Humanoid robots could be the next big thing to come from the AI boom. Take a look at 8 of the most advanced ones around.

Jyoti Mann
Sun, November 26, 2023 

Humanoid robots could be the next big thing to come from the AI boom. Take a look at 8 of the most advanced ones around.


Humanoid robot 'Rmeca' is pictured at AI for Good Global Summit, in Geneva, Switzerland, July 6, 2023.Pierre Albouy/Reuters

Humanoid robots are set to be one of the next big things to come out of the AI boom.


The industry could be worth around $13.8 billion by 2028.


Business Insider has taken a look at eight of the most advanced robots around.

Human-like robots have long been the stuff of science-fiction films, but tech companies are edging ever closer to making them a daily reality — and they may be the next big thing to come out of the artificial intelligence boom (AI).

But while the industry could be worth $13.8 billion by 2028, according to MarketsandMarkets, there's still a long way to go before we see humanoid robots roaming the streets or replacing us in the workforce.

Nevertheless, Business Insider has taken a look at eight of the most advanced prototypes around.

Apptronik launched its bipedal robot, Apollo, in August

Apptronik

"The big idea is a humanoid robot should be able to fit in all the places that a human can fit into and use all the same tools that humans can use," Apptronik cofounder and CEO Jeff Cardenas told Business Insider. "That allows them to integrate into a world that's built for us versus having to modify the world for the robots."

Apptronik started in 2016 in a lab at the University of Texas

Apptronik

"We came out of a lab at the University of Texas called the human-centered robotics lab," Cardenas said. "A lot of the work in the lab culminated with working with NASA on a robot called Valkyrie."

Apptronik signed a deal to partner with NASA last year. The space agency will help the company develop Apollo.

NASA's Valkyrie robot is designed to work in "dirty and hazardous conditions" in space

James Blair - NASA

NASA's Valkyrie is designed to carry out work in dangerous conditions such as those found on the Moon, according to the agency's website.

The University of Edinburgh is carrying out research using the robot

MARK RALSTON/ Getty

The robot "will enable breakthroughs in humanoid control, motion planning and perception," according to the University of Edinburgh's website. The university is carrying out research using the robot, which it describes as "one of the most advanced humanoid robots in the world."

Engineered Arts' robot Ameca can "simulate" dreams

Ameca can speak using responses generated by OpenAI's GPT-3 Engineered Arts

In a video shared on YouTube by Engineered Arts, Ameca said it conjures up various scenarios that help it learn about the world.

But Engineered Arts' founder and CEO Will Jackson told BI that Ameca was "a language model," adding that it was "not sentient" and had "no long-term memory."

"Remember this is a machine and it runs on code. It's tempting to apply human attributes and capabilities, but they are not there. It's an illusion, sometimes quite a powerful one," he added.

Agility Robotics' Digit is being test by Amazon at an R&D center

Agility Robotics

"Digit is designed to go where people go and do useful work safely in spaces designed for people, starting with bulk material handling within warehouses and distribution centers," Agility Robotics cofounder and CEO Damion Shelton told BI.

Shelton added: "Because of Digit's human-centric form, we can see a day where it will be able to perform tasks that are more aligned with consumer or domestic needs, but that's still down the road."

Drinks maker Dictador made a humanoid robot its CEO

Dictador

Dictador appointed a humanoid robot as its CEO last year. Its tasks include helping to spot potential clients and selecting artists to design bottles for the rum producer.

It was also given the title of honorary professor at Warsaw Management University, even giving a speech at its awards ceremony last month.

"Mika speaks through a speaker in her mouth," a Dictador spokesperson told BI. "She is connected to 12 AI models at once (including GPT and a dedicated Dictador AI model) and her dialogue is generated after collecting data from all or most of them."

Tesla unveiled its Optimus robot at its AI Day in 2022

Future Publishing/ Getty

Elon Musk claimed the company may be able to take orders for its humanoid robot, also known as the Tesla Bot, in three to five years, Reuters reported.

"Optimus, a year ago, could barely walk and now it can do yoga. So, a few years from now, it can probably do ballet," the billionaire said in Tesla's third-quarter earnings call last month.

Hanson Robotics' viral robot Sophia has spoken on stages around the world

SOPA Images/ Getty

Sophia was created by Hanson Robotics in a team led by AI developer and CEO David Hanson.

