
From ticket booking fees to parking, here are six other things he could fix
Andy Burnham has announced he will ban fake discounts and make it easier to cancel unwanted subscriptions in an effort to improve life for UK consumers.
In the long run, these changes may not make as much difference to your wealth as increasing mandatory contributions on pensions or capping rents, but they will get rid of some day-to-day frustrations. Here are six other things he could fix while he is in the mood:
Continue reading...From One Night Only to The Invite, a wave of new movies are a raunchy antidote to gen Z celibacy
The first alarm bells sounded nearly 10 years ago, and since then, a deluge of books, podcasts and roundtables has tried to get at the bottom of the problem: why is gen Z not having sex?
Recently it’s as though culture has been recalibrated to make up for the youth’s apparent frigidity. “Smut” literature is on the rise, prestige TV is now depicting OnlyFans models, and indie films have taken a turn towards kink. This summer, through confused young protagonists and their sexual misadventures, the movies are zeroing in on generational attitudes about sex.
Continue reading...Political leaders have kicked the can of public protection tariff reform down the road for years – causing hopeless inmates to take their own lives
In January 2015, Tommy Nicol told his family that he was suffering “psychological torture of a person who is doing 99 years”. Nicol had been given an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence six years earlier for stealing a car from a garage and injuring the owner. He was already two years beyond his four-year tariff – the minimum time you can serve in prison before being considered for release. Nicol was given another two-year knock-back from the Parole Board and was in despair. If and when he got released, he would be on a lifelong licence. Eight months later, aged 37, Nicol hanged himself at The Mount prison in Hertfordshire, England.
By the time he took his own life, the inhumane IPP sentence had already been abolished for three years. The problem is, it didn’t apply retroactively. Those already serving IPP sentences stayed on them. This, despite David Blunkett, who devised and introduced them as home secretary in 2005, calling it “the biggest regret” of his political career. And this despite UN special rapporteur on torture Alice Edwards agreeing with Tommy Nicol that the sentence was “psychological torture”. Astonishingly, more than 2,000 people are still serving IPP sentences in England and Wales.
Simon Hattenstone is a Guardian features writer
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Amid world pressure from heatwaves and fertiliser shortages, billionaire’s business has invested in circular farming and biomethane
There is a distinctive smell of cow manure in the air at the Duke of Westminster’s dairy farm near Chester. It is a world away from the collection of grand West End properties controlled by the duke that form the backbone of his near £10bn fortune, a decade on from becoming Britain’s youngest billionaire.
As part of his 349-year-old Grosvenor empire, Lea Manor Farm on the duke’s Eaton Estate in north-west England has fared better than most dairy farms in recent years.
Continue reading...Its mucus, which can kill crabs and cockroaches, could be the basis of new insecticides
It’s the shuddery stuff of nightmares for some, but for a select group who admire extending ladders, giraffes and the Odyssey, one of the longest animals in the world is bound to appeal.
This creature is nneither the blue whale, nor a lion’s mane jellyfish but the humble bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus, one of the most remarkable marine invertebrates of them all.
It’s invertebrate of the year again! From 3-12 August, every day we will profile one of the thousands of amazing invertebrates that our readers have nominated. And then, when you’ve heard about all of them, we’ll open the voting so you can choose your favourites. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with thoughts and ideas: email us at environment.desk@theguardian.com with Invertebrate in the subject line.
Continue reading...Whether it’s expensive regrets or brilliant bargains, we celebrate the stars’ shopping secrets – and the products that tempted you
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Like snooping in someone else’s supermarket trolley, discovering other people’s shopping habits satisfies a certain nosiness. And never more so than when it comes to celebrities – there’s nothing more human than knowing Kim Cattrall loves fish and chips, or that Henry Holland is a Skims guy.
And as celebrities often have the inside track – or perhaps we just think they do – on everything from coffee machines to skincare, their recommendations in our biweekly How I Shop column have inspired more than a few of your own retail habits. In some cases, however, such as David Gandy’s £2,500 Cobra Fortis lawnmower, the price was a little too out of reach.
Continue reading...North-west could join other parts of country in drought, and amber heat health alerts issued for much of England
Drought is expected to be declared in more areas of England as much of Europe braces for its fifth heatwave of the summer.
The National Drought Group, whose members include the government, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, the Met Office and conservation experts, will meet on Monday to assess the situation across England.
Continue reading...A spokesperson for the human rights group likened the proposal to ‘financial brutality with British taxpayers’ money’
Farage and Yusuf are now taking questions.
Q: [From Jack Fenwick from the BBC] Are there other countries where you might send foreign offenders? And how much would this cost?
We have to admit that there might not be too many colour TVs.
It’s not going to be a summer camp. It’s not going to be particularly fun. But it won’t be cruel and it won’t be unreasonable.
We will rapidly build capacity. We will take advantage of new prefabricated modular technology and build 12,000 prison places in the form of Nightingale prisons on Ministry of Defence land. And the army will be called in to assist.
Together, these measures will create an additional 22,000 prison places compared to Andy Burnham’s plans.
Continue reading...Chloe Moffat, 26, killed herself after disciplinary proceedings which coroner found be to be flawed
The Treasury “materially contributed” to the death of Chloe Moffat, a 26-year-old personal assistant who took her own life after facing disciplinary proceedings, a coroner has found.
Anna Crawford also found there was a risk of future deaths within the civil service from flawed handling of disciplinary proceedings. She said she would send a prevention of future deaths report to the head of the civil service, the Treasury, and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas).
Continue reading...More than a dozen buildings collapsed in aftermath of earthquake, which has also prompted evacuations
Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city from him home in the mountains as buildings collapsed after the earthquake.
Residents in the city and rescue workers were already searching the rubble of collapsed buildings Monday morning.
Continue reading...