What happened
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has used her speech at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool to signal that tax rises may be coming in November’s Budget, warning that global pressures and long-term economic damage have made fiscal decisions more difficult.

Who said what
Reeves argued that “the world has changed”, citing conflicts abroad, US tariffs and higher borrowing costs. She attacked Liz Truss for sending mortgages “spiralling” and criticised voices within Labour calling for looser spending, declaring: “They are wrong – dangerously so.”

Having set out a “shopping list of investments to warm the hearts of Labour supporters”, Reeves went on to make an “unapologetic defence of her fiscal rules”, said The Guardian’s economics editor Heather Stewart.

“Never let anyone tell you that there’s no difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government,” said Reeves. Presented with a choice between “invest or decline”, she said, “we chose investment”.

What next?
Reeves also used the speech to outline several new initiatives, including libraries in every primary school, a new unit to recover Covid fraud funds, legislation to boost British-made ships and steel, and renewed backing for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

What happened
GPs are threatening industrial action following the introduction of an online booking system across England. From tomorrow, every practice must allow patients to request appointments digitally.

Who said what
The British Medical Association (BMA) fears a “potential online triage tsunami” if the plans go ahead. It said a “barrage of online requests” could lead to “potentially serious and life-threatening problems” being “missed”.

But Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It is absurd that in 2025 many patients can’t request appointments online. If you can book a hair appointment online, you should be able to book an NHS appointment, too.”

What next?
On Monday the BMA gave Streeting 48 hours to avoid any dispute. He is “expected to address the doctors’ union” in his speech at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool later today, according to The Mirror.

The unions have not specified what measures will be taken, but could revert to “work-to-rule” industrial action, where staff work only to their contracted hours.

Filtered air is a “human right”, teenage activist Violet Affleck has told the United Nations.

Speaking from behind an N95 face mask and clear goggles, the daughter of divorced Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner accused older generations of neglecting children who have Long Covid.

She criticised the “relentless beat of back to normal”, which is “ignoring, downplaying and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of Long Covid”. She went on to say that when there is access to technology to prevent airborne disease, refusing to use it to protect children is “neglect of the highest order”.

But not everyone is convinced by the attention she’s received. Writing on X, the broadcaster Meghan McCain (daughter of the late US senator John McCain) said that “every single thing about all of this is why people hate nepo babies so much”, adding that Affleck (pictured above with her mother) had “no business” speaking at the UN, reported The Independent.

Nevertheless, air filtration has become a hot issue since the pandemic. Research carried out on Covid wards at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge during the “height of the second wave” suggested that filter machines “removed almost all traces of airborne Covid virus”, said the NHS.

A July 2021 report from the Centre for Disease Control in the US also suggested that portable HEPA air cleaners could reduce exposure to SARS-CoV-2 indoors after researchers focused on conference rooms, but, said Which, “there’s a lot more real-world evidence needed”.