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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The writer is interim director of IPPR, a think-tank

First comes the reset. Then the renewal. And finally, the rejection. All governments have to go through these stages once the honeymoon period ends, according to Westminster lore. With the changeover from Sue Gray to Morgan McSweeney as head of Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation, the Labour government has got stage one under its belt.

The need for a reset is not a surprise. That it took less than 100 days is a cause for concern. The task now facing the prime minister and his new chief of staff is to make sure that the “rejection” phase is not also racing towards them, obliterating “renewal”.

To do this they have to deliver on the one-word slogan emblazoned across the manifesto: change. Unfortunately, it’s not off to a great start. Some early policy wins have been overshadowed by a scandal about donations to cabinet members and a mis-step on means testing winter fuel payments. They have focused their communications on defining Labour’s “inheritance” — but have been unable to land with the public that they have a plan to solve it.

If Labour is to succeed this time — and where so many others have failed — the downbeat tone has to change. It will need to learn from the postwar governments that genuinely transformed the country: those of Clement Attlee, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. Here is what we found stands the best chance of keeping the promise that Starmer made to the electorate of “a decade of national renewal”.

First, while transformative governments do blame their predecessors, as Starmer’s Labour has done since taking office, they also attack the ideas that underpinned them. In doing so they lay the foundations for a new consensus capable of supporting a different approach.

Attlee’s Labour attacked not just Neville Chamberlain as one of the “guilty men” who tried to make terms with Hitler, but the Conservative party for being wedded to economic orthodoxies that saw a million men out of work on the eve of war. This strategy was used to articulate the case for state intervention: to “win the peace” having won the war.

Today, Labour ministers must direct their firepower at the real travesty of the last two decades. Namely, the failure to build a new economy in the wake of the financial crisis and to invest in the future rather than simply cut from the present. This should be a springboard to argue for investment and reform. New polling by IPPR and Persuasion UK finds that voters will reward Labour for a bold Budget with a positive message about rebuilding Britain’s public services and infrastructure.

Second, a string of modest but strategic reforms can, in aggregate, deliver fundamental change. Thatcher is thought of as a radical who broke the trade unions. But her approach was initially moderate. Only over time was action to rein in the unions ramped up — and to devastating effect.

By contrast, most governments fail because they pursue scattered incrementalism. Buffeted by events, bad headlines and attacks from opponents, they fail to prosecute a consistent political and policy agenda in power. This is the biggest risk for Labour today.

The government has introduced a borrow-to-invest wealth fund, a package of employment rights, and a draft industrial policy. These are welcome first steps. But what matters if it wants to transform Britain is that these are just the start.

Finally, sustaining a political project needs more than just policy delivery. It requires a party in power to make the link between the change people experience and the politics they vote for. Thatcher’s Right to Buy was a masterclass in this — and Labour should take the lesson from it. In a single policy, immortalised in the image of her personally handing over the deeds to one family’s new house — she ensured that the upwardly mobile working class were in no doubt whose side she was on, and could say “Maggie got me my house”.

Labour’s task is to determine who it stands for: which groups of voters the party needs to win at the next election to secure the decade it says it needs. A winning coalition for next time is not the same as maintaining the one it secured in July. Delivering change for these groups must be the galvanising purpose of the government, its policies and how they are communicated. 

As one Conservative strategist reminded me the other day, the stakes are much higher than just partisan success. Trust in politics is at an all-time low. If Starmer fails it might not be a return to the centre right, but the emergence of a more scary populist alternative. His job is to show that responsible politics can also be radical politics. And evade — or at least put off — the day when rejection will, inevitably, come.

Awareness around neurodiversity is improving, but the narrative of it as an obstacle to success, rather than a driver of it, needs to change.

Recent research by Barclays revealed a shocking 96% of neurodiverse business founders said they face discrimination due to their neurodiversity, with almost half reporting experiencing it either ‘regularly’ or ‘always’.

Moreover, 78% said they have felt compelled to actively hide their neurodivergence in business settings.

These findings bring to light the extent to which neurodiverse folk feel they cannot be their true, authentic selves in their day-to-day lives.

It’s perhaps not unsurprising, therefore, that two thirds of respondents reported struggling to find traditional employment prior to launching their business precisely because of their neurodivergence. I can relate, and this is as sad as it is harmful to business.

