Early evening summary
King Charles has delivered his first king’s speech, outlining the UK government’s plans for laws to create potential dividing lines with Labour before the next general election with a tough approach to criminal justice and the green agenda, but little legislation to improve Britain’s struggling public services. And here is Rowena Mason’s analysis.
Johnson did say he would rather 'let bodies pile high' than order another lockdown, Covid inquiry told
At PMQs in April 2021 Boris Johnson categorically denied saying that he had would rather “let the bodies pile high” than agree to a further lockdown. He was responding to a question from Keir Starmer, who asked if it was true that Johnson had made the remark in late October 2020, as he agreed to a second lockdown.
Dominic Cummings subsequently told a Commons committee that he had heard Johnson make the remark. But Cummings’ evidence was not enough to trigger an investigation into whether or not Johnson had lied to MPs, partly because he clearly had a grudge against Johnson and some MPs questioned his credibility.
At the Covid inquiry hearing today an extract from Ed Lister’s witness statement was shown saying he heard Johnson make this remark. Lister is a highly credible witness who hasn’t fallen out with Johnson. Assuming he is right, the only defence Johnson would have against the charge that he told a direct lie to Starmer at PMQs would be timing; Starmer asked if Johnson had made the comment in October, but Lister said he heard Johnson use the phrase in September.
Lord Lister’s written evidence also confirms Boris Johnson said in September 2020 that he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown. This was denied by cabinet ministers when first alleged in April 2021. pic.twitter.com/lb4854Ni4I
— Laura Hughes (@Laura_K_Hughes) November 7, 2023
Updated
Simon Case said he had 'never seen people less well equipped to run country' than Johnson and his team, Covid inquiry told
Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, described Boris Johnson’s team at No 10 as “so mad” and said he had “never seen a bunch of people less well equipped to run the country”, the Covid inquiry heard.
Case made the comment in an exchange with Mark Sedwill, his predecessor, on 2 July 2020. Case also said that he had told Johnson that lots of high-quality people he had approached about working in No 10 “had refused to come because of the toxic reputation of his operation”.
This is from Peter Walker.
If you were in any doubt about the chaos inside Johnson's No 10, look at this exchange between Mark Sedwill (then-cabinet secretary) and Simon Case (his successor).
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2023
Case calls it "mad", "poisonous", "never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country". pic.twitter.com/tppDGFCzWM
Updated
Johnson at one point proposed being injected with Covid on TV to show people it was harmless, inquiry hears
At the Covid inquiry Ed Lister (now Lord Udny-Lister), who was Boris Johnson’s chief of staff in No 10, confirmed that at one point Johnson suggested he should be injected with coronavirus on TV to show people they had nothing to fear from it.
Asked about the comment in his witness statement, Lister said:
It was before the Italian situation had really become apparent to everybody. It was a time when Covid was not seen as being the serious disease it subsequently became. It was a moment in time – I think it was an unfortunate comment.
When it was put to him that people knew at that point that Covid was deadly, Lister replied:
We were still living in the forlorn hope that it wasn’t going to come – it was wrong. I fully accept it’s a comment that shouldn’t have been made, but it was made in the heat of the moment, that’s all.
Lister said he was unsure exactly when Johnson made the comment.
This is from my colleague Peter Walker.
Lord Lister's main contribution so far has been to confirm that at one point early in Covid, Boris Johnson proposed being injected with the virus on TV "to demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat".
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2023
Lister tells in inquiry this was “an unfortunate comment”. pic.twitter.com/mWkDq68hV9
Covid inquiry hears how Johnson and Sunak resisted lockdown in autumn 2020, with PM considering 'medieval measures'
Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson pushed repeatedly against lockdown measures during the second wave of Covid in autumn 2020, with the government’s chief scientist accusing the then chancellor of using “spurious” arguments against new rules, the inquiry into the pandemic has heard. Peter Walker has the story here.
Peter has posed on X two extracts from Sir Patrick Vallance’s diaries that confirm this.
In one extract, from early October 2020, Vallance wrote:
Very bad meeting in no.10… PM talks of medieval measures than ones being suggested. Perhaps we should look at another approach and apply different values … Surely this just sweeps through in waves like other natural phenomena and there is nothing we can do.
As Simon Ridley [head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid taskforce] said final slide, PM said ‘Whisky and a revolver’. He was all over the place. CX [the chancellor] using increasingly specific and spurious arguments against closing hospitality. Both of them clutching at straws … There are really only three choices for the high prevalence areas … 1) Do a proper lockdown 2) Use military to enforce the rules 3) Do nothing and do a ‘Barrington Declaration’ and count the bodies (poor, old and BAME). When will they decide.
Covind inquiry sees another damning extract from Patrick Vallance's diary, about Oct 2020 meeting where Johnson and Sunak resisted a circuit-breaker lockdown. Johnson wonders if Covid should just "sweep through". Sunak made "spurious" arguments against closing hospitality. pic.twitter.com/gMhgoCf0Ej
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2023
And in another extract Vallance said:
Ridley meeting – positioned PM meeting as ‘a chance to step back/but avoid making a whole load of decisions that then get undone by Cx (Chancellor)’. I asked what PM thinks objectives are ‘what he wants to achieve is a series of mutually incompatible options’. He ‘owns’ the reality for a day and then is buffeted by a discussion with Cx.
Another extract from Patrick Vallance's diary ses him saying it was necessary to not make decisions "that then get undone by the chancellor". Johnson, Vallance writes, "owns the reality for a day, and then is buffeted by a discussion with CX [Sunak]". pic.twitter.com/1ngM1pBDTA
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2023
Former PM Theresa May urges Sunak to 'press the accelerator' on transition to net zero
Theresa May, the former Conservative PM, has criticised Rishi Sunak for watering down some of the govenment’s net zero policies.
Speaking in the debate on the king’s speech, she started by saying she was surprised to see a claim by the party recently, after Sunak made his net zero U-turn in September, saying Sunak was unlike previous PMs because he was tackling long-term issues like climate change. She points out that she was the PM who actually legislated to put the 2050 target for net zero into law.
