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Voices

<p>David Lammy stood in for Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday </p>
John Rentoul

Is it all over for Calamity Lammy?

Letting prisoners out by mistake is one of the surest ways to tank a reputation, and if Labour cannot do better than the Tories on such a basic issue, they are utterly clueless, says John Rentoul

<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be casting a filthy look at the Bank of England for holding interest rates at 4 per cent (Justin Tallis/PA)</p>
JAMES MOORE

The Bank of England has heaped more pain on Rachel Reeves

<p>‘ADHD isn’t “I’m a bit mad, me,” nor is it being a successful British comedian. It is anxiety, depression, binge eating disorder, insomnia, panic, financial insecurity, and alcoholism — and that’s just in my case’</p>
Kat Brown

The NHS is failing women with ADHD like me – it’s now a feminist issue

<p>‘If this one emerges as part of Rachel Reeves’ budget it will be symptomatic of the thing that is killing the government in which she serves. By contrast to the administrations of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and even David Cameron, it has no plan’</p>
James Moore

Reeves’s stupid tax on EVs will drive even us greenies back to petrol

<p>‘Nobody needs fireworks at random. Limiting them to professional public displays for national holidays such as Bonfire Night, Eid, Diwali, and the two New Years would give everyone a really good show’</p>
Kat Brown

It’s time to ban the bang and leave fireworks to the pros

<p>We’ll have what they’re having: Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal as Annie and Sam in ‘When Harry Met Sally’ </p>
Dear Vix

I’ve fallen in love with my best friend and don’t know what to do

<p>‘One factor in why so many people are not working is down to NHS waiting times. Employers on their own will not solve the problem: the NHS must step up as well’</p>
Chris Blackhurst

The £85bn reason we need to get sick people back into work

<p>As one X user pointed out: ‘Resorting to swearing is a sign of desperation, embarrassing’</p>
Voices

Is there anything Robert Jenrick won’t do to get attention?

<p>Left-wing Democrat Zohran Mamdani rose to prominence through a grassroots campaign</p>
Mary Dejevsky

Zohran Mamdani’s win has left his party with a Trump-sized headache

<p>‘Harry and his wife Meghan were booed — booed! — at a World Series game in Los Angeles recently when they appeared on the Jumbotron, a fate usually reserved for divisive Presidents or that couple caught cheating at a Coldplay gig’</p>
Samuel Fishwick

No wonder Harry’s homesick - California’s no place for gingers like us

<p>Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced that schoolchildren will be taught how mortgages work as part of plans to shake up the national curriculum</p>
Victoria Richards

I taught my children about money – teachers will do it properly

<p>Sydney Sweeney has become a lightning rod for online rage</p>
Olivia Petter

Of course people are turning on Sydney Sweeney – she's talented

<p>Denis Healey, the former Labour chancellor who had to ask the IMF for a bailout</p>
Simon Walters

Rachel Reeves has raised the ghost of Denis Healey… and an IMF bailout

<p>‘It’s hard to see a big company like M&S as a victim. It’s a thumping big company that let the baddies in’</p>
James Moore

Why I can’t forgive M&S for £300m hack that put customer data at risk

<p>The owner of Primark has said it is considering spinning off the retail chain from its food business (Danny Lawson/PA)</p>
James Moore

Why Primark doing a ‘Prexit’ would be great news for customers

<p>Kamala Harris on tour to celebrate the launch of her new memoir, ‘107 Days’</p>
Victoria Richards

My accidental one-on-one with Kamala Harris (and what might have been)

In this extract from the latest Independent Women newsletter, Victoria Richards shares what happened when an unexpected disruption at the former US vice-president’s London book tour gave her a surprising – and inspirational – private audience with the Democratic presidential candidate

<p>‘Every child should come into the world for good reasons because they are wanted, and not because their mother did not have £30’</p>
Kat Brown

I didn’t have £30 for a morning-after pill when I needed it

<p>A resident surveys the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa</p>
Jenelle Samuels

Living through the storm that tore Jamaica apart

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More Voices

The Independent View

David Lammy finds himself in a perilous position

The Independent View

David Lammy finds himself in a perilous position

Editorial
<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already fuelled expectations of higher taxes</p>
UK Politics

