Budva is a popular holiday destination on the Adriatic coast
“Our people respect the Russian and Ukrainian people,” says Savvo Dobrovic. “I simply haven’t noticed any bad relations.”
It sounds like a recipe for tension and confrontation: tens of thousands of people from opposing sides in a bitter, protracted war descending on a small Balkan nation with its own very recent memories of conflict.
But Montenegro has managed the influx so far.
Since February 2022, Ukrainian refugees and Russian exiles have fanned out across Europe, fleeing war, conscription and Vladimir Putin’s rule.
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More than four million people have fled Ukraine for temporary protection in the European Union – to Germany and Poland and elsewhere.
But beyond the EU, Montenegro has let in in more than 200,000 Ukrainians, making it the highest per capita Ukrainian refugee population in the world.
Savvo Dobrovic says there is no disrespect between nations here
“Montenegrins are very patient, they are people who want to help,” says Dobrovic, a property owner in the Adriatic resort of Budva.
The word polako, meaning “slowly”, is integral to their way of life.
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“It amazes me – they’re a mountain people, but all that’s left from that noisy temperament is a desire to hug you,” says Natalya Sevets-Yermolina, who runs the Russian cultural centre Reforum in Budva.
Montenegro, a Nato member and candidate for EU status, has not been without its problems.
It has a substantial ethnic Serb population, many of whom have pro-Russian sympathies, and six Russian diplomats were expelled two years ago on suspicion of spying.
The most recent figures from September last year show more than 10,000 had benefited, and the UN says 62,000 Ukrainians had registered some legal status by then. That is nearly 10% of Montenegro’s population.
Thousands more have come from Russia or Belarus.
For all of these groups Montenegro is attractive for its visa-free regime, similar language, common religion and Western-leaning government.
Ukrainian children are offered a home from home in Budva by children’s centre Uniting Hearts
That welcome does not always extend to their quality of life.
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While there are plenty of jobs for immigrants in coastal areas, they are often seasonal and poorly paid. Better quality, professional work is harder to find. The luckier ones have been able to retain the jobs they had back home, working remotely.
Another difficulty is that it is almost impossible to get citizenship here, a problem for those who, for whatever reason, are unable to renew their passports.
There has been a strong Russian presence in Montenegro for years, and it has a reputation, perhaps unfairly, as a playground for the very rich.
Many Russians and Ukrainians have property or family connections, but there is also a large contingent who ended up here almost by chance, feeling completely lost.
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Pristaniste helps Ukrainian refugees and Russian exiles to find their feet in Montenegro
It was for them that non-profit shelter Pristaniste (Haven) was set up.
Based in Budva, it gives the most desperate arrivals a safe place and a warm welcome for two weeks as they find their feet.
They are given help with documentation, hunting for jobs and flats, and Ukrainians can also come for two weeks as a “holiday” from the war.
Valentina Ostroglyad came to Montenegro with her daughter and now works as an art teacher
Valentina Ostroglyad, 60, came here with her daughter a year ago from Zaporizhzhia, a regional capital in south-eastern Ukraine that comes under repeated, deadly Russian bombardment.
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“When I first arrived in Montenegro I couldn’t handle fireworks, or even a roof falling in – I associated it with those explosions,” she said.
Now she is working as an art teacher and enjoying her adopted country: “Today I went up to a spring, admired the mountains and sea. And people are very kind.”
The ongoing grimness of the war ensures that Ukrainians keep coming, no longer able to endure the pain and suffering at home.
Sasha Borkov, a driver from Kharkiv, was separated from his wife and six children, aged four to 16, as they left Ukraine in late August.
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Ukrainian Sasha Borkov is a recent arrival in Montenegro
He was turned back at the Polish border – he previously did jail time in Hungary for transporting irregular migrants and is banned from the EU. His family were allowed to continue to Germany while he, after a tense few days travelling around Europe, was finally allowed to touch down in Montenegro.
Visibly stressed and exhausted, he described how the war had finally driven him and his family from their home.
“When you see and hear every day houses being destroyed, people being killed, it’s impossible to convey,” he said.
“Our flat isn’t damaged but windows get broken, and [the bombs] are getting closer and closer.”
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Borkov said he had been looking at the possibility of going to Montenegro since the start of the war: “[Pristaniste] took me in, gave me food and drink, a place to stay. I rested, then I started looking for work.”
He has already found a job and his family are due to join him here. He is applying for temporary protection, and a place at a Ukrainian refugee centre.
Yuliya Matsuy founded Uniting Hearts children’s centre with other Ukrainian mothers
Elsewhere in Budva, Yuliya Matsuy has set up a children’s centre for Ukrainians to take lessons in history, English, maths and art – or just to dance, sing and watch films.
Many were traumatised by war, she says: “They weren’t interested in the mountains or the sea, they wanted nothing.”
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“But when they started interacting, their eyes were smiling. Those children’s smiles and emotions were something that’s impossible to convey. And only then we understood we were doing the right thing.”
Now most are settled. The younger children learned Montenegrin and now attend local schools, while the older ones have continued their learning remotely at Ukrainian schools.
Both charities have Russian volunteers, which has helped foster good relations between the Russian and Ukrainian communities here.
Ruslan Sukhushin/Facebook
Ukrainian actors Viktor Koshel (L) and Katarina Sinchillo have been collaborating with Russian musician Mikhail Borzykin (C)
Other parts of Europe have seen occasional friction. At the start of the war, Germany recorded a rise in attacks on Ukrainians and Russians.
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But there has been little of that so far in Montenegro.
There is a sense of tolerance here and Pristaniste and its volunteers have had a role in promoting it.
Sasha Borkov distinguishes between Russians he has met in Budva and those fighting the war in Ukraine.
“People here are trying to help, they’re not doing anything against our country, against us, against my children, [unlike] those who fire at and destroy our houses, and say that they’re liberating us.”
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Friendships have grown among volunteers and residents, and between residents, and one Russian-Ukrainian couple who lived at Pristaniste recently married.
Empathy is a major factor. A recent talk in Budva by Kyiv-based journalist Olha Musafirova about her work, in Ukrainian, had Russians in the audience in tears, horrified by their country’s actions.
For Ukrainian actor Katarina Sinchillo, Russian diasporas can vary and Montenegro’s is “sensitive”.
“I think the people who live here are a somewhat different community because it’s the intelligentsia,” she says, “educated people who can’t live without the arts.”