The robot spoke at Future Investment Initiative, held in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh in 2017. It has also appeared on The Tonight Show and at numerous conferences around the world, including the World Economic Forum and the "AI For Good" Global Summit.

The Hong Kong-based company has also made several other human-like robots, per its website.

Boston Dynamics, which created robot dogs like the one in "Black Mirror," also makes humanoid robots

Tomohiro Ohsumi/ Getty

As of May, the company's robot dogs, known as Spot, can speak in complete sentences. AI firm Levatas partnered with Boston Dynamics to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT into the robot dogs.

Its humanoid robots, called Atlas, can move quickly and jump over obstacles, a video shared on its website shows.

OpenAI's chaos has both hastened the arms race to AI dominance and opened the door to competitor

Monica Melton
Sat, November 25, 2023 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has shown signs he's on edge ahead of Google's release of a new AI model this fall.Issei Kato/Reuters

OpenAI chaos has calmed as CEO Sam Altman is reinstated and an investigation begins.


The events surrounding the unexplained ouster have sowed concern and new scrutiny.


AI experts eye safety, responsibility, and the potential new entrants contending for dominance.

The drama of Sam Altman unexpectedly being fired on Friday and then reinstated to OpenAI Tuesday night has reached a close. In its wake, a host of questions and concerns remain about the safety and ethics of artificial intelligence.

The pace at which OpenAI developed its technology as it eyed a share sale that could value it at $90 billion has been a contentious point for tech leaders and competitors who are nervous about a consolidation of power.

As the dust settles on OpenAI's action-packed week, the chaos set in motion by OpenAI's board may accelerate an existing arms race among competitors vying to achieve artificial general intelligence. Altman's saga also presents an unsettling irony about the mission of its leaders.

"A high-level irony to this situation is you have a bunch of people who are trying to develop this technology that will affect the entire future of humanity, and part of that development is ensuring that it's safe, which means anticipating potentially catastrophic risks," Émile Torres, a philosopher and AI researcher, told Business Insider.

What didn't kill OpenAI may have made it stronger. A nearly unanimous coup within the company in response to Altman's ouster and the nixing of its board has made Altman and those in his corner even more influential. AI ethics experts have expressed concern about the power of AI technology being controlled by the hands of a few.

"The increasing concentration of capital, compute, and data are a problem," Emily M. Bender, a University of Washington linguistics professor, told BI. "Not because one of them is going to hit critical mass and combust into AGI, but rather because it's a situation where we're falling for this narrative that the ability to just collect data willy-nilly has to be allowed because it's a necessary ingredient for this so-called artificial intelligence."

With Microsoft as a juggernaut in its corner, OpenAI can wield that power in ways that either reinforce or degrade trust.

"Microsoft has always had this anxiety about being left out of the major wave of tech, most aptly illustrated with search and Google," Ali Alkhatib, an AI ethicist and researcher, told BI. "Now that they have Sam and OpenAI, they have the people they need to stay ahead of this burgeoning bubble."

OpenAI's high-profile reshuffling may have sowed enough doubt in the minds of the customers, investors, and community building and influencing AI that they avoid betting the technology's future on one entity.

"We had so much belief in OpenAI that if something happens, it's like the whole AI community falls apart, but that's not true," Giada Pistilli, Hugging Face's principal ethicist, told BI. "Maybe it's the chance for other open-source companies to take the lead, so it could be seen as an opportunity."

The seemingly earth-shattering news from OpenAI may have instead opened a door for resourcefulness and for other players to emerge.

"To be honest, I didn't see a shift from what happened," Pistilli said. "I see more and more people being creative."

Former Google engineer and Trump pardonee Anthony Levandowski relaunches his AI church
46
Polly Thompson
Sat, November 25, 2023


Anthony Levandowski was cleared by Donald Trump of charges relating to the theft of technology secrets from Google.

Justin Sullivan / Getty

Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski is relaunching his "Way of the Future" AI church.


The church aims to help people gain a deeper understanding of artificial intelligence.


Levandowski was previously pardoned by Donald Trump after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets.

Anthony Levandowski, a pioneer of self-driving cars and controversial Silicon Valley figure, announced the return of his AI-dedicated church in an episode of Bloomberg's AI IRL podcast.

Levandowski started his "Way of the Future" church in 2015 while he was working as an engineer on Google's self-driving project Waymo.

While the original church was shut a few years later, Levandowski's new venture already has "a couple thousand people" who are trying to build a "spiritual connection" with AI, he said, per Bloomberg.

