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Voices

<p>Robert Jenrick, in his serious-looking glasses</p>
John Rentoul

If Jenrick applied to be my chancellor, I’d laugh him out the door

Better known for owning so many houses that he couldn’t decide which one to lock down in under Covid regulations, the new shining star of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is even less qualified for the second-most-important job in the country than the incumbent, says John Rentoul

<p>‘If you miss that first rung on the ladder in your late teens and early twenties, the risk is you never climb it,’ says Alan Milburn</p>
Alan Milburn

For a generation of unemployed young people, Labour isn’t working

<p>Prince William joined a programme on Radio 1 to discuss suicide prevention and male mental health</p>
Kat Brown

I didn’t see my friend’s suicide coming – we’re blind to mental health

<p>‘Periodically I am asked what I think about leg-lengthening surgery’</p>
Tom Brada

Take it from me at 5ft5 – life’s too short to care about being short

<p>David Lammy and Jesse Jackson spent ‘precious time’ in Chicago and London over the years</p>
David Lammy

If one man made me who I am today, his name is Jesse Jackson

    <p>Jesse Jackson raises a clenched fist from a police van after he and 11 others from Operation Breadbasket were arrested during a New York sit-in in 1971</p>
    Bonnie Greer

    Jesse Jackson lifted up Black Americans like me

    <p>Clockwise from top left: Wayne Williams, Leroy Douglas, Joshua McRae, Shaun Anton Lloyd and Abdullahi Suleman</p>
    The Independent View

    Britain’s IPP scandal must end – justice demands it

    <p>Nigel Farage and his dream team of ‘drama queens’</p>
    John Rentoul

    By unveiling his shadow government, Nigel Farage has just lost the next election

    <p>Content creator Look Mum No Computer – also known as Sam Battle from Kent – launched his YouTube channel in 2016, and is now Britain’s pick for Eurovision</p>
    James Moore

    Britain needs more young people who dream of being YouTubers

    <p>Cleo Watson and Helen MacNamara</p>
    Cleo Watson & Helen Macnamara

    If you think Westminster is a boring boys’ club, why not join ours?

    <p>In the early days of the internet, safeguarding was primarily a matter of keeping children away from the bad bits</p>
    Andrew Griffin

    I’ve changed my mind – young people should be banned from social media

    <p>Liz Truss meets Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida</p>
    Sophie Heawood

    Failed in the UK like Liz Truss? Try Trump’s America!

    <p>Pancake Day has been dragged, blinking, into algorithmic, sugar-drenched spectacle</p>
    Jack Burke

    Flipping ridiculous: Pancake Day was better before influencers

    <p>Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is grinning all the way to the bank after a Labour U-turn will see the party’s legal fees being covered </p>
    Voices

    Why Keir’s latest U-turn has Farage laughing all the way to the bank

    <p>Alexei Navalny was allegedly poisoned while incarcerated in Russia</p>
    Mark Almond

    Navalny’s poisoning will taint Vladimir Putin until his dying breath

    <p>Britney Spears performing live – something she says she won’t do again</p>
    James Moore

    Britney’s back-catalogue sale shows the music industry collapsing

    Spooked by AI and crumbling returns from streaming services, the world’s biggest stars are increasingly sacrificing future revenues in return for huge lump sums today, says James Moore

    <p>‘It’s probably a good thing, because “post-milk generation” sounds like toddlers who have stopped breastfeeding and moved on to Fruit Shoots, but Oatly is furious’</p>
    Flic Everett

    Oat milk isn’t milk. Even vegans like me can see that

    <p>Sir Keir Starmer has demanded that Jim Ratcliffe apologise for his comments</p>
    Sean O’Grady

    Sir Jim Ratcliffe is like the bigoted pub bore we should all ignore

    Explore news for you

    More Voices

    <p>Volodymyr Zelensky has learned to be polite, if not sycophantic, when commenting in public about the Trump administration</p>
    The Independent View

    President Trump is wrong. Ukraine can win this war

    The Independent View

    President Trump is wrong. Ukraine can win this war

    Editorial
    <p>Volodymyr Zelensky has learned to be polite, if not sycophantic, when commenting in public about the Trump administration</p>
    <p>Reform leader Nigel Farage with his equalities spokeswoman Suella Braverman, who announced that a Reform government would rip up the Equality Act</p>
    Voices

    Why does Reform want to tear up the vote-winning Equality Act?

