Welcome to the new series I alluded to last month. While I initially mentioned covering UK news, the increasingly dangerous and unpredictable global situation prompted me to expand the series to include select newsworthy items from the past month.
I’m also going to call the series State of the World.
State of the World will be posted every second Friday of the month.
Let’s get started.
Labour is bringing in Austerity 2.0
For the disabled population of the UK, next year will be a very hard year. 2026 is the year that changes are coming to the benefit system. The current government is cutting around £5 billion off the welfare budget. This is just unacceptable, as the most vulnerable in society will suffer the most.
The main changes are regarding PIP and the daily living part of UC (Universal Credit), or the DLA (Daily Living Allowance) part of the old ESA (Employment and Support Allowance).
They are changing it to where you need to get at least four points for one section of the assessment, instead of the twelve points as it is now. This means a lot of people who currently get it will not under the new system.
An example is someone who is wheelchair-bound and needs help washing the lower half of the body, but not the upper half. Under the new system, they will not get the relevant points, but under the current system, they are still able to qualify.
They are also scrapping the Work Assessment part of the process, which in my opinion is a good thing as that was very stressful to go through.
This is disgusting and Labour should re-think this through.
Local Elections for England and Wales
England and Wales will next month hold local elections. Not all council seats are up for election as the election cycle runs on a four-year rotation. For example, in my hometown in the North West of England, there are no local elections this year, but for the next three years will have them.
This election marks a significant test for Labour and the Prime Minister’s team since their election last year. The polling doesn’t look favourable for them, as the voters who supported them to oust the Conservatives have only seen a continuation of their policies since Labour came to power. While they have made some positive changes, the negative aspects outweigh the positive in many people’s opinions.
I genuinely hope the result is detrimental to Labour. It could lead the party to steer away from its current drift towards the right and return to its core centre left principles. Labour’s roots lie in supporting the working class, the disabled, and the sick.
Not continuing the Conservative policy of Austerity 2.0 as mentioned above.
PM Kier Starmer going down the wrong path regarding President Trump
President Trump last week decided to put tariffs on almost every country in the world. Here in the UK, he put a blanket 10% tariff on everything we sell to the US, and a 25% on new cars and car parts, even though the UK does not have a trade deficit with the US. This is before we mention the tariff already in place on steel and aluminium.
Kier Starmer, our current Prime Minister, seems to be putting a so-called trade deal with the US in front of pivoting to the EU, which is our largest trading partner. Recent polls suggest that the majority of the British public want a closer trading relationship with the EU than the US. He is still doing this even though the current US administration has so far been very protectionist. They say we have a special relationship with the US. I say that since Donald Trump came to power there is no special relationship between the UK and America.
The world order, especially regarding trade, has changed.
Multiple countries warn of travel to America.
Multiple countries have warned their citizens, especially LGBT citizens, not to travel to America. The Trump administration has been arresting and deporting foreigners for reasons as simple as criticising the president on social media.
If you do have to go, I would strongly recommend taking a burner phone with you and not your main phone. On the burner phone just have what you need on it for the trip. Also, if you are LGBT , especially transgender people, just don’t go.
It’s not worth going to America while the current administration is in power.
Massive protests in multiple American cities over Trump Tariffs.
A massive turnout was reported all over America with protests that broke out in some of the US major cities over the last weekend. A reported 5 million people turned out in 1,200 places.
Even in so-called Red States, the states that voted republican in the last election, the turnout was large, with people protesting against the blanket tariffs the President brought in over the weekend, the deportation of foreign workers who have lived in the states for years and well as the firing of some of the federal workforce for no apparent reason.
I have also seen YouTube videos where Americans are now complaining on how everything has gone up by between 10% and 30% already, a few days after the tariffs came into effect.
The protests was called The Hands Off protests.
While the protests were going on, the President was, as usual, golfing.
Israel continuing to bomb Gaza again.
Bolden by the re-election of Donald Trump in the US, Israel has restarted military operations in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
My thoughts are that Israel, now with a free hand to do what it wants, will take over Gaza as part of Israel. The Palestinians that are currently there will either have to flee the territory or be wiped out.
This is not about defeating Hamas any more. This is pure genocide by the Israeli state.
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