1. May: immigration pledge as Tories plot
Theresa May will tell business leaders today that EU citizens will no longer be able to “jump the queue” to work in the UK after Brexit as she tries to regain the initiative fromTory rebels plotting to oust her. The Times says senior Brexiteers expect to have enough public letters of no confidence to challenge her leadership by this evening.
2. Hunt to ask for release of mother in Tehran
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to visit Tehran today, where he will appeal for the release of Iranian-British woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was jailed as a spy in April 2016 and has hardly seen her daughter, now four, since. Hunt said he would ask his Iranian counterpart to stop using dual citizens for diplomatic leverage.
3. ‘Eat organic meat’ to tackle antibiotic crisis
The chief medical officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, has urged consumers to eat organic or high-welfare meat in order to reduce the reliance on antibiotics in farming – and fend off the rise of resistant microbes. Davies said the rise of antibiotic resistance is “apocalyptic”, with the possibility of routine operations becoming deadly.
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4. Biggest drop in house prices since 2012
House prices fell by the biggest average drop since 2012 last month, according to data from property website Rightmove. The firm says the average asking price for a home fell by £5,222 in November to £302,023. The steepest falls were in London, where the typical asking price fell £10,793 or 1.7%, and south-east England, where it fell £8,647 (2.1%).
5. Fake psychiatrist practised for 22 years
As many as 3,000 doctors are having their qualifications checked after it emerged a psychiatrist jailed for fraud in October had practised for 22 years without a medical degree. Zholia Alemi, who stole money from a woman with dementia, falsely claimed to have a degree from her native New Zealand – the claim was never examined.
6. Finns bemused by Trump’s raking claim
Finns have been posting joke pictures of themselves online raking or even hoovering forest floors after US President Donald Trump claimed Finland doesn’t have “any problem” with forest fires because they spend “a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things”. Trump was visiting the site of devastating fires in California.
7. Supermarkets charge more in small shops
Consumers pay more for good in small convenience chain stores than they do in larger branches of the same supermarkets, the BBC reports. One trolley of groceries put together by the broadcaster was £103.26 in the Birmingham High Street Marks & Spencer but £112.44 in the chain’s Simply Food at Birmingham New Street station.
8. Actor Danny Dyer defends Theresa May
EastEnders star Danny Dyer, 41, has made another intervention into the Brexit debate, telling the Big Issue: “Theresa May, bless her, just got that job by default.” Dyer accused Boris Johnson of “spouting boll**ks” and making young people think: “If these are the people running the country, why shouldn't I go and loot and riot?”
9. Grandfather recognised in WW1 film
A woman identified her grandfather from first world war footage used by director Peter Jackson for his film They Shall Not Grow Old. Jenny Pateman’s grandfather Corporal Thomas Frayne died in 1971 when she was eight, never having recovered fully from being gassed at the Somme. Pateman said she spotted him by his distinctive nose.
10. Briefing: is modern life raising our blood pressure?
The common consensus that higher blood pressure is an inevitable consequence of ageing has been upended by a newly published study about two isolated Amazon tribes.
According to the researchers, hypertension may actually be a result of certain aspects of Western lifestyles, “such as high levels of salt in the diet, lack of exercise and heavy drinking”, The Guardian reports. As the newspaper notes, high blood pressure is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Is modern life raising our blood pressure?
