CAROLE MALONE: The latest volte-face by Starmer and Reeves is too little, too late. People have lost their trust completely – the damage has been done
The Prime Minister has lost the trust of vast sections of the population (Image: PA)
Starmer and Reeves are about to make another humiliating U-turn – the Government’s 12th since it came to power – this time over tax hikes for struggling pubs. Yet again, it’s too little too late. And it won’t win them a single vote come the election because the damage has been done.
No pensioner will ever vote for Labour again, neither will anyone in the hospitality industry or anyone with a business. And I’m hoping this U-turn won’t make landlords lift their pub ban on Labour MP’s. That needs to stand!
It’s winter, it’s January, so could everyone please stop talking about the snow and the cold weather like it’s some unexpected natural disaster. Snow falls in winter… But why, when councils everywhere have all but doubled our council tax, are they not using that cash to grit the roads? A&E departments nationwide have been struggling to cope with ice-related accidents this week – many of them caused by ungritted roads and pavements. So, where’s all our money going – into council workers’ pensions and pay packets?
My New Year’s wish is that Air Force One swoops into Downing Street and kidnaps Reeves, Starmer and the muppet Lammy and dumps them in the same New York prison cell as Venezuela’s deposed president Nicholas Maduro and his dodgy wife Cilia Flores. They’d have lots to talk about – like how to turn a once great country into an economic basket case for starters!
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Gwyneth Paltrow claims ‘consciously uncoupling’ backlash got her fired from a movie (Image: FilmMagic)
Gwyneth Paltrow says the vicious backlash from her “consciously uncoupling” break up statement got her fired from a movie. Course it did. It sounded nuts.
She was breaking up with Coldplay’s Chris Martin and trying to make it sound like it was something noble – not about two people who couldn’t bear to be around each other anymore. She says: “I understand why it was so personal for people. You only see that kind of reaction when it’s personal.”
No, Gwynnie, you see that kind of reaction when people think you’re an up-yer-bum, flaky, woke snowflake who thinks the phrase “splitting up” is too common and wanted her break-up to sound a bit more elegant!
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Keir Starmer wants to send British troops to Ukraine although God knows how he can afford to with a £28billion black hole in the defence budget.
This is yet another ill-thought out, expensive mistake from a PM who hasn’t a clue what he’s doing. Deploying British troops will do beggar-all to help Ukrainians. President Zelensky has already said he’d need a peacekeeping force of 200,000 to protect the country’s borders and Europe, in total, can only muster a fraction of that so it will achieve nothing.
And what happens if Putin attacks them? What then? World War Three? The only real guarantee of Ukraine’s future security is its capacity to defend itself, which is why European leaders should be giving it the weapons it needs to defend itself instead of putting our soldiers in harm’s way.
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Actor David Tennant has changed his real surname – McDonald – to his “star” name Tennant. Why? Is he trying to forget who he really is and where he came from?
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Brooklyn Beckham’s roast chicken reportedly proved straw that broke camel’s back (Image: Brooklyn Beckham / Instagram)
Brooklyn Beckham was apparently so “overwhelmed” by his parents constantly tagging his social media posts that he “blocked” Posh and Becks online and instructed lawyers to send a letter banning them from contacting or tagging him.
Apparently, the final straw was when Victoria “liked” a roast chicken video he’d posted. OMG imagine the shock, the horror, the mental anguish of that – tipped over the edge by a roast chicken? This dope is a warning of what happens when super-rich parents indulge and pander to their (thick) precocious children.
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In a one-line Facebook post, the Home Office – which is clearly doing stand-up comedy now – says it has deported 50,000 migrants since Labour came to power.
So, where’s the evidence? Show us the photos of them being loaded onto planes. Because the only photo on that Facebook post was of one solitary immigrant being led up the steps of a plane by six blokes in high-vis jackets.
This government really does take us all for fools. If it really had deported that many people it would have been shouting it from the rooftops, boasting about it at endless press conferences and shoving it up the noses of Farage and Badenoch.
Instead, it puts out a one-line Facebook post. Go figure!!
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In a Radio Times interview, Dawn French says: “I accept I have a reputation as a trustworthy, cardigan-wearing, decent human.” Not anymore, she doesn’t. Not after that vile, deranged Twitter video where she mocked the Israeli victims of the October 7 Hamas attack.
Hasn’t she realised yet that disgusting video shocked and appalled people? Doesn’t she get we now see her for exactly the kind of person she is – the kind who, in a stupid, whiny voice, thought it was funny to mock the rape, torture and wholesale slaughter of teenage girls, young men, babies, mothers?
What kind of human does that? I literally can’t watch her in anything anymore – not even those M&S Christmas ads – because they literally turn my stomach. French used to be a national treasure.
