Politics
Callum Price: Davey’s downer on the ‘Dubai Deanos’ and why it’s such muddled thinking
Callum Price is Director of Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs, and a former Government special adviser.
When I was a child, I used to play Playmobil ‘cowboys and Indians’ with a friend every day at the after-school club (we were about 6 and it was the early 2000s, yet to be made aware of the cultural insensitivities this threw up). One day, my friend didn’t want to play anymore, because the club got a new SEGA Megadrive, which was obviously far more entertaining. I was gutted and rather petulant about it – until I too embraced the wonders of the SEGA Megadrive.
I was reminded of this recently when Ed Davey decided to use his intervention at PMQs as the war in the Middle East unfolded to take aim at those who have moved to Dubai and paid less in UK tax as a result.
Davey probably thought he was making a very sensible and patriotic point. Why should those who have left our shores be recipients of our support?
At first glance there is some instinctive logic to this. They aren’t paying in to the coffers, so why should they be able to take out of them?
However, as many others have pointed out, there are a range of problems with this logic; not least that no-one argued that those we evacuated from Sudan or Afghanistan at times of crisis should foot their own bill.
Not only that, but our entire welfare state system is built on the premise that it is there for British citizens when they need it. In an ideal world, everyone pays into it when they can, and gets out of it what they must. It might feel strange to consider RAF repatriation flights part of the welfare state, but the logic stands just the same.
If we want to be stricter about deciding who benefits from the Treasury’s coffers based on who contributes, then I’m sure many Conservative Home readers would happily partake. But it would surprise me if those who are using the Middle East crisis to take aim at ‘tax avoiders’ in Dubai would share those sympathies.
So, what is really behind the animosity directed at those who have emigrated to Dubai?
On the surface, it seems like a primarily aesthetic debate. The Dubai Deanos vs the British Patriots. To the former Dubai is a safe haven of sunny beaches and a (much) lower tax burden, much preferable to Broken Britain. To the latter, it’s a gauche and cultureless desert that could only appeal to the uncivilised.
I admit to personally being closer to the latter than the former on purely aesthetic grounds, but 240,000 Brits have moved there for something – friends and relatives among them. Can we not accept that people might seek to use their agency to go and find a better life for themselves and their families, even if it might not be our own version of a better life?
When we scratch beneath the surface it appears that many can’t, political elites and otherwise, which is a damning illustration of their attitude to prosperity. It is a sort of Dubai Derangement Syndrome; embracing decline because prosperity is gauche. The belief that having the gall to do something radical to improve your lot in life is an act of vile self-interest, and fundamentally un-British. Taking radical action to achieve something better is beyond the pale. We have it good enough and we should be happy about it.
It is the same philosophy that leads politicians to crow about ‘1.5 per cent growth, the fastest in the G7’ as a major victory: a broad comfort with mediocrity. It is managed decline, with a patriotic spin; accepting a lesser lot to spite those who have dared stray from the accepted path.
But we shouldn’t decry ambition, we should venerate it. In the week that Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations celebrates its 250th anniversary, we should remember just how important self-interest is to a functioning economy, we don’t create wealth or deliver prosperity without it. So why make villains of those who are demonstrating these values?
On the contrary, we should be doing all that we can to get them back, so they can achieve their aims in Britain and we can bask in the reflective benefits of their ambition. Dubai has a lot going for it inherently; so does Britain. But we can do significantly better in the disputed ground in between, by fixing our fundamental economic problems.
If people were more able to easily find fulfilling employment, keep more of the money they earned from it, and spend it on more than just their energy bills and replacing the phone that got stolen at the bus stop, then Dubai and its competitors might become relatively less appealing. After all, at six years old I was able to embrace the SEGA Megadrive to keep playing with my friend – and it turned out to be quite fun too.
Mr. Davey, you may not like what Dubai has to offer, but don’t tarnish those who do with the brush of ‘tax exiles’ and ‘washed-up old footballers’. If we were able to attract their like and their ambition, instead of scaring them away, we would all feel the benefits.
Journalist Owen Jones has scored a major victory in his legal fight against BBC editor and Israel fanatic Raffi Berg. Berg was suing Jones for libel after Jones accused Berg and the BBC of bias against Palestinians in coverage of Israel’s Gaza genocide.
Berg, who has gushed about an award from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, has been accused of collaborating with the CIA and Israeli intelligence. The BBC has deleted documentary evidence of Israel’s crimes and their impact on Palestinians. The corporation routinely downplays the murder of Palestinians and parrots Israeli propaganda. But Berg took exception and launched legal action for damage to his “professional reputation as a journalist and editor”, to the delight of Israel lobbyists.
