Teeth have become Britain’s “biggest class divide”, said The Independent. With patients regularly “denied NHS appointments even in emergencies”, dental care has become “about hierarchy, not health”.

The government is hoping to end that. It says newly announced reforms to NHS England dentistry “will prioritise patients with most urgent dental needs and those requiring complex treatments”, through changes including altering the way that NHS dentists are paid. Under the current payment scheme, complex dental care is “typically under-remunerated or even delivered at a loss”, according to the British Dental Association.

What did commentators say?
The changes mean patients with complex dental problems will be able to “book a package of treatment”, rather than having to arrange multiple appointments, which could save them up to £225, said Lizzy Buchan in The Mirror. This is a “victory” after a “decade of Tory austerity” that left “people desperately struggling to get care”.

If the changes mean “fewer people” are “left to suffer with complex problems”, that would be a “big gain”, said The Guardian’s editorial board. But “it should not be mistaken“ for a “solution” to all the issues with dental care in England. Before 2006, people had “the right to register with a dentist”, who would receive “a payment for each patient on their list”.

But after the NHS dental contract then changed, dentists were instead paid per “unit of dental activity”. Problems with this system quickly emerged, “in particular the lack of access to dentists for poor people in poor places”. Labour’s reforms are “a big tweak”, but they are “still a tweak and not the overhaul” of the fee structure “that most experts agree is needed”.

What next?
The reforms will be introduced in April, and a new dental contract is promised by the end of this parliament. Neil Carmichael, chair of the Association of Dental Groups, said it was essential that “necessary steps” are taken to “shore up the NHS England dental workforce”, which is “currently short by over 2,500 dentists”.

Babybel, the “small, ready-to-eat industrial cheese wrapped in its signature red wax”, is an unexpected beneficiary of anti-obesity drugs, said Le Monde. French-owned producer Bel is investing €60 million to ramp up production of the cheese amid increasing global demand, with sales soaring by 12% in the US.

Demand is increasing for a wide range of other snacks too, as meals are “swapped for grazing” among the growing number of people receiving weight-loss jabs, said The Independent.

‘Open up your palate’
As well as generally reducing appetite, GLP-1 weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro reduce the so-called reward value of junk food. We’re “hardwired to like things that used to be scarce in evolutionary terms”, like “large amounts of fat and sugar”, said Jason Halford of the European Association for the Study of Obesity. By reducing those cravings, weight-loss jabs can “open up your palate and allow you to appreciate other tastes”.

Not all of those new tastes may be sophisticated. A high-protein version of Babybel has found a thriving market among US consumers on weight-loss jabs who want savoury, protein-rich snacks, rather than sweet stuff.

Cold turkey
In the UK, more than 1.5 million people are thought to be using weight-loss drugs – which will have repercussions for how consumers shop and eat. The supermarket sector is “unprepared for the change this Christmas”, when more than one in 10 Britons say they will be hosting at least one guest who is on anti-obesity medication, City A.M. said.

“There is a worry that Christmas retail hasn’t caught up with reality,” said Toby Nicol, founder of weight-loss group CheqUp. “Millions of people now eat dramatically smaller portions, yet the supermarket aisle still assumes everyone wants a full adult serving.”

Although sales of some foods may drop, retailers in other sectors may stand to gain. Data suggests that weight-loss drug patients are splashing out more on clothing and skincare and hair products as they “become more interested in their appearance”, according to market research analysts Berenberg.

Brides and grooms line up at a mass wedding in the Zawayda area of the central Gaza Strip. A total of 203 Palestinian couples tied the knot during the supersize ceremony, organised by a Turkish humanitarian organisation.

Eyad Baba / AFP / Getty Images

This “witty”, musical retelling of the story of a magical, nose-lengthening puppet is a “heartwarming” celebration of “curiosity” and “acceptance”, said Aliya Al-Hassan in WhatsOnStage. Staged in the Renaissance setting of Shakespeare’s Globe, it’s the “perfect family show” and that’s “no lie”.

Charlie Josephine’s “funny and touching script” and Sean Holmes’ expansive direction transforms Carlo Collodi’s original book into a “snappy” production, with “plenty for everyone to enjoy”. Interacting seamlessly with the human characters, Pinocchio is “masterfully” handled by puppeteers Stan Middleton, Aya Nakamura and Andrea Sadler. “The audience falls in love with him almost instantly.”

The 14-person cast brings “full-tilt fun” to the stage with the help of Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s “inventive” choreography, said Lucinda Everett in The Guardian. The show’s “biggest success” is the transformation of puppet inventor Geppetto: Nick Holder brings “heart and humour” to the role, taking the audience on his journey from “nervous caregiver to fully fledged father”.

It is “miles away” from the Disney version, said Alice Saville in The Independent. Although the early scenes feel a bit “stodgy”, the music by Jim Fortune soon livens things up with “foot-stomping Renaissance bops, dark bluesy numbers, and rabble-rousing rock ’n’ roll”.

The Globe is “naturally suited” to folklore and fairytales, said Claire Allfree in The Telegraph, and “the production leans into its theatrical setting” with a set like “an old-fashioned puppet theatre” with “red curtains and moveable cardboard cutouts”. Amid the “annual slosh of panto and exhausted West End festive musicals”, this show is a breath of fresh air.

Trump’s $10bn attack on the BBC doesn’t have to make sense. In his absurd world, he has already won
Jane Martinson in The Guardian
Keir Starmer should “channel” Hugh Grant’s PM character in “Love Actually” and “stand up to an absurd US president”, writes Jane Martinson. Donald Trump is “bullying the BBC” with his $10 billion lawsuit, and while the broadcaster “says it will fight”, the “portentous” legal costs put it in “a lose-lose situation”. Meanwhile, the “reality TV president” has already won if this “absurdist farce” can “damage” a news organisation “trying to hold the most powerful to account”.

While time is wasted arguing over the definition of Islamophobia, the harm continues
Naomi Green in The Telegraph
Critics are warning of “threats to free speech” if Labour updates the current “definition of anti-Muslim hatred”, writes Naomi Green of the Muslim Council of Britain. While they “argue over semantics”, Muslims in Britain “continue to face abuse, discrimination and violence”. Such “definitions are not silver bullets”, but they bring “clarity and consistency”, “making it easier to record and report” abuse. It’s about working “effectively to keep communities safe” by “taking hatred seriously before it escalates into violence”.

The Brompton bicycle has had its day
Alexander Larman in The Spectator
Rush-hour commuters “will be familiar with the unlovely spectacle of a middle-aged man solemnly making a fool out of himself” on a “bicycle that seems slightly too small for him”, writes Alexander Larman. The “fiddly” and “overpriced” folding Brompton bicycle was “once a status symbol” for the “upwardly mobile professional” but is now “an object of ridicule”. As people turn to “easier, cheaper Lime bikes” instead, the “twee” Brompton “may have met its Waterloo”.