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Voices

<p>Nigel Farage has has distanced himself from the US president, saying the tariffs were ‘too much, too soon’ (Ben Birchall/PA)</p>
ANDREW GRICE

The ‘F-word’ that’s tearing Westminster apart

Despite talk of cross-party pacts, Kemi Badenoch does not want to strike a deal with the Reform UK leader – nor he with her, writes Andrew Grice. But any nervousness she might feel will be shared by Labour as we near the by-elections next week

<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves</p>
SKETCH

When flag-waving Rachel Reeves went to Maga-land, cap in hand

<p>The Trump peace plan, now leaked, carries with it the unspoken but lethal notion that various tracts of Ukraine can be transferred to Kremlin control with few ill effects for the inhabitants</p>
The Independent View

Ukraine has a chance of defying the odds – but it depends on one thing

<p>Ed Miliband, energy secretary</p>
John Rentoul

Will regional energy prices really spark poll tax-style riots?

Justin Welby

The Pope I knew supported me even at my lowest hour

    <p>Former 999 call handler Issy Vine has started a petition demanding that rogue staff be kept out of the police</p>
    Voices

    A police colleague used a slur about a rape victim – and kept his job

    <p>Céline Sciamma’s explosive 2014 film, ‘Girlhood’, follows a group of young women as they leave school and begin a tough new life in Paris</p>
    dear vix

    Dear Vix: I feel like I’m losing my teenage daughter

    <p>‘For all the talk of her being a breath of fresh air, Badenoch, a Brexit true-believer who genuinely, if preposterously, seems to believe that the party “talked right yet governed left” while in office, is just another comfort-zone Conservative’</p>
    Voices

    Under ‘Brexit Badenoch’, what is the future of the Tory party?

    <p>Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, on a visit to the White House earlier this month</p>
    alan rusbridger

    It’s time MPs investigated the Jewish Chronicle’s secret ownership

    <p>‘Research found that 70 per cent of people in Britain prefer national pricing, with 85 per cent believing zonal pricing is inherently unfair’</p>
    Voices

    Postcode pricing won’t reduce energy bills – and I should know

    <p>This week, Frieda Hughes basks in nature on her balcony</p>
    poetry

    Why I’m opening the garden I’ve been working on for 21 years

    <p>‘What Kisin and Braverman failed to recognise is that today’s multi-ethnic English identity is not so much a break with a thousand years of English identity, but a continuation of it’</p>
    Sunder Katwala

    Why are politicians still fighting over who can be English?

    <p>Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey says damage caused by tariffs has to be taken seriously</p>
    James Moore

    What we need from Andrew Bailey’s Bank of the bleedin’ obvious

    <p>‘The many Tesla models sold in the UK, almost ubiquitous in some cases, are shipped in from China and Germany, but there’s no reason why these Muskmobiles couldn’t be sourced from his expanding operations in the USA’</p>
    Voices

    Does anyone really want a Chevrolet in downtown Doncaster?

    <p>‘I was privileged to personally view this tiny miracle, Charlotte’s chapbook, on her birthday’</p>
    Voices

    How a 200-year-old book instantly took me back to my childhood

    <p>The savings claimed by Elon Musk’s Doge arent’ what they’re cracked up to be</p>
    James Moore

    Musk can’t rely on Doge’s dodgy accounting at troubled Tesla

    Littered with errors and inaccuracies, Doge’s savings are vastly overstated, writes James Moore. Elon Musk must hope he is better at finding efficiencies at Tesla than he has been for the United States

    <p>Nigel Farage campaigning in the Runcorn by-election</p>
    Voices

    Sorry, Nigel – it isn’t easy bringing up a child with autism

    <p>‘Miss Me?’ podcast host, Miquita Oliver, discussed how she went bankrupt aged 27</p>
    Voices

    What Miquita Oliver’s bankruptcy tells us about women and money

    Explore news for you

    More Voices

    <p>Carpenders Park, where dozens of graves were desecrated earlier this month in what the council branded an ‘Islamophobic hate crime’, has been a place of sacred rest for both Christian and Muslim communities for decades</p>
    Voices

