‘The least bad option’: Why concerned mum may quit UK and head to Trump’s America

Published

7 months ago

November 16, 2024

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Following the US election result, internet searches for how to move away from soon-to-be president Donald Trump’s America have spiked.

From Australia to Canada, voters concerned about some of his more divisive policies appear to be putting some genuine thought into finding a new home.

Politics latest: PM announces ‘eye-watering’ climate target

But back in the UK, there’s one concerned mother who thinks heading back to the States might be the best option for her children.

Liana Fricker, who lives in Surrey, having moved from California more than 20 years ago, has two sons who are diagnosed with ADHD.

Aged 14 and 10, they attend a private school – one “very good” at working with young people with the condition.

But with fees set to climb 15.4% in January when the government scraps the VAT exemption on private schools, she claims she’ll soon be “priced out”.

Liana says she’s been left with no option but to withdraw at least one of her sons from the school. It means sending him to a state school or heading back to the US, where she believes her family would have more choice.

“It’s ironic,” she says. “Because, yes, even with Donald Trump, I have to consider what’s the least bad option.”

In the US, she says the concept of government policy dictating her school choice is an alien one. Instead, there’s an idea “everyone is free to do what they want to do within the law and the Constitution”.

“If you send your children to private school, you get a tax rebate as a thank you for paying tax and not using the service.”

Liana is clear there are “great” state schools in her local area, but the trouble would be making sure her sons were accepted to one – ideally together.

Her 14-year-old is already studying for his GCSEs, and she’s concerned his education could be disrupted. He could have to study entirely new subjects if the same options aren’t offered.

He stands to be one of the thousands of private school pupils who critics fear may be displaced by the government’s policy.

Labour claim the change will fund around 6,500 new teachers in state schools, and the Treasury says it does “not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the number of pupils attending private schools overall”.

But Liana says it will make “everything a lot harder”.

“I think the long-term viability of private education goes out the window,” she says, as parents mull just how long they can afford to keep up with the fees.

And it’s not just private school pupils who stand to feel the impact.

She’s worried children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) – like her sons’ ADHD – who are “priced out of private school” will now “have to go overstretch the resources in the other schools”.

“If I was a parent in a state school, I would be raging because that’s what’s going to happen.”

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Children with SEN are only exempt from VAT on private school fees if they have a local authority funded Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which places them in a particular school.

It does not account for children whose parents decide to enrol them in private schools due to their needs.

This is the case for Liana, who chose a particular school to suit her children.

“It’s not so much how the private school system helps you – it’s because it gives you choice,” she says.

Liana wants a “fair, impartial, transparent impact assessment across the country”, making sure ministers understand what the policy means for pupils and schools alike.

The government said an impact assessment has taken place, published with the budget at the end of October. It’s been accused of “rushing” the policy through, given the budget came just two months before it comes into effect.

But a source stressed the impact assessment used analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which they consider fair, impartial, and transparent.

A government spokesperson added: “We want to ensure all children have the best chance in life to succeed. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue needed to break down the barriers of opportunity for children and young people across the country.

“We do not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the number of pupils attending private schools overall. The number of pupils in private schools has remained steady since 2000, despite around a 75% real term increase in private school fees since that time.”

For Liana’s children, that “best chance in life” may now be across the Atlantic.

US

Iran confirms it has agreed to ceasefire with Israel – as Trump declares it will begin within hours

Published

6 hours ago

June 23, 2025

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Iran confirms it has agreed to ceasefire with Israel - as Trump declares it will begin within hours

A “complete and total ceasefire” has been agreed between Israel and Iran, according to Donald Trump.

The US president made the announcement on Truth Social – hours after Tehran launched a missile strike on a US army base in Qatar.

In a post shared at just after 11pm UK time, Mr Trump said the first stage of the ceasefire would begin six hours later.

Follow the latest developments in our live blog

This means both countries could still launch strikes in the meantime – and soon after, Israel announced evacuation orders for two areas in Tehran.

A senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Tehran has agreed to the ceasefire after being persuaded by Qatar.

Mr Trump wrote: “Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World.

“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR.’

“This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!”

In an interview with Sky News’ partner network NBC, the president said it was a “great day” for the US and the Middle East – and a “wonderful day” for the world.

“I’m very happy to have been able to get the job done. A lot of people were dying and it was only going to get worse. It would have brought the whole Middle East down,” he said.

