|
Unlock this newsletter, plus full access to our website and app for less than £2.50 a month.
|
 |
Ed Cumming Senior Feature writer |
When the Coalition government introduced the triple lock on pensions in 2010, it was hailed as a policy triumph, one that would show support to pensioners while incurring little extra cost. How wrong those predictions turned out to be. Today, after several years of high inflation, and an ever-growing number of pensioners, the triple lock is costing billions per year, beloved by its beneficiaries and disliked by basically everyone else.
While many politicians now agree privately that it should be scrapped, no party wants to incur the wrath of the demographic with the highest election turnout.
There are signs of cracks in the dam. Rupert Lowe, Restore Britain’s leader, has pledged to abolish the triple lock, joining a chorus of criticism from think tanks and former politicians.
John Healey is preparing for his first Budget amid dire fiscal warnings. Government borrowing costs are at their highest level since 2008, welfare costs are soaring and the US-Iran war is pushing up global energy costs. As he scrabbles for savings, will he dare to take on the pensioners?
Continue reading ➤ |
 |
Neil McCormick Chief Music Critic |
The 1970s was the era of ornately experimental progressive rock, richly inventive singer-songwriting, glam, funk, disco and the birth of electronica and (when all that indulgence was threatening to become bloated and boring) the great correction of punk.
The enduring popularity of 70s music can be detected by its prevalence among younger listeners on Spotify, with Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Abba, Bob Marley, Elton John, Pink Floyd, the Bee Gees and the Eagles keeping the decade alive in Spotify’s all-time streaming charts.
In my series about the greatest songs of our times, I turn my attention to what “might just be the greatest decade in popular music history”. What do you think? I will be in the comments section of the piece at 10am on Sunday so you can have your say.
Continuing reading ➤
In case you missed them, read my musical rankings of other decades:
The 30 best songs of the 1950s, ranked ➤
The 30 best songs of the 1960s, ranked ➤
|
|
Nigel Farage When the Ineos founder says he has lost confidence in the UK, Westminster politicians should sit up and take note Continue reading ➤
Eleanor Mills Shame on you Rory Stewart, you patriarchal posh boy Continue reading ➤
Janet Daley There was never a plan to integrate this wave of migrants into Britain Continue reading ➤ |
To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. |
- Caribbean states are preparing to sue Britain under international “racial discrimination” laws to secure slavery reparations.
- Beijing’s dominance in green technology risks giving it critical leverage over the UK power system.
- Kemi Badenoch has accused Andy Burnham of “fiddling while Europe is at risk of burning” as Russia intensifies its hybrid war against the West.
- Ed Sheeran broke down in tears at his concert last night as he addressed the major row over the axing of Macklemore who led a ‘‘Free Palestine’’ chant at one of Sheeran’s shows.
- Plus, as Strictly Come Dancing returned to television screens last night, new host Josh Widdicombe looked like a lost schoolboy who accidentally found himself on Saturday night TV. Read our review.
New hosts Josh Widdicombe, Emma Willis and Johannes Radebe go for a three-way ‘stayyy dancing’ to close the show. Credit: Guy Levy/BBC |
|
To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. |
As Russia struggles to break the battlefield deadlock in Ukraine, the Kremlin has carried its brutal war deeper into enemy territory – and transformed Kyiv into a front-line city. One recent bombardment on the capital claimed the life of Eva Reuter, a combat medic who was home for some much-needed respite when a ‘‘double tap’’ strike blew up her car. Antonia Langford spoke to Eva’s fiancé and other Kyiv residents about how war has fundamentally changed the shape of life in one of Europe’s biggest cities. Continue reading ➤ |
|
The author Louis de Bernières photographed in his study at home in Norfolk |
When his partner left with their young children, Louis de Bernières – best known as the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandarin – was plunged into a painful two-year legal battle. Appalled by ingrained prejudices that favoured mothers, he insists the courts stripped fathers of their rights – leaving him nursing a bottle of red and deep resentment. Continue reading ➤ |
|
Britain needs more homes. But many of Reform UK’s core voters resent new housebuilding, because they believe it is being driven by immigration. So the party proposes to shift housebuilding from rural and suburban areas – where many of its core voters live – into towns and cities. However, analysts warn these policies are Nimby (not in my back yard) and risk resulting in even fewer homes being built. Continue reading ➤ |
|
Behind the serene healing crystals and £3,850 membership fees at The Club by Bamford, high society in the Cotswolds is already closing ranks. Gentry loyal to the King bristle at the Duchess of Sussex’s name, while Montecito-style jam diplomacy falls flat among local grandees. To conquer this treacherous landscape, Harry and Meghan must win over one formidable figure who holds all the keys. Continue reading ➤ |
|
|
It feels like everyone is coming down with something right now. From September, rhinoviruses, one of the causes of the common cold, begin circulating in greater abundance, soon followed by influenza, Covid, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus through the winter months. To help you steer clear of the “viral spiral”, David Cox speaks to immunologists about the habits that can help ward off everyday bugs. Continue reading ➤
|
 |
On Sept 8, the busiest skies in the world, over London, suddenly became very quiet due to a “latent software defect” in the system that keeps aircraft safe. The fix: switching the system off and on again. But it took hours to resume the high-speed, three-dimensional game of chess that controllers play, resulting in the grounding of around 2,000 flights.