    My daughter’s grave was destroyed – but I don’t hate those who did it

    Voices

    My daughter’s grave was destroyed – but I don’t hate those who did it

     Iqbal Khan
    <p>Carpenders Park, where dozens of graves were desecrated earlier this month in what the council branded an ‘Islamophobic hate crime’, has been a place of sacred rest for both Christian and Muslim communities for decades</p>
    <p>Left to right: Cardinals Arthur Roche, Timothy Radcliffe and Vincent Nichols will vote in the conclave to choose a new pope</p>
    Voices

    Meet the British cardinals who will help choose the next Pope

    <p>Following the death of Pope Francis, Cardinal Robert Sarah from Guinea has emerged as a potential successor</p>
    Voices

    What will really decide who becomes the new Pope

    <p>Pope Francis</p>
    Voices

    Pope Francis: pontiff who changed the Catholic Church and the world

    <p>Baroness Julia King has drawn attention to soaring global competition for AI researchers, stressing that the UK needs them to grow its economy</p>
    Voices

    AI is about to change our lives – Britain must not be left behind

    <p>Baroness Julia King has drawn attention to soaring global competition for AI researchers, stressing that the UK needs them to grow its economy</p>
    Voices

    AI is about to change our lives – Britain must not be left behind

    <p>Flowers and a sign are placed outside the Washington headquarters of the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, on 7 February 2025</p>
    The Independent View

    The world is facing a new, devastating frontier in the Aids epidemic

    <p>The closure of USAID and other cuts has left the Aids community especially vulnerable</p>
    Voices

    I’m an HIV doctor – we should be very afraid of cuts to Aids funding

    Most commented

    Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns cleared to run for Lincolnshire mayor days before election

    123 comments

    Virginia Giuffre, survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, dies by suicide

    160 comments

    Trump demands Moscow-Kyiv meeting as Russian general killed by bomb

    121 comments

    Starmer slaps down Reeves for claiming UK-EU trade more important than US deal

    422 comments
    Join the Conversation

    More Voices

    <p>Rachel Reeves says trading with EU is more important than the US</p>
    Voices

    Reeves has backed the EU over Trump – and she’s right to

    <p>Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is said to be ‘open’ to a youth mobility scheme with the EU on a ‘one in, one out’ basis</p>
    Voices

    Could Yvette Cooper’s ‘one in, one out’ EU youth mobility scheme work?

    <p>A new government plan could mean cheaper energy up north, and higher costs down south</p>
    UK Politics

    Readers divided over ‘postcode lottery’ energy pricing

    <p>Do you still believe in the UK-US special relationship?</p>
    Home News

    Poll: Do you still believe in the UK–US special relationship?

    <p>Yin and Gaz are contestants on the BBC’s Race Across the World – and separated after 31 years of marriage</p>
    Voices

    Would you go on Race Around the World with your ex? I would

    <p>More and more schools are taking a strong stance against smartphones</p>
    Home News

    Addiction and bullying: Why readers want phones banned in classrooms

    <p>Do you still believe in the UK-US special relationship?</p>
    Home News

    Poll: Do you still believe in the UK–US special relationship?

    <p>Yin and Gaz are contestants on the BBC’s Race Across the World – and separated after 31 years of marriage</p>
    Voices

    Would you go on Race Around the World with your ex? I would

    <p>More and more schools are taking a strong stance against smartphones</p>
    Home News

    Addiction and bullying: Why readers want phones banned in classrooms

    <p>Should your postcode decide your power bill? (Ben Whitley/PA) </p>
    UK Politics

    Poll: Should how much you pay for energy depend on where you live?

    UK Politics

    Poll: Should how much you pay for energy depend on where you live?

    Lauren MacDougall
    <p>Should your postcode decide your power bill? (Ben Whitley/PA) </p>
    <p></p>
    The Independent View

    Rachel Reeves has been dealt a tough hand – she must hold her nerve

    <p>Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves</p>
    Voices

    ‘Security’ is a sound enough slogan – but can Labour deliver it?

    <p>‘Without guidance, schools are left to fend for themselves in a crowded digital marketplace. An app store is not an accreditation system’</p>
    Voices

    Do you know what apps your child uses in school? You should…

    <p>Donald Trump’s forays into economic policy have proven expensive</p>
    The Independent View

    It’s official – Donald Trump is bad for the world economy

    <p>Donald Trump’s forays into economic policy have proven expensive</p>
    The Independent View

    It’s official – Donald Trump is bad for the world economy

    <p>Should mobile phones be completely banned in school? (Alamy/PA)</p>
    Home News

    Tell us if smartphones should be banned in schools

    <p>Keir Starmer speaks to children during a visit to St Michael’s Junior School in Bath following the rollout of 750 new free breakfast clubs across England</p>
    Voices

    Is Labour’s breakfast club rollout a poorly disguised bribe?