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Russian-Ukrainian joint projects are vanishingly rare.
But Sinchillo set up a theatre here, with husband and fellow actor Viktor Koshel, using actors from all over the former Soviet Union.
Their plays are well attended, she says: “Progressive Russian people, who are helping Ukraine, go with interest and pleasure.”
Koshel says the environment here is perfect for such contacts. ”Here the countryside is heavenly, it takes you away from those urbanist, gloomy, depressive moods, political propaganda etc. You go to the sea and all that disappears.”
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A sign in Ukrainian and Russian at the Pristaniste cafe invites residents to help themselves to snacks
They have also collaborated with veteran Russian rock musician Mikhail Borzykin, who has seen big changes in the Russian diaspora over the past three years.
Before the war, he says, “fierce arguments” about Putin in the Russian community were commonplace, but the recent influx of anti-war immigrants created a different atmosphere.
“The overwhelming majority of young people who have come here, they of course understand the horror of what’s happening, so there is agreement on the main questions,” he says.
As for the pro-Kremlin former members of Russia’s corrupt elite, who he calls the vatnaya diaspora, they are sitting quietly in the properties they bought in Montenegro years ago.
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“Conflicts are not aired in public,” he says.
Borzykin is part of a volleyball group of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians and says they are “all on the same wavelength”.
Pristaniste has a garage full of items available for residents to use
Despite the relatively warm welcome, the future of some immigrants remains uncertain.
Strict citizenship laws mean many of them will not be able to stay here indefinitely.
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Most Ukrainians seem keen to return home if the war ends, assuming they still have homes to go to.
“Currently there’s a huge threat to our lives, but if it ends of course we’ll go home,” says Sasha Borkov. “There’s nowhere better than home”.
But most Russians say it will take much more than the fall of the regime to persuade them to go back permanently.
Natalya Sevets-Yermolina, who comes from the northern city of Petrozavodsk, says she’s not in a hurry.
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“I have the problem that it’s not Putin that persecuted me but those little people I lived in the same city with,” she says. “Putin is far away but those who do his bidding will remain, even if he dies soon.”
Borzykin says he too is unlikely to return quickly, as attitudes could take decades to change.
“Germany needed 30 years [after the Nazis] while the new generation came along. I’m afraid I won’t have that long.”
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
When the artist Paul Anthony Smith sees an abandoned photo album on the street, he snaps it up like a lucky penny. On an afternoon in his studio in the Bronx, New York, he is surprised to learn that I didn’t do the same when I encountered one recently. “Oh no, you take it,” he says disapprovingly. “It’s so sad no one was able to adopt those images.” For Smith, these keepsakes represent an antidote to the scourge of iPhone photos; they are tactile and intimate yet anonymous.
The Jamaican-born artist is constantly filling his own albums with personal snapshots from his 35mm camera: a dinner party in London, Carnival festivities in Trinidad and Tobago, a beach day in St Thomas with his wife and children. Sometimes, he blows them up and uses them as the basis for large-scale compositions.
At Frieze London next week, Timothy Taylor Gallery will dedicate its entire booth to Smith’s work, marking the 36-year-old’s first solo presentation in the UK. Taylor describes Smith as “one of the most exciting young artists I’ve seen in a couple of years”.
Smith’s mention of disguising was referring to picotage, the novel technique for which he is best known. A portmanteau of “picking” and “collage” that originally referred to a French textile printing technique, the term also describes Smith’s laborious process of puncturing the surface of an ink-jet print with a sharpened potter’s needle over and over. (He studied ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute, which refined his attunement to surface texture.) “I don’t have assistants except for these 10 fingers,” he notes. The repetitive process is so strenuous that he often sleeps with his right hand in a brace. But it is also effective. The ritual can turn figures into ghostly apparitions or add a shimmering, lenticular overlay that reframes the entire composition.
At the fair, Smith will present several picotage works based on images he took of the ocean at sunrise while travelling across the Caribbean. The majority of the booth will be dedicated to thickly impastoed paintings of lush gardens, sometimes seen through a chain-link fence. Both bodies of work are informed by Smith’s identity as an immigrant — more specifically, the feeling of being simultaneously like an outsider looking in and an insider looking out.
Smith was born in Saint Ann’s Bay in 1988; his parents worked on cruise ships. After they split, his father moved to Florida and Smith followed aged nine. Often left in the care of his stepmother and three stepsiblings while his father travelled for work, Smith was an insider and outsider in his own home, as well as in his new country. His family was part of the Seventh Day Adventist church, following strict dietary rules and observing the sabbath. “I was always questioning religion and belief systems,” he says.
Smith’s picotage technique can turn figures into ghostly apparitions or add a shimmering, lenticular overlay that reframes the entire composition
Smith, who sports a bushy beard and a baseball hat, speaks like someone accustomed to translating his experiences for others. He loves a simile. Making an image on the wrong surface, he explains, is like wearing clothes that don’t fit; returning to a location and taking subpar pictures is like going to a restaurant and finding the food isn’t as good as you remembered. His art shares a similar impulse. “Everyone is trying to [be] like, ‘This is mine and this is yours,’” he says of his experience as an immigrant to the US. “I’m trying to visually pull people together.”
Smith’s Eye Fi Di Tropics series at Frieze is also inspired by twin sensations: watching a boat approach from the shore and watching a shore draw near from a boat. (The latter, Smith notes, is an experience shared by his seafaring parents and colonising figures such as Christopher Columbus.) In recent years, Smith has travelled throughout the Caribbean taking photos of the water, “trying to understand how [locals] saw people coming into their lands”.
Smith is also well aware that florals are friendlier for an art fair, where viewers have hundreds, if not thousands, of images competing for their attention. If he were to return to the UK for a gallery show, he says, he would explore more Caribbean imagery and potentially come back to picotage. But it is important to him that those works, which take more than 10 hours each to make, are viewed slowly, without distraction. “People always ask about the time it takes to make them,” he says with a sigh. I ask if that question annoys him. “It takes a lifetime,” he replies.
MORE than 9,000 British pubs are at risk of going bust within a year, a shocking new poll shows.
The survey found one in five boozers believes it is unlikely to survive the next 12 months unless the Chancellor reverses last year’s brutal tax hike on spirits.
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her Budget on October 30Credit: Alamy
Pub bosses argue the tax cut for draught beer has been a total flop, with only 4 per cent saying it provided any meaningful support.