‘Doge-style cuts won’t work’: Readers on how to tackle taxes in Budget

<p>Brahim Kaddour-Cherif and William Smith both escaped from HMP Wandsworth after they were released by mistake</p>
Voices

As an ex-jail guard, I’m astounded at how inmates can simply walk out

<p>It is always worth bearing in mind in all such discussions that fee income from international students effectively subsidises the teaching of British students and the research and innovation that are key to future industrial revolutions</p>
The Independent View

You don’t need an MA to see Britain depends on foreign students

<p>Prince Harry has previously admitted he's struggled with Americanisms</p>
Lifestyle

‘I can’t follow’: Readers lament creeping Americanisms in UK English

<p>Prince Harry has previously admitted he's struggled with Americanisms</p>
Lifestyle

‘I can’t follow’: Readers lament creeping Americanisms in UK English

<p>David Lammy became the first Black politician to lead Prime Minister’s Questions… and fluffed it</p>
Voices

David Lammy’s first PMQs as deputy prime minister was disastrous

<p>Kemi Badenoch described Rachel Reeves’s pre-Budget speech as ‘one long waffle bomb’ </p>
Voices

‘One long waffle bomb’: Did Badenoch’s barb rattle Reeves?

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Reform mocked as ‘clowns’ Kent council holds first meeting since video leak chaos

174 comments

Reeves ‘treating drivers like a cash machine’ with plans for electric vehicle tax

217 comments

Ukraine war latest: Bulgaria eyes Russian refinery after Putin’s nuclear test order

585 comments

Flights canceled as Trump administration cuts services amid shutdown: Live updates

836 comments
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More Voices

<p>Britain’s jobless rate has surged to its highest level for nearly four years</p>
Money

‘Discarded like a used tissue’: Readers on reality of workplace ageism

<p>‘It is no coincidence that Polanski is becoming to Nigel Farage what Mamdani is to Donald Trump – a bogeyman to be portrayed through a distorting mirror as unpatriotic, dangerous and a threat to civilisation itself’</p>
Voices

The Z factor: Why Zohran and Zack need to be taken seriously

<p>Saving for retirement isn’t top of everyone's to-do list</p>
Money

‘Moving goalposts’: Readers on why building a pension feels impossible

<p>Rachel Reeves says ‘each of us must do our bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future’</p>
The Independent View

Our hapless chancellor has finally run out of wiggle room

<p>The impact of tuberculosis on your lungs</p>
Voices

UK aid helps guard against one of the most dangerous enemies we face

<p>LGBT campaigners have long led the global fight against Aids – but progress is fragile </p>
Voices

To end Aids, we must fight harder for LGBT rights

<p>Rachel Reeves says ‘each of us must do our bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future’</p>
The Independent View

Our hapless chancellor has finally run out of wiggle room

<p>The impact of tuberculosis on your lungs</p>
Voices

UK aid helps guard against one of the most dangerous enemies we face

<p>LGBT campaigners have long led the global fight against Aids – but progress is fragile </p>
Voices

To end Aids, we must fight harder for LGBT rights

<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers a speech ahead of the Budget later this month</p>
Voices

Rachel Reeves came to reassure us… but ended up on the rack

Voices

Rachel Reeves came to reassure us… but ended up on the rack

John Rentoul
<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers a speech ahead of the Budget later this month</p>
<p>In a speech from Downing Street, Rachel Reeves said: ‘If we are to build the future of Britain together, we will all have to contribute to that effort’</p>
Voices

Forget alarm-clock Britain – Reeves was talking to the bankers

<p>We, the public, those who trusted Reeves and her boss, Keir Starmer, have every reason to feel betrayed</p>
Voices

Labour’s promise not to raise our taxes is out of the window

<p>Nigel Farage claims that, since leaving the European Union, the UK has ‘not taken advantage’ of the opportunities to deregulate business</p>
Voices

Rejoiners, rejoice! Nigel Farage is ready to talk about Brexit again

<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers a speech in the media briefing room of 9 Downing Street in central London, ahead of the Budget later this month</p>
UK Politics

Reeves’ Budget dilemma: tax rises or reforms? Have your say

<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers a speech in the media briefing room of 9 Downing Street in central London, ahead of the Budget later this month</p>
UK Politics

