Evening Briefing: Thursday 29 October 2026
- If you are a working-age household: the Resolution Foundation expects typical disposable income to fall by £1,050, or 3%, between now and 2029, and says the Budget’s £100 support payment will not offset higher energy bills.
- If you book GP appointments online: about 500 practices in England, and some in Wales, have lost their websites and online booking after Silicon Practice went into administration. Phone or visit your surgery instead; the NHS app is still working.
- If you shop at or work for Poundland: the chain has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, giving it 10 days to find a rescue deal. Its 12,000 staff face an uncertain few days.
Tehran Weighs Vance Letter as Trump Tells Gulf to Prepare
Iran was expected to reply on Thursday to a letter from JD Vance to its security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, proposing direct talks soon. US reports say the letter, passed on by Qatari mediators, insists the nuclear programme must be on the tabl…
Final Count Leaves Netanyahu Short as Arab Lists Become Kingmakers
Final results confirm that neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the Jewish opposition has a majority. Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats and Gadi Eisenkot’s 48, while the Joint List and Ra’am won a record 19 seats between them. Likud has accus…
Leaked Audio Points to Controllers as Spain Crash Toll Reaches 69
The death toll from Wednesday’s high-speed collision near Urda, south of Madrid, has risen to 69. Leaked recordings published in Spanish media appear to show Madrid’s control centre clearing a Renfe train to move while an Iryo train had st…
Kherson Enjoys Rare Quiet as Six-Day Truce Holds
A six-day ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump to get humanitarian aid into Russian-occupied Oleshky has given Kherson its first quiet days in years. The guns fell silent at 4am Moscow time on Tuesday, two days earlier than planned. Since t…
Shell Lifts FTSE 100 as Haleon Suffers Record Fall
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.26% at 10,722.07, led by energy stocks after Shell reported its highest quarterly profit since 2022 and raised its share buyback. Shell rose 2.1%, even though oil prices fell. Haleon dropped about 15%, its biggest…
Think Tanks Warn of ‘Painful’ Years as Living Standards Stall
The Resolution Foundation says typical working-age household incomes will fall by £1,050, or 3%, by 2029. The IFS says this decade will be the worst for household income growth on record. John Healey said his Budget offered “breathing spac…
Burnham Cannot Promise Welfare Cut Before Election
Andy Burnham said he wanted to cut the welfare bill “as soon as we possibly can” but could not guarantee it would happen before the next election. Spending is forecast to rise from £353bn this year to £431bn by 2031/32. Healey told the Tod…
Poundland on the Brink as Owners Reject Rescue Bid
Poundland has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators after its US owner, Gordon Brothers, cut off funding and rejected a takeover offer from Martin Property Group. The notice gives the chain 10 days to find a rescue deal, wi…
Hundreds of GP Surgeries Lose Online Booking After Firm Collapses
About 500 GP practices in England, just under 10% of the total, have lost their websites and online booking after Silicon Practice went into administration. Practices in London, Gloucestershire and Norfolk have reported problems, and servi…
Farage and Lib Dem MP Clash Over Alleged Commons Shove
Nigel Farage said he skipped Wednesday’s Budget to avoid a repeat of a “physical altercation” with another MP at May’s State Opening. Caroline Voaden, the Lib Dem MP for South Devon, then said she was that MP, and that the encounter had le…