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They are now urging Rachel Reeves to scrap the 10.1 per cent duty hike on spirits at the Budget, which they claim has not only hit pubs and distillers hard but has also cost the Treasury £298 million in lost revenue.
The poll of more than 200 pubs by Survation for the UK Spirits Alliance (UKSA) also found 89 per cent of pub owners have seen boozers in their area close in the last six months.
Another 58 per cent fear a negative outlook for their own business in the next year and 53 per cent say spirits generate a higher profit margin than other drinks.
Megha Khanna, owner of the Gladstone Arms in London, warned: “By choosing to support only beer and cider makers while raising taxes on other products, the previous Government damaged our pubs and bars and targeted those consumers who choose to enjoy a cocktail, gin and tonic or spritz.
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“The Chancellor can back pubs, and the fantastic spirits makers that supply them, by reversing the disastrous decision by the last Government to hike duty by 10.1 per cent, which heaped pressure on pubs, slammed the breaks on the gin-boom, and ramped up inflation.”
Founder of Westminster-based Tamesis Dock Neema Rai added: “This is a sector we should be proud of and invest in. Reversing the last duty increase now at a time of economic hardship is a win-win situation for the Chancellor and businesses alike.”
A Treasury spokesperson said: “Thriving pubs are often at the heart of our communities and play a vital role in supporting economic growth across the UK. That’s why it is important for us to act on the challenges that they face, including through our national growth mission.
“Business is at the heart of that mission, which is why we have pledged to cap corporation tax at 25 per cent, make the business rates system fairer, and publish a business tax roadmap so that future investments can be planned with confidence.”
Donald Trump campaigned in Juneau, Wisconsin, on Sunday and at one point rebuked his “stupid” campaign staff for showing the “wrong picture” as he once more hoped to debunk claims about his dwindling crowd sizes.
The Republican presidential nominee told his crowd again that he plans to be a dictator for one day if he regains the presidency and warned that the country is “finished” if he doesn’t.
Donald Trump berates ‘stupid’ campaign staff and doubles-down on dictator threat at Wisconsin rally
Kamala Harris hits back at JD Vance’s ‘childless’ attacks: ‘This is not the 1950s anymore’
Republican nominee falsely suggests rivals ‘tried to kill me’ as he returns to Butler, Pennsylvania
‘Dark MAGA’ Elon Musk joins Trump at site of assassination attempt
Melania says husband has always known her views on abortion
Harris praises Helene responders as ‘heroes in a time of crisis’
10:40 , Joe Sommerlad
If you’re still tempted by Trump’s lies about the government not helping hurricane victims, here’s Kamala herself with the receipts from her recent trips to Georgia and North Carolina as she praises responders for their help.
As we rebuild and recover from Hurricane Helene, we have seen strangers and neighbors alike coming together to take care of each other.
While in Georgia this week, I spoke with those impacted by the devastation to assure them we are with them for the long haul to help… pic.twitter.com/X0vvaFq2Xp
North Carolina: your local, state, and federal officials are with you for the long haul. We are doing everything we can to get the communities devastated by Hurricane Helene the resources they need. pic.twitter.com/FqvlVBMU2N
Truth Social: Trump repeats North Carolina hurricane lie, hawks books and bashes ‘dope’ Jimmy Kimmel
10:20 , Joe Sommerlad
Here’s the Republican’s latest social media offering, a poorly-proofread repetition of his latest serially-debunked claim about the Biden administration ignoring hurricane victims in key swing states:
“The the GREAT people of North Carolina are being stood up by Harris and Biden, who are giving almost all of the FEMA money to Illegal Migrants in what is now considered to be the WORST rescue operation in the history of the U.S. On top of that, Billions of Dollars is going to foreign countries! NORTH CAROLINA HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY ABANDONED BY KAMALA!!! DROP HER LIKE SHE DROPPED YOU – VOTE FOR PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. MAGA2024!”
Elsewhere, he’s been hawking his friends’ MAGA books (one of his least convincing sales pitches), pushing election lies in good time for November 5 and attacking his old foe Jimmy Kimmel, who will host Tim Walz on his show tonight.
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Remember this? What a dope! His wife and agent begged him not to do it, and just before BEST PICTURE AWARD, yet. He suffers from TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. All of this on top of really bad ratings for Jimmy, just like failing Bill Maher and the two clowns on CBS and NBC! NO… pic.twitter.com/eKxFGBFMD0
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) October 7, 2024
Here’s Kelly Rissman with a further debunking of Trump’s Helene nonsense.
Kamala Harris hits back at JD Vance’s ‘childless’ attacks: ‘This is not the 1950s anymore’
10:00 , Joe Sommerlad
Vice President Kamala Harris followed up her tour of storm-hit Georgia and North Carolina over the weekend with an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, in which she attacked Trump’s running mate JD Vance over his notorious “childless cat ladies” comment.
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“Family comes in many forms and I think that increasingly, all of us understand that this is not the 1950s anymore,” Harris said of conservative’s attacks on her.
“Families come in all shapes or forms and they are family nonetheless.”
Here are a few more choice extracts from her sitdown with host Alexandra Cooper:
Kelly Rissman has this report on Harris’s latest pod appearance.
Trump berates ‘stupid’ campaign staff and doubles-down on dictator threat at Wisconsin rally
09:30 , Joe Sommerlad
The Republican presidential nominee was back out campaigning in Juneau, Wisconsin, on Sunday and at one point rebuked his “stupid” campaign staff for showing the “wrong picture” as he once more hoped to debunk claims about his dwindling crowd sizes.
Trump asks his handlers to display a photo of his rally crowd and then complains when they put up the “wrong picture”: “They’re so stupid” pic.twitter.com/tO9TBfl1vQ
Trump told his crowd yet again that he plans to be a dictator for one day if he regains the presidency and warned that the country is “finished” if he doesn’t.
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He also promised to be as “aggressive” as the flies that assailed him at the lectern, told his audience of working people that he “hated to pay overtime” as an employer, suggested the federal response to Hurricane Helene had been “worse than Katrina” and that its victims would benefit from his buddy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service – before admitting he does not know what it is – spread paranoia about exploding eco-friendly cars and demanded an apology from 60 Minutes for trying to interview him.
Trump is lying about FEMA’s relief efforts.
