Plans to switch to digital landlines by January could leave remote areas of the UK vulnerable, MPs say.
Landline switchover could cut people off in emergency, minister warned
Source: BBC Politics
Original reporting
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BBC Politics
Chris Mason: Budget needs to go some way towards delivering PM's promises
Support on the cost of living, and in particular energy bills, as well as announcments on devolution will be central to John Healey's first Budget.
The Guardian
Rosebank oilfield would not breach UK emission targets, say government insiders
Emissions from exported oil would not count against carbon budget, insiders say – reasoning likely to draw dismay from climate campaigners The giant Rosebank oilfield can be approved without breaching the UK’s emission targets, according to government insiders, in a boost to those in the cabinet who are pushing for it to be given the go-ahead. The Guardian revealed last week that Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, was leaning towards rejecting the project , but her position has put her at loggerheads with cabinet colleagues, including the chancellor, John Healey , who are lobbying for an approval. Continue reading...
The Guardian
The Guardian view on supporting carers: the DWP’s problem is deeper than IT | Editorial
A taper is much better than a cliff-edge. But problems with carer’s allowance should have been solved years ago The reform of carer’s allowance – a benefit paid to people who spend 35 or more hours a week caring for a disabled relative – is overdue and welcome. The cliff-edge design that forces claimants in England and Wales to forfeit their entire payment if they breach an earnings limit of £204 a week by as little as a penny is wrong in principle and made much worse by the appalling way in which rules have been applied. A Guardian investigation revealed that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to warn thousands of people who it knew were being overpaid. This resulted in debts and hardship, and hundreds of criminal convictions for fraud. Carers in already difficult personal circumstances described feeling driven to desperation and illness by what one called a “catch-out cu
BBC Politics
Healey to promise £15m to tackle misogyny in Budget
The Conservatives doubt whether women and girls will feel safer as a result of the funding.
The Guardian
Ella Baron on the autumn budget – cartoon
Continue reading...
The Guardian
Schrödinger’s racism, Nige’s latest wheeze to dodge his associates’ bigotry | John Crace
We are apparently to believe Raheem Kassam calling Kemi a ‘Nigerian scammer’ was racist and not racist at the same time Back to the future. Some of us can remember the days when the key to surviving a nuclear war was to kneel down under the kitchen table and keep your eyes closed till you were incinerated or died of radiation poisoning. Now the government wants you to hoard some baked beans and a few litres of water in the hope of getting through the next three days. But when the apocalypse does come, you can bank on there being one survivor. The politician with seemingly limitless powers of regeneration. As one party of his dies, so another rises from the ashes. Fuelled not by water and tinned food, but by alcohol and grievance. Somehow, Nigel Farage is always the victim in his own story. The man who is forever misunderstood. Continue reading...