UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove has said there are “simply aren’t enough homes” for British first-time buyers and that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has commissioned him to work on policies to address the issue. Gove told the National Conservatism conference in Westminster that measures were needed to help people “get the first-time buyer support that they need”. Recent figures from Rightmove showed the average asking price for a first-time buyer property in the UK was £224,963 ($273,388), a new record.
The UK Conservative Party is no longer conservative and has been captured by atheists, according to speakers at the National Conservatism Conference held in London on 24 and 25 July. The event featured figures from the political and media worlds, and discussion topics ranged from ancient skeletons to levelling up. While the event was championed by some critics of the current Conservative Party, liberal Conservatives were opposed to the conference. Attendees attacked modern Conservative politics while Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove failed to receive applause during his speech at the conference.
Former MEP Ann Widdecombe has said that people should not make cheese sandwiches if they cannot afford the ingredients. The ex-Brexit Party MEP, now with Reform UK, said there was no “given right” to low food prices in the current environment of double-digit inflation. Widdecombe was contributing to a debate about BBC research revealing that the cost of a homemade cheese sandwich has rocketed by a third in the past year to 40p. She told the Politics Live programme quite a few farmers had “constantly” complained to her about rising supermarket pricing. As she represented the rural constituency of Maidstone as a Conservative MP, Widdecombe insisted inflation must be tackled, but warned against inflationary wage rises. In a recently separate panel appearance, Widdecombe said thousands of people claiming unemployment benefits should be made to pick fruit to fill current shortages.
Molson Coors, the Canadian brewing company that owns Miller Lite, has refused to back down after conservative activists criticised an advertisement celebrating Women's History Month, in which comedian Ilana Glazer condemned the use of scantily clad women to advertise beer. In contrast to Bud Light, which has removed two executives and seen its stock price fall after an ad campaign featuring transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney caused a backlash, Molson Coors insisted there was "nothing controversial" about its advert.
An op-ed has criticized the Eurovision Song Contest for its lack of racial diversity. Suzanne Moore, writing for the Spectator, called out the lack of representation among acts at the contest, with just a few of the 26 performers featuring a visible ethnic minority. Despite this, Moore questioned why left-wing activists did not voice criticism of Eurovision, compared to how they respond to events in the UK. She speculated that such activists remain silent due to not wanting to acknowledge that the UK is not as racist as it is often accused of being. Moore went on to accuse the Conservative government of “selling out to hyper-liberal globalists”, and for failing to take steps toward cutting immigration rates. Moore also criticized universities that she claims “discriminate against our own young people”.
Melbourne socialite Peter Janson is preparing to host one of his famed birthday parties, following a recent leg injury. Janson is credited with growing the Birdcage marquee segment at the Melbourne Cup in the 1980s, and is known for throwing legendary parties in notable hotels across the city. Guests are invited to celebrate his 36th birthday, continuing a long-standing tradition of the occasion being held on a Tuesday, although this year the party will take place on a Wednesday.
Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer will lay out plans for housing reform at a British Chambers of Commerce event today. Starmer is set to present Labour's plan to tackle the UK's housing crisis, promising to take on opponents of new developments, streamline planning processes for infrastructure and commercial development, remove the power of veto from landowners and bring back local housing targets. The plans are expected to appeal to younger Labour voters who have been unable to purchase a home due to rising house prices, but may be less popular with Conservative voters in rural areas.
Several letters published in The Telegraph this week have seen landlords from across the UK complain about the negative impact they believe the Renters’ Reform Bill, proposed by UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove, will have on the private rented sector. Criticisms include that the bill will favour tenants over landlords and will lead to fewer landlords entering the property market, thus causing a shortage of rental properties for those looking to live in the sector. Previously, rents had steadily risen at rates around the same as inflation, however, following recent legistlation, rental prices have begun to soar, with one landlord claiming that his most recent let was 45% higher than its going rate several years ago. It is thought the RRB is a way of coercing more young voters into leaning towards the Labour party as the proposed legislation was thought to be more appealing to them and thus unlikely to secure Conservative support in the general election. A spokesperson for Gove has yet to make an official statement regarding the criticisms.
Meanwhile, academics at the University of Oxford have condemned the decision by the Oxford University Student Union to sever its relationship with the Oxford Union, which was due to the latter’s decision not to back down on an invitation it made to feminist Kathleen Stock. Saying that Professor Stock’s views were “illicit” had dangerous connotations, and calling outright for her prohibition was an “unacceptable” alternative, the academics argued. Instead, they said universities needed to remain places of open discussion, even for contentious views that could be questioned and debated.
The UK government is set to push forward with legislation that regulates the country’s private rented sector. The bill aims to repeal “no fault” or Section 21 evictions which will eliminate the ability for landlords to remove tenants from their properties without severe cause. Unscrupulous sectors of both the landlord and tenant groups have been found to inflict outward costs on the other. Government action will increase pressure to ensure high standards are maintained throughout the market from both landlords and tenants.
The leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of killing people by allowing “safe supplies” of opioids to be prescribed, which some allege are being diverted to the black market. Poilievre called for the money to be spent instead on addiction treatment. The Conservatives argue that safe supply policies perpetuate addiction, but the Liberal government have expanded access to places where pre-obtained drugs can be consumed and been critical of Persussionist Poilievre’s approach to evidence-based handling of the crisis, which kills an average of six people a day in British Columbia.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has criticized the federal government’s planned “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions regulations for provincial energy grids by 2035, saying they are “unrealistic and unaffordable,” and published proposals to achieve this by 2050. Proponents of clean energy have blamed complexity and lengthiness in regulations for blocking such projects. Speaking on Parliament Hill this week, Francis Bradley of power-support lobby group Electricity Canada called for regulations enabling clean energy projects to go through a clearer, simpler process to avoid delays of up to 10 years.
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to dub China a “threat” to UK national security during a trip to Taiwan, making her the first former prime minister to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher. Truss drew parallels between the tensions between China and Taiwan, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and urged the West not to collaborate with China, accusing totalitarian regimes of “not telling the truth”. During the Conservative Party leadership contest, Truss claimed that she would take a firm stance against the Chinese government and wished to classify it as a threat to UK national security. Her plans were never enacted after her short-lived time in No 10. Sunak labelled China as “the biggest long-term threat to Britain” during his leadership and pledged to close Beijing’s Confucius Institutes in the UK. The UK government is expected to guarantee that it will stop funding Mandarin teaching in the institutes. Despite this pledge, Truss prompted Sunak to deliver on the pledges to clamp down on China he made last summer. China described Truss’s visit to Taiwan as a “dangerous political stunt” that would harm the UK.
Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron's “Green Deal” and several other energy efficiency programmes have been discontinued over the past decade due to governmental and programmatic issues. However, the recent energy crisis has spurred a new surge of corporate enthusiasm for measures to insulate Britain. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to spend £6bn a year to upgrade 19 million homes if he gains power, and the government plans to cut energy use in buildings and industry by 15% by 2030. Scientists and activists are calling for government officials to "build trust with the industry," avoid complicated processes and inconvenient installations, and further incentivise homeowners to take up energy-saving opportunities.
Unite, the UK’s largest trade union, is urging the Labour Party to consider nationalising the country’s energy sector amid accusations of “profiteering” and “greedflation” by companies. Earlier this year, Labour Leader Keir Starmer dropped plans to nationalise the energy, mail and water industries, instead opting to focus on state support for green energy. Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham will present Starmer a report supporting nationalisation, which is estimated to cost between £90bn ($120bn) and £196bn. The analysis suggests energy profits in 2022 stood at £45bn and energy bills under nationalisation could be reduced by up to £1,800 per household.
Canadian politician Michael Chong claimed he had warned the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on three occasions about threats made against him, which he believes may be related to China’s attempts to intimidate him over his human rights record. Speaking before a Parliamentary committee, Chong said he did not want to detail the nature of the threats but said they were serious and “one of the incidents involved something that happened in the last federal election campaign. The other incidents were outside the federal election campaigns and involve threats sent to me regarding the PRC and my travel outside the country”.
Canadian federal government has introduced legislation to make it harder for repeat violent offenders to be released on bail. This changes comes just four years after the governing Liberals made it easier to obtain bail, and is in response to concerns raised by premiers after the killing of a police officer in Ontario and a number of violent attacks. The biggest change in Bill C-48 would put the onus on certain accused people to show why they should be granted bail, rather than require the prosecution to justify why they shouldn’t. Known as a reverse onus, the measure already applies to certain firearms offences.
Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry has called on the UK government to cut taxes for ordinary people, saying the "part of low tax…reality, you're the government of high taxes". One in five taxpayers will pay the 40% rate by 2027 due to frozen thresholds, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Berry argued that one in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher tax payers by the time that deadline is reached.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has said the party would give English councils greater power to construct on green belt land to address the country's housing crisis. Under current planning rules, new projects can only be constructed on green belt land, however, Starmer said any properties built would not affect the “beauty” of the countryside. The Labour leader also pledged to reinstate local housing targets.
A group of readers have written to The Sydney Morning Herald to express their concern over Australia’s tax policies. They argue that the government's mistake is to have introduced tax cuts that benefit wealthier individuals rather than focusing on fixing the imbalances affecting low and middle-income employees. The piece, in particular, mentions the fact that Australia is a wealthy nation that is attached to the fair go concept, making it particularly important to address the issue of income inequality by ensuring that the rich don’t get richer while the poor fall further behind. Further opposition is expressed with regards to the proposed move of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta, in addition to the ban on a Mem Fox illustrated book in Florida.
Former UK prime minister Liz Truss has urged her successor, Rishi Sunak, to take a tougher stance with China. Visiting Taiwan, Truss described the self-ruled state as “an enduring rebuke to totalitarianism”. China considers Taiwan to be part of its sovereign territory and has previously warned the UK not to get involved. Truss demanded the immediate closure of Confucius Institutes - cultural centres managed by Beijing - in favour of centres run by Hong Kong and Taiwanese people. China warned that the visit would result in harm to the UK. Taiwanes president Tsai Ing-wen has rejected any claim to Taiwan by the Chinese government.
