Not monsters, but truly monstrous | Brief letters

All I learned from Nick Clegg’s interview (‘If the people who ran Facebook were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked there’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, Trump and leaving Silicon Valley, 23 August) is (a) his fawning homage to his former boss means that he is keeping his career options open and (b) he still doesn’t get why people despise him for his role in the coalition government. Zuckerberg, Cameron and Osborne may not be monsters, but the real harms they have wrought and their lack of any kind of accountability, responsibility or contrition are truly monstrous.Simon CollinYate, Gloucestershire A letter (22 August) perpetuates the claim that Angela Rayner is bent on selling off allotments for development. It isn’t true, as is clear from a close reading of your 5 August article, which unfortunately had the unhelpful headline “Jeremy Corbyn warns rules on council asset sales threaten allotments”. They don’t, they haven’t been changed, and sales have actually fallen slightly

How to tax the wealthy without a wealth tax | Letters

Faiza Shaheen is misguided in her advocacy of a wealth tax (Rachel Reeves needs to find cash fast. A wealth tax really is her only viable option, 22 August).There are far more practical policies available to tax wealth as part of the progressive narrative. These are based on the idea of taxing the income from wealth rather than taxing wealth directly.This is the approach of Prof Richard Murphy’s Taxing Wealth Report 2024, which estimated a tax yield of £90bn a year from its proposals

Reform UK council removes St George and union flags over safety fears

A Reform-led council has started to remove flags and bunting displaying the St George’s cross and the union flag after concerns were raised that they could cause accidents.Durham county council issued a statement on X on Friday saying that while the council “understand and respect the community’s desire to express national pride, celebration, or remembrance, it is important to ensure such expressions do not compromise public safety”.The council claimed it had been “left with no choice but to remove bunting” after a risk assessment found that “rope involved was so strong that, had a high-sided vehicle driven into it, the poles it was attached to could have been pulled down”.The statement said the council’s “priority remains ensuring the safety and integrity of the highway network, while being mindful of, and responsive to, the communities we serve”. It encouraged residents “to consider safer and more appropriate locations for flags or other displays that do not involve highway infrastructure and conform to all appropriate standards and regulations”

Starmer names former Bank deputy governor as his chief economic adviser

The former Bank of England deputy governor Minouche Shafik is set to join Keir Starmer’s team as chief economic adviser.In a boost to the prime minister’s office in the run-up to the autumn budget, Lady Shafik is expected to take on the role after a year heading a Foreign Office review of the government’s foreign aid spending.A member of the House of Lords, Shafik resigned last year as the president of Columbia University after criticism of the treatment of Jewish students during anti-Israel protests at the institution’s New York campus.Shafik was previously head of the London School of Economics, a deputy governor of the International Monetary Fund and the top civil servant at the now defunct Department for International Development. In 2019 she was touted as a possible contender to replace Mark Carney as the Bank of England’s governor

‘Just hysteria’: UK faces a crisis but the Denis Healey comparison is overblown

International confidence in the UK government’s economic policies had evaporated. Growth was stalling, inflation was galloping, and Labour – back in power after a reckless Conservative administration had gambled on tax cuts – was in deep trouble.It was 1976, when James Callaghan’s government was forced to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for an emergency loan. Fast forward almost half a century and some economists are drawing obvious parallels.Just as Callaghan’s chancellor, Denis Healey, did before her, Rachel Reeves is facing a challenge to placate jittery global investors

Newly elected Scottish Green leaders to campaign on universal income and free bus travel

The new leaders of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, have promised to campaign for a universal income, free bus travel and higher taxation on the rich after winning a muted election contest.Greer and Mackay, who were both backbench MSPs at Holyrood, were appointed co-leaders of the Scottish Greens after a noticeably low turnout of 12.7% – only 950 of the party’s 7,500 members voted after a low-key summer campaign.They admitted the turnout was worrying. Greer said he had long believed the party had lost its energy, and significant changes to its structures, internal elections and campaign apparatus were needed