Politics

When a massive earthquake struck western Afghanistan on 7 October, thousands of mud houses collapsed, crushing and killing the people inside. Many of them were women, confined indoors by tradition, religion and Taliban edict, and their young children. Over the weeks that followed, Herat province, which borders Iran, has been shaken by three more huge earthquakes, measuring magnitudes of 6.3, and multiple aftershocks almost as devastating. Like most of Afghanistan, the area is poor and facilities are few. People were digging bodies out of the rubble by hand for days. Entire villages have been flattened. Pledges of aid are falling short amid concerns about the Taliban’s theft of food, money

‘We’ve had 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change,’ Rishi Sunak declared in his conference speech in Manchester. Now he has chance to prove that he intends to do something about it.  Back in May, it was reported that Sunak himself had squashed Michael Gove’s proposals for banning new leasehold properties – which Gove had described as a ‘feudal’ system of tenure. They remain a money-spinner for the freehold owners of blocks of flats, many of whom are offshore-registered companies.  There are millions of leaseholders in urban constituencies where the government needs to stop Labour proliferating Leaseholders are constantly complaining of being overcharged for service charges

Hang up the bunting and grab a suitcase of wine – it’s Covid Inquiry prime time. This week, the longest running farce in London is gearing up to take evidence from a succession of familiar faces including the likes of Vote Leave duo Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain. But before all that, it was the turn of Martin Reynolds, Boris Johnson’s former Principal Private Secretary, to take the stand. Reynolds of course was the hapless mandarin who sent the incriminating 20 May 2020 email to 100 civil servants to ‘Bring your own bottle’ and ‘make the most of the lovely weather’ in the Downing Street garden. This was at the height