But today, 12 March, the High Court has ruled against Berg on key issues in his legal action, judging that Jones was expressing an honest opinion based on stated evidence – one of the key defences against libel action.
Owen Jones said:
I am delighted that the High Court has ruled in my favour on the key issues in the libel case brought by Raffi Berg. The court rejected the claimant’s interpretation of the article and ruled that it expressed an opinion based on stated material.
I stand by my journalism and, if Mr Berg decides to continue the libel claim, I look forward to defending my article in court. I would like to thank my legal team at RPC Legal, my barrister Aidan Eardley KC, and Drop Site News, which published the article and has stood by my journalism throughout.
Berg now has to decide whether to continue the case, but his lawyers may well advise him to drop it as the risk of losing – and of a costs award against him – is now much higher.
Featured image via the Canary
4 min read
Most of us abhor torture – we know it is one of the most terrible crimes. And at Freedom from Torture, we see the long-lasting damage it causes to the people who arrive at our therapy rooms daily to try and rebuild their lives.
But even though it is absolutely prohibited, torture still happens every day – in conflicts, in prisons, behind closed doors – often with no accountability or justice for survivors.
Yet in the UK, public support for the torture ban is strong and growing – even at a time when world leaders are openly endorsing torture and human rights protections are under sustained attack.
That makes it even more troubling that, this week UK officials are at the table in Strasbourg negotiating with European partners on language that could limit protections against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
At the same time it was revealed that the UK is using universal jurisdiction powers, which allow for prosecution of international crimes wherever they are perpetrated, to bring charges against a man in the UK accused of committing torture and crimes against humanity in Syria.
Before its collapse in 2024, torture was a hallmark of Bashir Al- Assad’s regime. Freedom from Torture has been supporting Syrian survivors for years. Their experiences of the cruellest physical and psychological punishment meted out by Assad’s enforcers to crush dissent is beyond comprehension.
It’s vital that people understand that torture continues to cast a long and painful shadow, even many years on. And that accountability matters. The UK’s decision to prosecute a man for crimes committed under Assad – following similar prosecutions in Germany – demonstrates that international law has real teeth.
One man might seem like a drop in the ocean, but it sends a powerful message: there is no safe haven for those who commit international crimes. History is littered with torturers who’ve tried to evade accountability by fleeing the scene of their crimes. Universal jurisdiction means they have nowhere to hide.
For survivors of torture, justice and accountability is integral to the healing process. But these protections are increasingly under assault across the globe. Over recent years, human rights have come under attack in the UK – duplicitously reframed by those in pursuit of unchecked power as a threat to security rather than the bedrock of a just and peaceful society.
Article 3 is absolute. It guarantees that no one – no matter who we are or where we come from – can be subjected to torture or other ill treatment. There are no exceptions, no circumstances in which this right can be suspended. At its heart is the recognition of inalienable human dignity, the foundation of human rights law.
That is why it is so alarming that the UK Government appears to be a willing player in efforts at the Council of Europe to place limits on the scope of “inhumane and degrading” for certain groups. It risks undermining this principle and in so doing contributing to the erosion of the absolute ban on torture.
Even seemingly small steps to narrow Article 3 protections could trigger a domino effect – emboldening authoritarian states to follow suit and “legitimise” their own abuses. This would be a betrayal of torture survivors everywhere.
And survivors know better than most that when rights are lost, they are almost impossible to win back. Every safeguard we dismantle today will be a gift to those who seek to abuse power tomorrow.
Britain was a trailblazer in the evolution of the torture ban, stretching back centuries and helped shape the very human rights treaties now under threat. The UK has always been at its strongest when it has displayed moral leadership – showing that even in times of hardship, we do not abandon our principles.
It has never been more important that our political leaders defend and champion the torture ban that the UK played such a proud role in creating. This week the UK sent a signal that torturers may run, but they cannot hide from the law. Now, it must reinforce this by resisting any regressive steps in Strasbourg that could lead to the erosion of vital protections against torture. The world is watching.
Sonia Sceats is Chief Executive of Freedom From Torture
It’s hard to imagine the long, cold winters without The Traitors to keep us all entertained – but luckily, you won’t have to for a long while.
The BBC is remaining faithful to The Traitors and its celebrity spin-off as it renews the show until at least 2030, meaning we’re in for at least four more seasons of backstabbing, shocking murders and unpredictable roundtable action.
