Jewish community leaders fear sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank will increase antisemitism in the UK, with the Government accused of having “quasi-legitimised Jew hatred”.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis led the condemnation, branding it “truly a dark day for British Jews”. He accused the Government of “political flag-bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric”.
Some British Jews also believe the Government introduced sanctions for domestic political gain to appease voters on the left.
The Green Party is set to mount a stiff challenge to Labour in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election triggered by ex-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation.
South Park TV series renamed in apparent Trump reference
The creators of the animated TV show have announced that its new series will be called South America, appearing to reference Donald Trump’s recent retitling spree.
The context
The President signed an executive order in August to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America amid trade tensions with Canada, and Apple and Google subsequently changed the name in their respective maps apps for US-based users. Trump also declared that the Gulf of Mexico should be called the Gulf of America last year.
A day before the South Park announcement, Trump shared an AI-generated video of him placing the word “America” over “Mexico” on a “Welcome to New Mexico” sign.
south park’s creators, matt stone and trey parker
History with Trump
Previously, an episode from the 27th series of the long-running show, which is known for its profanity and dark humour, depicted Trump naked in bed with Satan.
In response, the White House described as a “fourth-rate” show that was “hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.”
Will the new name stick?
- The announcement came after won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program on Sunday.
- The name change shared to the show’s official social media account featured an image of the South Park sign with the word “Park” replaced with “America”.
- It remains unclear whether the new name will be adopted permanently or if it will revert to the original, with the 29th series premiering on 16 September.
All the things Trump has tried to rename – and why it smacks of desperation
First there was the Gulf of America, then Lake America.
Now, Trump has suggested renaming the state of New Mexico as ‘New America.’
Oil prices spike after US strikes on Iranian tankers
The price of oil has risen to over $100 a barrel for the first time since July after the latest exchange of strikes between the US and Iran.
Renewed attacks
The US military said it had “destroyed” several Iranian tankers on Tuesday after Tehran attempted to strike a US navy warship with ballistic missiles.
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it struck a US military base in Jordan in retaliation. Air defence systems destroyed 18 of the ballistic missiles, with two more landing in unpopulated areas, causing no casualties, according to Jordan’s state news agency.
Rising energy prices
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 2.1 per cent past the milestone amid the renewed fighting. It is up more than 60 per cent this year.
UK gas prices have also soared, with the benchmark British gas contract rising to its highest level since December 2022.
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What this means for you
The immediate impact is the rate you can get a new fix at will get even more expensive. Then longer term, this feeds into the January price cap. It’s currently on target to rise 10% to 15% over October’s cap, and that remember is already confirmed to rise 3.6%, and was on top of the 12.6% rise in July.
money saving expert founder Martin Lewis on impact of rising gas prices
Trump’s war in Iran is driving the worst wave of pirate attacks in decades
Reduced security, new shipping routes, and desperation are fuelling a rise in attacks.
Israel sanctions row – has Burnham made his first mistake?
Andy Burnham’s Government announced a ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank yesterday.
It was presented as an attempt to protect the prospect of a two-state solution, but it has already provoked threats of retaliation from Israel and drawn criticism from US politicians.
Our writers give their views on whether this is a principled attempt to restrain Israel, or an ineffective gesture.
Patrick Cockburn: Suffering makes sanctions a moral necessity
“The terrible fate of the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank is the great moral issue of our age.
“It should be impossible for any decent individual or government to know about the 75,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza and say ‘there was right on both sides’.
“On the contrary, this is an issue about right and wrong and the British Government is wholly correct, if late in the day.”
Jonathan Sacerdoti: This cynical move won’t help Palestinians
“The measures will do nothing tangible for Palestinians, nothing to advance peace and nothing to improve Israel’s security.
“For Britain, meanwhile, they risk damaging relations with Israel and the United States, while broadcasting a broader message of weakness: sufficient domestic political pressure can dictate British foreign policy.”
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Paul Wood: Netanyahu’s Government has gotten exactly what they want
“If the Burnham Government hopes to change Israel’s behaviour, there may be the opposite effect to the one intended.
“The far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have spent the current election campaign looking for a fight with a foreign government – they believe they can only benefit from the ensuing controversy. Britain has now given them what they want.”
Kitty Donaldson: Greens are real target
“Burnham is seeking to distinguish himself from Starmer’s handling of Gaza and attempting to win back voters who have drifted to the Green Party. However, whether these sanctions go far enough for Green voters is another question.”
UK politics
State pension triple lock could be axed – how to replace it
Andy Burnham is facing growing pressure to scrap the triple lock on state pensions to help repair the nations’ finances.
Here’s how the Government could navigate any journey away from the policy – and what could replace it.
Why might the triple lock be axed?
The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has, for the first time, called on Chancellor John Healey to abandon the policy, under which the state pension rises by whichever is highest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent each year.
The BCC argued that replacing it with an inflation-matched raise (a single lock) could save £3.3bn in two years. Currently, the triple lock costs £146bn a year.
