Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan has denied Fianna Fáil is down and out ahead of two by-elections after his party colleague James Lawless said he would be "disappointed but not surprised" if the party lost both.
Anthony Albanese has accused Angus Taylor of copying One Nation and dog-whistling to marginalise immigrants to Australia, as the Coalition seeks to cut social benefits and government programs for permanent residents. Delivering his budget reply speech on Thursday night, the opposition leader announced plans to slash immigration and restrict welfare programs to citizens only. This would cut access to the national disability insurance scheme, jobseeker and other safety nets from permanent residents who could be living in Australia and paying tax for years.
Several were congratulatory - he's a popular figure in the Park ward of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, having served there for Labour since 2021. But there were also more than 200 posts containing vile abuse, including branding him a paedophile and a terrorist, with another asking how many women and children he had sexually assaulted. The Halifax-born politician was also told to "get out of the UK", "speak English" and another poster said he was a "cancer" who needed to be deported.
Aeralis had pitched itself as the only British firm able to supply a new advanced jet trainer that would be designed and built in the UK. The firm was hoping the UK government would award it a contract to replace the Hawk jets currently flown by the RAF's Red Arrows before they are due to be retired in 2030. The administrators said the company had faced "a sustained period of pressure" on its cashflow after "continued delays to the UK Defence Investment Plan, combined with geopolitical factors affecting sources of funding".
The wealth of Britain's 157 billionaires is now equivalent to more than a fifth of the country's entire GDP, according to analysis by the Equality Trust a fivefold increase since 1990. The charity describes the trend, based on data in this year's Sunday Times rich list, as Britain's ghost GDP: headline economic growth increasingly disconnected from everyday life.
Christopher Harborne, the crypto billionaire who controversially gifted Nigel Farage 5m, has been named in the list of the UK's wealthiest people for the first time. Other first-timers include Noel and Liam Gallagher and Emily Eavis, the daughter ofte Glastonbury festival founder, Michael Eavis, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List published on Friday. Harborne, who gave Farage the money weeks before the Reform leader announced he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election, is estimated to be the sixth-richest UK billionaire, with an estimated fortune of 18.17bn.