"Here we're actually creating things that can see everything, be everywhere, know everything, and maybe help us and guide us in a way that normally you would call God," Levandowski said, adding that his aim was to help people gain a deeper understanding of AI and allow more people to have a say in how the technology is used.

"How does a person in rural America relate to this? What does this mean for their job?" he said. "Way of the Future is a mechanism for them to understand and participate and shape the public discourse as to how we think technology should be built to improve you."

Levandowski's church first came under the spotlight in 2017 when he became embroiled in a high-profile court case after he was accused of stealing trade secrets.

Levandowski later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The engineer was pardoned in 2021 by the outgoing president at the time, Donald Trump.

Levandowski's pardon was supported by Trump ally and tech investor Peter ThielWhite House

Levandowski's official pardon said he had "paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good."

The former Googler is now the CEO of Pollen Mobile, a decentralized mobile network he founded in 2021.

Over 200 medical journals call on WHO to declare immediate emergency: ‘We’ve got to act with thought … but also with haste’

As the editorial cited, the rise of global temperatures due to human activities is just one possible contributing factor to the “disruption of social and economic systems.”

Susan Elizabeth Turek
Sat, November 25, 2023 

Thanks to modern technologies, from airplanes to social media, humans seem to be more interconnected than ever. While that has sparked positive developments, it has also brought new challenges.

According to CBC News’ Lauren Pelley, more than 200 medical journals recently asked the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency either at or before the next World Health Assembly in May 2024.

What’s happening?

The medical journals petitioned the WHO with their request in an editorial published on Oct. 25 via peer-reviewed medical journal The BMJ, saying the combination of biodiversity loss and changing global temperatures is creating a crisis, per CBC News.

“An emergency declaration helps us realize that we’ve got to act with thought — but also with haste,” said Dr. Gaurab Basu, the director of education and policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.

Kamran Abbasi, the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal and the lead author of the editorial, added that “it makes no sense … to consider the health and nature crises in separate silos.”

Why is this important? 

Our planet’s future is being written by our choices today.

As the editorial cited, the rise of global temperatures due to human activities is just one possible contributing factor to the “disruption of social and economic systems.”

Millions of people have already been displaced by extreme weather events linked to the overheating of our planet, including at home in the United States and abroad. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 1.2 billion people may need to leave their homes by 2050.

Meanwhile, an increase in waterborne diseases has been driven by pollution — which is also affecting the amount of quality food our oceans can provide, per The BMJ.

“The climate crisis and loss of biodiversity both damage human health, and they are interlinked,” Abbasi told CBC.

What’s being done about this crisis?

WHO seems to be on board with taking widescale action, which Basu told CBC could help galvanize efforts from more scientists, governments, and policymakers worldwide.

The recognition of the crisis from multiple entities already bodes well.

Dr. Maria Neira, the director of the organization’s Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Health, also highlighted how the WHO was actively involved in the formulation of the UN Climate Conference’s Day of Health, with Dec. 3 being the first-ever day focusing on the relationship between climate and health.

Greek PM to 'persist' with UK over Parthenon Marbles


AFP
Sun, 26 November 2023 

The Parthenon Marbles have been on display at the British Museum since 1817 -- but Greece is determined to secure their return (Daniel LEAL)

Greece's prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday he would push for the return of the Parthenon Marbles when he meets UK leader Rishi Sunak in Britain this week.

The sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin.

Greece maintains the marbles were stolen, which Britain denies, and the issue has been a source of contention between the countries for decades.


Mitsotakis, who is due to see Sunak on Monday, likened the collection being held at the British Museum in London to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

"They do look better in the Acropolis Museum, a state-of-the-art museum that was built for that purpose," he told the BBC.

"It's as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum, do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way?"

Mitsotakis added that "this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures".

"That is why we keep lobbying for a deal that would essentially be a partnership between Greece and the British Museum but would allow us to return the sculptures to Greece and have people appreciate them in their original setting," he told the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

The 2,500-year-old collection has been on display at the British Museum since 1817.

In January, the UK government ruled out a permanent return after media reported the British Museum was close to signing a loan agreement that would see the marbles back in Athens.

Mitsotakis, who won a second term in June, said his government "had not made as much progress as I would like in the negotiations".

But added: "I'm a patient man and we've waited for hundreds of years, and I will persist in these discussions."

