At 6am on the dot on Thursday, a 16-strong group of local residents began their daily callisthenics alongside a baseball field in central Tokyo.

The youngest was 72, the oldest in her late 80s, members of a generation that will wield outsized electoral influence thanks to demographics and political apathy as the world’s oldest nation prepares to go the polls on Sunday in a snap election.

It is a position of power with which they are not entirely comfortable, ahead of a vote that could loosen the grip on government of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic party and its new leader Shigeru Ishiba.

“It’s a shame. The younger people have the most to lose but they don’t seem to vote so much any more, do they?” said one, who gave her family name as Nemoto and her age at “around 80”. “They either don’t think they can change anything, or they have given up.”

“It ends up being old people like us who decide everything,” Nemoto said, adding that she would not be voting for the LDP, which the party that has controlled Japan for most of the past seven decades.

Both Nemoto’s age and her rising distrust of the LDP reflect critical factors, according to political analysts, in a potentially explosive election for the lower house of parliament that was called by Ishiba after he was elevated to prime minister earlier this month.

More than 40 per cent of the electorate is aged 60 or over, a globally unprecedented concentration of political power among people at or near retirement age.

They appear poised to disrupt the political stability that has characterised the country’s politics for more than a decade, as the LDP battles record low popularity in the wake of a political funding scandal and surging inflation that follows decades of low or no price growth.

Recent electoral history suggests older voters are much more committed than their younger counterparts. Turnout rates among over-60s average around 64 per cent, against an average 47 per cent for everyone younger. For the past three elections, among Japanese in their 20s, it has never risen above 37 per cent.

Part of the problem, said analysts, was that younger voters do not see themselves represented in the field of candidates. A recent Nikkei analysis found that among those standing in Sunday’s poll, only 11.6 per cent were under the age of 40 and just 23.4 per cent were women.

Momoko Nojo, director of the No Youth No Japan movement to promote young people’s interests in politics, warned that progress in raising the youth participation rate had been slow and that in its absence, bad policymaking would result.

“Young people decreasingly see politics as the mechanism for solving social problems,” she said.

Mare Yotsukura, a 20-year-old undecided voter and aspiring illustrator studying at Meiji University, agreed. “If a turning point doesn’t come and only the interests of the elderly are met, then we will just continue towards economic decay and political apathy,” he said. “We need generational change.”

But many voters have become disillusioned with Ishiba, who emerged from a nine-way leadership contest with a cabinet approval rating of just 28 per cent, one of the lowest ever.

“Ishiba went into this with an image of being a man of integrity and resolution,” said Jeff Kingston, a political scientist at Temple University. But the brash candidate who had called for an “Asian Nato” and boosting Japan’s underpopulated rural regions is now seen as a continuation of the status quo, having capitulated on a series of issues since taking office.

“People are realising that is not the Ishiba they have got”, Kingston said.

Analysts have warned that the LDP, whose image was already battered by the slush fund scandal, could lose its majority in the 465-seat lower house. Some opinion polls suggest the LDP’s coalition with its smaller ally Komeito could also lose the combined “absolute stable majority” of 261 seats or above that allows it to dominate parliamentary committees.

Some analysts say the LDP could be forced to seek additional partners among the smaller opposition parties after the election.

“We expected some form of punishment for the LDP in this election, but it now looks more seriously like they could lose their majority,” Kingston said.

Ordinary Japanese are also wrestling with rising consumer prices and a weak yen, which have conspired to counteract recent wage increases that, while large by historic standards, were not enough to make families feel wealthier. This has sharpened disgruntlement of the over-65s, whose fixed incomes make them more vulnerable to rising food and living costs.

Ishiba had aimed to use a sudden snap election to catch the opposition, led by the Constitutional Democratic party of Japan of former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, unprepared. With little time to co-ordinate during a two-week campaign, the opposition was unable to form electoral alliances and tactically run non-LDP candidates in each constituency. 

But even without that strategising, said political analysts, the election has not produced a sprawling field in many constituencies. Nemoto and her friends, for example, were running through their morning exercises in a borough with only three choices of non-LDP candidates.

“It’s a poor choice this time,” she said. “I really do not see much that is attractive about the CDPJ and its policies don’t seem very different from the LDP, but we need some sign of change in politics so I will have to vote for one of the other non-LDP parties.”

