Nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires call for higher taxes on super-rich
Nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires from 24 countries are calling on global leaders to increase taxes on the super-rich, amid growing concern that the wealthiest in society are buying political influence.An open letter, released to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, calls on global leaders attending this week’s conference to close the widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else.The letter, signed by luminaries including the actor and film-maker Mark Ruffalo, the musician Brian Eno and the film producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney, says extreme wealth is polluting politics, driving social exclusion and fuelling the climate emergency.“A handful of global oligarchs with extreme wealth have bought up our democracies; taken over our governments; gagged the freedom of our media; placed a stranglehold on technology and innovation; deepened poverty and social exclusion; and accelerated the breakdown of our planet,” it reads.“What we treasure, rich and poor alike, is being eaten away by those intent on growing the gulf between their vast power and everyone else.
“We all know this.When even millionaires, like us, recognise that extreme wealth has cost everyone else everything else, there can be no doubt that society is dangerously teetering off the edge of a precipice.”According to Forbes, Donald Trump assembled the richest cabinet in US history last year after being re-elected as president, with an estimated joint worth last August of $7.5bn (£5.6bn).
A poll conducted for the Patriotic Millionaires group, who campaign for higher taxes on the super-rich, found that 77% of millionaires from G20 countries think extremely wealthy individuals buy political influence.The survey, of 3,900 people in G20 countries with more than $1m in assets, excluding their homes, also found that three-fifths think Trump has had a negative impact on global economic stability (the poll was conducted before the US president threatened new tariffs at the weekend against European countries if a deal to acquire Greenland was not reached).More than 60% of those surveyed were concerned that extreme wealth was a threat to democracy.Two-thirds supported higher taxes on the super-rich to invest in public services, with only 17% opposed.The development charity Oxfam reported this week that a record number of billionaires were created last year, taking the global total to more than 3,000 for the first time.
“Last year the rise in billionaire wealth was unprecedented,” said the executive director of Oxfam International, Amitabh Behar,“The super-rich are being given complete free rein,It is beyond comprehension that the richest 1% now own three times more than the world’s total public wealth combined,“It’s a stark indictment that illustrates just how nonsensical the gulf now is between oligarchs and the rest of humanity,Governments must implement taxes on the super-rich now and prioritise reducing inequality.
The world cannot continue on this obscene trajectory,”
Starmer should resist calls to match Trump ‘tweet-for-tweet’, says Miliband
Britain would be in a “much worse” position if Keir Starmer had done what others were calling on him to do by matching Donald Trump “tweet-for-tweet”, a UK cabinet minister has said.Defending the prime minister’s handling of the deepening diplomatic crisis over Greenland and the US president’s threat of levying tariffs on the UK and other Nato allies, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, declined to say if Britain would respond in kind.Speaking before Trump’s arrival at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Miliband, a former Labour leader, also told the BBC that Starmer was not travelling to the summit because there were “all kinds of other things that he’s doing”.“The bigger picture here is that the prime minister is, I think, navigating a really difficult international situation with great skill and in our national interest,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I know some people will want to say: ‘Why hasn’t the prime minister been matching Donald Trump tweet-for-tweet?’ All of that
Nigel Farage apologises for 17 breaches of MPs’ code of conduct
Nigel Farage has apologised for 17 breaches of the MPs’ code of conduct after failing to declare £380,000 of income on time, saying he is an “oddball” who does not do computers.The Reform UK leader and MP for Clacton said he had relied on a senior member of staff to submit his income to the register of interests and had been let down, but he took full responsibility for the error.He blamed “severe growing pains” as Reform UK had been overwhelmed by administration and emails since growing in size and gaining MPs at the 2024 election. The interests included his work as a broadcaster for GB News and payments for social media output on Google and X.Farage, who is the highest-earning MP, has previously admitted breaching parliamentary rules by failing to register a trip to Florida to appear at a fundraising event for Donald Trump
Love, actually? Starmer’s ‘keep calm’ approach to Trump comes under strain
In his account of Tony Blair’s years in power, The New Machiavelli, Jonathan Powell sets out two opposing strategies for any British prime minister in dealing with their counterpart in the White House.The first, he says, is “cutting a bella figura” – parading for show – by openly criticising the US president, for which he gives the example of the French. The other, and the approach preferred by Powell, is to do diplomacy in private and build a close relationship, in the hope of having greater influence.These days, Powell is Keir Starmer’s national security adviser and his closest, most influential lieutenant on world affairs. That his prescription for the UK’s strategy towards Donald Trump is so close to the prime minister’s natural instincts goes some way to explaining that
Minister tells MPs that China mega-embassy will have ‘clear security advantages’ – as it happened
In the Commons Dan Jarvis, the security minister, is taking questions from MPs about the decision to approve the Chinese “super-embassy”.He quoted from the letter written by Sir Ken McCallum, the MI5 director general, and Anne Keast-Butler, the GCHQ director, about this project, and put particular emphasis on this passage.It is worth reiterating the new embassy will replace seven different diplomatically-accredited sites across London which China currently operates; this consolidation should bring clear security advantages.The UK communities secretary, Steve Reed, has given permission for China to build a vast new embassy near the Tower of London after spy chiefs told him that the risks to national security could be controlled and dealt with.Donald Trump has suggested Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland
The postponement of local elections could present an opportunity | Letters
One thing that’s been missing from the debate around the English devolution bill is what this change will mean for town and parish councils (More than 20 England council elections likely to be delayed until 2027, 15 January). As combined authorities start to form, it is these hyperlocal councils that will be taking the lead in shaping solutions that are genuinely rooted in place and driven by the people who live there.At Lewes town council, the conversations we are having focus on how these changes could be an opportunity for the town. Sussex is one of the six counties on the government’s priority programme for establishing a combined authority. As the possibility of a more unified county structure edges closer, we are having to think imaginatively about the future
We’re all friends really? Trump’s not so useful idiot Mike Johnson drops in on MPs | John Crace
So. That went well, then. A day after Keir Starmer gently pointed out that the US would be wrong to seize Greenland and that a period of calm diplomacy was needed, Donald Trump goes mad. Again. Having already rubbished the Norwegian prime minister for not awarding him the Nobel peace prize, the US president took aim at the UK prime minister
Michael Baron obituary
Educational background key indicator of immigration views in UK, study finds
Prostate cancer is most commonly diagnosed cancer across UK, study finds
Don’t rely on BMI alone when diagnosing eating disorders in children, says NHS England
The inside track on curbing UK prison violence | Letters
She’s just autistic Barbie – let children play | Letters