Image of the week: ‘Tractor tax’
Among the thousands of British farmers who protested against Labour’s curtailing of agricultural property relief from inheritance tax in London this week, the snappy placard lines were almost as abundant as the anger.
Keir Starmer: Farmer Harmer was one, while some signs rechristened chancellor Rachel Reeves as “Rachel Thieves” – also the moniker favoured by GB News. There were calls for a “ewe turn”, a warning that “the end is Keir for family farms” and many that took the blunter, pun-free tack of “no farmers, no food”.
With the argument being that the introduction of inheritance tax at a reduced rate of 20 per cent on agricultural assets above a certain threshold in value will force the children of farmers to sell up, the next generation was taken along for the day and tooled up with whistles, horns and plaintive signs about wanting to be a farmer when they grew up.
The kids’ toy-tractor army proved a draw for photographers, presumably making a nice change from the inevitable requirement to bring the world more pictures of Nigel Farage. As for Starmer, he was somewhat busy over at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro telling Vladimir Putin to “get out of Ukraine”. That didn’t, however, save him from a raft of questions about what was happening back at home.
In numbers: Battle for Infowars
1
Single day that Infowars, the fake-news site run for decades by conspiracy theorist and hatemonger Alex Jones, was shut down for last week after it was announced that Global Tetrahedron, parent company of satirical site the Onion, won the auction to buy it out of bankruptcy.
$1.5 billion
The auction was part of the liquidation of Jones’s assets so he can pay almost this much in damages to the families of victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, which Jones lied about for years, claiming it was staged to increase gun control and that the families were actors complicit in a hoax.
$7 million
Value of the Onion’s bid for Infowars, largely due to the families agreeing to an arrangement that would enhance the deal for Jones’s other creditors. The other bidder, which offered more cash, is now contesting the result. Other bidder? That would be First United American Companies, a company affiliated to none other than Alex Jones.
Getting to know: Howard Lutnick
Who is the most famous Howard in the business world? Is it still Howard Hughes, the late aviator, film producer and all-round magnate? Is it Howard Schultz, the “coffee king” who transformed Starbucks? Or maybe it’s “uncle” Howard Prescott, the inept, philandering Pemrose Corporation president from the 1987 Michael J Fox classic The Secret of My Success?
Alas, right now and for at least some of the next four years, it’s destined to be Howard Lutnick, the billionaire founder of financial broker Cantor Fitzgerald and Donald Trump’s pick for US commerce secretary.
Lutnick, one of the president-elect’s most enthusiastic fundraisers, will soon be playing a central role in realising his vision of imposing sweeping tariffs on its trading partners. Among the many things he’s not a fan of is the presence of US pharma and other manufacturing giants in the State, declaring it “nonsense that Ireland of all places runs a trade surplus at our expense” and – in further proof that billionaires are not to be trusted – vowing to put a stop to it.
The list: Observer timeline
Journalists at Guardian Media Group this week voted to strike in December over the company’s planned sale of the Observer to Tortoise Media. The British newspaper has a long and proud history. Here are five key moments from it.
1. Bourne beginnings: First published in December 4th, 1791, the Observer – founded by WS Bourne – is the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. He thought it would make him a “rapid fortune”. Instead, he wound up in debt.
2. Beer era: One of its subsequent owners was businessman Julius Beer and later his son Frederick, whose wife Rachel Beer became the first woman to edit a British national newspaper in 1891. In a consummate spot of multitasking, she bought the Sunday Times two years later and edited both papers for a spell.
3. Trust transfer: In 1945, the Astor family transferred ownership of the Observer to a trust, meaning any profits had to be used to either expand its journalism or for charitable purposes. The influential David Astor edited the title for 27 years during this period.
4. Guardian empire: After stints under the ownership of two large non-media corporations between 1977 and 1993, the Guardian acquired the Observer in 1993, fending off interest from Sir Anthony O’Reilly’s Independent Newspapers.
5. Sale tensions: Guardian management contends that the financial and editorial independence protections of the Scott Trust, which has owned the Guardian since 1936, do not extend to the Observer, paving the way for Tortoise to sweep in – but not before journalists at both titles strike in defence of its heritage.
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