There was some speculation, when it emerged that Nigel Farage was heading to Threadneedle Street to see the Bank of England governor, that he was about to “do a Trump”.

You might recall, if you follow American politics, how the US president has been, for want of a better word, trolling the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, threatening to fire him if he didn’t cut interest rates. Might Mr Farage and Reform be about to do the same thing in the UK, raising deep (and, for economists, scary) questions about the independence of the central bank?

The short answer, as far as anyone can tell following today’s meeting, is: no. Instead, Mr Farage and his fellow Reform MP Richard Tice enjoyed a relatively cordial meeting with the governor, where they discussed the intricacies of quantitative easing, the Bank’s reserves policies and even cryptocurrency – a slightly unexpected addition to the agenda which might reflect the fact that Reform is hoping to raise lots of campaign funds from crypto dudes.

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The main Bank-related issue Reform has been campaigning on – Mr Tice in particular – comes back to something seemingly arcane but certainly important. As you may be aware, in recent years, the Bank of England has, alongside its interest rate policy, been engaged in something called quantitative easing (QE). QE is complex, but it boils down to this: in an effort to boost the economy, the Bank bought up a lot of government bonds and they now sit awkwardly in its balance sheet. In recent months, the Bank has begun to reverse QE (quantitative tightening) – selling off billions of pounds of bonds.

Anyway, reach deeper into the arcane mechanism of how QE works and something interesting leaps out. Two things, actually. First, as part of QE, in order to get hold of those government bonds, the Bank created “reserves” – sort of bank-account-at-the-Bank-of-England – for the high street banks from whom it bought them.

Tens of billions to high street banks

Those reserves earn interest at the Bank’s official interest rate. At the time of QE, the rate was near zero, so no one spent much time thinking about reserves. But since then, rates went up to 5.25%, and are now at 4%, and hence the Bank has recently been paying out a hefty amount – tens of billions of pounds – in interest to high street banks.

This, says Richard Tice, is an abomination. In the last Reform manifesto, he said the Bank should stop paying out those reserves. Which, on the face of it, sounds perfectly sensible. However, there are a few catches.

A big bank tax

The first is that while in theory it might help recoup billions of pounds of public money, that money has to come from somewhere, and in this case, it would come from high street banks. In other words, this is, in all but name, a very big bank tax. The Bank of England’s point, when asked about all this, is that if anyone is going to do something like that, it should really be the government, since it’s rightly in charge of taxing and spending.

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The other catch is that Bank of England reserves systems are desperately complex. Changing the way they’re structured is a delicate operation. Running a coach and horses through it, as Mr Tice is suggesting, could have all sorts of unintended consequences, including undermining confidence in UK economic policy.

This, by the way, is not the only thing Reform is unhappy about: they also think the Bank should slow down its quantitative tightening programme.

But the point of all the above is that while there are some big question marks about the particular idea Reform is proposing, the worst thing of all would be not to discuss this as publicly as possible.

The worst outcome of all would be for the government and Bank to take certain decisions which affect billions of pounds of public money with only the merest of scrutiny, save at the Treasury Select Committee, whose sessions rarely get much attention beyond the financial pages. And that is more or less the situation we’ve had for the past decade and a half.

The Bank of England has introduced one of the most radical monetary experiments in history, which may or may not have been a success or a failure, but few outside of the City are even aware of it. Mr Tice’s policy platform may be flawed, but his overarching point – that this stuff desperately needs more scrutiny – is quite right.

The Trump administration will work to prevent FIFA banning Israel from international football ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Sky News can reveal.

It comes as we have also learnt that European governing body UEFA is heading towards its own decision to suspend Israeli teams over the war in Gaza – with many FAs and members of the executive committee understood to favour that.

Israel’s next match is against Norway on 11 October in a men’s World Cup qualifier.

Football’s world and European governing bodies were urged this week by United Nations (UN) advisory experts to impose sporting sanctions.

FIFA has not responded to the UN special rapporteurs as Israel’s men continue trying to qualify for next year’s World Cup, which is largely being played in the United States.

And the US government, through Marco Rubio’s state department, has made a direct intervention to stop sporting sanctions being imposed.

A state department spokesperson told Sky News: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”

FIFA launched an investigation last year into allegations of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association against the Israeli FA.

There is also an investigation into whether teams from Israeli settlements in the West Bank playing in Israeli competitions breaches FIFA regulations.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has a close relationship with US President Donald Trump and is a regular visitor to the White House. He has been in New York this week, meeting world leaders around the UN General Assembly – while also at FIFA’s office in Trump Tower.

During a speech after collecting an Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award last night, Mr Infantino referenced the war while speaking on bringing people together in “a divided world, in an aggressive world”.

In an indirect reference to the challenge of sanctioning countries over wars, Mr Infantino said there are 80 countries where there are conflicts.

He added: “I suffer when I see children suffer. I cry when I see mothers crying, whether it’s in Gaza… anywhere in the world.”

Sky News revealed yesterday that discussions are taking place at high levels in European football about whether Israel should be banned but no decision has been taken.

Officials have been deliberating over why Russia remains banned over the war in Ukraine but Israel is clear to continue playing in European club competitions and on the international stage as the death toll mounts.

UEFA has previously publicly said there is a difference in how the wars started – with Russia launching an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Israel responding to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks.

But a UN commission of inquiry has now said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – accusations rejected by Israel.

That led to UN advisers calling for Israeli teams to be expelled from world football.

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“Sports cannot be business as usual and something has to change and Israel has to be excluded,” Alexandra Xanthaki, the UN special rapporteur for cultural rights, told Sky News.

“I think that when we talk about teams, national teams, not individual athletes, of states that are subject to valid claims of genocide… this is where this is for sure a red line.”

Among the athletes killed during the war is the footballer known as the Palestinian Pele – Suleiman al Obeid – who the Palestine FA announced in August died in an Israeli airstrike.

The Palestine Olympic Committee this week said the Israeli sports system has been an “active participant” in war.

“Over 1,000 athletes have had their lives extinguished. Thousands more are wounded, maimed or disabled,” said POC President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the FA.

“Our stadiums, our facilities, our dreams, all have been ground into dust.”

A suspension of Israeli teams would prevent Aston Villa having to go ahead with their match in the Europa League against Maccabi Tel Aviv in November.

FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.

Jessica Chastain has criticised Apple’s decision to delay the release of political thriller series The Savant after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

The actress, who is also executive producer of the show for the tech giant’s TV+ streaming service, said she was “not aligned on the decision to pause the release”.

In a post on Instagram, she said the programme, in which she plays a woman who tries to draw out potential terrorists online, is “so relevant” and she has never “shied away from difficult subjects”.

Chastain portrays a military veteran who works at the Anti-Hate Alliance, where she secretly visits 4Chan-like message boards and poses as a white nationalist to identify possible terrorists.

“‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honouring their courage feels more urgent than ever,” Chastain said.

“I remain hopeful the show will reach audiences soon. Until then, I’m wishing safety and strength for everyone.”

She listed several acts of political violence in the US in recent years, including a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer, the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump last year and also the killing of controversial influencer Kirk.

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Apple said it chose to postpone the show after “careful consideration” but did not give a reason why.

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Meanwhile, millions of people tuned in to watch Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after he returned to TV after Disney suspended him for nearly a week after he made comments about Kirk.

ABC said 6.26 million people watched Kimmel as he said it was “never my intention to make light of” Kirk’s death. It was the late-night show’s highest-rated regularly scheduled episode.

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“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said as he choked up.

“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make”.

Kimmel had been accused of being “offensive and insensitive” after using his programme, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of capitalising on the killing.