Her decision, if replicated across the vast bloc of over-65 voters, will force the LDP to rely on younger voters. Eri Hiragata, a 21-year-old finance student, is in the minority of young people who plans to vote, and will do so begrudgingly for the LDP.

“It’s the LDP by process of elimination,” she said. “It would be even worse if we left it to any of the other parties.”

Data visualisation by Haohsiang Ko

THE UK’s biggest water company has been thrown a lifeline to stop it running out of cash by Christmas.

Troubled Thames Water yesterday said it had secured a loan of up to £3billion.

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The new debt will give it the necessary breathing space to continue talks with other investors about injecting fresh cash into the business.

Chris Weston, the firm’s chief executive, said it was the “best option”.

If Thames Water — which supplies 16million households — does not find a long-term answer and runs out of cash, it will be transferred into temporary Government ownership.

Regulator Ofwat said safeguards are in place to protect water supplies.

Thames — which will be in almost £18billion of debt by the end of March — has asked existing creditors to put in £1.5billion to extend its resources to next October.

A further £1.5billion in loans can be accessed if it succeeds in its appeal against regulator Ofwat on how much it can put up bills.

Ofwat said in July the supplier could only raise bills by 22 per cent, but the firm wants a 53 per cent rise.

Castle Water, co-founded by Tory treasurer Graham Edwards, is involved in investment talks.

Infrastructure investor Brookfield, private equity giant Carlyle and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, who controls Northumbrian Water, are also weighing it up.

Stuff bought

CASUAL clothing brand White Stuff has been bought by the South African owner of Hobbs, Whistles and Phase Eight.

White Stuff, which has 113 shops and 46 concessions in UK department stores, has gone to TFG London, part of Johannesburg-listed THE Foschin Group.

Good week

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ELON Musk after his fortune rose by £20billion in one day when the share price of TESLA jumped on bold sales forecasts.

Bad week

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OLA Kallenius, boss of Mercedes-Benz, which revealed that profits had slumped by over half.

Members of DanceSydrome, a charity set up in Lancashire in 2009, have been invited to Japan to share their bespoke approach and methodology in how they support people with learning disabilities to be leaders, as part of a pioneering project to promote inclusion in Japanese society.

DanceSyndrome transforms lives, creating change and giving joy, hope and opportunities to people with learning disabilities, and their families. Through the medium of inclusive dance, the organisation empowers those with and without learning disabilities to believe they can achieve their ambitions in life, and that having a disability should never be a barrier to following your dreams.

At DanceSyndrome, people with learning disabilities co-lead inclusive dance sessions and take visible Dance Leader roles to inspire people to see what can be achieved when we all become more inclusive. All sessions are co-produced with professional Dance Artists working side by side with trained and qualified Dance Leaders with a learning disability to co-produce high quality inclusive dance sessions for everyone to enjoy together. The Dance Leaders are all visible members of their communities, who can regularly be seen leading workshops, dance performances and community activities.

In recent years, DanceSyndrome’s work has been recognised on a national level, with multiple partnerships with NHS England, Foundation of Nursing Studies and other national social care providers, as well as securing funding from National Lottery Community Foundation and Arts Council England (and is a 2023-26 National Portfolio Organisation).

The organisation is now celebrating success on an international level after recently winning a Gold Award in the 2024 International Stevie Awards as a non-profit or Government ‘Organization of the Year’ and has now been invited to Tokyo to share learning from their inclusive approach to co-delivery.

In September 2023, DanceSyndrome welcomed an international student, from University of Central Lancashire, called Ayuko Hara to volunteer in their Weekly Company Class sessions in Preston. Ayuko was so inspired by her time with DanceSyndrome that she reported this back to a colleague in Japan called Dai Matsuoka, who programmes the Tokyo Accessible Dance Festival on behalf of an organisation called LAND FES.

Dai reached out to the DanceSyndrome team to ask about the potential for them to share DanceSyndrome’s approach to co-leadership in Tokyo. Funding for this project was secured in Japan from Arts Council Tokyo and four members of the DanceSyndrome team will be travelling to Japan in November 2024 for a 10 day visit which will enable them to share their co-production methodology, supporting Japanese Dance Artists and dancers with learning disabilities to become more inclusive in their delivery of dance activities, with a view to encouraging greater inclusion in the wider society in Japan which currently is not as advanced as in the UK.

