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Firefighters dampen down the burnt-out remains of a house on 14 August in Stourbridge (PA Images/Alamy)

3 min read35 min

Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is here with us and we must face up to the fact that it will keep getting worse until we stop burning fossil fuels.

As a former NHS worker, I care deeply about public safety. Right now, our emergency services are being stretched to the limit, and the people we represent are the ones paying the price.

Climate scientists have been clear for years that these events are directly linked to the continued burning of fossil fuels. Yet right now, the government is mulling over whether to approve Rosebank, the largest undeveloped oil field in the UK.

When the Prime Minister visited Stourbridge this month, he rightly said we need to take climate change seriously. The decision on Rosebank, expected soon, will be the biggest test of this statement.

After the courts ruled that the full emissions from burning the fossil fuels extracted must be considered in the consenting process, Rosebank’s developers were forced to admit that its true climate impact over a 25-year period would equate to almost 70 per cent of the UK’s entire annual emissions. To sign off on Rosebank now would lock us into a colossal amount of emissions at the precise moment the science tells us we have to pull back.

Tragically, it is ordinary people and workers like those in my community who will pay the price.

It’s families like those who saw their homes go up in flames along with their possessions and, in some cases, their pets. It’s the firefighters who across the country are on the front line of this emergency but are grossly overstretched. Firefighters who themselves have called on Andy Burnham to stop drilling for more fossil fuels. And it’s the NHS patients sweltering in hospital wards deemed unsafe and “dangerously hostile”.

We keep hearing the same tired argument that projects like Rosebank offer energy security. But the reality is that over 90 per cent of the North Sea’s reserves are already gone. 

And in the case of Rosebank, the vast majority of its reserves are oil, nearly all of which will be exported.

The events of this summer do not begin to scratch the surface of what lies ahead

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Extracting what is left will do nothing to help struggling families facing the consequences of yet another fossil fuel price shock. It won’t knock a penny off energy bills and will further fuel the climate crisis that is pushing up the cost of food and other vital goods. 

This isn’t a choice between the climate and British industry. As the basin declines, jobs supported by the North Sea have more than halved over the past decade despite the previous Conservative government issuing hundreds of new licences and companies raking in record profits.

Unlike the Conservatives and Reform UK, we know the only way to truly reindustrialise North Sea communities is by creating good, unionised jobs in industries with a long-term future. The decision on Rosebank will define where this government truly stands: on the side of people facing increasing climate damage, or with mega-multinationals who have profited to the tune of billions from war and spiralling bills.

If we are serious about protecting places like Stourbridge from worse fires and harsher weather, Westminster needs to show more courage. We simply cannot fight fires with one hand while pouring fuel on them with the other. 

Cat Eccles is Labour MP for Stourbridge

(Alamy)

4 min read10 min

The plans are inspired by European countries like Denmark, where the government uses literature to instruct the public on what steps to take within the first 72 hours.

The Tories say they also want the government to be more honest with the country about threats facing the nation, which could include declassifying information held by the state.

Shadow defence minister David Reed is leading on the party’s national resilience policies.

In an interview with PoliticsHome, the Conservative MP for Exmouth and Exeter East said the coronavirus pandemic had created a public mindset that the state can do everything for them, when, in the event of a national emergency, people will need to take steps themselves, especially in the first hours and days.

“The onus needs to be pushed back onto the citizen to say, if things are coming down the track… you need to start thinking more about yourselves and your families, and start preparing so that you can be more resilient and really start to reinvigorate that idea of being a citizen, contributing, and being part of the community,” Reed said.

“By physically giving something to someone, posting it through their door, what I want to see is the narrative in people’s minds change.”

The government is preparing to launch a public awareness campaign around household resilience later this year, with a spokesperson telling PoliticsHome: “The campaign will bring the UK in line with European countries that run similar campaigns already. We’ll announce further details in due course.”

Last month, the Financial Times reported that people would be encouraged to stockpile emergency supplies, including tinned food and bottled water, as part of the push to help households prepare for hostile state acts, cyber warfare, and extreme weather.

In an interview with Sky News Defence Insider, published on Thursday, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the UK does “need to have a national conversation about resilience”.

