The most dangerous battle facing Trump isn’t in Iran

It had the feel of two ageing dons sparring in the senior common room, both smugly full of self-admiration with their own cleverness. This was the encounter between two of Maga’s leading intellectual apostles: Senator Ted Cruz from Texas (Princeton University and Harvard Law) and one-time Fox News host, unrivalled leader in white grievance politics and influential beyond justification, Tucker Carlson.

There was an “en garde” – and from there they parried and counterparried in an interview broadcast this week. There was the occasional lunge as the two fiftysomethings engaged in their dialectic on the wisdom or otherwise of Donald Trump allowing the US to become dragged into the Iran/Israel conflict.

It has been one of the articles of faith, one of the foundational beliefs of the Maga movement that America should not be the world’s policeman – although the isolationist, pull-up-the-drawbridge, let the rest of the world get on with it school of thought is nothing new.

There’s always been that strand to American thought, even if Donald Trump is shouting it more loudly. There is also a more practical, realpolitik side to it in Trump’s mind. Put simply, what good did it ever do a president? LBJ felled by Vietnam; Bush 43 and his neocon Iraq misadventure; Biden and the calamitous Afghan withdrawal. In Trump’s mind, nothing positive ever comes of it, so why go there in the first place?

For all the lofty words between messers Cruz and Carlson, the row boils down to this. According to Carlson, if America First means anything, it requires you staying out of other people’s wars. Meanwhile, Ted “yeah, but” Cruz’s view was Iran is a menace, we like Israel, they are our ally and we have to be on their side – and the clincher: the mullahs in Tehran had earlier made clear they wanted to assassinate Trump, so America does have a dog in the fight.

It is a faultline that is running through Maga. And where the president, who just celebrated his 79th birthday with a military parade in Washington, is seemingly treading tentatively. Leave aside the paradox of Trump wanting a military parade for an armed forces he never wants to use (except maybe for vanity parades through the centre of DC, or to deploy for civil protests in California), the acolytes are picking up their ideological swords and clashing with each other over whether to send a B-2 bomber from the US airbase at Diego Garcia armed with a MOP, a 30,000lb “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” strapped to the undercarriage to bomb Iran’s nuclear site buried deep in the mountains.

Trump has said he will decide in the next two weeks if the US will get directly involved in supporting Israel’s attacks.

The most interesting intervention has come from the vice-president, JD Vance, who is seen as an arch proponent of isolationism. Of course, he has to do the president’s bidding – but his was a carefully argued case on X (if anything can be carefully litigated on X). His argument was that if Iran was only interested in civil nuclear power, why did it need to enrich uranium to the levels it was doing? And therefore, if Iran got hold of a nuclear weapon, just think what a menace it would be to American interests in the Middle East.

Understandably, around the world, the question of whether the US will get involved in attacking Iran is garnering all the headlines – it could be the most consequential decision of Trump’s second term. But within the US, there is another foundational argument about the core principles of Maga roiling the populist right. And it’s over illegal immigration.

Go to more or less any restaurant in the US and you will find there are two classes of servers. There are the waiters and waitresses who will take your food order – in Washington, they are invariably college kids, and in New York, out-of-work actors. And then there is the lower strata of plate-clearers and water-glass fillers. And they are more often than not Hispanic.

It is the same in garden work or road construction. Likewise hotels. And in the fruit basket of California – the central belt – almost all the fruit is picked by Latinos. A huge percentage of these workers are “illegals”, totally in the crosshairs of Trump’s promise to purge the US of this shadow workforce.

The problem is – just like over whether to bomb Iran – ideological purity is banging its head against practical politics. Trump this week told his immigration chief to ease off the gas when it comes to deporting hotel workers and those in the fields and those clearing the plates. Why? Because a lot of these industries would collapse without the plentiful supply of cheap immigrant labour. And Trump’s wealthy friends with hotel chains and big agriculture interests have told him so. Cue Maga divisions over whether the president is going soft and betraying his promises.