Other options to replace triple lock
Smoothed earnings link
Mostly following wage growth but rising with inflation if there’s a temporary price shock.
Double lock
Removing the 2.5 per cent guarantee, rising with the higher of inflation or wages.
People build up credits through work and activities, and retirement age is determined by individual health.
Why is it controversial?
The Labour Party committed to keeping the triple lock in its 2024 manifesto. Going back on this would likely alienate older voters, who are generally more likely to go to the polls in an election than younger generations.
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‘The triple lock has got to go’
There is no longer a financial or moral justification for keeping the triple lock, but scrapping it represents a political risk that no prime minister has felt like taking.
It was only introduced to rebuild the value of the state pension after decades in which it had fallen relative to earnings – not necessarily as a permanent settlement.
The inescapable fact is that most of us are living longer and collecting pensions for longer. Someone has to pay for that, and the bill goes to people of working age.
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Frequently consuming drinks at very high temperatures increases the risk of oesophageal cancer – cancer of the food pipe or gullet – UK research suggests.
A three times higher chance
The study, from Oxford Population Health at the University of Oxford, included nearly a million people and found those who drank “very hot” drinks had about a three times higher risk of oesophageal .
Hot liquid may damage the cell lining of the food pipe as it travels down to the stomach, which could increase the risk of cancer developing, though the overall risk is low.
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How hot is too hot?
The research, published in the , did not record the temperature of drinks. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified drinking beverages above 65°C as “probably carcinogenic”.
Drinking six or more hot beverages a day also increases the risk, data from 977,282 middle-aged men and women in this latest study shows.
What to do
- Letting drinks cool down before drinking or adding cold milk can negate the risk, experts agreed.
- Researchers said the temperature at which coffee and tea is drunk in Western populations is estimated to be .
- “More research is needed to identify the exact drink temperatures linked to increased risk,” the researchers added.
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A rare cancer
The researchers said that one or two in every 10 oesophageal cancers could be avoided if people stopped consuming hot drinks.
The cancer is rare, though, with only around 1 per cent of the UK population at risk of being diagnosed with this type of cancer.
- Other factors, such as smoking, pose a comparatively bigger risk for developing oesophageal cancer.
Don’t make these money moves before next month’s Budget
With next month’s Budget fast approaching, speculation over what the Chancellor might announce is rife.
But history suggests making moves before the red box is opened can leave people worse off. Here is what to avoid.
Taking tax-free cash early
- One of the most obvious reactions to is to take the 25 per cent tax-free lump sum before the rules potentially change.
- The Institute for Fiscal Studies proposed cutting the lump sum to £100,000 in 2024 but the change has still not been implemented.
- Ian Cook, chartered financial planner at Quilter Cheviot, warned that taking the lump sum could undermine long-term retirement plans, and means the money loses the opportunity to remain invested.
Selling assets just in case
Another rumoured Budget policy change is that the capital gains tax (CGT) rate could increase, which can tempt investors to sell assets now and pay today’s tax rate.
- However, this can mean paying more tax than needed if assets are sold in bulk, as there are multiple tax-free allowances before CGT is owed.
Giving away too much
With speculation that inheritance tax (IHT) could be raised, people often use gifting to avoid it, as gifts given more than seven years before death are exempt from IHT.
However, experts warn that rushing into this can lead to people giving away more than they can afford.
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Making a hasty property move
There have been suggestions that the recently introduced mansion tax could be charged on homes worth £1.5m or more, rather than the current £2m.
Eamonn Prendergast, chartered financial planner at Palantir Financial Planning, said people should not panic and instead “ignore speculation when making a property purchase or sale decision, and act as if there was no speculation” rather than making a move they don’t really want.
Doing nothing at all
But experts warn that the biggest trap is becoming so worried about the Budget that you stop making sensible financial decisions altogether.
Jason Hollands from wealth management firm Evelyn Partners says: “For investors and savers, the sensible approach is to focus on decisions that make sense under current rules rather than trying to second-guess the contents of a future Budget.
Hundreds of thousands of unemployed young people may see their benefits replaced with employment support under Government welfare reforms.
Here’s what we know.
Alan Milburn, the Government’s youth unemployment tsar, suggested many young people who are not in education, employment or training (Neets) – including those diagnosed with conditions like ADHD and anxiety – should see a shift in the state support they receive. “Work beats welfare every single time,” he said.
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Why The Netherlands is a blueprint
- Milburn was visiting The Netherlands as part of a “fact-finding mission” as he prepares to publish his final recommendations in a landmark report about young people and work.
- This year, the UK topped for the first time since 2013.
- According to research from the independent think-tank The Resolution Foundation, if Britain’s Neet rate mirrored the Dutch rate, 600,000 more young adults would be in work.
- In The Netherlands, , whereas in Britain, support is generally for unemployment and centralised via the universal credit benefits system.
High anxiety levels
Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) rank the UK at the top of the charts for anxiety levels among younger people, but The Netherlands comes in second.
