Steerpike

Happy prisoner release day, one and all! Today's move to let out the lags is all part of the Ministry of Justice's efforts to ease the pressures on Britain's overburdened prisons. To mark this auspicious occasion, hacks across the country have descended on various prisons to interview inmates being released to the outside world. And after doing time at His Majesty's pleasure, the hardened 'crims certainly seem to have a way with words... Quote of the day surely has to go to the Daily Mail for this dispatch from HMP Isis, a Category C young offenders institution in Thamesmead. The paper writes evocatively that 'as the sun rose in London today' the first inmates to be released were 'greeted by family members'.

It's less than 60 days to go until polling day in America and the race could not be closer. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are due to debate on Tuesday night in what could be one of the most consequential clashes of modern times. So, with all eyes on the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia, who better to ask about Trump's mindset than the Brit who knows him best? Step forward Piers Morgan, who appears on today's Americano podcast with Andrew Neil and Freddy Gray. After the shocking assassination attempt in July, Gray asked, has The Donald now softened and changed?

Labour have been encouraging plenty of controversy recently with the growing allegations of cronyism surrounding recent civil service and public appointments. Today, however, it’s a resignation that’s bringing yet more heat upon the flailing government. Northern Ireland’s Veterans Commissioner, Danny Kinahan, appointed in 2020 to champion the cause of 60,000 veterans yesterday left his position after an 'open and frank' conversation with Hilary Benn. In his resignation letter, he blasted the government for their approach, declaring that: 'I cannot provide the independent voice that veterans require. There is a feeling among some veterans in Northern Ireland that they have been forgotten and… do not enjoy the same protections as their counterparts in Great Britain'.

Over to the Mayor of London and his minions. While the Prime Minister has been busy giving pay rises to train drivers, it seems London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan continues to employ Amy Lamé as his night czar on, er, £132,846 per annum – after already receiving, as Mr S revealed, a 40 per cent pay hike. Good heavens... However it appears Lamé hasn’t being doing much work for that payout. Following six weeks of 'unplanned sick leave' – during which London's night czar curiously still managed to host her BBC radio programme – Lamé then proceeded to take yet more time off work for a holiday in August, leaving the Beeb's Emily Pilbeam to fill in for two weeks.

To Scotland, where the SNP's newest health secretary has found himself in a rather large, Oasis-sized mess. At the weekend, Neil Gray was called out by the Sunday Mail for taking his eye off his day job and attempting to buy tickets to see the newly-reformed band during a conference event on Alzheimer's disease. Mr S is rather unsurprised to learn Gray knows a thing or two about the Importance of Being Idle... The initial story reported how, after Glasgow University's Terry Quinn had finished a heartfelt speech on dementia, Scotland's health secretary looked up from his phone to confess: 'I'm in the queue to buy Oasis tickets on multiple devices. Hope is very important... that I get these tickets.

Taylor Swift's 'Eras' tour took the country by storm and it seems Swiftmania has also taken a firm hold of UK politicians. So much so that, barely a day into the return of parliament from recess, an early day motion was tabled to, er, hail the impact of 'Swiftonomics' in Britain. Crikey. You couldn't make it up... The rather curious entry on the parliament website came to Mr S's attention after new Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon took it upon himself to heap praise on the 'economic impact of Taylor Swift's Eras tour'. The secret Swiftie has lauded the 'estimated boost of nearly £1bn' to the UK economy, gushing that: The concept of Swiftonomics [is] a demonstration of how cultural events can drive significant economic activity across multiple sectors...

It's the first day back in parliament after recess and already Labour splits are starting to emerge. Now it transpires that the party's MP for Poole, Neil Duncan-Jordan, has tabled an early day motion to delay the changes to the winter fuel allowance – which his government controversially plans to means test. In order to plug the £22bn blackhole in the UK's finances, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that 'incredibly tough choices' will have to be made – yet the prospect of 10 million pensioners missing out on the winter payment has ruffled feathers, given Sir Keir's lefty lot curiously managed to find enough cash to fund public sector pay rises...