Now there’s a name for her I can’t print!
EU country’s huge migration crackdown revealed – shows UK how it’s done
One European country has taken drastic action to reduce the number of people claiming asylum.
Sweden has taken measures to tackle immigration (Image: Getty Images)
Sweden has seen a dramatic reduction in the number of people applying for asylum in the past year. According to data, the Scandinavian country saw applications fall by 30% between 2024 and 2025.
The sharp decrease comes after the election of a centre-right Swedish government in 2022, supported by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, running on an anti-immigration ticket. Over the past decade, the country has seen an increase in violent crime and murder linked to organised criminals in major cities against a backdrop of high immigration. Swedish migration minister Johan Forssell has hailed several measures taken by the government to restrict immigration, including the introduction of stringent conditions for gaining citizenship and increasing removals.
In 2015, a large number of asylum seekers made their way to Sweden (Image: Getty Images)
He said: “In 2025, the number of asylum seekers to Sweden continued to decline. It’s a sharp decrease. A 30% drop in just one year.”
From next year, migrants who choose to return voluntarily to their home countries from 2026 will be eligible for payments of up to 350,000 kronor (around £28,000).
Data from the Swedish Migration Agency shows that Sweden issued 79,684 residence permits in 2025, with just 6% linked to asylum claims — down from 18% in 2018, when 133,025 permits were granted.
In parallel, 8,312 people left Sweden last year to return to their countries of origin.
Forssell hailed his country’s achievements in reducing immigration (Image: Getty)
Forssell added: “The change isn’t just about numbers in terms of lower immigration, it’s also about the way that’s made up, who is coming to Sweden with the proportion from asylum at a record low.”
Sweden has been followed by Germany in heavily clamping down on immigration in order to address concerns that have led to a rise in support for far-right parties.
Germany has seen the number of illegal migrants trying to enter the country drop to its lowest level in over a decade – barring the first year of the pandemic.
The astonishing reduction has happened on the watch of Germany‘s CDU Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The Conservative politician had pledged to crackdown on immigration during federal elections in 2025. In the first eleven months of last year, 106,298 first-time asylum applications were recorded by the national migration agency Bamf.
This puts Germany on course for its smallest annual total since 2013. By way of comparison, the figure in 2024 was over double, at 229,751.
Government makes asylum seekers move after migrant hotels pledge
The Government previously pledged to phase out the use of hotels for migrants by the end of this Parliament.
Shabana Mahmood will begin evicting migrants from asyulum hotels in the srping, it has been claimed (Image: Getty)
Shabana Mahmood will end the Government’s duty to support all destitute asylum seekers, in a bid to remove housing and weekly allowances from some migrants. The move will see Ms Mahmood target asylum seekers who could support themselves financially but choose not to, along with those who have a right to work, who break the law or work illegally, and those who refuse an order to leave the UK.
This is expected to allow her to remove support from thousands of the 111,651 people receiving payments or accommodation from the Government. The change will be applied across the four nations, as asylum and immigration powers are not devolved. Yet, many migrants are likely to remain eligible for support.
It is understood that between 8,000 to 10,000 people who are living in asylum accommodation have the right to work, because of the visa they are currently on. There are also around 9,000 people who have the right to work because they have been waiting for 12 months or more on their asylum claim, though not all of them are in Home Office accommodation.
As she removes support to thousands of migrants, the Home Secretary intends to begin evicting people from hotels in the spring, as the Labour Government attempts to show progress on slashing the asylum bill, the i paper reports.
Around 36,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels at the end of September, the latest available figures show, with the Home Office saying fewer than 200 hotels are now in use.
As Sir Keir Starmer tries to bring the migrant crisis under control, the Government has pledged to phase out the use of hotels for migrants by the end of this Parliament.
Work is understood to be underway to move asylum seekers into accommodation such as military bases to ease pressure on communities.
Reports of a deal with Germany and the further expansion of the Government one-in, one-out agreement with France have also emerged in recent weeks.
The Government has pledged to phase out the use of hotels for migrants (Image: Getty)
Asylum seekers from Syria could also face removal to their home country, with the Government deeming it safer after the fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024.
A Labour source said: “The Home Secretary is a woman in a hurry. She is working tirelessly to introduce these reforms to restore order and control to our borders.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is ending the duty to provide taxpayer-funded support to migrants who are able to support themselves or who break the law. Those with income or assets will now be required to contribute towards the cost of their stay and we are considering whether to remove benefits entirely from those who do not make an economic contribution.”
Some 41,472 people crossed the Channel in small boats last year, the second-highest annual total on record but still lower than the peak year of 2022 when there were 45,774 crossings. So far in 2026, which has been battered by inclement and freezing weather, just 32 people have made the crossing, arriving in a single boat on January 5.
