HS2 U-Turn: Rishi Sunak Confirms Manchester Line Is Scrapped

Rishi Sunak has confirmed that he is scrapping HS2 to Manchester.

The prime minister made the long-awaited announcement at the Tory conference being held in the city.

He also revealed that phase one of the multi-billion pound line will start at Euston station in central London.

And he said the £36 billion saved on scrapping the Birmingham to Manchester stretch would be used to fund major new transport projects in the north of England.

The decision is likely to spark a furious backlash from opposition politicians, business leaders and senior Tories including West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who this week appealed to the PM not to axe to next phase of the HS2 project.

Sunak said: “I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed and the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.

“And so I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project and in its place we will re-invest every single penny – £36bn in hundreds of new transport projects in the north and the Midlands across the country.”

The PM said a new “network north” project would boost transport links and slash travel times to towns and cities across the country.

He said: “You will be able to get from Manchester to the new station in Bradford in 30 minutes, Sheffield in 42 minutes and to Hull in 84 minutes on a fully, electrified line.

“We’ll protect the £12bn pounds to link up Manchester and Liverpool as planned and we will engage with local leaders on how best to deliver the scheme.

“We’ll build the Midlands Rail Hub, connecting 50 stations. We’ll help Andy Street extend the West Midlands Metro, build the Leeds tram, electrify the North Wales main line, upgrade the A1, the A2, the A5, the M6 and we’ll connect our Union with the A75 boosting links between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“We’ll fund the Shipley bypass, the Blyth relief road and deliver 70 other road schemes. We’ll resurface roads across the country. We’ll bring back the Don Valley line. We’ll upgrade the energy coast line between Carlisle, Workington and Barrow, build hundreds of other schemes and keep the £2 bus fare across the whole country.”

Share Button

Trans Women Will Be Banned From Female-Only Wards, Says Steve Barclay

Health secretary Steve Barclay has said trans people will be banned from male-only and female-only hospital wards.

Speaking to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Tuesday, he said the NHS constitution will be amended following a consultation later this year to bring in the change.

Barclay said this would respect the “privacy, dignity and safety of all patients” and “recognise the importance of different biological needs and protect the rights of women”.

“I know as Conservatives, we know what a woman is and I know the vast majority of hardworking NHS staff and patients do too,” he told Tory members.

“To deliver the long-term change the NHS needs, we need a relentless focus on patient outcomes and that means prioritising frontline resources.

“It does not mean spending huge sums of taxpayer’s money on diversity consultants or hiring bloated internal diversity and inclusion teams.”

Barclay also said he had ordered a reversal of changes to the NHS website that removed references to women for conditions such as cervical cancer.

And he said the NHS had been told to stop telling staff to declare pronouns to each new patient.

The move is the latest in a long-line of Conservative policies aimed at what many in the party like to brand “woke” id.

Elliot Colburn, the MP for Carshalton and Wallington, told a meeting on the fringes of the conference to “drop this hardcore rhetoric and we have to drop it now”.

“I want to make one thing perfectly clear to our Conservative colleagues. We will not win the next general election fighting with the LGBT+ community,” he said.

Share Button

This Video Of Priti Patel And Nigel Farage Singing And Dancing Together Cannot Be Unseen

The song of choice? Frank Sinatra’s I Love You Baby, obviously.

The short video was shared by Conservative Party member Emily Hewertson – with the caption “Priti X Farage. What a combo” – and has racked up more than 310,000 views in less than 12 hours.

It’s the first singing or dancing clip to have emerged from the Tory conference this year, but far from the first time the Conservatives have been caught busting a move at a work event.

So, perhaps Patel and Farage’s duet was not a complete surprise.

The former home secretary had praised the right-wing commentator and the “dynamic, no-nonsense” GB News channel on Sunday.

She called the “incredible” channel a “defender of free speech” and thanked the controversial broadcaster’s staff for “absolutely everything they do”.

GB News currently employs former ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Esther McVey, among other Tory backbenchers.

