Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 25 May 2023

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1. Glitches hit DeSantis launch
2. Red Wall voters pessimistic
3. Energy bills set to fall
4. Brexit red tape costs
5. Record immigration data expected
6. Senior Tories decry Johnson allies
7. AI helps man walk again
8. Plant-based diets cut heart risk
9. Braverman speeding row rumbles on
10. Tributes to ‘goddess’ Turner

published 25 May 2023

1. Glitches hit DeSantis launch

Ron DeSantis’s official entry into the 2024 race for the White House was “hit by technical glitches” after a Twitter livestream “malfunctioned”, said the BBC. The Florida governor’s launch, which got under way 20 minutes late, saw him promise “to lead our great American comeback”. DeSantis’s critics and his top political opponents “pounced on the glitch fest”, said CNBC. “His collar is too big!” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, his own social network.

Three out of four Red Wall voters think nothing in Britain works anymore, a new poll has found. Some 91% believe “things are worse than before” and 80% think the social contract - the idea of a society based on moral and political rules of behaviour - has collapsed. Just 30% are optimistic for the future, found the New Britain Project think tank. The “depressing” poll is a “fresh blow to the Tories’ election chances in former Labour strongholds the party seized in December 2019”, said The Mirror.

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A significant fall in domestic energy bills in July will be confirmed today when the regulator sets the next price cap in England, Wales and Scotland. Commentators have forecast that Ofgem’s decision will mean a £450 drop in a typical household’s annual gas and electricity bill, to about £2,050. However, campaigners have told Yahoo Finance, the lower cap is “unlikely to provide much relief” to struggling households because the government’s support schemes have come to an end.

Red tape caused by Brexit has cost each household £250 in higher food bills alone since the UK left the EU, according to a new study. Analysts found that food price rises would have been 8 percentage points lower – nearly a third – without Brexit, at 17%, rather than the actual rise of almost 25%. Non-tariff barriers in force since Brexit include customs checks, rules-of-origin requirements and health paperwork for animals and plants, according to the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.

Immigration records will be broken this year, according to data expected today. The figures, from the Office for National Statistics are set to show that net migration hit between 700,000 and a million last year. Labour said yesterday that it would cut immigration by barring employers from recruiting foreign workers unless they pay the going industry rate. A poll by Ipsos Mori has found that Labour is more trusted than the Conservatives on immigration, by 38% to 29%, reported The Times.

Senior Tories said Boris Johnson’s allies are behaving like a “cult” and damaging the reputation of the Tory brand. The former PM’s allies are furious over the Cabinet Office’s decision to refer Johnson to the police over another potential lockdown breach, claiming it is a politically motivated “witch hunt”. However, one Tory warned that the party was growing tired of Johnson and “patience is thin”. The Conservatives have “descended into a fresh civil war”, said the i news site.

A man paralysed in a bicycle accident 12 years ago is able to stand and walk naturally again, with the help of a new AI system that reads his thoughts and wirelessly connects his brain and legs. Swiss neuroscientists have created a “wireless digital bridge” that is able to restore the lost connection between the brain and the spinal cord system. “I feel like a toddler, learning to walk again,” Gert-Jan Oskam told the BBC.

Plant-based diets are good for heart health, according to a review of four decades of data. Researchers in Denmark found that vegetarian and vegan diets cut levels of cholesterol and fats in the blood that increase heart attacks, with a positive effect that is “really substantial”. The research “pulled together” 30 trials since 1982 and concluded that maintaining a plant-based a diet for 15 years could cut the risk of cardiovascular disease by 20%. The World Health Organization estimates cardiovascular disease kills nearly 18 million people every year, noted the BBC.

Rishi Sunak has cleared Suella Braverman of breaching the ministerial code. In a letter to the home secretary, the prime minister said that, after consulting his ethics adviser, on this occasion a formal inquiry was “not necessary”. The Telegraph said Braverman “poses more of a threat from the backbenches” and therefore Sunak “wisely decided to avoid a full-scale war with the European Research Group (ERG) wing of his party”. Liberal Democrats Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said it was a “cowardly cop-out” from the PM.

Beyoncé has led the tributes to Tina Turner, describing the late singer as the “epitome of passion and power”. The soul and pop legend, whose hits included “The Best” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”, has died at the age of 83. Gloria Gaynor said Turner “paved the way for so many women in rock music, black and white” and Mick Jagger described the star as “enormously talented”. Oprah Winfrey said Turner was “our forever goddess of rock ‘n’ roll who contained a magnitude of inner strength that grew throughout her life”.

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