There are “things that can be done, big and small”, to ease the cost of living, Andy Burnham declared in his first cabinet meeting back in July. Now, the government is set to announce more “everyday fixes” to show that it can “rectify some of life’s little nuisances without needing to bust the budget”, said Politico. The prime minister is “lining up” a series of “feel-good announcements”, including today’s “crackdown on public transport ‘headphone dodgers’”.

What has the government already announced?
Burnham has been busy making minor policy tweaks since coming to power. In July, he removed VAT from electricity bills and capped single bus fares across England. He has also announced restrictions on high-street vape and betting shops, brought forward a ban on auto-renewed subscriptions, and is introducing price displays for fuel on Google Maps. New rules have been introduced for air travel, including the ability to fix name errors on bookings for free and to get a seat for children aged under 14 next to an accompanying adult without an additional charge.

Today, under a new “share the carriage, not the noise” campaign, the government announced that councils will be able to issue £100 fixed penalties to bus passengers if they play loud music, litter or vape while travelling. “Headphone dodgers” who refuse to turn down the volume on trains face penalties of up to £1,000.

Will the measures be effective?
With nine days until the Budget, the PM wants to “assure weary voters that the government has their backs” without making “too much of a dent in the chancellor’s spreadsheet”, said Politico. This Budget will already be “difficult”, said The Guardian. Inflation and soaring borrowing costs, exacerbated by the Iran war among other factors, have “blown a £12 billion hole in the public finances”, which could force John Healey to consider tax rises and spending cuts “to fund plans to ease the cost of living”.

Some government special advisers have “admitted they had some qualms about the drumbeat of small interventions”, according to The Guardian. “We risk looking twee,” said an unnamed source. The smaller fixes “might not, on their own, amount to very much”, said the paper, but Downing Street hopes that added together they can “make a difference and show the government is trying”.

A new UN report is sounding the alarm about another potential risk in our constantly evolving world: technology that could allow governments to “read minds” via brainwave interfaces.

‘Human rights abuses’
The UN believes that the field of “neurotechnology” is advancing so quickly that “governments’ ability to access and manipulate people’s brains could one day pose a threat to fundamental human rights”, said The New York Times. The organisation has expressed concern before about the potential for “mind-reading” technology. In 2022, Unesco – the UN arm responsible for education, science and culture – published a report on the ethical issues of neurotechnology. Unlike “many other frontier technologies, neurotechnology can directly access, manipulate and emulate the structure of the brain, which is central to notions of human identity, freedom of thought, autonomy, privacy and well-being”, said the Unesco report.

The UN is especially concerned about military applications of neurotechnology. Of particular worry are “brain-computer interfaces, which translate brain activity into commands that can control devices such as computers or robotic prosthetic limbs”, said Politico. The UN fears that if a “brain-computer interface is used inappropriately by the military, it could lead to human rights abuses”.

Safeguarding recommendations
Neurotechnology “raises profound human rights challenges when applied to the administration of justice”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in the new report, and its “expansion beyond clinical settings into investigative, judicial and correctional contexts introduces significant risks”.

The UN is proposing some solutions to safeguard advancing neurotechnologies. Those include “establishing regulations consistent with international law, recognising thoughts as ‘highly sensitive personal data’ and requiring explicit consent for the use of neurotechnology in criminal justice settings”, said The New York Times. The report also gives “states an opportunity to establish clear rules to regulate the use of neurotechnology, based on human rights”, a UN Human Rights Office spokesperson told the newspaper. This should be accomplished before the technologies “become routine in investigations, courts and prisons”.

Members of the Danish army’s Royal Life Guards regiment stand to attention at Copenhagen Airport as they wait for Vietnam’s President To Lam and First Lady Ngo Phuong Ly to disembark from their plane to begin a three-day state visit.

Liselotte Sabroe / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP / Getty Images

“Remember when butter was considered bad?” said Morwenna Ferrier in The Guardian. Thankfully, the golden spread is enjoying a “cultural rehabilitation”, perhaps because it’s become “tangled up with the anti-ultra-processed-food movement” – unlike margarine, butter is seen as a “pre-industrial, farm-adjacent product”. And in our “little treat” economy, splashing out on a slab of high-end butter feels “more manageable” than buying a “decent bottle of wine”.

It’s increasingly “rare to find a block of butter” for under £2, said Emma Henderson in The Independent, and as prices continue to climb, it’s worth knowing which brands are “worth their salt”. Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference West Country Farmhouse butter is one that “I just kept going back to”. Made in Somerset using a slower churning process, it’s a “very bright yellow” and has a “great level of salty flavour” thanks to the addition of Maldon sea salt.

I’ll “never tire” of President Slightly Salted butter, said Sophie Morris in The i Paper. Perfect for slathering on your morning toast, this Normandy butter always looks “chic next to its frumpier, yellower, British cousins”, and “it tastes as if the cows have dined on wildflower meadows”. Kerrygold is another winner. Made from the milk of grass-fed cows in Ireland, it’s a “rich and creamy treat” that’s ideal for cutting into thick slices to top “hot crumpets, teacakes and hot cross buns”.

In America, I found a country pulling away from Trump in horror
Ian Birrell in The i Paper
“Diehard Republicans, devoted Democrats” and “dithering independents” alike think US politics has “grown too extreme” and “too focused on issues driving divisions instead of the daily concerns of voters”, writes Ian Birrell. Yet I detected “slivers of hope” during a recent visit. Many voters and “wiser politicians” want to “heal wounds and restore some semblance of unity”. They “don’t want to hate their neighbour” but rather to “pull back from the brink” on which their country teeters.

We must eat more cheap, neglected foods
Jane Shilling in The Telegraph
Prices are soaring, yet a quick scan of supermarket shelves reveals a “significant dwindling of foods that could once have been turned into cheap and delicious meals”, writes Jane Shilling. “Inquire for kidneys and you will be offered tinned kidney beans”, and it’s now “easier to find rabbit as snake food than for human consumption”. But “food needn’t be exotic or expensive to be adventurous and appetising”. The “simplest” ingredients can make “fine” fare, “if only we could find them in the shops”.

Why have screens replaced socialising?
John Burn-Murdoch in the Financial Times
The past two decades “have been marked by two troubling declines: in deep social connection, and in reading”, writes John Burn-Murdoch. “Having friends over could be a 10/10 experience”, while “scrolling and streaming may only be a 6/10 by comparison but it’s a guaranteed 6: no risk, no effort”. Similarly, “getting lost in a great book is one of life’s great experiences”, but “it demands effort”. And nothing will change until we “fight temptation and put long-term gains above short-term pleasure”.