This year also marks the first time Farage has been allowed inside a Tory party conference since the 1980s, he told Express.co.uk, even though he officially left in 1992, founding UKIP the following year.

Share Button

UK Gardeners Urged To Do These Jobs In October Before Cold Weather Hits

October is an interesting month for gardeners. The bounties of autumn are starting to fade away into the barer beauty of winter; bats, birds, and bugs are starting to struggle to find food.

It’s a good time to prepare your garden for a period of low, or no, growth, fallen leaves, and hard, cold soil. So, we thought we’d share the jobs you should get going on ASAP this month (before cold weather hits):

1) Plant some veg

Lucy Rhead, gardening enthusiast at Gtech, shared that it’s a great time to plant onions and shallots, which require little space; spinach (regular harvesting will keep your spinach cropping into spring); lettuce, which you can pretty much grow throughout the whole year, and asparagus, as planting your crowns in warm autumn soil can give them a head start blossoming over winter.

2) Get growing with some flowers, too

It’s a good idea to get some spring bulbs, like crocuses, fritillaries, and daffodils, in the ground now before the soil becomes too hard to dig.

3) Move delicate plants to a greenhouse or conservatory

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advises moving tender, young, or cold-sensitive plants to a sheltered area in anticipation of harsher climes. This is called overwintering; prime candidates include perennials, palms, tree ferns, and more.

4) Get trimming

Though you should leave some plants like ivy untrimmed, others (like roses) require a good pruning. Herbaceous perennials can benefit from a little haircut around this time of year; check to see which of your plants is due a trim.

5) Divide your perennials

It’s one of your last chances to divide perennials to keep them healthy and ready to flourish again next year. The RHS recommends lifting the plants out gently with a garden fork, making sure you don’t damage the roots.

Once removed from the soil, shake the dirt off to reveal the roots and replant your perennials either in the same spot or a different one in your garden or in a pot. Water them well. You should also divide rhubarb crowns at this time of year.

6) Get cracking on some leaf compost

Whether you intend to rake a pile of leaves into a quiet part of your garden or plan to bag and compost ’em, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about how you can use the fallen leaves for gardening good. Just make sure not to include any infected leaves in mulches or composts.

7) Collect seeds for next year

Grab the last of the seeds from your plants, bag them, and label them in preparation for planting in spring. Some seeds, like those from astrantia, achillea, and red valerian, can be sown straight away.

8) Remove your plant pot saucers now and replace them with raisers

It’s important to keep your flowers hydrated in the dry, hot summer ― but now that the weather’s set to take a rainier turn, you’re at risk of waterlogging your plants if you don’t air them out.

The work of a gardener is never done, is it?

Share Button

Katherine Ryan Reflects On ‘Pushback’ After Calling Out Male Comic She Believed Was A ‘Predator’

Katherine Ryan has said she received “a lot of pushback” when she made the decision to call out a fellow comedian she believed to be a “predator”.

Last year, the Canadian comic made headlines when she appeared on Louis Theroux’s interview series, during which she referred to an “open secret” about a former male colleague.

“I informed him to his face that he was a predator,” Katherine said of the undisclosed comedian.

“I think [by predator] I mean perpetrator of sexual assault. But it is very dangerous for us to have this conversation. I’m happy to have it, but it is a litigious minefield. Because lots of people have tried to nail this person down for their alleged crimes. And this person has very good lawyers.”

She added: “This person, I believe, very strongly, and so do a lot of people, it’s an open secret, is a perpetrator of sexual assault. And I, in front of loads of people, in the format of the show, said to this person’s face that they were a predator. Again and again.”

These comments apparently did not make it into the final cut of the show in question.

During an interview on Sunday’s edition of Desert Island Discs – recorded in the first week of September – Katherine was asked by host Lauren Laverne about her previous comments and the reaction to them..

“I got a lot of pushback, like, ‘Why won’t you say who it is?’,” Katherine said.

“It’s because everyone knows who it is. What they’re asking me for is the women’s names. And that’s what I won’t give and that’s why I was reluctant to talk about it.”

