WASHINGTON, DC – In the annals of Donald Trump’s numerous delusional appearances over the last several months, his Wednesday morning visit to the White House construction site where his ballroom-cum-military-bunker is being built may have been the most delusional of all.
Hours after he presided over the collapse of his Republican Party in midterms that delivered the Democrats control of both houses of Congress, Trump delivered a speech so breathtaking in its ignorance that it took your breath away.
Trump decided to use his first post-election appearance not to address the fury of voters who had turned on him. Instead, Trump thought, this was the moment to wax lyrical about his pet project for nearly 20 minutes.
The damning numbers behind the UK’s child obesity crisis
Obesity among children in England is on the rise, according to new data from the National Child Measurement Programme.
2 min read
New data on childhood obesity
- Some 10.7 per cent of children in Reception (ages four and five) are obese, which rises to 22.8 per cent for those in Year 6 (ages 10 to 11).
- The new data means that when figures from the pandemic are removed, obesity in Reception is at its highest-ever level since records began.
- Among children in Year 6, obesity is also higher than the previous year (22.2 per cent) and higher than pre-pandemic levels.
5 min read
Childhood obesity on the rise
- 1Overall, 1.1 million children were measured in state schools in England as part of the National Child Measurement Programme.
- 2The research found that 14 per cent of teenagers were active every day. In Finland, 28 per cent are active and in Canada, 25 per cent.
- 3Obesity in the most deprived regions is also more than double the most affluent areas both for Reception (14.2 per cent compared to 6.9 per cent) and Year 6 (30.3 per cent compared to 13.9 per cent).
A ‘gulf in children’s health’
“Today’s data shows worsening levels and that the gulf in children’s health between those living in deprived versus wealthy areas has widened.”
Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation charity
Five things will happen now that Trump has lost Congress
Former chief of staff of the US Department of Homeland Security
American voters just delivered a once-in-a-generation rebuke of a sitting president and his movement. Here are five things that will happen now Trump has lost Congress…
Midterm results
The Democrats made sweep victories in the midterm elections taking states such as Texas, Maine and Michigan to regain control of Congress.
I was in the White House the last time Trump lost part of Congress, in the 2018 midterm elections. Here’s what to expect out of Washington in the weeks and months ahead.
Five things that will happen
- 1Trump will axe members of his administration. His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, are in the firing line.
- 2Democrats will gear up for the biggest investigations in Congressional history.
- 3The companies and firms that cosied up to Trump will have to explain their decisions under oath.
- 4Before Democrats officially take power, Republicans will start to abandon Trump.
- 5Trump will re-focus on foreign policy.
The results that reveal Trump’s historic humiliation
Democrats have taken control of both chambers of Congress after momentous US midterm elections that will tip the balance of power in Washington DC and shape the rest of Donald Trump’s presidency. The results represent a humiliation for the President, who had asked Republicans to vote as if he was on the ballot.
Watch more from The i Paper
The ways HMRC will be able to raid your bank account
New debt recovery powers allowing banks access to accounts could be a “sledgehammer” leaving some people struggling to pay their bills, warn tax experts.
Healey’s plan
John Healey’s plan to let HMRC raid bank accounts over unpaid taxes has sparked fears it could push some people into financial hardship.
The Chancellor revealed at the Budget that the tax authority will get stronger powers to collect overdue tax “from those who can clearly afford to pay”.
How HMRC will raid bank accounts
From July 2029, HMRC will be able to order banks to start taking regular deductions from a person’s current account to recover tax debt that is owed.
- HMRC will also be able to recover money from a couple’s joint bank account to pay for just one partner’s debt.
- “Eligibility verification measures” (EVMs) were issued last month, asking banks to identify claimants who may have undeclared savings or remain abroad longer than benefit rules allow.
- These checks can be made on people receiving universal credit, Pension Credit and Employment and Support Allowance.
Issues with the new powers
Nimesh Shah, of tax firm Blick Rothenberg, told The i Paper the new powers could become a “sledgehammer” that will unfairly hit pensioners, people on low-incomes, and those with mental health issues.