A different approach was needed, she said:
What we need to do now is press the accelerator on transition to a green economy, not try to draw back.
She said this applied to the skills agenda too. The government should be training people in the skills they would need in a green economy – by teaching gas engineers to install heat pumps, for example, she said.
She said the government should be acting faster on the transition to net zero because addressing climate change was necessary to protect people.
May cited this as one of three elements she felt was missing from the speech.
She said she also wanted it to include further measures to tackle modern slavery.
And she said she was disappointed by the failure to include a bill on reforming the Mental Health Act. (See 12.32pm and 12.37pm.)
May said, on a recent visit to Cox Green school in her constituency, she had asked pupils about the issues that mattered most to them. Mental health and climate change were both priorities, she said.
May’s language in her speech is surprisingly similar to what Keir Starmer said about net zero in his speech to the Labour conference. Starmer said:
So when Rishi Sunak says row back on our climate mission, I say speed ahead.
Speed ahead with investment.
Speed ahead with half a million jobs.
Speed ahead with Great British Energy.
UPDATE: May said:
I think in relation to the king’s speech, and the government’s programme on climate change and environmental degradation, the government is missing an opportunity.
What we need to do now is press the accelerator on the transition to a green economy, not try to draw back, and I fear that despite the fact that the king’s speech says ministers will seek to attract record levels of investment in renewable energy sources, that that is not sufficiently strong in ambition from the government to make sure that they are making that transition quickly enough to ensure that we reach net zero in 2050.
It’s no good waking up on January 1, 2045, and saying we’ve got five years to do something. Let’s do it now because that will be even more costly for members of the public …
I also worry that we are giving some mixed messages to investors. They need to have the confidence to invest in our transition to a green economy and we need to show that the government is pressing the accelerator on that, because the best long-term decision that we can make is about climate change, because the long-term future of this country and of the people of this country depend on us dealing with climate change and environmental degradation. So I want the government to press the accelerator not to roll backwards.
Updated
Rishi Sunak wanted the pro-Palestinian march in London scheduled for Saturday to be cancelled, No 10 said. At a lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson said:
The prime minister himself does not think it’s right for these sorts of protests to be scheduled on Armistice Day. He believes that is provocative and disrespectful.
Updated
According to a Times story by Matt Dathan, the government was planning to publish its draft criminal justice bill tomorrow – but has delayed publication because several cabinet ministers are opposed to Suella Braverman’s plan to include in it her scheme to ban charities from distributing tents to homeless people in cities.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, is speaking now.
He started by reiterating the SNP call for a full ceasefire in Gaza.
And he said he hoped MPs would get a chance to vote on this soon.
One obvious option for the SNP is to table an amendment to the king’s speech motion calling for a ceasefire. That would create a problem for Labour, because many Labour MPs would want to vote for a ceasefire.
Updated
Sunak says he wants to close with a reference to the armed forces, with Armistice Day coming up.
They are the best of us, he says.
Labour tried to make Jeremy Corbyn PM, a man who wanted to abolish the armed forces, who wanted to withdraw from Nato, and who sided with the UK’s enemies, he says.
He says, above all, the king’s speech delivers change. It takes long-term decisions for a better future, he says.
Sunak defends his plans on net zero. He claims Starmer is not against all oil and gas – just British oil and gas.
He says the government will create the first smoke-free generation.
He says he is most proud of the Conservative party’s record on education. Under his plans, people will study maths and English up to 18, he says.
And he says he is particularly proud of Network North, which he says is the most ambitous scheme for transport in the north from any government.
Chris Bryant (Lab) intervened. He said many people who sleep rough are army veterans or have brain injuries. Does he agree with Suella Braverman that homelessness is a lifestyle choice? And if he doesn’t, will he sack her?
Sunak said homelessness among veterans was at a record low. And he said rough sleeping was down by a third from its peak.
Updated
Sunak is saying very little about what is in the king’s speech. Instead he is focusing more on criticising Labour.
He says the government has introduced freeports, using Brexit freedoms that Starmer would abandon.
And he also claims that Labour would allow an extra 100,000 EU migrants into the UK every year.
The Full Fact factchecking organisation has published a factcheck on this claim in the past. It says it is misleading.
Sunak says Labour will borrow and copy anything – as Rachel Reeves showed with her book.
And he claims Starmer was going to write a book but abandoned the idea – after his publishers concluded he did not have a vision.
Sunak is now paying tribute to Robert Goodwill and Siobhan Baillie for their speeches, and their parliamentary records more generally.
Both speeches, apparently, were “in the finest traditions of this house”.
Turning to Starmer, he claims Starmer has abandoned his previous republicanism, which he says he welcomes as a U-turn.
Updated
Rishi Sunak is speaking now.
He started by talking about Israel and Gaza, stressing the UK’s support for Israel’s right to defend himself.
He said more than 100 Britons have now left Gaza.
And he said the government would “not stand for the hatred and antisemitism we have seen on our streets”. He went on:
It sickens me to think that British Jews are looking over their shoulder in this country that children are going to school covering up their school badges for fear of attack.
This government will do whatever it takes to keep the Jewish community safe.
Updated
Starmer dimisses king's speech as 'exercise in economic miserabilism'
Starmer said there should been a planning bill in the king’s speech.
He dismissed it as “an exercise in economic miserabilism” and “an admission that his government has no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline”.
And he was particularly critical of the oil and gas bill. He explained:
A bill that everyone in the energy sector knows is a political gimmick.
Even the energy secretary admits it will not take a single penny of anyone’s bills.
He also accused Sunak of being wrong about clean energy.
They are wrong about clean energy. It is cheaper. It is British and he can give us real security from tyrants like Putin.
But more importantly, they are wrong about Britain. We can win the race for the jobs of tomorrow. We can work hand in glove with the private sector and invest in the critical infrastructure.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
We needed an employment bill. Time and again – this bill has been promised. Time and again – it fails to materialise. When we could be scrapping fire and rehire, ending zero-hours contracts, making work pay with a real living wage and saying, unambiguously, that strong workers’ rights are good for growth.
What we got instead is an exercise in economic miserabilism.
An admission that his government has no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline.
Take the oil and gas bill announced today.
