Khalid Hossenbaccus

[Martin Lewis @MartinSLewis]

CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased.

It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH.

The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer.

This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well.

As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills).

About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off.

Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower.
---------------

That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today.

Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.

[Jason Hickel @jasonhickel]

Bombing Venezuela while coordinating a genocide in Palestine while threatening to attack Iran (again) while destabillizing Somalia while carrying out a heist in the DRC...

US imperialism is the greatest threat to peace and security in our world today and it's not even close.

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

Can someone explain to me how an MP and a member of the shadow cabinet can moonlight as the attorney for a Russian oligarch who is trying to wiggle out of a £2.5 billion deal to aid victims of the war in Ukraine that he made with the UK government? Back in the day that was called a “conflict of interest”

[Narinder Kaur @narindertweets]

HMRC will send 17 letters, 4 texts, a carrier pigeon and the Mexican cartel to chase Dave from Manchester for underpaying £3.76 in tax.
But a firm linked to Michelle Mone can owe £39m (on top of the £122m already owed) can swan off to Miami and live their best lives with zero criminal liability.....
One rule for the rich and another for the poor.

[Royal College of Pharmacy @rc_pharm]

Medicines shortages are putting increasing pressure on pharmacy teams and impacting patient care. Our recent report highlights key areas for action to strengthen the UK’s response.

More: https://t.co/alcuvz7nhB

[Marina Purkiss @MarinaPurkiss]

This shouldn’t be a backbench-only Labour view…

Where is the front bench?

Your silence is deafening

Thank you @RichardBurgon for speaking for so many of us.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

Thames Water has been given a £3 billion bailout, paid for by you and me.

Why should households have to pay for the mess that Thames Water got itself into, just so execs and shareholders can protect their profits?

There is a better solution: take water into public ownership.

[Dr Done @Dr_Done_]

Another highly trained Consultant leaves the NHS

One of EIGHT to leave the dept in 3 years

This doctor knows what’s important in life and has chosen that 👏

The hospital mentioned will surprise no one…

[Paddy @PaddyArsenal]

The contributions of some of the English players won’t be forgotten. Bellingham’s overhead vs Slovakia, Saka’s screamer vs Switzerland, Foden having a kid, Watkins winner vs Holland, Palmer’s goal in the final

[Sayeeda Warsi @SayeedaWarsi]

Horrific scenes from Rafah tonight.
Too awful to re post- charred and decapitated bodies of children.
And all while the world watches.
I truly hope that in my lifetime we see those in power held to account - those who could have stopped this and failed to do so
The appalling heartless leaders who could not even find the words to condemn a massacre that has been live-streamed on our phones for months
So many of us have publicly and privately urged our government, the PM, the @FCDOGovUK to act.
This is on their watch - because they armed , supported and failed to condemn Netanyahu and his extreme right wing
We failed to support the ICJ , abstained at the UNSC , undermined the ICC and continued to arm and support a regime that has brutally slaughtered innocents for months.
UK foreign policy on Palestine is morally bankrupt.
I am sorry we failed you.🇵🇸

[Mark Borthwick @mark_borthwick]

In 2020

◾️26.6% of NHS organisations had inadequate #CriticalCarePharmacist competence

◾️22.2% of units had inadequate leave cover

◾️MDT round skipped in smaller units, or where competence level tended to be lower

*Funded training now available*

https://t.co/iHuMgHU5co

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

Everything “wrong” with British politics

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Andy Burnham, "If the they - they have got control - if that was related to Jewish people that would straight away be called out as anti-semitism. But there's a double standard here, the Conservative party don't call it out (when it refers to British Muslims)"

"There are people in the Conservative party who are itching for that existential debate about it's future.. That's why Liz Truss was out at that really appalling gathering"

"You've got a former Prime Minister Liz Truss making dangerous statements. You've got extreme statements coming from the former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson"

"You cannot have a government with senior figures behaving in this way, with the impact that can have on our streets" @AndyBurnhamGM

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

Why is there always money to bomb people, but never any money to feed, house or care for people?

[Husam Zomlot @hzomlot]

Listen to this

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Absolutely masterful interview on Gaza of Dominique De Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, who famously led France's opposition to the Iraq war and who, IMHO is the best diplomat the West has produced in decades.

