Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 5 December 2022

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1. UK faces ‘lost growth decade’
2. Health checks moved online
3. RMT rejects pay offer
4. Trump leaps on Biden revelation
5. UK-bound plane diverted to Prague
6. Report finds ‘devastating’ divides
7. Straight men want several partners
8. Police to be monitored for bias
9. Met Office may walk out
10. France will be ‘tough test’ for England

published 5 December 2022

1. UK faces ‘lost growth decade’

The UK faces a decade of lost growth unless drastic action is taken, warned the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) boss, Tony Danker. “We don’t have people we need, nor the productivity,” said Danker. Predicting that the economy will contract by 0.4% next year, he said Britain is in stagflation - with “rocketing inflation, negative growth, falling productivity and business investment”. Although firms see potential growth opportunities, “headwinds are causing them to pause investing in 2023,” he added.

Face-to-face GP appointments for mid-life health checks will be scrapped and moved online, according to The Times. In a bid to ease pressure on the NHS, patients will be asked to complete a questionnaire, use a kit to take a blood sample at home and visit a pharmacy for a blood pressure check. The Royal College of GPs said the proposals could encourage people to take more of interest in their health, but would need to come with simple instructions and a “robust evaluation”.

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Donald Trump has called for the US constitution to be terminated after Elon Musk revealed details of Twitter seemingly suppressing images of Joe Biden’s naked son at the request of the President “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION?” Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social, as he accused “Big Tech” of working closely with Democrats.

A plane travelling into the UK was diverted to the Czech Republic due to a report of a “possible bomb” on board. The flight was understood to be an Easyjet flight travelling from Krakow in Poland, to Bristol in the UK. After it landed safely in Prague, Czech police said their explosives experts were at the scene and were investigating the reported device. Prague Airport later said no dangerous object was found on the plane.

Divides in health and wealth in the UK are worsening despite the Tories’ claim of “levelling up”, a new study has found. People in the UK are getting “sicker and poorer” stated the IPPR report, which found that a significantly higher than average proportion of working-age people are economically inactive because of poor health in the north-east, north-west, Yorkshire, east Midlands, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Labour called the report “devastating”.

Nearly a third of straight men (32%) would like multiple partners, found researchers at Swansea University. Only 5% of women were interested in forming part of such a relationship but 11% would consider having more than one husband or long-term boyfriend. “Whether participants would ever follow through on these hypothetical decisions is up for debate,” said the researchers, “but taken at face value, the idea of these mating arrangements was not universally repulsive”.

Police officers in schools will be monitored to see if they are disproportionately targeting black children. Under the plans, which are part of new measures agreed in negotiations between the Metropolitan police and the London mayor, the use of powers by officers in London, such as arrests and stop and searches, will be examined for evidence of racial bias. Black people are “seven times more likely to be stopped by police on suspicion of carrying weapons”, said The Guardian.

Met Office workers are ready to join the mass public sector walkouts with the forecasters expected to become the latest to announce backing for industrial action this week. Meteorologists and supercomputer operators at the Met Office are thought to be ready to back strikes, raising the prospect of interruptions to Britain’s weather forecasts. “The forecast is a spell of strikes across the country, with widespread industrial action later,” quipped The Times.

England will meet France in the World Cup quarter-finals after an beating Senegal at Al Bayt Stadium. Following a nervy opening, a brace of quick-fire goals - the first from Jordan Henderson, the second from Harry Kane - put Gareth Southgate’s side in control. In the second half, Bukayo Saka scored his third goal of the tournament. England face the “toughest test they could ask for in the next round”, said Sky News.

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