FEMA is issuing $750 in Serious Needs Assistance for immediate distribution. Those in need can also receive other assistance once they apply for it. https://t.co/fLdClsoYTmhttps://t.co/qM8LsElUCS
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) October 6, 2024
Trump: “And the new thing is hydrogen cars. It’s got one problem. Ah, it’s very violent. If it blows up, you are not recognizable. ‘Please come down an identify your husband. There’s a blood stain on the tree.’” pic.twitter.com/JJF02fJbV5
Harris discusses what her mom taught her about ‘agency and autonomy’ on podcast
09:00 , Kaleigh Werner
Kamala Harris attributed everything she knows about “agency” to her mom during her October 6 interview with popular podcast Call Her Daddy, which Spotify has listed as “the most listened-to podcast by women.”
The vice president and Democratic presidential nominee joined podcast host Alex Cooper in Washington DC for an unfiltered interview where they talked about her upbringing as well as sexual assault, abortion rights, and criticisms against her.
Harris discussed her childhood growing up with two divorced parents and being primarily raised by her mom, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. When asked by Cooper what “values” her mom “instilled” in her, she said she learned the importance of expressing her emotions.
WATCH: Republican Senator can’t bring himself to admit Donald Trump lost the 2020 election
08:00 , Kelly Rissman
Trump returned to Butler, the scene of his first assassination attempt. What’s changed?
07:00 , Kelly Rissman
Donald Trump returned to the Butler, Pennsylvania venue where he survived an assassination attempt three months ago — but the 2024 race has dramatically changed since then.
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July 13 — the day that a lone gunman opened fire at the Butler rally, killing one, and injuring others, including the former president — marked a pivotal moment in the highly contested race.
Since then, President Joe Biden dropped out, a heavily scrutinized Secret Service identified its failures and underwent sweeping changes, Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate, enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris grew and Trump lost his lead in the polls, and yet another alleged attempt on Trump’s life unfolded on September 15 at his Florida golf course.
Trump often touts his economic experience as a successful businessman — but economists worry his plans for a second term would be harmful
05:00 , Ariana Baio
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Donald Trump’s economic policies are extremely popular with voters and often what supporters cite when asked why they support the former president in his third bid for the White House. But economists beg to differ – and they’re begging the public to differ too.
On the surface, Trump’s vague plans to lower corporate taxes, extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, implement tariffs on imported goods, eliminate taxes on tips and increase domestic employment opportunities sound appealing.
Though the former president has not released a comprehensive economic plan, he has consistently said he will lower costs for Americans and restore the nation’s finances back to a pre-pandemic era.
ICYMI: Trump reportedly asked Putin for advice about whether the US should help arm Ukraine
04:00 , Rhian Lubin
Donald Trump reportedly asked Vladimir Putin for his advice on whether the US should help arm Ukraine at their first in-person meeting.
The Republican presidential nominee, who has been vocal in his criticism of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, reportedly asked Putin “what do you think?” when the pair met in Hamburg in 2017, according to The New York Times.
Trump has wildly claimed Putin “would never have gone into Ukraine” if he were president and has touted his “very good relationship” with him several times.
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The meeting — which took place three years after Russian forces invaded the Crimean peninsula — was “an opening” for Putin to begin exploiting Trump’s “escalating political grudge” against Ukraine in a bid to weaken US support for the country, officials who were privy to the exchange have shared with the newspaper.
WATCH: Tim Walz bats down ‘distracting’ Fox News question on abortion
03:00 , Kelly Rissman
VP shares why she became a prosecutor on ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast
02:00 , Kelly Rissman
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Kamala Harris opened up about why she became a prosecutor on the mega-popular Call Her Daddy podcast.
“When I was in high school, my best friend, her name is Wanda, I learned was being sexually assaulted by her stepfather. And you know, I knew something was going on because she didn’t want to go home, she just seemed sad. And so she told me, and I immediately said, you have to come and stay with us,” Harris said.
“It upset me so, that someone, where they should feel safe and protected, were being so horribly abused and violated, right? And anyway, I decided at a young age I wanted to do the work of protecting vulnerable people,” the vice president continued.
“I mean, look, I was raised, I’m the eldest of two daughters, I was raised with my mother saying, since practically the day my sister was born, you know, look out for your sister, so maybe it started when I was two, but Wanda and her experience really convinced me and made me realize how this can happen and what we need to do to stand against it,” she added.
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“A lot of my career was as a prosecutor. And so it was about really wanting to protect the most vulnerable and where they did not have the power, and it wasn’t of their own choosing, but because they were the subject of abuse, because they were the subject of an imbalance of power, right? And so a lot of the work that I’ve done has been about wanting to restore, to the extent I could play a role in that, their right to have justice, to have a voice.”
Here’s more about her appearance on the hit podcast.
‘Can we try to think of any law that gives the government the power to make a decision about a man’s body?’
01:30 , Kelly Rissman
Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper asked Vice President Kamala Harris during her interview on the podcast: “Can we try to think of any law that gives the government the power to make a decision about a man’s body?”
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The vice president asked the same question of Brett Kavanaugh at his 2018 confirmation hearings.
Here is the original exchange.
DeSantis administration threatens local TV station for airing abortion rights campaign ads
01:00 , Kelly Rissman
Ron DeSantis’s administration has appeared to threaten a local TV station with legal action for airing an abortion rights campaign ad.
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The features a woman named Caroline who needed to have an abortion and cancer treatments after a brain tumor diagnosis in 2022. She praises Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion access in the state that currently has a six-week ban on the procedure.
An October 3 letter from the Florida Department of Health sent to WFLA TV’s vice president Mark Higgins claiming the ad is illegal under section 386.01 of Florida law that allows the state to remove any “nuisance” that “threatens or impairs” people’s health.
Recap: Harris visited North Carolina after Hurricane Helene ravaged the state
Monday 7 October 2024 00:30 , Kelly Rissman
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Vice President Kamala Harris visited the state on Saturday and visited Asheville — a city hit by substantial flooding during the storm.
“We’re here for the long haul,” she told a volunteer leader.
The Democratic nominee’s visit juxtaposes Trump’s false claims that the embattled region hasn’t seen “anybody from the federal government yet.”