This is so important, so incredibly well argued, that I decided to translate it in full:

"Hamas has set a trap for us, and this trap is one of maximum horror, of maximum cruelty. And so there's a risk of an escalation in militarism, of more military interventions, as if we could with armies solve a problem as serious as the Palestinian question.

There's also a second major trap, which is that of Occidentalism. We find ourselves trapped, with Israel, in this western bloc which today is being challenged by most of the international community.

[Presenter: What is Occidentalism?]

Occidentalism is the idea that the West, which for 5 centuries managed the world's affairs, will be able to quietly continue to do so. And we can clearly see, even in the debates of the French political class, that there is the idea that, faced with what is currently happening in the Middle East, we must continue the fight even more, towards what might resemble a religious or a civilizational war. That is to say, to isolate ourselves even more on the international stage.

This is not the way, especially since there's a third trap, which is that of moralism. And here we have in a way the proof, through what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in the Middle East, of this double standard that is denounced everywhere in the world, including in recent weeks when I travel to Africa, the Middle East, or Latin America. The criticism is always the same: look at how civilian populations are treated in Gaza, you denounce what happened in Ukraine, and you are very timid in the face of the tragedy unfolding in Gaza.

Consider international law, the second criticism that is made by the global south. We sanction Russia when it aggresses Ukraine, we sanction Russia when it doesn't respect the resolutions of the United Nations, and it's been 70 years that the resolutions of the United Nations have been voted in vain and that Israel doesn't respect them.

[Presenter: Do you believe that the Westerners are currently guilty of hubris?]

Westerners must open their eyes to the extent of the historical drama unfolding before us to find the right answers.

[Presenter: What is the historical drama? I mean, we're talking about the tragedy of October 7th first and foremost, right?]

Of course, there are these horrors happening, but the way to respond to them is crucial. Are we going to kill the future by finding the wrong answers...

[Presenter: Kill the future?]

Kill the future, yes! Why?

[Presenter: But who is killing whom?]

You are in a game of causes and effects. Faced with the tragedy of history, one cannot take this 'chain of causality' analytical grid, simply because if you do you can't escape from it. Once we understand that there is a trap, once we realize that behind this trap there has also been a change in the Middle East regarding the Palestinian issue... The situation today is profoundly different [from what it was in the past]. The Palestinian cause was a political and secular cause. Today we are faced with an Islamist cause, led by Hamas. Obviously, this kind of cause is absolute and allows no form of negotiation. On the Israeli side, there has also been a development. Zionism was secular and political, championed by Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. It has largely become messianic, biblical today. This means that they too do not want to compromise, and everything that the far-right Israeli government does, continuing to encourage colonization, obviously makes things worse, including since October 7th. So in this context, understand that we are already in this region facing a problem that seems profoundly insoluble.

Added to this is the hardening of states. Diplomatically, look at the statements of the King of Jordan, they are not the same as six months ago. Look at the statements of Erdogan in Turkey.

[Presenter: Precisely, these are extremely harsh statements...]

Extremely worrying. Why? Because if the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian issue, hasn't been brought to the forefront, hasn't been put on stage [for a while], and if most of the youth today in Europe have often never even heard of it, it remains for the Arab peoples the mother of all battles. All the progress made towards an attempt to stabilize the Middle East, where one could believe...

[Presenter: Yes, but whose fault is it? I have a hard time following you, is it Hamas's fault?]

But Ms. Malherbe, I am trained as a diplomat. The question of fault will be addressed by historians and philosophers.

[Presenter: But you can't remain neutral, it's difficult, it's complicated, isn't it?]

I am not neutral, I am in action. I am simply telling you that every day that passes, we can ensure that this horrific cycle stops... that's why I speak of a trap and that's why it's so important to know what response we are going to give. We stand alone before history today. And we do not treat this new world the way we currently do, knowing that today we are no longer in a position of strength, we are not able to manage on our own, as the world's policemen.

[Presenter: So what do we do?]

Exactly, what should we do? This is where it is essential not to cut off anyone on the international stage.