    <p>Donald Trump nominated Jerome Powell to head the US Federal Reserve </p>
    Voices

    Could Trump, the ‘puerile president’, now sink the global economy?

    <p>‘The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at Antalya</p>
    Voices

    The ‘post-Western’ future is here – here’s what that looks like

    <p>Rachel Reeves is seeking to strengthen trade relations with other countries</p>
    Voices

    It’ll take a miracle for the economy to grow under Rachel Reeves

    <p>The parent WhatsApp groups never stop – even in the Easter holidays </p>
    Voices

    Nothing is more toxic than a school parents’ WhatsApp group

    <p>Readers have their say on Gen Z’s turn to Christianity</p>
    Lifestyle

    Readers have their say on Gen Z’s turn to Christianity

    <p>Pope Francis has died aged 88</p>
    The Independent View

    Pope Francis was the people’s pontiff. His successor must be too

    <p>More than half of parents surveyed said they would support a complete ban on smartphones in schools </p>
    Voices

    Smartphones are ruining kid’s lives - and schools alone can’t fix this

    <p>Rachel Reeves in Washington last year for a G20 meeting</p>
    The Independent View

    Rachel Reeves goes to Washington – and will need nerves of steel

    <p>Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences cost the UK taxpayer £145m last year</p>
    The Independent View

    The high costs of an inhumane policy

    The Independent View

    The high costs of an inhumane policy

    Editorial
    <p>Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences cost the UK taxpayer £145m last year</p>
    <p>Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton gestures in a live Australian TV debate, as prime minister Anthony Albanese looks on</p>
    Voices

    Australia must choose between climate reality and Trump-style denial

    <p>Climate change means Hull could one day better Bordeaux for wine production</p>
    Voices

    With Hull the ‘new Bordeaux’, could we be quaffing Cotes de Yorkshire?

    <p>Liz Truss and Nigel Farage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC last year</p>
    Voices

    Nigel Farage’s party has been talking to Liz Truss – a big mistake

    <p>‘The government’s ambition is to create the “healthiest generation of children”. But that cannot happen when Big Food has such a stronghold in so many young lives’</p>
    Voices

    The screen ban on junk food ads doesn’t go far enough for kids’ health

    <p>‘The government’s ambition is to create the “healthiest generation of children”. But that cannot happen when Big Food has such a stronghold in so many young lives’</p>
    Voices

    The screen ban on junk food ads doesn’t go far enough for kids’ health

    <p>Sir Alan Bates, who has led the campaign for wrongly convicted postmasters</p>
    Voices

    The government’s failure to compensate postmasters is shameful

    <p>‘Keir Starmer risks losing the green vote’</p>
    Voices

    Why the government’s drive for economic growth risks a green backlash

    <p>As Donald Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio suggests the US will abandon peace efforts ‘within days’, Vladimir Putin stands to become the principal beneficiary once more</p>
    The Independent View

    The abject failure of Donald Trump’s peace initiative is plain to see

    <p>The Scottish Parliament overwhelmingly backed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill before it was struck down by the then Westminster government (Jane Barlow/PA)</p>
    Voices

    The consequences of the Supreme Court ruling that nobody’s thought of

    <p>This week, poet and artist Frieda Hughes reflects on the all-female Blue Origin space flight</p>
    Voices

    I do not need to go up into space to understand the value of gravity

    <p>Jake Wallis Simons, former editor of ‘The Jewish Chronicle’ </p>
    Voices

    Scandal at the Jewish Chronicle shows Leveson was wasting his time

    <p><a href="/news/health/learning-disabilities-autism-hospital-nhs-b2734869.html" title="‘Every day she begs for help’: Father fighting for daughter detained in hospital for years to be freed"></a>Streeting’s approach to reform is fundamentally sound, which is to bring in the people who made the NHS the best it has ever been and put them to work</p>
    Voices