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – OCTOBER 05: Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris walks to speak to the media before boarding Air Force Two after assessing the Hurricane Helene recovery response in North Carolina on October 5, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Harris was briefed on recovery operations at the Charlotte Air National Guard Base, visited a donation drop-off site for storm victims and met with impacted families. According to the Vice President’s office, 74 percent of people who lost electricity during the storm now have power restored. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) ***BESTPIX*** (Getty Images)
The internet is in hysterics over Elon Musk’s jump
Monday 7 October 2024 00:00 , Kelly Rissman
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Elon Musk spoke at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last night.
But the internet — namely users on his own social media platform — are focused less on his speech and more on his vertical.
An animated Musk leaped on the Butler stage, exposing his belly button.
Some users have even gone so far as to call the Space X owner as “the greatest jumper of all time.”
WATCH: Melania Trump discusses husband’s near-assassination in Pennsylvania
Sunday 6 October 2024 23:30 , Kelly Rissman
ICYMI: ‘Dark MAGA’ Elon Musk rallies onstage with Trump
Sunday 6 October 2024 23:00 , Graig Graziosi
Elon Musk, the CEO of X and Tesla, spoke during Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, and made the brazenly false claim that Democrats were going to eliminate elections in the US.
Trump — returning to the site where he was nearly assassinated in July— introduced Musk as the man who “saved free speech“ and as a “rocket builder,” claiming his company Space X was the only reason that American astronauts can return to space.
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The world’s wealthiest man took the stage in a black “Make America Great Again” hat and told the crowd he was “dark MAGA” — seemingly referencing the fringe far-right meme — before taking a swipe at President Joe Biden.
North Carolina’s scandal-ridden Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is losing by double digits, poll shows
Sunday 6 October 2024 22:15 , Rhian Lubin
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is trailing his opponent by 17 points in the state’s gubernatorial race, according to a new poll.
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Robinson faces an uphill battle as Josh Stein, North Carolina Attorney General, has 51 percent support of voters compared to the Republican’s 34 percent, the High Point University poll revealed.
Robinson, who has been rocked by public scandal in recent weeks, is also trailing Stein by double digits in two other polls released last week. The Washington Post poll puts Stein at 54 percent to Robinson’s 38 percent, while a poll from East Carolina University has the Democratic at 50 percent compared to Robinson at 33 percent.
Trump returned to Butler three months after an attempt on his life. But since then, has he changed?
Sunday 6 October 2024 21:45 , Kelly Rissman
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On Saturday, Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania — the site of his first assassination attempt.
The political landscape has totally shifted since the July 13 attack.
The ear bandage has come off, he has been named the Republican nominee, and he faces a new formidable rival, yet in the three months since the former president has sustained not one but two attempts on his life, shockingly, nothing about him seems to have fundamentally changed.
Donald Trump demands ‘apology’ from 60 Minutes after he backed out of interview
Sunday 6 October 2024 20:58 , Kelly Rissman
In Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon, Trump asked that the program “apologize” after he took issue with the network’s fact-checking about Hunter Biden’s laptop and crime rates.
Kamala Harris will appear on the program for an election special on Monday.
While the Trump campaign denies ever committing to the interview, CBS has insisted that he had committed to it but backed out on Tuesday.
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They weren’t “fact checking,” you morons. Leslie Stahl claimed Hunter’s laptop couldn’t be “verified” — which was, of course, complete BS.
President Trump was right then and he’s right now. 60 Minutes owes him and Americans an apology! https://t.co/2Olv0AyfxF
In photos: Trump returns to Butler, the site of his first assassination attempt
Sunday 6 October 2024 20:45 , Kelly Rissman
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA – OCTOBER 05: Supporters gather at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump is returning to Butler after being wounded in an assassination attempt on July 13th. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk reacts next to Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally, at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (REUTERS)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP)
Donald Trump is speaking in Wisconsin
Sunday 6 October 2024 20:24 , Kelly Rissman
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Speaking in Juneau, Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump is boasting about having the “greatest economy in history” during his term.
While bragging about the crowd size, he said he likes putting the “fake news” reporters to the back of the venues.
He promised a “golden age” should he be re-elected while calling his Democratic rival “a long nightmare.”
Many members of Trump’s party still can’t admit that he lost the last election
Sunday 6 October 2024 20:00 , Rhian Lubin
Many Republicans are still struggling to admit out loud that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Speaker Mike Johnson are the latest Republicans who can’t bring themselves to say that Trump lost the election.
Cotton was put under pressure by Kristen Welker on Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC, where she gave him multiple opportunities to put the issue “to rest.”
ICYMI: Elon Musk claims during Trump rally that ‘this will be last election’ if Republicans lose
Sunday 6 October 2024 19:30 , Kelly Rissman
Thom Tillis confronts Hurricane Helene recovery misinformation
Sunday 6 October 2024 19:15 , Kelly Rissman
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis took aim at his own party.
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Members of the GOP, including Donald Trump, have been pushing false claims about the recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene survivors.
“The last thing that the victims of Helene need right now is political posturing, finger-pointing, or conspiracy theories that only hurt the response effort,” he wrote.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.):
“The last thing that the victims of Helene need right now is political posturing, finger-pointing, or conspiracy theories that only hurt the response effort.” pic.twitter.com/TIaGjgtavn
Lara Trump pressed by CNN’s Dana Bash about FEMA misinformation
Sunday 6 October 2024 19:00 , Kelly Rissman
CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Lara Trump after her father-in-law Donald Trump repeated false claims about FEMA aid going toward Hurricane Helene survivors.
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Referring to the Biden-Harris administration, the former president falsely claimed at the Butler rally on Saturday evening: “They’re offering them $750, to people whose homes have been washed away. And yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of. They’re offering them $750. They’ve been destroyed, these people have been destroyed.”
Earlier this week, the GOP nominee baselessly claimed that Kamala Harris had spent “all of her FEMA” money on “housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country.”
In reality, the White House has clarified that survivors will get an initial $750 after applying to a Serious Needs Assistance program: “$750 is what is immediately available to eligible survivors. In addition, survivors may qualify for more FEMA financial assistance, including to repair storm-related damage to homes and property, find a temporary place to stay, and receive compensation for lost crops and livestock.” Read more here.
Bash asked Lara Trump, who is from North Carolina, whether she is “concerned” about the misinformation about being spread and how it impacts their ability to get help. “Look, Kamala Harris did say $750 per family right now,” she said before comparing the money spent on the “migrant crisis.”
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“You are right that FEMA is getting $750. But that is a first step,” Bash explained.