Mr Trump said he thinks the ceasefire is “unlimited” and is “going to go forever” – adding: “I don’t believe they will ever be shooting at each other again.”

Just hours earlier, people in the Qatari capital Doha had stopped and gazed up at the sky as Iranian missiles flew to the American al Udeid base and interceptors fired.

Officials said there were no casualties, and the US later confirmed it had been warned about the attack by Iran.

Mr Trump was in the Situation Room in the White House as the strikes took place.

He later claimed on his social network that the missiles were a “very weak response”, which the US “expected” and “very effectively countered”.

The Iranian attack came after the US dropped “bunker buster bombs” on three key nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend.

In a new interview on Fox News, US Vice President JD Vance claimed Iran is no longer able to build nuclear weapons after the American attacks.

“Iran was very close to having a nuclear weapon,” he said. “Now Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have because we destroyed it.”

US

Regime change: Is Trump about to ‘Make Iran Great Again’?

Published

20 hours ago

June 23, 2025

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Regime change: Is Trump about to 'Make Iran Great Again'?

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The US bombs Iran. Three nuclear sites heavily hit. Cue condemnation from Iran – and promises of retribution.

As the Iranian foreign minister heads to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin and discuss what to do next, we ask: what has happened, why did the Trump administration decide to take action, what’s the response domestically and internationally – and what on earth could happen next.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

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US

The Americans want the attack on Iran’s nuclear sites to be a ‘one-and-done’

Published

20 hours ago

June 23, 2025

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The Americans want the attack on Iran's nuclear sites to be a 'one-and-done'

The Pentagon briefing was big on what happened but short on detail of what happens next.

Neither defence secretary Pete Hegseth nor General Dan “Raisin” Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, can answer that.

Mr Hegseth called the bombing an “incredible and overwhelming success” with “focused and clear” instructions from President Trump.

The focus now is on what follows and that’s not so clear.

The briefing laid out the details of the military deception plan behind Operation Midnight Hammer.

B-2 stealth aircraft were flown west towards the Pacific on Saturday as a decoy, while the B-2s with bunker-busting bombs on board flew east towards Iran.

Israel-Iran live: World continues to react to US attack on nuclear facilities

Mr Hegseth called it a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and came down, in the end, to “precision, misdirection and operational security”.

Gen Caine, Mr Trump’s top military man, offered a measured assessment. While Mr Trump had spoken of Iran’s nuclear sites being “obliterated”, Gen Caine revised that downwards when he spoke of “extremely severe damage”.

Full battle damage assessment will reveal the complete picture – only then can the mission’s success be measured in full, mindful that Iran had shifted at least some of its enriched uranium in the days before the strike.

On the politics of it, Mr Hegseth said this wasn’t about regime change in Iran. It might offer precious little reassurance to Tehran, particularly as he also said part of the operation was to defend Israel and the ongoing defence of Israel.

If the US is tethered to Israel’s interests to the extent of an unprecedented attack on Iran, where does its influence end?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared almost giddy in response to the US attack. He is a PM strengthened by Mr Trump’s spectacular response to his rhetoric around Iran.

Suspicions weren’t softened around Netanyahu’s influence over Mr Trump when Mr Hegseth was asked about the basis for the attack. He has long lobbied the US president on Iran being close to building a nuclear bomb, contrary to American intelligence which indicates otherwise.

Mr Hegseth was asked what was the new intelligence, was it American or from other countries? He avoided a direct answer, saying only that Mr Trump had looked at all the intelligence information and concluded Iran was a threat.

There were a number of questions about what comes next, with an assortment of non-answers in response from Mr Hegseth.

A consistent line was that the US wanted Iran to negotiate peace, coupled with the threat of further aggression if it doesn’t.

The US defence secretary said Washington was in touch with Tehran privately and publicly, giving it every opportunity to come to the table, every opportunity for peace.

He made the point that America hadn’t targeted Iranian troops or civilians – clearly, a measure by the US to limit response and leave open a door.

The Americans want this attack to have been a “one-and-done”.

The scenario it’s left with, however, is an Iran talking of a diplomatic door closed and sending its foreign minister travelling to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.

Iran is wounded, no doubt. Combined attacks have left it degraded and, without a network of support in the Middle East, its ability to strike back is limited. For now, if not necessarily forever.

Donald Trump clearly enjoyed the sugar rush of military success but he will be wary of the come-down and all of its uncertainties.

In circumstances with world implications, he won’t be alone.