She added: “There are a few women’s names that I think investigators are looking for and that’s what they’re asking me for. No one’s asking me for his name.

“So it’s funny how people go straight to accusing, ‘You are the problem. You won’t give his name.’ We’re not the problem.”

Later in the interview, Katherine said she’d “wrestled” with the “really difficult” decision to work with the comedian in question.

“The choice is, do I go to work with someone who I think is very problematic and do I stand near them and laugh and smile and look like I am allowing this kind of person to still be on television, or do I stay home?” she recalled.

“That’s what I wrestled with the most. Because I believe that this person was or is dangerous, but also what am I going to change if I stay home?

“My compromise was, alright, ‘I’m gonna go, but I’m going to let him know under no uncertain terms what I think of him. I’m not gonna just smile and look like I’m allowing this behaviour’.”

Towards the end of last month, Katherine requested that the media respect her decision not to be included in certain narratives within the press.

“I have nothing else to say about anything,” she said during an episode of her podcast Telling Everyone Everything.

“Apart from, I guess, passing observation, when a woman says ‘no I don’t want to engage in that conversation and I have no comment on that story, no I won’t be confirming or denying or participating about anything in the news right now’, her consent is not valid.”

Later, she added: “Why is my consent totally unimportant when we are speaking a lot in the press right now speaking about the importance of consent? No is a full sentence, ladies, gentlemen. No.”

Listen to Katherine Ryan’s full interview on BBC Sounds here.

Share Button

Americans Are Now Discovering Alison Hammond Thanks To Bake Off – And She’s An Instant Hit

As well as airing weekly on Channel 4, Bake Off is also available to watch in the US on Netflix, where the show is known as the Great British Baking Show (apparently, in the States the term “bake off” is a registered trademark of the cake company Pillsbury).

For most Americans watching the show, Bake Off will have been their first introduction to Alison, and we’re pleased to see she’s proved to be just as popular Stateside as she has on her home turf…

Meanwhile, a review on the American entertainment website Decider was similarly full of praise for Alison, hailing her efforts in the first episode of Bake Off as “spectacular”.

“The popular UK presenter not only aced her first time callouts, voice over narrative, and ‘On your marks, get set, bake!’, but her infectious joy rubbed off on everyone in the tent — including Noel Fielding, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith,” their review read.

“It could just be that Alison Hammond was the missing ingredient in the tent all these years.”

The Great British Bake Off airs on Tuesday nights at 8pm on Channel 4. New episodes are also available to watch in the US every Friday on Netflix.

Share Button

The 1 Task UK Gardeners Should Avoid Doing In Autumn

Autumn is a bountiful time in your garden. From the abundance of blackberries we saw earlier in the year to the current glut of rosehips, it’s a good season for the green-fingered.

Of course, the end of those autumnal perks signal the start of stark winter’s downsides. Bats and birds begin to struggle to find food. Rough, colder weather makes new growth unlikely.

Thankfully, there’s one simple (in)action you can take to help prevent some of these issues: keeping fallen leaves in your lawn, rather than throwing them out, is actually a pretty great move in autumn.

Eric Michels, Head of Pro at CJ Wildlife, says “One of the best things you can do with fallen leaves is to leave them for wildlife!”

“While some may consider fallen leaves a nuisance, they provide the perfect opportunity to give back to nature and create a habitat or food source for a wide variety of animals this autumn.”

So, here’s how to tackle your leaves without banishing them from your garden altogether:

Forget intense raking ― this is push-and-pile up season

A large, unraked pile-up of leaves on your lawn can cause problems, like mould. But simply shoving them into a heap in the corner of your lawn (rather than carefully clearing and disposing of them) can provide a home for wildlife, Michels says.

“Hibernating mammals, such as hedgehogs, frogs[,] or toads, will use leaf piles to create a nest where they will stay throughout winter, while insects and invertebrates will love the dark, damp nooks and crannies that it has to offer,” he says.