A cancelled flight is the least of the worries of Sir Michael Palin – the man who has brought the raw edges of the world to our screens for four decades. As he revealed to Greg Dickinson and me on The Travel Expert podcast, bobbing around in a Filipino coast guard patrol vessel while in the sights of Chinese gunboats can quicken the pulse. His latest series for Channel 5, Michael Palin in the Philippines, includes a visit to a prison whose inmates are schooled in “a breathtakingly beautiful dance routine” – and a meeting with the president, Bongbong Marcos.
After compressing several lifetimes of travel into his 83 years, Sir Michael has simple advice for making the most of the world: forget photography, meet the people and keep a diary. Continue reading ➤ |
Mackie and Cher at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute ‘Costumes of Royal India’ exhibition in New York, 1985. Credit: Ron Galella/Getty Images |
Bob Mackie, who has died aged 87, was a costume designer whose name was synonymous with eye-popping dresses worn by fearless female stars at award ceremonies. He gained three Oscar nominations and nine Emmy awards, and celebrities he dressed included Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Cher, his best-known muse.
Mackie found mainstream fashion “boring” and his spangles-and-feathers-and-sequins frocks were so flamboyant that he was regularly introduced as the “patron saint of drag queens”.
He met Cher in the 1960s when he was working in the costume department of The Carol Burnett Show. Cher told him she didn’t want to look like “a housewife in an evening gown”. She needn’t have worried.
Early in his long career, Mackie worked on a historic dress with the designer Jean Louis. He asked Mackie to sketch a gown for Marilyn Monroe. Mackie created “this idea of a beaded dress” and his sketch became the body-clinging gown in which Marilyn breathlessly sang “Happy Birthday Mr President” to JFK in 1962.
In the 21st century, he won over the hottest new celebrities: Beyoncé donned the “flame” dress originally made for Tina Turner, and Sabrina Carpenter and Zendaya have worn vintage Mackie designs.
Read his full obituary here ➤
Gibson was described by Frank Kermode as ‘either a genius or mad – and I don’t think he’s mad’. Credit: Courtesy of family |
Arthur Gibson, who has died aged 83, was a polymath widely recognised as one of the last century’s greatest minds and, with an IQ score of 210, the cleverest man in Britain, despite growing up in poverty in Bradford, where his terrifying father presided over a fiercely anti-intellectual household. He dropped out of school aged 14 with no qualifications.
Yet an encounter with a distinguished older philosopher who took a shine to Gibson set him on a path to academic greatness. He eventually taught everything from philosophy and law, to mathematics and archaeology. His admirers included Stephen Hawking, Mark Carney and Frank Kermode, who said that Gibson was “either a genius or mad – and I don’t think he’s mad”.
Continue reading ➤ |
|
1746 | Bonnie Prince Charlie flees to France from Scotland
1860 | Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) is the first British royalty to visit the US
2001 | George W. Bush declares a “war on terror” (see how we covered the story in the paper the following day below)
Birthdays: Jonathan Berthnal (50), George R R Martin (78), Sofia Loren (92)
|
|
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 DEJECTION. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Allister Heath, Sunday Telegraph Editor |
|
Unlock this newsletter, plus full access to our website and app for less than £2.50 a month.
|
|
0.jpg)
.jpg )
.jpg)
.png)
.png){kind=icon}
No comments:
Post a Comment