The Standard

Paddington the Musical has opened at London’s Savoy Theatre in time for the festive season - and has already proven to be a resounding hit in the capital.  Inspired by the beloved children’s books by Michael Bond, as well as the films, it’s directed by Luke Sheppard, the man behind hits such as the Starlight Express, with a music score written by McFly’s Tom Fletcher. So is this the West End’...

High street pubs, hotels and shops face “catastrophic” hikes in business rate bills that will force widespread closures and job losses, the Government has been warned.  Less than a week after Rachel Reeves’s Budget speech, thousands of business owners in the retail and hospitality sector have learned their bills will rise by tens of thousands of pounds from April next year as a result of a “b...

The government could soon come close to scrapping the right to trial by jury , it’s been revealed, with Justice Secretary David Lammy proposing to massively restrict this ancient right, as the criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse.  There are plans to create a new tier of courts in England and Wales, removing guarantees to a jury trial for all except those accused of the most se...

Yesterday Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a Budget that will hike taxes by £26 billion and bring a huge change to personal finances up and down the country. More than 1.7 million people will face paying more income tax after the Chancellor froze thresholds, meaning people will be dragged into paying the tax for the first time or shifted into higher bands as earnings increase. While there is a n...

Ahead of the autumn budget, support for Labour in London is at a record low , according to a new poll, as Rachel Reeves is set to clobber the capital with a wave of tax rises. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has surged to 23 per cent in the capital, ahead of the Tories on 20 per cent, with Labour on 32 per cent.  The Chancellor faces a backlash from voters, particularly those on high and middle inco...

Today we’re tackling one of the capital’s talking points - should kids be allowed in pubs?  The William the Fourth pub in Leyton , East London, announced a policy change on social media, barring children from 7pm, saying that the move was necessary to maintain a “comfortable and enjoyable environment” for everyone as it had recently come to “resemble a creche”. The new rules mean the pub will...

Peter Mandelson recently made headlines after being caught urinating against a wall , having spent the evening at George Osborne's Notting Hill home. But is it any wonder, when so many public loos are being sold off for profit, for example in West Norwood and the Isle of Dogs? Last year, Age UK’s Lifting the Lid report found that in the last decade at least 97 council-run toilets have shut across...

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to give the go-ahead for an extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead in her Budget next week. London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has described the news as a “win-win” as it will improve transport links in a poorly connected part of south-east London and should “unlock” thousands of new homes and jobs. But what does it mean in practice? Where will the new...

In Darfur, at least twice as many people have been killed than in Gaza since 2023. As the crisis looks likely to worsen, one nation has questions to answer over its links to the atrocities.  In this week’s special report, The Standard’s Defence Editor Robert Fox shines a light on the situation in Sudan - and specifically how the United Arab Emirates is involved in its  war. Hosted on Aca...

It’s predicted to be the movie event of the year, and this Friday 21 November, Wicked: For Good is finally released in cinemas - the follow-up to last year’s Oscar-nominated first film, featuring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.  We’re joined by The Standard’s Culture Writer India Block, who gave the sequel a five star rating , and said if it doesn’t get more Oscar nominations, she’ll eat her...

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has launched a crackdown on illegal migration , with new reforms aimed at stopping the UK being seen as a ‘golden ticket’ for asylum seekers. They include fast-tracking the deportation of illegal migrants, an overhaul of human rights law and changes to refugee status. The Home Secretary’s proposals are based on those adopted by Denmark, which has seen the number of i...

It’s been confirmed that the long-awaited Renter’s Rights Act will come into force next year on May 1, with the government setting out a staggered timeline for sweeping renters' reforms.  As the biggest shake-up to private renting in a generation, the lobbying organisation Generation Rent described it as a “vital first step in righting the power imbalance between landlords and tenants”. But c...

