Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 13 December 2022

1. ‘Decade of neglect’ has weakened NHS

A government-commissioned report has concluded that a “decade of neglect” by successive Conservative governments has weakened the NHS to the point that it will not be able to tackle the care backlog. The report, ordered by the Department of Health and Social Care last year, is highly critical of the impact on the NHS of the austerity programme launched by David Cameron in 2010 and continued by his successor, Theresa May. “This is not a Covid problem,” said an expert, “this is an austerity problem”.

Can the NHS’s ‘worst ever crisis’ actually be fixed?

2. Rail strike after ‘substandard’ pay offer

The latest wave of train strikes has begun after members of the UK’s largest rail union rejected a pay offer. Rail workers will walk out today, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday as the dispute over pay and working practices continues. Union members rejected a fresh pay offer from Network Rail yesterday, describing it as “substandard”. Unions say any pay offer should reflect the soaring cost of living and should include a guarantee of no compulsory job losses.

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Who is going on strike this winter – and when

3. Boy died trying to save others

It is thought that a ten-year-old boy who died after being pulled from a freezing lake had jumped in to save other children. According to a family member, the schoolboy, named as Jack Johnson, leapt into the water after seeing other boys, whom he did not know, fall through the ice. Locals left flowers, balloons, soft toys and lighted candles at a vigil held on Monday night following the deaths of three boys aged eight, 10 and 11, who had fallen through the ice into Babbs Mill lake in the West Midlands.

Three children dead after plunging into frozen Solihull lake

4. Harry blames ‘gaslighting’ for bust up

The latest trailer for the Harry and Meghan series on Netflix has been caused a fresh stir, with Prince Harry saying: “They were happy to lie to protect my brother, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.” Although the context of the quote is not clear in the ad, commentators believe it is an attack on the media, rather than the royal family. The couple also explain why they stepped down from royal duties. “I wasn’t being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves,” said Meghan. Prince Harry blamed “institutional gaslighting”.

What Harry & Meghan reveals about the Duchess of Sussex’s reputation within the royal family

5. Next-day deliveries being dropped

Some private parcel companies are dropping next-day delivery services due to the Royal Mail strike. DPD has temporarily suspended its next-day services in some areas of the UK as it struggles to cope with “soaring demand” as customers “lose faith” in Royal Mail because of strike disruption, said The Telegraph. DPD said Royal Mail’s strikes have had “a huge knock-on effect across the entire industry” as customers moved to other courier services ahead of Christmas.

Why postal workers are going on strike

6. Letby ‘plunged milk into baby’

A court has heard that Lucy Letby used a plunger to force milk and air into one of the babies she is accused of attempting to murder. The episode caused the baby to projectile vomit a “massive” amount of milk, according to a medical expert. Although medical staff managed to save the baby’s life, the incident caused the child severe brain damage. Letby, who is accused of murdering seven children in the neonatal unit of the hospital in Cheshire, and of 15 attempted murders, denies all the charges.

Lucy Letby: the NHS nurse on trial for murdering babies

7. Warning after ‘coldest day since 2010’

Yesterday was the coldest day in the UK since December 2010, with the temperature in Braemar, Aberdeenshire falling as low as minus 9.3 Celsius (15F). The cold conditions are continuing to cause disruption across the UK, after the Met Office issued a yellow snow and ice warning covering northern Scotland and north-east England until noon on Thursday. There is also an ice warning covering much of the South East, including London and Brighton, until 11am on Tuesday. As slushy snow turns to ice, motorists are being urged to avoid the roads where possible.

Will there be a white Christmas in the UK?

8. Crypto boss arrested in Bahamas

Police in the Bahamas have arrested former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, after receiving formal notification from the US of criminal charges against him. The failed cryptocurrency boss will appear in a magistrates court in the Bahamas on Tuesday, authorities in the Caribbean country said. He was arrested for “financial offences” against laws in the US and The Bahamas. Last month FTX filed for bankruptcy in the US, leaving many users unable to withdraw their funds.

Does looming FTX collapse spell the end of crypto?

9. Lockerbie suspect won’t face death penalty

A man accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie was told he would not face the death penalty as he appeared in a US court. Authorities in the US claim that Abu Agila Masud was a Libyan intelligence operative and played a key role in the 1988 attack. Appearing with a white beard and dressed in a long prison jumpsuit, he “walked slowly, almost limping”, to the defence table, said CNN.

Was Lockerbie conviction a miscarriage of justice?

10. Microsoft teams up with LSEG

Microsoft will snap up a £1.5bn stake in London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) as part of a 10-year partnership to move the exchange operator’s data into the cloud. LSEG has committed to spending a minimum of £2.3bn with Microsoft on cloud infrastructure for its analytics platforms. The LSEG, which runs the FTSE 100, has “tight links” to the UK government and is expected to play a key part in ministers’ hopes to reinvigorate the City of London, said The Guardian.