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Voices

<p>Keir Starmer has blown it</p>
John Rentoul

Keir Starmer had a plan to win the election, but not for government

The prime minister has made a disappointing start, and will find it hard to recover, writes John Rentoul

<p>‘The likes of Mohamed al-Fayed and other well-known faces may well be the monsters that their victims say they are, but there are many other monsters wreaking psychological and physical harm on those they are supposed to be caring for’ </p>
The Independent View

Help us tackle the scourge of violence against women

<p>Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking during the party’s annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham (Joe Giddens/PA)</p>
Sketch

There are two people who should be worried about Nigel Farage

<p>I’m sure we’ll be seeing Opal Fruits and Raiders backs on the shelves any day now</p>
Ryan Coogan

Changing Snickers to Marathon bars won’t bring your hairline back

<p>‘For me, it’s very simple: I look for joy. Specifically: small joys. And my wildest and most primal joy is my love affair with the forest’ </p>
Victoria Richards

Got the ‘end of summer blues’? This might help

<p>Former Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed has been accused of raping five women and sexually abusing at least 15 others</p>
Olivia Petter

Women are finally speaking out. Is this the second coming of Me Too?

<p>Andreas Kalbitz is hoping to lead AfD to a third state election win, in eastern Germany’s Brandenburg region</p>
Mary Dejevsky

Can a single election in Germany put a stop to Europe’s far right?

<p>Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s claim that he speaks for the British public has been challenged by a new poll </p>
john rentoul

No, Nigel Farage, you do not speak for the silent majority

<p>The PM has come under fire for accepting gifts from a Labour donor</p>
Inside Westminster

Will the chaos in Starmer’s government make his missions impossible?

<p>Emily Sheffield: ‘My stalker wrote how he was going to lie in wait in the dark until I got home to attack me’</p>
Emily Sheffield

My stalker said he’d kill me… the police just laughed at his d*** pics

<p>Sir Keir Starmer watches Manchester United with the team’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe</p>
Sean O’Grady

Give Starmer a break – who cares if he gets free Arsenal tickets?

<p>Teaching is the hardest job in the world – but it doesn’t have to be</p>
ryan coogan

Kids are awful – so teachers deserve a lot more than ‘extra lie-ins’

<p>Israel is coming under increasing international pressure for its actions in Lebanon and Syria </p>
Bronwen Maddox

Hezbollah device blasts prove Israel has no strategy for peace

<p>Ipso could now perform a useful public service by launching its first ever standards investigation. The first witness should be Robbie Gibb, and the first question should be who actually owns ‘The JC’ </p>
Alan Rusbridger

Why a scandal at The Jewish Chronicle also goes to the top of the BBC

<p>The prime minister’s acceptance of generous gifts of clothing from an influential, wealthy businessman and peer is not appropriate</p>
Letters

The prime minister would benefit from some basic ethics training

<p>Tupperware from the Seventies: the trouble was, it never needed to be replaced</p>
Letters

Is this how Tupperware’s fate was sealed?

<p>Former prime minister Rishi Sunak bought breakfast for those on the Tory battle bus at Beaconsfield Services in Buckinghamshire ( Jonathan Brady/PA)</p>
ryan coogan

Does working in McDonald’s really make you ‘working class’?

Is the Tory MP right to say that working at the fast food chain is enough to make a middle-class person humble? Ryan Coogan doesn’t think so

frieda hughes

What my father, Ted Hughes, taught me about putting on a brave face

<p>Palworld is an action-adventure game in which the player can catch and raise a wide variety of creatures</p>
Ryan Coogan

Is Nintendo right to sue the creators of Palworld?

Explore news for you

More Voices

<p>‘Over-promising and under-delivering has been a curse for politicians’, the deputy PM said on Saturday </p>
The Independent View

The housing crisis demands actions, not words, from Angela Rayner

The Independent View

The housing crisis demands actions, not words, from Angela Rayner

Editorial
<p>‘Over-promising and under-delivering has been a curse for politicians’, the deputy PM said on Saturday </p>
<p>Poorly parked dockless Lime bikes can become a public nuisance</p>
Letters

Don’t hate Lime bikes – they have transformed London

<p>A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover onboard an RNLI lifeboat following a small boat incident in the English Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA)</p>
UK Politics

Readers question whether Italy’s Albania scheme would work in the UK

<p>Keir Starmer has come under fire for accepting gifts from a donor </p>
The Independent View

Labour’s missteps are forgivable, but it must get its act together

<p>No second rates cut from the Bank of England</p>
Voices

Why borrowers must wait until November for help on rates

<p>No second rates cut from the Bank of England</p>
Voices

Why borrowers must wait until November for help on rates

<p>Keir Starmer has advertised his confidence in Sue Gray by appointing her to the National Security Council and by taking her with him on foreign trips</p>
Voices

Does Starmer’s £170,000-a-year enforcer have to go?