Tim Davie, the outgoing BBC director-general, announced the exciting news during a valedictory speech to The Royal Television Society on Thursday morning.
While the main show and its celebrity format had already been renewed for additional seasons, this new deal means The Traitors will run for at least eight seasons in total.
The Celebrity Traitors‘ second season will air later this year, following the runaway success of the first last autumn, with a further three star-studded seasons planned through to late 2029.
Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment commissioning at the BBC, said in a new statement: “We can’t wait to share many more twists and turns with viewers all across the UK in the coming years.”
BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry
Meanwhile, the CEO of production company Studio Lambert, Stephen Lambert, enthused: “The Traitors has become a genuine television phenomenon across the world, but especially in the UK, and we’re thrilled to continue the journey with the BBC.
“It’s hugely exciting that audiences will have many more years of strategy, suspense and shocking twists still to come.”
It’s no surprise that the BBC wants to keep the show on air for as long as possible, given The Traitors has become a cultural phenomenon and a mammoth ratings success.
The Celebrity Traitors debuted on BBC One in October to an average audience of 14.9m, with 15.4m tuning in to watch Alan Carr win the series.
BBC/Studio Lambert/Paul Chappells
Meanwhile, the most recent regular run – which aired earlier this year – also hit a series high with a record-breaking 9.4 million average viewers tuning in to watch the finale on BBC One.
This new deal also cements iPlayer’s position as the British home of the international The Traitors franchise, with versions from the US, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia remaining exclusive to the iPlayer.
However, although The Traitors’ future is secure, one element recently added to the show is not.
Speaking at an event at the University of East Anglia in Norfolk, Lambert admitted there are no plans to bring back the divisive “Secret Traitor” twist when the show returns to our screens next year.
“There have been other shows which have done something similar, where the audience didn’t know who ‘the mole’ was, and the trouble is you’re completely a victim of the edit… and that doesn’t feel very satisfying,” he admitted.
Filming for the upcoming fifth season of The Traitors is expected to start this summer, with the season airing early next year.
The Celebrity Traitors’ second season will hit our screens in the autumn, and although a line-up has yet to be revealed, the likes Ruth Jones, Danny Dyer and Alison Hammond are rumoured to be entering the castle.
Nuala McAllister, a politician from Northern Ireland, has said that the number of serious sexual offences committed by a unnamed former police officer in Northern Ireland possibly run into the hundreds. She described the numbers as “absolutely huge“. The Alliance Party Assembly member for Belfast North serves on the Policing Board. This board is intended to hold police in the North of Ireland to account.
The alleged offender was a serving officer at the time of the alleged crimes, which victims say were committed across almost an entire decade between 2000 and 2009.
McAllister made these comments following the announcement by the Police Ombudsman, which said they would be:
…allocating all available resources to ensure [our investigation] will be victim-centred, effective and efficient.
Ombudsman vows to prioritise investigation
The ombudsman’s initial arrest of the officer was on 17 December 2025. Since then it has been compiling additional evidence. Ombudsman chief executive, Hugh Hume, has said:
We have identified multiple potential victims, together with a substantial number of witnesses. We have also seized a large volume of material, including a significant amount of digital evidence, during a search operation.
He went on to point out that the the sheer scale of the investigation may impact other commitments:
Our resources are finite and this means that the timeliness of our other casework may be affected. However, this is the reality of balancing the demands of our complaints across the Office with the need to progress this complex and expanding investigation. If we do not prioritise now, in the long term we risk compromising the service we provide to complainants and victims, and public confidence in this office and the PSNI.
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Colin McGrath suggested there’s already a risk of confidence in the ombudsman’s work being undermined, saying:
An ombudsman, whenever they are carrying out their work, should not have to prioritise their workload, they should be able to deliver their workload.
This is especially concerning because the officer was part of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 2000. This police force has a troubled history. The RUC was known for its sectarian (religiously biased) policing. Moreover, it collaborated with loyalist groups in the murders of Catholics.
In 2001, the force was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). However, the officer under investigation continued his crimes for nearly a decade. This raises doubt about the effectiveness of police reform. Furthermore, the lack of resources for the ombudsman to ensure accountability only adds to these concerns.
Off-duty cops phoning DV victims
The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Jon Burrows, claims the ombudsman is wasting too much time investigating “late paperwork.” This sounds a lot like the government’s ‘efficiency savings‘ rhetoric amid ruthless cuts to public services.
