Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 1 November 2022

1. Seaside sewage spectacle

A sewage leak at a Cornish beach over the weekend is the 10th time in three months the beauty spot has been “polluted by effluent”, said the Daily Mail. The brown tide, that was caught on camera at Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes, Cornwall, left locals and surfers “horrified”, said the paper. “Unfortunately it’s not uncommon to have these sewage pollution events,” the charity Surfers Against Sewage told The Times.

Is it dangerous to swim off Britain’s beaches?

2. Asylum system is ‘broken’

The home secretary has pledged to fix the UK’s “broken” asylum system. During a stormy debate in the Commons, Suella Braverman sparked anger when she said her policies were designed to counter an “invasion” on the south coast, adding: “Let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress.” She insisted she had “never blocked” the use of hotels to ease pressure on the Manston refugee centre or ignored legal advice on the matter.

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Can Suella Braverman solve ‘national disgrace’ of UK’s migrant crisis?

3. Sunak plans nurses pay cut

Millions of public sector workers “face a pay squeeze next year”, according to The Times. The paper said the Treasury is planning pay rises of 2% across the board in the public sector for 2023-24. This would represent real-term cuts for nurses, teachers, police officers and soldiers because inflation is forecast to remain as high as 9.5% for most of next year. Meanwhile, a Treasury source told The Telegraph, Rishi Sunak’s tax rises are “going to be rough”.

‘Dullness dividend’: can market psychology help Rishi Sunak out of fiscal hole?

4. Biden ‘lost temper with Zelensky’

Joe Biden lost his temper during a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky when the Ukrainian “did not show enough gratitude” after Washington signed off on $1bn worth of military assistance, NBC News reported. The US president raised his voice when Zelensky began itemising what else Kyiv needed shortly after the US president announced the major aid package. The president was said to have been getting increasingly angry for weeks before the June 15 call.

Is Joe Biden too old to run again in 2024?

5. South Korea police admit ‘inadequate’ response

South Korea’s police chief has admitted that crowd control during the Itaewon crush was “inadequate”. Yoon Hee-keun said police response was “disappointing” and that he felt “limitless responsibility”. South Korea’s President, Yoon Suk-yeol, also said crowd management needed to improve. Some 156 people were killed and 152 injured when thousands of Halloween revellers became trapped in a 3.2-metre-wide alley in the Itaewon area of Seoul on Saturday night.

How the Seoul Halloween crowd crush happened

6. Can Netanyahu return to power?

Israelis return to the polls today for their fifth election in less than four years. The country has been “locked in an unprecedented period of political stalemate since 2019”, said the BBC, when Benjamin Netanyahu, its longest-serving leader, was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which he denies. Today’s polling will be the 11th time that Netanyahu has stood for office but, said the Jerusalem Post, “if he fails, this could be his last election”.

7. Starmer told to focus on fewer issues

Keir Starmer has been told that Labour needs a more “coherent narrative” to win the next election. The Labour leader has been urged by his team to put his party on a general election footing with a “laser-sharp” focus on courting voters with a small number of key pledges rather than a sprawling plethora of policies, reported The Guardian. It comes as Rishi Sunak and the Tories have overturned Labour’s lead on who voters trust most to manage the economy, according to a poll published at the weekend.

Sunak vs. Starmer: what does new PM mean for Labour?

8. Crown makers ‘ignored William’

The makers of The Crown have ignored “heartfelt pleas” from Prince William not to exploit the notorious Panorama interview with his mother and have “put made-up quotes in her mouth”, said The Sun. Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine and friend of Diana, said: “William will be furious. He said his piece when he said it should never be aired again.” The series is due to air on Netflix next week.

The five most controversial moments from The Crown so far

9. Warning on caffeine in pregnancy

A new study has linked caffeine in pregnancy with children being an inch shorter. Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health found that just 50mg a day, the same as half a cup of coffee or one cup of tea, can lead to a child being almost an inch shorter than their peers by age eight. The team looked at two groups of children totalling almost 2,500 kids. NHS guidance currently states that a woman should not have more than 200mg of caffeine a day when pregnant, equivalent to two cups of instant coffee.

The pros and cons of drinking coffee

10. Swift makes chart history

Taylor Swift has become the first artist in history to claim the Top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US. The singer-songwriter has surpassed Drake, who had held the previous record with nine of the Top 10 songs for a week in September 2021. Billboard also reported that Swift now ties with Barbra Streisand for the female artist with the most No 1 albums, following the release of her new album Midnights.

Taylor Swift’s Midnights: what the critics are saying about her ‘tastefully subdued’ album