Oliver Duff

3 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Oliver Duff

Today’s opinion poll is not a ringing endorsement for Rachel Reeves and her stewardship of the economy. Her plans on defence, cutting admin costs and PIP win support. Overall, though, the Spring Statement is very unpopular. Let’s get the mitigation out of the way. Labour’s inheritance from the Tories was lousy: a stalled economy, Brexit trade frictions and vast public debts from Covid, necessitating cuts to spending to keep the bond markets onside.

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Oliver Duff

Three years ago, The i Paper revealed that Moscow had created “filtration camps” for Ukrainians to be forcibly deported hundreds of miles inside Russian borders. Our reporter used satellite imagery to reveal their location. Then he used testimony from inside the camps to show the grim conditions and interrogations faced by Ukrainian civilians. This tactic appeared to be used to terrify inhabitants of besieged cities like Mariupol, if they dared to stay behind and support Ukrainian forces.

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Oliver Duff

I like to wind up our picture editors by making ludicrous requests such as “arthritic penguin”, “quizzical rat” and “disappointed but stoical praying mantis”. However, today’s cover story did lend itself to the demand for “anxious piglet”. If you are a cow, sheep, pig, horse, goat, duck or goose, then Brexit has its upsides. The Tories used leaving the EU to ban the export of live animals for slaughter or fattening.

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Oliver Duff

For any Chancellor, the numbers are alarming. Our bill for sickness benefits has grown 25 per cent since before the pandemic to £65bn – and is projected to hit £100bn by 2030. It is climbing at “astonishing speed”, the Institute for Fiscal Studies notes. Inaction isn’t an option. That’s why Rachel Reeves is confident Labour MPs will back her plan to cut benefits. We will be told “the world has changed” while she blames a cocktail of Putin, trade tariffs and the cost of borrowing. Her words are stark.

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Oliver Duff

Ever since he landed in Washington six days ago, Keir Starmer has impressed. The Prime Minister’s challenges are obvious: a shrunken military, a sluggish economy, and an excitable narcissist in the Oval Office who believes in great power politics rather than the established alliances that have (mostly) kept the peace for 80 years – at what Trump sees as America’s expense.