In today's press tour, we read calls for imposing additional taxes on the wealthy to ease the burden on the middle classes, and criticism of the language the White House uses toward people with disabilities, while the final article addresses the phenomenon of readers turning to books they already expect they will not like.
We start with the British newspaper Mirror, and a report by journalist Ashley Cowburn entitled “Impose taxes on the rich, or you will regret it,” which deals with the pressures facing the British government to increase taxes on the wealthy, in light of the rising costs of living, and ahead of the announcement of the general budget next week.
The newspaper reports a warning from the Secretary General of the Unison union, Andrea Egan, to Treasury Secretary John Healey, that not imposing additional taxes on the wealthy would be a “big mistake,” considering that the government cannot place additional financial burdens on workers.
Egan says that the message sent by the unions to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and the Treasury Secretary is clear, which is the need to impose taxes on those who can pay them, including wealthy people, banks and capital gains, instead of deducting more money from workers’ incomes.
Egan cites a poll conducted by YouGov, which showed that about 69 percent of participants supported increasing taxes on the wealthiest to fund public services.
The newspaper notes that the Treasury Ministry is reportedly preparing to increase tax fees on large profits made by banks, while raising the capital gains tax appears to have been excluded from the budget, amid warnings that increasing taxes on wealth may push the wealthy to leave the country.
The report addresses the rise in energy bills in Britain, as the Prime Minister asked to study the possibility of canceling the fixed daily fees imposed on gas bills, in an attempt to ease the burden on families affected by the rise in prices, in light of the repercussions of the war in Iran and the conflict in Ukraine.
The newspaper explains that these fees are imposed even on days when the consumer does not use energy, and amount to an average of about 108 pounds sterling annually for gas, and about 200 pounds for electricity, for families who pay their bills via direct debit from bank accounts.
According to the report, the average annual household energy bill rose from 1,663 to 1,723 pounds in early October, after the price ceiling was increased by four percent, in light of warnings that bills may rise by about an additional 300 pounds during the winter.
The newspaper notes that the government has temporarily canceled the value-added tax on electricity bills until the end of next March, while keeping it on gas, while the Treasury Minister hinted that the budget will include temporary support measures targeting the poorest families, instead of providing comprehensive support to all families.
“The White House has a problem with people with disabilities like me.”
We turn to the British newspaper The Independent, and an article by writer James Moore entitled “The White House Has a Problem with People with Disabilities Like Me,” in which he criticizes US President Donald Trump and his administration’s use of offensive phrases toward people with disabilities while attacking journalists, warning of the impact of this language on society’s view of people with disabilities.
Moore says that Trump's outbursts of anger and insulting statements have become so common that many people no longer care about them, which, according to the writer, pushes him to continue his behavior, citing a recent confrontation between the president and The Independent's White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg.
During a press conference in the Oval Office, Trump told Feinberg: "I don't know who the hell you are, but you better be careful," before asking him: "What's wrong with you? Are you a sick person?" Then he added: "I think there's something wrong with you."
But the writer believes that what happened later was more offensive, as Vice President J.D. Vance described the journalist as an “idiot,” while an account used by White House employees on the
Moore dwells on the origin of this description, explaining that it goes back to classifications developed by British physician John Langdon Down in the nineteenth century, when he used a term based on racial classifications to describe people with what is known today as Down Syndrome, before the term became rejected due to its discriminatory connotations.
The writer points out that this is not the first time that Trump has used behavior that he considers offensive to people with disabilities, recalling an incident in 2015 when the president, during an election rally, imitated the movements of former New York Times journalist Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a physical disability.
Moore talks about his personal experience, explaining that he lived with type 1 diabetes, before he was exposed to a traffic accident that led to injuries that forced him to use a wheelchair.
He believes that the problem is not limited to the insults launched by Trump, but rather extends to their effect on others, as it may encourage some people to direct similar insults to people with disabilities in public places.
The writer adds that Trump, in his opinion, does not contribute to building society, but rather undermines standards of respect and public behavior, considering that the impact of the president’s speech extends beyond the borders of the United States to the world.
He expresses his hope that people will reject politicians who use disability as a way to mock or belittle others.
"Hate reading"
To the American newspaper The Washington Post, and an article by writer Jenny Singer, in which she deals with a phenomenon known as “hate reading,” which is the tendency of some readers to novels and memoirs that they expect in advance that they will not like, not out of a desire to enjoy them, but rather to criticize them or participate in the discussions that they raise.
The author begins her article by returning to the British writer Virginia Woolf, who described the novel “Ulysses” by James Joyce as “nonsense” after reading two hundred pages of it. Singer believes that what Woolf did more than a century ago has become a more widespread phenomenon today, driven by social media.
She explains that users on platforms such as TikTok, Goodreads, and SpaceStack exchange nominations for books they expect to dislike, and publish sarcastic or critical reviews about them.
She quotes writer Malavika Kannan as saying that there is pleasure and a sense of catharsis in experiencing strong feelings while reading, even when the feeling is anger.
The newspaper reviews the experience of an American librarian who founded a reading club whose members choose books they expect to hate, and then discuss the reasons for that. The organization says that the experience is useful in both cases. Either the reader confirms that his first impression was correct, or he discovers that he was wrong and approaches something new.
Singer points out that a number of recent novels and memoirs, most of which were written by women, have sparked sharp reactions among readers, to the point that some critics have described them as “anger-inducing literature,” referring to works that seem to benefit from provoking controversy and provoking the public.
Singer points out that hate reading may have unexpected benefits, as it helps readers develop critical thinking skills, understand the reasons for their rejection of a particular literary work, and perhaps discover positive aspects in books they did not expect to enjoy.