True innovation is realised when challenges are approached through a rich tapestry of diverse minds and discordant thought

Ideas upon which the most innovative companies are based so often germinate from the fertile minds of those who process the world a little differently – we should be unstinting in our ambition to empower them to flourish.

Imagine a world where every mind thinks alike, follows the same paths and solves problems in the same way. It might sound like a utopia of harmony but, in reality, it would likely be a dystopia of stagnation and echo chambers. True innovation is realised when challenges are approached through a rich tapestry of diverse minds and discordant thought.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, the ability to innovate and solve complex problems is no longer just a competitive edge: it can be a necessity for survival. The demand for creative and unconventional thinking has never been more evident, and neurodiversity – the recognition of varied neurological conditions and ways of processing the world – may be one of an organisation’s most underutilised assets.

Rather than being the dastardly villains they’ve been portrayed as, the pirates who sailed during the Golden Age of Piracy were an inclusive and fair community

I have been re-watching the Pirates of the Caribbean films with my son (any excuse!) and was reminded of the marvellous book Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff.

It’s a manifesto, if you will, of how to buck the trend, overthrow the normal way of doing things, zig where others zag, and get stuff done to have a positive impact in the world. Conniff draws on the past as inspiration – namely the so-called Golden Age of Piracy between 1650 and 1720 – to positively challenge some of our ingrained myopia when it comes to the workplace and best business practice.

It may come as a surprise that rather than being the dastardly villains they’ve often been portrayed as, the pirates who sailed during the Golden Age of Piracy were an inclusive and fair community. These pirates lived by a strict code that focused on justice and equality for all. Yes, they were also a bit naughty sometimes, but just stick to the code for now!

For example, any pirate injured in battle received a payout from the ship’s shared pot of money – 800 pieces of eight for a lost leg, 600 for a lost arm and 100 for a lost eye. Pirate communities operated as democracies at a time when many people were excluded from having their say.

They didn’t just challenge the status quo, they changed every flipping thing

Same-sex marriage was accepted and celebrated aboard pirate ships. Surviving records from the 1690s onwards reveal all members of pirate crews were given a vote, including women. It would be another 240 years for women to get the vote in the UK. These pirates — men and women from multiple nations and backgrounds — weren’t afraid to change how things had always been when they realised how things could be.

What’s so profound and potent about the 18th century pirates who outwitted the navy for the best part of 30 years, is that they didn’t just break rules in purposeless anarchy, they fundamentally rewrote them. They didn’t just reject a society, they re-imagined it. And they didn’t just challenge the status quo, they changed every flipping thing.

We’re increasingly too wedded to unproven short-term models, and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say we have a homogenisation problem. We have a bunch of people that dress the same, that talk the same, that do the same things. That is killing innovation. Innovation doesn’t happen in environments where groupthink is happening.

If we were all a bit more pirate the world in which we work would be a whole heap more inclusive, productive, innovative and, dare I say, fun!?

The inclusion of neurodiverse talent can not only combat the risk of groupthink but can also propel organisations toward groundbreaking and unconventional ideas. Breaking free from conformity can help achieve sustained competitive advantage, enhanced problem solving, improved employee satisfaction and resilient organisational culture.

Breaking down traditional hierarchies creates more inclusive environments, and pirates were surprisingly ahead of their times in terms of diversity, equity and inclusivity. It was because pirates existed in the shadows, in the margins of society — overthrowing societal conventions and creating their own counterculture.

I don’t know about you but I can’t help think that if we were all a bit more pirate (with some obvious caveats!) then the world in which we work would be a whole heap more inclusive, productive, innovative and, dare I say, fun!?

By breaking down these barriers, organisations can drive toward establishing a more innovative workforce

Addressing these issues requires a proactive approach from both individuals and organisations. Increasing awareness and understanding of neurodiversity, including the different thinking and learning styles of neurodiverse professionals, as well as fostering an inclusive workplace culture, are crucial steps towards ensuring neurodiverse professionals are not only recognised but celebrated for their contributions.

By breaking down these barriers, organisations can drive toward establishing a more innovative workforce, fuelled by the boundless creativity and problem-solving prowess of true diversity.

Embracing neurodiversity isn’t merely a nod to inclusivity; it’s a shift towards unleashing the full potential of human ingenuity and it should be considered a collective responsibility to help champion these talents that may be hidden.

Phil Wickenden is founder of Ad Lucem

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to prolong a freeze on personal tax thresholds beyond 2028 in a “stealth” tax move that could raise £7bn a year and help plug a £40bn fiscal shortfall.