Reeves’ Budget dilemma: tax rises or reforms? Have your say

<p>Nigel Farage after a hard day at work (Stefan Rousseau/PA)</p>
Voices

What Nigel Farage gets wrong about ‘alarm-clock Britain’

<p>Anthony Williams, 32, has been named by police as the suspect in the Huntingdon train stabbings </p>
The Independent View

The Huntingdon suspect’s race should not be bullied out of the police

<p>Shivering instead of taking precautions is a great way to deleteriously impact your health</p>
Voices

Men of Britain, it’s time to give in and put the heating on

<p>Nigel Farage used a speech in London to promise sweeping deregulation under a Reform government (James Manning/PA)</p>
Voices

Is Nigel Farage trying to spark an early general election?

<p>Seasonal Covid vaccination eligibility in England is now only available to adults aged 75 and over</p>
Health

‘NHS would rather pay hospital bill than a jab’: Readers on Covid cuts

<p>Afghan refugees girls sit over a truck loaded with their belongings last month</p>
Voices

The UK’s promises to Afghanistan ring hollow if aid cuts still bite

<p>Transport secretary Heidi Alexander says there will be an increased police presence at stations after a number of people were stabbed on a train on Saturday in Cambridgeshire</p>
Voices

It’s not just on Britain’s trains that I no longer feel safe

<p>Displaced people in Darfur following the capture of el-Fasher by the RSF </p>
The Independent View

The world must act to stop the catastrophe unfolding in Sudan

<p>British military and civilian volunteers wear original First World War Sikh infantry uniforms and equipment for the 1914 Sikhs ceremonial marching group launch at Wellington Barracks</p>
Voices

Racists can’t hide the fact that Sikhs fight for Britain

<p>Peter Sutcliffe, under a blanket, arriving at Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court, in February 1981</p>
Voices

How a phone directory helped me track down the Yorkshire Ripper

<p>Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves</p>
Voices

Can Labour escape its doom loop of mishaps?

Voices

Can Labour escape its doom loop of mishaps?

Sean O'Grady
<p>Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves</p>
<p>Getting an appointment with a GP can take more time than patients bargained for</p>
Health

‘Always anxiety or your period’: Readers on being dismissed by GPs

<p>Andrew Mountbatten Windsor must answer Congress’s questions</p>
The Independent View

Andrew must answer questions from the US Congress on Jeffrey Epstein

<p>Mourners at the funeral of relatives killed in an Israeli army strike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on the Gaza Strip</p>
Voices

Deaths in the Gaza ‘ceasefire’ are not statistics but people I love

<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer has pledged not to raise taxes on ‘working people’</p>
Voices

If Keir’s words lose their meaning, how can voters believe him?

<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer has pledged not to raise taxes on ‘working people’</p>
Voices

If Keir’s words lose their meaning, how can voters believe him?

<p>Gökhan Yücel says that there are many levels on which Britain and Turkey can cooperate</p>
Voices

How the fighter-jet deal recast Ankara-London relations

<p>Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Rachel Reeves should still face an ethics probe (Lucy North/PA)</p>
Voices

Badenoch’s supporters need to stop using Starmer as excuse for failure

<p>Zarah Sultana (and not Jeremy Corbyn) has been doing the media rounds to raise public interest in the weeks before the Your Party chrysalis breaks open to reveal the butterfly within</p>
Voices

Is Zarah Sultana a useful idiot? To be that, she’d need to be useful

<p>Buddy up: Friendships naturally split into different tiers of closeness</p>
Lifestyle

‘150 friends sounds like a full-time job’: Readers on true friendship

<p>Rachel Reeves admitted she had made an ‘inadvertent’ error</p>
Voices

The personal ‘crimes’ and misdemeanours of Rachel Reeves keep mounting

<p>‘The press will be calling for her eviction from British society. But perhaps against all the odds, Sarah Ferguson will get another act’</p>
Voices

Have we really seen the last of Sarah Ferguson?

