The Standard

Royal Mail has been cleared to be taken into foreign ownership for the first time in its 508-year history. Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky was given the green light by ministers to buy Royal Mail’s parent company International Distributions Services in a £3.6 billion deal, likely to be signed early next year. What will it mean for Britain’s postal service and the price of sending a letter? In p...

Welcome to The Standard podcast’s round-up special edition.  In this episode: Assad flees Syria : what now for Middle East after rebels topple regime ? Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione charged with UnitedHealthcare boss NYC murder Silvertown & Blackwall tunnel tolls : future cost of London driving revealed Farmers’ new London protest against Labour ‘tractor tax’ Fabric 25th anniversary:...

Transport for London has announced fare increases for Tube travellers next year at more than double the rate of inflation. Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed the cost of travelling on the Underground, London Overground and Elizabeth line would increase at double the rate of inflation - but bus fares remain frozen, stay tuned for details. The London Standard’s transport editor, Ross Lydall, interviewed the...

Host Evgeny Lebedev meets Dr. John Krystal, professor of neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine, to discuss Ketamine, what it is, and how it can solve a mental health epidemic.   This is a special preview taken from our sister podcast, Brave New World. To hear the interview in full just search: Brave New World Evening Standard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

Thousands of farmers converged on Westminster as tractors made a slow drive through central London on Wednesday afternoon in the second protest against Labour’s inheritance tax reforms. Farmers travelled from across the country amid anger about the plans against the so-called ‘tractor tax’ announced in last month’s Budget, which will see farms lose inheritance tax relief on assets over £1 million....

New York prosecutors have filed a murder charge against an Ivy League graduate suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel last Wednesday. Luigi Mangione, 26, was apprehended after a quick-thinking McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, allegedly recognised him from a surveillance photo. Police said he was found with a gun believed...

Syrians awoke on Monday to hope - but also uncertainty - after the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized the capital Damascus . Dictator President Bashar al-Assad reportedly fled to Russia , following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family’s brutal rule. As rescuers search for tens of thousands of prisoners held in the regime’s underground torture prisons in horrific conditio...

Welcome to The Standard podcast’s round-up special edition.  In this episode: President Joe Biden pardons son Hunter , sparing him a possible prison sentence for gun and tax convictions British drivers will see a  shake-up of the road tax rules in the spring , with a new emissions-based charging system and EV drivers paying for first time Victims of the crime of stalking are to be given...

As part of  The Bigger Life Festival ,  brought to you by Masterclasses from The London Standard, host Nicola Barron is joined by manifestation expert Salarah Starre, who’s leading a special workshop at the event. With 'm anifest'  named Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2024, Salarah explains why it's gaining so much attention, the fundamentals behind it, and ho...

The prime minister has pledged every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have a named, contactable police officer, as part of his “plan for change” outlined on Thursday. In a speech billed as setting out the “next phase” of Labour's government, Sir Keir Starmer detailed ambitious “milestones” for achieving the five missions laid out in Labour’s manifesto - also including targeting hospital bac...

Three rail companies serving London commuters will be renationalised by Labour next year - with a fourth also in the government's sights - under a “major shake-up” of British railways. It's claimed renationalisation will save £150 million in management fees alone. So, how will Labour's Great British Railways project impact journeys, delays, ticket prices and the prospect of train strikes? Mark Blu...

Victims of the crime of stalking are to be given better protection including the right to know the identity of their online harasser . New legal protections unveiled by the Home Office also include Stalking Protection Orders and a ban on contacting victims from prison. In this episode, we’re joined broadcaster and activist Nicola Thorp, who's also a former star of Coronation Street, to discuss her...

Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter , sparing him a possible prison sentence for gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family. The Democratic president had previously said he would interfere in the justice process after Hunter’s convictions in the two federal cases in Delaware and California. The “full and uncondit...

Welcome to The Standard podcast’s round-up special edition, where we bring you the news highlights from the week that was. It began with nightmare weather as Storm Bert continued to bring disruption into Monday following winds over 80mph and torrential downpours caused “devastating” flooding over the weekend, in which five people were believed to have died. Continuing our reports on the future of...

Louise Haigh has become the first person to resign from Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet. Haigh announced she was standing down on Friday after it was revealed by Sky News and The Times she had a conviction for making a false statement to the police that her work mobile phone was among her possessions stolen during a London mugging in 2013. She pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation while a par...

We're previewing another episode from season three of Brave New World. Evgeny Lebedev is joined by Peter Attia: a longevity expert, physician, and bestselling author. They discuss “Medicine 3.0” — Peter's blueprint for good health — and how happiness is essential to longevity, not just a bonus. “It doesn’t matter how healthy you are,” Peter says, “if the most important relationships in your life a...

London’s historic Smithfield meat market is set to pull down the shutters for good after over 900 years of trading. The City of London Corporation, which owns the site, voted to stop operating both Smithfield in Farringdon and also Billingsgate fish market in Poplar. Both markets will continue to operate until 2028, and while the corporation had previously planned to relocate both markets to a new...

The government has announced wide-ranging reforms designed to tackle economic inactivity in a bid to bring more than two million people back into work. The £55 million drive will overhaul the job search process, expand NHS mental health support in the most needed regions and tackle obesity. Other plans include providing additional employment and training opportunities for the young people of ‘gene...

Storm Bert continued to bring disruption into Monday after as winds over 80mph and torrential downpours caused “devastating” flooding over the weekend. Five people are believed to have died in the storm and around 160 flood alerts remain in place across England and Wales, where a council leader was among those criticising the Met Office for not upgrading the storm from a yellow to red alert. The S...

Welcome to The Standard podcast’s special edition, where we bring you news highlights from the week that was. Headlines were dominated by escalating moves in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine , policies around Kyiv’s use of powerful British-American missiles in the war, and Moscow’s retaliation with what the Kremlin says is a new type of hypersonic weapon. Here in Britain, we looked at the impacted of...

A sixth person has died after allegedly drinking 'tainted alcohol shots' suspected of being laced with poisonous methanol during a backpacking holiday in Laos. All are thought to have died after allegedly ingesting the drinks at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, where online reviews mention “free unlimited shots”. The hostel manager and owner have reportedly been detained by police....

Kyiv claims Russia launched a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in an attack on Ukraine, but that account has reportedly been disputed by US officials. The powerful weapon is believed to have been fired from Russia’s southern Astrakhan region during a morning attack on Thursday at the central-eastern city of Dnipro -  at a time of escalation in the 33-month-old...

UK inflation has risen to its highest level since April driven by an increase in household energy bills, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics said Consumer Prices Index inflation rose to 2.3 per cent for October, up from 1.7 per cent in the previous month. It is the sharpest month-on-month increase in the rate of inflation for two years. So, what’s behind this jump, an...

Thousands of British farmers marched on Westminster as tractors converged in central London to protest against Labour plans to end inheritance tax exemption. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in the budget that farmers with land worth more than £1 million will no longer be able to leave their farms to their children tax free from 2026. We’re joined from Westminster by The London Standa...

Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson stressed Britain was giving “full backing” to Ukraine amid a report that it will join America in allowing Kyiv to fire West-supplied long-range missiles into Russia. Outgoing US president Joe Biden’s decision could see long-range missiles used initially in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian troops seized a swathe of territory in a surprise attack in the...