Angela Rayner: People in tax-dodge houses shouldn’t throw stones September 3, 2025 Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner will be lucky to survive this latest tax-dodging property scandal, writes James Ford If you are a government minister there are always a number of key warnings that your frontbench career is on the brink. The first stage of your fall from grace is when your fellow ministers end up [...]
Tube strikes would be outrageous – where is the Mayor? September 3, 2025 Bob Crow, the late leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, once said “It’s an old media myth that the RMT union resorts to industrial action lightly.” These days, we’d call such a claim “trolling.” Indeed, as the historian Dr Jim Moher points out, Crow “cherished” a signed shirt from Millwall player Dennis Wise [...]
How tube strikes will stretch London’s infrastructure – and patience – to the limit September 2, 2025 From Sunday evening tube drivers are going on strike, and while the Elizabeth Line will continue to run other London Underground lines – as well as the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) – will pack it in for five days. Transport for London (TfL) put a 3.4 per cent pay rise on the table, which was [...]
London tube staff to strike in September in ‘extremely concerning’ move August 21, 2025 London tube staff are set to strike over pay in early September in what industry chiefs have labelled a “damaging scenario” for sluggish growth across the capital. The rail union RMT said on Thursday that rolling strike action would begin on Friday 5 September while Docklands Light Railway staff will strike from 8 September over [...]
Notting Hill Carnival 2025 is make or break for Sadiq Khan August 21, 2025 Mayor Sadiq Khan has staked his reputation – and your cash – on this year’s Carnival going off without a hitch, writes James Ford.
Here’s how Sadiq Khan could build 250,000 more homes August 12, 2025 Fewer than 1,000 homes were built in London in the second quarter of this year. This is a truly abysmal construction rate – and at a time when the capital’s need for new housing grows more and more acute. Whatever Sadiq Khan’s been doing the past nine years, it isn’t working. Time, therefore, to get [...]
Rushanara Ali just did what any rational landlord would August 12, 2025 As a government minister, Rushanara Ali was foolish, but as a landlord, completely rational. Her case exposes the flaws of rental reform.
Oxford Street’s new phone theft warnings are utterly depressing August 7, 2025 When demand emerges, the market will provide a solution and the internet is now awash with anti phone theft devices. Basic wrist straps are available on Amazon for a couple of quid, with more robust ‘retractable phone security tethers’ on offer for around £30. You can even get a body-worn strap system that looks like [...]
When it comes to Sadiq Khan, we all agree with Donald Trump – right? August 7, 2025 President Trump insulting Sadiq Khan comes as no surprise. That no one rushed to defend him is much more revealing, argues James Ford We should be in the midst of a lively public discourse about Sadiq Khan’s character, intellect and performance. Ordinarily, if the leader of the free world claimed that the mayor of the [...]
Picture exclusive: NBA meets Starmer for encouraging talks at No10 August 1, 2025 NBA chiefs are understood to have been encouraged by a lengthy meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer this week in which they discussed plans to launch a European league. Starmer hosted NBA commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum at No10 Downing Street on Wednesday during an ongoing tour of Europe by the [...]