A bill that everyone in the energy sector knows is a political gimmick.
And that even the energy secretary admits will not take a single penny off anyone’s bills.
I don’t know which of his seven bins, the prime minister chucked her meat tax in but this one will follow soon.
Nonetheless, it’s a gimmick that tells a story.
A King’s speech with no concern for the national interest, wallowing in a pessimism that says the hard road to a better future isn’t for Britain. It’s been this way for 13 years now.
Updated
Starmer says Sunak cannot be serious PM with Braverman as home secretary pursuing her 'divisive brand of politics'
Starmer is now engaged in a sustained attack on Suella Braverman, the home secretary.
He says the Conservative party it is “so devoid of leadership. It is happy to follow a home secretary who describes homelessness as a lifestyle choice.”
He says protecting the public from extremism is “the most basic job of government”.
But Braverman is using the threat posed by extremism as “legitimate terrain for her divisive brand of politics”.
He says as DPP he worked with the police and counter-terrorism forces. Their job is hard enough without the home secretary using these issues as a “platform for her own ambition”.
He also criticises what Braverman said about homelessness.
Homelessness is a choice. It’s a political choice.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
We needed a King’s Speech that would draw a line under 13 years of Tory decline. A king’s speech for national renewal and a serious plan for growth.
But instead we have a party so devoid of leadership, it is happy to follow a home secretary who believes homelessness is a “lifestyle choice”, and that the job of protecting us all from extremists – the most basic job of government – is legitimate terrain for her divisive brand of politics.
As Director of Public Prosecutions I worked very closely with police and counter-terrorism forces and their job is hard enough already without the home secretary using it as a platform for her own ambitions.
So I say to the prime minister, think very carefully about what she is committing your government to do and think very carefully about the consequences of putting greater demands on public servants at the coalface of keeping us safe.
Because without a serious home secretary there cannot be serious government and he cannot be a serious prime minister.
Updated
Turning to Gaza, Starmer says Israel has a right to defend itself. But he says that is not a blank cheque. It must comply with international law.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
It is now one month exactly since the senseless murder of Jews by the terrorists of Hamas and the taking of hostages on October 7.
And every new day in Gaza now brings with it more pain, more suffering, more agony. Hostages still held. Thousands of civilians dead, including so many innocent women and children, millions struggling for the basics of life – food, water, sanitation, medicines and fuel.
We cannot and we will not close our eyes to their suffering. We need a humanitarian pause now. The hostages to be released now.
Israel has the right and duty to defend herself but it is not a blank cheque, it must comply with international law and this House must commit to do whatever it can to keep alive the light of peace, so we welcome the address’s clear commitment to support the two-state solution.
Updated
Starmer has now dispensed with the formalities, and he is on to the substance of the king’s speech.
Rather, he complains about the lack of substance. He says the measure in it are “sticking plasters”.
He accuses Rishi Sunak of putting up taxes 25 times.
He says Labour will support some measures, like Jade’s law and the Martyn’s law plan, and the proposal for an independent football regulator.
And Labour will vote for the plan to stop younger generations everbeing able to buy cigarettes.
Updated
Starmer pays tribute to MPs who have died over the past year – Jack Dromey, Cheryl Gillan and James Brokenshire.
And he says he is expected to welcome new members at this point – although that could take time, he says. He says there are 11 new MPs who were not here at the start of the last session – one Conservative, two Lib Dems, and eight Labour MPs.
Updated
Keir Starmer is speaking. He starts by paying tribute to the two backbenchers who proposed and seconded the loyal address, and he is particularly positive about Siobhan Baillie, saying he can understand why Rishi Sunak turned to “a working class lawyer with a connection to Camden”. Baillie was a councillor in the borough, and Starmer says she is respected there across all parties.
Updated
Baillie refers to Rishi Sunak as the hardest-working PM she has known – “and I’ve known quite a few recently”.
That is the second joke about the Tories’ rapid prime ministerial turnover over the past 18 months. In his speech Sir Robert Goodwill referred to the Tories having had three female prime ministers – although he said he was not sure whether the last one counted (as a PM, he meant, because Liz Truss was out so quickly, not as a woman).
Updated
Baillie recalls a fellow MP telling her in the library “come and see my tortoise”. As he was a public school boy, she feared some innuendo. But he was referring to a real tortoise, belonging to the speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, she says. (Hoyle is an animal lover, with a menagerie of pets.)
Updated
Siobhan Baillie, MP for Stroud, is speaking now. She praises her constituency, saying it is “the quirky bit of the Cotswolds”.
Goodwill ends with a story about campaigning on an estate in his constituency that was very pro-Labour. He recalls meeting a woman who said she was very pro-Boris Johnson. She said he was “one of us”. Goodwill says he asked why she said that, given Johnson had been to Eton and Oxford. The woman replied:
You don’t understand. He had a row with his wife and the police came round.
Updated
Back in the Commons Goodwill is giving a potted history of his career, with some reasonably funny jokes.
He recalls one campaign where posters went up asking what the difference was between Goodwill and a supermarket trolley. The local paper provided the answer – a supermarket trolley has a mind of its own, it said.
Goodwill admits he has never voted against the party whip.
But he has another answer to the question.
The real answer to the question: ‘What is the difference between an MP and a supermarket trolley?’ is that, with a trolley, there is a physical limit to the amount of food and drink you can get into it.
Updated
According to Jon Craig on Sky News, Labour sources are suggesting that the king’s speech might be particularly thin this year because Rishi Sunak is planning a May election.
Senior Labour MP & close ally of Keir Starmer tells me Labour MPs are now speculating that Govt’s “light” programme of legislation, only 20 or so Bills including many carried over, suggests Rishi Sunak is plotting early general election in May next year. Oo er!
Senior Labour MP & close ally of Keir Starmer tells me Labour MPs are now speculating that Govt’s “light” programme of legislation, only 20 or so Bills including many carried over, suggests Rishi Sunak is plotting early general election in May next year. Oo er!
— Jon Craig (@joncraig) November 7, 2023
The convention wisdom at Westminster is that the election will be in the autumn or early winter next year. The assumption is that, faced with a choice of six more months as PM or 12 months, Sunak will opt for the latter.