Watch the full clip:
Dana Bash to Lara Trump: Trump said FEMA is only offering $750 to Americans who had homes destroyed. That’s not true. He’s also spreading conspiracy theories who falsely claim disaster $ is being redirected for migrants. Why is he spreading misinfo?
Harris to address Israel relationship in new interview
Sunday 6 October 2024 18:30 , Graeme Massie
Kamala Harris will address the US relationship with Israel in a CBS 60 Minutes interview set to air on Monday.
In a sneak peek, Haris was asked by Bill Whitaker if the White House lacks influence over Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel,” Harris said.
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“When we think about the threat that Hamas Hezbollah presents Iran, I think that it is, without any question, our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.”
Economists have blasted Trump’s jobs and taxes plans as dangerous. Someone better tell the public
Sunday 6 October 2024 18:06 , Graeme Massie
Though Trump often touts his economic experience as a successful businessman, economists worry his plans for a second term would be harmful, writes Ariana Baio.
ICYMI: Trump falsely suggests at assassination attempt site that his rivals ‘tried to kill me’
Sunday 6 October 2024 17:45 , Graig Graziosi
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Donald Trump returned to the site where he was nearly assassinated this summer, but his brush with death doesn’t appear to have changed him in the slightest.
On Saturday evening, Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania — walking out to a live rendition of “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood — and opened with the words “as I was saying,” referencing the fact that his previous rally at the site ended abruptly when a gunman fired an AR-15 toward the stage, grazing his ear and killing one attendee and injuring two others.
Rather than giving the former president a new perspective on the political temperature in the country, Trump’s rhetoric appears to have become more volatile; during the rally, he suggested that his political opponents “maybe tried to kill me.”
Trump often touts his economic experience as a successful businessman — but economists worry his plans for a second term would be harmful
Sunday 6 October 2024 23:43 , Ariana Baio
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Donald Trump’s economic policies are extremely popular with voters and often what supporters cite when asked why they support the former president in his third bid for the White House. But economists beg to differ – and they’re begging the public to differ too.
On the surface, Trump’s vague plans to lower corporate taxes, extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, implement tariffs on imported goods, eliminate taxes on tips and increase domestic employment opportunities sound appealing.
Though the former president has not released a comprehensive economic plan, he has consistently said he will lower costs for Americans and restore the nation’s finances back to a pre-pandemic era.
The Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania ended with a lot of cheers, and a lot of trash.
An image posted of the rally site on X showed the area littered with garbage following the event.
X users dunk on photo of Elon Musk jumping for joy at Trump rally
Sunday 6 October 2024 04:15 , Graig Graziosi
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A photographer captured an excited Elon Musk leaping into the air after Donald Trump called him on stage to speak to a Butler, Pennsylvania rally crowd.
Another X user shared the photo and likened it to the opening sequence from a “bad 1980’s sitcom.”
Another happy customer of Musk’s X service saw the similiarities between the Tesla CEO and Poochie from The Simpsons.
JD Vance confirms to reporters that second Trump administration would seek to defund Planned Parenthood
Sunday 6 October 2024 04:00 , Graig Graziosi
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JD Vance reportedly said that a potential second Trump administration would seek to defund Planned Parenthood.
“On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood…our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late term abortions,” he told Real Clear Politics. “That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around, it will remain a consistent view.”
While Planned Parenthood does provide reproductive healthcare services, Vance is lying. The organization does not “fund late term abortions.”
Planned Parenthood does provide women’s healthcare services — like cancer screenings — in addition to abortions.
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Vance tells RCP that a Trump administration would seek to defund Planned Parenthood.
“On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood…our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late term abortions. That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time… pic.twitter.com/vNfzLt4Kli
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) October 5, 2024
WATCH: Lara Trump vows to prosecute ‘illegal citizens’ for ‘cheating’ in elections
Sunday 6 October 2024 03:45 , Graig Graziosi
ICYMI: Kamala Harris to appear on ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast
Sunday 6 October 2024 03:15 , Graig Graziosi
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Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly sat down for an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast this week, with the episode set to release sometime next week.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s appearance on the mega popular podcast was confirmed by a campaign spokesperson to Axios, the outlet reports.
Call Her Daddy is Spotify’s second-biggest podcast, coming in just behind the Joe Rogan Experience.
Alex Cooper, the creator and host of Call Her Daddy, recorded her episode with Harris on Tuesday, according to Axios. The outlet reports that the episode will focus on reproductive rights and abortion as well as other issues important to women voters.
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White House debunks Trump claim that Hurricane Helene survivors were only given $750 payments
Sunday 6 October 2024 02:45 , Graig Graziosi
A spokesperson for FEMA debunked claims made by Donald Trump during his Butler, Pennsylvania rally on Saturday that “they” — Democrats — only gave $750 to victims of Hurricane Helene. Later claims circulating on social media claimed that the funds were only “a loan,” which FEMA denied.
“This is not true. We do not ask for this money back,” FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg wrote on X.
The White House issued a statement on Friday responding to Trump’s claims.
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“More than 6,400 Federal personnel are on the ground, and more than $110 million in Federal assistance has been given to survivors, with more to come. We are sparing no resource as we work to ensure communities across the Southeast have prompt access to Federal resources that will enable them to both purchase essential items and begin their road to recovery and rebuilding,” the White House wrote in its statement.
The White House said the $750 figure is just an initial disbursement for people who immediately need financial assistance.
“It is an upfront, flexible payment to help cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies. There are other forms of assistance that you may qualify for to receive, and Serious Needs Assistance is an initial payment you may receive while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. $750 is what is immediately available to eligible survivors. In addition, survivors may qualify for more FEMA financial assistance, including to repair storm-related damage to homes and property, find a temporary place to stay, and receive compensation for lost crops and livestock.”
Harris, Walz to appear on “60 Minutes” interview that Trump turned down
Sunday 6 October 2024 02:19 , Graig Graziosi
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz will appear on a special edition of 60 Minutes on Monday.
According to 60 Minutes, the program offered an interview to the Trump campaign, which initially agreed, but then later declined the sit down.
Monday, on a special election edition of 60 Minutes: Bill Whitaker sits down with Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz as the race for the White House enters its final month.
