A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.
Leading the week
Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives left their opposition counterparts with a hard act to follow after committing several acts of actual news at a party conference, notably by scrapping the northern leg of the HS2 project (albeit several days after the decision was first reported). The Tories were in full policy wheel of fortune mode in Manchester, announcing plans to ban mobile phones in schools, end cigarette sales to those born after 2009, and ban trans patients from single-sex wards in England, so the response from Keir Starmer and co. at Labour’s conference next week will be keenly anticipated. Deputy leader Angela Rayner opens proceedings with a speech on Sunday, where she may touch again on member-friendly issues such as a proposed ban on zero-hours contracts and rent reforms.
The action continues when Rachel Reeves takes to the stage on Monday (October 9) for a speech that will be closely-watched in the business world and beyond after the Shadow Chancellor’s months of legwork in trying to persuade firms that Labour is ready to take on the ‘party of business’ mantle. But the main event comes on Tuesday (October 10), when Keir Starmer makes what is likely to be his highest-profile pitch for the big job before the election campaign proper begins. Does he continue to play it safe, or will this finally be the Labour leader’s time to step outside his comfort zone? Sir Keir will arrive in Liverpool in confident mood after a handily-timed by-election win in Scotland yesterday, and with the path to Number 10 now illuminated by the possibility of a resurgence north of the border this may be Starmer’s best chance to go bold and lay down an early general election marker.
The latest chapter in the Government’s attempts to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is heard at the Supreme Court on Monday (October 9), following a defeat at the High Court, where then-Lord Chief Justice Baron Burnett ruled the scheme to be unlawful. The Conservative Party is under a huge amount of pressure to get the verdict overturned, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made ‘stopping the boats’ one of his five pledges in the run up to the general election.
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The Rwanda deportations, which the Tories believe will act as a deterrent to small boat crossings, are a key element of the plan, so defeat in the Supreme Court could lead to another rethink on strategy. Critics of the policy, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, have described it as ‘immoral’, ‘expensive’, and ‘unworkable’. After the three day-hearing, ending on Wednesday (October 11), Supreme Court judges will contemplate evidence and make a judgment at a later date.
Arguably the most controversial drama of the year, The Reckoning, begins on BBC 1 on Monday (October 9). The docudrama focuses on Jimmy Savile’s rise to fame, starring Steve Coogan as the disgraced presenter. Cutting between drama and testimonies from victims, the show explores Savile’s actions, and the way he manipulated hospitals, charities, prisons, and the BBC to facilitate decades of abuse. An investigation into Savile after he died in 2011 found he had committed 126 indecent acts, including 34 counts of rape.
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Since the programme was announced, complaints have flooded in about its nature and whether it should have been made at all, as well as about its timeslot, which has seen it pitted against ITV’s drama about the Yorkshire Ripper. The drama was first announced in 2020 but faced multiple delays after filming wrapped up in early 2022. While the BBC had been non-committal on a release date, speculation on the lengthy post-production process has ranged from rewrites to include more testimonies from victims to a delay following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles, given Savile’s well-known link to the royals.
Looking abroad
Following House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s dramatic ousting on Tuesday, the race to succeed him is set to dominate US news next week. While potential, albeit longshot, successors include Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, or even former President Donald Trump, House Republicans are more likely to try to seek consensus around one of their own, with Reps. Steve Scalise, Tom Emmer, Kevin Hern, Elise Stefanik and Jim Jordan among names floated as potential candidates. Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry told colleagues on Tuesday that he planned to organise a candidates’ forum on Tuesday (October 10) before holding a vote among members of the conference on Wednesday (October 11).
After NASA successfully recovered a capsule containing samples from the Bennu asteroid last month, the space agency is holding a highly-anticipated press conference on Wednesday (October 11) to announce the results of an initial analysis of the sample dropped off by the OSIRIS-REx mission. The rocks from Bennu are thought to date back some 4.5 billion years, and may contain clues regarding the origins of life on Earth. They may also help preparations for a potential mission to avert the possibility of Bennu colliding with Earth in 2128.
Australia holds a contentious referendum on Saturday (October 14) on whether to change the country’s constitution to create a permanent advisory body called the Voice to Parliament to advise on matters impacting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While the proposals have the backing of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government and appeared popular at the start of the campaign, more recent polling suggests voters could ultimately end up rejecting it, particularly since majority support is required in at least four of Australia’s six states in addition to an overall majority. The referendum coincides with a general election in neighbouring New Zealand on Saturday, where Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins faces an uphill battle against the conservative National Party, led by Christopher Luxon.