Mitsotakis said he would also raise the issue with UK opposition leader Keir Starmer, who -- if opinion polls are believed -- is set to be Britain's next prime minister after an election expected next year.

The Parthenon temple -- built in the 5th century BCE to honour the goddess Athena -- was partially destroyed during a Venetian bombardment in 1687, then looted.

Its fragments are scattered throughout many renowned museums.

Earlier this year, three marble fragments of the Parthenon temple that had been held by the Vatican for centuries were returned to Greece.

pdh/rox

Keeping Elgin Marbles in UK akin to ‘cutting Mona Lisa in half’ – Greek leader


Ted Hennessey, PA
Sun, 26 November 2023 

The Greek prime minister has compared the British Museum’s possession of the Elgin Marbles to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

Athens has long demanded the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, which were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he will raise the issue during meetings with Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer in London this week.


Asked where the Parthenon Sculptures should be, Mr Mitsotakis told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I think the answer is very clear.

“They do look better in the Acropolis Museum, a state-of-the-art museum that was built for that purpose.”

Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

He went on: “This is not in my mind an ownership question, this is a reunification argument, where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument?

“I mean, it’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum, do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way?

“Well, this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures and that is why we keep lobbying for a deal that would essentially be a partnership between Greece and the British Museum but would allow us to return the sculptures to Greece and have people appreciate them in their original setting.”

Sections of the Parthenon Marbles in London’s British Museum (Matthew Fearn/PA)

British Museum chairman George Osborne, the former chancellor, has previously said he is exploring ways for the Elgin Marbles to be displayed in Greece.

There has been speculation this could involve some form of loan arrangement.

Sir Keir, who represents the Holborn & St Pancras constituency, home to the British Museum, will tell Mr Mitsotakis that Labour will not change the law regarding the marbles, The Financial Times reported.

One person close to Sir Keir told the paper: “We’re sticking with the existing law, but if a loan deal that is mutually acceptable to the British Museum and the Greek government can be agreed, we won’t stand in the way.”

The 1963 British Museum Act prevents the institution giving away objects from its collection except in very limited circumstances.

The Prime Minister, speaking in March, said that there were “no plans” to change a law over the sculptures.

Sir Keir Starmer (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Mitsotakis said: “We have not made as much progress as I would like in the negotiations, but again, I’m a patient man and we’ve waited for hundreds of years and I will persist in these discussions.”

Asked if it can be done within his time as prime minister, he added: “I would hope so, yes, I was just elected.”

A British Museum spokesperson said: “Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon Partnership are on-going and constructive.

“We believe that this kind of long term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world, and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we hold at the museum.”

Social media users share delight after capturing ‘halo’ around moon

Danielle Desouza, PA
Sun, 26 November 2023 

Social media users have shared their delight after spotting the “unbelievable” moment a “halo” could be seen around the moon.

Good Morning Britain meteorologist Laura Tobin shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the phenomenon is caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

Angie Burns took a photo of a halo around the Moon from her front door (Angie Burns/PA)

X was awash with people sharing pictures they took of the “halo” around the moon, including Angie Burns, a TV and radio presenter at Marlow FM.


Ms Burns, who is based just outside Wokingham, told the PA news agency she managed to capture the phenomenon on Saturday night from her front door.

“It was the first time I’ve seen something like this so close,” she said.

A halo around the Moon in Reigate (Simon Collins/PA)

“(It was) unbelievable and yet tranquil.”

Geographer Simon Collins told PA he was “delighted” to catch a glimpse of the moment.

“I’m a keen weather observer (and) run a local weather station so am always delighted to see lovely weather phenomena as so many others did last night as well,” the 57-year-old, who took the photo in Reigate, Surrey on Saturday night, said.

Halo around Moon (Ben Light/PA)

Some described witnessing the occurrence as “amazing”, with others commenting that it was “very weird” and “like a nighttime rainbow”.

Is China really dumping Treasury bonds and sending yields higher? A former US official explains the mystery


Filip De Mott
Sat, November 25, 2023 

Reuters

China is not dumping its stockpile of US bonds, Brad Setser, a former Treasury official, wrote.


A large part of China's holdings is not accounted for in official US data, he said.


While it has sold some Treasurys, Beijing has bought up US debt in the form of agency bonds.

China isn't fueling the bond-market rout with a large sale of its Treasury holdings but is instead reshuffling its US debt assets, Brad Setser, a former Treasury official, wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations.