All of which brings us to the president himself. The Iran decision is weighing heavily. He has given himself a two-week window to make his call. But to those who question his Maga bona fides, he more or less said this: I invented it, I decide what it means – and anyway, my base loves me more than it ever did.

All of which could lead one to the uncomfortable conclusion: that the real battle for Trump is at home, not Iran.

Ex-analyst guilty of £1m insider trading while WFH during Covid lockdown

A former research analyst at the investment firm Janus Henderson has been found guilty of insider trading after making around £1m during the Covid lockdown, along with his sister.

Redinel Korfuzi and his sibling Oerta Korfuzi were charged by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with conspiracy to commit insider dealing and money laundering, between January 2019 and March 2021, and were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court after pleading not guilty.

Mr Korfuzi was accused of using confidential information gathered during his work to place a particular type of complex trade, called Contracts for Difference (CFDs), through accounts owned by his sister and two other co-defendants.

Prosecutors alleged that he used lockdown as cover for his operation, keeping it “hidden from the supervising eyes and ears of his colleagues” while working from home, reported the Financial Times reported earlier this year.

In this manner, Mr Korfuzi made £963,000 in around six months and “was at the absolute centre” of matters, said the prosecutor, benefitting from share price changes of at least 13 companies, including Jet2, Daimler and THG.

Their trading was detected by FCA market monitoring systems, despite Mr Korfuzi’s apparent efforts to hide his involvement.

The brother and sister were also convicted of money laundering, with the FCA saying they received money from the proceeds of crime, with more than 176 cash deposits totalling over £198,000. The source of that money was unrelated to charges of insider dealing.

Insider trading is punishable by up to ten years in prison, but these charges predate a rule change increasing that time, meaning the pair face a maximum of seven years and/or a fine.

For money laundering, a fine and/or up to 14 years imprisonment is the maximum.

His Honour Judge Milne told the pair on Thursday: “These are serious matters of which you’ve been convicted and the sentences will reflect that.”

Steve Smart, joint executive director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “We are committed to fighting financial crime and protecting the integrity of our markets. Those who use inside information to unlawfully make profits should be aware that we will identify them and bring them to justice.”

Mr and Ms Korfuzi are set to be sentenced on 4 July and the FCA are also to apply for confiscation orders to recover the proceeds of crime.

The jury cleared their two co-defendants, Rogerio de Aquino – Mr Korfuzi’s personal trainer – and Dema Almeziad of both charges. Their accounts were also used to place trades but they said in statements they had been “hoodwinked” and “duped”.

Ms Almeziad’s lawyer Roger Sahota said in a statement: “This case should never have been brought. There was no evidence that Ms Almeziad knew anything about insider dealing and it is wrong to expect ordinary people to understand or spot complex financial conduct that even professionals struggle with.”

Janus Henderson was not involved in the case or accused of wrongdoing.

Thunderstorm warning issued in midst of 34C heatwave

The Met Office has issued a weather warning for thunderstorms in parts of England this weekend as a heatwave continues to grip the UK.

A yellow thunderstorm warning is in place on Saturday and Sunday, the forecaster said, adding that scattered thunderstorms may cause some disruption.

It is in place from 3pm on Saturday to 4am on Sunday.

The warning covers the East Midlands, West Midlands, North East England, North West England, Yorkshire and the Humber and some parts of Wales.

This includes major towns and cities such as Leicester, Nottingham, Durham, Newcastle, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and York.

The Met Office warned spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures, and there is a slight chance that power cuts could occur.

There is also a small chance that some communities become cut off by flooded roads, the forecaster said.

“Whilst many places will likely remain dry and unaffected, scattered thunderstorms may develop during Saturday afternoon, lasting through the evening hours, moving northeastwards before eventually clearing to the North Sea by the early hours of Sunday,” the warning said.

“The most intense thunderstorms could produce frequent lightning, large hail and gusty winds, along with some heavy downpours for a time. This may lead to some surface water impacts in places.”

It comes as temperatures reached as high as 30.8C on Friday amid an amber heat-health alert for all regions in England.

The alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for the first time since September 2023, is in force until 9am on Monday.