Tokyo-based LAND FES has been working on projects that build creative relationships between dancers and people from all walks of life, including people with disabilities, the elderly and young people receiving support for employment. Through international collaboration and interaction, they have learned that in Japan there are not enough examples of different work and creative processes that encourage inclusion in dance.

Co-produced inclusive dance workshops are very hard to find in Japan and there isn’t a system to share learning so that professional dancers can work in an inclusive way, meaning it is even more difficult for people with disabilities to learn to be leaders in dance and other aspects of society. LAND FES is keen to break this cycle by creating new opportunities, increasing accessibility to inclusive dance and deepening the understanding of its value within wider culture.

Dai Matsuoka from LAND FES said “I feel very honoured and thrilled that we have been able to invite DanceSyndrome members to Tokyo this November. As an organization that is committed to develop and promote inclusive dance in Japan, LAND FES will benefit so much from this international collaboration project. I believe that DanceSyndrome’s unique program should be shared more and permeated to empower people with disabilities all over the world.”

Julie Nicholson, DanceSyndrome Managing Director, said “This project embodies everything that DanceSyndrome stands for. We want to change the way that people think about learning disabilities by sharing the ways that we put inclusion and co-production into practice every single day. Our mission is to go out into the world and demonstrate that people with learning disabilities are able to be dancers and leaders or anything else that they want to be, as long as they are given the right support and opportunities to do that. We are so proud to have been invited to travel to Japan to be held up as an example of what good co-production looks like on an international level.”

DanceSyndrome Dance Leader John Burrow will be travelling to Japan with the team. He said “I’m excited to be going to Japan to share the Dance By Example workshops that I co-deliver here in the UK. Through DanceSyndrome I’ve gained social life, I’ve gained friends and a new outlook on my life. I’ve gained a lot of confidence in myself so when there’s moments of self-doubt I’m now able to kind of go “no, I can do this.” I’m looking forward to being able to share that with new people in Japan too!”

The DanceSyndrome representatives will be in Japan from 1^st to 10^th
November 2024. Photos and videos from the trip will be shared on the charity’s social media channels. You can follow them on X, Facebook, Instagram, Linked In
and YouTube
at @DanceSyndromeUK

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The UK should commit to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, the government’s independent climate adviser has recommended.

The announcement comes as Labour prepares its first climate plan since coming to power, with the government expected to make an announcement about the UK’s future emissions cuts at the COP29 climate summit in Baku next month.

Countries are due to submit a new round of “nationally determined contributions”, or climate plans for up to 2035 to the UN by February 2025.

Responding to a request from energy secretary Ed Miliband for guidance on the country’s NDC, the Climate Change Committee said achieving an 81 per cent reduction in emissions, excluding shipping and aviation, would be a “fair and ambitious contribution to the Paris Agreement”, the landmark international accord to tackle rising temperatures.

“With climate damages already felt around the world, targeting an 81 per cent emissions reduction by 2035 sets the right level of ambition,” said Piers Forster, interim chair of the CCC, in a statement on Saturday.

He added that this could be achieved in a way that benefits jobs and the economy, providing the UK’s 2030 target to cut emissions by 67 per cent compared with 1990 was met.

Labour is under pressure to rebuild the UK’s reputation as a global leader on climate change and diplomacy after the previous administration’s rollback on net zero policies weakened its global standing in this area.  

Last month, UK foreign secretary David Lammy vowed to put climate change at the heart of Britian’s foreign policy, framing global warming and the nature crisis as the defining geopolitical challenges of the era.

The CCC warned in July that the UK was off track to achieve its 2030 target to cut emissions by 67 per cent compared with 1990, with only a third of the reductions required covered by credible plans.

In its latest advice, the CCC said an emissions cut of 77 to 78 per cent would be needed by 2035 if shipping and aviation were included compared with 1990 levels. This was in line with the body’s previous advice to the former Conservative government adopted as part of its sixth carbon budget.

More than 50 business leaders, including executives from Unilever, SSE, Ikea and BT Group, urged UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to follow the CCC’s advice in a letter published on Saturday.

They called for the government to set out an “ambitious and investable” 2035 NDC at COP29 in Baku, but said Labour needed to go beyond targets and embed these in policy and implantation plans.

