The Standard View: Now it's time to rally round the monarch

A cancer diagnosis comes as a shock for any individual, their family and friends. For the monarch, it is both no different and unlike anything else.

Already, we have seen the Firm rally around the King. Primarily, of course, as loving spouses, children and siblings. Yet responsibilities and public duties will also have to be shared. Prince William in particular will have to step up, as his father did many times in support of the late Queen. No doubt, this will place strain on the “slimmed-down” royal family.

Little was revealed in the official statement from Buckingham Palace, but the Prime Minister shared his “shock and sadness”, adding that “thankfully, this has been caught early”. Rishi Sunak is expected to continue his weekly audiences with the King. On behalf of Londoners, the Evening Standard sends its best wishes to the King and our hopes for a swift recovery.

It is Labour’s flagship policy, but no one seems to know how much it will cost, when it will start or whether it will happen at all. And some of those people appear to sit in the shadow cabinet.

In 2021, Rachel Reeves announced Labour would spend £28 billion a year until 2030 on green investment, to boost growth and the battle against climate change. Since then, the policy has been pruned, falling effectively to £20 billion, and then only ramping up through the parliament. There have been rumours it could be dropped entirely.

To counter that, Sir Keir Starmer today recommitted to the £28 billion pledge, subject to fiscal rules, despite his colleagues’ recent refusal to do so. Yet this is unlikely to dispel the confusion or the idea that as far as Labour is concerned, the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing.

London was the big winner at the 2024 Michelin Guide Awards. Three years after closing, seemingly for good, The Ledbury in Notting Hill won three stars, becoming the sixth restaurant in the capital to hold the Guide’s most prestigious accolade. Then there was Mayfair’s Gymkhana, which became the first Indian restaurant in London to hold two, while Claude Bosi picked up a pair of stars barely three months after opening the acclaimed Brooklands in the spectacular Peninsula Hotel.

But perhaps the most extraordinary success story is West African Chishuru, which has gone from a supper club in Brixton to Michelin-starred restaurant in three years. Better still, it wasn’t the sole West African winner, with Fitzrovia’s Akoko also claiming its long-awaited star. Wherever you turn in the capital, there is extraordinary talent demanding to be discovered.