Streeting pointed not just to state-based threats but climate-based disruption, too, and said people should consider practical questions, like “in the event you have a power cut, would you know where you keep your torch? Have you even got matches or candles?”

Last week, the National Audit Office warned that government had not done enough to engage with households and businesses to strengthen resilience to supply chain shocks.

Reed, a former Marine, is concerned that the planned comms campaign will “fall flat” unless it goes as far as giving every household in the country a readiness pamphlet.

A version being drawn up by Conservatives, seen by PoliticsHome, seeks to communicate that, for a short period after a national emergency or major disruption, it will be up to people to take action where the government cannot help. It sets out a three-point household response, based on stockpiling supplies, making a plan and checking on each other, and lists key items to have in an emergency kit.

The European Commission has encouraged citizens to stockpile enough supplies to last for 72 hours to increase readiness, following in the footsteps of Germany and Nordic states.

“If you look at the Danes, if you look at the Dutch, and if you look at some other European countries, they produce a pamphlet, and they deliver it to every single house in the country, and it just goes through really simply in a nice, civilian-digestible way,” Reed said.  

At the same time, the shadow minister said the government should look for non-military figures to communicate the importance of preparedness, especially to young people, and said ministers should “definitely” consider influencers as campaign spokespeople.

The Conservative MP argued that due to the UK having experienced peaceful decades since the mid-20th century, resilience has become “such an abstract concept”, especially for younger generations, “that you can’t even have the conversation at all”.

He referred to the experience of his 84-year-old father, born in 1942 during the Blitz in Plymouth: “That’s the last generation that has any sort of real semblance, that physical idea of border insecurity and things not being right in terms of security”.

“Work does need to be done with the younger generation because they will be helping out. They will have to help out with all these efforts,” Reed stressed. 

He also called for a greater central government focus on resilience, pointing to Denmark, where they have their “own ministry for national resilience and preparedness, and they’ve got a centralised minister that has been able to work with the different departments to be able to have the conversation about what needs to be done, to be able to set targets”.

AI generated image.
Andy Burnham has announced he will end the “aim to permit” rule in the Gambling Act 2005

It was 2007, the year the iPhone came out, that Britain’s gambling nightmare took hold. A new Gambling Act came into force, ending centuries of accepted wisdom that gambling was to be permitted but not promoted. It reframed gambling as a mainstream leisure activity, enabling liberalised advertising, licensing and product innovation that have been linked to heightened harm.

Under the Act, the Gambling Commission has given out licences liberally, creating a market that has over 2,000 licensed gambling operators. Whilst it’s widely accepted that social media and smartphones can be addictive, what’s less understood is that the gambling sector pioneered some of the worst addictive digital features, and online slot and casino games still far surpass the addictive potential of other digital products.

The physical land-based versions of these slot games, machines in bookmakers and slot venues across the country, essentially deliver the same highly addictive content.

The result has been millions of people harmed, communities held back, high streets blighted, and losses to the national economy.

When the Starmer administration repeatedly called for the growth of the gambling sector as well as the reduction of harm, the gaslighting seemed to have reached its zenith. Fortunately, Andy Burnham has enough empathy, political nous, and understanding of public opinion to realise something had to be done, and he has acted quickly.

Within days of becoming Prime Minister, Burnham announced that a major principle that made the Gambling Act so harmful – that councils shall “aim to permit” gambling venues, even if they and their residents don’t want them – is to be scrapped.

This isn’t just the deletion of a couple of clauses, “aim to permit” underpins the legislative ambition to grow the gambling sector. Removing it signals a fundamental change to the government’s stance. It acknowledges that the policy of the past 20 years has failed, and a new approach is needed.

Both sides of this debate will be watching closely to see what Burnham does next. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, he also joined calls for a prohibition on gambling advertising, something which has long been advocated for by public health leaders.

Burnham’s new gambling minister, Vicky Foxcroft MP, could support such a policy. In the past Foxcroft has called gambling addiction a “public health emergency”, urging greater reforms including a ban on gambling advertising in live sport. Lewisham Council, which covers her constituency, has joined the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, alongside 60 other organisations, including 20 other councils – so she would have a lot of support. Polls (Survation; MiC) have shown the public are fed up with seeing so many gambling ads so any action would also be a vote winner.