    <p>The Conservatives have accused Labour of treating motorists ‘like a cash machine’ amid reports that drivers of electric vehicles could face a new pay-per-mile tax in Rachel Reeves’s Budget</p>
    Electric Vehicles

    The pay-per-mile eVED tax on electric vehicles is coming

    <p>Reform has a number of potential election breakthroughs in its sights</p>
    Voices

    Starmer’s election U-turn will hit the Tories just as hard as Labour

    <p>Former BrewDog boss James Watt is reported to be planning a bid for the Scottish brewer and pub group</p>
    Voices

    Last thing BrewDog needs: a takeover bid from its embattled ex‑boss

    <p>Former BrewDog boss James Watt is reported to be planning a bid for the Scottish brewer and pub group</p>
    Voices

    Last thing BrewDog needs: a takeover bid from its embattled ex‑boss

    <p>Keir Starmer’s administration has now had to row back on another bit of democratic jiggery-pokery</p>
    The Independent View

    Labour’s local election U-turn will not undo yet another own goal

    <p>Editor-in-chief Paul Dacre slunk low in the witness box as he whispered his evidence in the long-running case of Prince Harry vs the publishers of his own newspaper group </p>
    Voices

    ‘I must have been away’: Paul Dacre is The Man Who Wasn’t There

    Most commented

    Trump warns Starmer is making ‘big mistake’ over Chagos Islands deal: live

    1340 comments

    Ukraine peace talks little more than a mafia-style shakedown by the US and Russia

    78 comments

    Pope Leo rejects Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ invite and backs UN to solve global crises

    85 comments

    Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky calls for fresh negotiations as talks end quickly

    412 comments
    Join the Conversation

    More Voices

    <p>Any teenager who can endlessly scroll without limits is going to be put into a situation where trouble or harm is more likely</p>
    Voices

    I’m 14 – please don’t take my TikTok away

    <p>Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky addressing the Munich Security Conference about the war in his country</p>
    The Independent View

    A critical point for Ukraine – and for Europe

    <p>Alexei Navalny was allegedly poisoned while incarcerated in Russia</p>
    Voices

    Navalny’s poisoning confirms that we cannot deal with Putin

    <p>‘Yes, Lipa is a very famous woman. But she’s also still as entitled as the rest of us to not have her photograph taken, particularly because photos of her will be shared around the world’</p>
    Voices

    Why do we still treat celebrities such as Dua Lipa like zoo animals?

    <p>‘Graduates vote more reliably than students and non-graduates, have not yet locked into fixed party affiliations and are in the swing voter phase of the voting life cycle’</p>
    Voices

    Don’t scrap student fees, but give the system a serious hygiene test

    <p>Carolyn Piro's son, Sean Curran, plays with a dolphin</p>
    Voices

    An ‘autism-friendly’ holiday often means the opposite

    <p>‘Yes, Lipa is a very famous woman. But she’s also still as entitled as the rest of us to not have her photograph taken, particularly because photos of her will be shared around the world’</p>
    Voices

    Why do we still treat celebrities such as Dua Lipa like zoo animals?

    <p>‘Graduates vote more reliably than students and non-graduates, have not yet locked into fixed party affiliations and are in the swing voter phase of the voting life cycle’</p>
    Voices

    Don’t scrap student fees, but give the system a serious hygiene test

    <p>Carolyn Piro's son, Sean Curran, plays with a dolphin</p>
    Voices

    An ‘autism-friendly’ holiday often means the opposite

    <p>Keir Starmer speaks during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference</p>
    The Independent View

    Keir Starmer is right to embrace our European future

    The Independent View

    Keir Starmer is right to embrace our European future

    Editorial
    <p>Keir Starmer speaks during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference</p>
    <p>A poll found that Angela Rayner came top when Labour members were asked which MP they would like to lead the party if Keir Starmer resigned</p>
    Voices

    That was the week Angela Rayner nearly became prime minister

    <p>Dominic Sandbrook says of books: ‘For a few hours, you leave the confines of your head and imagine yourself a boy wizard at Hogwarts, a sailor in the South Seas, a slave in antebellum America. No other art form can do this with such intimacy’</p>
    Voices

    Bookworms must stave off our becoming a ‘post-literate generation’

    <p>Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid dated for six years before their relationship ended messily in 2021</p>
    Voices