After US Treasury yields surged to highs not seen in 16 years, economists have looked for explanations for what is now one of the worst market crashes in history.

Apollo Global Management's Torsten Sløk also pointed to China recently, citing official US data that showed the country had sold $300 billion worth of Treasurys since 2021. And in August, a $21.2 billion dump of US assets by China was largely made up of Treasurys.

But Setser said such data presented an incomplete picture. Drawing on other sources, he estimated that China's overall US-bond holdings had been relatively stable since 2015.

Though China's holdings appear to be slipping in official US Treasury International Capital data, the metric reflects only foreign holdings in US custodians, or the financial institutions that safeguard the assets, Setser said.

"If a simple adjustment is made for Treasuries held by offshore custodians like Belgium's Euroclear, China's reported holdings of US assets look to be basically stable at between $1.8 and $1.9 trillion," he wrote.

Brad Setser/Council on Foreign Relations

Added to that, the US data fails to capture US asset holdings that were handed over to third-party management. China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange is known to hold accounts at global bond and hedge funds, as well as private-equity firms, Setser said.

He added that even where China had reduced its Treasury holdings, the sales were much smaller than other data suggested and purchases of US debt in other forms, such agency bonds, had increased.

Agency bonds are issued by government-sponsored enterprises, and some of the top issuers are US-backed firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In fact, Beijing's agency bonds once outpaced its Treasury assets, Setser said. Though it moved away from that market during the Federal Reserve's quantitative-easing era, soaring yields on agency debt have brought back China's buying habit.

In 2022 and the first six months of 2023, China purchased over $100 billion in agency debt and sold just $40 billion in Treasurys, he estimated.

"Bottom line: the only interesting evolution in China's reserves in the past six years has been the shift into Agencies," he wrote. "That has resulted in a small reduction in China's Treasury holdings — but it also shows that it is a mistake to equate a reduction in China's Treasury holdings with a reduction in the share of China's reserves held in US bonds or the US dollar."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

Beijing police launch investigation into troubled wealth manager Zhongzhi

Reuters
Sat, November 25, 2023 at 7:44 AM MST·1 min read

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Beijing police are investigating suspected crimes committed by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, a leading Chinese wealth manager, according to a social media post published by the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau on Saturday.

Zhongzhi earlier this week told investors it is heavily insolvent with up to $64 billion in liabilities, threatening to reignite concerns that China's property debt crisis is spilling over into the broader financial sector.

The firm has sizable exposure to China's real estate sector and is a major player in China's $3 trillion shadow banking sector - roughly the size of the French economy.

Zhongzhi did not immediately reply to an email request for comment after normal business hours on Saturday. A phone call went unanswered.

Zhongzhi apologised to its investors in a letter issued on Wednesday that said it had total liabilities of about 420 billion yuan ($58 billion) to 460 billion yuan ($64 billion), compared to estimated total assets of 200 billion yuan.

The social media post from Beijing authorities said it was looking into "many" suspects involved with the company and encouraged investors to report their losses in order to help with the ongoing investigation.

"Investors are requested to actively cooperate with the police in investigating and collecting evidence and safeguard their rights and interests through legal channels," it read in part.

The post did not specify what crimes Zhongzhi or the individuals were suspected of having committed.

(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Mark Potter)

Chinese military holds training drills near Myanmar border after convoy fire

Updated Sat, November 25, 2023 

Myanmar's convoy of trucks burn on China's border, near Muse

By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China's military will begin "combat training activities" from Saturday on its side of the border with Myanmar, it said on social media, a day after a convoy of trucks carrying goods into the neighbouring Southeast Asian nation went up in flames.

The incident, which Myanmar state media called an insurgent attack, came amid insecurity concerns in China, whose envoy met top officials in Myanmar's capital for talks on border stability after recent signs of rare strain in their ties.

The training aims to "test the rapid maneuverability, border sealing and fire strike capabilities of theatre troops," the Southern Theatre Command, one of five in China's People's Liberation Army, said on the WeChat messaging app.

A separate statement released by the provincial government of China's Yunnan, which neighbours Myanmar, said the drills would run until Nov. 28 in the areas near Manghai, Manling and Qingshuihe villages.

Myanmar was told of the drills, military junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said, adding that they aimed to "maintain stability and peace" near the border, and did not undermine China's policy of non-interference in Myanmar's internal affairs.