As if the opportunity to introduce policies that are popular, cost little to implement, and deliver public health gains weren’t enough, the beauty of restricting gambling advertising is that it will deliver economic growth by restricting the gambling sector.

According to the University of Sheffield this year, a 10 per cent reduction in gambling spend could lead to a £1.25bn uplift to the economy and more than 22,000 new jobs. Combined with multiple other studies with findings that gambling spend is bad for the economy (SMF; NERA) this should be enough to get the buy-in of the Treasury.

Under Burnham, the gambling sector’s permission to profit from the country’s population and finances could be coming to an end. A sector that’s had its way for far too long may be about to experience the overriding feeling of 99 per cent of its customers – what it’s like to lose.

Harry Styles has announced that he’ll be extending his current world tour into next year.

On Wednesday night, Harry – who is currently in the middle of a whopping 30-night residency at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden – told his fans in an email message: “When we decided to do the 2026 tour I knew it would be special but what you turned it into was far beyond what I could have imagined.

“I love playing music, I love being with all of you and being a part of the love and joy you all create together every night. That’s why I wanted you to be the first to know we will be adding 2027 dates.”

Harry then said that the specifics of these shows would be coming on Thursday, teasing: “After that, I don’t know what comes next for me, but l know that I’m excited to find out.”

“I can’t wait for us to keep dancing with all our friends,” he concluded. “I hope to see you there.”

Harry brought the Together Together tour to London earlier in the summer, performing 12 nights at Wembley Stadium, with Shania Twain serving as his opening act.

The recent publication of the Health and Social Care Committee’s report, Food and Weight Management: Fixing the Food Environment¹ and the findings from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Obesity policy paper on Childhood Food Environment, Planning and School Food² has brought renewed focus to childhood health, children’s food environments and the urgent need to support families to live healthier lives.

With obesity among reception-aged children at its highest recorded level, there’s a very clear message: tackling obesity is not simply about individual choices but about creating environments that help whole families thrive. And while the systemic changes recommended by the Committee and APPG, such as restrictions on advertising of high fat, salt and sugar products and mandatory healthy food sales reporting, are vital, sitting them alongside measures that recognise and harness the influence parents can have on children’s health behaviours could have the potential for further widespread benefits.

New independent research³ published in BMJ Paediatrics Open provides compelling evidence of the relationship between parents addressing their own weight concerns and the health behaviours of their children. The study, conducted by the University of Bristol and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), explored the experiences of 396 Slimming World members with children aged between five and 11 years old.

The findings reveal the powerful link between parental behaviour change and positive outcomes for children:

• more than two-thirds (67 per cent) of parents who were concerned about their child’s weight felt more motivated to support their child after addressing their own weight
• almost half (48 per cent) of parents reported healthier improvements in what their child ate after they joined a weight management programme
• more than a quarter (27 per cent) said their child had become more physically active

These findings are particularly significant at a time when global projections suggest that by 2050, one in three children, teenagers and young adults could be living with overweight or obesity.⁴ Research also consistently shows that children with parents living with obesity are more likely to experience obesity themselves.⁵

Through our understanding of the significant influence parents have on their child’s habits, our Family Affair programme acknowledges the important role family can play in the health of children. It provides our members with a set of resources to support them in encouraging their children to have a healthy, varied balanced diet and form life-long healthy habits.

As policymakers consider how best to address rising childhood obesity rates, recognising the role of families and communities in obesity care and prevention is crucial. In doing so, family influence can become one of the most powerful tools available – putting family at the heart of all adult weight management programmes could help to break the cycle of intergenerational obesity.

Moreover, as the number of people using weight loss medication continues to increase, we should consider whether this could lead to the loss of family influence and what impact this could have on the younger generation, if those using medication aren’t making or being encouraged to make, healthy lifestyle changes alongside it.

Whether our members lose weight with Slimming World alone or alongside medication, they are fully welcome in our groups to receive evidence-based, cost-effective support that ensures they make lasting changes to their diet, activity levels and mindset. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the government to discuss our commitment to supporting its efforts to help people whose lives are adversely impacted by obesity and introduce them to our members who have lost weight and created lasting healthy habits for their entire family.