UPDATE: This is from Cat Neilan from Tortoise.
Labour may well be prepping for a May general election - Tories are less convinced.
— Cat Neilan (@CatNeilan) November 7, 2023
One MP says: "A risk taker goes in May. Rishi? Risk taker?? Less of one than Theresa."
Updated
Sir Robert Goodwill (Con) is now proposing the loyal address to the king (a thank you message for his turning up this morning).
Goodwill, who has been MP for Scarborough and Whitby since 2005, starts with a joke about how it has “come to this”. This is a joke about the fact that the person chosen to propose the loyal address is normally someone thought to be nearing the end of their career.
He is now talking up the delights of Scarborough and Whitby.
Updated
Hoyle tells MPs they should think carefully about using Twitter to “intimidate” the speaker. He is complaining about MPs who tweet complaints during debates saying they have not been called to speak. If they do that, he is less likely to call them, he suggests.
Updated
MPs debate king's speech
In the Commons chamber the debate on the king’s speech is about to start. First, as is usual, at the start of a new session, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, is making a statement about the standards of conduct expected from MPs.
There are 21 bills in the king’s speech, of which only one, the rail reform bill, is a draft one. That means it is being published for consultation, and is not likely to become law within the next year.
The bill will legislate to set up Great British Railways to replace Network Rail as the body in charge of rail infrastructure and to take charge of handing out rail franchises.
Richard Bowker, former boss of the Strategic Rail Authority, has criticised the delay. He told PA Media:
I am genuinely struggling to see why it is so complex that, two and a half years since the Williams-Shapps plan was announced, we’re still only at this point.
Anything that moves us towards a world where government officials have less to do with the day-to-day running things is good news, but why so slow?
Time is really of the essence. What have you been doing for two and a half years?
Updated
Stonewall has criticised the government for not including the long-promised ban on conversion practices in the king’s speech. (See 2.04pm.) Cat Dixon, Stonewall’s chair, said:
We are deeply disappointed to see that legislation to ban conversion practices has been dropped from the king’s speech. This was the final opportunity for this UK government to protect LGBTQ+ people from the abuse and torture that has afflicted generations of LGBTQ+ people in the UK and which continues to this day.
Protections were first promised [by] Prime Minister Theresa May, and by every subsequent prime minister including Rishi Sunak. We saw legislation pledged in both the 2021 and 2022 queen’s speech, so the abandonment of promised laws now is an abject failure to protect for the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Updated
Seven measures left out of king's speech
Often what’s most interesting about a king or queen’s speech is what’s missing. When a measure is expected, and then omitted, that is often evidence of a rethink, or a U-turn, and it can lead to accusations of betrayal. It might also be a sign that the government was never that keen on the idea in the first place.
Here are some of the most prominent items “missing” from today’s speech.
1) A mental health bill. Campaigners are angry that long-promised legislation to modernise the Mental Health Act has not been included. (See 12.32pm and 12.37pm.)
2) Measures to counter what Rishi Sunak called “the war on motorists”. At the Tory conference Sunak claimed motorists are being penalised, and he promised measures to limit the rollout of 20mph speed limits and low emissions zone. It was reported that the plans would be in the king’s speech. But there are no bills covering this in the speech and, even though limiting the powers of councils in relation to 20mph zones might not need primary legislation, there is no mention of this issue at all in the 70-page briefing document. There is no bill on A-level reform either, but that did not stop the king mentioning that as a priority in his address. (See 11.39am.)
3) A ban on conversion practices. The Tories first promised a ban on conversion practices under Theresa May. Last month there were reports that a bill on this would be included in the king’s speech, but that provoked an angry backlash from socially conservative MPs, and the idea was abandoned. Jayne Ozanne, founder of the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition, told PinkNews:
I am angered but sadly not surprised by the government’s decision to drop a ban on conversion practices. The prime minister has shown a callous disregard for LGBT+ lives of late and has chosen to prioritise listening to perpetrators over that of engaging with victims of abuse.
4) Nutrient neutrality. At the Tory conference Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, said the government would legislate “at the first available opportunity” to reverse the defeat in the House of Lords when his plan to axe a river pollution law (nutrient neutrality, to use the jargon) deemed to be holding back housebuilding was defeated by peers. But there was no reference in the speech to the government revisiting this.
5) The Conservative manifesto in 2019 promised a ban on imports from trophy hunting. Since Boris Johnson was replaced, animal rights has been less of a No 10 priority, and in the last parliament it was left to Henry Smith, a Tory MP, to try to get backbench legislation for a ban onto the statute book. It was blocked in the Lords. Today Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane Society International/UK, said:
It’s a bad day for democracy when the whims and fancies of a handful of pro-hunting Lords hold government hostage and stop it from delivering its promised manifesto commitment to ban hunting trophy imports. We’ve had enough of this government promising a lot and delivering very little to stop animal cruelty.
6) The ban on charities distributing tents to the homeless. There was no mention of this in the speech, although a close reading of the FT on Saturday (see 9.04am) suggests this was never a strong contender for inclusion in the first place.
7) Audit reform bill. The last queen’s speech, in May 2022, promised a draft audit reform bill to set up an auditing regulator. Normally a draft bill one year is followed by a real bill the following year. But the draft audit reform bill never appeared, and there was no reference to legislation today. Anne Kiem, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, which has produced a briefing on this, said:
It is deeply disappointing that the audit reform bill has been excluded from King Charles’s speech. This legislation is urgently needed to put the audit regulator on a statutory footing with the legal powers it needs to hold company directors and audit firms to account when things go wrong.
Corporate collapses linked to audit and governance weaknesses, such as BHS, Carillion, Patisserie Valerie, Thomas Cook and Wilko, have already cost tens of thousands of jobs, led to hundreds of retail store closures, hurt investors, cost people their pensions and impacted suppliers.
This legislation was promised in the last queen’s speech, so we had reasonably expected it to already have been delivered. That it won’t even be delivered in this parliamentary session is astonishing. We need to safeguard our future economic prosperity by protecting jobs, growth and investors.
