Thousands of Vietnamese people are illegally entering the UK in small boats, according to a smuggler who said arranging such Channel crossings is a "lucrative business".

Speaking to a BBC reporter, the insider claimed that there was "no trafficking involved" and that most Vietnamese migrants came to the UK voluntarily. But many of them travel under false promises "about the realities and opportunities" for jobs, said the broadcaster, and many are eventually trafficked into work for gangs.

How many are crossing?
The number of Vietnamese arrivals has not risen significantly in recent years, but gangs are increasingly using boats rather than trucks due to tighter policing in ports since Brexit. In 2023, 1,306 Vietnamese arrived by sea, but 2,248 crossed the Channel in the first half of 2024 alone. Government data released in May indicated immigrants from Vietnam had, for the first time ever, become the "single largest group crossing the Channel illegally", said ITV News.

Why are they leaving Vietnam?
For the most part, to find better employment. Many who travel west go to "seek better lives and to wire back money" to their families in Vietnam, said The Guardian, and consider the dangerous crossing to be worth the risk. "Failing businesses and debts" back home were cited as push factors for many migrants, said the BBC. 

What happens to them when they arrive?
Smugglers take advantage of "diplomatic relations" between Vietnam and countries from the former Soviet bloc to get people into Europe, said Infomigrants. If the migrants successfully make the crossing over the Channel, those without families or friends already in the UK are often put to work by the smuggling gangs who meet them on the other side, usually "in nail bars, or more rarely in cannabis farms". Many are also "coming to work in the sex industry", said The Times. Women now make up more than three-quarters of arrivals, and many bring a "significant amount" of contraception with them.

The previous UK government had confirmed it was in talks with the Vietnamese authorities to try to reduce the number of people making the journey, and with Hungarian officials over the issuing of work visas allowing Vietnamese migrants to enter the Schengen zone.

Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to dispute the US election, aided by a lawyer who took a central role in his failed bid to overturn the 2020 result.
 
Veteran GOP attorney Cleta Mitchell (pictured above) leads the Election Integrity Network, which is spearheading efforts to take "Trump's falsehoods about corruption in the democratic system and turn them into action", said The New York Times. Working closely with the Republican National Committee, the group has lobbied for new state election laws and enabled "debunked theories to jump from state to state".

Designed to 'confuse'
During congressional testimony last month, Mitchell claimed the Democrats rely on a "very porous voter registration system" to harvest illegal votes from non-citizen immigrants. There's very little evidence to support her claims, said HuffPost. Cases of non-citizens voting are "exceedingly rare", Allison Anderman, from the non-profit law institute The Brennan Center for Justice, told the news site. Attempts to purge voter rolls of noncitizens instead have mostly "resulted in the removal – or attempted removal – of US citizens".

Mitchell and her allies are using election lawsuits to paint a picture of "rampant voting fraud without offering hard evidence to support their claims", said The Intercept. The lawsuits are designed not to be won "but to confuse the public," said legal ethics professor Scott Cummings.

Flood of disinformation
Election conspiracy theories "are already thriving online", said Wired. False stories – including about ballots being destroyed in Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon authorising "lethal force" against election protesters – are part of the "flood of voting-related disinformation narratives" spread on social media by "right-wing election denial networks, the Trump campaign, and Russian propaganda groups".

Latest evidence suggests this strategy could backfire, however. A recent poll of US voters for NBC News found that election denialism was the "least popular position" a candidate could adopt. While those who already identified as Trump supporters responded positively, crucial "swing group" voters – including "suburban women, independents, moderates and seniors" – were strongly turned off by such claims. The election may depend on voters who reject election conspiracies.

Pumpkin is an "iconic" symbol of Halloween, but "it is more than just a pretty (jack-o-lantern) face", said Alessandra Signorelli in Vogue. From spice lattes to pies, we know pumpkin tastes good, but its "remarkable" health benefits are often overlooked. Low in calories and high in fibre, this winter squash is filled with vitamins and beta-carotene that will "support the vitality of the gut, skin, hair, and more".

The seeds, in particular, are "highly nutritious", said Healthline, and can improve fertility, heart health and blood sugar control. For a tasty snack or crunchy salad topping, drizzle pumpkin seeds with oil, season with your favourite spices and toast for around 40 minutes.

For the "best" pumpkin pie, said Better Homes & Gardens, using fresh, rather than canned, pumpkin is the "secret" to get a "thick, velvety texture". Making the puree for the filling is "not complicated" and if you make a big batch to freeze, it can also be used in cakes, casseroles and cookies.

Pumpkin soup is another great autumn food that's "warming and welcoming from the first chill in the air to the last lingering cold days", said Delish. Or for something a bit different, ramp up the taste, texture and nutritional value of mac and cheese by adding some fresh pumpkin, said The Independent. "The pumpkin becomes tender and sweet in the oven, and the onion also caramelises and adds lovely flavour to the dish."

Britain can't stop small boats by shouting at the sea
Yvette Cooper in The Telegraph
"Smashing smuggler gangs won't be done through unworkable gimmicks or quick fixes," writes Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. A "comprehensive plan" is needed that combines UK law enforcement with a "major upgrade in international co-operation". The "lines between different forms of criminality are increasingly blurred" and criminals have "never been more connected". So "the best way to strengthen Britain's border security is to work with neighbouring countries", not merely to "stand on the shoreline shouting at the sea".

The Tories no longer even speak for the right
James Chapman in City A.M.
"Being a criminal extremist" was once something that "didn't find favour on the right of British politics", which makes the pro-Trump position of senior Tories "all the more extraordinary", writes James Chapman. Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Robert Jenrick are "horribly out of step with the UK electorate, even those on the right". Whoever wins the presidency, these Conservatives' embrace of Trump will be a "permanent stain" on the party.

Joe Lycett, you're dad to me now
Will Gore in The Independent
Joe Lycett is "like a modern-day Jeremy Beadle", says Will Gore, but "with an edge". The comedian's pansexuality, and now his announcement that he's become a father, "seems to have caused confusion among those who prefer a linear life". Labels around sexuality "can confine just as easily as define", but Lycett's "openness" about his personal life can "help ensure the wheels of progressiveness keep turning".