We’re in the haematology department at the hospital and they call my mum in. We go inside, sit down and the doctor tells us the results of the test: she has myeloma – blood cancer – but will need a bone marrow test to confirm it.
I nearly faint, my heart sinks and I can see my mum’s face filled with sadness. Everything we hear after that is a blur but I know from that point things will be tough and that I am about to become a carer.
Loss of income, curbs on benefits and soaring bills are piling pressure on people caring for family members
People who look after family members free of charge are taking a huge hit to their finances which could continue into their retirement as they find themselves unable to balance paid work with their caring commitments.
Recent analysis of official figures by the financial firm Just Retirement found seven in 10 people who were receiving carer’s allowance were not in paid work, and missing out on earnings and private pension contributions.
RHS reports 35% surge in orders, while garden designers note pond trend at Hampton Court Palace flower show
A pond boom is happening in Britain’s gardens as people try to halt wildlife loss by digging water sources for amphibians and other aquatic life.
Data from the Royal Horticultural Society shows a marked increase in sales of pond greenery; their online store had a 35% increase in sales of pond plants for 2023 compared with 2022.
From its sprawling HQ in Tennessee, Mars is courting the next generation of high-spending pet owners
Prom Week has arrived in Tennessee, and the class of 2024 is lined up in suits and crowns, posing for pictures by the red carpet. Who says four legs and a tail should stop you from going to the ball?
It’s just another day in doggy daycare. As well as a graduation ceremony, canines at this facility in Franklin, Tennessee, on the outskirts of Nashville, were recently treated to bark-uterie – customized charcuterie boards – and challenged by Sports Week, for which they were dressed up with sweatbands.
Want to catch a few results before bed, or see it through to the moment of reckoning? We’ve got you covered
After months of speculation on when the election might be held, six weeks of actual campaigning, D-day blunders, gambling scandals, smashing the gangs, stopping the boats, surrendering finances, triple-lock-pluses, national service, VAT on private schools, taxes up and taxes down, the election night will soon be upon us. Here’s how it may unfold:
Attendees note ‘night and day’ difference between campaign stop in North Carolina and ‘lackluster’ debate showing
In what several supporters described as a “night and day” difference from his performance in last night’s debate, President Joe Biden on Friday vowed to keep fighting against what he framed as an existential threat to America.
In his first campaign stop following the debate, Biden showed off a louder and more dynamic voice at the North Carolina state fairgrounds in Raleigh.
World No 1 pulls out of next week’s Aramco Team Series
Korda says she is recovering after being bitten in Seattle
Nelly Korda has withdrawn from an upcoming Ladies European Tour golf tournament in England after being bitten by a dog in Seattle.
The world No 1 golfer announced Friday that she will be unable to compete in next week’s Aramco Team Series tournament at the Centurion Club, near Hemel Hempstead on London’s outskirts, where she was set to defend her title.
Some call for rethink by Democrats and say continent must step up preparations for another Trump term
European politicians, already drowning in multiple crises of their own, were left shell-shocked and aghast at Joe Biden’s meandering performance in Thursday’s presidential debate, aware that a second Trump term had drawn that much nearer – with all that this implies for the rise of populism in the continent, the future of Nato, and for Ukraine and the Middle East.
The voices of despair came from across the mainstream political spectrum, interspersed with the odd call for Europe to prepare even more intensively for a Trump second coming.
Claimants include family of 11-year-old girl who spent three weeks on dialysis after eating chicken salad sandwich
Tesco and Asda are being sued by customers, including the family of an 11-year-old girl, who were left seriously ill after eating own-brand sandwiches linked to an outbreak of E coli.
The supermarkets face legal action after a child and adult were left in hospital. One person has been confirmed to have died and more than 120 others including a six-year-old have been hospitalised in the UK due to the bacteria.
Nigel Farage’s party is poaching angry Conservative voters, but damage control measures may limit the impact
The Labour lead in the opinion polls has been 20 percentage points throughout the campaign. But the polls haven’t been entirely static.
Over the past five weeks there has been one key change in polling that has the potential to turn a historic defeat for the Conservatives into an obliteration when the election is called.
The president had one job: to prove he was strong enough to take on his predecessor. Now Democrats must act, for America’s sake – and the world’s
What was the worst moment? Perhaps when one especially rambling sentence of Joe Biden’s ended in a mumbled, confused declaration that “We finally beat Medicare”, as if he were the enemy of the very public service Democrats cherish and defend. Maybe it was when the president was not talking, but the camera showed him staring vacantly into space, his mouth slack and open? Or was it when he was talking, and out came a thin, reedy whisper of a voice, one that could not command the viewer’s attention, even when the words themselves made good sense?
