Ann Widdecombe, a member of the Reform UK party, has suggested that people on low incomes should not make cheese sandwiches if they cannot afford the ingredients. She was responding to a BBC study that showed that the cost of making such sandwiches had risen by a third in the past year to 40p. Widdecombe also dismissed the idea that everyone has a “given right” to low food prices. The former MEP also said that people receiving unemployment benefits should be required to work in fruit picking and other industries facing labour shortages.
Weibao Wang, a former Apple engineer, has been charged with the theft of trade secrets relating to technology used for the design of self-driving cars. The US Justice Department alleges that he took large quantities from the company before resigning and moving to China. Wang allegedly waited some four months before telling Apple he was moving to "Company One", reportedly a US-based subsidiary of a Chinese firm, to work as a staff engineer on the development of autonomous vehicles. Once in China, he purchased a one-way ticket to Guangzhou. The former employee has not yet been arrested, as he has been living in China since 2018. Two other former Apple employees have been charged in separate cases with trade secret theft relating to China and car technology.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has said the party would give English councils greater power to construct on green belt land to address the country's housing crisis. Under current planning rules, new projects can only be constructed on green belt land, however, Starmer said any properties built would not affect the “beauty” of the countryside. The Labour leader also pledged to reinstate local housing targets.
The first ever full-sized 3D scan of the Titanic shipwreck has been published by the BBC. The project is a result of deep-sea mapping carried out over 2022 by deep-sea mapping company Magellan and Atlantic Productions. While the wreck had previously been explored extensively, cameras were never before able to capture the ship's entirety. The images may reveal more about the doomed ship’s fateful journey across the Atlantic over a century ago, shedding light on details such as the liner's luxury fixtures and how it sank. More than 1,500 people died when the ship sank in April 1912.
Vauxhall’s parent firm has warned that the UK car industry faces a severe threat, compromising thousands of jobs, without changes to post-Brexit trade arrangements with the European Union. Stellantis said it would be unable to meet the commitment to make electric vehicles in the UK without alterations to the Trade and Co-operation Agreement with the EU. Mhairi Black, the SNP’s Westminster deputy leader, accused both Labour and the Tories of ignoring the economic damage from Brexit: “Brexit Britain faces higher food prices, a lack of workers, a shrinking economy and a decline in living standards. Why is he happy to ignore those facts?” she said.
British actor, writer and musician Allan Mustafa, known to friends as Seapa, has spoken about his unusual path in the country’s comedy scene. Mustafa is part of People Just Do Nothing, a Bafta-winning cult British show about working-class characters running a pirate radio station. Mustafa, whose father was Kurdish-Iraqi and mother Czech, said he was an anomaly among a mostly middle-class scene and that his parents were keen he did not follow a path into a creative industry after they fled Saddam Hussein’s regime in the early 1980s. “Immigrant parents have taken a big risk to come here, they don’t want you taking another risk,” he said. Mustafa said he struggled academically and was fired from several jobs. The 35-year-old discovered his potential outlet in early 2000s music in the UK garage scene.
Hong Kong’s libraries have removed over 40% of books, magazines, and documentaries with “political themes” since Beijing imposed a national security law on the city. While commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre have been silenced, libraries have also removed media documenting the event, including documentaries made by public broadcaster RTHK. Independent media outlets in Hong Kong have also been subject to raids and arrests since the law came into effect, now making it difficult to find nine notable books detailing the massacre, including China specialist Orville Schell's book Mandate of Heaven. Media outlets remain under heightened scrutiny from Hong Kong authorities.
India's new IT rules, introduced on April 6, allow the government to hold social media platforms responsible for all content that appears on their sites, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the IT minister. The Indian government is reportedly setting up a fact-checking organisation that will tag information about any business of the central government if it judged it to be untrue, misleading or fake. Social media sites deemed to be "intermediaries" must remove content identified by the government's fact checkers. Kunal Kamra, a comedic commentator with a large following, has filed a court challenge to the changes and accused the government of "crushing dissent". India has slipped in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom ranking, now lying behind Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has underlined the need for the UK to be “pragmatic” about immigration policy as Cabinet members debate further cuts to numbers. Hunt said the UK would “always be pragmatic” about limiting the number of migrant workers, but suggested that the shortage occupation list, which offers exemptions and streamlined visa processes for some industrial sectors that lack workers, could be expanded to enable companies to secure the employees they require. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has put forward a series of measures including increased minimum salaries to restrict numbers.
TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh has criticised judges at the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show for rewarding environmentalism over excellence in gardening. Titchmarsh, a vice-president of the RHS, claimed that judges were being required to show gardeners as “vibrant folk with a finger on the current environmentalist pulse” and to demonstrate that they were not “dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists”. Last year’s winner at the event was a garden dedicated to rewilding, which featured a beaver dam, native plants and a pool with a lodge behind it. Titchmarsh argued that the garden had shown “no signs of gardening”.