On 5th November, Ugandan-born Zohran Mamdani secured an astounding, against-the-odds victory in the New York mayoral election, becoming the youngest person in over a century to lead the largest city in the US. It was Mamdani’s message about affordability and the high cost of living that resonated with voters in the Bronx and other underserved areas of New York, but now he has to actually deliver o...

Refugees and people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity are London’s most disadvantaged groups. To support them, The Standard is launching our Winter Appeal with the backing of Rita Ora - and in collaboration with Comic Relief, who have pledged £500,000 to get us underway.   We’re joined by The Standard’s Campaigns Editor David Cohen, and CEO of Comic Relief, Samir Patel, to discuss...

Britain’s jobless rate has surged to its highest level for more than four-and-a-half years, as the labour market continues to weaken. London had the highest unemployment rate of any region in the UK at 6.5%, up 0.5% since the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics reports. Hikes to employer national insurance contributions have been largely blamed for the trend. But the grim jobless...

Communities Secretary Steve Reed, who is in charge of local government, has said he is “appalled” that serving London councillors are campaigning to become MPs in another country.  He wrote to Tower Hamlets Council after it was revealed by The Standard that at least two of the borough’s elected representatives had launched campaigns to stand in upcoming elections in Bangladesh. Residents in M...

Is the world’s richest man about to become even richer? Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now in with a shot of becoming a trillionaire , after a record-breaking pay deal was approved by 75 per cent of his company’s shareholders. It would give him stock worth one trillion dollars, if he hits certain performance targets over the next decade, including delivering 20 million Tesla vehicles and one million robot...

Did you know Britain's courts are in crisis? After years of cuts by politicians, pandemic disruption and operational failures, The Standard’s special report explores the spiralling backlog of court cases that define our broken justice system. Defendants and victims talk about the impact of being trapped, waiting years - sometimes until 2029 or 2030 - for their cases to even come to court. The Stan...

Today it’s been revealed that “human errors” led to some grooming gang police investigations being dropped , in the first stage of a massive review of cases involving child sexual abuse. The development came after The Standard's investigation uncovered cases of vulnerable young girls from across London who reported allegations of rape from multiple men but saw inadequate police action . Thousands...

Today Chancellor Rachel Reeves has given the clearest sign yet that she will break Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise taxes on workers , after delivering an unusual pre-Budget speech at Downing Street this morning. She said that after years of so-called economic mismanagement, the budget will focus on “getting inflation falling” and “creating the conditions for interest rate cuts”. But she ha...

The Standard’s latest special report reveals the dark truth behind Dubai , as thousands of Londoners are flocking to the Middle East city each year. Ninety per cent of its residents are from elsewhere, and the Gulf expert Christopher Davidson referred to it as the “ultimate liberal economic city state”, which offers the allure of low taxation and cheap labour. But what lies beneath the wealth and...

Prince Andrew will be stripped of all his titles, Buckingham Palace has confirmed, and will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. King Charles made the unprecedented statement last night, that he will no longer be able to live on the crown estate , and instead will move to a property on the Sandringham Estate. It follows mounting pressure over a string of scandals, the most damaging being An...

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed calls for an investigation into Chancellor Rachel Reeves, after it emerged she did not obtain the required “selective” rental licence for her £3,200-a-month Dulwich home when she moved into No 11 Downing Street following the election. In a letter to the prime minister, Reeves “sincerely” apologised for her “inadvertent error”, but the Tories have said...

Today Chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted Britain can “defy” economic forecasts as she prepares to deliver another tough budget next month. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is expected to deal the Chancellor a further blow in November by downgrading its productivity forecasts for the British economy, leaving her trying to fill a gap in her plans of more than £20 billion. Some top econo...

Today it’s been announced that hundreds of asylum seekers are to be moved to military sites as the Government aims to end the use of hotels to house small boat migrants . However, defence minister Luke Pollard admitted that using military sites could cost the taxpayer more than asylum hotels . Yesterday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “frustrated and angry” about the soaring cost of th...