Government officials said Reeves was looking to lengthen the freeze — announced in 2021 by the then Conservative chancellor Rishi Sunak but due to expire in 2028 — in what will be seen as a covert rise in income tax.

One person briefed on Reeves’s thinking said the decision would not break Labour’s manifesto tax pledges, which only specifically ruled out an increase in income tax rates.

“We said we would protect working people and not increase rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT,” the person said, adding that a continuation of the Tory freeze in income tax and national insurance thresholds would help plug the yawning fiscal gap identified by Reeves.

A further two-year freeze to the thresholds for personal tax would raise about £7bn in 2029-2030, according to the Resolution Foundation think-tank.

The Treasury declined to comment on “Budget speculation”.

“It’s a no-brainer,” said Rob Holdsworth at the Resolution Foundation. “It raises a significant amount of money and it is eminently changeable if good news emerges later in the parliament and close to the next election.” 

The freezes to income tax and national insurance thresholds date back to 2021, when Sunak was attempting to build revenue in the aftermath of the Covid-19 shock.

The freezes mean thresholds are not adjusted for the impact of inflation, which pushes people into higher tax brackets — a phenomenon known as “fiscal drag” — and increases government revenues.

This has helped drive Britain’s tax burden upwards towards 80-year highs, with many people traditionally considered middle earners now paying the higher tax rate.

In an analysis in March, the Office for Budget Responsibility showed that threshold freezes were the biggest driver behind forecast increases in the tax burden. 

Tax as a share of GDP is expected to rise to 37.1 per cent of GDP in 2028-29, it said, some four percentage points above the pre-pandemic level.

Since fiscal drag does not involve changing headline rates, it has generally not provoked the public opposition generated by more explicit tax-raising measures. 

However, the freezes are also bringing more people into paying income tax.

Two-thirds of the adult population is set to pay income tax in 2027-28, compared with 58 per cent before the freezes started, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

It added that the number of people paying higher or additional rates of income tax had more than doubled since 2010. 

Former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that voters would be aggrieved if Labour prolonged the freeze beyond 2028.

Reeves’s allies have already indicated she is planning to make another big tax move by increasing national insurance paid by employers, but not employees. 

“I would be surprised if they did this because Rachel Reeves is already breaking one big tax promise,” Hunt said.

Reeves’s team insisted the NI rise for employers was not excluded in the Labour manifesto.

Supporters of Reeves noted that the Conservatives promised at the 2019 election not to increase income tax but froze allowances only two years later.

MARTIN Lewis has issued a warning to those aged between 45 and 73 ahead of an important HMRC deadline.

The financial guru told listeners of his podcast they should “sit up and listen” about the importance of buying National Insurance (NI) years to boost their state pension.

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To qualify for any state pension, you need a minimum of 10 years’ worth of NI contributions, and 35 years are required to receive the full amount.

If you took a career break you may have gaps in your NI record, which could reduce your entitlement.

However, workers can choose to buy years they were missing to ensure they meet the full qualifying years for the state pension.

Martin said an important deadline is approaching for those aged 40 to 73 to buy back years to help top up their state pension.

People have until April 2025 to buy back any missing NI years from the period 2006-2016.

Usually, there are strict time limits on buying back these years.

But when the new state pension was introduced in 2016, it was relaxed to help people with the transition.

This was supposed to end in April 2023 but was extended until April 2024.

However, from May 2025, you will only be able to buy back six tax years starting from 2019.

While there are six months to go, Martin said people should act fast, especially those aged between 40 and 73.

That is because anyone under 73 can make voluntary pension contributions, as it’s expected everyone under this age will claim the new state pension.

He said: “[People] between the age of 40 and 73 should be checking whether it is right for them, and you should be doing it now.

“Don’t become a deadline buster, where you’re doing it on the last day, get it done sooner.”

You have to pay money to buy back National Insurance years, with the figure for a full year usually costing £825.

The money-saving pro added that if you are just missing a week off a full year you can pay around £15 to ensure you are not missing out.

He added: “Some people might find they have a partial year, and it’s, therefore, a lot cheaper.

“This becomes even more lucrative in their case, to make sure they just get over that final hurdle and do a full year.”

Martin said people who pay £825 or less to buy National Insurance years, many gain up to £5,400.

This can rise to well over £10,000, with one listener sharing how she bought back seven years and gained £50,000 pounds.

