Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
Watch PMQs with British Sign Language (BSL) –
Prime Minister’s Question Time, also referred to as PMQs, takes place every Wednesday the House of Commons sits. It gives MPs the chance to put questions to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, or a nominated minister.
In most cases, the session starts with a routine ‘open question’ from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements. MPs can then ask supplementary questions on any subject, often one of current political significance.
The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, asks six questions and the leader of the second largest opposition party asks two. If another minister takes the place of the Prime Minister, opposition parties will usually nominate a shadow minister to ask the questions.
Want to find out more about what’s happening in the House of Commons this week? Follow the House of Commons on:
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
Prime Minister’s Question Time, also referred to as PMQs, takes place every Wednesday the House of Commons sits. It gives MPs the chance to put questions to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, or a nominated minister.
In most cases, the session starts with a routine ‘open question’ from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements. MPs can then ask supplementary questions on any subject, often one of current political significance.
The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, asks six questions and the leader of the second largest opposition party asks two. If another minister takes the place of the Prime Minister, opposition parties will usually nominate a shadow minister to ask the questions.
Want to find out more about what’s happening in the House of Commons this week? Follow the House of Commons on:
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The Home Affairs Committee question witnesses for their inquiry, Harnessing the potential of new digital forms of identification.
Witnesses:
Alex Hall-Chen – Principal Policy Advisor, Sustainability, Skills, and Employment at Institute of Directors
David Crack – Chair at The Association of Digital Verification Professionals
Joanna Hunt – Partner, Head of Immigration at DAC Beachcroft
Dr Kuba Jablonowski – Lecturer at University of Bristol
Monique Hawkins – Head of Policy and Advocacy at the3million
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
Representatives of major supermarkets give oral evidence in front of the Health and Social Care Committee as part of the Committee’s inquiry into food and weight management.
Witnesses:
Nilani Sritharan – Head of Healthy and Sustainable Diets at Sainsbury’s
Beth Fowler – Senior Manager Healthy and Sustainable Choice at Asda
Oonagh Turnball – Head of Health and Sustainable Diets Campaigns at Tesco
Liz Fox – National Sustainability Director at aldi
Food is one expense we simply can’t go without – we all need to eat, after all! But you may have noticed that your morning eggs, lunchtime sandwich, or favourite late-night snack is costing more than it used to.
How have food prices changed over the past year? What’s driving the price increases? And what’s in store for our grocery bills in 2026?
Our host Stefania Secola speaks to economists Elisabeth Wieland and Zivile Zekaite to answer these questions.
The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank.
Recorded on 20 January 2026 and published on 26 January 2026.
In this episode:
02:23 Is food really getting more expensive?
How do we track changes in food prices? How did food inflation develop in 2025? And what role does media coverage play?
05:39 Which foods are especially affected?
Some prices are up, others are down. Why have items like coffee, cocoa and meat been hit the hardest?
08:26 Have some products also become cheaper?
While meat and sweet treats have become more expensive, items like vegetables and butter have become cheaper. The overall food basket tells an interesting story and is influenced by its different components.
09:13 What’s driving price increases for certain products?
Raw material costs, climate change, and supply and demand factors all affect food prices. Rising wages and energy costs also play a role.
12:35 Why do food prices matter so much?
Food is a big part of our budget and cannot be replaced by other items. Also, since we go to the supermarket often, food prices play a big role in shaping our inflation expectations.
19:10 What can we do about rising food prices?
Temporary vs structural changes – how do they differ? And what’s the ECB’s role when it comes to inflation and food prices?
20:52 What’s in store for our grocery bills in 2026?
Good news: food inflation is set to ease in the coming year. So, what does this mean for your wallet?
22:06 Our guests’ hot tips
Elisabeth and Zivile share their hot tips.
Further reading:
Inside the food basket: what is behind recent food inflation? (Economic Bulletin Issue 8, 2025)
Addressing the annual Holocaust memorial event in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, Secretary-General António Guterres today (27 Jan) grieved for the “six million Jews murdered just because they were Jewish,” and said, “the Holocaust is not only history. It is a warning. A warning that hatred, once unleashed, can consume everything.”
Guterres said, that warning feels “more urgent than ever” as “antisemitism around the world is raging” and “Jewish communities live in fear.”
The Secretary-General said, “this dark chapter of our common history reveals sobering truths. When those with power fail to act, evil goes unpunished. When the past is distorted, denied and weaponized, hatred and prejudice fester. When words become weapons, lies, conspiracies, the casual joke and the coded slur can grow until the unthinkable becomes policy and violence.”