Updated
And here is more criticism of the oil and gas licensing plans in the speech (see 1.15pm) from Greenpeace and the IPPR thinktank.
Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said:
All of the world’s superpowers are investing heavily in green infrastructure, renewables and the clean tech of the future because they know it will generate economic growth, jobs and ultimately help to stop the planet from burning. Instead, our prime minister has decided to line up a licencing bonanza for his pals in the oil and gas industry that the government has already admitted won’t lower bills – and won’t deliver energy security either. Together, with his failure to commit to ratify the Global Oceans Treaty, Rishi Sunak’s divisive electioneering is a complete and utter failure of leadership.
And this is from Josh Emden, a senior research fellow at the IPPR thinktank.
By far the best way to improve energy security, cut bills and support workers is investing more time and money in renewables. Our research shows new oil and gas fields would only cut oil and gas imports by 4 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. The alternative of no new fields and faster renewable rollout would cut them by 12 per cent and 17 per cent.
This is just further confirmation of what public polling is already showing: that the government is spending too much time distracted by the false promise of oil and gas and not enough time rolling out renewables more quickly that could actually make a difference to the cost of living.
The offshore petroleum licensing bill in the speech will achieve “almost nothing”, Fiona Harvey explains in an analysis. Here is an extract.
What is equally significant – and this will not be lost on the king – is that Sunak’s much-trumpeted new legislation will achieve almost nothing because there was already nothing standing in the way of new licences for the North Sea. Ministers have been at liberty to hold licensing rounds at any time, and have done so.
So what is the point? “Pure politics,” said Shaun Spiers, the executive director of the Green Alliance thinktank. “It puts Labour on the spot.” Labour has pledged to award no new licences in the North Sea if elected, but will honour those already granted. Some trade unions are unhappy with this stance, putting pressure on the party’s leader, Keir Starmer.
And here is the full article.
The SNP and Plaid Cymru have both criticised the king’s speech.
For the SNP, its economy spokesperson, Drew Hendry MP, said:
This threadbare king’s speech shows the Tories are bereft of ideas and have completely abandoned people in Scotland.
While the SNP is helping families with a council tax freeze and progressive policies like the Scottish child payment, the Tories are offering no help at all with the cost of living and no new powers for the Scottish parliament – showing why independence is essential to deliver economic growth and boost household incomes.
And Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid leader at Westminster, said:
This king’s speech was a distraction by a desperate government. People want their politicians to focus on solutions to the UK inequality crisis, but this government is more concerned with culture war obsessions.
We had yet more empty promises on crime and sentencing, despite prisons being full and the Prison and Probation Service budget 11% lower in real terms than in 2010-11. People simply won’t believe this hard line on crime and justice, when the Tories have had 13 years to improve things and have evidently failed.
Updated
Greg Clark, the Conservative former cabinet minister who now chairs the Commons science committee, has criticised the government for not including an AI bill in the king’s speech. He said:
This new session of parliament will be the last opportunity to pass significant legislation before the general election, and in all likelihood, before 2025. It is therefore disappointing to see the government decide against including an AI bill in today’s king’s speech.
In March the government said that it would consider legislating to establish ‘due regard’ duties for existing regulators, as part of the implementation of the high-level principles set out in the AI white paper. In our interim report, we called for the introduction of such a bill, and warned that if the government decided not to legislate then it could be surpassed by other jurisdictions – particularly the European Union and United States.
Since our interim report was published both the EU and US have moved closer to setting de facto AI governance standards, and whilst the UK demonstrated its convening power at Bletchley Park, the international regulatory picture is likely to look very different by 2025 – simply put, it may by then be too late for the UK to differentiate itself in any meaningful way.
At his press conference at the end of the Bletchley Park summit last week, Rishi Sunak said he was not proposing swift AI legislation because research was needed first.
Republic claims turnout for its anti-monarchy protest shows 'republicanism on the rise'
Republic claims that more than 500 people turned up to support its anti-monarchy protest today. (See 12.45pm.) Its CEO, Graham Smith, said:
Our parliament is opened by a king wearing a crown while sitting in the Lords. It is just weird we continue with this pantomime that celebrates the worst, least democratic aspects of our political system.
As Republic continues to enjoy unprecedented growth, our continued programme of protests are showcasing a democratic alternative, a future where we can instead elect our head of state.
Our message today is that this campaign is about more than the monarch, it’s about the place of the crown in parliament and the ramshackle state of our constitution.
The growth of our movement shows that Britain is no longer receptive to the status quo – republicanism is on the rise.
The TUC has described the king’s speech as “cheap electioneering”. This is from its general secretary, Paul Nowak.
This is a desperate last throw of the dice from the Conservatives.
There is nothing in today’s king’s speech to fix the country’s problems – just cheap electioneering.
Ministers have turned their back on working people.
Having promised numerous times to bring forward an employment bill to tackle insecure work, the Tories have junked this promise and are now attacking people’s fundamental right to strike.
Instead of fixing our crumbling public services the government is trying to blame paramedics, teachers and other key workers for their failures.
Updated
Photograph: Toby Melville/PA
The RSPCA has welcomed the news that the speech included an animal welfare (livestock exports) bill that will ban the export of live animals for slaughter. This will compensate for the kept animals bill being dropped earlier this year.
David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA, said:
This is a historic day for animal welfare. After half a century of campaigning to see an end of live exports, we’re incredibly pleased that the UK government has prioritised this – albeit as the only animal welfare issue taken forward in their programme.
Updated
The king was booed by a sizeable crowd of protesters from Republic, the anti-monarchy campaign, on his way to and from parliament. It’s not the start of a revolution, but it’s notable. It didn’t happen to his mother.
Steve Brine, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons health committee, has also criticised the omission of a bill to reform the Mental Health Act. (See 12.32pm.) While he welcomed the plans for a tobacco and vapes bill (see 11.41am), he also said:
It is disappointing that the government has failed to bring forward legislation to overhaul the Mental Health Act. The draft bill, among its planned reforms, would outlaw the inappropriate detention of people with learning disabilities and autism. Without change, too many people will continue to be held in secure units, often for years at a time. These reforms are long overdue.