It warns “significant impacts are likely” across health and social care services because of high temperatures, including a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or people with health conditions.

By Friday afternoon, several areas across the country are expected to have passed the heatwave criteria, Met Office weather forecaster Dan Stroud said.

An official heatwave is recorded when areas reach a certain temperature for three consecutive days, with thresholds varying from 25C to 28C in different parts of the UK.

Temperatures will be in the low 30s, and probably be the peak of the hot spell on Saturday, as 34C is possible, still below the June record of 35.6C in 1976.

Sunday will be another very warm day in the south and east probably in the late 20s, elsewhere it will be cooler, with temperatures in the mid 20s, Mr Stroud said.

Argentina spoil Lions’ leaving party as tour begins with defeat

Perhaps the British and Irish Lions will stop inviting Argentina to their pre-tour party. 20 years on from a narrow escape and dispiriting draw kicked things off with a whimper in Cardiff for the 2005 vintage, the current crop were beaten as the Pumas had their day in Dublin. The result here, of course, is only a mere piece of a wider puzzle that Andy Farrell and his stuff will put together as they gear up for the three Tests against the Wallabies but an opening-game defeat is unique this century; to term this game portentous for the tour as a whole would be perhaps to overplay it but the Lions have set off on the wrong foot.

With a cough and a splutter, then, the steamer is sailing on its slow journey to Australia. There were plenty of good bits in a spritely performance to excite Farrell but plenty also for him to chew over as the travelling party navigate south. A surprisingly bruising affair will leave a few tourists taking bruises and balms through security at Dublin Airport tomorrow, though the head coach did not fear any major injuries. A faulty lineout, a few curious kicks and some anticipated handling errors on a sweaty night were other possible bugbears, though there is plenty of time to touch up certain areas before the more consequential business to end the tour.

That said, this was a true test if not a true Test, the intensity shown by both sides befitting a fully-fledged fixture rather than the warm-up affair it may come to be known as in retrospect. If, for some, games like this are sacrosanct to the Lions idea – the concept of a touring team perhaps betrayed by them now playing so regularly on home soil – there could be no doubting that this was some occasion, scarlet stands right around the Aviva Stadium with the sea of red flooding Dublin.

They were treated to a cracker of a contest, settled in some style by a sparkling score from Santiago Carreras and a performance from fly half Tomas Albornoz to bedazzle any occasion. As if in ruby slippers, the left-footed Argentina No 10 patrolled, controlled and sashayed with his own dancing feet. The Lions would have been happy enough with large parts of their showing yet their opponents were far from undeserving victors.

After months and months of speculation, how welcome to at last have actual action to analyse. These opening fixtures of the tour are rarely classics, the Lions still familiarising themselves one another, still translating the texts to become sacred come the Tests. A slightly shaky start is to be, somewhat, expected given the uniqueness of the enterprise, the melding and moulding only just underway.

Yet there had been a different feel about the 2025 crop, as rugby-focussed a group as any Lions assembly in recent memory. This selection had rather chosen itself given the significant crop involved in finals last weekend and thus, perfectly rightly, not risked, but there was still plenty of intrigue in Farrell’s line-up, from a backline built to bludgeon to a locking combo that may end up back stoking the fires in the engine room come Test-time. Farrell will have confidence that there are a few more cylinders still to fire but this was a bright enough performance in many ways, with plenty of invention and ingenuity on show in their attacking play.

It appeared the Friday night mass would have reason to roar inside eight minutes when Luke Cowan-Dickie showed serious strength to thrash to the line from a back of a maul, but the hooker’s hands were imprecise, fumbling as he attempted to ground awkwardly over his shoulder. Instead, there were muffled boos as Maro Itoje pointed to the posts; Fin Smith nonetheless replied to Albornoz’s early penalty.

The Lions had shown early glimpses of their attacking talent but the Pumas claws were just as sharp. A wonderful Albornoz pass, singeing Lucio Cinti’s midriff as it fizzed into the hands of Santiago Carreras beyond, set up a deft finish from Ignacio Mendy, before the Lions has a seconds score chalked off, this time for an Alex Mitchell knock-on in a tangle of limbs before Sione Tuipulotu collected. It was, however, third time lucky as an undeniable Bundee Aki bashed through.