He said, “let us together pledge to stand against antisemitism and all forms of hatred — and against bigotry, racism and discrimination anywhere and everywhere.”
The President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock, for her part said, “questioning the rights of some, simply for who they are, where they come from, or what colour their skin is all has the same end: dehumanization, which eventually spreads to all.”
Baerbock, who is a former German foreign minister, quoted German pastor Martin Niemöller and said, “when they came for the Jews, I did not speak up, I wasn’t a Jew. When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak up. I was a Protestant. When they came for me, no one was left to speak up.”
She said, “Never Again is not a slogan. It is a duty, a duty to speak up and to stand up, to defend the dignity and human rights—not of some—but of every member of our human family, everywhere, every day.”
In his address to the gathering, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said, “unlike1941, today there is a different reality. We crashed and stopped Hamas’s terror machine. We brought home. We brought home every hostage, every single one of them.”
Removing a pin from his lapel, Danon said, “we waited 843 days. Today the pain finally comes off.”
Evelyn Konrad, one of five Holocaust survivors who addressed today’s memorial, recounted the day her family was able to leave Hungary.
She said, “in May 1939 we got the French visas. After my mother and I boarded the train in Budapest, I never saw my Hungarian family again. On the train, I was so excited because I’d soon see my beloved grandmother, my Omutti again. I also looked forward to walking on the familiar streets of Vienna. But outside the train station, Vienna looked grey, glum. As we crossed the bridge into Leopoldstadt, I heard the thunder of jackboots marching toward us from the Prater. I saw very few people on the Praterstrasse. Those I saw were hurrying, staying close to the walls of the old buildings. We crossed from the trolley to Omutti’s building. Two large women in dirndls approached us. Where they should have had sprigs of Alpine roses or flowers pinned to their dirndls, each one had a huge Hackenkreuz, swastikas. They marched toward us as if we were not there. It happened so fast: they pushed my beautiful, slender mother off the sidewalk into the street. I ended up with one foot on the sidewalk, one foot on the street. My mother held my hand tight. I tried to break my mother’s grip. I wanted to run after those two big women. They didn’t even look back. I wanted to bite them, to kick them, to scratch them. My mother dug her nails into my arm. Suddenly, I was afraid.”
A UNESCO study published today indicates that over 77 percent of teachers in the European Union had encountered at least one incident of antisemitism between students at least once or twice. Over a quarter of teachers had witnessed nine or more of these incidents. Overall, on average, teachers had encountered five or six antisemitic incidents between students at their school.
Secretary General full remarks: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statements/2026-01-27/secretary-generals-message-the-international-day-of-commemoration-memory-of-the-victims-of-the-holocaust
This morning, the Secretary-General attended the annual ceremony in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. In remarks delivered he said that he grieved for the Jews, the Roma and Sinti, the people with disabilities, LGBTQI+people, and so many more who were enslaved, persecuted, tortured, and killed.
He said that the Holocaust is not only history. It is a warning. A warning that hatred, once unleashed, can consume everything.
Today, Mr. Guterres said, that warning feels much more urgent than ever. Antisemitism around the world is raging. Jewish communities live in fear. Synagogues attacked. Families shattered. Vile antisemitic hatred racing across cyberspace.
He recalled that the Holocaust did not begin with killing. It began with words. Its architects telegraphed their evil intentions.
The Secretary-General said that they deliberately spread a hateful, supremacist ideology that preyed on fear and economic despair.
He urged all to act against such hatred, saying that when those with power fail to act, evil goes unpunished. When the past is distorted, denied and weaponized, hatred and prejudice fester.
The Secretary-General said that it is also our duty to keep alive the spirit of acting in common purpose, through multilateralism, to ensure that the forces of humanity always triumph over the forces of inhumanity.
ANTISEMITISM
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), today published a study which collects data from 2,030 educators across the European Union, seeking to examine their knowledge and understanding of what antisemitism refers to and explore their preparedness to address antisemitism when they encounter it. Worryingly, just over three-quarters of the teachers, that is more than 77 per cent, had encountered at least one incident of antisemitism between students at least once or twice.
Over a quarter of teachers had witnessed nine or more of these incidents. Overall, on average, teachers had encountered five or six antisemitic incidents between students at their school.
The report adds that the most prevalent challenges that teachers encountered were students demonstrating antisemitic attitudes, tropes and conspiracy theories read on the internet or in the media, and that being exposed to this sort of content in the family environment.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-01-27