    Stop judging Zayn – true love is always evolving

    <p>Attorney general Pam Bondi testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about the handling of the Epstein files</p>
    Voices

    Millions more Epstein files are coming – and powerful men are worried

    <p>Attorney general Pam Bondi testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about the handling of the Epstein files</p>
    Voices

    Millions more Epstein files are coming – and powerful men are worried

    <p>US president Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC</p>
    Voices

    Trump’s attack on the BBC is a harbinger of much worse to come

    <p>‘The entire evening feels scripted and structured by someone else’s idea of romance. And love, in the end, has very little to do with choreography’</p>
    Voices

    Why I’d never dine out on Valentine’s Day – even as a food writer

    <p>Supporters of Palestine Action stage a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London</p>
    The Independent View

    The government is now almost powerless against Palestine Action

    <p>Improved certainty after Rachel Reeves’s Budget may have helped drive a spending rise</p>
    Voices

    The numbers that show the economy might be doing better than you think

    <p>Chris Wormald was appointed cabinet secretary by Keir Starmer – and forced out by him after 14 months</p>
    Voices

    Why is Keir Starmer so good at appointing all the wrong people?

    <p>Many feel discussions about fertility and birth rates are transforming The Handmaid's Tale from fantasy into fact</p>
    Health & Families

    France’s ‘offensive’ baby push ignores pressures on women, say readers

    <p>‘To avoid Schroders’ slow slide into irrelevance, action is required. There won’t be any deep-pocketed rescuer wading in if it isn’t taken’</p>
    Voices

    How did the City let itself be blindsided by the sale of Schroders?

    <p>‘For decades, there have been calls for the Church of England to recognise, bless and celebrate gay couples’ <em>(LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)</em></p>
    Voices

    I can marry same-sex couples in Scotland – so why not in England?

    <p>Epstein was not convicted last week. He was not convicted last year. He was first convicted 18 years ago. Despite this, he managed not only to return<em> </em>to a gilded circle but grow that circle exponentially, with the promise of wealth, power, and impunity</p>
    Voices

    Tony Benn warned me about Mandelson 40 years ago

    <p>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’. ‘In the hopes of avoiding another romantic washout, I’ll be staying home cosy and dry this Valentine’s Day, and watching a movie set in a warm climate with absolutely no rainfall of any kind’</p>
    Voices

    Love in a damp climate: Rain made my last date a complete washout

    <p>The UK’s spring flowers are blooming earlier because of climate change</p>
    Voices

    Long after Trump and Andrew are gone, we will still have spring

    Voices

    Long after Trump and Andrew are gone, we will still have spring

    Frieda Hughes
    <p>The UK’s spring flowers are blooming earlier because of climate change</p>
    <p>The City isn’t enamoured with Rachel Reeves, but they think the alternatives are much worse</p>
    The Independent View

    Only an EU reset can save our flatlining economy from the doldrums

    <p>Drivers in Havana wait to fill up as fuel supplies run low (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)</p>
    Voices

    Watch out, Cuba – Donald Trump is coming for you next…

    <p>‘Who doesn’t know what they’re talking about?’ Matt Goodwin, left, pictured with Reform leader Nigel Farage</p>
    Voices

    Oh great, Reform’s fascinating men have yet more opinions about women

    President Donald Trump announced the first-ever 'Patriot Games,' which many social media users likened to the fictional Hunger Games
    Voices

    The BBC has no choice but to teach Trump a lesson about free speech

    President Donald Trump announced the first-ever 'Patriot Games,' which many social media users likened to the fictional Hunger Games
    Voices

    The BBC has no choice but to teach Trump a lesson about free speech

    <p>Times Square in New York City</p>
    Americas

    ‘It’s not embarrassing, it’s dangerous’: Readers on holidays in the US

    <p>Macaulay Culkin and Anna Chlumsky in ‘My Girl’</p>
    Voices

    I don’t know if I’ll ever get over my first heartbreak

    <p>Constance Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, were jailed for the manslaughter of their newborn daughter, Victoria </p>
    The Independent View

    Victoria Marten was a victim of our child safeguarding failures

    <p>‘I fear that Lægreid sees this whole thing as a big romantic gesture. The only problem is that it’s about as romantic as, well, skiing while holding a gun. As romantic gestures go, it’s a massive backfire’</p>
    Voices

    Diddums! Give the Olympic love cheat gold for cringiest confession

    <p>Keir Starmer ‘did better than he might have done by showing some fight and getting through the half-hour without bursting into tears’ </p>
    Voices

