Portrait of the week: Eggs rationed, hosepipe ban lifted and Supreme Court rejects Scotland’s referendum bid

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The Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish government does not have the power to hold an independence referendum without the UK government’s consent. A meeting of NHS Scotland heard that ‘unscheduled care is going to fall over in the near term before planned care falls over’. One proposal was for rich people to pay; Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, repudiated the idea. Labour said that it would abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a ‘new, reformed upper chamber’. The Manston migrant processing centre, crowded during the summer with thousands who arrived in England on small boats, was cleared of people. The RMT union announced more rail strikes on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December and 3, 4, 6 and 7 January. After widespread flooding a hosepipe ban imposed in August was lifted for 15 million Thames Water customers. Supermarkets rationed eggs.

The Office for Budget Responsibility expected a 7.1 per cent fall in household income in the years 2022-24 in the wake of the autumn statement. The OBR predicted growth for 2022 to be 4.2 per cent; a decline in 2023 of 1.4 per cent; then growth of 1.3, 2.6 and 2.7 per cent in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The tax burden became the highest since 1948. Income tax personal allowances and the higher rate threshold would be frozen until April 2028. Energy charges would be allowed to rise more, with typical bills capped from April at £3,000 a year instead of £2,500. A windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies would rise from 25 per cent to 35 per cent and be extended until 2028. The state pension triple lock was retained, meaning a 10.1 per cent rise. Council tax would be allowed to rise by 5 per cent, up from 3 per cent.

A cap to limit lifetime care costs for people in England to £86,000 was postponed until 2025. The minimum wage for those aged over 23 would go up from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour from April. Electric cars would pay road taxes from April 2025. The HS2 railway would continue to be built. Sizewell C nuclear power station would go ahead and Suffolk would get an elected mayor. Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly left Manchester United. The Glazer family said they were considering selling the club.

Abroad

Renewed Russian missile attacks damaged Ukraine’s electricity supply network. Maxim Timchenko, the chief executive of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy company, advised people to leave the country: ‘If they can find an alternative place to stay for another three or four months, it will be very helpful to the system.’ The first train from Kyiv arrived at Kherson since the city was occupied by Russia in March. Terrible reports emerged of torture during the occupation of Kherson. Rishi Sunak visited President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and promised another £50 million in defence aid; three Sea King helicopters were to be sent. Ukraine launched an operation to secure the Kinburn peninsula on the south side of the Dnieper estuary.

Turkey launched air raids on Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria. A Dutch court convicted in absentia three men from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic of shooting down in 2014 a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine with 298 people on board, using a Russian missile. At an intercontinental ballistic missile test, the ruler of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, appeared hand in hand with his daughter in public, confirming reports of her existence.

The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, agreed to set up a global fund for ‘loss and damage’, to help poor nations affected by climate change, but committed no money to it. Two days before the World Cup began, Qatar banned the sale of alcohol at stadiums; Fifa insisted this was a joint decision. England players decided not to wear a One Love armband; Iranian players did not sing their national anthem. Protestors in Iran set fire to the house in Khomein where Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, was born. A man opened fire inside the Club Q in Colorado Springs, killing five people and wounding 18. Seven people were killed in a shooting at a Walmart supermarket in Chesapeake, Virginia. Nancy Pelosi, 82, is to stand down as the leader of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives, which will be controlled by the Republicans. Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said that Donald Trump’s account had been reinstated.