Two more pings from the impressive Albornoz’s cultured left boot nonetheless left the Pumas in front before the fly half finished off something rather more telling. With the Lions searching for a strike before the interval down the left, the ball popped free and Argentina swarmed, Rodrigo Isgro and Carreras willing couriers before their 10 romped home to complete a special delivery.

An 11-point lead felt vital given the callowness of Argentina’s bench – but that advantage, and their resources on the pitch, were soon eroded as prop Mayco Vivas cynically inserted himself from the side to halt a driving maul a metre from the line.

The temptation would be to say that Vivas’s absence proved key as the Lions struck again quickly, though had his opposite number been on the pitch, Ellis Genge might have run over him two. Three or four would-be tacklers were scattered by a cannonball charge from the Lions loosehead, setting up the position from which Tadhg Beirne could knife in.

The South Americans were not, however, going to go away. Albornoz may lack the profile of some other sporting Argentine No 10s but he is increasingly making the shirt his own, and sparked another spectacular with a delicate dummy as Santiago Cordero applied the finishing touches.

Up went the volume as the Lions reinforcements arrived, Henry Pollock, Mack Hansen and Tadhg Furlong all on to escalating cheers; the introduction of Pierre Schoeman bringing a familiar Scottish battle cry. Argentina raised the ramparts for a last stand as Elliot Daly found the corner, and the Lions soon erred, a Beirne neck roll scuppering a penalty under the posts with the margin four points. So it would remain.

I was a scary Loaded mag editor before realising I was a trans woman

There was a moment around eight years ago that I’ll always remember. To most people, it wouldn’t have seemed like anything special. Perhaps it would even have gone unnoticed, or at least quickly forgotten. I’d been walking around Soho at the time, wearing some 5in, red block heels – these were serious heels (and I’m already 6ft 1in). I felt confident, womanly – finally, I felt like me. And I noticed a little boy spin around and, almost frozen in wonder, stare intently at me.

I had become used to staring since I transitioned eight years ago. Especially when I visit London, where I grew up, I tend to turn heads. Sometimes it’s people like the man in the street who didn’t want me to walk his way who notice me, or the mother at Oxford Circus who told her two kids to “get away from that freak” one afternoon. But then there are the stares like that one from a child in Soho. I recognised his curiosity – certainly I had felt it myself many years ago. “You might just have changed that boy’s life,” a friend with me at the time turned to me to say.

It had been a long journey to that point, so much of it inhabited by contradictions. Long before I was Kristen, I had been the production editor at 1990s lad mag, Loaded, where I was known as the “enforcer” – the tough one who kept the chaos on schedule. I was there to keep the pages running, keep everything going to get the magazine out while everything (and everyone) was unravelling. Including me.

I hadn’t always dreamt of being in magazines, but I did love writing and knew I wanted to be involved in some sort of publishing. I left university in 1989, having spent years living for the Hacienda in Manchester.

That was the start of it: the energy, the club culture, the music. My first job ended up being at The Big Issue, which was incredible, but also where my turbulence eventually got me kicked out – one afternoon, I turned up to interview Terry Christian so drunk from a lunch with the vendors that Christian called security because I was “scaring” him. Which wasn’t easy considering he was known as a very tough interviewer for The Word, a cult 1990s Channel 4 show, at the time. Still – fair enough.

Shortly afterwards, I got a call to say that a new magazine – Loaded – was about to launch. By then, I was deep in addiction, “across multiple platforms”, as I like to say. But James Brown, the editor, was so smart, so fast, so funny, so compelling that I knew this was the shot.

The staff were scared of me too – but I reckon one of the reasons why I was a reasonably efficient (or terrifying, depending on who you ask) production editor was because I was so suppressed. I did two weeks of hyper-focused work to get the magazine out every month – followed by two weeks of self-sabotage; partying, spiralling, blowing myself up completely. I don’t know how I managed to keep it going for 18 months.