“In turn, this will encourage birds such as robins and sparrows to visit your garden to forage for worms and bugs in the leaf layer.”

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) agrees, saying that “You might not be a fan of creepy crawlies in your composting materials, but they serve an important function by providing food for larger birds and other wildlife.“

Where you place your leaf pile matters

Of course, you won’t want to stick the leaves in a busy or very exposed area ― they’re more likely to get kicked apart or blown away, and it’ll probably be a less welcoming area for wildlife too.

You should “make sure it is located in a quiet corner of the garden where visitors can stay undisturbed throughout winter,” Michels says.

The RSPB adds that “where you put the logs and leaves will affect the wildlife that uses it. Try different spots in your garden, with different sized and shaped piles.”

Got a felled log? Even better!

“If you have any logs or fallen branches, place these next to [the] leaf pile to provide additional shelter and security,” says Michels. The two make a very appealing pair for visiting wildlife.

“Gathered together, this mix can create a lovely pile of goodness to help your garden grow and encourage more birds, bees and other wildlife to visit,” the RSPB shared.

So, if you’ve got some old branches or logs (perhaps from deadheading, pruning, or simply cutting down trees), the more the merrier.

Leaf mulch makes amazing compost, too

Not sure about piling up leaves in your lawn? You can place it in a beg for mulching instead (or on top of) the heaps.

In fact, the RHS refers to bags of leaf mould as “black gold”.

The steps are simple ― collect fallen leaves, stick ’em in a jute leaf sack, a bin bag, or an old compost bag, and simply wait for about two years for the coveted leaf mould.

And if you’re worried about any bad smells, fear not ― “The mention of ‘rot’ may conjure thoughts of smelliness, but decomposing logs, sticks and leaves don’t have much of an aroma at all – just a faint scent of woodlands,” says the RSPB.

You can make leaf mulch even sooner than that ― just “remember to check leaf piles for any animals before moving or mulching,” Michel says.

Look, anything that means I don’t have to meticulously rake and throw out my leaves is good news to me…

Share Button

Russian Defence Spending To Surge As Kremlin Prepares For ‘Multiple Years’ Of War In Ukraine

Russia is set to dramatically increase the amount of money it spends on defence as the country prepares for “multiple years” of war in Ukraine, according UK intelligence.

The Ministry of Defence’s latest intelligence update on the war said documents apparently leaked from the Russian finance ministry shows its military spending will reach 30% of all public expenditure in 2024.

“The ministry proposes a defence budget of 10.8 trillion roubles (£91.7 billion), equivalent to approximately 6 per cent of GDP and a 68 per cent increase over 2023,” the MoD said.

To put that in context, the UK spends around 2% of its GDP on defence. In 2021/22, that worked out at around £45bn.

The MoD said Russia’s military spending splurge will come “at the expense of the wider economy”.

“Full details on Russian defence spending are always classified, but these figures suggests that Russia is preparing for multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine,” they said.

“This follows public comments by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on 27 September 2023, suggesting he was prepared for the conflict to continue into 2025.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in a “special military operation” that Vladimir Putin believed would be over in days.

Share Button

Senate Clears Bill To Prevent Government Shutdown

With hours left to go on the eve of a government shutdown, Congress passed a stopgap bill to keep federal agencies funded and workers at their desks through mid-November.

The price? About $6 billion in aid to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian invaders and new worries Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will be encouraged to continue the full-scale invasion he started in February 2022.

On Saturday afternoon, the House voted 335 to 91 for a temporary funding bill to keep the government operating through Nov. 16 and also fund disaster assistance. Two hundred and nine Democrats joined 126 Republicans in voting for the package.

Later that night, the Senate passed it 88 to 9, though only after some last-minute public misgivings by a few Democratic senators, including a brief hold on floor action by Democratic Senator Michael Bennet over the Ukraine aid.

The bill will now go to the White House for President Joe Biden’s signature.

