Prices and rents will fall under Rachel Reeves’ plans, enabling a younger generation with new ideas to enter the field
One of the baleful dimensions of our times is the way that the conversation about what constitutes the good society is framed by the rich and their interests. A conception of the common good withers; instead it is replaced by the existential importance of private wealth, private interests and private ownership to societal health. Nowhere is this more exposed than in the debate over taxation, and in particular the taxation of inherited wealth – as the debate over the past fortnight has dramatised.
Half a million people die every year. Under the reforms to inheritance tax relief on agricultural land proposed in the budget, about 500 individuals who inherit land worth more than £2m (£3m if they were married to the deceased) will join the rest of society and have inheritance tax levied on their bequest – albeit at half the rate, with an enlarged exemption and 10 years to pay it, concessions not made to the rest of us. How fortunate and privileged are they?
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/17/2024 - 02:00
11/16/2024 - 23:15
‘You not only know what we’re going to do but how we’re going to get there,’ PM tells voters
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Anthony Albanese says Australia will detail its 2035 emission reduction targets “sometime next year”, in comments that raise the prospect the government might delay committing to a next-phase target until after the federal election.
Asked on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday whether his government could match the UK’s 2035 commitment to cut emissions by 81% on 1990 levels, the prime minister referred to Australia’s existing 2030 target.
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11/16/2024 - 21:25
PM seeks to reassure Australians about the fate of their businesses under US Trump administration
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Anthony Albanese is seeking to reassure Australian exporters about the fate of their businesses under an incoming US Trump administration, insisting he is confident they will be spared tariffs of up to 20% that the president-elect is threatening to impose.
The prime minister said on Sunday that he did not expect any US move to slap tariffs on incoming goods to include imports from Australia.
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11/16/2024 - 18:06
Oilfield services exec denies climate crisis and is expected to support Trump’s plan to maximize oil and gas production
Donald Trump said on Saturday that Chris Wright, an oil and gas industry executive and a staunch defender of fossil fuel use, would be his pick to lead the US Department of Energy.
Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, an oilfield services firm based in Denver, Colorado. He is expected to support Trump’s plan to maximize production of oil and gas and to seek ways to boost generation of electricity, demand for which is rising for the first time in decades.
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11/16/2024 - 16:29
Conservation group warns species threatened by exploding populations of grey squirrels who carry lethal virus
Red squirrels will soon disappear from England unless the government funds a vaccine against squirrelpox, one of the biggest groups set up to protect the species has warned.
Conservationists say the English population of non-native grey squirrels has exploded this year, triggered by warmer winters which enable mating pairs to feed and breed all year round, and estimate that 70% are carrying squirrelpox, a virus which is lethal only to red squirrels.
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11/16/2024 - 12:55
Wealthy nations are yet to offer the hundreds of billions of dollars that economists say are needed to help the developing world cut emissions
Leaders of the world’s biggest economies meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Monday must agree to provide the finance that the world’s poorest need to tackle the climate crisis or face “economic carnage”, the UN has warned.
The G20 nations are about to gather in Brazil for two days of talks, while many of their ministers remain in Azerbaijan where crucial negotiations at the Cop29 climate crisis summit have stalled. Rich countries’ governments have not yet put forward the offers of hundreds of billions of dollars in financial aid that economists say are needed to help poorer countries cut their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather.
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11/16/2024 - 12:00
Wildlife experts in US west have found small aircraft are ideal for protecting humans and livestock from predators
The first time that Terry Vandenbos watched a bear run from a drone, on a spring day two years ago, he was chasing the animal himself. After he saw the grizzly cross a road near his property, the Montana rancher hopped on his all-terrain vehicle, planning to scare it away from his cattle if needed.
But the bear began sprinting away when he was still far from it, looking over its shoulder as it ran, and Vandenbos looked up too; overhead, a small drone was following the bear, its four propellers emitting a high-pitched whine as it sent the animal towards a nearby lake.
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11/16/2024 - 09:26
Water company claims information is not in the public interest despite widespread pollution of UK waters
• ‘It’s a national disgrace’: fury at sewage-filled Windermere over toxic algae and dead fish
One of the UK’s biggest water companies is fighting a legal battle to block public access to data on treated sewage it is discharging into Windermere in the Lake District.
United Utilities initially claimed that data from phosphorus monitors at sewage treatment works at the lake “was not environmental information”. It later claimed the information on phosphorus – which can pollute watercourses when at high levels – was “internal communication” and exempt from disclosure.
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11/16/2024 - 08:00
Ongoing dry conditions threaten to aggravate blazes in New York and New Jersey as wildfire seasons grow in intensity
Wildfires continue to ravage parts of New York and New Jersey, fueled by high winds and record low precipitation and, despite some rain over last weekend, there is no immediate relief in sight for the historic drought in the region, with ongoing dry conditions exacerbating the risk of spreading fires.
Last month was the driest on record in New York City, with only 0.87in (2.2cm) of rain compared with the historic average of 4.12in for October, and forecasts predict the deficit between normal levels of rain and this autumn in the region will grow before the end of the season.
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11/16/2024 - 02:14
More lobbyists for the controversial technology were present this year, despite debate about its viability
At least 480 lobbyists working on carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been granted access to the UN climate summit, known as Cop29, the Guardian can reveal.
That is five more CCS lobbyists than were present at last year’s climate talks, despite the overall number of participants shrinking significantly from about 85,000 to about 70,000.
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