    Wes Streeting must cut and run to a safer seat – his country needs him

    <p>‘Are the Americans and the Europeans finally converging on a peace plan for Ukraine? Or was this week’s Paris meeting the prelude to an imminent parting of the ways?’</p>
    Voices

    Why US diplomats Witkoff and Rubio are now courting the Europeans

    <p>The staff at this HIV/AIDS clinic in Jinja, Uganda, are working for free after losing their US funding</p>
    The Independent View

    Aids devastation highlights America’s deterioration under Trump

    <p>‘Sainsbury’s is my family’s preferred grocer. But if Roberts doesn’t live up to his promises by keeping prices competitive, and if he is tempted to ease up when it comes to the battle with his rivals, then I’m afraid we’ll switch to Tesco’</p>
    Voices

    Sainsbury’s has joined the supermarket price war – but can it win?

    <p>Josh Burt with his wife, Hannah, and their two children </p>
    Fitness and wellbeing

    What it’s like to live with cancer – when it’s your wife’s diagnosis

    Fitness and wellbeing

    What it’s like to live with cancer – when it’s your wife’s diagnosis

    Josh Burt
    <p>Josh Burt with his wife, Hannah, and their two children </p>
    <p>Birmingham residents have been warned to take care of their personal rubbish and watch out for bin raiders (REUTERS)</p>
    UK Politics

    ‘Give councils more money’ Readers weigh in on Birmingham bin strikes

    <p>‘In the pursuit of economic prosperity, the UK should not lose sight of the humanitarian principles that define our society’</p>
    Voices

    Britain must not trade away its values for a deal with Trump

    <p>‘If you were to believe some of the more excitable comments by some journalists and anti-trans women’s groups, trans people will be barred from all public facilities by the end of the Easter holiday. Not so’</p>
    Voices

    The law will protect trans people like me, no matter what you think

    <p>‘There is another measure which is long overdue and now needs to be considered: a new youth mobility scheme with the EU, which would boost growth not only in London but across Britain and Europe’</p>
    Voices

    Sadiq Khan: This will get us closer to Europe – and a post-Trump bump

    <p>‘There is another measure which is long overdue and now needs to be considered: a new youth mobility scheme with the EU, which would boost growth not only in London but across Britain and Europe’</p>
    Voices

    Sadiq Khan: This will get us closer to Europe – and a post-Trump bump

    <p>Joaquin Phoenix finds an AI love interest in Scarlett Johansson in Spike Jonze’s 2015 movie ‘Her’</p>
    Voices

    An AI boyfriend is the only logical option

    <p>‘The Supreme Court’s judgement just adds to the weight of state abuse of trans women’</p>
    Voices

    Trans women like me are outlawed – what are you so scared of?

    The Independent View

    The US needs to understand truth and trade are not interchangeable

    <p>‘The decision to shut out from the hearing the people most closely affected by it made the decision weaker’</p>
    Voices

    We let the Supreme Court decide ‘what a woman is’ – they chose wrong

    <p>Supposed ‘free speech’ absolutist Elon Musk</p>
    Voices

    The difference between ‘hate speech’ and ‘freedom of speech’

    <p>‘The truth is that Trump and Vance have played their hand so badly that they now need a UK trade deal as much as we do’</p>
    Voices

    How can Starmer seal the deal with Trump?

    <p>Petrol prices contributed to a dip in inflation last month (Peter Byrne/PA)</p>
    Voices

    Inflation falls – now will the Bank of England go big and slash rates?

    <p>An unreliable and capricious US president cannot define the UK national interest and wield a veto over how Starmer performs his tricky balancing act</p>
    Voices

    Starmer’s ‘liberation day’ from Trump lies in a new EU customs deal 

    <p>According to JD Vance, a UK-US trade deal could be on the horizon</p>
    The Independent View

    If Starmer pulls off a trade deal with the US, he’ll seal his legacy

    <p>More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past 18 months – according to local health authorities – amid the total destruction of Gaza</p>
    Voices

    Why Hamas rejected Israel’s offer of a ceasefire in Gaza

    <p>Job vacancies are vanishing as a result of Rachel Reeves’s tax on employment</p>
    Voices

    The latest jobs figures are out – and it’s bad news for the chancellor

    Voices

    The latest jobs figures are out – and it’s bad news for the chancellor

    James Moore
    <p>Job vacancies are vanishing as a result of Rachel Reeves’s tax on employment</p>
    <p>‘Since the start of Sudan’s brutal conflict two years ago today, women and girls have come under constant attack’</p>
    Voices

    The brutal truth about being a young woman in Sudan

    <p>Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, has signalled a UK-US trade deal could be on the cards</p>
    Voices

    Vance dangling a UK trade deal looks good on paper – but at what cost?