Not only was it pure chaos – it felt like more or less everyone working there was having some sort of mental health or serious drug and alcohol issues – but I was also working in this hypermasculine environment, in the midst of this incredible dysphoric suppression.

People always remember Loaded for the testosterone, the bravado, the headlines and half-naked women. But I remember the women who wrote for us – Fiona Russell Powell, Miranda Sawyer, Jenny Éclair, Mary Anne Hobbs. They were whip-smart, witty, and subversive in the most brilliant ways. I didn’t know it then, but something in me was drawn to them. I didn’t yet have the language for why.

When I look back at those days – me, shouting at designers, running production, keeping the whole volatile machine on track – I realise I was holding something so tight inside, trying not to let it slip through the cracks. There’s a thing that happens when you transition. A friend of mine once described it as suddenly seeing your life in reverse – every moment lit up with new meaning, like stepping stones across a pond.

Really, it had always been there, even way back when I was 13, trying on my mum’s clothes. In later years, I would wear my ex-girlfriend’s leather trousers and boots and walk down Queensway in Nottingham at 2am, high and hoping to be seen – or, ultimately, to find a hot guy to sleep with. It was dangerous, desperate even. I felt alive, though.

In the 1990s, London still belonged to the outsiders. My friends and I lived in squats on the King’s Road. I remember dancing all night at a bar on Regent Street, where Prince once turned up and was told, “No VIP section here – this is a club.” It was where Pulp shot “Disco 2000”, a brilliant little place with multicoloured light-up tiles on the dancefloor. Back then, identity was something explored in motion, not worn as a hashtag. At places like Heaven or Subterania, queerness was ambient, fluid – it wasn’t the most interesting thing about someone, it was just there.

Contrast that with now, when everything’s got a filter and a definition, and the grassroots spots grown from alternative culture feel curated; it’s lost its spark, at least from where I’m standing. You can spend 15 minutes online and find out what’s trending at Colour Factory or the rave happening in Hackney Wick, what people are wearing (or not wearing). But it’s not spontaneous. It’s not born from a shared, lived risk.

I worry what it must be like now to be 14. I was wandering into Café de Paris in upturned cycling hats and rolled-up 501s, finding myself, not through algorithms, but by accident – by misfit energy, by music, by standing too close to a speaker at the wrong party.

That’s how it happened for us. But then, there’s another side to it – we didn’t have so many allies either, and certainly they weren’t so instantly accessible. Now, you can find someone like you whenever you need them, and that can be a powerful tool, too.

I didn’t find my people until much later in life. When I left Loaded in 1996, I was falling apart. I resigned with one line: “Right then, I’m off.” And I was. I imploded. I got a job at Total Sport, and didn’t turn up for seven weeks. Came back like nothing had happened. I was barely holding it together, teetering between addiction and unspoken dysphoria. By the time I was 30, I was really very unwell.

I went to a 12-step AA meeting, not long after that, and it was the first time I felt some real stability. I left publishing and started working as an international aid worker and photojournalist in central Asia before ending up in Australia. It was there, in Newtown in the Inner West, that I began to be surrounded by queer artists and subversives on a daily basis – and, for the first time in my life, things began to surface. I was no longer suppressing myself.

I felt at home but, even then, I didn’t know why. I’d had a very bumpy ride to get there. Imagine being on a plane with no seatbelt having escaped a war zone – I’d got out of Loaded, I’d been thrown up and down, and then had landed, somehow, in queer paradise. I began to reflect and see that all that masculine bravado had been armour I’d put around myself to try and feel safe. Turns out, it was powerfully claustrophobic.

When I look, I hardly recognise who I was. I’ve lived as Kristen since 2017, after a course of intense trauma therapy during which a therapist asked me if anyone had ever suggested I’m trans. As soon as I heard that five-letter word, I knew that was it. From that moment, everything started to fall away. I was working as a political adviser in addiction at the time and I walked into work the very next day, told my boss, and started dressing like myself: dresses, heels, the lot. There were inconveniences in terms of my workplace, my friends getting used to it – but I knew this was the truth.