<p>Rachel Reeves, chancellor of the Exchequer, claimed not to have known she needed a licence to rent out her home</p>
The Independent View

Rachel Reeves is guilty of carelessness and hypocrisy

<p>There’s a sense that it’s the most royalist of people who now despise Andrew the most, for how he betrayed the institution they cherish</p>
Voices

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor hasn’t reached rock bottom yet

<p>Frieda Hughes and two of her paintings</p>
Voices

I had a better relationship with my printer than with my ex-husband

<p>Prince Andrew hosted Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein </p>
Royal Family

‘Needs to be slimmed down’: Readers debate the Royal Family’s future

<p>Details of 49 data breaches at the Ministry of Defence include personal data accidentally being sent to a civil service sports club with 140,000 members</p>
The Independent View

Government data leaks can be a matter of life and death

The Independent View

Government data leaks can be a matter of life and death

Editorial
<p>Details of 49 data breaches at the Ministry of Defence include personal data accidentally being sent to a civil service sports club with 140,000 members</p>
Voices

Sorry, Mr President, but Xi runs the world now

<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly considering increasing income tax by 2p while simultaneously cutting National Insurance by 2p in the upcoming Budget</p>
UK Politics

Readers divided on how Reeves should tackle taxes in autumn Budget

<p>Queen Elizabeth II stands next to a classic Invacar invalid carriage during a ceremony at Windsor Castle to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Motability in 2017</p>
Voices

The three-wheeled car plan that may be Reform’s most idiotic idea yet

Voices

If Angela Rayner had to go, why should Rachel Reeves stay?

Voices

If Angela Rayner had to go, why should Rachel Reeves stay?

<p>‘After 90 minutes of extra time in the pharmacy, we were free to leave after 18 hours. A long way above that four-hour target’</p>
Voices

My 18 hours in A&E showed me what Wes Streeting is up against

<p>Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’. Julia’s character was ‘friendzoned’</p>
Voices

I keep being ‘friendzoned’ – what am I doing wrong?

<p>Hadush Kebatu</p>
The Independent View

Can the Home Office be fixed?

Voices

You’ll choke on your Greens, Sir Keir, if you lurch to the left

<p>Solidarity is not a slogan, it is something we must work at every single day. It is about standing with one another when things are hard, not just when they are easy</p>
Voices

Racism is back in Britain – this is how we beat it

<p>A boy stands in an opening of a wall at his home destroyed in an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 29</p>
Voices

Peace in the Middle East, Mr Trump? You’re not even close...

<p>‘It is a human right to have somewhere to live. A place to feel secure in, somewhere you can nest, have a pet, put some roots down’</p>
Voices

Landlords made my life hell – the renters’ rights bill can fix that

<p>Hurricane Melissa has finally made landfall in Jamaica and is set to move towards Cuba and other Caribbean islands</p>
Voices

What it is like to be in the path of 185mph Hurricane Melissa

<p>The prime minister and the chancellor should do the right thing and press on with their programme, placing growth and investment first</p>
The Independent View

Rachel Reeves has only one option to grow the economy

<p>If Reform continues to look set to overtake the Tories as the general election approaches, the trickle of defectors may become a flood</p>
Voices

Nigel Farage has a secret weapon – and he’s yet to truly use it

<p>Starmer is signalling how Britain stands for aspiration – all while killing aspiration. It does not make sense</p>
Voices

Keir Starmer’s attack on aspiration is draining the life from Britain

Voices

Keir Starmer’s attack on aspiration is draining the life from Britain

Chris Blackhurst
<p>Starmer is signalling how Britain stands for aspiration – all while killing aspiration. It does not make sense</p>
<p>Social class, age and where you live can have a big impact on the way you drink</p>
Voices

We’ve never been healthier. No wonder we’re all so miserable

<p>Police officers escort protesters near the Bell Hotel in Epping in August after a temporary injunction that would have blocked asylum seekers from being housed at the hotel was overturned</p>
The Independent View

Britain’s asylum hotels must be closed for good

<p>Sarah Pochin complained about adverts full of Black and Asian people</p>
Voices

Diversity isn’t ‘woke’, Sarah Pochin, it’s good for business

<p>Is Ian McEwan right – has the water bottle trend become ‘deranged’?</p>
Lifestyle

‘Necessity or marketing?’ Readers divided on the rise of water bottles

<p>Is Ian McEwan right – has the water bottle trend become ‘deranged’?</p>
Lifestyle

‘Necessity or marketing?’ Readers divided on the rise of water bottles

<p>‘At first, I couldn’t believe it. What parent would follow such a routine?’</p>
Voices

Would you give Wegovy to your child if it stopped them being bullied?

