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Discuss and debate today’s biggest talking points, directly with our journalists. | | Martin Daly, Screwfix’s Tradesperson of the Year, is leaving Britain for Switzerland |  | Benedict J Smith Money Writer | Four months ago, builder Martin Daly should have been enjoying the high point of his career.
He had just been crowned Screwfix’s Top Tradesperson of the Year. His small business in Scotland was doing well after more than a decade of hard work. Despite being just 30, he had helped a small army of apprentices find their feet in the construction industry.
However, Rachel Reeves’s decision to raise employers’ National Insurance contributions in her maiden Budget piled on pressure at a time when costs were already rising.
Daly had been feeling for a while that he would be better off abroad, and when an email arrived from a company in Switzerland offering a job fitting high-end kitchens, he jumped at the opportunity.
“In Britain, the more scale a business has, it seems the more you get punched,” says Daly, who lives in Motherwell, Scotland. “Every time you make good money, you feel as if somebody takes it off you.
“It’s draining – not just for myself but everybody.
“In Switzerland, it’s a much better way of life. You’re not taxed to death. They want to look after you, they want you to be part of their society and build and grow.”
As Labour pursues its ambitious goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2029, its own policies are driving away the very people who can make the Government’s vision a reality.
Continue reading ➤ | | Jeffrey Epstein and Lord Mandelson on a yacht in an image released in the document cache last week |  | Ben Riley-Smith Political Editor | Gordon Brown has dragged Britain’s most senior civil servant into the Mandelson scandal. Lord Mandelson, who resigned from the House of Lords yesterday, was Brown’s business secretary and de-facto deputy prime minister in 2009 and 2010.
During this time emails released in the Epstein files appear to show Lord Mandelson passing on market-sensitive information to the convicted paedophile. The disclosures included details regarding plans for a multibillion-pound EU bailout, Brown’s resignation and the potential sale of government land and property.
On Tuesday, Brown said he had given “relevant” information to the police and accused Lord Mandelson of an “inexcusable and unpatriotic act”. But he also appeared to question why Sir Chris Wormald, the Cabinet Secretary, had not launched his own investigation when approached by the former prime minister to do so last September. | Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson at The Labour Party Conference in 2009 | Lord Mandelson announced he would resign from the House of Lords. Just hours later, the Metropolitan Police announced a criminal investigation over the leaked email claims. As the row continues to dominate the debate in Westminster, Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is under growing scrutiny, having proposed Lord Mandelson as Sir Keir Starmer’s ambassador to the US.
Labour will face further pressure on Wednesday in Parliament, when the Conservatives will try to force the publication of messages between McSweeney and Lord Mandelson.
As for now, the row rumbles on...
Read the full story ➤
‘Bye bye, smelly’: How Epstein and Mandelson plotted against Gordon Brown ➤
Police review claims Epstein trafficked woman to Britain for sex with Andrew ➤ | | Allison Pearson It defies belief that Keir Starmer appointed such an obviously amoral man to be Britain’s ambassador to the United States Continue reading ➤ Victoria Moore At last, Britain is turning its back on Dry January Continue reading ➤ Greg Dickinson Asian and American tourists have ruined Europe’s most beautiful cities Continue reading ➤ | | A removal van leaves Royal Lodge as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor moves out | | Sharon Walker with her father, Bob, who died aged 83 after being diagnosed with Lewy body dementia | | If you had the option of taking a test that showed your dementia risk, would you want to know? After witnessing my father’s long, torturous battle with the illness, I wasn’t sure, writes Sharon Walker, Health Features Editor. What changed my mind was the thought that the test could help me get ahead of damaging inflammation before it took hold. Here’s what happened when I got my results and the steps we can all take to protect our brain health. Continue reading ➤ | | | What advantage do trans athletes have over women? None, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The research claims there is no evidence “to justify blanket bans” on trans athletes taking part in women’s sport. However, experts and campaigners have already begun to tear into the study’s major flaws. Continue reading ➤ | | | Rowan Pelling (left) with her friend Sarah | | The actress Patsy Kensit has revealed she had a passionate affair with the Sixties icon Terence Stamp when she was 23 and he was 30 years