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Single Trade Window designed to reduce friction on imports and exports will be halted until at least 2026 amid cost fears A key part of the UK’s post-Brexit border strategy has been put on pause for more than a year amid government concerns over the cost of implementing the scheme. The introduction of the Single Trade Window (STW), which is designed to reduce friction for traders moving goods in and out of Britain, had already been delayed from late October to January next year, but will now be halted until at least 2026. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xNOhmYv

How else to explain Honest Bob Jenrick winding up as shadow justice secretary? Spare a thought for the losers. Not those like James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Steve Barclay. Or Jeremy Hunt and Oliver Dowden, who politely declined all offers to serve in the shadow cabinet. They had their self-worth to consider. Hard to believe, but true nonetheless. Instead, consider those who desired high office – if that isn’t an oxymoron for the shadow cabinet. Take Suella Braverman and Esther McVey. Gutted to have been overlooked. Their credentials impeccable. Both with an unblemished track record of insanity and incompetence. How much more useless did they have to be for Kemi Badenoch to give them the nod? Imagine the insult. Thought to be less hopeless than Priti Patel or Chris Philp. You’re never going to recover from that. Just left to wander the backbenches. Taking the Lead by John Crace is published by Little, Brown (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbo

Jostling for position before eventual debt for equity swap gives opportunity to fight for £3bn lifeline with least worst terms Roll up, roll up, who wants to lend £3bn to Thames Water, a company already drowning in debt? It turns out a lot of people do. Two rival groups of existing creditors – one representing the A class of bondholders, the other the junior Bs – have tabled proposals to provide the company with a “liquidity runway”, meaning emergency cash to get it through the next year or so. At some point in that period, it is hoped, Thames would set about the more fundamental task of imposing losses on those same debtholders to clear the decks for new shareholders to inject capital. None of this is straightforward and some of today’s bondholders will probably also be tomorrow’s shareholders, assuming a debt-for-equity swap is possible. And “runway” is probably the wrong metaphor. We’re really talking about a sticking plaster before the main surgery on the balance sheet can begin.

League Two side into second round after 1-0 victory AFC Wimbledon beat bitter rivals MK Dons Harrogate pulled off an FA Cup upset as the League Two side beat Wrexham 1-0 to reach the second round. Jack Muldoon scored the only goal of the game with a glancing header midway through the first half and League One high-fliers Wrexham struggled to create clear-cut chances to equalise. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vIWUKas

Elias Visontay rides aimlessly to see how friendly or antisocial Sydneysiders really are. Along the way he discovers why many drivers can’t stand Uber Pool Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast As kids we’re warned not to accept rides with strangers. But when my editors told me to take Uber Pools around Sydney and write about the characters I meet, I had little idea I’d be in for fashion critiques, tales of backseat romances, plenty of awkward silences – and mostly solo rides. When it first launched before Covid, Uber Pool was perhaps the truest form of ride sharing. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/yKH2da0

They came more in expectation than hope: a modern-day record 3,110 of them crammed into the Sussex Transport Community Stadium like the mackerels that adorn Worthing’s badge. Some mooted cup upsets are born of the heart, fuelled by an alluring backstory that taps into society’s natural inclination to cheer for underdogs that have overcome adversity to challenge those more distinguished. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2fZsVI5

The former president leaned heavily into his agenda of hate and menace in a week as unedifying as it was unhinged There was racism and misogyny by the bucketload. There was a firing squad death threat to a former congresswoman. And there was the extraordinary sight of a Republican candidate for president of the United States playing dress-up as a sanitation worker in the cab of a garbage truck. Donald Trump’s final full week on the campaign trail was as unedifying as it was bizarre. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5PvCBWt

Russell Bruce Moncrief, 75, faces counts of human trafficking and racketeering over ‘sickening scheme’ A bail bondsman is facing criminal charges in Florida for allegedly approaching incarcerated women and offering to bond them out if they give him sex in return. Russell Bruce Moncrief faces counts of human trafficking and racketeering – along with accusations that he used his authority within the criminal justice system to prey on particularly vulnerable women, said a recent news release from the office of the state’s attorney general, Ashley Moody. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/A3FtNbj

Piotr Kucharski wore insignia for proscribed terror group on combat clothing at Suffolk Viking re-enactment A builder has been jailed for claiming at a Viking re-enactment that he had fought for the Wagner group in Ukraine. Piotr Kucharski, 49, wore combat clothing bearing badges with insignia for the proscribed terror organisation to an event in Stonham Aspal, in Suffolk. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UQuZMJh

Daniel Khalife, 23, says he absconded because he was ‘terrified’ of being locked up with dangerous offenders A former British soldier has told a jury he did not hand himself in after he escaped from prison because he was “finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was” to imprison someone with his “skill set”. Daniel Khalife, 23, told the court he absconded from Wandsworth prison while on remand because he was “terrified” of being locked up with “serious sex offenders” and “terrorists” who wanted to kill him, and that he did not think his imprisonment would be in the public interest. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vRZHkaw