Campaigners criticise omission of long-promised bill to reform Mental Health Act from king's speech
In the queen’s speech in May last year the government promised draft legislation to reform the Mental Health Act. The government did publish a draft mental health bill more than a year ago, but that draft bill has not been followed up with the promise of legislation in this session of parliament.
Commenting on the omission, Mark Winstanley, the chief executive of the Rethink Mental Illness charity, said:
Today’s king’s speech was the last opportunity for this government to honour its commitment to reform the Mental Health Act. The failure to introduce a mental health bill is a profound betrayal to people that have been detained under the Mental Health Act and everyone who has campaigned for decades to reform it. It is difficult not to conclude that the march of progress to prioritise the nation’s mental health and challenge the stigma of mental illness has stalled. What makes this decision even harder to swallow is that reform had been mapped out and agreed in draft legislation and has cross-party support.
The Mental Health Act is a crucial piece of legislation that keeps people safe when they are unwell and in crisis. In doing so, it removes rights that many of us take for granted – detaining people, often against their will, and stripping away choices over treatment. Now 40 years old, the legislation has failed to keep pace with the world we live in, and the need to protect people while respecting their wishes and dignity. The act in its current form also exacerbates racial injustice, seeing a disproportionate number of black men detained under its powers.
And this is from Tim Nicholls, head of influencing and research at the National Autistic Society.
The government has ignored the thousands of us calling for reform, so our mental health laws are fit for the 21st century. We do not understand why it is not worth parliamentary time to change the law so that autism can no longer be a reason to section someone. The king’s speech was a vital opportunity for the government to commit to reforming the outdated Mental Health Act, and address the ongoing crisis of autistic people being stuck in mental health hospitals. The government has failed to keep its promises.
There are 2,045 autistic people and people with learning disabilities in mental health hospitals in England – and 65% are autistic people. Hospitals are often miles away from families and the average length of stay is more than five years. We hear alarming reports of people being overmedicated, pinned down and shut away in isolation in these settings, often with devastating consequences.
Reforming the Mental Health Act needed to be a key step towards ending this crisis. We urgently need significant, long-term funding for community mental health and social care services, so that autistic people can get the support they need in the first place and don’t need to reach crisis point and end up locked away in hospitals.
Updated
The king’s speech ran to 1,223 words, making it the longest monarch’s speech at a state opening of parliament since 2005, PA Media reports.
Updated
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has dismissed the king’s speech as “cheap gimmicks and reheated policies”. He said:
The country is crying out for change and hope for a brighter future. Instead all Rishi Sunak had to offer was cheap gimmicks and reheated policies.
There was nothing but empty words on the biggest issues facing the country, from the NHS crisis to the sewage scandal.
There were no real solutions for patients left waiting months in pain for treatment, homeowners seeing their mortgages skyrocket or communities seeing their local rivers ruined by sewage.
It shows the Conservative government is out of touch, out of ideas and deserves to be kicked out of office.
Updated
Downing Street has published its 78-page briefing on the king’s speech, and the measures announced in it. It’s here.
The king says:
Members of the House of Commons
Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.
My lords and members of the House of Commons
Other measures will be laid before you. I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.
Analysis: This is how the speech always ends. The Commons-only bit is a reference to the fact that the key tax powers are reserved to the elected chamber. And the final line about how “other measures” might come to is an acknowledgment that this list of bills is not exclusive. The government is perfectly free to introduce other bills if it wants to, and in practice almost every session of parliament features important legislation not in the speech. (See 9.04am.)
The king says:
My government will, in all respects, seek to make long-term decisions in the interests of future generations. My ministers will address inflation and the drivers of low growth over demands for greater spending or borrowing. My ministers will put the security of communities and the nation ahead of the rights of those who endanger it. By taking these long-term decisions, my government will change this country and build a better future.
Analysis: Here’s the upsum at the end, where the king is again stressing the government’s commitment to long-term decision making. But the Conservatives have been in office for 13 years already, which makes this pitch less convincing than it would be coming from a government starting out.
The king says:
My government will continue to lead action on tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, support developing countries with their energy transition, and hold other countries to their environmental commitments.
The United Kingdom will continue to lead international discussions to ensure that artificial intelligence is developed safely.
My government will host the Global Investment Summit, the European Political Community, and the Energy Conference, leading global conversations on the United Kingdom’s most pressing challenges.
I look forward to welcoming His Excellency the President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee for a state visit later this month.
Analysis: Whoever drafted the speech decided to place the passage about taking the lead on tackling climate change near the end of the speech, as far as possible away from the passage announcing the offshore petroleum licensing bill (see 11.37am), which many critics see as underming the government’s commitment to net zero.
The king says:
My government will deliver on the Illegal Migration Act passed earlier this year and on international agreements, to stop dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and ensure it is the government, not criminal gangs, who decides who comes to this country.
My government will continue to champion security around the world, to invest in our gallant armed forces and to support veterans to whom so much is owed. My ministers will work closely with international partners to support Ukraine, strengthen Nato and address the most pressing security challenges. This includes the consequences of the barbaric acts of terrorism against the people of Israel, facilitating humanitarian support into Gaza and supporting the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East.
Analysis: This passage is a reminder that legislation only matters up to a point; for the government, one of the most important moments of this session of parliament will be the supreme court decision on whether the Rwanda deportation policy is illegal.
The king says:
My government will act to keep communities safe from crime, anti-social behaviour, terrorism and illegal migration.
A bill will be brought forward to ensure tougher sentences for the most serious offenders and increase the confidence of victims. My ministers will introduce legislation to empower police forces and the criminal justice system to prevent new or complex crimes, such as digital-enabled crime and child sexual abuse, including grooming.
At a time when threats to national security are changing rapidly due to new technology, my ministers will give the security and intelligence services the powers they need and will strengthen independent judicial oversight. Legislation will be introduced to protect public premises from terrorism in light of the Manchester Arena attack.
Analysis: The king is referring to the five law and order bills in the package (not four, as I said earlier). They are: a sentencing bill, a criminal justice bill, a victims and prisons bill, an investigatory powers (amendment) bill and a terrorism (protection of premises) bill. The final one is known as “Martyn’s law” after one of the victims of the Manchester arena bombing.