“By setting an NDC that is backed up by an updated and credible UK net zero strategy, which includes strong and long-term sectoral policies and clear timelines, we can work collaboratively to create a virtuous circle of private investment, accelerated action, and increasing ambition,” they wrote.

Andrew Prag, managing director of policy at the We Mean Business Coalition, a group bringing companies together to push for ambitious climate action, added that “detailed implementation plans for how the NDC will be delivered in priority sectors, like heating and buildings, will be vital”. 

Labour has pledged to become the first major economy to decarbonise its energy electricity system by 2030, and to create a new state-owned company GB Energy to channel investment into clean energy.

The CCC said an “ambitious UK NDC announced at COP29 will show UK climate leadership”, adding that its recommendation was informed by the latest science, technological developments, and the UK’s national circumstances.

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green party, said next week’s Budget would be “mission critical to meeting the CCC’s recommendations”.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We are grateful to the Climate Change Committee for this expert advice, which we will consider carefully before we announce an ambitious NDC target at COP29 to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.”

A NEW find at Home Bargains has parents across the UK buzzing with excitement as it’s scanning for only £30.

Savvy mum Rachael Anfield Whyte shared her discovery of the Dreamer Cosmetic Trolley, dubbing it the “perfect gift for little girls” this Christmas.

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The eye-catching cosmetic trolley, priced at just £30, is a dream come true for kids who love all things glam.

Rachael, whose six-year-old daughter has a passion for makeup and a love of pink, couldn’t resist the sparkling trolley.

Sharing her bargain find on popular Facebook group Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK, se wrote: “My little girl who’s six is obsessed with her big sister’s makeup, and she’s also pink mad.

“Spotted this in Home Bargains – so cute!

“It’s £30, which I thought was a bargain when most online are tiny for the same price!”

Rachael even added a photo of the trolley’s contents, highlighting the range of items that make it a fully-equipped beauty kit for aspiring young makeup artists.

The Dreamer Cosmetic Trolley is packed with everything needed for a glam makeover on the go, including a glitter eyeshadow palette, lip glosses, a nail polish set, and even fun accessories like nail stickers and body gemstones.

Its spacious compartments leave room for additional products, so little ones can grow their collection over time.

Designed for playdates, parties, or just a bit of dress-up fun at home, the trolley has built-in features like a pull-up handle and rolling wheels, ensuring kids can transport their beauty kit wherever they go.

The design includes a built-in mirror and foldable compartments, adding a grown-up feel to this pint-sized beauty salon on wheels.

As the holiday season approaches, Rachael’s recommendation could be a game-changer for those searching for an affordable yet exciting gift.

The post saw flood of positive comments from fellow parents eager to grab the trolley for their own children.

One user wrote: “We are on a hunt for this.”

Another commented: “I bought something very similar to this in Smyths for £60.

“When I seen this in home bargains I nearly cried, definitely a good deal!”

A third added: “I need this!”

It comes as Home Bargains shoppers are rushing to buy an “amazing” beauty gift set that’s scanning at tills for £8 instead of £31.

The “ideal stocking filler” features several L’Oreal products.

Home Bargains has slashed the cost of its L’Oreal Blemish Buster Gift Set from £38.99 to just £7.99.

That’s over 80 per cent off meaning customers save £31.00.

John Burn-Murdoch’s recent column “CEOs are moving left, but ‘woke capitalism’ is not the whole story” (Opinion, Data Points, October 19) touches on the shifting dynamics of corporate activism. However, I wonder if framing these shifts through the traditional left-right political lens makes sense, not only in a corporate context but more broadly.

The left-right divide has long been a convenient framework for categorising political ideologies, yet it seems increasingly inadequate in capturing the motivations and actions of both individuals and organisations today.

Initiatives such as ESG and DEI are not about shifting left or right; they’re pragmatic responses to evolving societal demands, risk and regulatory pressures. Reducing them to partisan moves misses the real story.

More broadly, today’s challenges — climate, equity, resilience — demand nuanced solutions that do not fit neatly into ideological boxes. This outdated framing fuels polarisation and stifles practical progress.

It’s time we reconsidered whether the left-right spectrum helps or hinders us in understanding modern complexities. Moving beyond it could open the door to more effective and collaborative problem-solving.

Professor Ioannis Ioannou
Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, London Business School, London NW1, UK