EDITION 946
21 NOVEMBER 2022

There is no escaping it: too much news is bad for you. It should come with a government health warning: “This intellectual diet is fine taken in small doses, and preferably in weekly instalments, via a well-balanced newsletter, such as 10 things from William Montgomery."

So, as another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to navigate the autumn statement. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his autumn statement on Thursday, outlining around £55bn worth of tax hikes and spending cuts. Here are some of the key announcements: READ MORE >>

2. Bank governor blames Brexit. The governor of the Bank of England said that Britain is suffering worse economic performance than its rivals because of Brexit and a dramatic fall in the size of the workforce since the Covid pandemic. Asked whether Britain leaving the European Union was contributing to the country’s underperformance, Andrew Bailey said that “there is an effect,” including a “long-run downshift” in productivity. He added that Liz Truss’s mini-budget had “damaged our reputation internationally because of what happened”. The Times

3. Record fall in living standards. Britain is facing the highest level of taxation since the Second World War and a record fall in living standards after Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement. The chancellor “chose to target middle-income and wealthier households in an attempt to balance the books,” said The Times, while The Telegraph felt that “it’s hard to spot the difference between the Tories and Labour now”. The Daily Mail’s Sarah Vine said “there was me thinking we’d voted in the Conservatives” but the Daily Express hailed “victory” in its campaign to secure a 10.1% state pension increase. Editor

4. Benefits claims still double pre-Covid levels. Some parts of Britain still have double the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits than before the Covid crisis, ONS data has revealed. The London constituencies of Brent North and East Ham both had twice as many claimants last month than before the pandemic. The figures also revealed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's seat of South West Surrey had 1,190 claimants in October - a 95 per cent increase since March 2020. And Surrey Heath, the constituency represented by Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove, had 1,395 claimants last month - a 92 per cent increase since the start of the Covid crisis. The Daily Mail

5. World Cup workers paid 35p an hour. Migrant workers working as security guards in the park that will host Qatar’s World Cup festivities are being paid as little as 35p an hour, according to reports. The guards claim they work 12-hour shifts and get just one day off a month. The tournament starts this weekend amid widespread international criticism of the host nation’s record on migrant workers and LGBTQ+ rights. The controversy could “kill” the brand of David Beckham, who is the face of the tournament. The Guardian

6. Poor ergonomics linked to back pain. Remote working has led to back pain and neck problems, with tens of thousands reporting as long-term sick. Poor ergonomics are partially responsible for labour shortages in the UK, the Office for National Statistics said. ONS found the number of people being unfit for work because of neck and back injuries has risen by 62,000 between Quarter 2 in 2019 and 2022. Long-term sickness among those aged 25 to 34 had jumped by 42%. Figures also showed that around 454,000 people were affected by mental health disorders. A partial return to the office has led to improvement in health problems, an ONS statistician added. Sky News

7. Historic fund agreed at Cop27. Applause broke out at Cop27 in Egypt as almost 200 countries agreed a landmark deal to launch a fund to help nations worst affected by climate change. The historic fund was approved just before dawn after negotiations continued throughout the night. The United Nations summit has brought what was a “taboo issue” into the mainstream, with even the US, a long-time obstacle, “accepting the need for such a pot of money”. Sky News

8. Labour will abolish House of Lords. Keir Starmer will abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a new elected chamber. The party leader believes that the public’s faith in the political system had been undermined by successive Tory leaders handing peerages to “lackeys and donors”. He has told Labour peers that there is strong support for reform of the Lords and outlined “some very clear principles”, including that any new chamber should be elected by voters rather than appointed by politicians. The Observer

9. Train cancellations at record high. Rail cancellations have reached their highest level on record, according to the latest analysis. More than 314,000 trains were fully or partly cancelled across Great Britain in a year and the proportion of cancelled services has more than doubled since 2015, rising to one in 26 of all train journeys being disrupted in the year to 15 October. Labour said ministers are rewarding “abject failure” by offering performance bonuses despite poor data. The Guardian

10. The bottom line. According to the UN, the estimated global population reached eight billion last week and each day McDonald’s feeds almost 1% of the entire world’s population. That’s 80 million every day, more than the entire population of the UK. Editor