Milburn highlighted how this doesn’t lead to low participation levels, adding: “Just because you’ve got a condition, or even because you’ve got the diagnosis, shouldn’t mean that you aren’t able to work.”
A growing problem
Nearly a quarter – around 250,000 – of young people who are classed as Neets are estimated to have mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, according to Department for Work and Pensions data.
The number of young people claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for mental health conditions such as anxiety and neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD has also increased.
Since the 7 October terror attacks on Israel, there has been a record surge in antisemitism in the UK.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors anti-Jewish have crime, recorded 1,926 antisemitic incidents from January to June of 2026 – up by a fifth on the first half of last year.
Rabbi David Meyer, chief executive of the Partnership for Jewish Schools (PaJeS), said leaders of the Jewish community met Government officials before the sanctions announcement was unveiled by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.
They expressed concern about the “potential impact it was going to have on increasing levels of antisemitism in the UK”.
Rabbi Meyer said it was hard to see how the government’s “significant statements of criticism of Israel” would not embolden “some extremists” who, he said, have repeatedly used the actions of Israel to target British Jews.
“From a Jewish schools’ perspective, it just raises the levels of anxiety,” he added.
Jewish children as young as three and four, are drilled in what to do in the event of a terror attack by practising “invacuations”, where they have to hide in protected areas in their classroom, community leaders have previously told The i Paper.
Security guards at Jewish schools and synagogues in the UK are coordinated through the CST, with fencing and cameras around Jewish community buildings due to the threat of antisemitic attacks.
“They [the government] need to understand that the actions and the statements that have been made over the last 24 hours are without doubt going to raise the concerns, and I think have raised some concerns, across the community about the potential of increased antisemitism,” Rabbi Meyer said.
“I met a grandmother yesterday. The first thing that she said to me is, ‘I am worried about my grandson going to school’.
He added: “We have got to be moving from a situation of building higher walls and ghettos for the Jewish community in order to protect them to a situation where, as a British society, we do not allow antisemitism to be manifest.”
Golders Green, the heart of Britain’s Jewish community, has seen a wave of violent antisemitic attacks in recent years, with two men stabbed and four Jewish community ambulances set alight in separate attacks this year.
Peter Zinkin, Barnet Council’s leader of the Conservative group and a councillor for the north west London ward, said actions of the Government, including yesterday’s sanctions, “seems to have quasi legitimised Jew hatred”.
“We shouldn’t call it antisemitism. We should call it by its original name, which was Jew hatred,” he said.
Many members of the Jewish community , he added, felt “despair” towards Labour, who had “allowed their obsession with the Middle East to cause damage in the UK”.
“Every action of this government just makes it worse for the community because they don’t care. They just don’t care,” he said.
But a body representing almost a third of synagogue members across the UK and Ireland has said Government sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements “are not the same as an attack on Jews”
The Movement for Progressive Judaism, said holding the Israeli government “accountable for its actions does not cause antisemitism”.
They said “while the vulnerability of British Jews must not be ignored”, measures aimed at Israeli settlements “are not the same as an attack on Jews”.
“We should take care not to collapse the distinction between them,” it said in a statement.
Speaking to , Miliband also rejected allegations he is putting the security of British Jews at risk with his announcement of new sanctions against Israel.
The government has introduced a ban on imports from illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and sanctions on individuals and firms providing services to settlers.
Miliband said the Government believed the occupation as a whole was unlawful, going beyond the previous position that only described the settlements themselves as illegal.
He said the government took the actions to “salvage the only course for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians – the two state solution”.
This was “based on an explicit belief that the only route to security for both peoples is to live side by side in peaceful co-existence with freedom, security and self-determination,” Miliband added.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham also told MPs that in a “difficult and dangerous world, Britain has to stand for something, Britain has to show leadership, Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice.
“Where people are being bullied out of their homes and intimidated, we will always stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them.
“That is what the British people expect of us and that is what this government will do.”
But Jewish communities are concerned.
Retired Rabbi Arnold Saunders, a Conservative councillor on Salford City Council, has been a frequent worshipper at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, where two Jewish men were killed in a terrorist attack in 2025
He was a close friend of one of the victims, Melvin Cravitz and in 2024, was berated outside a mosque he had been invited to speak at and called a “snake” by a worshipper.
Rabbi Saunders said he was “very worried” about an uptick in antisemitism following the Government’s announcement, adding “the majority feel let down”.
“You can go past certain synagogues. There are security firms patrolling or outside doors,” he said.
“I’m not saying that it’s totally because of what the government has done, but that doesn’t help.”
Duche Sorotzkin, 27, from London, was targeted with antisemitic abuse in Trafalgar Square in 2023 following a pro-Palestine march.
The former Labour activist previously described how a group shouted at him and accused him of “murdering babies” as they took off his kippah, with one woman encouraging the men to hit him.
He said: “I believe…Ed Millband was appointed Foreign Secretary, so that when they announced this package the government can say, ‘But we have a Jewish man presenting this package’.
“People believe this is done for local Labour Party politics, they believe an election is nearby, and the party is trying to shore up the left wing.”