[Presenter: Including the Russians?]

Everyone.

[Presenter: Everyone? Should we ask the Russians for help?]

I'm not saying we should ask the Russians for help. I'm saying: if the Russians can contribute by calming some factions in this region, then it will be a step in the right direction.

[Presenter: How can we proportionally respond to barbarism? It's no longer army against army.]

But listen, Appolline de Malherbe, the civilian populations that are dying in Gaza, don't they exist? So because horror was committed on one side, horror must be committed on the other?

[Presenter: Do we indeed need to equate the two?]

No, it's you who are doing that. I'm not saying I equate the faults. I try to take into account what a large part of humanity thinks. There is certainly a realistic objective to pursue, which is to eradicate the Hamas leaders who committed this horror. And not to confuse the Palestinians with Hamas, that's a realistic goal.

The second thing is a targeted response. Let's define realistic political objectives. And the third thing is a combined response. Because there is no effective use of force without a political strategy. We are not in 1973 or in 1967. There are things no army in the world knows how to do, which is to win in an asymmetrical battle against terrorists. The war on terror has never been won anywhere. And it instead triggers extremely dramatic misdeeds, cycles, and escalations. If America lost in Afghanistan, if America lost in Iraq, if we lost in the Sahel, it's because it's a battle that can't be won simply, it's not like you have a hammer that strikes a nail and the problem is solved. So we need to mobilize the international community, get out of this Western entrapment in which we are.

[Presenter: But when Emmanuel Macron talks about an international coalition…]

Yes, and what was the response?

[Presenter: None.]

Exactly. We need a political perspective, and this is challenging because the two-state solution has been removed from the Israeli political and diplomatic program. Israel needs to understand that for a country with a territory of 20,000 square kilometers, a population of 9 million inhabitants, facing 1.5 billion people... Peoples have never forgotten that the Palestinian cause and the injustice done to the Palestinians was a significant source of mobilization. We must consider this situation, and I believe it is essential to help Israel, to guide... some say impose, but I think it's better to convince, to move in this direction. The challenge is that there is no interlocutor today, neither on the Israeli side nor the Palestinian side. We need to bring out interlocutors.

[Presenter: It's not for us to choose who will be the leaders of Palestine.]

The Israeli policy over recent years did not necessarily want to cultivate a Palestinian leadership... Many are in prison, and Israel's interest - because I repeat: it was not in their program or in Israel's interest at the time, or so they thought - was instead to divide the Palestinians and ensure that the Palestinian question fades. This Palestinian question will not fade. And so we must address it and find an answer. This is where we need courage. The use of force is a dead end. The moral condemnation of what Hamas did - and there's no "but" in my words regarding the moral condemnation of this horror - must not prevent us from moving forward politically and diplomatically in an enlightened manner. The law of retaliation is a never-ending cycle.

[Presenter: The "eye for an eye, tooth for tooth".]

Yes. That's why the political response must be defended by us. Israel has a right to self-defense, but this right cannot be indiscriminate vengeance. And there cannot be collective responsibility of the Palestinian people for the actions of a terrorist minority from Hamas.

When you get into this cycle of finding faults, one side's memories clash with the other's. Some will juxtapose Israel's memories with the memories of the Nakba, the 1948 catastrophe, which is a disaster that the Palestinians still experience every day. So you can't break these cycles. We must have the strength, of course, to understand and denounce what happened, and from this standpoint, there's no doubt about our position. But we must also have the courage, and that's what diplomacy is... diplomacy is about being able to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the cunning of history; when you're at the bottom, something can happen that gives hope. After the 1973 war, who would have thought that before the end of the decade, Egypt would sign a peace treaty with Israel?

The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move towards peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest!"

[Amir @AmirAminiMD]

What an absolute legend

[NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service @NHS_SPS]

We have launched our Refrigerated Medicines Stability Tool for those occasions when a medicine gets left out, or someone leaves the door open!
Take a look and let us know what you think: https://t.co/ugHfzQcGUn

[Humza Yousaf @HumzaYousaf]

I have written to the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in support of calls for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in Gaza to allow civilian evacuation.

📄 Full text: https://t.co/c34mIQevjA