<p>Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside the former Bell Hotel in Epping</p>
Voices

The £15.3bn asylum bill is a disgrace – the system needs a reboot

<p>Allen hasn’t said specifically which parts of her new album are fact or fiction, but we know it refers heavily to her split from her husband David Harbour</p>
Voices

Lily Allen is right – dating over 40 is horrific

<p>‘Farage has been on mainstream TV for so long that he’s popular everywhere’</p>
Voices

My town Caerphilly turned on Labour after 100 years – this is why

<p>Neighbours comfort a man whose son was killed in Kyiv in Russian drone attacks</p>
The Independent View

Ukraine’s ingenuity alone will not be enough to win the war

<p>Criminals snatching smartphones on the street has become a growing problem</p>
Voices

We’ve accepted phone theft as part of life – but here’s how to stop it

<p>‘For those who were fortunate to buy their magnificent home decades ago, and relatively cheaply, the “mansion tax” would amount to a random tax based on inflation as well as capital gains, for which there are better approaches’</p>
Voices

Labour should forget about mansion tax and look to growth

<p>‘The world once celebrated Aung San Suu Kyi. It’s time to remember what she represents for democracy and to stand with Myanmar again<strong>’</strong></p>
Voices

Aung San Suu Kyi spent her birthday in a jail cell. Do not forsake her

<p>Criminals snatching smartphones on the street has become a growing problem</p>
Voices

We’ve accepted phone theft as part of life – but here’s how to stop it

<p>‘For those who were fortunate to buy their magnificent home decades ago, and relatively cheaply, the “mansion tax” would amount to a random tax based on inflation as well as capital gains, for which there are better approaches’</p>
Voices

Labour should forget about mansion tax and look to growth

<p>‘The world once celebrated Aung San Suu Kyi. It’s time to remember what she represents for democracy and to stand with Myanmar again<strong>’</strong></p>
Voices

Aung San Suu Kyi spent her birthday in a jail cell. Do not forsake her

<p>‘Who knows what really went down between Allen and Harbour, who hasn’t publicly commented on the album beyond turning off comments on his social networks’</p>
Voices

Lily Allen shows why open marriages aren’t for us children of divorce

<p>‘I’d really rather people just talk to me as they would anyone else. If they’re standing, and it means they’re taller, so be it’</p>
Voices

In a wheelchair, well-meaning people are one of your biggest obstacles

<p>Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is being pressed by some of her colleagues to break Labour’s manifesto pledge, but with a tax rise only on the highest earners</p>
The Independent View

Taxes must rise but taxes must be fair

<p>‘Farage has not come up with a credible plan for stopping the boats either, opening up the alarming possibility of yet another government that will fail. If Starmer does go, will the next candidate to preside over inevitable failure please step forward?’ </p>
Voices

Has Britain become ungovernable (again)?

<p>‘As my daughter grew up, I told her that justice may be blind, but people aren’t – and that her task was not to fit into the system but to change its shape. I wanted her to understand that real authority doesn’t come from title or tradition, but from courage and conscience’</p>
Voices

What I taught my daughter about power – and why she needs to have it

<p>Prince Harry playing polo: ‘Getting your son a tutor so he can aspire to mingle with members of the royal family<em> </em>is one of the more extreme forms of helicopter parenting<em>, </em>but it’s not a crime’</p>
Voices

If a £180k tutor sounds mad, wait til you hear what other parents do

<p>These moments are unutterably terrifying for women. Trapped in a moving metal tube, with no idea what might happen next, your world immediately shrinks</p>
Voices

I know how a sexual assault on public transport never leaves you

<p>The dark shadow of Jeffrey Epstein and his relationship with Prince Andrew is even reaching into the heart of the White House and questions over Donald Trump’s longstanding relationship with Epstein</p>
Voices

Prince Andrew can’t outrun Epstein’s shadow or America’s questions

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