The number of fatalities caused by drink-drivers in the UK has reached its highest level since 2009.

The latest figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) showed there were an estimated 300 deaths in Great Britain in 2022 caused by collisions in which at least one driver was over the alcohol limit. 

The data "worryingly shows a dangerous upward trend for the second year running", said William Porter, from the road safety charity IAM RoadSmart.

One for the road
The UK's first TV advert about drink-driving aired on 7 November 1964 as part of the then newly launched THINK! campaign. The clip was "fairly relaxed" and had "none of the shock tactics, car-crash carnage, gory drama" associated with modern drink-driving ads, said the BBC in 2014, on the 50th anniversary of the ad's release. 

Back then, the idea of "one for the road" was widely accepted, said the broadcaster. It was the "social norm" for "pub-going folk to drink and drive", said Gerard Hastings, professor of social marketing at Stirling University. People would "boast about getting away with it", he said. "There was definitely a sense of bravado."

Bucking the trend
Five decades on, drink-driving is "viewed largely as morally abhorrent", Hastings said.

But the latest DfT data indicates that the number of deaths caused by drink-driving incidents is "back to a similar rate" to the late 1980s, said the RAC's spokesperson, Rod Dennis. 

The UK appears to be "bucking the general long-term trend" for safer roads and more responsible driving, said The Guardian. The overall number of deaths is now far lower than the final decades of the 20th century, as is the case in many other countries. Still, it's "abundantly clear", said the RAC's Dennis, that a "hard core of people, especially men, continue to put the lives of all road users at risk by choosing to get behind the wheel after consuming too much alcohol".

Drivers "need to be prevented from being able to drink and drive in the first place", he said. There's a "good case" to be made for introducing "alcolocks", which would not allow drivers to start their car without taking a breathalyser test.

"Kamala IS brat": three words that should mean nothing to anyone, but in fact may have sounded the death knell on the pop culture phenomenon of 2024. 

Charli xcx’s songs and the lime-green colour "have decorated the summer of the world's coolest it-girls for weeks", said The Economist. But her short "Kamala IS brat" tweet and the subsequent co-opting of the brat aesthetic by the Kamala Harris presidential campaign has led to some cultural commentators declaring the phenomenon dead.

'Harris embodies the 2024 definition of brat'
The singer herself has defined "brat" culture in interviews: "You're just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party." All a brat needs is "just like a pack of cigs and like a Bic lighter".

Of course, "none of that screams White House", said The Economist. Yet in certain contexts, "Harris embodies this 2024 definition of brat", said Time. "Harris's career has been characterised by being decidedly different."

While the phenomenon "might be ageing out of its initial hype", said Culted's Robyn Pullen, it "doesn’t mean it's over". Charli xcx certainly doesn't think so; an Instagram post she shared this week acknowledging the claims that brat summer is over, and widely believed to be trailing a remix of the "Brat" album, is captioned: "oh ? see u next week :)"

'We memed too close to the sun'
With her endorsement of Harris, "whatever counter-cultural cachet the idea of 'brat summer' may once have had has been obliterated overnight," said Dazed's James Greig. 

"Nothing about brat is inherently political," said AntiArt. Charli xcx "throwing support behind a female candidate in the name of 'girl power' feels kind of lame and outdated to me". Charli's tweet may have "put the final nail in the coffin of the brat summer meme", wrote Mother Jones's Sophie Hurwitz. "Of course, discussing brat summer in Mother Jones also kills brat summer." 

That assessment gets to the heart of the issue when it comes to who killed brat. "It's easy to blame other people," said Dazed's Greig, "but if you really want to know who killed brat summer, you must only take a look in the mirror." Every person on the internet is to blame because "we memed too close to the sun".

Cumbria: New Bewley Castle, Bolton
A handsome property built in 1750 set in mature gardens overlooking the Eden Valley. Main suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen, 3 receps, garden, parking. OIEO £1m; Finest Properties

Devon: Southdown Barn, Kingswear
A limestone and flint property in a spectacular setting in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Main suite, 5 further beds (1 en suite), 2 baths, kitchen, recep, garden, outbuildings, parking. £1.35m; Stags

Hampshire: Ashley, King's Somborne
Grade II 16th-century cottage set in an elevated position in the Test Valley. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen/breakfast room, 3 receps, conservatory, garden, parking. £1.55m; Knight Frank

Cumbria: Mill House, Lamplugh
This former corn mill dates back to 1647 and lies on the edge of the Lake District National Park. Main suite, 4 further beds, family bath, shower, kitchen/breakfast room, 4 receps, extensive gardens, garage, outbuildings, parking. £750,000; Finest Properties

When it comes to police brutality, we still have a long way to go
The Independent editorial board
A police officer "kicking and stamping" on an "unarmed and defenceless" man is "unacceptable", says The Independent. Video clips like the one filmed at Manchester Airport on Tuesday night "tell only part of the story", and it is right that a full investigation is carried out. It's "impossible to get everything right" in "violent and unpredictable" situations, but "there can be no excuse" when "the line is crossed into brutality".

On TikTok, familiar childhood dynamics are pathologised
Sarah Manavis in The New Statesman
From "gifted kid burnout" to "eldest daughter syndrome", social media is awash with labels that recast "common personality traits" as evidence of childhood trauma, says Sarah Manavis. I understand the impulse to "find new ways to explain why you are the way you are" – especially if they also "excuse your flaws" – but we must be careful not to "conflate a negative experience with a traumatic one". 

Kamala Harris is making politics fun again
Kate Cohen in The Washington Post
"Clips of [Kamala] Harris dancing, laughing and striding purposefully in heels" on social media are a reminder that "fighting the good fight" is not "incompatible with having a good time", says Kate Cohen. After the "torture" of watching Joe Biden's faltering campaign, Democrats have finally "escaped the doldrums". Why shouldn't they show some of the same "party energy" we see at Trump rallies?