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Tony Diver Political Editor |
Andy Burnham’s plan to move asylum seekers to middle-class areas was already controversial.
The Prime Minister said on Tuesday that he wanted all parts of the country to “play their part” in hosting migrants, after concerns that most hotels and asylum houses were in poorer areas.
The policy may help Burnham politically. There are far more Conservative and Lib Dem MPs in the middle-class areas he hopes to move asylum seekers to, while his Labour colleagues disproportionately bear the brunt of the current system.
The Telegraph can reveal that Burnham’s plans will have another effect – a significant increase in cost to the taxpayer.
Wealthier areas have higher rents, which is one of the reasons why the private companies responsible for sourcing asylum houses suggest placing them in poorer communities.
Downing Street sources admitted yesterday that redistributing asylum seekers would “cost more money” but said the policy was a “point of principle” for the Prime Minister.
In a Budget crisis, that decision will be even more politically toxic, even if it wins Burnham votes in Labour areas. As one Labour MP puts it: “It’s good politics. Whether it’s good policy, we will find out.”
This report is available only to subscribers.
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Mick Brown in Greenwich |
At the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, eclipse-watchers, tourists and trippers, in every sense of the word, making their way up the steep footpath to the top of the hill were greeted by a group of people chanting and waving banners.
Not members of some esoteric cult but of the trade union Prospect, protesting over pay and working conditions. The sun, soon to be the focus of everyone’s rapt attention, blazed down indifferently out of a cloudless blue sky.
People had been gathering for two hours to witness what, for many, would be literally the event of a lifetime. The closest Britain had come to a total eclipse since 1999, and not to be repeated until 2081. “Well you can’t just sit indoors, can you?” said Paul Stoneman, who had come with his wife Rosalyn and their two grandchildren.
The eclipse brought people together across the country | Credit: Tolga Akmen / EPA / Shutterstock |
Eclipses shake our most primal assumptions about the movements of the planets and our pifflingly insignificant place in the cosmic order.
The people watching on in Greenwich were utterly thrilled at the prospect of 90 per cent darkness. Many had spread blankets on the ground and brought picnics. It can seem as if we are leading increasingly isolated lives, marooned behind our mobile phones, wary of interacting with strangers, but this was a truly collective moment.
At 7.10pm, a kind of gentle agitation came over the crowd, everybody waiting for the big moment. It looked like dusk had arrived early, or God had turned down the dimmer switch, but that was all. “I thought there was more to it than that,” somebody said.
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Allister Heath If the Tories and Reform keep squabbling like children instead of facing existential threats, the far-Left will triumph Continue reading ➤
Oliver Brown Infantino plays the Trump card in most craven attempt to cling on Continue reading ➤
Stephen Pollard You have to be a grade-A moron to ride an e-scooter Continue reading ➤ |
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The Bayeux Tapestry has finally arrived in Britain unharmed after years of planning, writes Craig Simpson. However, there is now one rather large problem – how to transport it back to France safely. Even the most minor force, such as opening a water bottle, could destroy the woven record of the 1066 conquest. Read more to learn how experts are trying to ensure the safe passage of the 1,000-year-old tapestry. For subscribers only ➤ |
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The selling point of Loose Women was always its offer of unfiltered thoughts to the nation, free of PR puff or daytime TV blandness. Yet over the past 27 years it has been the subject of constant criticism, with the departure of Nadia Sawalha just the latest in a series of crises, which have included bullying claims and Covid denial. Here, Eleanor Halls analyses a dubious entertainment phenomenon. Continue reading ➤ |
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As suspected cartel boss Daniel Kinahan awaits his fate in an Irish prison cell, his wife Caoimhe Robinson faces a stark dilemma. Ensconced in a luxurious seven-bedroom villa and overseeing a £60m property business, she must choose whether to maintain her devotion to her husband in Ireland or preserve her gilded life in Dubai. Continue reading ➤ |
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Helen Dugdale, 51, gives her son £60 a month – which he spends mostly on petrol and dinner with his girlfriend |
It was once the case that pocket money had long been revoked by the time a child reached 18, today, many parents continue to pay into
early adulthood. Helen Dugdale gives her 18-year-old son £60 a month, in addition to the wages he earns working part-time. She believes it is necessary given the cost of living today. While parents may be more willing to hand out cash, how long should they be contributing for? Continue reading ➤ |
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A trivial heatwave (or five) isn’t enough to shake Victoria Beckham’s commitment to glamour this summer. The Spice Girl turned fashion designer has been spotted wearing several chic and sleek outfits on trips to Miami, Ibiza, New York and St Tropez. Rory Cronin has assessed her approach and found five formulas we could all turn to on our holidays.
Continue reading ➤
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Few can imagine the agony of Motor Neurone Disease, a condition that causes muscles to waste away and leads ultimately to paralysis and respiratory failure. One in 300 of us will develop it and there is currently no cure.
