A Labour government putting the property mafia before the people. We’re in @thetimes tonight sounding the alarm on the abomination that is the enfranchisement rates consultation 👇

So thought balloons put out by someone at the Premier League or club involved regarding a big point deduction this reason and something next. Sum total? No titles rescinded. City back in 2-3 seasons They'll keep plenty of players to compete plus academy. So 20 trophies, elevation from nationally big-ish club to globally big club, owners carry on regardless, nothing to see regarding last few years including fees, player and former managers contracts. Seems fair. If that's the punishment then I genuinely hope Newcastle United in particular just blow everyone out of the water and overheat the system in England so much that it will be impossible to compete at all. That they win every major trophy every season for 50 years and destroy English football, bankrupting 50+ clubs as they chase the impossible. Because if the punishment for a decade plus of deliberate corrupt practice is 2 or 3 seasons out of the Premier League then I'll cheer on any club in this land who does the same in the future.

As Paris burns our prime minister has stopped people playing loud music on buses & trains.

🇺🇸🇸🇦🇾🇪 WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE EAST RIGHT NOW?! The list of U.S. diplomatic missions issuing SECURITY ALERTS now stretches across ELEVEN countries. Jordan. Lebanon. Qatar. Iran. Iraq. Israel. Bahrain. Oman. Saudi Arabia. UAE. Yemen. At this point, you could throw a dart at a map of the Middle East and probably hit an American security warning. And with an actual war raging, this is not exactly the kind of regional coordination anyone wanted to see. Eleven countries on one security-alert list is ONE HELL of a nervous neighborhood. Writer: Oliver

The #Beatles recorded 'This Boy' on this day 63 years ago today on 17 October 1963. #TheBeatles

Your name is Jean-Marc, you’re 46, and you run a video game and collectibles shop in Nice, wedged between an optician and a real estate agency selling 1-bed flats for €410,000 “with sea view” if you lean far enough off the balcony. You know every GTA San Andreas cheat by heart. You tested all of them in 2005 on the PS2 in your bedroom at your mum’s place. You opened in 2011 with a state-backed loan at 4.7%, and the naive belief that passion eventually pays. It did pay, sort of. €1,900 a month in a good year, after the French tax office has eaten first, second and third. Your commercial rent is indexed on a formula nobody in the Republic actually understands. You sell Funko Pops at €17.99, sealed Pokémon cards, refurbished controllers. You let little Enzo, 12, pay in installments because he’s saving for a Switch 2. You close at 7:30pm and walk home because the harbor parking is €3.40 an hour. Saturday, there’s a protest “against the cost of living.” You also think living costs too much. You almost went. At 5:12pm, your metal shutter gets ripped open with a crowbar. Forty teenagers in tracksuits and crossbody bags walk into your shop like it’s a bonus level. They take the PS5s, the Dragon Ball figures, the till with today’s €280 and even the box of paper bags that say “thank you for your visit.” A guy in a floral shirt films it vertically for TikTok. You step outside and say “stop, this is my shop.” You get hit from behind. Then rocks. They laugh. Floral shirt guy is thrilled: good angle, good lighting. Sunday morning, the police tell you there are “1,400 arrests nationwide” and they won’t send a squad for some Funko Pops. Filing the complaint takes 2 hours 40. The officer types with two fingers on Windows 7. Monday noon, your insurer reminds you that your €1,140-a-year policy has a €3,000 deductible and a “riots and civil commotion” exclusion on page 31, font size 6. Saturday night, an MP explains on TV that “the anger is legitimate” and we “shouldn’t cry over shop windows.” He’s never owned a shop window. He has a state-funded apartment. Sunday, your limited edition Vegeta figures show up on Vinted. “Brand new, never opened, €39, pickup in North Nice.” The seller has 4.9 stars. Monday, the tax office emails you. They haven’t heard about the riots. They’ve heard about your payment deadline. You did everything right, Jean-Marc. That was never the problem. The problem is you were playing by the rules in a lobby where nobody else does. So stop believing in the State. It’s not coming to save you. It’s coming to collect. Stop voting. Every five years they hand you the controller, and it’s never plugged in. Go to the gym. Not for revenge. For you. Because when the system folds, the only asset nobody can loot is the one you built under a barbell. And make money they can’t see. Cash, side hustles, sats on a cold wallet in a sock drawer. Not your keys, not your coins. Not your shop, not your loss. Fuck the system, Jean-Marc. It already did it to you first.

Better to be prepared & not needed, than not prepared & in serious trouble

Half of adults would not go to war for the UK, poll suggests trib.al/kukUYPh

A business model that for many was only ever viable with ultra cheap debt. thetimes.com/life-style/prop…

BREAKING: The US asked Iran for permission to strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site without retaliation, and Iran rejected the request, per IRIB state media correspondent Morteza Ghoroghi. He said "Trump's statements today point to war within the next 24 hours," and that Iran's military forces are "in a state of complete readiness."

🚨 BREAKING: Katie Zacharia has been fired as the White House press secretary tmz.com/2026/10/16/katie-zac…

If you want to see 1%-3% mortgage rates, we will need another finacial crash. I’d say 5-6% is normal, but obviously painful for those who had 1 and 2% mortgage rates.

I haven’t heard that much about ‘the bank of mum and dad’ for a while now You can just picture the old man waking up reading all on all of the headlines about propadee plummeting And he’s guaranteed three in Sydney’s east for his good for nothing kids Oooff

BREAKING: Iran launches anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, and Shahed-136 drones toward the port anchorages of Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Jebel Ali in the UAE and adjacent areas of the Strait of Hormuz, per multiple initial reports. Heavy flight disruptions currently over Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah. It comes as Iran placed its armed forces on the highest alert for 72 hours a short while ago.

.@AndyBurnham says he’ll free leaseholders. But in a secret consultation, the government says it won’t set enfranchisement rates to cut freehold buy-out and lease extension costs. Summer’s over. Give freeholders the 99! Respond to the consultation or let vested interests win.