    Starmer responded to attacks from all sides with anger… but no answers

    <p>’How many national leaders will be tempted to ask themselves why, if the US can mount such unilateral action against a sovereign country in pursuit of what it may justify in terms of its own national security, they should not do the same?’</p>
    Voices

    How the capture of Nicolas Maduro will upend the global order

    <p>Green Party hopeful Hannah Spencer described Levenshulme, one of the main towns in the Gorton and Denton constituency she hopes to represent, as having a high street full of “money-laundering takeaways”</p>
    Voices

    Oops! Like Hannah Spencer, I ran in a constituency I had badmouthed…

    <p>Hair apparent: Angela Rayner gets her tresses pampered</p>
    Voices

    The race to replace Starmer is still on… and Rayner is ready to strike

    <p>Is it okay to get rid of your dog when you have a baby?</p>
    Lifestyle

    Readers clash over giving up dogs after having a baby

    <p>BP has halted its shares buyback after profit slump</p>
    Voices

    Is energy giant BP running out of gas?

    <p>Donald Trump keeps suggesting it is time to move on from the Epstein files</p>
    The Independent View

    Epstein’s survivors are fighting yet another cover-up

    The Independent View

    Epstein’s survivors are fighting yet another cover-up

    Editorial
    <p>Donald Trump keeps suggesting it is time to move on from the Epstein files</p>
    <p>Matthew Doyle, who himself is not being accused of anything unlawful, quit his job last March because of his past association with someone who has admitted possession of obscene images of children </p>
    Voices

    In Matthew Doyle, Starmer’s lamentable judgement is clear once again

    <p>When <em>was</em> the last time anyone spotted the Reform UK leader ‘at work’ in his own constituency of Clacton-on-Sea?</p>
    Voices

    Nigel Farage is a WFH icon – I can just picture him at his ‘home desk’

    <p>Keir Starmer has held on... for now</p>
    Voices

    Why the coup that never was could be exactly what Starmer needed

    <p>Who, if anyone, should replace Starmer as Labour leader?</p>
    UK Politics

    Poll: If Starmer were forced to step aside, who should lead Labour?

    <p>Who, if anyone, should replace Starmer as Labour leader?</p>
    UK Politics

    Poll: If Starmer were forced to step aside, who should lead Labour?

    <p>Government officials are looking to attract more ethnic minorities to live in and visit the British countryside</p>
    Voices

    Is the UK countryside racist? In parts of it... yes

    <p>Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called on his ‘friend’ Keir Starmer to resign</p>
    Voices

    Starmer must dismantle Labour’s boys’ club – or accept he cannot lead

    <p>Keir Starmer with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who has called on the prime minister to resign </p>
    The Independent View

    Sir Keir is the loneliest PM – but he must stay in office

    <p>Prime minister Keir Starmer is facing calls to resign after a series of political scandals</p>
    Voices

    Keir Starmer’s dizzying fall shows the UK is now becoming ungovernable

    <p>The former Duke of York, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, spent a decade as a UK trade envoy</p>
    Voices

    Will trade emails, not the Epstein scandal, finish off Air Miles Andy?

    <p>Team GB’s Bruce Mouat in the curling, which is a hit at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics</p>
    Voices

    Curling is not boring – it’s my surprise Winter Olympics obsession

    <p>‘It’s not some fad. I am generally worried about my daughters’ nutrient-deficient diet – that fussy eating again – and how it might affect their gut health’ (Alamy/PA)</p>
    Voices

    Help! My children’s supplements are bankrupting me

    <p>Margot Robbie stars in Emerald Fennell’s hotly anticipated Wuthering Heights adaptation</p>
    Books

    Readers on Wuthering Heights: a ‘masterpiece’ films rarely capture

    <p>‘I am not sure if even then I completely believed Jackson was wholly innocent, but being honest, I think I chose to look the other way because the music was just too good’</p>
    Voices

    My nine-year-old son loves Michael Jackson. How do I get him to stop?