For more information on our latest research and outcomes or our programme, please visit slimmingworld.co.uk/health

1. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5902/cmselect/cmhealth/223/report.html
2. https://obesityappg.com/inquiries
3. Mears R, Sharp D, Searle A, Salway R, Hamilton-Shield J. Effect of parent attendance at an adult commercial weight management programme on their children. BMJ Paediatrics Open. 2026;10:e004417. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2025-004417
4. Global, regional, and national prevalence of child and adolescent overweight and obesity, 1990–2021, with forecasts to 2050: a forecasting study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 – The Lancet
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-applying-all-our-health/childhood-obesity-applying-all-our-health

25 Years After 9/11

Twenty-five years ago today, we recall that my country shook violently but never broke.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting at my desk in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working on a proposal with my colleague, John Devanney, when the news arrived. A young coworker, Kat Lam, from our company, Sapient, had called in from lower Manhattan moments after the first plane hit the first tower. She told John she would be late to the office because of the falling debris coming down on her. I heard John tell her to be safe and not to worry about getting to the office. As I listened to their brief exchange, my mind began to do what terrorists long for: race, imagine, and let fear take hold.

I turned to my web browser and hit refresh repeatedly. CNN published the first of millions of images of billowing smoke rising from the building that symbolized so much to me as a child. News soon came in that a second plane hit the second tower and then the Pentagon had been hit. America was breaking into pieces as unchecked imagination and deep uncertainty blended into toxic plumes of smoke. Hundreds of colleagues assembled in a restaurant lobby at One Memorial Drive so we could watch events on a single television near the lobby. We were told by the leaders of our company to reach out to account for all our teammates and then head home to be with our families.

John and another colleague, Meg Armstrong, who could not return to NYC that night, came home with me, so they did not have to be alone in a hotel room. As I saw my wife come out of our apartment door in Porter Square, my eyes welled with tears that would flow on and off for many weeks ahead. We huddled around the television and tried to find meaning and context. Stunned silence was punctured only by the nonhyperbolic voice of the television anchor Peter Jennings. I watched the television until the early morning hours of September 12. It was impossible to look away.

The Twin Towers were much more than buildings to me. They were and remain iconic and dreamy markers connecting me to youthful pride in my dad’s professional accomplishments and the heart stopping moment of asking a beautiful woman to spend a life together.

In the 1980s, my father was a successful real estate lawyer who occupied a corner office on the one hundredth floor of the North Tower. Commuting into NYC with your dad to spend the day in the World Trade Center was a heady experience for any kid from Long Island. We took our seats on the Port Washington train line from Manhasset and settled in for the ride to Penn Station. I thought people would talk on the way to work, but it was strangely quiet, save the loudspeaker announcements of the next station. I mostly stared out the window. When we got to Woodside, Queens, I caught a glimpse of the NY skyline. Somewhere amidst the sea of skyscrapers were two shining towers inviting us to join them. I still see them. They never fell.

Dad held my hand as we navigated up from the subway and into the lobby of the North Tower. The grandness of the concourse, with flags hanging down, framed the enormity of the building. My dad held a briefcase with important stuff inside. I thought one day I, too, would have a briefcase like his.

Moments later, the sea of humanity was reduced to narrow lines of workers queuing outside of elevator banks of the North Tower lobby. It took two rides to reach the one hundredth floor, and I was surprised that there was a man seated on a bar stool in the corner of the elevator, set to press the buttons that would bring us to the top. 

“They move really fast,” my dad told me. “And your ears will pop, so chew this stick of gum as we ride up.” Riding in the elevators felt like being inside a drafty rocket ship. And they always seemed to ride past the floor you were seeking and then reverse and slowly pulse downward until their doors flew open. My stomach would churn and then reset when the bell rang, signaling the end of the ride. During those elevator rides, I watched my dad’s energy rise. For him, it was another day at work, but I was entering a foreign yet friendly land that floated a mile up in the sky.

Once in the lobby of Dad’s law office on the 100th floor, I remember shaking hands with secretaries and partners. “This is my youngest son, Danny,” Dad would say. Looking out his massive corner office window into a clear view of Brooklyn, I could feel the building slowly sway in the wind. It was designed to sway. Clouds and fog would often bump into the glass. I would sit at Dad’s desk with my feet up and a notepad in my hand, trying to impersonate him. I would deliver packages from the mail room to partners’ offices. Some would invite me into their offices for a chat. They would recall stories my dad had told them about me and my family.

