To everything in politics there is a season. Or at least there used to be.

At this point in the summer news cycle, with Westminster now joining Holyrood in recess, the talk among those still left in the steamie should be of minor things, like where the Prime Minister is going on holiday, and how Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner will fare when he does.

Images of far-right mobs rioting across England and in Belfast have put paid to any such talk. Unless Downing Street has lost the plot there will be no photos of Sir Keir relaxing in a taverna (David Cameron), walking in the Alps (Theresa May), or sprinting along a beach with an energetic King Charles Spaniel (Margaret Thatcher) any time soon.

Just in case there were any lingering doubts that the Labour government’s honeymoon period is over, along come the numbers to confirm it. A poll published on Saturday by Opinium shows Starmer’s approval rating down 16% since the general election. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, fares worse than her boss, with an approval rating down 23%.

There is no mystery about the latter. Last Monday, Reeves blamed the previous Conservative government for a £22 billion gap in the public finances and announced the means-testing of winter fuel payments for pensioners. She also admitted for the first time that certain taxes, as yet unspecified, would have to rise in her first Budget on October 30.

Opinium polled voters on some of the ways Reeves intends to spend and raise money. While most people approved of public sector pay rises, a windfall tax on the profits of energy........

© Herald Scotland