Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 23 Feb 2013

1. UK LOSES AAA CREDIT RATING

The UK has lost its AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978. Ratings agency Moody's said it downgraded the UK to Aa1 because it expects growth to "remain sluggish over the next few years" but added that "the UK's creditworthiness remains extremely high". George Osborne said: "Far from weakening our resolve to deliver our economic recovery plan, this decision redoubles it".

2. FARAGE DENOUNCES 'IMPOSSIBLE' DEFECTOR

A senior UKIP member has defected to the Conservative Party just two after she accused UKIP leader Nigel Farage of being "anti-women" and "a Stalinist". Marta Andreasen, a South East region MEP, handed a letter of resignation to Farage yesterday. He said the Tories "deserve what is coming to them" and added: "The woman is impossible."

3. DID THE QUEEN EAT HORSEMEAT?

A catering company which supplies Royal Ascot has discovered horse DNA in its beef products, prompting speculation that the Queen and other members of the royal family may have unwittingly eaten horse. Meanwhile, former food safety lecturer Eric Smith said it is "highly likely" that horsemeat has been in Britain's food chain for "some time".

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4. UNI ASKS FOR COCAINE VOLUNTEERS

A London university is asking students to volunteer to take cocaine as part of a drug study, reports The Independent. An email sent by a Kings College London professor asks for "healthy male volunteers... to take part in a clinical study involving nasal administration of cocaine". Biological samples will be taken from the volunteers to study how the drug spreads through the body.

5. US GOVERNMENT SUES LANCE ARMSTRONG

The US government has joined a lawsuit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong after talks with his legal team broke down. The lawsuit will argue that Armstrong defrauded the American public by insisting he was not using drugs while riding for the publicly funded US Postal Service team.

6. CLEGG 'WANTS TO HIDE SQUALID SECRETS'

Nick Clegg backs statutory regulation on the press to conceal his party's "squalid secrets", claims an editorial in the Daily Mail in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against the Liberal Democrats' former chief executive Lord Rennard. The paper argues that "No true liberal would support the Leveson proposals to shackle free speech."

7. ENGLISH THEATRE IS 'SHRIVELLING'

The English theatre scene is "shrivelling" according to a new study which concludes that Arts Council cuts have led to cancelled shows, fewer new plays, fewer commissions and smaller casts. The report drew on detailed surveys by 26 English theatres. A West End producer warns of "short-termism that will damage a multibillion [pound] industry over a generation".

8. COP ATTACKS HILLSBOROUGH STORY

The chief constable of South Yorkshire police has accused relatives of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster of lying about what happened at the stadium in 1989. In an email sent just days before the report into the disaster was published last year, David Crompton wrote: “Their version of certain events has become ‘the truth’ even though it isn’t.”

9. ROMANIANS 'FEAR RACIST ATTACKS'

The Romanian ambassador is warning that “inflammatory” predictions of an influx of eastern European immigrants could "lead to racially aggravated assaults" against Romanians in the UK. Dr Ion Jinga says Romanians in Britain feel they are being "treated as second-class EU citizens". He added that he does not expect an increase in Romanian immigration when restrictions are lifted.

10. POOR CARE LEADING TO FOOT AMPUTATIONS

Thousands of diabetes patients have had feet amputated because of slow treatment, Diabetes UK is warning. The charity says that up to 80% of foot amputations could be avoided if a better standard of care was in place, adding that by 2015 the number of diabetes-related amputations could rise to 7,000 a year.