My dear friend Eric Kispert once asked me what it was like to have a father who literally worked in an office in the clouds. To that unexpected question, I could only pause and eventually reply: intimidating and joyful.

During the one hundredth anniversary celebrations of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1983, dozens of people packed into my father’s office for a perfect view of the celebrations as the sun began to set. I remember seeing fire boats shooting red, white, and blue water streams high into the sky. The river was packed with dozens of boats making the pass underneath the bridge. All dressed up for the big party, my sister, Lynn, and I sipped Shirley Temples with extra cherries as the fireworks display began at nightfall. A radio was tuned to an FM station because they had set the fireworks to music for the first time. We pressed up against the glass window for a front row view. The room was loud with the many voices of adults holding cocktails firmly in their hands. The room quieted when white light reflected in our eyes. Sparks streamed down like a waterfall from the bridge into the river. It was magnificent. One of the partners commented that this would likely be the only time in our lives that we experienced fireworks from above. It was a heavenly and hopeful night.

A few times, my dad and I ate lunch at the Windows on the World restaurant. During father and son events with our beloved New York Mets, I once sat next to pitcher Ron Darling and across from first baseman Keith Hernandez. These were heady encounters for a young boy who thought he was meeting New York royalty. Somehow, my dad always made sure I was sitting at or near the head table. Thank you for that, Dad.

My father never lived to see the towers fall.

Thinking about where to propose to your future wife is not an easy task. I knew it would be in New York City, and I thought I would pick a spot that would stand the test of time. And given that the Twin Towers were such a part of my childhood, I thought how cool it would be to propose to Nancy Harvier on one knee and in between two extraordinary buildings.

On a snowy Saturday afternoon in the winter of 2000, I walked with Nancy between the Twin Towers and through what was called Tobin Plaza. Nancy said “yes.” Moments later, we jumped into the same elevators I rode with my dad and landed at Windows on the World to drink some champagne. We sat at the bar next to two British tourists who were the first to hear the news that we would be married. We stared out at the night sky across an illuminated Manhattan with full hearts.

Our children will never see the spot where I proposed to their mother. That ground is now sacred and carries the stories of thousands of lives.

The founding fathers could never have imagined a day like 9/11, but they knew a lot about courage. They knew what it meant to stand up for something much larger than themselves. 250 years ago, they foreshadowed the resolve within Americans that would be summoned on that September morning in 2001. They set in motion something that generations to come would one day see as precious and fragile and amazing, all at the same time. They gave us the DNA for what it means to be an American in the words of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson wrote, “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

“Pledge to each other Our Lives”: On 9/11, thousands of first responders and ordinary citizens went into chaos, risking their own lives for others. Millions of ordinary citizens donated blood.

“Our Fortunes”: Tens of millions of Americans donated billions of dollars in relief money.

And “Our Sacred Honor”: Hundreds of thousands of young men and women joined our military in response to the attacks, and tens of thousands became local first responders across communities in every state.

For over fifteen years, I have edited and updated this essay on each 9/11 anniversary. It was a combination of therapy and keeping a living memory. I have reflected on each change, and I am thankful to all who have read it and shared feedback. This will be the last time I re-edit and publish it.

I asked Iain Dale to publish this final version on the 25th anniversary, as he was the one who asked me to write the initial essay. Iain is like a brother to me. He was also my last phone call on the evening of 9/11 as he had frantically attempted to reach me throughout that fateful day. Hearing his voice that night made me well up with tears. We just sat on the line, quiet and stunned. Given how much I travelled for business at the time of the attacks, I thought how lucky am I to have a friend from another country so concerned about my safety? Thank you, Iain, for decades of friendship, asking me to write these words and for comforting me on that terrible day.

The memories of the Twin Towers will never fade for me.

The madness of that day reminds us all how precious, fleeting, and short this amazing life is.

The towers are still there when I see the skyline.

They never fell.

May God bless all those who lost their lives on 9/11.

Daniel Patrick Forrester

Madison, New Jersey