He did, however, provide some useful insights from his time as head of the PSNI Discipline Unit. He held this role in the period 2019-2021. He discussed the case of another officer involved in abusive behaviour. This officer attended domestic violence calls and interacted with vulnerable women.
Whenever they got back to their station and they were on their own and they get back home, they would take the mobile number of the victim and they would start sending them personal messages from their own phone on WhatsApp.
They would just start that relationship building. Someone who had literally just been the victim of domestic violence, is receiving hours later off-duty, the investigating officer contacting them.
Burrows appeared to suggest there is no existing policy against this. Or, at least if there is, it is not properly enforced.
There needs to be a red line by the Chief Constable, you never use your personal phone in messaging victims. It’s done through your official phone and recorded on the investigation log.
The PSNI appear to be struggling with issues around sexual offences, handling far more cases than those mentioned. The Ditch reported in February this year that:
There were almost 50 domestic abuse accusations against PSNI officers in the last two years – but just a single dismissal and 17 incidents when no further action was taken.
The allegations include physical abuse, coercive control, harassment and sexual abuse and were made against officers from constable to superintendent rank.
Of the 46 complaints since January 2024, 22 cases remain ongoing. Of the 24 concluded cases four officers resigned or retired while two were subject to action from management.
“No further action” was the most common outcome – accounting for 17 cases, or 71 percent, according to records released to The Ditch under freedom of information.
They also cited a VICE 2021 investigation which discovered:
…two-thirds of concluded PSNI domestic abuse complaints between 2015 and 2021 resulted in no further action.
A history of failing women
Of course, appalling sexual violence from police isn’t confined to Northern Irish officers. The Metropolitan Police gave us the vile David Carrick who in 2022 pleaded guilty to 49 charges, of which 24 were rape.
He had a history of indecent exposure that was overlooked during vetting, and by police disciplinary bodies.
These crimes, whether committed by Northern Irish or British officers, are not only avoidable, they are enabled by a culture of impunity, procedural laxity, and, above all, an ingrained institutional disregard and hatred towards women across our police forces.
Featured image via the Canary/Unsplash
The most recent season of The Traitors introduced a new twist that split fans right down the middle.
In the latest run’s opening episode, Claudia Winkleman explained that, for the first time, a “Secret Traitor” was being appointed, who even viewers were being kept in the dark about the identity of.
Of course, in the end, the twist lasted for just three episodes, before Fiona was unmasked to viewers as the figure in the red cloak.
While the efficacy of the “Secret Traitor” twist is definitely still up for debate, Traitors producer Stephen Lambert has insisted it’s not one we should expect to see repeated when the castle reopens its doors.
“What I like about The Traitors is there’s so many ways that story can go […] once you add a different cast and once you think of some additional tweaks here and there,” he told an audience at the University Of East Anglia, as reported by IGN.
“After the huge success of the Celebrity Traitors, we introduced the idea of a Secret Traitor as a way of doing something that was different, but it wasn’t something we wanted to keep going with.”
He conceded: “The trouble is you’re completely a victim of the edit – and that doesn’t feel very satisfying.”
BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry
Filming on the upcoming fifth season of The Traitors is due to begin filming in the summer – as is shooting on the second season of the show’s celebrity counterpart.
While a line-up is yet to be confirmed for The Celebrity Traitors’ second output, a number of stars have already been rumoured to be joining the cast, including the likes of Ruth Jones, Danny Dyer and Alison Hammond.
Meanwhile, if you’re missing having Claudia on our screens, her new BBC talk show kicks off on Friday night, with her star-studded inaugural guests having already been unveiled.
Israel have bombed people sheltering in tents in Lebanon. The genocidal settler state has a habit of bombing and re-bombing the people it has displaced. Their practice of striking tented camps is an oft-repeated story of the Gaza genocide. Now, the people they have bombed in Beirut were only sheltering in tents because Israel had forcibly displaced them from their homes.
Israel escalated its aggression around 2 March amid a spiraling US-backed war with Iran.
Israel decimates Lebanon
Al Arabiya reported on 12 March:
In a statement, the Lebanese health ministry said “the Israeli enemy strike on Ramlet al-Bayda” in the center of Beirut killed eight people and wounded 31.
Adding:
An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a damaged motorcycle and two damaged cars, with the area sealed off by security forces.
The Cradle posted image of the strikes on 12 March:
Israel has committed a massacre of innocent civilians in Ramlet al-Baida in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where many people displaced from their homes have been sheltering in tents, cars, and on mattresses along the beach with nowhere else to go.
