and gas – to be treated differently because that was the point of their business.
A court case recently found the licence granted to Rosebank by the previous government was unlawful as it failed to take these emissions into account.
