The new farm tax rules are causing quite a stir among land-owners: Rachel Reevesʼs budget changes might bring in about 520 million pounds yearly by twenty-thirty (which is way less than two-days worth of national debt interest payments)
- Some think its unfair to long-time farmers
- Others say the rules should only apply to recent land buyers
- Many point out that farmers already do lots for society
The health-care sector faces its own set of issues — physician-associates title creates mix-ups in hospitals‚ while hospices struggle with money problems. The NHS only covers thirty-four percent of hospice costs these days
In global news‚ while Sir Keir Starmer met with Chinese officials forty-five Hong Kong protesters got prison time for trying to protect democracy: they spent around 1300 days waiting for trial which is longer than many UK criminals spend in jail
The gambling world is full of double-standards: companies talk about safer-gambling but keep pushing people to bet more and more. Meanwhile Labour got over 1-million pounds in gifts from gambling businesses since twenty-twenty
Some interesting history came up in readers notes: a working-class fives court in mid-century Middlesbrough showed how sports could cross social lines; while another reader shared memories of their make-shift war-time shelter that almost became a water-trap
The church-building crisis needs attention: nearly 1000 religious buildings need fixing up‚ even though the Church has nine-billion pounds in its accounts. A church-warden points out that many more buildings are in trouble than official lists show