How to top up National Insurance contributions and how much you can get

Buying back missing years can be really valuable, but it can be costly.

For example, if you fill gaps between 2006/07 and 2015/16, you’ll pay the 2022/23 rates for contributions.

It is worth £15.85 a week, which means it costs £824.20 to buy one year of contributions.

As the state pension was £185.15 per week in 2022/23, this boost would add £5.29 per week or around £275 per year. 

Although you’d have to pay £8,242 (10 lots of £824.20), the annual state pension boost would be around £2,750.

Someone who was retired for 20 years would get back around £55,000 in total (before tax).

Anyone under 73 can make voluntary pension contributions, as it’s assumed everyone under this age will claim the new state pension.

If you’re below the state pension age, you can check your state pension forecast by visiting www.gov.uk/check-state-pension to determine if you’ll benefit from paying voluntary contributions.

You can also contact the Future Pension Centre by calling 0800 731 0175.

If you’ve reached state pension age, contact the Pension Service to find out if you’ll benefit from voluntary contributions.

You can contact this service in several different ways by visiting www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service.

You can usually pay voluntary contributions for the past six years.

The deadline is April 5 each year.

For example, you have until April 5, 2030, to compensate for gaps in the tax year 2023 to 2024.

The deadline has been extended for making voluntary contributions for the tax years 2016 to 2017 or 2017 to 2018.

You now have until April 5, 2025, to pay.

Find out how to pay for your contributions by visiting www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance.

Anyone can give away up to £3,000 a year, and pay no tax. This is known as the annual exemption. If unused, this allowance can be carried over to the following year, up to a maximum of £6,000.

In addition, if you can show that the gift was funded out of income – as opposed to savings – you will not pay inheritance tax. There are also allowances for wedding gifts.

However, if someone gives a bigger sum, then dies within seven years, then the money may be used as part of inheritance tax calculations.

It is thought changes to a number of exemptions are under consideration for the Budget, including the rules around gifts that are given while you are alive.

ONE of the best airlines in the world has revealed their brand new cabins – with better seats in economy.

Cathay Pacific was named the fifth best airline in the world earlier this year in the SkyTrax Awards.

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It also won World’s Best Economy this year, as well as World’s Cleanest Airline.

Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam saying they were “extremely encouraged” after moving up from the top 10 to the top five for being one of the top airlines.

And launching this month are new cabins on their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

The economy cabin is being “refreshed” with new seat covers as well as improved ergonomics.

The inflight entertainment interface has been improved, while the headrests are now flexible.

Premium Economy upgrades include padded footrests, leather headrests and 12.6 inch 4K screens.

The privacy features have been improved with “wings” and dividers between the seats.

Reading lights, cocktail tables and extra storage are also part of the new designs.

The premium economy passengers also get their own bathrooms on the flight, with touchless flush, taps and bins.

And Cathay Pacific is rolling out their Aria Suite in business class.

The “crown jewel” of business class, new suite doors have been introduced for the first time.

The doors are similar to ones on other airlines such as Qatar Airways and British Airways.

The suites also have 24 inch TV screens, wireless charging and fancy suede walls and wool seats.

There are even new storage designs which have cabinets and drawers, with headphone hooks, drink trays and personal mirrors.

Brits can fly with Cathay Pacific on flights from London Heathrow and Manchester to Hong Kong.

Flights start from £670 return, taking around 11 hours.

Another airline recently revealed their new cabin designs.

Delta connects the UK to the US with flights from London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Edinburgh.

What is it like to go to Hong Kong?

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Cathay Pacific connects the UK to Hong Kong – and the Sun’s Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey visited.

“Hong Kong is a great stopover destination between trips to Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s easy to get around — the Metro is simpler than the London Underground and you can even hop on a “ding ding,” one of the many double-decker trams.

“There are amazing bars to choose from – Ozone is the the highest rooftop bar in the world while the Quinary was named one of the best bars in Asia.

“Escape the city for a day to Sai Kung, an hour away and called the “back garden of Hong Kong” although even reminded me of Hawaii.

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“If you want to stay, then the most famous is the country’s oldest hotel, The Peninsula.

“Dating back to 1928 and dubbed the Grand Dame of the East, it has since opened a hotel in London.”

Being introduced on their Boeing 757 planes, improvements are being rolled out in economy, premium economy and business class.

And we went to see what to expect from British Airways’ mega £7billion makeover of the entire airline – here’s what you can expect.

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