For the past 18 months, one courageous Telegraph reader, whose face we never see, has been living with MND and, with the help of her family, recorded her battle against a condition which, as she writes so movingly, “does tend to make one feel that one is disappearing from the world”.
Over the next five weeks we will bring you excerpts of her story in this newsletter. After that you can read her full account, with further updates in future.
Our anonymous author writes:
My GP smiled. So did two medical students. “I am pleased to report that we haven’t found cancer.”
It was a dank spring day in 2025, and I had little else to smile about. I had been unwell for months: weariness, weight loss, nausea, no appetite. If not cancer, then what?
There would be more tests: an endoscopy I foolishly refused sedation for.
Meanwhile, I got on with life. As a historian and gardener, I had spent my career restoring our historic landscapes – Victorian parks, 18th-century estates, Arts and Crafts gardens – years of archives, mud and fundraising, ending in happy reopenings. It was work that kept me healthy in body and mind. Now my body felt under attack and my mind threatened by anxiety and depression.
In late May, at a show I had long looked forward to, the room swayed. The next thing I knew, my husband was trying to wake me. Then 12 hours in A&E without seeing a doctor.
Two days later, we were in Stackpole, on the Pembrokeshire coast. I walked down to the sea as I had for 50 years, pleased to be marching at my old pace. On the way back up, my whole body emptied of strength. My daughter-in-law gave me her arm, and I leant all my weight on it.
By autumn, I was choking on food and drink and stumbling over words. I had spent my working life communicating in words; now listening to my own speech was very unwelcome.
In November, a speech therapist had me poke out my tongue and practise my plosives, then explained “voice banking”: recording my voice for future use. Did I believe I needed that yet? I did not.
A week later, packing my briefcase in London, my GP rang, manifestly uneasy. “When we spoke earlier this year you wondered whether you had Parkinson’s, or even Motor Neurone Disease?“ I did. “Well, you haven’t got Parkinson’s.” He said no more.
I set off for what turned out to be my last professional meeting, my back straighter than usual. Speaking slowly, I just about managed, but I caught the perplexed glances of people struggling to understand me. Going home, my spirits sank.
Next week: A glimmer of hope? |
Table mannersEvery weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
When did the British become a nightmare in restaurants? I'm the sort of person who would rather eat the wrong plate of food – which had also been overcooked by 20 minutes and clearly dropped on the way to the table – than raise a complaint. By contrast, I had a relative in America who couldn’t get through a small bowl of olives without repeatedly summoning a waiter. I assumed it was just a matter of nationality.
Not so, according to William Sitwell, who recently decried the “entitled diners turning up at his restaurant in Somerset. They sounded pretty bad – but, according to Kate Pycock, they could have been much worse.”
“My daughter works at a small cafe,” she explained. “Many customers believe they have the right to order off-menu, swapping almost every element of a cooked breakfast until it bears no resemblance to the original. Sometimes they ask for the white and yolk of their egg to be served separately. Oh, and can the baked beans be in their own dish? Plus, they would prefer the avocado sliced, not mashed, if possible. Often, after studying the menu, they ask, ‘Is this all you do?’, in case more interesting options are available for particularly special guests. Last week a customer complained that his cappuccino was ‘too frothy’.”
Roy Summers added: “As a pub regular, I enjoy sitting at the bar, chatting with fellow drinkers, publicans and bar staff, and observing customers. Time and again, the entitlement and lack of respect start with people ordering drinks, before saying, ‘Can we have those on a tab, as we’re dining?’
“Asked if they have reserved a table, they invariably reply that they haven’t, and are horrified to be told that the pub is fully booked. Others turn up 15 minutes late, often more, without apology, expecting their table to be ready, with no recognition that pubs and restaurants use timed bookings to maximise efficiency.”
Still, if customers won’t show a little decorum, maybe restaurants shouldn’t either. Patrick White recalled: “A friend of mine once wrote a long letter of complaint to an expensive restaurant where he had spent the evening. He was expecting an apology and the offer of some recompense. He received a one-line reply saying that obviously the food and ambience were not to his liking, so please do not return." What sort of diner are you? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1792 | Revolutionaries imprison members of the French royal family, including Marie Antoinette
1942 | The Manhattan Project commences with the aim of developing an atomic bomb
1961 | Construction of the Berlin Wall begins in East Germany
2004 | James Brandon, a British journalist kidnapped by Iraqi forces, is freed (you can see how we covered this story below)
Birthdays: Sebastian Stan (44), Alan Shearer (56), Feargal Sharkey (68)
A young father has set a world record for running a mile with a pushchair. By how many seconds did Stephen Biebelhausen beat the previous record-holder?
1. One second
2. Three seconds
3. Nine seconds
4. 14 seconds
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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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 The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was DIVERGING. 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 at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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