Pressure on Rachel Reeves has been “building all year” and culminated yesterday in her much-anticipated autumn Budget, said Ailbhe Rea in The New Statesman. The chancellor stepped up to the despatch box with her “political fate” tied to Keir Starmer’s: “they went into it together, fighting for their political lives”.

The “extraordinary spectacle” of the Office for Budget Responsibility accidentally publishing details of the Budget before Reeves announced them “simply added to the already heightened sense of Labour having a bumpy ride”, said City A.M.

‘Narrow interests’
The Budget itself was “Labour to the core”. From scrapping the two-child benefit cap to raising the minimum wage, the announcements were “very much in line with the party’s history of combating poverty” – and Labour MPs “seemed to love it”.

However, there is a “gulf between the relatively narrow interests of 405 Labour MPs and voters more broadly”, said The Times. To pay for welfare, the NHS and higher wages for low earners, Reeves is bringing in “more than a dozen tax rises on workers, pensioners and savers” that will be felt just as Labour is gearing up for the next election.

She “clearly hopes” the economy will have improved by then, and she can potentially scrap planned income tax freezes or offer other incentives to the public. But if “global uncertainty continues to weigh on the UK economy”, there is a risk that Labour will go into the next election with many voters “feeling poorer than ever”.

‘Scandinavian’ tax levels
The chancellor is “trapped by the same problems that plagued her predecessors”, said UnHerd. Improving public services requires “significant tax rises” that are “the quick route to political death”. But “letting services continue to atrophy is the slow one”. This “timid” Budget risks falling into “the regular trap of indecision: half-measures that please no one”.

It was billed as the “smorgasbord” Budget, and it will “certainly” bring Britain closer to “Scandinavian levels of taxation”, said the Financial Times. It could also be Reeves’ “last Budget as chancellor”. But, “if all else fails, there should be an opening in the OBR’s IT department”.

A small but growing number of pregnant women are choosing to give birth without any assistance from a midwife or doctor, trusting instead in influencers’ tales of the “euphoria” of a “free birth”.

What is a free birth?
It’s when a pregnant women chooses to give birth alone or only with a doula (a non-medical birth companion). Free births are being promoted to expectant mothers as “returning something sacred that had been stolen from them” by the “violence” of modern obstetrics, said The Guardian, which conducted a year-long investigation into the influencers behind the movement. 

Free births are not usual but “are increasing across the UK”, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. There are no specific figures but the percentage of UK home births (which includes free births) has increased from 2.1% in 2016-19 to 2.5% in 2021 (the most recent available figures) – that’s about 17,400 births.

Who is promoting free births?
A leading group is the Free Birth Society. Founded by former doula Emilee Saldaya, it promotes an “extreme” version of home birth that dispenses with all medical support, said The Guardian. It even advises avoiding antenatal checks, including ultrasound scans, falsely claiming they can harm unborn babies. The FBS has a popular podcast, a large Instagram account, and a YouTube channel boasting 25 million views.

What do doctors say?
Experts who reviewed FBS material told The Guardian that it was “medically illiterate, misleading or dangerous”. During its investigation, the newspaper identified 18 cases of late-term stillbirths, neonatal deaths or other forms of “serious harm” where “FBS played a significant role in the mother’s or the birth attendant’s decision-making”.

The rejection of antenatal care is particularly troubling, as it means that “risk factors”, such as a baby being in a breech position, might go unnoticed, said Hannah Dahlen, a professor of midwifery, on The Conversation. This can lead to unforeseen complications during labour and, even if a doula is present, they “don’t have the training, regulation or medical equipment and skills needed to manage emergencies”.

But the FBS’ Saldaya is defiant. Following publication of The Guardian’s investigation, she told her 133,000 Instagram followers: “They will try to discredit you. They will lie about you. They will attempt to silence what they don’t understand.”

A butterfly-shaped planetary nebula shimmers 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, in an image captured by the International Gemini Observatory’s Gemini South telescope in Chile. Schoolchildren chose the astronomical target to mark 25 years of the observatory’s work.

International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA

Sunshine may be scarce, but Christmas light displays across the UK bring us much-needed cheer. Visit one with friends, family or a romantic date and let these magical trails get you into the festive spirit.

Christmas at Kew, London
With its “futuristic tree gardens” and “strobing light tunnels”, the Christmas light trail at Kew Gardens (pictured above) is “the closest most of us will get to starring in a sci-fi film”, said Phoebe Taplin in The Times. Stretching for nearly two miles, it’s one of the country’s longest trails, with carousel rides and sweet treats adding to the “razzmatazz”.

Stourhead, Wiltshire
“Wonderful luminescent colours” await you at Stourhead, said Gardens Illustrated. The National Trust estate’s picturesque lake will glow with “colour-changing reflections”, while new installations include “a mesmerising Star Show, a Sea of Light and dazzling lasers”.

Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
The palace’s traditional annual light trail features new designs from “international and local artists”, said Nick Trend in The Telegraph. Inside, follow the yellow brick road to “The Palace of Oz”, looking out for beloved characters from L. Frank Baum’s book – and make the most of the Christmas market in the Great Court.

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
An “LED heart-shaped arch walk” and a “colourful show projected onto Inverleith House” have been confirmed for this year’s display at Edinburgh’s botanical gardens, said Trend. Other details are yet to be revealed – so your 90-minute walk through the garden will be full of surprises.

Tory sect believe they should tell us how to live and die
Nick Boles in The Times
“The nasty party is at it again,” writes former Tory MP Nick Boles. “Conservative reactionaries in the Lords” are thwarting the “will of the Commons” that “people in the final stages of a terminal illness should have the right” to an assisted death. They are “deploying weasel words and feigned concern for fellow citizens to prevent a humane reform”. We must not allow them to “condemn another generation” to “appalling agonies at the end of their lives”.

Donald Trump Should Stick to His Guns on Venezuela
Emma Ashford and Evan Cooper on Foreign Policy
“Regime change in Venezuela is a disaster waiting to happen,” write Emma Ashford and Evan Cooper of the Stimson Center think tank. It won’t help Donald Trump achieve his goals of stopping drugs and migrants entering the US and it “risks alienating a sizeable chunk of his base”. As we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, “regime change can lead to costly blowback” for America. Trump should “avoid the counsel of hawks with an already-calamitous record” on this issue.

The glory of gravy
Olivia Potts in The Spectator
“I’d take gravy in any form,” writes chef Olivia Potts: “thick and rich, made from meat scraps, a thin, boozy jus whisked up from pan scrapings, even the ‘from granules’ stuff, stirred in a plastic jug moments before serving.” We British are “a nation of roasters”, and gravy is something we “do particularly well”. It may not “get top-billing” or “the same respect as a velouté”, but “it’s the best bit” of any dish.