“The monarch will deliver the first King’s Speech in 70 years on Tuesday as Rishi Sunak pledges to “build a better future”, “strengthen our society” and “help people feel safer”. The Prime Minister insists there are no “short-term gimmicks” in his list of priorities ahead of an expected election next year. The King’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament is the first given by a male sovereign since Charles’s grandfather George VI. Mr Sunak promises policies that will deliver long-term benefits, with Conservative MPs hungry for commitments they can sell on the doorstep. Action to cut immigration, kick-start the economy, help motorists and spare families inheritance tax are among the measures MPs want.” – Sunday Express
“The head of the Metropolitan Police faced a political backlash last night after refusing demands to stop an anti-Israel march through London on Armistice Day. Sir Mark Rowley was warned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that protesters might ‘desecrate’ the Cenotaph, where a parade, two-minute silence and wreath-laying ceremony will commemorate Britain’s war dead on Saturday. Mr Sunak said the timing of the march was ‘provocative and disrespectful’. Ministers and MPs also urged the Met commissioner to ban the rally, which is expected to attract up to a million people. Home Secretary Suella Braverman called it ‘entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march.” – Mail on Sunday
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“Fanatics chanting hate on the Tube, scuffles and arrests in the streets, anti- Semitic bile spewed out by marchers. Yesterday’s pro-Palestine rallies were depressingly familiar. But Islamist extremists must not be allowed to tarnish next weekend’s days of Remembrance. The anti-Israel mob have provoked national outrage by vowing to march on Armistice Day — the nation’s most solemn date. We now know a number of MPs are so worried for their own safety they are hiring extra security to protect them during the Sunday Remembrance services. It is sickening that hate-filled thugs have forced our elected representatives to take such drastic measures while simply paying respects to our war dead. Rishi Sunak must ensure police know the vital importance of protecting next weekend’s events. Nothing must impede the nation’s sacred duty to honour its war dead.” – Sun on Sunday Editorial
“Suella Braverman has said she wants to put a stop to the “nuisance and distress” caused by homeless people pitching tents on public streets as she defended her controversial proposal online. The Home Secretary wrote on X on Saturday (November 4) that Britain “cannot allow” its streets to be “taken over by rows of tents” occupied by people who she said were mainly from abroad and “living on the streets as a lifestyle choice”. She said unless there was action, then British cities could see an “explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor” which she said San Francisco and Los Angeles have witnessed.” – Sunday Express
“Ministers are embracing artificial intelligence to ease their own workload by trialling the use of AI red boxes to cut down on paperwork, according to Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister. Alex Burghart, a cabinet office minister, is stepping up as one of the first guinea pigs as the government looks into how AI can boost productivity across British workplaces. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Dowden said: “I think that [AI] will drive enormous enhancements in productivity and I also suspect it will significantly reduce inflationary pressures over the medium term as well, because you’ll just be able to produce things at lower cost.” – Sunday Times
Other news
“The procedure of the inquiry distorts the exercise by creating a built-in bias in favour of lockdowns and other aggressive government interventions. Six “modules” have been announced. They constitute the inquiry’s agenda. All of them are concerned with the quality of government decision-making. None of them directly addresses the efficacy of lockdowns, masks, travel bans and other non-pharmaceutical interventions. These issues have been shoehorned into module 2, which is entitled “Core UK decision-making and political governance”. That tells us a lot about the inquiry’s priorities.” – Sunday Times
“The narrative that we have at the moment is one of decline-ism, perma-crisis and poly-crisis. The stories that we tell ourselves shape our identity, and then our identity goes on to shape our actions. If you have a narrative of decline, of anxiety, it seeps into every part of society, becomes self-fulfilling. And if you are a parent trying to raise children now and you’re putting them through the education system, they will be coming home with a sense that our history is not OK. That the world is coming to an end. The mental health of our children is declining. But we are not making the links between this narrative of decline and their mental health. We need to be telling a better story for our children, to give them hope and a future.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Labour frontbenchers have been considering a “robot tax” that would target companies that sack staff and replace them with artificial intelligence, The Telegraph can disclose. The idea has been raised during discussions with third-party organisations, and was suggested by Alex Davies-Jones, the shadow minister for technology and digital economy, at a fringe event at last month’s Labour conference. It suggests a possible revival of a “robot tax” mooted during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. However, the party has since sought to play down Ms Davies-Jones’s comments.” – Sunday Telegraph