Voters also go to the polls in Poland on Sunday (October 15), where former European Council president Donald Tusk and his Civic Coalition are hoping to break the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party’s grip on power and restore a more positive relationship with the European Union. Relations have soured with Brussels over the eight years since the PiS gained power amid a series of alleged rule of law breaches under the populist government and, more recently, a dispute over Ukrainian grain exports.
Also look out for:
October 9
- Public hearings begin in Independent Inquiry on Afghanistan
- Ukraine discussed at UN Human Rights Council
- Macron and Schulz co-chair Franco-German Council of Ministers
- Nagorno-Karabakh discussed at PACE autumn session
- Nobel economics prize awarded
- Members’ voting period ends for WGA deal while SAG-AFTRA talks continue
- IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meetings begin
October 10
- IMF publishes World Economic Outlook
- Hosts announced for EURO 2028 & 2032
- Sir Ian Diamond gives evidence at Covid-19 inquiry
- Court hearing for WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich
- International reconstruction conference for Derna (Libya)
- Liberia general election
- Taiwanese President delivers National (Double Ten) Day speech
- Amazon ‘Prime Big Deal Day’
October 11
- NATO Defence Ministers meet
- National Black Police Association Conference
- Vladimir Putin expected to address Russian Energy Week
- Greta Thunberg on trial in Sweden over Malmo protest
- Court hearing for Russian activist Oleg Orlov
- G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting
- Birkenstock shares expected to begin trading
October 12
- UK GDP monthly estimate
- NASA Psyche mission launch
- Parliamentary elections in Gibraltar
- IMF Managing Director press briefing on global policy agenda
- OEUK Decarbonisation Conference
- Scotland play EURO 2024 qualifier
October 13
- Andrew Bailey participates in IIF Annual Membership Meeting
- DUP annual conference begins
- Court hearing in case of ‘Russian spies’ arrested in London
- Court hearing for escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife
- Statutory Homelessness Statistics (2022/23)
- Nationwide protests in France
- Kyrgyzstan hosts CIS Summit
- Premiership Rugby season begins
- Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour film release
October 14
- IMF International Monetary and Financial Committee meeting
- Super League Grand Final
- Northern Ireland play EURO 2024 qualifier
- Madonna begins rescheduled Celebration Tour with London gigs
- Annular solar eclipse
October 15
- SNP Autumn Conference begins
- Presidential runoff election in Ecuador
- Israeli parliament returns from summer recess
- NFL London fixture: Tennessee Titans v Buffalo Bills
- Wales play EURO 2024 qualifier
Statistics, reports and results
October 9
- IHS/Markit REC Report on Jobs
- OECD review of farming and food in the European Union
October 10
- IMF Global Financial Stability Report
- Bank of England publishes Systemic Risk Survey and FPC record
- IEA Medium-Term Gas Market report
- BRC Retail Sales Monitor
- Forbes World’s Best Employers
- Results from: PepsiCo
October 11
- IMF Fiscal Monitor launch
October 12
- OEUK Emissions 2023 report
- WMO report on global water resources
- NHS key services performance data
- UK Indices of Production and Services
- UK trade statistics
- OECD harmonised unemployment rates
- IEA and OPEC monthly oil market reports
- US consumer price index
- Results from: Walgreens Boots Alliance, Fast Retailing, Hays plc
October 13
- Monthly NOAA Global Climate Report
- China consumer price index
- EU industrial production figures
- Results from: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, UnitedHealth Group
Anniversaries and awareness days
October 9
- Columbus Day (US)
- Indigenous Peoples’ Day (US)
- Thanksgiving Day (Canada)
- Hospice Care Week (to October 15)
- Baby Loss Awareness Week (to October 15)
- European Local Democracy Week (to October 15)
October 10
- Fat Bear Tuesday
- Ada Lovelace Day
- World Mental Health Day
- World Day Against the Death Penalty
- World Homeless Day
- North Korea Party Foundation Day
- One month ago: Storm Daniel hit Libya
October 11
- National Coming Out Day
- International Day of the Girl Child
October 12
- Spain National Day
- Día de la Raza
- World Arthritis Day
- World Sight Day
- Harry Potter Book Day
- London Cocktail Week (to October 22)
October 13
- International Day for Disaster Reduction
- World Thrombosis Day
- Secondary Breast Cancer Awareness Day
- No Bra Day
October 14
- National Album Day
- National Bookshop Day
- World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
- World Migratory Bird Day
- National Dessert Day
- National Hate Crime Awareness Week (to October 21)
- 100 years ago: largest Irish hunger strike
October 15
- Global Handwashing Day
- International Infection Prevention Week (to October 21)
- Six months ago: fighting broke out in Sudan
The news diary is provided in association with Foresight News.
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