United Kingdom

>Three weeks ago a user on Reddit’s London discussion forum complained about the curse of the viral restaurant. It’s a regular story in the capital these days: Someone opens a great food stall, it grows slowly by word-of-mouth, then suddenly a single TikToker does a video declaring it to be “THE BEST SANDWICH IN LONDON”. The algorithm does its thing, millions of people around the world immediately want to eat THE BEST SANDWICH IN LONDON, and the original customers are squeezed out by hundreds of people queuing for an hour to get their Instagram shot of two slices of bread and filling.

>One pseudonymous London Reddit user, operating under the account name Greenawayer, proposed a solution that was as far away from the authentic neighbourhood food stall as they could imagine: “Angus Steakhouse does an awesome steak sandwich. Influencers should try it and be amazed.”

>Londoners on Reddit got the joke – what could be less like a great undiscovered word-of-mouth recommendation that a bland corporate restaurant chain that has been the butt of jokes since the 1980s? And so they began an effort to bump Angus Steakhouse up the rankings of TripAdvisor and artificial intelligence recommendations. Every request from a visitor for the best place to eat in London received the same reply: Angus Steakhouse.

> The cost of the UK’s unhealthy food system amounts to £268 billion every year, according to a report. > >The Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) report calculated the direct and indirect impact of diet-related ill health by combining the cost of healthcare and social care, welfare spending, productivity losses and the human consequences of chronic disease, and identifying what proportion relates to food. > >The food-related cost of chronic disease in the UK includes £67.5 billion in healthcare, £14.3 billion in social care, £10.1 billion in welfare, productivity at £116.4 billion and £60 billion that can be linked to the chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem, the research states. > > Prof Tim Jackson, the director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at Surrey University, who carried out the analysis, said: “The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering. > >“When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we’re paying for our food.

To whom it may concern.

>An anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist who encouraged violence against Prof Sir Chris Whitty on social media has been sentenced to five years in prison. > >Patrick Ruane, 55, from Paddington, west London, was convicted of two charges of encouraging terrorism on social media in 2021, following a trial at the Old Bailey. > >Ruane believed in conspiracy theories about the government having a "hidden agenda" to the coronavirus epidemic which he shared with thousands of users in Telegram groups, the trial heard. > >His posts referred to "serious violence" including the use of explosives such as Semtex as well as criminal damage and the disruption of electronic communication systems, said the prosecution. > >Ruane had suggested "whacking" the Chief Medical Officer for England, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, and referred to executing politicians.

> The Dormant Assets Scheme is expected to release £350 million for England over 2024 and 2028. The government intends to allocate this money equally between the four causes: > - £87.5 million for the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people > - £87.5 million for the development of individuals’ ability to manage their finances or the improvement of access to personal financial services > - £87.5 million for social investment wholesalers (£12.5 million will reach organisations that support improved youth outcomes) > - £87.5 million for community wealth funds

Russia has suffered its worst ever month for casualties since the start of the war in Ukraine, the UK chief of defence staff has told the BBC. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Russia’s forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured "every single day" in October, bringing its losses to 700,000 since the war began in February 2022.

Russia does not disclose the number of its war dead, but Western defence officials have said October's death toll was the heaviest so far.

[...]

While allies of US President-elect Donald Trump insist that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have to cede territory to bring the conflict to an end, Sir Tony insisted that Western allies would be resolute for "as long as it takes".

"That’s the message President Putin has to absorb and the reassurance for President Zelensky," he told the programme.

> A sewage pumping station failure killed over 2,000 fish in Melksham, with sewage from a burst rising main also killing fish near Weston-super-Mare.

Time for a dog cull?

>The government could offer its own low-cost baby formula under a brand such as the NHS to combat the high prices and lack of choice in the market, the UK competition watchdog has suggested. > >The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said another “backstop” measure could be for the government to regulate and set a price or profit-margin cap on retailers as a way to bring prices down for parents more quickly. > > The potential measures formed part of the CMA’s interim report on the infant formula market after the watchdog identified that a lack of competition in the market had led to soaring prices, taking advantage of an ingrained belief among parents that higher cost equates to better quality for their children. > > The CMA report set out a number of potential recommendations including extending the ban on the advertising of infant formula to follow-on formula, or going as far as “prohibiting all brand-related advertising”. > […] > The provisional findings, which will feed into a final report to be published early next year, include some backstop measures that the CMA said were not actively recommended but that the government could make “with the aim of bringing prices down directly”. > > One option was for the government to procure its own infant formula from a third-party manufacturer at a competitive price and sell it under an established name, such as the NHS, or invest in creating a new brand for the market. > […] > Another option is to introduce regulations to place a maximum price cap on baby and infant formula, or establish a profit-margin cap, which the Greek government did earlier this year with the aim of making products more affordable.

Why is this important?

We’ve seen in the past that a rogue President Trump has ridden roughshod over international climate agreements, he’s happy to cosy up with dictators like Putin, and he’s even had his eyes on our NHS as part of trade deals. Worst of all he seems to do this all with little care for the consequences to anyone but himself.