The king says:
My ministers will bring forward a bill to reform the housing market by making it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to purchase their freehold and tackling the exploitation of millions of homeowners through punitive service charges. Renters will benefit from stronger security of tenure and better value, while landlords will benefit from reforms to provide certainty that they can regain their properties when needed.
My government will deliver a long-term plan to regenerate towns and put local people in control of their future. Legislation will be brought forward to safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans. A bill will be introduced to deal with the scourge of unlicensed pedicabs in London. My government is committed to tackling antisemitism and ensuring that the Holocaust is never forgotten.
A bill will progress the construction of a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.
Analysis: The king may experiene déjà vu at this point. Reading out the speech on behalf of his mother last year, he said: “My government will introduce legislation to improve the regulation of social housing to strengthen the rights of tenants and ensure better quality, safer homes.” But the government only brought the renters (reform) bill to the Commons last month, and it is being carried over into the new session of parliament.
The king says:
Working with NHS England, my government will deliver its plans to cut waiting lists and transform the long-term workforce of the National Health Service. This will including delivering on the NHS workforce plan, the first long-term plan to train the doctors and nurses the country needs, and minimum service levels to prevent strikes from underming patient safety. Record levels of investment are expanding and transforming mental health services to ensure more people can access the support they need. My government will introduce legislation to create a smokefree generation by restricting the sale of tobacco so that children currently aged 14 or younger can never be sold cigaretttes, and restricting the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to children.
Analysis: The plan to stop children aged 14 or younger ever being able to buy cigarettes was a surprise pledge from Sunak this summer, and seems to be very popular, judging by polls. It will be in the tobacco and vapes bill. But there is no other major health legislation planned.
Updated
The king says:
My ministers will introduce new legal frameworks to support the safe commercial development of emerging industries, such as self-driving vehicles, introduce new competition rules for digital markets, and encourage innovation in technologies such as machine learning. Legislation will be brought forward to support the creative industries and protect public interest journalism. Proposals will be published to reform welfare and support more people into work.
My government will promote the integrity of the Union and strengthen the social fabric of the United Kingdom.
Analysis: The king is referring to the automated vehicles bill, which will provide a legislative framework for self-driving cars. He also refers to a media bill. In part this is designed to ensure people can still access public service TV as technology changes, but the government has been keen to highlight the fact the bill will also repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which said papers could be liable for libel costs, even if they won, if they were not subject to an accredited regulator. This law has never been implemented, but most of the major newspaper groups want it scrapped anyway, just in case a future Labour goverment implements it.
The king says:
My ministers will strengthen education for the long term. Steps will be taken to ensure young people have the knowledge and skills to succeed, through the introduction of the Advanced British Standard that will bring technical and academic routes into a single qualification. Proposals will be implemented to reduce the number of young people studying poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high quality apprenticeships.
My ministers will take steps to make the economy more competitive, taking advantage of freedoms afforded by the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. A bill will be brought forward to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world. My ministers will continue to negotiate trade agreements with dynamic economies, delivering jobs and growth in the United Kingdom.
Analysis: The king is promising the “introduction of the Advanced British Standard” – a new replacement for A-levels promised by Sunak in his party conference speech. But the government is not proposing to legislate for this change within the next 12 months, and it is not clear what – if anything? – might happen to bring it about before the general election. A change of this magnitude to the education system for England would take around a decade to implement, experts have said.
Updated
Key event
The king says:
Alongside this, my ministers will seek to attract record levels of investment in renewable energy sources and reform grid connections, building on the United Kingdom’s track-record of decarbonising faster than other G7 economies.
My government will invest in Network North to deliver faster and more reliable journeys between, and within, the cities and towns of the North and Midlands, prioritising improving the journeys that people make most often.
Analysis: “Invest in Network North” is, of course, a reference to the abolition of phase two of HS2. As has been noted here, and elsewhere, already, Network North, the patchwork of transport measures being funding from the savings from the axing of the Manchester leg of HS2, is neither a network, nor exclusively for the north of England.
Key event
The king goes on:
My ministers’ focus is on increasing economic growth and safeguarding the health and security of the British people for generations to come.
My Government will continue to take action to bring down inflation, to ease the cost of living for families and help businesses fund new jobs and investment.
My ministers will support the Bank of England to return inflation to target by taking responsible decisions on spending and borrowing. These decisions will help household finances, reduce public sector debt, and safeguard the financial security of the country.
Legislation will be introduced to strengthen the United Kingdom’s energy security, and reduce reliance on volatile international energy markets and hostile foreign regimes. This bill will support the future licensing of new oil and gas fields, helping the country to transition to net zero by 2050 without adding undue burdens on households.
Analysis: The king references Sunak’s five priorities for this year. Given his lifelong commitment to the environment, it is a bit harsh that the first actual bill he mentions in the speech is the offshore petroleum licensing bill, the measure announced at the weekend intended to highlight the government’s support for more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
UK faces 'significant long-term challenges' because of Covid and Ukraine war, says king
King Charles is delivering the speech now.
He says:
My lords and members of the House of Commons
It is mindful of the legacy of service and devotion to this country set by My beloved Mother, The late Queen, that I deliver this, the first King’s Speech in over 70 years. The impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine have created significant long-term challenges for the United Kingdom. That is why my government’s priority is to make the difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better.
Analysis: This is rather grim opening, highlighting the “signficant long-term challenges” for the UK created by Covid and the Ukraine war. (Most economists would add Brexit to the list, but the government still claims to believe it has been a success, with Rishi Sunak telling the Tory conference Brexit has been good for growth.) The focus on long-term decision making is undermined by the claims made by many commentators that the speech is overly focused on measures that might offer a short-term political advantage.
Alex Chalk, dressed up in his lord chancellor’s kit, hands the king a copy of his speech.
Updated
Black Rod (Sarah Clarke) tells MPs they have been summoned to attend the Lords.
MPs are now filing out of the Commons chamber, and heading for the Lords.
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer seem to be having an amicable chat. It was not like that when Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn were in those roles; they barely exchanged a word.