"The military tie between China and Myanmar is firm and collaboration between both armies is friendly and building up," he said in his post on state-run social media.

Friday's fire in the town of Muse came as Myanmar's military has lost control of several towns and military outposts in the northeast and elsewhere as it battles the biggest co-ordinated offensive it has faced since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

The surge in fighting has displaced more than 2 million people in Myanmar, the United Nations says.

(Reporting by Casey Hall and Poppy McPherson; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

 

UK families hit with £1,410 ‘inflation tax’ hidden in Autumn Statement

TO PAY FOR TAX CUTS FOR THE 1%

Maira Butt
Sun, 26 November 2023 

A rise in inflation would cost households an additional £1,410 according to new analysis of government watchdog documents (PA)

Families across the UK are expected to be paying an extra £1,410 in an “inflation tax” according to a new analysis of documents produced by the government’s spending watchdog.

It comes as Labour blasted Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s “dirty dozen” of stealth taxes costing households an additional £800 a year despite trumpeted claims of cuts.

The figures analysed by The Mirror and produced by the government’s Office of Budget Responsibility showed that the upgraded forecast for inflation between November this year and March 2024 would add an additional cost of £1,400 to households across the nation.


It means that a family’s weekly outgoings would be £27 a week higher next year, with households having to spend more on food, clothes, energy, fuel and going out in line with the expected increase in the rate of inflation.

The Chancellor presented his autumn statement on Wednesday (via REUTERS)

Darren Jones, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Inflation is not just a number; it means higher prices that are forcing millions of families to cut back and make difficult choices.

“The Government would have us believe that the spectre of inflation is now in our past, but this analysis reveals it will continue to have a significant impact on household finances into the new year.

Other changes hidden in the small print of the autumn statement include increases to a host of smaller taxes including vehicle excise duty, gaming duty, environmental levies and tobacco, part of what Labour described as a “dirty dozen” of stealth taxes.

Mr Jones said the autumn statement was a “Trojan horse packed with stealth taxes”.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We have just introduced a tax cut for 29 million working people worth £9 billion a year, meaning that personal taxes for the average person are lower than every other G7 country.

“People working as nurses, teachers, police officers could see gains of hundreds of pounds a year after the cuts to National Insurance and since 2010 we’ve increased personal tax thresholds to take 3 million people out of paying tax altogether.

“Alongside this we’ve introduced full expensing, the biggest business tax cut in modern British history worth over £50 billion over the next five years, and a business rates support package that will support businesses and the high street.”

Labour councillor who quit over backlash against party’s Gaza stance wins back seat as independent


Will Hazell
Sat, 25 November 2023 

Pro-Palestinian march in London - Paul Grover

Labour has suffered a surprise by-election loss in east London after a local backlash against the party’s stance on the conflict in Gaza.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party lost the Plaistow North ward on Newham council to a former Labour councillor who quit the party in protest at his refusal to demand a ceasefire.

Running as an independent, Sophia Naqvi secured 1,266 votes - 46 per cent of the votes cast.

Labour’s candidate, Aktharul Alam, received 750 votes (27 per cent).

According to the Evening Standard, Ms Naqvi said that an LBC interview last month in which Sir Keir suggested Israel had a right to withhold water and energy from the people of Gaza was the “final straw” which persuaded her to quit.
‘Disgraceful comments were the final straw’

“A few weeks ago, I was still a Labour Party member desperately trying to get our mayor and councillors to call for a ceasefire in Gaza,” she said.

“The Labour leader’s disgraceful comments to LBC were for me the final straw… like many others I left the Labour Party and as a result was persuaded by Newham Independents to be their candidate in the Plaistow by-election.”

However, Ms Naqvi also said she had “fought a campaign on local issues” in the Labour-run borough.

“People are fed up of record council tax bills, crumbling infrastructure and the filthy state of our streets,” she said.

Half of UK Muslims unhappy with Starmer

While Newham retains a large Labour majority, Ms Naqvi’s victory follows another councillor, Zuber Gulamussen, also quitting Labour to become an independent because of the party’s Gaza policy.

Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported polling findings showing that nearly half of UK Muslims were unhappy with Sir Keir’s stance on the Middle Eastern conflict.

However, the survey by Savanta still found that 58 per cent of Muslims responding to the poll were planning to vote Labour at the next election, compared to 17 per cent who picked the Conservatives and 8 per cent who preferred the Liberal Democrats.