<p>It will be up to the Iranian leadership, who have been sponsors, mentors and quartermasters to Hezbollah for many decades, to decide how to respond to the explosions </p>
Voices

After pagers and walkie-talkie attacks – how will Hezbollah hit back?

Most commented

Israel-Lebanon live: ‘At least 22 killed’ in Israeli airstrike on Gaza school

202 comments

Keir Starmer will no longer accept donations for clothes after freebies row

273 comments

Eminem, fireworks, and the cult of Nigel Farage: Inside Reform UK’s party conference

160 comments

Starmer’s approval rating drops to lowest ever ahead of Labour conference – live

337 comments
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More Voices

<p>Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan’s seizure of the disputed region in September 2023 </p>
Voices

Is this the next target on Russia’s hitlist?

<p>Pro-choice women protest outside parliament in London last year</p>
Voices

I wish there had been a buffer zone outside my abortion clinic...

<p>Was boobytrapping Hezbollah’s pagers any more than an ‘exploding cigar’ practical joke on a grand scale?</p>
Voices

What has boobytrapping Hezbollah’s pagers actually achieved?

<p>John Major criticised his party’s Rwanda plan</p>
The Independent View

There is one former PM who has the answer to the Tory party comeback

<p>Air fares kept inflation aloft </p>
Business Comment

Inflation steady – but chances of another rate cut are slim

<p>The majority of those who sprang to Ukraine’s defence when Russia first invaded were patriotic volunteers, and among the country’s best and brightest</p>
Voices

I’ve witnessed the horrific cost of Putin’s war – as casualties hit 1m

<p>John Major criticised his party’s Rwanda plan</p>
The Independent View

There is one former PM who has the answer to the Tory party comeback

<p>Air fares kept inflation aloft </p>
Business Comment

Inflation steady – but chances of another rate cut are slim

<p>The majority of those who sprang to Ukraine’s defence when Russia first invaded were patriotic volunteers, and among the country’s best and brightest</p>
Voices

I’ve witnessed the horrific cost of Putin’s war – as casualties hit 1m

<p>All dressed up: prime minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria</p>
Letters

Has the PM learned yet that there’s no such thing as a freebie?

Letters

Has the PM learned yet that there’s no such thing as a freebie?

Letters
<p>All dressed up: prime minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria</p>
<p>The imperial pint is one of the world’s largest standard ‘pour sizes’ for beer</p>
Voices

Is it time our obsession with the pint was knocked on the head?

<p>James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu came under fire for laughing along to jokes about Black women made by another podcaster </p>
Voices

The ShxtsnGigs row exposes the normalisation of attacks on Black women

<p>Former BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards was spared jail (Aaron Chown/PA)</p>
Voices

I survived child sex abuse. Here’s why Huw Edwards’ sentencing matters

<p>Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, right, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose after a joint news conference</p>
Home News

Starmer eyes Italy deal, but should the UK outsource migration?

<p>Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, right, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose after a joint news conference</p>
Home News

Starmer eyes Italy deal, but should the UK outsource migration?

<p>Lib Dem leader Ed Davey speaking at the party’s autumn conference in Brighton</p>
Voices

Why Labour and the Tories need to take the Lib Dems more seriously

<p>Mary Archer, who was made a Dame in the 2012 Queen’s birthday honours list for services to the NHS – with her husband, Jeffrey</p>
Voices

Has Labour cancelled Lady Archer because of who her husband is?

<p>Lorries at the port of Dover. UK firms have to battle with suffocating red tape when trying to trade with the continent</p>
Voices

Brexit has delivered a great trade crash – and it’s only getting worse

<p>Confetti falls as Lib Dem leader Ed Davey finishes his keynote speech in Brighton </p>
Voices

Your dad dancing days are over, crazy Davey

<p>Elon Musk’s tweet over the absence of assassination attempts on Biden and Harris are being investigated</p>
Voices

The tweet that has finally taught Elon Musk a lesson

<p>The BBC should have been more transparent about the Huw Edwards scandal </p>
The Independent View

When harrowing public scandals are exposed, our leaders must act

<p>Robert Jenrick says he would vote for the Republican Party if he lived in the USA </p>
Letters

What happened to Robert Jenrick the moderniser?

<p>Keir Starmer faces questions over his failure to register on time high-end clothing given to his wife Victoria by a prominent party donor</p>
Voices

Why can’t Keir pay for his own Arsenal and Coldplay tickets?