Within three weeks, I was under a primary gender care specialist and since then I’ve been on HRT and had top surgery. And now I dress for joy.

I don’t regret Loaded. I don’t regret any of it. But now I can see it all for what it was – a holding pattern. A staging area. A place to hide before I knew how to be seen. I look back on all the years of clubbing in mad outfits, the horrendous “artistic” choices, and I know they were all necessary for me to find, not only my style, but my soul. All of those dark years, I felt I had no choice, but now I have freedom.

I’ve gone back to my love of writing, too – my play, Cruel Britannia: After Frankenstein, reimagines Mary Shelley’s novel through a lens of being transgender. It’s set in Thatcher’s Britain, in 1983, amid the tension between football hooliganism and club kids. It’s been a cathartic experience, and I hope it’s not just for me but for those who need it.

Perhaps like that little boy on Poland Street – I wonder if he remembers me. I hope he does. I hope one day that any little boys wondering if it’s OK to be different – to be themselves and be proud – can walk tall in red block heels, not giving a damn who stares.

As told to Zoë Beaty

Kristen’s play, ‘Cruel Britannia: After Frankenstein’, runs from 18-30 June at The Glitch, Waterloo. Tickets available now

What’s the secret to a truly stress-free holiday?

High-end cruising has entered a new era. Today’s luxury travellers aren’t looking for big flashy experiences. They want slow-paced, intimate travel and authentic cultural immersion. More than anything else, they’re looking for ease: that feeling of being genuinely cared for, safe in the knowledge that they’re experiencing the best of the best.

That means excellent quality food and drink, of course – it’s got to be restaurant standard and cater to all tastes – but also onboard enrichment experiences of the highest calibre. The great beauty of cruising has always been that not a second is wasted. Savvy travellers get to explore a rich and rewarding variety of exotic, off-the-beaten track locations, but instead of spending half their holiday stuck in motorway traffic, they’re honing their swing in the golf net, or sipping on a cocktail on the upper deck as they travel from destination to destination.

When they’re onshore they want genuinely immersive experiences that get them under the hood of a destination: think cellar tours of local vineyards or speedboat cruises to hidden beaches. Done right, a high-end all-inclusive cruise is the ideal form of slow travel, offering a perfect balance of adventure and indulgence, proper pampering and a thrilling sense of discovery.

The world’s most luxurious fleet

First among equals when it comes to the new era of luxury cruising is Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which offers more than 170 different itineraries visiting over 550 ports of call worldwide. Each of the six ships in their fleet is opulently appointed with beautifully designed communal areas and a huge array of amenities, but none of them has a capacity of more than 746 guests, ensuring space and freedom for all aboard.

The all-suite accommodation means that the private spaces are similarly roomy, each having a private balcony and marble bathroom. And service is always impeccable with a crew-to-guest ratio that’s nearly one-to-one, meaning that the team can always go that mile extra for all travellers.

Across the ships, the food is uniformly excellent. As well as Regent’s signature Compass Rose restaurant, with its daily changing menu of bistro classics like lobster bisque and New Zealand lamb chops, the different ships also feature a range of speciality dining venues. These include Prime 7, a New York-style steakhouse, Pacific Rim with its pan-Asian menu (be sure to try the miso black cod), and fine-dining destination, Chartreuse, where the chefs turn out sophisticated plates of upscale French cooking like Beef Tenderloin Rossini and Seared Foie Gras.

With a number of long cruises on their roster, Regent has made sure that each of its ships is akin to an ultra-luxury, boutique floating hotel with an incredible variety of things to do during the day and top-level entertainment at night. There are courts for paddle tennis and bocce, and the onboard spa offers a range of exclusive bespoke treatments. The ships host talks by experts in their field and cooking lessons are also available on some of the ships at the culinary arts kitchens where visiting chefs guide guests in how to make wow-factor dishes that relate to the ports of call. In the evening, the Constellation Theatre hosts lavishly staged productions from a team of Broadway choreographers and artists.

