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Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, chaired a Cobra emergency committee meeting on the effects in Britain of Israel’s war against Hamas: his spokesman described videos and pictures on social media at the weekend as ‘extremely concerning’. A large pro-Palestine demonstration had again been held in London. Andy McDonald MP had the Labour whip suspended after using the phrase ‘between the river to the sea’ during the march. Paul Bristow MP was sacked as a Conservative parliamentary private secretary for calling for a ceasefire. A tornado tore the roof off a house in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Plans to close ticket offices at railway stations were cancelled. The government granted 27 licences for oil and gas exploration and development in the North Sea. The Prime Minister invited people from around the world to discuss the safety of artificial intelligence at Bletchley. Shares in NatWest (39 per cent owned by the public) fell sharply after it lowered profit expectations and admitted ‘serious failings’ in its treatment of Nigel Farage. Odey Asset Management announced its closure, five months after allegations of sexual misconduct against Crispin Odey. Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, is to perform on the GB News television channel.

The Covid Inquiry rummaged in the chaotic history of Downing Street during the pandemic. Ash Regan, an MSP who had stood for the leadership of the SNP, left and joined Alba. Masked men appeared in the public gallery of a Belfast court during a murder trial; Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said: ‘I simply can’t believe that happened.’ In the week ending 28 October, 488 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats. Duolingo said it would not update the Welsh language course on its app but redirect resources to more popular languages.

Abroad

The war by Israel against Hamas continued shockingly, with hundreds of air strikes a day on Gaza, partly targeting miles of Hamas tunnels, and heavy artillery bombardment followed by action on the ground. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said: ‘The battle within the Gaza Strip will be difficult and long; this is our second war of independence.’ Israel again called on people in northern Gaza to move south. The al-Quds hospital said it had received a message: ‘You must immediately run away from the combat zone in the hospital perimeter and surrounding shelters, to the humanitarian zone in the south.’ Thousands had gathered in and around the hospital. Israel said Hamas used civilians as human shields. Phones were cut off for more than a day. A strike on the Jabalia refugee camp, which is believed to have killed Ibrahim Biari, a senior Hamas commander, was reported to have killed 50 other people. In the General Assembly of the UN, 120 states voted for a resolution by Jordan calling for an immediate humanitarian truce. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that by the end of October more than 8,500 people had been killed since Israel responded to the Hamas invasion on 7 October, in which 1,400 people were killed and 230 people taken hostage. Israeli forces freed a hostage, Ori Megidish, a woman soldier. Foreign nationals waited to leave at the Rafah border crossing.

America carried out air strikes against two weapons storage facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel killed four members of the armed faction Islamic Jihad at Jenin in the West Bank and struck at Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. An angry mob stormed the airport at Makhachkala, Dagestan, in Russia, hunting Jews who had arrived on a flight from Tel Aviv. At least 32 people were killed when a bus and several cars crashed and caught fire between Cairo and Alexandria. India published figures showing 168,491 were killed in accidents on its roads last year. A winding-up hearing for Evergrande, the Chinese property company with liabilities of £268.4 billion, was adjourned to 4 December.

Mike Pence, the former US vice president, withdrew from the 2024 presidential race; by September he had campaign debts of $621,000 and $1.2 million in the bank. Mike Johnson, the Republican Congressman for north-west and west Louisiana, was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, 22 days after Kevin McCarthy was voted out of office. A man of 40 called Robert Card shot himself dead after shooting dead 18 people at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine. There was widespread looting after a hurricane hit Acapulco.             CSH