    <p>Jimmy Lai, who is due to be sentenced for sedition by the Chinese authorities</p>
    The Independent View

    Powers that believe in democracy should rally to Jimmy Lai’s cause

    <p>Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has taken responsibility for recommending Peter Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to Washington </p>
    Voices

    McSweeney’s departure pushes Starmer a step closer to the exit

    Voices

    McSweeney’s departure pushes Starmer a step closer to the exit

    John Rentoul
    <p>Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has taken responsibility for recommending Peter Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to Washington </p>
    <p>Reform UK leader Nigel Farage with US president Donald Trump</p>
    Voices

    Farage’s friendship with Trump is becoming his biggest vulnerability

    <p>Soldiers block access for Palestinians to an area for harvesting olives in the West Bank</p>
    Voices

    In the West Bank, this nightmare for Palestinians needs ending

    <p>Keir Starmer has made lapses of judgement but that does not mean he should resign </p>
    The Independent View

    Keir Starmer showed poor judgement, but talk of change is premature

    <p>Keir Starmer has one highly risky trick up his sleeve that would likely silence his Labour critics</p>
    Voices

    Will Keir Starmer use his nuclear option to try to cling to office?

    <p>Keir Starmer has one highly risky trick up his sleeve that would likely silence his Labour critics</p>
    Voices

    Will Keir Starmer use his nuclear option to try to cling to office?

    <p>Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor</p>
    Voices

    The Epstein crisis has exposed rotten state of the UK’s constitution

    <p>Many Americans thought it was unthinkable that a US president could be as aggressive as Donald Trump has been</p>
    Voices

    As an American, I just want to say sorry

    <p>Any teenager who can endlessly scroll without limits is going to be put into a situation where trouble or harm is more likely</p>
    Voices

    I’m 14 years old – please don’t take my TikTok away

    <p>Given the prime minister’s ethics adviser found that Angela Rayner ‘had acted with integrity’, her allies believe that she could, in time, make a Cabinet comeback and win a leadership contest</p>
    Voices

    Is Angela Rayner really ready to march on Starmer’s Westminster?

    <p>A screen displayed in a cryptocurrency exchange office in Hong Kong features an image of US president Donald Trump holding cryptocurrency coins, 12 March 2025</p>
    Voices

    The great crypto-crash has just begun – and it’s going to get worse

    <p>Sir Elton John is appearing alongside his husband David Furnish in a High Court trial against the Daily Mail’s publisher</p>
    Voices

    Hopping mad, Sgt Elton John spat bullets in the witness box

    <p>‘Keir Starmer’s defence of his part in the Epstein/Mandelson affair was a weak mix of claimed ignorance and realpolitik’ </p>
    Voices

    I’m appalled at how easily powerful men ignore what Epstein did

    <p>There can be few who are undaunted by the prospect of leaving college with debts running into the tens of thousands of pounds</p>
    The Independent View

    It’s time the student loans system was abolished

    <p>Sir Elton John is appearing alongside his husband David Furnish in a High Court trial against the Daily Mail’s publisher</p>
    Voices

    Hopping mad, Sgt Elton John spat bullets in the witness box

    <p>‘Keir Starmer’s defence of his part in the Epstein/Mandelson affair was a weak mix of claimed ignorance and realpolitik’ </p>
    Voices

    I’m appalled at how easily powerful men ignore what Epstein did

    <p>There can be few who are undaunted by the prospect of leaving college with debts running into the tens of thousands of pounds</p>
    The Independent View

    It’s time the student loans system was abolished

    <p>Fireworks explode in the sky to bring in the New Year around the London Eye and the Elizabeth Tower</p>
    Voices

    Refurbishing the Palace of Westminster would revive ‘can-do’ Britain

    <p>Matthew Goodwin, on the election stump with Reform leader Nigel Farage</p>
    Voices

    Is Matthew Goodwin too rabid even for Reform?

    <p>Frieda Hughes’ new car</p>
    Voices

    After years of lusting, I can afford my dream car... albeit secondhand

    <p>‘Mandelson via Epstein was serving not the UK, but the other side. Not the Russians, the usual foe, but the banks’</p>
    Voices

    Epstein was in effect a secret member of the British cabinet

    <p>A photograph appearing to show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor crouched over an unidentified woman which has been released in the latest disclosure of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein</p>
    Voices

    Why do I feel like the only man outraged by the Epstein files?

    <p>Georgina Fuller and her son Eddie at Legoland Dubai</p>
    Voices

    Why shouldn’t my autistic son ‘skip the queue’ at Alton Towers?

    <p>Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump meet in Alaska, 2025</p>
    Voices

    Don’t panic! The end of New Start won’t trigger a new arms race… yet

    The Independent View

    If a miserable Starmer is to survive, he must show leadership

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