Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 28 August 2023

1. UK risks ‘tidal wave’ of heart disease

Britain faces a “tidal wave” of heart disease due to a dependence on ultra-processed food that is causing harm similar to smoking, according to two new studies. Experts warned that more than half of the British diet is linked to heart attacks and strokes. Campaigners said the findings, presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Amsterdam, must act as a “wake-up call” for the government. Meanwhile, The Mirror reported that healthy, fresh produce is almost impossible to find in poorer areas of Britain.

2. Braverman tells cops to up game

The home secretary has told police they must investigate every theft and follow all reasonable leads to catch offenders. Writing in The Telegraph, Suella Braverman said it is “completely unacceptable that criminals are often “effectively free to break certain laws”. She told police to use evidence from smart doorbells and dashcams to solve more lower-level crimes. In the year to March, just 4.4% of all theft offences resulted in someone being charged, which Labour described as a “staggering admission of 13 years of Tory failure on policing and crime”.

3. Migrants may be tagged

Migrants arriving illegally in Britain may be tagged to prevent them escaping, said The Times. The immigration detention estate can hold only 2,500 people, so officials have been asked to find alternative ways of ensuring that thousands of migrants who arrive illegally but cannot be detained do not abscond. Home Office officials have been asked for a “deep dive” into alternatives to detention, and one of the options under consideration is fitting all arrivals with electronic GPS tags. However, officials have already warned that there might not be enough tags.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

4. Protests as Libya meets Israel

Libya’s prime minister has suspended his foreign minister after she met informally with her Israeli counterpart. Israel’s Eli Cohen said the meeting with Najla al-Mangoush was a historic first step in establishing relations, but the meeting has sparked protests as Libya does not recognise Israel. “Roads were blocked, tyres burnt and demonstrators waved the Palestinian flag”, said the BBC, “though the protests appear to have been relatively small”.

5. Five ministers ‘may lose seats’

At least five cabinet ministers and several other high profile Conservative MPs are set to lose their seats at the next election unless the polls “dramatically improve”, said the inews site. With a BMG survey putting Labour 15 percentage points ahead of the Tories, top Conservatives including Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt and Mark Harper would be “ejected from the House of Commons”, said the outlet. The news comes as Nadine Dorries refused to say whether she will vote for the Tories at the next election, after she formally resigned.

6. Viral video man sues BBC

A man who became an “internet sensation” after BBC staff confused him with a technology expert is to sue the broadcaster. Guy Goma had arrived for a job interview with the BBC’s IT department when he was ushered into the news studio and interviewed about a legal battle between Apple computers and Apple Corps. A clip of the encounter went viral but the 54-year-old has claimed that he has received no payment for the 2006 interview on BBC News 24, despite it being viewed millions of times.

7. ‘Blubbing’ at Loch Ness

Hunters at the biggest search for the Loch Ness Monster in half a century said they heard mysterious “blubbing” underwater sounds. However, “hopes of a historic breakthrough were dashed” because organisers admitted that they had failed to turn on recording equipment to capture the noises. They later admitted that they may have been made by ducks. Organisers said that hundreds of people descended on Loch Ness over the weekend, in what was billed as the biggest search for Nessie since 1972.

8. Rape posts unfilled

One in eight posts for police officers specialising in rape and serious sexual offences remain unfilled, said The Guardian. Deniz Uğur, the deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said the data showed that police forces “are not prioritising tackling sexual violence”. There were 70,633 rapes recorded by police in the year to September last year but only 459 convictions in the 2022 calendar year, noted the paper.

9. ‘Disbelief’ over festival rule

Traders and revellers at Reading Festival have responded with “disbelief” over one of its rules, which bans clothing that “promotes cultural appropriation”, said The Times. Rules for the event, which is run by Festival Republic, list items that cannot be taken into the campsite or arena. They include “clothing/garments/items which promote cultural appropriation” alongside “anything that could reasonably be considered for use as a weapon”. However, several sellers displayed elephant-print harem pants, Native American ponchos and what appeared to be authentic yak wool Tibetan shawls, said the paper.

10. Trump makes millions from mugshot

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has turned his mugshot into a “lucrative earner”, raising more than $7 million since he was booked at a jail in Atlanta on Thursday, said The Times. The Trump 2024 website is selling mugs, T-shirts, beer glasses and bumper stickers all emblazoned with his “scowling jailhouse image” said the paper. The merchandise items bear slogans like “Never Surrender!” Staff say they raised a record £4.2m on Friday, the day after he surrendered at a Georgia police station.