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Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Flowers for Mother's Day may be more expensive due to Trump's tariffs
With Mother's Day approaching, you may be looking to buy a bouquet of flowers — and prices could be higher due to tariffs enacted by President Trump. "We're going to do the best we can to sort of keep those prices where they need to be. But people can definitely expect to be paying a little bit more," said Jody Costello, a florist in Royal Oak, Michigan. While Mr. Trump paused hefty tariffs he announced in early April for 90 days, a 10% baseline tariff on all U.S. imports is in effect. About 80% of flowers bought in the United States are grown elsewhere. Last year, the U.S. imported $2.2 billion worth of cut flowers and greenery, the bulk of which came from Colombia and Ecuador, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. "The fact that they can grow year-round gave them a natural advantage," said Kate Penn, CEO of the Society of American Florists. Penn said domestically, small growers — many of whom have an acre or less — have flourished since the COVID-19 pandemic, selling at farmers' markets and to a blossoming wedding industry. "The consumer does want to buy local, especially brides," she said. "They love to be able to have local flowers featured." But even small growers like Moonshot Farm in East Windsor, New Jersey, aren't immune to the fallout from tariffs. A shopper carries a floral arrangement as a Mother's Day gift in downtown Los Angeles, California. / Credit: Getty Images Moonshot Farm owner Rebecca Kutzer-Rice said some of the bulbs she uses to grow flowers are imported from Italy and Holland. She just received her first few shipments to be hit with the 10% tariffs. "We're estimating it could cost our small business anywhere from $40,000 to $50,000 a year, which for a small farm is almost the equivalent of like a salary of another employee," she said. Some florists say they'll try not to pass on costs to customers. Mistine Boren, a florist in Austin, Texas, told CBS affiliate CBS19, she's waiting until after Mother's Day to decide if she'll raise prices. "It's tough," she said. "Our margins are so thin already, and especially when it comes to buying fresh flowers, it's a big splurge and expense for people." Boren said she's also trying to source more wild, local flowers to avoid the tariffs. Consumers may just need to be a little more flexible about what types of flowers they buy, but they can still get quality bouquets, Penn said. "There literally are countless substitutions and florists are just masters at creating something that's still gonna make a big impact," she said. Why Hegseth is calling for cuts to senior ranks across U.S. military The rise of "Barstool Conservatism" Student loan borrower shares her story as collections resume for those in default
The Herald Scotland
05-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump and Farage prove there is such a thing as Scottish values
The citizenry ask: Is this what we stand for? Should we not hold these principles dear? Why don't we leave these traditions behind? Indeed, currently all across Britain, the VE Day celebrations are a clear example of a country considering its values, mythologies, and place in the world. But Scotland is unique. Rather than speak about our values, we run in fear of the discussion. In Scotland, a huge swathe of people even deny that Scottish values exist; as if every nation on Earth is permitted beliefs informed by shared tradition, culture and political history - apart from this one. Read more Neil Mackay It's confounding. Evidently, there's the additional tension here of Scottish values being weighed against English values, or British values, or the values of one or other of the constituent parts of the union, Northern Ireland and Wales. That's often fraught terrain to navigate, but it doesn't mean we must flee debate. Sadly, whatever limited discussion there is that exists around values is co-opted and mutilated by the minority of hardliners on both sides of the constitutional divide. Pro-independence ultras see only the milk of human kindness flowing through Scottish values, whilst sneering at the values of England. The same is true in reverse. The 'too poor, too wee, too stupid' trope of unionist ultras is clearly hostile to the idea of the better angels of Scottish values, whilst the refusal to see any monsters lurking behind the Union flag is an obvious act of cleaving unquestioningly to 'British values'. It's absurd to maintain the pretence that Scotland is somehow a valueless land; that among all the nations Scotland is uniquely beige and without its own character, beliefs and history. We need simply listen to our own people, read our own history, experience our own culture to realise that such a position isn't true, and cannot be true, because it cannot be true about any nation. Scotland's recent political journey makes the case better than any consideration of art, culture or history, though. Since the 1970s, Scotland has been forcefully rejecting the trajectory of England politically. Margaret Thatcher started the great schism. There were a few years when - much like now - Scotland and England aligned in a rejection of Conservatism through Tony Blair. Pro-independence campaigners march through the streets of Edinburgh to Carlton Hill (Image: Stewart Attwood) But that was destroyed by the Iraq War. By 2007, the value-shift was pretty plain to all when the SNP took power. Scotland was strongly remain, while England was strongly leave on Europe. Scotland loathed Boris Johnson, England adored him while the honeymoon lasted. Evidently, some Scots were solid leavers, some loved Johnson too; and plenty of English voters were passionate Europeans who held Johnson in utter contempt. But the broad collective positions of the two countries are evident and impossible to deny. Today, Reform is the schism-maker. Broadly, over multiple opinion polls the SNP sits in the mid 30s, Labour