Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 3 November 2022

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1. Interest rates set for historic hike
2. North Korea fires ICBM
3. Sunak ‘to extend windfall taxes’
4. Albania hits back at Britain
5. Bolsonaro backers call for coup
6. Magic mushrooms can treat depression
7. Rail delays get worse
8. Labour says NHS needs more than cash
9. Accent prejudice still strong
10. ‘Bungling’ Hancock criticised

published 3 November 2022

1. Interest rates set for historic hike

Interest rates are predicted to rise again today as the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meets. The Bank is expected to increase its benchmark rate from 2.25% to 3%, its eighth consecutive increase since December, pushing the rate to its highest level for 14 years. However, interest rates will stop rising soon, wrote economist Hamish McRae in the ipaper, as we are “very near the peak”. The Bank’s monetary policy committee meets eight times a year to decide interest rate policy.

North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, prompting speculation that it will soon test a nuclear weapon. The ICBM launch was Pyongyang’s seventh this year and comes a day after both the North and South fired missiles in an escalation of tensions. Pyongyang’s multiple launches comes as the US and South Korea are staging their largest-ever joint air drills, described by North Korea as “aggressive and provocative”.

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The government is planning to extend windfall taxes on oil and gas companies to raise £40bn over five years. According to The Times, the chancellor and the prime minister want to “maximise revenues from the windfall tax by increasing the rate from 25% to 30%”. The paper added the pair plan to extend the levy until 2028 and expand the scheme to cover electricity generators. Jeremy Hunt is expected to submit key proposals to the Office for Budget Responsibility by the end of the week to give it time to make its independent assessment ahead of the autumn budget on November 17.

Albania has accused the UK of scapegoating its citizens to deflect from its “failed policies” on borders and migration. Writing on Twitter, Prime Minister Edi Rama told Britain to stop blaming “innocent” Albanians for the crisis in a rebuke to Home Secretary Suella Braveman’s “insane” rhetoric. He said targeting Albanians as the cause of Britain’s crime and border problems made for “easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact”. An estimated 12,000 Albanians have reached the UK this year after crossing the Channel, said The Telegraph.

Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters have appealed to Brazil’s military to intervene and prevent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside army bases in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the capital, Brasilia, calling for a coup to annul the vote and prevent the president-elect Lula taking office. The gathering came “even as the hard-right leader appeared to be increasingly resigned to accepting his loss in the presidential election”, said The Independent.

A trial has found that a drug based on a compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms can improve the symptoms of severe depression for up to three months. A peer-reviewed trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine found one 25mg dose of the drug, alongside psychotherapeutic support, “significantly” reduced symptoms of depression in patients who did not respond to other medication. Experts believe the psilocybin compound “re-wires” the brains of people locked-in to patterns of negative thinking in depression.

Train delays and cancellations have worsened despite fewer passengers travelling than before the Covid crisis. Three in 10 trains are now late and cancellations are rising, with the percentage of trains arriving on time at stations sitting at just 70.2% in September 2022, compared to 72.6% in April 2022, according to the Office of Rail and Road. The regulator said Network Rail “must do more” after it found delays to driver training and backlog of maintenance work. There are now around 1.1bn rail journeys per year.

The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has warned that the NHS needs “significant additional resources” to reduce backlogs, but that a boost to funding is not the only answer. Streeting said putting “ever increasing amounts of taxpayers’ money into a 20th century model of care” could bring about the collapse of the health service. However, he added, the health service needs “significant additional resources” and he said that Labour’s own plans to expand the NHS workforce showed “the cavalry is coming”.

A study has found that people from some parts of the country are significantly more likely to be mocked or singled out because of the way they speak. The standard received pronunciation accent, French-accented English, and “national” standard varieties (Scottish, American, Irish) were all ranked highly in the Sutton Trust’s Speaking Up report, but accents associated with Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and ethnic minority accents, such as Afro-Caribbean and Indian, “tend to be the lowest ranked”, said Sky News.

Matt Hancock is facing growing criticism for his decision to join the ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity. “Bungling” Hancock’s “crass” move “descended into farce” when his claim that he would communicate with constituents while on the game show was described as “delusional” by an insider, said The Mirror. The paper also revealed that the ex-health secretary spent taxpayer funds on equipment to film himself for social media. Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said the PM would not be watching the show.

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