Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 14 September 2022

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1. Queen spends final night at Palace
2. William and Harry to walk together
3. Truss may scrap anti-obesity drive
4. Putin and Xi to meet in Uzbekistan
5. Charles staff ‘livid’ over redundancies
6. Concern over Japanese marriage study
7. Officer charged with child sex offences
8. Aldi leapfrogs Morrisons
9. Lennon killer denied parole
10. Center Parcs backtracks on funeral ejections

published 14 September 2022

1. Queen spends final night at Palace

The Queen has spent a final night at Buckingham Palace, five days after she died at Balmoral. “In a private moment, away from the cameras and the onlookers that have followed the progress of the coffin ever since it left Balmoral Castle on Sunday, the King and the Queen Consort received the coffin at the palace,” said The Times. “For one last night Queen Elizabeth was back with her family again.” Outside the palace, thousands of well wishers had cheered as the state hearse, being used for the first time, entered the palace gates “as darkness fell,” said The Guardian.

Prince William and Prince Harry will walk together behind the Queen’s coffin in a procession today. The brothers will follow the coffin on foot from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the Queen will lie in state. The King, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex will also walk with them during the procession, which will leave the palace at 2:22pm and is expected to arrive at Westminster Hall at 3pm. Camilla, the Queen Consort, and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, will make the journey by car, as will Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

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Liz Truss could cancel the government’s entire anti-obesity strategy after ministers ordered an official review of measures designed to deter people from eating junk food. The Guardian said the review could pave the way for the new PM to lift the ban on sugary products being displayed at checkouts, “buy one get one free” multi-buy deals in shops and scrap restrictions on advertising certain products on TV before the 9pm watershed. Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, had made tackling foods high in fat, salt or sugar a personal priority after his admission to intensive care with Covid-19 in 2020.

The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will discuss the war in Ukraine and other “international and regional topics” at their meeting later this week. The Russian and Chinese leaders will meet in Uzbekistan at a summit that will mark Xi’s first trip overseas since the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, said Sky News, “pressure is piling up on retreating Russians” as Ukrainian troops press deeper into occupied territory, “consolidating the swathes of recent gains” during a counter attack.

Up to 100 staff at Clarence House have been warned their jobs are at risk following King Charles III’s accession to the throne. The employees were given the news during the thanksgiving service for the Queen in Edinburgh on Monday, said The Guardian. “Everybody is absolutely livid,” said a source. “All the staff have been working late every night since Thursday, to be met with this. People were visibly shaken by it.” Clarence House said some redundancies were “unavoidable” because of the change in role for Charles and his wife Camilla, now Queen Consort.

Concerns in Japan about the country’s low birth rate have grown after a survey found that a record proportion of men and women in Japan say they do not intend to marry. According to the survey, by the National Institute of Population and Social Security, 17.3% of men and 14.6% of women aged between 18 and 34 said they had no intention of ever tying the knot – the highest figure since the investigation was first conducted in 1982. The latest results come as Japan faces the prospect of stark depopulation and a diminishing workforce and economy.

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with a series of child sex offences, including sexual activity with an underage girl and taking indecent images of children. PC Hussain Chehab, based in the North Area Basic Command Unit, is accused of a total of 13 crimes. Detective Chief Superintendent Caroline Haines, in charge of policing for the Unit, said: “We recognise that this news will cause concern within the community and we have fully engaged with our local partners throughout this investigation.”

Aldi has surpassed Morrisons to become Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain. The discount grocer enjoyed an 18.7% jump in sales in the 12 weeks to September 4 that boosted its share of the overall grocery market to 9.3%, according to figures released by Kantar. Lidl also experienced a surge in sales, which were up 20.9%. “Rampant inflation is prompting consumers to tighten their belts,” said the Times, and they are increasingly “turning to discounters amid soaring food prices”.

The man who fatally shot John Lennon in 1980 has been denied parole for the 12th time, reported CNN. Mark David Chapman, who is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York, appeared before the parole board on 31 August. He will be eligible to apply for parole again in two years. On 8 December 1980, Chapman shot Lennon with a .38-calibre handgun, firing five shots and hitting Lennon in the back four times.

Center Parcs has backtracked after being accused of “ruining people’s holidays” by announcing it would close its UK sites for 24 hours on Monday to mark the Queen’s funeral. The holiday company had announced that guests at its five UK parks would have to leave by 10am on Monday, even if they are in the middle of a holiday. However, it now says they will be allowed to stay. British Cycling has also backtracked after its “strong recommendation” that people should not use their bikes at all during the Queen’s funeral was widely criticised.

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