in the low 20s and the Tories and Reform in the low to mid teens. If there was a Holyrood election tomorrow, the projections have the SNP on 57 seats, Tories on 15, Labour on 14 and Reform on 8. In England, we've just seen Reform solidify its position as the formal opposition to Keir Starmer's government. There's every likelihood that Reform becomes the next government, or lead partner in a coalition. These are differences in values by any estimation. Let's be clear what's happening here. England isn't rejecting the rise of Trumpian politics, like many other nations. Scotland, however, is rejecting that form of populism. Labour is deliberately aping Trumpism in order to out-Reform Reform. Labour MP Jo White wants to 'take a leaf out of President Trump's book'. Farage is bosom buddies with America's President, or at least he thinks so. Internationally, Trump is exposing the soul of nations. Australia and Canada have roundly rejected Trumpism at the ballot box, with populist parties ideologically linked to MAGA beaten. On the flip side, Romania seems to be breaking for Trump-style politics in its current presidential elections. Reform carries a Trumpian agenda of dismantling green policies and equality and diversity programmes. Its poster girl Andrea Jenkyns wants to put refugees in tents. England's elections showed that these values weren't a voter turn-off. Read more Metaphorically, Trump is a political microscope. He allows the observer to note the make-up of specific political parties and their polity on an almost chromosomal level. Keir Starmer is now mocked for adopting a political position somewhere north of the President's colon. In Scotland, by contrast, John Swinney, calls for Trump's royal visit to be scrapped. Whether you agree or disagree with either man, these are value positions. Farage is often feted in English regions, but reduced to a hunted pariah when venturing north. This reflects value positions held by the people. There are plenty of racists in Scotland, but there was no rioting here last summer. That reflects a value position. There have been protests here against immigrants, but the most memorable protest in Scotland related to immigration was by a crowd of ordinary people stopping a potential Home Office deportation in Glasgow. This was a reflection of public values. Now, there are plenty of bad points on the spectrum of Scottish values, just as there are many good for England. This isn't an argument about one set of values besting the other. However, we cannot pretend the nations are one amorphous blob. That would be as absurd as pretending there aren't also some shared values. The proof around values will be in the voting. As the world collapses into nations either for or against Trump, we'll learn much from how Reform performs in England compared to Scotland come the next election. If England votes Reform - and its Union Jack MAGA iteration - whilst Scotland backs indy-tinged social democracy, then surely we can put the futile debate about whether national values exist or not to bed. It seems likely that for those who insist there's no such thing as Scottish values, Donald Trump will prove them wrong. Neil Mackay is the Herald's Writer-at-Large. He's a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics
The Guardian
02-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
English local elections: votes counted in Runcorn byelection, mayoral contests and council races
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Good morning and welcome to our blog covering results in 24 English local council elections, six mayoral races and the byelection in Runcorn and Helsby. Reform have mounted a fierce challenge to try to overturn the near-15,000 Labour majority in Runcorn. The byelection, the first since last year's general election, was triggered when Mike Amesbury resigned after being given a suspended prison sentence for punching a constituent, an incident captured on video. Reform are also predicted to do well in some of the mayoral contests, which would be worrying for Labour. Meanwhile the council results are forecast to be grim for the Conservatives. Their leader, Kemi Badenoch, has already ruled out resigning, and has said that the party's current unpopularity 'just has to be got through'. In an interview on Tuesday, she said: This is something that we have said has to be got through. We've got to get through this initial period where the public rejected Conservatism. Last year [at the general election], they voted whatever they could to get Conservatives out. We have a job to do to fix the brand. Anyone who thinks that this is an overnight task and that changing leader yet again is the solution is not paying attention. The public are quite tired of watching us change leader. Follow along with us for all the news. Share
Toronto Star
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Canadians wanted a reset, not a revolution
On Monday, Canadians went to the polls demanding something different — but not too different. The election of Mark Carney as prime minister, the ouster of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, says Canadians wanted a reset, not a revolution. We were clearly over former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — no offence, but familiarity breeds contempt. The more we were exposed to his government, the more likely we were to find faults and lose respect. After almost 10 years of power, Trudeau's Liberals made missteps and flat-out mistakes. Canadians wanted something new. When he formally stepped down in March, Carney became Liberal leader and prime minister. This week, the public confirmed it. A globally respected economist with centrist appeal, Carney was the safe and strong alternative to Poilievre's populist politics, which was too close to that of U.S. President Donald Trump. Monday's election wasn't about embracing a bold new vision. It was about battening down the hatches against economic uncertainty and stopping a Conservatism that reminded too many of