The deal will avoid the worst case politically that both parties feared ― being blamed for the first government shutdown since 2019 ― but leaves several issues unaddressed, like the future of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Putting the bill on the floor was a stark turnaround for McCarthy, who has spent all year trying to placate far-right members of his conference — something that has proved almost impossible. On Friday, he moved a bill that would have kept the government open with severe spending cuts and 21 hard-line Republicans still voted no, dooming it.

Republicans such as Representative Matt Gaetz have said they would force a no-confidence vote in McCarthy if the House passed a funding bill with Democratic support.

But pulling his party back from the brink of a shutdown may have boosted his stock with the more moderate wing of his party. “If we have folks in the conference that don’t like his leadership, that want to put a motion to vacate forward, that’s on them to do that and explain to the American people why,” said Republican Representative Mike Lawler.

And McCarthy remained defiant.

“If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it. There has to be an adult in the room,” he said.

Another open question is what happens when the stopgap bill expires. While lawmakers have a few more weeks to work on spending bills, it’s unclear that they will get them finished by then. And the near-shutdown this time could merely be a dress rehearsal for an actual one later in the year.

Democrats initially balked at the bill, saying they had not been given enough time to read its 71 pages. But faced with the political reality that they could be blamed for a shutdown by insisting on aid to war-torn Ukraine, many decided to embrace the bill.

Representative Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, however, read a letter from Mike McCord, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for defense, who warned that European allies would be unlikely to keep up their support for Ukraine without U.S. leadership.

“From the very beginning of the war, Putin has bet that America is weak, unreliable, and that his desire to rebuild the Soviet Empire was greater than our will to oppose him,” said Scott Cullinane, director of government affairs at Razom for Ukraine, a pro-Ukraine advocacy group. “Our unwillingness to give Ukraine the weapons it needs to win and Congress’ delay in funding threaten to prove Putin right.”

McCarthy has said there is enough Ukraine aid still in the pipeline for another 45 days. Aid could be attached to another bill later on, but would probably have to be more than the $6 billion that was at issue here and it’s unclear what bill it would have to be attached to in order to pass.

Representative Jim McGovern said the stopgap was a win for Democrats, especially compared with what House Republicans had been proposing earlier in the week. He also said he thought Ukraine aid would eventually be passed.

“Talk to me in a few weeks,” he said.

“We have to deal with these issues again in 45 days but, for today, I’ve got a little bounce in my step.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly included the word “all” when referring to the 126 Republicans who voted for the House bill. There are currently 221 Republicans in the House.

Share Button

‘Rich. Money. Wealth.’ Rishi Sunak Shown What Voters Think Of Him During Toe-Curling Interview

Voters associate Rishi Sunak with wealth, money and greed, according to a survey carried out for the BBC.

The multi-millionaire prime minister was presented with the public’s brutal verdict during a live interview as the Tory Party conference kicks off in Manchester.

Appearing on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the PM was shown a so-called “word cloud” outlining the answers voters gave to the More in Common think-tank when asked their opinion of him.

It showed the most common was “rich people”, followed by “money” and “himself”.

Other answers included “greed”, “elite” “wealth”, “upper class” and “prosperity”.

However, some people answered “fairness”, “equality”, “stability” and “leader”.

The word cloud setting out how people view the prime minister.
The word cloud setting out how people view the prime minister.

During the ill-tempered interview, Kuenssberg told him: “You can see there, rightly or wrongly, what many people associate with you is your personal wealth.

“What does that make you think? Does that worry you if people might think you’re out of touch?

“Or perhaps, you are very wealthy, you could be living on a beach not working at all. A lot of people might think you’ve got all this wealth, you could be living on a beach, not working at all.

“A lot of people might think you’ve got all this wealth, you could do anything at all, good on you for being in public service. What goes through your mind when you see that?”

A clearly-annoyed Sunak said : “My job is to deliver for people. We’ve been talking a lot about this net zero decision …”

Kuenssberg replied : “Hold on, I think people would like to know what your response is.”

But the PM said: “But this is a great example of it. That was a decision motivated by me wanting to ease the burden on families.”

Share Button