THE UK FISCAL POSITION A WEEK BEFORE THE BUDGET. So we learned this morning inflation has jumped up, with the 1st Burnham-Healey Budget now a week away. But we also got the latest fiscal backdrop this morning. It’s not great. The government borrowed another £24.5bn in September — £1.8bn more than last Sept and £1.9bn above both the OBR's March forecast. In cash terms it's the second-highest Sept on record, behind only Covid year 2020. Year-to-date government borrowing is just shy of £98bn. That's over £4bn less than YTD 2025 but £6bn more than the OBR forecast. Why? Not because of a revenue shortfall. Tax receipts are £5.8bn ahead of forecast for the year so far (helped by inflation). At £90bn, September tax receipts were up 5.2% on a year earlier. Spending is the problem, especially debt interest, which was almost £11bn in September — UP 16.6% ON A YEAR AGO, £2bn above OBR forecast and the highest September since records began in 1997. Overall, YTD spending is almost £9bn above forecast. Debt interest accounts for £3.8bn of that and welfare benefits for £2.5bn. The Labour government’s two Achilles Heels. ALSO — net national debt has passed £3 trillion — 94.0% of GDP (over 100% on IMF measure, which allows for international comparisons). So the UK fiscal position is being undermined by inflation and debt interest. The latest OBR forecast, out with the Budget, will be driven by both these factors. Could make for some dismal reading.

🚨 BREAKING: The Government has officially approved the Jackdaw gas field for North Sea drilling It's the UK’s largest known untapped gas reserve and will start to supply gas to British homes and businesses from the end of this month

I DID, DID YOU.

You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat an animal…

We do sharp wit, very well in this country.

We should respect our heritage far more than we do.

RT @LeilaniDowding: I can’t take it. These people coming to our country and killing the friendly ducks who trust people enough to come an…

I went on @BBCNewsnight and enraged all the usual radical-left loons stating these simple facts: ~1.85m foreign nationals claim £23 billion in welfare each year in Britain ~ 1.3m foreign nationals claim £11.9billion of Universal Credit Britain must put the British people first **Britains tax burden is the highest it’s been since the War (1948 to be exact)** If you want to lift people up, you have to create wealth. You have to incentivise work. Which means tax them less. Anyone who runs a business knows this. Since then, far-left X has launched a series of ad-hominem attacks. Some even saying these ideas are “extreme far-right” None of them have addressed the substance of my arguments. Instead they are trying to shame me for being in one of the most successful bands of last 20 years, whilst ignoring that I have one of the biggest independent politics podcasts in Britain. And ignoring that I’ve generated 10s of £millions in wealth and taxes for the economy, created 1000s of jobs, and built several successful companies. Likewise they think that I might be anything but immensely proud to be associated with my own dad, one of the most successful businessmen and generous individuals this country has produced since the War, and his association with GB News, officially the most viewed and trusted news channel in the country. He’s a hero. Thanks to Newsnight for having me!

Nick's normally forthright but I think perhaps men stumble here because they think the burkha is a feminist issue. It's not. It's not 'very tricky' if women say they've chosen to dress like this. It's the same as if someone decides they want to wear a balaclava around our streets. It's unacceptable. A high trust society - like the one we developed over centuries - requires that you can see someone's identity and their facial expressions. Choosing to wear this garment is antisocial. It is an affront to the culture we had built in this country. That's before you even get to the *reason* it's worn. And I firmly reject it on those grounds alone. It's abhorrent. If men cannot contain themselves at the sight of a woman, they are weak men and should be shamed for that weakness. We don't cover women up to deal with their deficiencies. Women who don't cover should not feel less safe or less comfortable. And we don't have to meekly accept this practice because it's wielded by someone you've been convinced is a perpetual victim. We've already worked through the 'she was asking for it' lunacy that women who wear a short skirt were somehow giving a green light to rapists. We've already decided - as a society - that the man who chooses to assault someone is the one at fault. We don't have to relitigate that argument. People who come to the West from cultures who think differently? - They have to accept it. Many of them do. Great. The ones that don't are the ones who need to adapt, not us. We can say to the vanishingly small number of fundamentalists who choose to wear this that we just don't accept it. We don't want it spreading. It's not OK. We have been frogboiled into believing that we just have to meekly accept cultural insults as if it's some kind of pinnacle of tolerance. But respect is a two-way street. We can have the same non-rapey expectations of *any* man who walks our streets. We can have the same high-trust expectations of any woman. Having lower expectations because of someone's colour or religion is the bigotry of condescension. Have expectations. Be universal. They are the precursors to genuine respect and genuine tolerance.

Labour refuse to say if extremist groups influenced their “Islamophobia” definition. Leaked files now show the Home Office calls 5Pillars an "Islamist Extremist Group". And we know 5Pillars promoted the Call for Evidence from the Government’s “Islamophobia” Working Group. Ministers claimed this evidence was deleted, but I proved this was a lie. There is zero excuse not to publish it.

Polska nie powtórzy błędów innych europejskich państw, nie będzie też za nie płacić. Twardo bronimy granicy przed nielegalną migracją, mamy własną politykę azylową (nie przyjmujemy wniosków), deportujemy tych, którzy łamią polskie prawo. W kwestii bezpieczeństwa będziemy bezwzględni. To usłyszeli ode mnie liderzy Europy w Brukseli.

A reminder that this person - a contender for the worst MP of all time - was brought into parliament by the Labour Party.

Good lord

The single biggest lesson from France is this: under no normal circumstances can you allow mass immigration from Africa into your country. Small-scale, selective, high-human-capital migration is fine. But anything beyond that is fuel for civilisational decline.

You could literally hear the snap from where I was sat, absolutely horrible. I pray that he recovers from this.

It was beautiful. 150 years old. Burnt to the ground by barbarians.

They will destroy everything beautiful.

🚨🇮🇹 Hi everybody One of the most beautiful Gothic churches in the world, Milan’s Duomo, is now the backdrop for these devastating scenes They’re nothing but delinquents, rioters and troublemakers! The Trojan horse of something truly evil Outrageous

Interesting. Arctic sea ice well above the record low for the date, but also above the running 10 year mean ending in 2020. IN fact highest for the date since 2014