TV presenter Jake Humphrey has discussed the success of his podcast The High Performance Podcast, which he co-hosts with organisational psychologist Professor Damian Hughes. With almost 200 episodes, the podcast, which explores the lives of successful individuals, including Jonny Wilkinson, Stephanie Shirley, Matthew McConaughey and Keir Starmer, has reached the summit of the Apple Chart, gained over 1.6 million downloads per month and spawned a bestselling book and live tour. The podcast focuses on “lived experience” rather than a fixed formula for success and aims to provide insights that the hosts believe can be applicable in daily life. Politicians are increasingly looking towards podcasts to communicate with their core electorate, with big political interviews being regularly conducted on programmes such as Full Disclosure with James O’Brien and The News Agents with Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. Humphrey revealed that Sir Keir was a guest on the show following an invitation from his team.
Journalist Graham Johnson, who has admitted phone hacking previously, has said he wants to help victims of organised crime at the publisher of the Mirror newspaper. Johnson alleged at the High Court that Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) senior officials and lawyers “had been aware of the widespread organised crime and involved in its subsequent cover-up… wrong for organised crime to take place at your newspaper and other newspapers and I write stories about it and I’m very happy to help victims of the organised crime at the Mirror group.” MGN is contesting claims by the Duke of Sussex and other individuals whilst denying knowledge or any evidence of the events.
Slowthai, the UK rapper whose real name is Tyron Frampton, has been removed from the official line-up poster for the Glastonbury Festival, as well as for Reading and Leeds, after he was charged with rape. Frampton, 28, wrote on Instagram that he “categorically denies the charges”. He is scheduled to appear before Oxford Crown Court on 15 June. His original festival appearances now appear in doubt. The Northampton-born rapper’s politically-driven 2019 debut album, Nothing Great About Britain, was nominated for the Mercury prize. In 2021, his second album, Tyron, charted in the UK.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that he wants to reduce legal migration as figures are expected to balloon to around 700,000 next week. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to promise that he will meet his manifesto pledge of getting migration below 2019 levels. Cabinet splits are reportedly emerging, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman calling for more British workers to be trained in industries with shortages instead of relying on foreign workers. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the UK needs to be “pragmatic” about filling shortages with foreign workers. An official report, expected to be released next month, is predicted to show that annual net migration has tripled since the Brexit promise was made in 2019. Sunak was repeatedly asked whether he was committed to reducing net migration to the quarter of a million figure promised in the Conservative manifesto, but declined to say it would be met.
The UK is set to deport up to 200 Albanian criminals to serve the remaining parts of their sentences in Albanian jails, with the deal being paid for by the UK. Many of those set to be deported include murderers, gangsters and drug barons. The move is part of a wider drive in the UK to expel Albanians who have been convicted of crimes and imprisoned in the country. Those jailed for more than four years will eligible for the transfer, costing the UK a fraction of what it would to hold them in high-security facilities.
Elon Musk has been accused of playing a leading role in the spread of disinformation on Twitter, as he gives priority to “playing footsies with the crazies” over working for some of his much vaunted causes such as artificial intelligence, climate change, and revolutionising transport. The allegations follow comments Musk made on the social media platform inferred to be anti-Semitic and anti-humanity. Critics accuse the businessman of exercising his freedom of speech to bully and belittle others online but of blocking media coverage that does not flatter him.
The BBC has launched BBC Verify to combat fake news and help restore public trust in its programmes and content. The initiative will include 60 journalists, including specialists in disinformation, who will appear on news programmes to clarify journalistic procedures and fact-checking methods. It will also feature branding on the BBC website. The new unit is part of BBC News, rather than part of BBC Reality Check, which was launched in 2018 to identify fake news on behalf of audiences.
Lord Frost has criticised Michael Gove’s recently proposed changes to rental reforms, regarding them as “dangerous and counterproductive.” The criticisms were made during a speech at the National Conservatism Conference where Frost also discussed state interference in people’s life and the need for the Conservatives to portray themselves as the “party of opportunity and the party of the future”. Ian Fletcher, director of policy for the British Property Federation, has added concerns that the reforms could lead to an increase in short-term rentals, prompting holiday lets to replace permanent residences.
A man from Minnesota has been charged with stealing the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland's character Dorothy in 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Terry Martin, 76, has been charged with theft of a major artwork. The shoes were taken from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005 and were later found in a sting operation launched by the FBI's art crime team in 2018. The stolen slippers are one of only four pairs in existence. The treasured items of Hollywood memorabilia have been valued at $3.5m and were insured for $1m when they were taken nearly 18 years ago.
Animal disease outbreaks requiring mass culls to control such as bird flu are leaving farmers and vets exposed to mental health challenges with inadequate support, according to a report by the UK Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The report called on the UK government to provide frontline health workers with specialist knowledge of rural issues, and additional long-term health services in the countryside. There is also concern over how isolation, poor public transport, and a lack of digital connectivity affect mental health outcomes for those in rural communities.
