The £100k tax trap “might sound like a champagne problem”, said Becky Wilding in The Independent, but a growing number of people are affected by this quirk of tax legislation. The tally of Brits earning six-figure salaries is expected to exceed two million for the first time in the 2026-27 tax year.

What is the £100k tax trap?
In the UK, most people receive a personal allowance (tax-free income) of £12,570, but professionals earning between £100,000 and £125,140 lose that, creating a 60% effective tax rate. Above £125,140, the rate falls back to 47%. A system where “rates rise and then fall” as income goes up is “indefensible”, said the Tax Policy Associates’ Dan Neidle in the Financial Times.

For graduates repaying student loans, the tax rate can rise to 71% or higher, and parents of young children lose their entitlement to 30 hours per week of free childcare after they cross the £100,000 threshold.

What effect does it have?
This is “one of the UK tax system’s most notorious quirks”, said Michael Healy on LBC, and it’s led to “distorted behaviour”. Four in five people making between £90,000 and £125,000 have “actively taken steps” to keep their earnings below the £100,000 threshold.

That it pays more to earn £99,999 than it does to earn £144,500 is “farcical”, said The Telegraph’s investment editor James Baxter-Derrington. A nation that “tells people ambition doesn’t pay will soon run out of ambitious people”.

What can be done?
On childcare, the Centre for British Progress think tank has suggested replacing the £100,000 cliff edge with a new 3% tax on income over £100,000 for each child receiving support. Those just above £100,000 will hardly feel the effect, while higher earners “face a clear, proportionate trade-off”, said the FT.

Taxpayers close to the limit looking for “straightforward (and legal!) and financially savvy” workarounds have a few options, said The Independent. These include increasing their pension contributions to take their taxable income to below £100,000; sacrificing salary for other employee benefits, such as additional days of leave; and making Gift Aid donations.

Deep-fried food will be banned, and high-sugar products restricted, under plans to overhaul school dinners. Schools will no longer be allowed to offer unhealthy “grab-and-go” options such as sausage rolls and pizza every day, and desserts will have to contain at least 50% fruit, but some critics say the proposals are hard to swallow.

‘Innocent pleasures’
“What a loss!” said Ysenda Maxtone Graham in The Telegraph. Treacle sponge, “or ‘stodge’ as it was known”, gave me “the fuel I needed to get through the gruelling 90 minutes of being screamed at by the hockey mistress”. The government is “trying to force us to be more healthy”, but in doing so is “imposing a blanket rule” that denies us “some of life’s greatest, and surely quite innocent, pleasures”.

When “safe foods” aren’t available for a neurodivergent child, they “don’t eat at all”, said Victoria Richards in The Independent. My nine-year-old son has special educational needs and disabilities, and the government’s plans are “upsetting for parents like me” because they might become “another way Send kids can be demonised, stigmatised and singled out”.

‘Systemic problems’
The government’s aims are “laudable”, said Unison’s Leigh Powell, and my union supports them. But too many schools have contracted out food services to private companies that are “laser-focused on ensuring that profit margins are healthy, rather than the food they serve”. Unison members working in school kitchens fear that the new standards “will be imposed on hard-working kitchen staff without tackling the systemic problems”.

Schools “aren’t responsible” for obesity and the poor dental health of our children, said Darren Lewis in The Mirror. “Healthy eating” has been the policy at my children’s school “for many years”, but at home, many parents are having to choose “between heating or eating”. All the same, the new rules will help “steer children” towards a “healthier weight and better teeth”, said The Times. “Slices of melon and bowls of berries make a fine pudding”, even if some “joy” may be lost, and “school memories” made a “little less rich”, with the departure of treacle tart.

Religious sisters wave as Pope Leo XIV passes in the Popemobile en route to the cathedral in the Cameroonian city of Bamenda, during his 11-day visit to Africa. Cameroon is home to more than eight million Catholics.

Patrick Meinhardt / AFP / Getty Images

A “historical theme park” is opening in County Durham this summer. Kynren – The Storied Lands will offer “immersive experiences that tell tales from Neolithic Britain, the Vikings and Victorian England”, said Time Out. But if battle reenactments aren’t your thing, there are plenty of other theme parks across the country to keep the whole family happy.

Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Surrey
The UK’s first World of Paw Patrol is opening at Chessington World of Adventures on 3 May, just in time for the bank holiday. “Four exciting new rides, interactive attractions and themed experiences” based around the popular show have been confirmed, said The Independent. The resort is also launching the world’s first Minecraft World next year.

Paultons Park, Hampshire
Paultons Park is “perhaps best known as the home of Peppa Pig World”, said The Mirror. But on 16 May, the theme park will unveil a new attraction, Valgard: Realm of the Vikings. “Aimed more at teenagers and adults”, it will feature the “park’s first inverting rollercoaster”, with a “vertical lift hill and two twists where riders will be flung upside down”. The Cobra ride has also been “revamped” into a “bobsled adventure”.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Lancashire
Expect “properly thrilling rides” at this popular park (pictured above), from “the heart-stopping Infusion to the indomitable The Big One”, said The Telegraph. Little ones can enjoy rides inspired by “popular characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer”. Make the most of the extended summer opening hours for “‘late-night riding’ along with fireworks displays”.

Why Donald Trump won’t embarrass the royals
Robert Hardman in The Spectator
Fears are rife that Donald Trump “will somehow ‘embarrass’ the King and Queen” during their US state visit, writes Robert Hardman, but he’s been a “model guest” during his UK visits and “will be the same as a host”. Trump has a “rambling contempt” for Keir Starmer but not for “250 years of US/UK history”. Indeed, “it’s hard to imagine” British politicians being “as effusive about this ‘lionhearted people’” as he was in his speech at last year’s Windsor banquet.

I lost a disabled friend by patronising them – now I wonder if I’m being punished
Julie Burchill in The i Paper
When I was younger, I patronised a friend with a disabled badge until “one day, she’d just had enough”, writes Julie Burchill. Now, I’m “the one that people pat on the head”. After being confined to a wheelchair, I’ve learned that “of all the co-morbidities” that come with it, “the pity” is among the worst. My husband assures me this isn’t divine retribution, “but I prefer the Old Testament to the New, so I’m not convinced”.

Can I interest you in a hideous BMW? Modern cars shouldn’t be so ugly
Stephen Bayley in The Telegraph
Anyone shopping for a new set of wheels will “find an awful lot of very ugly cars out there”, says Stephen Bayley. The Jaguar Jaecoo 7 “looks like an old fridge” and the Honda Insight is like an “orthopaedic boot”. The BMWi7 is a “crass whale” of a car, while recent Porsches “resemble glossily lacquered elephant seals”. Automobile designs “were once reliable sources of a beautiful experience” but now appear to be “having a brutalist moment”.