Meanwhile, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is worried that non-engagement with HMRC may reflect genuine financial problems or difficulty understanding tax debt requests, rather than a refusal to pay.
Disability Rights UK said it is worried that the DWP could use EVMs to “undertake fishing exercises with absolutely no evidence of fraud”.
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Only needed when necessary
“The Government is not interested in where people do their weekly shop or how much they’re spending on new clothes.”
Banks will only be asked “to identify if somebody may no longer meet the rules for the benefits they receive, allowing us to investigate further where necessary”, Lilian Greenwood, DWP minister for fraud and debt said.
Who will actually be better off after this Budget? The i Paper writers’ verdicts
Following the Chancellor’s somewhat underwhelming Budget, The i Paper’s team of experts explain how it will affect your pocket.
How you ‘smart fridge’ could be hacked
Household appliances, energy meters and even microwaves are vulnerable to hacking from hostile states, experts have warned.
Here’s how…
Fridge hack
Hackers sent temperatures soaring in supermarket freezers across 10 countries on Tuesday – including Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden.
The incident occurred three weeks after an unprecedented cyber attack caused French freezers to heat to 50°C, spoiling millions of euros worth of food.
How was the attack carried out?
Older internet remote-control boxes that manage refrigeration were targeted with an automatic defrost function, triggering dozens of shops, including IKEA.
Security experts believe a state actor like Russia may be to blame for the attacks, which also affected fridges in a small number of British businesses.
While state-linked attackers are more likely to target supply chains or national infrastructure to cause maximum disruption, experts are now calling for homeowners to reconsider if they need appliances that connect to the internet and action from government.
5 min read
Warnings from the Government
Millions have ‘smart fridges’
A YouGov poll last year showed more than two million Britons have smart fridges.
MP Graeme Downie said people in the UK should reconsider the connected appliances in their homes.
Cellular modules
Downie warned against the use of smart cellular modules that can connect to the internet or mobile network.
What else is vulnerable?
Luke de Pulford, the co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which monitors the threat from Beijing, said any firmware in devices that requires remote software could be vulnerable to hacking from a foreign-based entity.
- “Energy smart meters, microwaves, smart TVs – those are all things that are vulnerable. But also Chinese-made CCTV equipment. These are all devices that are well known to be vulnerable,” he said.
Taking pets abroad may be about to get easier – here’s why
Pet owners are likely to get easier access to the European Union for their pets under a new UK-EU agreement, it has been reported.
Pet passports
Pet passports will be revived under a new UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement due to be agreed ahead of a joint summit reports.
Post Brexit, pet owners paid £200 to obtain an animal health certificate in order to take them abroad. Under the proposed deal, pets will now be a given a passport.
New deals with the EU
- 1Travellers will be able to bring their dogs, cats, and ferrets into EU territory for the duration of their lifetime without the need for expensive certificates. This will be implemented from 2028.
- 2UK ministers also hope to agree a deal to give car manufacturers access to the EU’s Made in Europe scheme.
- 3The EU is also looking to agree a youth mobility scheme allowing up to 100,000 Europeans to work aand study in the UK a year. Separately, Brussels is also looking for a reduction in tuition fees for EU students.
UK may have to accept almost 100,000 young Europeans a year to unlock Brexit deal
British negotiators think they can strike a youth mobility agreement with the EU while staying under the “psychologically important” figure of 100,000 visas, The i Paper can reveal.
Why Rice Krispies is no longer made from whole grain rice
Kellogg’s has removed rice grains from its Rice Krispies and Coco Pops cereals after “changing weather conditions” affected the quality and availability of the ingredient, the firm has said.
New formula
Rice Krispies has been reformulated to use rice flour instead of rice, while Coco Pops now contains a blend of rice flour and corn flour in place of rice.
Under the new recipes, the cereals now also contain wheat gluten, meaning they are no longer suitable for shoppers with a wheat allergy or coeliac disease.
Kellogg’s spokeswoman:
“This recent change helps us maintain consistent quality at a time when changing weather conditions are affecting the quality and availability of some of the and grains used in our cereals.”
The change in formula comes after this year’s El Niño weather phenomenon caused widespread droughts, floods and heatwaves across much of Asia where most of the world’s rice comes from.