Trumpism. Unfortunately, the NDP were sacrificed at the altar of strategic voting — and maybe a little of that familiarity fatigue crept in as well. According to the Elections Canada, more than 19 million Canadians (67.4 per cent) — out of 28.5 million eligible voters — cast their ballots up from 63 per cent in 2022. Canadians clearly wanted to have their say in who would run the country and how it would be run. The Conservatives gained more seats, but their leader lost his long-held seat in the Carleton riding. Maybe it was Poilievre's personality that rubbed people the wrong way — he is very much an attack dog. For some, it was his war on 'wokeness,' which felt too much like a mission to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in all institutions. Poilievre's definition of 'woke' was always fuzzy that he couldn't exactly put into words. Recently, he said to The Canadian Press, 'Very simply, after a lost Liberal decade of dividing Canadians, turning people against each other and weakening our Armed Forces, we need to put Canada first.' Poilievre also mentioned the Liberals' 'woke criminal justice agenda' and 'woke agenda on spending.' The term 'woke' began as a term in African American communities meaning awareness of racial injustice, but over time it expanded to cover broader social justice issues. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW But for many voters, the culture war wasn't enough to win his seat. Overall, the Conservatives did end up more seats than in 2022. This wasn't a landslide Liberal win that signalled a full rejection of the right. This close win says that the Cons tapped into to something real. Canadians do want more affordable housing, lower inflation and less taxes. That's clear. What we didn't want was what we are seeing in Trump's first 100 days in office: confusion, chaos and constant conflict. Now, as Carney selects his first elected cabinet and executes his first mandate, the hard work begins. Canadians chose competence over potential chaos and pragmatism over populism. We rejected extremism, but we didn't offer the Liberals a blank cheque. Nope, it's understanding that we, Canadians, don't want the populism of Trump — the culture wars of us vs. them, anti-immigration and anti-intellectualism — getting a stranglehold on our values and our politics. We do need change. The same ol' same ol' won't cut it. We also need a strong hand to keep our country moving forward. And we can't forget that the NDP has long been the conscience of Canada. Their loss of party status isn't just the result of a bad campaign — it feels like a national sacrifice. We wanted a reset, not a rerun. Now it's up to Carney to prove we made the right call. With continued #elbowsup.
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Local elections 2025: What time polling stations open and close tomorrow
Campaigning in the 2025 local elections enters its final day as millions of voters in England will head to the polls tomorrow - the first major vote since last year's General Election Millions of voters in England will head to the polls tomorrow at the local elections - the first major vote since last year's General Election. A total of 1,641 council seats are up for grabs across 23 local authorities while four regional mayors and two local mayors will also be elected. A key by-election is also taking place to choose a new MP for the constituency of Runcorn & Helsby after the ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigned. The contest is being closely fought between Labour and Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK party, which is hoping for a major upset in the constituency. Polling stations will be open between 7am and 10pm on Thursday with results expected to trickle in from the early hours of Friday morning. The Electoral Commission has urged voters they must show photo ID when they arrive at polling stations under new controversial rules. Niki Nixon, Director of Communications at the Electoral Commission, said: 'If you're going along to your polling station to vote on Thursday, don't forget your photo ID, you'll need to show it before you can be given your ballot paper. "Check you have it with you before heading to the polling station, so that you don't have to return later in the day. If you lose your ID, or your Voter Authority Certificate does not arrive in time, you can appoint an emergency proxy to vote on your behalf. You will need to contact your council to arrange this before 5pm on election day, and the person you appoint will need their own acceptable photo ID.' It comes as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch braces for heavy losses with experts suggesting the Conservatives face losing hundreds of council seats. Speaking to the BBC, she ruled out resigning if the results are bad. She said earlier this week: 'No, because this is something that we have said has to be got through. We've got to get through this initial period where the public rejected Conservatism. Last year, they voted whatever they could to get Conservatives out. We have a job to do to fix the brand. Anyone who thinks that this is an overnight task and that changing leader yet again is the solution is not paying attention. The public are quite tired of watching us change leader.' It will also be the first major electoral test for Keir Starmer since Labour's historic landslide at the General Election last year. Writing for The Mirror earlier this month the polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice said the elections take place in "unprecedented circumstances". He said: "Never before have both Labour, whose current average poll rating is just 24%, and the Conservatives, on 22%, been so unpopular at the same time. Both are struggling to keep pace with Reform, narrowly ahead on 25%. "British politics was once a two-horse race between Conservative and Labour. Now it is a fragmented five-way battle. Even the Greens (9%) are at a record high in the polls, while the Liberal Democrats (14%) are a force once more."