The Republican ticket declined 60 Minutes’ interview request, after initially accepting. pic.twitter.com/gUQiom97DJ
In June 2023, London gallery owners Jacob Barnes and Jonny Tanna posed themselves a question: “Can two guys get up off the couch and run an art fair?” By October they had proved that the answer was “yes” with Minor Attractions, which launched as a satellite to Frieze. “We refer to last year’s edition as a proof of concept,” says Barnes, “but this year it’s a real art fair.”
Taking place at The Mandrake, a five-star hotel in Fitzrovia, the week-long event will commandeer rooms as fair booths, “creating a new context for London’s buzzing art scene”. Local exhibitors include Mayfair institution Sadie Coles HQ but also new nomadic gallery Bolanle Contemporary; others are joining from further afield: Tbilisi to Toronto to Seoul. “We want to create a level playing field where exciting project spaces stand alongside major international galleries,” says Barnes.
The native New Yorker opened art space Season 4 Episode 6 in Marylebone earlier this year, while Tanna runs north-west London gallery Harlesden High Street. Among their fair highlights are an LED light work by German multimedia artist Christian Jankowski, a life-size Plexiglas mannequin by Klara Zetterholm (both from Bucharest-based gallery Suprainfinit), and the deftly distorted paintings of Georgia Semple (with Deptford-based gallery Studio/Chapple).
Accessibility is key. Tickets are required but are free of charge, while a programme of night-time happenings is being hosted by the likes of dance music collective Touching Bass (which Semple is part of) and performance platform Diasporas Now. “It’s out with the old and in with the new,” says Tanna, “that’s what we’re trying to do.” VW
This year marks the 30th anniversary of not-for-profit arts and education organisation Studio Voltaire, and its director, Joe Scotland is on a mission. “Like many art organisations, the support we get from the Arts Council is very small — it equates to 4 per cent of our turnover,” he says. “But we’re being very proactive about it. We’ve established the Studio Voltaire Future Fund to support our work over the next five years; thus far we’ve raised half a million pounds.”
Based in a former Victorian Methodist church in Clapham, south London, Studio Voltaire is centred on a programme of exhibitions and events that champion emerging and under-represented artists. Frieze Week presents an opportunity to celebrate its three-decade output — from career-launching shows to the “Rainbow Plaques” initiative, honouring queer communities across London — but also to add to the pot.
To that end, Allied Editions is offering a lithograph print by British painter Rose Wylie — “Party Clothes (RW and Cat)”, 2024 — in the main fair, while at Casa Loewe on New Bond Street, the fashion label’s Foundation has collaborated with Studio Voltaire and artists including Alvaro Barrington, Anthea Hamilton and Sheila Hicks on a new series of limited editions.
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“Loewe is a really important partner of ours,” says Scotland, highlighting the Loewe Foundation / Studio Voltaire Award that supports an international residency as well as free studio space for London-based artists. “They also have amazing in-house artisans.” This has enabled Barrington to create a “chain wrapped in leather, which can be used as jewellery or a charm”, while Hamilton has conceived a leather fan, de-embossed with the phrases “Che Bello/Che Brutta” (How Beautiful/How Ugly). VW
Lygia Clark (1920-88) revolutionised art by making it interactive. Fed up with the rigidity of concrete art, the Brazilian trailblazer created works that were meant to be touched, manipulated and experienced by audiences. Her innovative “Bichos” (“critters”) were hinged geometric forms that viewers could fold and reshape. These feature in The I and the You, a major survey at Whitechapel Gallery that traces her output from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. During this period, Clark experimented with ways to transform art into a shared experience while navigating Brazil’s military dictatorship and, later, exile in Paris. The show includes paintings, works on paper and even performances restaging the artist’s participatory group works. KF
Myth and grief swirl through Marlene Dumas’s new exhibition at Frith Street Gallery. Its title, Mourning Marsyas, references Ovid’s tale of a satyr who challenged Apollo to a music competition; his punishment for losing to the god was to be flayed alive. In a haunting painting of the same name, the South African painter transforms this gruesome story into what the gallery calls “a homage to those prepared to die for speaking truth to power”. Drawing from a range of visual and literary sources, other works, with their spectral figures and blurred faces, allude to distressing tragedies or capture dark moods. KF
In Searchers, a two-part exhibition, Robert Longo continues his career-long exploration of diverse visual media. At Thaddaeus Ropac, the American artist builds on his multimedia “Combines” with a seven-metre work, “Untitled (Pilgrim)”, composed of five panels each executed in different media: charcoal drawing, video, painting, sculpture and photography. Inspired by Sergei Eisenstein’s montage theory and John Berger’s seminal book Ways of Seeing, the new work contrasts art-historical images with film stills, ads and news photographs of disasters to interrogate how meaning is created and disseminated. Concurrently, a companion piece, “Untitled (Hunter)”, will also be exhibited at Pace Gallery. KF
October 8-November 20 ropac.net; Oct 9-Nov 9, pacegallery.com
Letizia Battaglia put her life on the line with her work. Her career as a photojournalist began in the 1970s, and though she frequently captured daily life in her hometown of Palermo, she is remembered for her fearless documentation of the Mafia’s unrelenting grip on Sicily during the 1970s and 1980s. The Photographers’ Gallery will show a wide selection, from arresting images of small children brandishing guns to bodies beneath white sheets and a woman dancing at a New Year’s Eve party. NA
With decades of era-defining artwork behind her, it is difficult to imagine how Yayoi Kusama will continue to excite attendees at her latest exhibition. Yet with Everyday I Pray for Love at Victoria Miro, the 95-year-old artist does just that. Paintings feature her singular explorations of line and form and signature polka-dot patterning; treelike forms are made from stuffed and sewn fabrics; drawings of women’s profiles are given new life in bronze. But the big draw is Infinity Mirrored Room — Beauty Described by a Spherical Heart, where visitors will find their reflections refracted into infinity in a new light-filled installation. NA
Emajendat is the first UK exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Lauren Halsey. Her South Central upbringing is an integral source of inspiration in her work, and her mixed-media installations and standalone objects often explore material culture. At the Serpentine, pink plastic tubes are turned into palm trees and luridly coloured signs are emblazoned with brand names in a maximalist vision. Visitors will find themselves wading through technicolour sand dunes and wandering past mirrored walls and floors plastered with discarded CDs. NA
MILLIONS of households have just hours left to submit their meter readings amid the fresh energy price cap.
After tomorrow (October 8), Octopus Energy customers will no longer be able to backdate their October 1 meter readings, meaning they could risk unexpected charges to their bill.