Watch more from The i Paper
Standing in the White House’s former East Wing, Trump invited reporters to see the progress of his ballroom. “This has been a structure the likes of which has never been seen anywhere,” Trump said.
“This will be the ballroom, he said. “Right here is the ballroom. Over here, you’re going to have magnificent columns on this side, outside exterior columns, very much like the Supreme Court. They’re actually taller and they’re even more magnificent.”
As he watched construction workers engage in efforts to hoist the ballroom’s final beam and an enormous Stars and Stripes skywards, Trump gushed about the joys of limestone, plans for a kitchen that is going to be “top of the line” and a “roof that could actually hold helicopters”.
He told the reporters, officials and builders assembled: “When I get criticised, like, ‘Why are you working on the White House?’ I’m doing it because the White House is the ultimate symbol of America, and it’s got to be pristine, it’s got to be perfect. For me it’s relaxing.”
“I love construction,” he added, before writing his signature on the final beam. “This is the safest place in Washington. It’s good for me. It’s relaxing.”
Trump, who on Monday spent his last pre-election public appearance speaking about his renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, has made a habit of bringing up his projects, including the ballroom and a triumphal arch.
Yet this time, mere hours after his party lost control of Congress largely thanks to him, it was extraordinary.
Some two thirds of voters say Trump does not have the right priorities, according to the AP Voter Poll survey, most of which voted for Democrats in the midterms.
The elections only came up – briefly – when he insisted that the problem lay not at his door but with the losing candidates from coast to coast.
“If I was on the ballot we would have won”, Trump claimed, without any reference to his numerous instructions to supporters to “pretend” that his name was indeed on voting papers. Referencing his own rallies, Trump claimed they were “packed out with thousands and thousands of people…there was such love at those rallies it was incredible”.
But he argued that the problem Republicans encountered on Tuesday was that he is too beloved by Americans who lacked similar ardour for his colleagues. “We weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates,” he shrugged, without any hint of irony.
When reporters got an opportunity to question him, he claimed that he agreed with his suddenly rebellious Vice-President, JD Vance, who, earlier in the day, took to Elon Musk’s X to intone “the reason we lost is the war”.
Trump claimed at first to agree with his deputy. But it then became apparent that you could drive a truck through the gap that exists between their two positions. It was not, said Trump, his fateful decision in February to ignite his war on Iran that had caused all the problems. It was simply the soaring price of petrol at the pumps that had turned Americans off.
“It drove the gasoline up a little bit, short term,” he said of prices that, on election day itself, reached new record levels more than eight months after the conflict began. “If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it,” he said. “Long-term it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
As usual, no reporter challenged his entirely false assertion that Iran had reconstituted its nuclear programme. His own intelligence agencies have collectively agreed that it had not.
Asked if he was worried about the possibility that when Democrats take control of Capitol Hill in January they might seek to impeach him all over again, Trump brushed the idea aside. “It would destroy the Democratic Party if they did that,” said a man who is now presiding over the rubble of his own party even as he remains laser-focused on the astonishing properties of granite.
Vance is not the only putative presidential aspirant gargling in the wings and hoping to establish a narrative that positions him to succeed Trump as the leader of whatever is left of the Republicans.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was also at it, claiming on Wednesday that the elections were an “extinction-level event for Republicans across the country”. He predicted that the party may not have a chance to re-establish full control of Congress until 2032, claiming the scale of the Democrats’ victory would “reverberate for the next decade or more”.
DeSantis’s own diary for the next decade is entirely open, as he prepares to leave the governor’s mansion in Florida due to the state’s term limits. He is openly flirting with the idea of a 2028 presidential run and made no secret of his willingness to break with Trump, his war on Iran, and perhaps seek to bring the party back to its traditional position of free-trade orthodoxy.
Trump, meanwhile, was worried about the safety of his colleagues and media representatives on his building site. “Mind the beam,” he urged, as a crane hoisted an enormous piece of steel into position atop the ballroom.
Down on the ground, most of those watching may also have been musing about the political wrecking ball that, just hours earlier, had destroyed his presidency.