According to local reports, at… pic.twitter.com/GcL7ZRKOmx
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) March 12, 2026
TV host Marwa Osman said the strikes had hit in the Ramlet al-Bayda area, leaving bodies “scattered”:
🚨BREAKING in Beirut
A horrific massacre committed by the Zionist occupation against displaced civilians in tents in the Ramlet al-Bayda area in the heart of the capital Beirut.… bodies are reportedly scattered on the ground amid the rubble. pic.twitter.com/y65VuVqPU2— Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان (@Marwa__Osman) March 11, 2026
Outrageous war crimes
Filmmaker Robert lnlakesh said:
An outrageous war crime reminiscent of the massacres carried out in Gaza.
BREAKING: Israel Carries Out A Beach Massacre In Beirut
An Israeli strike reportedly targeted displaced people’s tents in the Ramla al-Bayda beach area. A huge number of dead & injured.
An outrageous war crime reminiscent of the massacres carried out in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/AUJ1a5S65e
— Robert Inlakesh (@falasteen47) March 11, 2026
Since the latest invasion began, Israel has been hitting targets throughout Lebanon – including in densely populated civilian areas of the capital:
In theory, Hezbollah breached a US-brokered ‘ceasefire’ with Israel which had held since their last war in 2024. In practice, the US has given Israel carte blanche to strike Lebanon ever since. Israel has done so constantly since the deal was struck.
You can read about the secretive Israel-US ‘side letter’ pact here. And our extensive coverage of Israel’s ceasefire breaches here.
Aseel Habbaj was displaced from other areas Israel had bombed. She has been sheltering in a tent near where the new strikes landed:
We saw dead people on the ground. We were all asleep in my tent, when suddenly we heard a noise. We jumped up and went to see what was happening.
Drop Site News reported:
The toll since the renewed Israeli offensive began on March 2 is: – Total Killed: 634+ – Total Wounded: 1,586+ – Displaced: More than 800,000 people (According to Lebanese Ministry of Health).
They added that Israel’s far-right finance minister had openly stated the genocidal settler-colonial state would make Beirut look like Gaza:
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated on March 5, 2026, that the Dahiyeh district, a southern suburb of Beirut, would soon “look like Khan Younis.”
Al Jazeera posted images of the damage in Beirut’s southern suburbs:
Aftermath of overnight Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/OgnafTvf8a pic.twitter.com/xqWfIyEHPJ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 12, 2026
Israel’s attack on Lebanon has a similar character to the Gaza genocide. It strikes civilians with impunity, while claiming to target terror groups. It’s unaccountable far-right leaders, meanwhile, openly call for the annihilation of Lebanese civilians and their means to life.
Featured image via the Canary
Migrant workers from poorer countries, including Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines, who form the backbone of the UAE’s workforce are increasingly bearing the human cost of the US-Israel-Iran conflict. At least 2 Pakistani labourers are confirmed dead so far.
— Zia Ur Rehman (@zalmayzia) March 8, 2026
This is not the first time poor labour from Asia has suffered in the GCC. In 2024, a fire in Kuwait, which left fifty workers from South and Southeast Asia dead, showed the vulnerability of migrant workers in the GCC countries.
The Wire reported the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit, with flammable partitions and a locked rooftop door trapping workers in an overcrowded building violating safety rules. According to the BBC, Kuwait’s deputy prime minister blamed property owners’ greed for the tragedy, saying “they violate regulations and this is the result.”
Scholar Adam Hanieh has shown that the “racialised and gendered” characteristics of the working class population in the Gulf States favour workers who are temporary. Hanieh wrote:
He shows how an Indian worker in Dubai isn’t paid based on how much it costs to live in Dubai. They’re paid based on how much it costs to live in India.
This means Gulf employers extract maximum profit from the Asian labourer while bearing none of the true costs of reproducing that labour like education, healthcare, housing and childcare.
So in effect, India and other south Asian countries are subsidising the Gulf’s wealth, and the border ensures the worker can never demand more.
Gulf states complicit
Ali Kadri, also a scholar on West Asia, explains why.
Gulf rulers park their wealth in US dollars, not in their own societies. As Kadri writes:
the merchant class wealth is mostly held in dollars, so it becomes one with US-led capital in the dollar.
They have “little to lose from forfeiting its production base in the home economy.” These South Asian workers are treated as servile and disposable. Mustapha Qadri, director of human rights organisation Equiderm, explained:
There is a conscious choice made to get workers that are from relatively poor countries, who don’t get paid as much and have a lot less power in the social dynamic of these countries, to do this difficult work – because they’re less likely to complain or to demand protection.
