Relatives of Nicholas Brandram, the man suspected of being the so-called “Putney pusher”, have accused Scotland Yard of being “negligent and reckless” after he was found dead at an address in London last week. 

The 44-year-old had been arrested in June on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm in 2017 by pushing a woman into the path of a bus. He “took his own life after months of immense pressure” caused by the Metropolitan Police investigation, said his family.

What did the police do?
At around 7.40am on 5 May 2017, a man jogging along the pavement on Putney Bridge in southwest London appeared to veer towards a woman coming in the opposite direction and push her into the path of an oncoming bus. The bus driver managed to swerve around her just in time. Detectives interviewed 50 men and arrested three suspects, but all three were released without charge and the Met closed its investigation in 2018. 

Then, this summer, detectives arrested Brandram. He was additionally arrested on suspicion of possessing Class A and Class B drugs after a search of his home, and was suspended from his role as senior manager for HSBC’s private banking service. It is understood that he told friends that “a relative of his ex-wife had gone to the Met”, following “an acrimonious divorce” and custody battle, said The Times.

He was initially released on bail. But, earlier this month, the Met announced that he had been released under investigation without any conditions, “suggesting that the case was not progressing with any urgency”, said The Telegraph. He was never charged or tried.

What does his family say?
Brandram’s relatives insist he was not the Putney pusher, and say the Met Police’s failure to clear his name was “a source of profound grief and anger for our family”. “There was no forensic evidence linking Nick” to the crime, and “no evidence placing him on Putney Bridge at that time”. The evidence, they said in a statement, “proved the opposite”.

A spokesperson for the Independent Office for Police Conduct confirmed that it had received “a mandatory referral” from the Met Police after Brandram’s death. The Met says its investigation into the Putney pusher is still ongoing.

Revenge, for Charles Spencer, is “best served in a primetime television slot with the merest hint of a smirk and, where appropriate, a few tears”, said The Times. Princess Diana’s brother, the ninth Earl Spencer, sat down with Laura Kuenssberg for a 30-minute interview on the BBC, and expanded on a series of controversial allegations set out in his new memoir, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”.

‘Gaslit by the King’
Perhaps the most shocking claim in the book relates to a comment allegedly made by King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, in the days immediately after Diana’s death in 1997. Spencer claims that, during a heated telephone call about the funeral arrangements, Charles “hissed” the words: “We’ll forget her soon enough.” He also alleges that Charles sounded “giddily elated” on the phone shortly after receiving news that Diana had been killed in a car crash in Paris. 

Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of the King suggesting that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss”. That response was “astonishingly provocative and below the belt”, Spencer told The Mail on Sunday. “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the King,” he said, calling the statement a “rather poor imitation” of the late Queen’s “‘recollections may vary’ quote”.

‘Cancerous’ tabloids
Spencer’s memoir also reveals details of Charles and Diana’s deeply unhappy marriage. Diana allegedly told a friend in the days before their wedding in 1981 that Charles was “very happy to marry her” but was “not actually in love with her”, and she was sure his “heart was elsewhere”. The earl also alleges that Charles contributed to Diana’s eating disorder by squeezing her waist soon after their engagement and saying, “Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?” 

Spencer claims there was a “lack of obvious care” for 12-year-old Harry, who seemed “so very alone in his despair and torment” following his mother’s death, and suggests the young prince was “allowed to spin out of control”. When asked by Kuenssberg how he feels about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now, he expressed concerns over their security. Pointing to the “cancerous influence” of tabloid newspaper articles, he said: “It would really be beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example.”

The gas and dust of the Shark Nebula, 650 light years away in the constellation Cepheus, is captured by photographer Ali Alobaidly after two nights’ camping in the Kuwaiti desert. The image has won him the title of Royal Observatory Greenwich’s ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

Ali Alobaidly / Royal Observatory Greenwich’s ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year

That lunchbox that’s been “lurking” at the back of the cupboard for the past few years “may finally be heading back to work”, said Andrew Ellson in The Times. No more popping into Pret a Manger for a sandwich; office workers are “rediscovering the packed lunch”.

This doesn’t have to mean soggy sandwiches or a “punishment tub of undressed baby spinach and slimy sweet potato chunks”, said Jimi Famurewa in The Guardian. Instead, you can get creative with “punchy, textural riots” like chapati omelette rolls or a celeriac, apple and lentil salad “brightened by lemony mayonnaise and an enlivening lick of Dijon mustard”. 

For something easy but “great for gut health”, try whipping up a batch of ancient grains (you can use a Merchant Gourmet pouch from the supermarket) with feta and avocado, said Xanthe Clay in The Telegraph. Pack in as many vegetables as you like, and add pumpkin seeds. A tasty lunch like this will “boost your diet diversity” and deliver slow-release energy.

If you prefer something more hearty and warming, consider making a homemade minestrone with parmesan meatballs. Ideal for cooking at the weekend and freezing in batches, it “always tastes better the next day”.

Another brilliant recipe to “add to your repertoire” is an “oh-so-comforting” vegan chickpea and cauliflower dahl, said Good Housekeeping. Filled with “fragrant” spices and plenty of vegetables, it’s perfect served with “cooling” yoghurt, steamed rice or naan bread.

Obsession with ‘smart’ tech has killed privacy for us all
Ruben Andersson in The Telegraph
We’ve “hardwired careless sharing into every aspect of our lives”, writes anthropologist Ruben Andersson. We fit our homes with Ring doorbells, Alexas and Nests; track our movements with Fitbits and AirTags, and send our “genetic material to some cheery” internet start-up. It all “comes with disproportionate costs to our privacy” but “huge benefits” for those sucking the “data out of our lives”. Giving Big Tech “so much knowledge” makes us “the servants of technology rather than the other way round”.

The spineless Suffolk superstar who exposed the true cost of ‘neutrality’
Ian Birrell in The i Paper
“Ed Sheeran is trying to salvage his brand,” writes Ian Birrell, but his “carefully-constructed” apology was “laced with hypocrisy”. He “invited an overtly-political performer on his tour, then refused to back him when pushed into a corner by powerful” promoters. “I have more respect for Boy George for daring to release his terrible pro-Israel song.” It may “be costly to take sides” but it’s “even worse to duck the big issues of our era”.

Cake at work can betray a cynical taste for reputation management
The Times’ editorial board
Women who dish out “sweet treats” at work apparently have “a cynical taste for reputation management”, says The Times. A new study has found that they’re not “being nice” when they bring in that “red velvet sponge”, but rather taking part in an “arms race in cod generosity” between the office’s “most manipulative members” – the ones “after the promotion that has been rightfully yours for years”. Machiavellian dark arts are “alive and well” and “being practised in marketing and human resources”.