At 38 Degrees, our supporters unite to build a society that’s fairer, kinder, respectful and more sustainable - values that, unfortunately, Donald Trump does not share.

> Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has revealed he considered resigning after a report found the Church of England covered up sexual abuse by a barrister for years. > >John Smyth QC, who abused as many as 130 boys and young men at Christian summer camps, could have been brought to justice a decade ago, an independent review found. > >Smyth - believed to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the church - died in Cape Town in 2018 at the age of 75. > >Mr Welby "could and should" have formally reported the abuse to authorities in 2013, the review said. > >It found that "had that been done, on the balance of probabilities" Smyth could have been brought to justice "at a much earlier point" than a Hampshire Police investigation in early 2017. > >Speaking to Channel 4 News on Thursday, Mr Welby said: "I have been giving [resigning] a lot of thought for actually quite a long time, there is nothing over the last 10 years that has been as horrible as dealing with numerous abuse cases. > >"I have given [resigning] a lot of thought and have taken advice as recently as this morning from senior colleagues, and, no, I am not going to resign." > >Asked if he considered resigning on Thursday morning, Mr Welby said "yes". > > ... > > In a statement, Mr Welby said he was "deeply sorry that this abuse happened" and "sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice". > >He added: "I had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013. > >"Nevertheless the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated."

The foreign secretary has dismissed his previous criticism of Donald Trump as "old news" and insisted he would be able to find "common ground" with the president-elect.

When he was a backbench MP in 2018, David Lammy described Trump as a "tyrant" and "a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath".

But in his first interview since Trump's victory, he told the BBC's Newscast podcast the president-elect was "someone that we can build a relationship with in our national interest".

Lammy praised his election campaign as "very well run", adding that: "I felt in my bones that there could be a Trump presidency."

[...]

In 2019, ahead of Trump's state visit to the UK, Lammy also posted that the then-president was "deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic" and "no friend of Britain".

Pressed over whether he had changed his mind, Lammy said the remarks were "old news" and you would "struggle to find any politician" who had not said some "pretty ripe things" about Trump in the past.

"In that period, particularly with people on Twitter, lots of things were said about Donald Trump," he said.

"I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things.

Lol!

They basically changed nothing.

I hope their investors see through their shit.

> Jon Thompson tells industry conference there was ‘no evidence’ that bats were at risk from the trains

> The health secretary has ordered a review of NHS guidance on testing for prostate cancer following “powerful” calls from Sir Chris Hoy, who said easrlier screenings could save “potentially millions of lives”. > >The six-time Olympic cycling champion revealed last month that his cancer is terminal after he first made public in February that he was undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy. > > He is urging men with a family history of the disease to consider seeing their GP, and for more men to be aware of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test to check for the disease. > >Both Sir Chris’s grandfather and father had prostate cancer, which can run in families. > >“If you’ve got family history of it, like I have, if you’re over the age of 45, go and ask your doctor,” Sir Chris told BBC Breakfast

> An incendiary device hidden in a DHL package that caught fire in Germany in July was due to be sent by air to the UK as part of a suspected Russian sabotage plot that may also have been a dry run for a similar attack on the US and Canada. > >The device, reported to have been secreted in shipments of massage pillows and erotic gadgets, started a fire on the ground in Leipzig that was feared to be capable of downing a plane – similar to a package that ignited at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham on 22 July. > > ... > > Sources indicated the suspect package in Leipzig was also bound for the UK, though why the UK was chosen as the destination for the two devices, originally sent from Lithuania, is not fully clear. > > ... > > Four people were arrested in Poland as part of the alleged plot, it was announced last week, which the country’s chief prosecutor said was intended to commit sabotage using “camouflaged explosives and dangerous materials” in Europe. Two other individuals are also wanted by investigators in the country. > >Another intention, according to the Polish authorities, was “to test the transfer channel” for similar parcels to be sent to the US and Canada, to see if similarly dangerous and destructive attacks could be reproduced elsewhere. > >British police and officials, as well as their European counterparts in Germany, Poland and Lithuania, strongly suspect that Russia was behind the attacks as part of an effort to cause “mayhem” in the west in retaliation for western military support to Ukraine.

> A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: "Following an investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches and The Sunday Times in September 2023, the Met received a number of reports of sexual offences from women in London and elsewhere in the country. > >"A file of evidence has now been passed to the CPS for their consideration. > >"As part of the investigation, a man in his 40s has been interviewed by officers under caution on three separate occasions. > >"These interviews related to a number of non-recent sexual offences which are alleged to have taken place both in and outside of London.

> Two more UK cases of a strain of mpox that is thought to spread more easily have been detected in household contacts of the first case, the Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said. > >This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the Clade lb mpox strain in the country to three. > > ... > > The country’s first case was detected in London last week, in a person who had been on holiday in Africa and travelled back to the UK on an overnight flight on October 21. > >They developed flu-like symptoms more than 24 hours later and, on October 24, started to develop a rash which worsened in the following days. > > ... > > Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at UKHSA, said: “Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household. > >“The overall risk to the UK population remains low.