The US guarantees the economic security of these Gulf states. As such, they never have to build functioning nations with real citizen workforces. This US-led set-up favours both. The Gulf ruling class gets cheap labour and US protection. The US gets obedient allies and recycled petrodollars.
And the workers? They exist in an exploitative structure that treats both their lives and deaths as an acceptable cost for the gross skyscrapers that make up the skylines of the richest Gulf states.
Vassalage confirmed.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
10 Chic Spring Flats That Actually Survive The Morning Commute (Without A Blister In Sight)
We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI – prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.
Spring has only just sprung, which means it’s time for that tricky edge-of-winter transitional dressing.
You know how it is – you leave the house in the morning, and it’s freezing. Then by lunch, you’re sweating your life away, but when you head home for the day, it’s chilly again.
And heaven help you if you stay out past sunset and forget a good coat!
But one of the best things about this time of year is that the weather is suddenly a lot more flat-shoe friendly, what with the fact that there’s (usually) no more snow or ice to waddle your way through, and a lot less need for thick cosy socks.
If you’re looking for a little flat shoe shopping inspo, here are some of the best flats on the high street right now that are perfect for chic gals about town.
Donald Trump has insisted that “prices are coming down very substantially” even as the cost of oil continues to increase due to his war in Iran.
The price of oil pushed past $100 a barrel on Wednesday and stock markets fell as three more cargo ships were attacked in the Gulf.
Rates are currently at a four-year high comparable to the number seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Though the numbers continue to oscillate, as of Thursday morning, Brent crude oil – the most traded of all oil benchmarks – was trading at $97,90, an increase of more than 9%.
Trump’s decision to bomb Iran with Israel almost two weeks ago has sent shockwaves across the global economy.
Iran has retaliated by targeting US military bases in neighbouring countries and effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway which carries a fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Thirty-two countries including the UK agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil reserves on Wednesday in the hope of soothing the markets.
But traders are anticipating a “prolonged” conflict, which is why rates remain high.
Trump initially said oil price spike was a “very small price to pay for safety and peace”.
But the president insisted on Wednesday evening that the mass release oil reserves would “substantially reduce oil prices”.
He said: “Prices are coming down very substantially.”
“Oil will be coming down,” the president insisted. “That’s just a matter of war that happens. You can almost predict it.
“I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought. It’s going to come down more than we, than anybody understands.”
The president said the US would “look very strongly” at the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump told his supporters in Kentucky: “The straits are in great shape. We’ve knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many.”
Remember those people who (rather controversially) accused Lola Young of being a “nepo baby” because her aunt wrote The Gruffalo?
I wonder what they’d think about Chris Martin, whose great-great-grandfather was responsible for British Summer Time (BST) taking off in the UK.
Yup – it turns out the band member, who sings a song called Clocks, is a direct descendant of builder William Willett. And Willett is a big part of the reason your clocks change on the last Sunday of every March.
Who was William Willett?
And one day, when he was out and about in the summer, he noticed that some curtains were drawn even though it was light outside.
This struck the apparently very industrious Will as an enormous waste of time, energy, and working hours.
In fact, he was so annoyed by it that he self-funded a pamphlet called The Waste Of Daylight.
“For nearly half the year the sun shines for several hours each day, while we are asleep, and is rapidly nearing the horizon when we reach home after the work of the day is over. There then remains only a brief spell of declining daylight in which to spend the short period of leisure at our disposal…
The brief period of daylight, now at our disposal, between the hours of work and sleep, is frequently insufficient for mostforms of recreation, but the daily addition of an hour after 6 o’clock in the evening, would multiply several times, the usefulness of that which we already have, and the benefits afforded by parks and open
spaces would be doubled.”
So tireless was Willett’s campaign that it eventually caught the ear of MP Robert Pearce, who brought the idea of British Summer Time before the House of Commons in 1908.
But it wouldn’t come into place until almost a decade later.
Why did the UK adopt BST?
Germany adopted daylight savings in 1916, so we took it on weeks later.
And even though Benjamin Franklin first called for something similar in the 1700s, America took on daylight savings time in 1918, the first March after it joined the First World War.
Both the UK and the US followed something called “double summer time,” occasionally nicknamed “Churchill time,” during the Second World War, too.
Since 2007, though, the US daylight saving time (DST) has begun weeks before BST.
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