Do the Starmers’ expensive donated clothes matter? Yes and no

By Sam Power, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Bristol

Keir Starmer’s commitment to putting an end to “the chaos of sleaze” is already on the ropes, largely because of reports surrounding his wife’s clothes. The prime minister initially failed to declare clothes gifted to Victoria Starmer by Labour party donor Waheed Alli – although he has now done so.

Other gifts and hospitality, including tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert, have been properly declared but their total value amounts to more than £100,000 since December…

Read complete article

~	How a doubling of sentence lengths helped pack England’s prisons to the rafters

~	XEC: what you need to know about the new COVID variant

~	Cold War Scotland show reveals impact of conflict on Scottish politics, culture and memory

~	Economists have urged Rachel Reeves to loosen the purse strings – here’s why it’s not that easy

~	Gen Z’s language might seem incomprehensible but slang has always sounded that way – just look at these five Victorian sayings

~	Lebanon pager attacks push Hezbollah and Israel to brink of all-out war

~	What will the Lebanon pager attacks mean for Israel, Hezbollah and Iran? Expert Q&A

~	Why the UK government’s £500 million investment in Port Talbot is not enough to secure the British steel industry

~	Methane is pitched as a climate villain – could changing how we think about it make it a saviour?

~	Gaza update: what the Lebanon pager attacks could mean for the Middle East conflict