The king is now on the throne in the House of Lords. Now Black Rod has to march to the Commons chamber (which is only a few hundreds yards away) to summon MPs to attend the Lords to listen to the speech.
King Charles and Queen Camilla have now arrived at parliament.
Here is Ben Quinn’s guide to what will be in the king’s speech.
Updated
Starmer says Tories just offering 'gimmicks, division and more of the same'
In a statement about the king’s speech issued overnight, Keir Starmer said:
Britain is crying out for the long-term change that harnesses the ambition of our young people, the innovative drive of our businesses, and the ordinary hope and optimism that exists around every kitchen table.
A government acting in the national interest would deliver a big build programme to kickstart growth in every region and begin to turn around 13 years of decline with a plan for a decade of national renewal.
The Tories can’t fix the country because they’ve already failed. With a legacy of stagnant growth, sky-rocketing mortgages, soaring prices and crumbling schools and hospitals, Rishi Sunak admits the country needs to change; but this government cannot deliver it.
The choice facing the country is between a changed Labour party, hungry to change the country through an exciting programme of long-term reform, and a Tory party with only gimmicks, division, and more of the same.
Updated
Updated
Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, also refused to endorse Suella Braverman’s description of rough sleeping as a “lifestyle choice” in his interviews this morning. Asked on Sky News about the comment, Chalk said he would take a “take a different approach”. He went on:
There’s often a very significant context, which will be mental health issues, substance abuse problems, relationship breakdown, loss of a job and so on. And so I do think that that needs to be weighed in the balance.
We shouldn’t do anything which entrenches people’s rough sleeping. Because if you do that, effectively you’re condemning and consigning people to poorer health outcomes and I’m afraid, in some cases, even shorter life expectancy.
So to be kind you sometimes have to be robust and you sometimes have to be really quite firm.
Referring to Braverman’s comment, he said:
I think she was writing on Twitter, and I actually had a chat with her about it. I don’t think she disagrees with anything that I’m saying now, namely that there is a context.
Updated
Justice secretary Alex Chalk declines to back Braverman in calling pro-Palestinian demonstrations 'hate marches'
Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, was doing a media round this morning, talking about the four law and order measures in the king’s speech. In the course of it, he joined the growing list of cabinet minsters who have refused to endorse Suella Braverman’s description of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London and elsewhere as “hate marches”.
Asked if he agreed with her, Chalk said:
There is no doubt there are elements on these marches that I’m afraid are espousing hate … but equally there will be those people who are there expressing their anguish at some of the untold suffering.
The concern must be whether those people who have perfectly legitimate intentions and concerns are directly or indirectly supporting those people who are espousing hate.
Asked if his refusal to back Braverman’s language was a sign of confusion, Chalk said:
It’s not confusion. I think it’s an issue of semantics. The home secretary is absolutely correct when she says that there is hate on these marches.
Since Braverman used the term “hate marches” last week, no member of the cabinet has unequivocally endorsed her language. But that has not deterred her. She used a version of the phrase again last night in a post on X.
Chalk also said he hoped the organisers of the march planned for Saturday would call it off, as the Metropolitan police have requested, because it coincides with Armistice Day. Chalk said:
Of course, there is the right to protest, which is important, but also concerns about public safety. Now, [the police] have been very clear that having weighed all that up, their strong request is that these marches don’t take place and we support the police in that.
We think that it’s wise advice. We think it takes account of all the competing considerations and that it should be followed.
Updated
Suella Braverman ‘fails to get ban on charities giving tents to homeless included in king’s speech’
Good morning. Today’s king’s speech will be Rishi Sunak’s first as PM, and King Charles’s first as king. Charles can be reasonably confident that it won’t be his last.
It is routine to describe this as one of Sunak’s big reset opportunities, along with his party conference speech and the autumn statement. But this is not really true. The state opening of parliament is a big ceremonial moment, and a useful summary of the legislation that might be passed in the next 12 months, but there is no evidence of a king or queen’s speech ever “shifting the dial” in party political polling, in the way that a good or bad budget can. (Margaret Thatcher was largely brought down by the poll tax, but the shift did not happen when it was mentioned in the queen’s speech.) The speech is also not particularly reliable as a guide to the big political decisions that might be taken over the next year. Two of the most important laws passed in the last session of parliament – the Illegal Migration Act and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act – weren’t even mentioned in the last queen’s speech, in May 2022, and the challenges that most determine how a PM is viewed by the public often relate to crises such as wars, not legislation.
Here is Pippa Crerar and Rajeev Syal’s overnight story on what to expect.
As Pippa and Rajeev report, law and order will feature prominently. There will be four Home Office bills in the speech: a sentencing bill, a criminal justice bill, a victims and prisons bill, and an investigatory powers (amendment) bill.
But one proposal that won’t be in the speech is the proposal from Suella Braverman, the home secretary, to ban charities from handing out tents to the homeless in cities. At the weekend the Financial Times said she had “pitched” this idea for inclusion in the speech, which probably should have made it clear to all of us that it was not actually there. (Unlike the budget, the king’s speech isn’t subject to last-minute haggling; it gets finalised days in advance.) But Braverman herself seemed to confirm the story by defending her plan vigorously on X. Nicholas Watt from Newsnight confirmed last night that the tents plan is out.
"Still undergoing scrutiny..."
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 6, 2023
Newsnight's Political Editor, @NicholasWatt, reveals Home Secretary Suella Braverman's idea to restrict the use of tents by homeless people won't be in the King's speech tomorrow. #Newsnight pic.twitter.com/Y6OvpmIBaE
I will be focusing mostly on the king’s speech today. Here are the main timings.
11.25am: King Charles delivers the speech.
2.30pm: MPs begin the debate on the speech. The debate starts with speeches (ideally, funny ones) from two government backbenchers, Robert Goodwill and Siobhan Baillie, who propose and second the loyal address. There are then big speeches from Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak, who are expected to combine some jokes with a broad political message.
But I will also cover any highlights from the Covid inquiry, where Ed Lister, the chief of staff to Boris Johnson in No 10, is giving evidence.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
Updated