her senior. Conventional wisdom says this kind of imbalance is a bad thing. However, Rowan Pelling, who herself had a much older boyfriend when she was in her early 20s, believes age-gap relationships can work well in the right circumstances. Christopher, she says, was intelligent, entertaining and in possession of an unflagging libido. Many dating truisms, she warns, are just not true. Continue reading ➤ | | | Uber’s chief executive predicts driving will soon become a hobby akin to riding a horse. However, for Britain’s one million professional drivers, the threat is existential. With “platooning” lorries and robo-taxis arriving in London, Tim Wallace assesses a future where the property market is upended and public transport collapses. Continue reading ➤ | | | Left: Marilyn Monroe (then known as Norma Jeane Baker) in 1946; right: the star in 1953 | | Nips and tucks are almost as old as Hollywood itself. Long before Botox and Ozempic took over Tinseltown, classic film stars including Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper signed up for all manner of grisly procedures – and the results weren’t always pretty. Ella Dorn takes us inside the world of a Hollywood obsession that only seems to be growing. Continue reading ➤ | | | Last week, Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, announced the creation of a new National Police Service. The force will handle the most serious and complex crimes and is effectively destined to become the “British FBI”. However, inside the selection process a battle of ideologies and methods is raging. Whoever ends up taking the reins will become the most senior police officer in England and Wales and define the role for years to come. Danny Shaw looks at the runners and riders. Continue reading ➤ | | | Retiring with a seven-figure pension isn’t as out of reach as it might seem. Our calculator can show whether you’re on track to hit your first million. Simply enter your salary, age, contributions and pot value into the tool, and it will reveal your trajectory. If it’s not looking good, you can make adjustments to see how even small changes could affect your wealth in the future. Continue reading ➤ | |
In which US state did it begin “raining iguanas” after a cold snap caused them to freeze and fall from trees? | Working out the gym On Sunday in the Devil’s Advocate column, Alice Wilkinson, Deputy Head of Health Features, confessed to hating gyms with a passion. Today, she’s standing in for Orlando Bird to pull out the best of your opinions and stories. Alice writes…
Thank you so much for responding to my column. It’s heartening to know that I’m far from alone in loathing gyms and I’m thankful to the few of you who pointed out that I might be missing something.
Vivien Plews agrees with me that the modern gym experience “is more like punishment.” I wrote about how, unlike gyms which flatten your workout to a game of gains and losses, exercising outdoors gives you a 360 degree experience.
“That is so very important,” says Vivien. She values “being aware in the moment, not mindlessly pushing on. At 79 years old, a 15-minute swim and a dog walk does the trick and I love both.”
However, it seems that gyms have more of a social scene than I have given them credit for. Thank you, Sandy Combe for alerting me: “In my 20s I decided going to the gym was boring and expensive. However, now I am in my mid 70s and have had several quite major operations.
“I needed to do something to get myself moving again but I’d lost my confidence and some balance. In the gym, I’ve made good friends and I’m trying to gain some fitness. I think if I did have a mishap or a fall, then at least there are friends and staff in the gym that might help.”
Tony T suggests I simply haven’t met my gym crew yet: “I absolutely disagree with Alice! My local gym is a gem. I’m in my (just) late 60s and the place is a small haven to see gym ‘mates,’ some of whom have become friends. The banter is glorious…”
Deborah Grant is on my side. She thinks the popularity of gyms is “a sign of just how lazy many have become in other aspects of their lives.”
Helpfully, she shares some ideas to try: “How about walking with pace and purpose when you have to go somewhere? Take the stairs and seek out hills up which you can power-walk. Do the cleaning at home vigorously, get down on your hands and knees. One can always do push-ups, chin-ups, squats, and suchlike at home, with no financial cost. It’s what I do.
“Some of the biggest physical and mental health benefits to be had from recreational exercise aren’t realised in gyms indoors. These include a vitamin D and endorphin boost from simply being outdoors in nature, an immune system boost from getting cold – especially in cold water – and the social benefits of team sports and exercise groups.” Perhaps it’s time I gave gyms another chance. What do you think? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was MOTIVATOR. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | |
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