    <p>The public learns little from politicians publishing their tax returns that it didn’t already know</p>
    Voices

    What do tax returns published by Starmer, Rayner and Reeves tell us?

    <p>Demonstrators from the group, Jewish Voice for Peace protest inside Trump Tower in support of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil</p>
    Voices

    Trump’s $2bn Harvard University row reveals his free speech hypocrisy

    <p>Demonstrators from the group, Jewish Voice for Peace protest inside Trump Tower in support of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil</p>
    Voices

    Trump’s $2bn Harvard University row reveals his free speech hypocrisy

    <p>This week, Rosamund chooses her favourite wines to drink at Easter</p>
    Voices

    Why not try these cracking wines this Easter?

    <p>It has all the elements of any thriller: the blast furnaces that have been in non-stop operation have only days – if not hours – of life left in them before they are extinguished forever</p>
    The Independent View

    Britain will not tolerate destructive behaviour masked as investment

    <p>A steelworker watches as molten steel pours from one of the Blast Furnaces at the British Steel - Scunthorpe plant</p>
    Voices

    The UK should have seen the risks of China’s interest in British Steel

    <p>Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping</p>
    Voices

    Trump won’t admit it – but he blinked first in his China trade war

    <p>Aimee Lou Wood as Chelsea in 'The White Lotus'</p>
    Voices

    What SNL’s Aimee Lou Wood gag tells us about the state of US satire

    <p>Public sector bodies have been called upon to consider the economic and social impact on the UK before purchasing steel from abroad</p>
    Voices

    British steel industry is on life support – but can taxpayers save it?

    <p>The first of The Independent’s completed safe houses funded by the Brick by Brick campaign, which was launched in September 2024 </p>
    The Independent View

    Time to build a better future – Brick by Brick

    <p>Katy Perry and an all-female crew are set to fly into space on Jeff Bezos rocket</p>
    Voices

    I was a people pleaser, too – but going to space is a step too far

    <p>Public sector bodies have been called upon to consider the economic and social impact on the UK before purchasing steel from abroad</p>
    Voices

    British steel industry is on life support – but can taxpayers save it?

    <p>The first of The Independent’s completed safe houses funded by the Brick by Brick campaign, which was launched in September 2024 </p>
    The Independent View

    Time to build a better future – Brick by Brick

    <p>Katy Perry and an all-female crew are set to fly into space on Jeff Bezos rocket</p>
    Voices

    I was a people pleaser, too – but going to space is a step too far

    <p>Rubbish bags are taken away on Poplar Road in Birmingham (Jacob King/PA Wire)</p>
    Home News

    Have your say: Who’s to blame for Birmingham’s bin crisis?

    <p>A billboard in Sierra Leone advertising HIV testing</p>
    The Independent View

    Britain’s aid cuts harm the world – and the UK itself

    <p>‘This week’s executive order may act as a double espresso for the coal industry’s short-term future, but I can’t see that energy high lasting much longer’</p>
    Voices

    Coal is not clean, it’s not beautiful, and we don’t need it for AI

    <p>‘Don’t go broke trying to look rich. It’s something my brother shared with me a couple of years ago when we were talking about the pressure to keep up with the people around you. And really, it’s a motto for life’</p>
    Voices

    How is social media influencing your spending habits?

    <p>The cost of renewing a British passport has jumped to £94.50 – a 25 per cent increase in two years </p>
    Voices

    I’m not the only British tourist with a passport horror story

    <p>Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said there will be no ‘two-tier’ system (Jordan Pettitt/PA)</p>
    Voices

    Rather than ending two-tier justice, Labour risks enshrining it in law

    <p>Cargo ships in the Singapore Strait – some distance from their nearest dock</p>
    Errors & Omissions

    Mea Culpa: Un-separating and substituting

    <p>Keir Starmer meets British Steel workers in Appleby Village Hall near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, on Saturday</p>
    The Independent View

    British Steel and the pragmatic case for public ownership

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