<p>Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has reannounced his plans to pedestrianise ‘the nation’s high street’ </p>
Voices

Sorry, Sadiq, but pedestrianising Oxford Street will have consequences

<p>Rupert Murdoch, center, and his wife Elena Zhukova Murdoch arrive at the Second Judicial District Court in Reno,</p>
Americas

Inside the Murdoch money battle tearing the family apart

<p>Keir Starmer and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni hold a joint press conference in Rome on Monday </p>
The Independent View

On migration, Starmer and Meloni have found common ground

The Independent View

On migration, Starmer and Meloni have found common ground

Editorial
<p>Keir Starmer and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni hold a joint press conference in Rome on Monday </p>
<p>‘Trainspotting’ novelist Irvine Welsh said everywhere outside London is ‘like a third-world country now’ </p>
Letters

Irvine Welsh is lost in his own fiction

<p>Homesellers are now taking 60 days to find a buyer on average – longer than during the quiet point of the market last year </p>
Voices

House prices are on the rise – so why isn’t everyone happy?

<p>The number of women dying from alcohol-related disease in the UK is at the highest since records began</p>
Voices

The moment I realised midlife, menopause and merlot don’t mix

<p>Giorgia Meloni’s migrant policy in the Mediterranean is not easily applied to the English Channel </p>
Voices

Giorgia Meloni’s Albania migrant deal won’t work here

<p>Giorgia Meloni’s migrant policy in the Mediterranean is not easily applied to the English Channel </p>
Voices

Giorgia Meloni’s Albania migrant deal won’t work here

<p>One in 14 home viewings are made by timewasters who want to look around a place they have no intention of buying</p>
Voices

When a for-sale sign goes up, it’s time for Brits to start snooping

<p>The Independent is raising money alongside charity Refuge to build a safe space for domestic abuse survivors </p>
The Independent View

We’re working to protect women from violence – here’s how you can help

<p>Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former spin doctor, led a consortium that rescued the Jewish Chronicle from liquidation </p>
Voices

Who really funds the Jewish Chronicle? It’s troublingly unclear

<p>Mike and Zara Tindall track their daughter Mia, 10, with an AirTag attached to her shorts</p>
Comment

Of course I’d AirTag my children – how else would I keep them safe?

<p>The banning of smartphones seems like an excellent – if futile – initiative</p>
Letters

For some people, giving up social media will be like giving up smoking

<p>Moscow could cause pain to America and its allies well away from the front line in Ukraine</p>
Voices

In sharing nuclear secrets, Putin may have crossed his own ‘red line’

<p>Of course the real confusion here lies in the fact that, at the end of the day, ‘woke’ doesn’t really mean anything</p>
Voices

Of course ‘go woke, go broke’ isn’t true – why would it be?

<p>Almost half (48 per cent) of all parents with children under the age of 18 admit to having a secret savings account</p>
Voices

Why some of us hide our savings from our partner

<p>Perhaps the real problem isn’t about there being fewer younger wine drinkers – it’s that the wine industry needs to broaden the ways in which it engages with consumers of all ages</p>
Voices

Whether you’re 18 or 88, here’s how to enjoy wine regardless of age

<p>It won’t benefit the Pope, it won’t benefit the Church – and it certainly won’t benefit Catholics</p>
Voices

The Pope’s election intervention could have unintended consequences

<p>Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, centre, reacts as he gets out of the capsule upon its return to Earth</p>
Voices

Here’s what billionaires should really be spending their money on

Voices

Here’s what billionaires should really be spending their money on

Will Gore
<p>Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, centre, reacts as he gets out of the capsule upon its return to Earth</p>
<p>Keir Starmer is so afraid of being accused of wanting to reverse Brexit that he refuses to countenance free movement and open markets</p>
Letters

Starmer needs to make hard choices over Brexit

<p>With the NHS facing a financial crisis this winter, Starmer’s ‘no more money without reform’ mantra is about to be put to the test</p>
Voices

Are all governments doomed to repeat the errors of their predecessors?

<p>Fifty-two per cent of voters say they want another Brexit referendum within five years</p>
The Independent View

Starmer is right to proceed cautiously in resetting EU relations

<p>UK technology secretary Peter Kyle has revealed that he is keeping a close eye on Australia, where the government has announced plans to ban social media sites</p>
Voices

After kids are banned from social media, here’s who should be next

<p>UK technology secretary Peter Kyle has revealed that he is keeping a close eye on Australia, where the government has announced plans to ban social media sites</p>
Voices

After kids are banned from social media, here’s who should be next

<p>Johnson’s government was ‘the most left-wing that this country has had in peacetime’, says Graham Brady </p>
Voices

Boris was the most left-wing Tory PM – that’s a problem for his party

<p>Dave Grohl revealed this week that he had a child with a woman outside of his marriage </p>
Voices

After all that, Dave Grohl is no longer ‘one of the good guys’

<p>63 per cent of US viewers say Harris won the debate </p>
Voices

As a Black woman, I don’t want Kamala to make this election about race

<p>The government’s early release scheme was launched this week </p>
Voices

I spent five years in prison – the early release scheme is a sham

<p>People living with diabetes are still very much reliant on old-school tech </p>
Voices

I have groundbreaking NHS tech inside me – but then it failed

<p>The new generation of AI and machine learning monitoring technology is delivering solutions already</p>
Letters

AI could be the secret to saving our health system

<p>Boris Johnson and Ross Kempsell, now Baron Kempsell of Letchworth </p>
Voices

Boris Johnson’s young peers show it’s time to reform the Lords

<p>Keir Starmer has told Vladimir Putin that Russia started the war – and can end it at any time </p>
Voices

Could Britain really go to war with Russia?

