Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 22 August 2023

1. Exiled Thai PM returns

Thailand’s former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has returned to the country after 15 years in exile. He has “long been feared by conservative royalists”, who have backed military coups and “contentious” court cases to “weaken him”, said the BBC. However, “now the brash, politically-ambitious telecoms tycoon” is back, presumably after striking a “quiet deal” to “keep him out of prison”. As he arrived, he “put his hands together” in greeting and then “waved to supporters, with a calm smile”, said the Bangkok Post.

2. Sunak admits boats complexity

Rishi Sunak has signalled that his plan to stop the boats may not succeed before the next general election. When asked if he would be able to solve the migrant crisis before voters next go to the polls, the prime minister said he wanted “to be honest with people that it is a complex problem”. His remark came amid warnings that Britain faces a permanent migrant backlog, costing taxpayers up to £5bn a year in hotel bills.

Stop the boats: will immigration define the next election?

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3. Inflation falling faster

The Office for National Statistics said inflation may be easing more quickly than first thought. Data released yesterday showed that the core inflation rate fell to 6.8% in July from 6.9% in June and from a peak of 7.3% in May. James Smith, an economist at ING, said the latest analysis was “tentatively good news” but Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said “we are still some way from reaching the Bank’s 2% target”.

Five options to get the UK back to 2% inflation

4. Scale of Museum loss calculated

More than 1,500 objects from the British Museum are thought to have been stolen or destroyed by a single thief, said The Telegraph. Although the museum declined to make public the number of items that were stolen, or to release photographs or descriptions of them, sources have told the paper that the true number is well over 1,000 and “closer to 2,000”. The total value of missing artefacts “runs into millions of pounds”, it added.

British museum worker sacked over ‘stolen’ treasures

5. Covid warning website struggling

The early warning website that first alerted the world to Covid is “on the brink of collapse” after an effort to raise $1m in running costs failed, said The Times. The closely followed ProMED website gathers reports from unofficial sources, including online forums and local newspapers, about potentially concerning clusters of illness and has them vetted by experts. “Sometimes, it’s the only way of bringing something to the international community’s knowledge,” said Professor Paul Hunter, of the University of East Anglia.

6. Eton to open in ‘cold spots’

Eton College will open three free sixth forms in deprived areas of the north and the Midlands to help young people get into Oxbridge and other top universities. The government has given the green light to the plans to open the state schools in Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham, with the promise of providing “rigorous and rounded education”. The locations were chosen as “cold spots” by the government’s Levelling Up paper, said the Daily Mail.

Prime ministers and private schools

7. MPs back ‘buy British’ flags

More than 100 MPs have called on supermarkets to champion UK farmers by creating a “Buy British” section on their websites. Graham Stuart, the climate minister, is among the Tories to sign an open letter calling on retailers to direct shoppers to home-grown food. It has also been signed by Theresa Villiers, a former environment secretary. The National Farmers’ Union said “we have been asking retailers to commit to signposting British produce for a number of years”.

8. China on downward spiral

Analysts have warned that China is facing a “downward economic spiral” due to a worsening crisis in its debt-laden property sector. Seven major lenders slashed their growth forecasts for the world’s second-largest economy after what was dubbed “disappointing” and “piecemeal” support measures from the central bank. Beijing has been struggling with a “disappointing rebound” from its “brutal pandemic lockdowns”, said The Telegraph.

What’s causing China’s deflation crisis?

9. Cheltenham chief loses appeal

The former head farrier at Cheltenham Racecourse, who struck a horse nine times with a hammer, has lost an appeal against a 10-year ban on him keeping and working with animals. Scott Manson’s attack on the horse, which was tied up at the time, was “unprovoked and prolonged” said prosecutors. Manson had previously thrown a dog out of a car, leaving it with a fractured pelvis. Manson was also convicted of carrying out a sustained campaign of harassment against his girlfriend for more than three months.

10. Funniest fringe gag chosen

The funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe has been named after a survey of 2,000 members of the British public. The joke, by Lorna Rose Treen, is: “I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah.” The comedian herself describes it as “one of my stupidest jokes” and “a proper Christmas-cracker-style joke”. She’s the only woman to win the prize since 2008, the year it was created by TV channel Dave.