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Octopus Energy has allowed customers extra time to backdate their meter readings from October 1Credit: EPA
Energy suppliers often recommend customers submit their meter readings on National Meter Reading Day, October 1, so they can secure an accurate bill when the price cap changes.
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However, some suppliers have allowed customers extra time to submit the reading from October 1 in case they missed the date.
Households on a Standard Variable Tariff (SVT) are affected by the price cap and should submit a meter reading.
Households without an accurate bill could risk being overcharged – or if they are undercharged, they could eventually owe money – so either way it pays to get it right.
The new energy price cap, which limits the amount that can be charged, is now around 10% higher than the previous level which had been in place since July.
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According to Ofgem, which sets the limit, this means the average dual fuel bill rises from £1,568 on average to £1,717, though the exact amount you pay still depends on usage and can be higher or lower.
The energy price cap changes every there months – for instance, in June, the cap fell to the lowest level in two years, from £1,690 to the previous rate of £1,568.
Now, a household in England, Wales and Scotland using a standard amount of gas and electricity will see their annual bill rise by about £149.
The price cap makes sure that prices for people on SVTs are fair and reflect the cost of energy.
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I lost £7,000 after a British Gas smart meter billing error destroyed my credit score
It is calculated using a range of factors, including wholesale energy prices, as well as network, operating and policy costs, and VAT.
In order to maintain an accurate bill amid the price cap change, customers should have remembered to take a meter reading from the first day of October.
Octopus Energy customers must submit this reading via the phone, website, or mobile app by the end of tomorrow..
Keep in mind that if you are planning to submit your reading via the phone, Octopus phone lines close at 5pm.
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If you don’t submit your reading by this date you can still tel the supplier later on, but it may not be applied to your next bill.
Can I backdate my meter reading if I’m with another supplier?
Octopus customers aren’t the only ones with hours to submit – E.on Next is another supplier which has set its deadline as tomorrow.
E.on Next advises that the best way to submit a reading is via your online account – the website also informs customers on how to take an accurate meter reading.
EDF, OVO and British Gas customers have a bit more time, with EDF’s deadline being October 9, OVO’s being October 11, and British Gas allowing another week, until October 14.
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EDF customers can submit meter reads through the EDF app, their online MyAccount, or via telephone, email, text or Whatsapp.
Ovo Energy customers can submit their meter readings via the app, online account, phone, Whatsapp or webchat at any time, however the closer to the bill date the customer provides their bill date, the less of the bill will need to be estimated.
For accurate bills, Ovo recommends customers opt for a smart meter.
Meanwhile, back in September British Gas said: “If customers take a read on 1st October, but don’t get a chance to provide it on the day, a form on our website, including on our meter read page, will be available until 14th October.
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“This will allow them to submit the read they took on 1st October and we will use that reading to calculate what they pay before the rates change.”
For customers of Scottish Power or Utility Household, the deadline to submit a meter reading has unfortunately closed.
What if I have a smart meter?
If you are on a smart meter, you do not need to submit a reading, as this is automatically sent by your device.
Those on prepayment plans or fixed rates also do not need to worry, as their bill is either predetermined, or their rate is locked in for the duration of their deal.
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Only households on an SVT are required to submit a meter reading, so they can avoid any disputes with their energy dealer when their bill comes through.
If you’re unsure what plan you are on, visit your suppliers website or revisit your paperwork from when you began your energy package.
If you’re concerned about the new price cap
If you’re worried about affording hiked up bills this winter, many energy suppliers are opening Support Funds to help struggling customers.
For example, British Gas has reopened its Individual and Families support fund, which in the past has helped over 21,000 British customers with energy debt write off grants of up to £2,000.00.
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Over £140 million has been set aside this winter season for those who are struggling financially.
This extends to British Gas customers and non-customers, who live in England, Scotland or Wales.
To find out if you are eligible, visit the British Gas website and search for the Individual and Families support fund – here you will find all the details available.
It is recommended that customers from companies with hardship funds first seek assistance from their own schemes.
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For example, Octopus Energy has recently launched a scheme for pensioners after their Winter Fuel Payments were slashed, offering fresh discretionary credit of between £50 and £200.
Scottish Power’s Hardship Fund has also handed out more than £60 million to struggling customers.
And Utilita also offers grants to its customers to help clear of minimise debt, by operating through its charity partner, Utilita Giving.
Utilita Giving also partners with other charities such as IncomeMax, which helps customers make sure they are claiming what they are entitled to, and Let’s Talk, which provides replacement white goods.
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E.ON’s Next Energy Fund also provides grants and appliance replacement services to struggling customers.
To find out what support your energy supplier is offering this colder season, visit their website or ring their helpline (which can be found online).
Help can also be accessed from the government via the Household Support Fund, which has renewed a fresh pot of £421 million funding for vulnerable households.
To find out if this is available with your supplier or council, and whether you are eligible, go to their websites and read the terms and conditions of the scheme.
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How to save on your energy bills
SWITCHING energy providers can sound like a hassle – but fortunately it’s pretty straight forward to change supplier – and save lots of cash.
Shop around – If you’re on an SVT deal you are likely throwing away up to £250 a year. Use a comparion site such as MoneySuperMarket.com, uSwitch or EnergyHelpline.com to see what deals are available to you.
The cheapest deals are usually found online and are fixed deals – meaning you’ll pay a fixed amount usually for 12 months.
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Switch – When you’ve found one, all you have to do is contact the new supplier.
It helps to have the following information – which you can find on your bill – to hand to give the new supplier.
Your postcode
Name of your existing supplier
Name of your existing deal and how much you payAn up-to-date meter reading
It will then notify your current supplier and begin the switch.
It should take no longer than three weeks to complete the switch and your supply won’t be interrupted in that time.
If you’re just looking for simple ways to reduce your bill this winter, each of these supplier schemes, as well as the Household Support Fund also offer free electric blankets as part of their deal.
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For example, Octopus have said they will distribute 20,000 electric blankets from Dreamland to its most vulnerable customers, keeping them warm for “as little as 3p an hour”.
The “heat yourself not your home” approach is trending fast, with retailers such as B&M introducing ranges of affordable self-heating appliances.
However, it is important to note that the elderly should not avoid turning the heating on if they are cold – for energy help contact your provider or local council, or read our article here.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
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