<p>‘For me, <em>Emily in Paris</em> is a comfort show. I watch it when I am sick, during gloomy, winter days, or when I’m feeling low’</p>
Voices

Why Emily in Paris is the perfect show for women right now

<p>Labour’s Wes Streeting has his work cut out for him – can he do it? </p>
Voices

Wes we can: If Streeting can save the NHS, he will be the next PM

<p>I’m not sure why Trump ever agreed to a debate in the first place</p>
Voices

Trump has found a new way to contradict reality

Voices

Trump has found a new way to contradict reality

Ryan Coogan
<p>I’m not sure why Trump ever agreed to a debate in the first place</p>
<p>At the end of the month / My editor will read my efforts </p>
Voices

How I deal with deadlines

<p>Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has suspended around 30 of the UK’s 350 arms export licenses to Israel</p>
UK Politics

Readers divided over partial suspension of arm sales to Israel

<p>As the faces of this new series, these kids are going to have to deal with every parasocial interaction that comes their way </p>
Voices

The Harry Potter reboot is doomed from the start

<p>Musk’s latest outburst was directed at Taylor Swift </p>
Voices

Somehow, Elon Musk has reached a weird new low

<p>Musk’s latest outburst was directed at Taylor Swift </p>
Voices

Somehow, Elon Musk has reached a weird new low

<p>A protest in favour of the steelworks in Port Talbot on Wednesday </p>
Voices

After Port Talbot, is there any hope for British steel?

<p>NHS reforms will mean a decade of change </p>
The Independent View

The British people want their NHS to be fixed – not replaced

<p>Keir Starmer with Joe Biden at the Nato summit in July </p>
Voices

What Starmer’s Washington visit could mean for Ukraine

<p>‘Low-cost airlines offer flights to people who are often undesirable’</p>
Letters

It’s other passengers who make air travel unbearable

<p>People gather outside of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive to watch the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump </p>
Voices

Abortion bans and gun crimes are costing the American economy billions

<p>The Princess of Wales is seen walking through a meadow in the video announcing the completion of her cancer treatment</p>
Voices

Was a home movie the best way for Kate to reveal her cancer news?

<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer with Lord Darzi, author of a ‘reform or die’ report into the NHS </p>
Voices

There’s been one popular tax rise – the woman behind it works for Keir

<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer was asked about social care reform as he spoke about his plans for the NHS</p>
Voices

The one glaring omission from the devastating report into the NHS

<p>The Princess of Wales is seen walking through a meadow in the video announcing the completion of her cancer treatment</p>
Voices

Was a home movie the best way for Kate to reveal her cancer news?

<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer with Lord Darzi, author of a ‘reform or die’ report into the NHS </p>
Voices

There’s been one popular tax rise – the woman behind it works for Keir

<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer was asked about social care reform as he spoke about his plans for the NHS</p>
Voices

The one glaring omission from the devastating report into the NHS

<p>This time, the firm is adding something extra: ‘Never Knowingly Undersold on quality, service & price’ </p>
Voices

Is John Lewis turning around its fortunes with this old favourite?

<p>Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 US election </p>
Voices

Why Taylor Swift’s Harris endorsement will prove uniquely powerful

<p>‘Donald Trump never looked at Kamala Harris, his contempt and pent up fury barely beneath the surface’ </p>
Voices

Trump didn’t just lose the debate – he was given a mauling

<p>David Lammy and Anthony Blinken went to Kyiv to discuss Western weapon supplies to Ukraine</p>
Voices

Will letting Ukraine use long-range missiles push Putin over the edge?

<p>Ukraine has asked to use Britain’s Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles on military targets within Russian territory</p>
The Independent View

We must give Ukraine the tools it needs to finish the job

<p>Keir Starmer faced a grilling at Wednesday’s PMQs </p>
Voices

Does our technocrat PM believe he is above politics?

<p>Banning mobile phones in school only helps divert blame from the schools themselves</p>
Letters

My phone was my safety net at school – banning them won’t help

<p>‘While GDP was flat in June and July, the previous quarterly figure had shown growth’ </p>
Voices

As the economy stalls on Labour, what can Rachel Reeves do about it?

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