Destinations that match the onboard luxury

Of course, none of this onboard luxury would mean much if the destinations weren’t up to scratch, but Regent’s superbly curated itineraries are up there with the very best. Its week-long trips include culture-packed European tours like Glories of Iberia which sails from Barcelona to Lisbon, and thrilling frontier explorations such as the Great Alaskan Adventure from Whittier to Vancouver.

Longer trips include four-week Legendary Journeys from Athens to Montreal, and fully immersive explorations of the Arctic. Long or short, these itineraries are all underpinned by a commitment to taking guests right to the heart of a destination with the kind of bespoke onshore activities and expert-led insights that mean on a Regent Seven Seas Cruises voyage, adventure is guaranteed.

Visit Regent Seven Seas Cruises now to uncover the true meaning of luxury and start booking your ultimate stress-free getaway

Kremlin says Russia on the verge of recession

The Russian economy is “on the verge” of recession, the country’s economy minister has warned, as President Vladimir Putin prepared to address an event aimed at attracting international investment.

Maxim Reshetnikov told the St Petersburg economic forum that “current business sentiment and indicators” pointed towards an economic contraction, adding that “everything else depends on our decisions”.

He urged the central bank to support the economy when it comes to monetary policy as the Kremlin said that the current key interest rate – of 20% – was putting a break on the economy even though that was a conscious decision.

Mr Putin will deliver a speech about the situation in politics and economy at the event on Friday afternoon, according to state-run news agency TASS.

His comments came as one person died and 14 were left wounded after a Russian drone attack hit several high-rise apartment blocks in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin claimed the whole of Ukraine was “ours” as he cautioned that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border.

Council tax could rise in richer areas to fund struggling authorities

Council tax bills across the UK could soon see a major shake-up as a new Labour plan looks to make funding ‘fairer.’

Led by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, the plans will ensure more government funding goes to areas with the highest need.

The new approach looks to address issues in local authorities that are enforcing large council tax hikes every year while residents repeatedly see little return for this money. By making more central funds available to areas where demand is greatest, these areas will be more able to ask for lower council tax increases.

However, this will likely mean that less funding will be available to areas where local services are not stretched, and residents have not been asked to pay such steep bill rises in recent years. As such, these councils could be forced to recoup the funding from maximising council tax revenue.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) official told The Times that the current system has resulted in “perverse outcomes, where some authorities are struggling to provide basic services whilst others are better off”.

They add that the new approach would “ensure that government doesn’t reward places that have been able to keep council tax levels low due to having stronger tax bases”, and be “fairer to local authorities and their residents where they have had to take difficult decisions historically on council tax, often due to having weaker tax bases.”

About half of all council funding comes from central government, meaning the new method marks a major reform. The MHCLG has launched a consultation over the new measures to evaluate how the new funding allocations will be made.

This will include assessing the need of councils that provide adult social care, as well as looking at how to reform children’s social care and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) funding.

Nine in ten councils enforced the maximum possible council tax rise of 4.99 per cent in April, with six given permission to raise local rates even higher. These were Windsor and Maidenhead, Newham, Bradford, Birmingham, Somerset, and Trafford.

Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE said: “We inherited a local government sector on its knees—councils pushed to the financial brink, facing rising demand, and working people not receiving the quality local services they rightly deserve.

“There’s broad agreement across council leaders, experts, and parliamentarians that the current funding model is broken and unfair. This government is stepping up to deliver the fairer system promised in the 2017 Fair Funding Review but never delivered.

“These reforms are urgently needed to put councils on a stable footing and ensure better services for residents — especially working people — right across the country. It’s a key part of our Plan for Change to deliver the outcomes people deserve.”

Cllr Pete Marland, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Economy and Resources Board, said: “An opaque funding system has weakened councils’ financial sustainability and vital public services, and we will be working through the details of this consultation.

“Different councils will have contrasting views on these proposals. Individual councils will need to know the implications and a transitional mechanism is crucial to avoid putting services at risk.”