flamingos

Keir Starmer is preparing to rethink key elements of the government’s economic policy in an emergency response to Donald Trump’s tariff blitz, amid growing concern in Downing Street that the US president’s trade war could do lasting damage to the UK.

The prime minister believes, say allies, that “old assumptions should be discarded” in the UK’s response, suggesting he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, may be preparing to raise taxes again – despite having promised not to do so – or even possibly change their “iron clad” fiscal rules to allow more borrowing and fire up economic growth at home in the event of recession.
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This week, Starmer, who has refused to criticise Trump or his tariffs directly, will focus on how to frame an economic response to a global economic shock that protects working people, and their incomes and jobs – as well as the UK’s public services.

He believes that the last few days have ushered in a “new era”, that the “world has changed” and that a global trade war risks “undermining a proud, hard-working nation”.

The kind of language now emanating from Starmer’s circles will be seen by economists – and politicians at Westminster – as preparing the ground for big potential shifts in economic policy on the basis that emergency times may require emergency measures.

Also, Treasury Minister says 'globalisation era has ended':

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, [Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren] Jones was asked whether globalisation - which has resulted in a boom in imports of cheap fashion, electrical goods and other products - was over.

"Yeah it's ended, the prime minister said that himself this morning," he said.

The change meant the UK had to "build out" relationships with allies around the world but also invest in the UK's own economy, Jones said, denying ministers were "scrabbling" for solutions.

He insisted the government was "trying to get ahead of these challenges" , which he said were "why we have to invest in the domestic economy, both for UK businesses, but also our public services... which is why our plan for change is investing in the NHS and skills as well as industrial policy."

Amid reports both elements of the spending review and the industrial strategy could now be brought forward from their expected June publication date, he said Labour had been working on the industrial strategy since it was in opposition.

Pressed on whether they would be brought forward, Jones deferred to Sir Keir's announcement expected in the coming days and laughed when Laura Kuenssberg said "that sounds almost like a yes but you're not allowed to say it to us this morning".

The UK government is continuing its policy of not responding with counter-tariffs, as other countries have done, preferring a "calm" approach focused on a UK-US trade deal.

"We're hoping to do a deal," Jones said, adding on tariffs that "we have a better outcome than other comparable countries as a consequence of our diplomacy".

He also said the Loops backend will be open sourced along side this.

Article

The agreement, effective from the start of the upcoming month, will see London rejoin the EU for a period of six months, during which it will participate in a series of collaborative security initiatives and exercises.

The decision was reached following months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between British and EU officials. Sources close to the talks reveal that the agreement focuses on counter-terrorism, cyber defence, and the management of migration flows, areas identified as critical to the security interests of both the UK and the EU.

“This is a historic moment for us,” said a senior EU official, who preferred to remain anonymous. “It demonstrates our ability to transcend political differences in favor of our collective security. London’s temporary integration is a testament to our shared values and commitment to peace.”

The temporary reintegration poses a complex array of legal and logistical challenges, given the UK’s formal departure from the EU in 2020. Experts suggest that a special provision, crafted to bypass the typical lengthy accession process, will be implemented to facilitate London’s swift re-entry and subsequent exit from the Union.

Critics of the plan have raised concerns about the legal precedent it sets and the potential for confusion among businesses and citizens. However, proponents argue that the benefits, particularly in terms of enhanced security cooperation, far outweigh the temporary inconveniences.

Archive

One of the biggest corporate donors to the populist Reform U.K. party has sold almost $2 million worth of transmitters, cockpit equipment, antennas and other sensitive technology to a major supplier of Moscow’s blacklisted state weapons agency, documents show.

From 2023 to 2024, the company, part of the British aerospace manufacturer H.R. Smith Group, shipped the equipment to an Indian firm that is the biggest trading partner of the Russian arms agency, Rosoboronexport.

H.R. Smith Group donated 100,000 pounds (just under $130,000) to Reform U.K. last year, two days after Nigel Farage was announced as the party’s leader. The company is run by Richard Smith, a businessman who owns 55 Tufton Street, a Westminster townhouse that is home to some of Britain’s most influential right-wing lobbying and research groups.

H.R. Smith Group said that its sales were lawful and that the equipment was destined for an Indian search-and-rescue network. The parts “support lifesaving operations” and are “not designed for military use,” said Nick Watson, a lawyer for the company.

The records do not prove that H.R. Smith’s products ended up in Russia. But they show that, in some instances, the Indian company received equipment from H.R. Smith and, within days, sent parts to Russia with the same identifying product codes.

This comes up surprisingly often, but this comment chain in the recent AMA prompted me to start a general discussion to maybe put this discussion to rest.

The only other place I'm aware that this has been discussed in detail is this pull request from 2023, which the creator ultimately closed.

What I'm ultimately in favour of, and what actually gets requested (one, two, three), is letting mods edit the metadata around a post. Things like the NSFW toggle, or post tags in 1.0.

But I'm throwing this out to the floor. What, if anything, do you think mods should be able to change about a user's content?

Toot

The number of children living in poverty across the UK has reached a new record high, according to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Some 4.45 million children were estimated to be in households in relative low income, after housing costs, in the year to March 2024.

This is up from the previous record of 4.33 million in the 12 months to March 2023. It is the highest figure since comparable records for the UK began in 2002-2003.

A household is considered to be in relative poverty if it is below 60 per cent of the median income after housing costs.