With Chancellor Rachel Reeves under pressure to balance the nation's books, a wealth tax has been floated as a viable option. Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock told Sky News that such a tax would be a "substantial gesture in the direction of equity fairness".

The suggestion comes amid "speculation" of increases to existing taxes, said Yahoo Finance, after recent Labour U-turns "severely diluted" the government's plan to save money through welfare reforms.

What is wealth tax?
It is a "broad-based tax on the ownership of net wealth", based on the value of a person's assets minus any debts, charged as a one-off or annually, according to a 2020 definition by The Wealth Tax Commission.

The idea is that imposing an extra levy on the super-rich would "raise the necessary funds" and also tackle rising inequality, said This is Money. Although it has been tried in several countries, only four – Norway, Spain, Colombia and Switzerland – currently impose a wealth tax.

How much could it raise?
Estimates vary about the potential impact in the UK, said The i Paper, but the "broad consensus from economists" is that a "carefully targeted" wealth tax of 1% on those worth more than £10 million – around 20,000 people in total – could bring in £10 billion a year.

The Wealth Tax Commission has calculated that expanding that levy to net wealth above £2 million could raise £80 billion over five years, while taxing net wealth above £500,000 could raise £260 billion.

Would it work?
A UK wealth tax could help tackle inequality and collect significant sums for the government. However, one of the "main criticisms" is that wealthy people could just "relocate their assets or themselves", said The i Paper.

Migration advisory firm Henley & Partners has already warned that record numbers of wealthy people are "fleeing the UK amid rising taxes and the end of non-dom status", said MoneyWeek. But a study by the London School of Economics last year found that the "vast majority" of the super-rich would not emigrate for tax reasons.

With more than 3,000 shows to choose from, "flicking through the phonebook-like Fringe programme can be more than a little daunting", said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. The massive arts festival is returning to Edinburgh from 1 to 25 August and here are a few of the must-see shows on offer.

Urooj Ashfaq: How to Be a Baddie
Mumbai-based comedian Ashfaq's "deft, warm" reflections on having therapy secured her the best newcomer award in 2023, said Lukowski. In her new show, the "wide-eyed" comic riffs off her "squeaky clean image", trying to convince us she's had a "personality overhaul" and is no longer a good girl.

Desiree Burch: The Golden Wrath
"Always compelling and thoughtful", American comedian Burch (pictured above) is returning to stand-up for her first show in six years, said Brian Logan in The Guardian. In that time, she's become a "fixture of small-screen comedy", appearing in everything from "Mock the Week" to "Live at the Apollo". Burch returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with a "madcap voyage through midlife crisis and menopause". 

Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: DEAD!!! (Good Fun Time)
Yorkshire-born stand-up Kent-Walters "deservedly" scooped the Fringe's best newcomer award last year for his "batshit debut" as Frankie Monroe, the ghoulish MC of a fictional working men's club in Rotherham, said Lukowski. After being "rightfully sucked into hell" at the end of his last show, Kent-Walters returns with his "pleasingly named" sequel, to haunt the audience from beyond the grave.

How does the right tear down progressive societies? It starts with a joke
George Monbiot in The Guardian
When The Spectator's Rod Liddle writes about bombing Glastonbury, and GB News guest Lewis Schaffer quips about starving disabled people to cut the benefits bill, "complaints are met with, 'Calm down dear, can’t you take a joke?'" says George Monbiot. But such so-called humour "permits obscene ideas to seep into the range of the possible". For centuries, "dominant powers" have "used clowns to express their deepest, most unmentionable urges". It's the "clowning that kills us".

Britain's ailing seaside towns weren't always so murky and grey
Jemima Lewis in The Telegraph
Many people "assume" the "murkiness of the English sea is an unfortunate but timeless feature of our geography", says Jemima Lewis. But the waters around this island were once "crystalline and blue", the kind we "now go abroad in search of". The decline started with "modern industrial farming" and a "huge increase in soil erosion and chemical run-off". Add "increasingly frequent overflows from our overstretched sewerage system" and "you get the chilly brown soup" that we now "mistake for normal".

 And just like that … I had to stop watching the Sex and the City sequel
Francesca Steele in The Times
"'Sex and the City' fans are used to plot points being recycled," says Francesca Steele. But "even long-suffering audiences" were "surprised" when the series has the "chutzpah to kill off a character twice". The father of a character has just died "seemingly for the second time", and producers have "carefully explained" that the previous death was of her stepfather, but "come on". It seems the writers "just can't be bothered any more", so neither can I.