For anyone who cares about the future of the United States and therefore, thanks to that country’s unmatched power, the future of the world, it was agonising to watch. You found yourself glancing ever more frequently at the clock, desperate for it to end, if only on humanitarian grounds: it seemed cruel to put a man of visible frailty through such an ordeal.
Elliot Lane, Beth McFarland and Geraldine Blake respond to an article on how to make your outdoor space into a diverse habitat
I couldn’t agree more with your article on bringing wildlife into your garden (Build a hedgehog highway! 33 ways to welcome more wildlife into your garden, 26 June). If all of us who own a garden or other outdoor space could do one or two things to encourage wildlife, it would have a huge impact. There is a difference between gardening for wildlife and rewilding, and that is scale. I don’t have a large garden, so planting needs to earn its place. The trees I planted have blossom and fruit; I have three ponds, birdhouses and bee hotels; and I make sure I plant open flowers for pollinators. I was amazed how quickly the wildlife came. Elliot Lane Brighouse, West Yorkshire
• I live in Germany and have a garden that was a haven for my daughter and her friends growing up. I can’t bear imposing a hierarchy of my own devising on it, so I only subdue the real bullies such as ground elder and ground ivy. There’s wildlife, and I needed to make a pact with the voles. They can eat what they want after it has flowered, not before. Once they have munched their way across the garden, the ground is perfect for replanting.
The floral notes of an elderflower gin fizz, but with a clip round the ear from tart gooseberry
A very British take on an all-time classic, with the addition of elderflower and gooseberry introducing floral and tart seasonal notes to welcome the start of gooseberry season proper. For an alcohol-free alternative, substitute the gin with 50ml Pentire Adrift.
Even Trump’s usual lies could not distract from the president’s decrepitude. But these debates don’t move the needle
Who could have foreseen that the scariest thing about the presidential debate on Thursday night wouldn’t be the lies, the bombast or the threats to democracy, but the spectacle of Trump’s slightly wolfish restraint. Heading into the encounter, Democrats felt the kind of anxiety more usually endured before watching a child perform, with that same crushing sense of raw emotions. That Trump barely mocked Biden, or went after his age or his son, seemed less rehearsed than a shrewd response to what all of us were seeing: a president so compromised that all Trump had to do was grin, lean back and let the optics work for him.
And still, despite the evidence, it feels wanton to say this. Biden, whose voice was hoarse from a cold, rushed his delivery, fought to find words and stumbled in a style not entirely new to him. The difference on Thursday night was one of degree. “Oh my God” was the general consensus, texted around the country, when the debate opened in Atlanta. While Trump’s remarks were predictably ludicrous, full of lies and inflated claims, nothing he said could distract from the image of Biden saying sensible things in a manner so crepuscular that the entire event jumped from politics to tragedy. It made me think of a line from Rilke: “It had almost hurt to see.”
The Canadian towers over his opponents, even in a sport for the very tall. But his attributes may not suit the modern game
For those of you out there who might describe yourselves as “tall,” meet Olivier Rioux, the 18-year-old high schooler who just signed on to play for the University of Florida in the fall. Rioux is absurdly tall – 7ft 9in (for now) to be precise. Whether playing alongside his high school-age teammates or surrounded by them in the huddle, the 300lbs beanpole looks for all the world like one of those adults who passes themselves off as a teenage player just for the thrill of beating up on kids. The only thing about Rioux that’s not tall are his tales.
Rioux has been on a rapid growth curve for some time now: 5ft 2in in kindergarten,6ft 1in by the time he was eight. By the time he was 12, and 7ft, he would have made the 6ft 9in LeBron James look undersized. Around that time, highlights of him dominating his tragically ill-equipped competition began making the social media rounds, an optical illusion to rival the dress meme. (Are the other kids six feet or six years old?) Four years ago, Guinness World Records pronounced the then 14-year-old Rioux as the world’s tallest teen at 7ft 5in. That would have put Rioux a notch above the 7ft 4in NBA rookie of the year, Victor Wembanyama. He even looms head and shoulders above legendary NBA leviathans such as Gheorghe Mureșan (7ft 7in), Yao Ming (7ft 6in) and Sim Bhullar (7ft 5in). “People see his size,” Canada national team assistant coach Michael Meeks said of Rioux, “and their expectations are pretty high.”
Sir Keir Starmer must win. Only his government can shape the future we want to see
The quirk of elections is that they tend to be swung by the public voting against, rather than for, a party. The sentiment is often either to kick one party out of power and give another a chance, or to re-elect the incumbents for fear of the alternative. In 2019, voters stuck with the devil they knew. This time, polls suggest that the Conservatives will be dumped from office. Their removal cannot come a moment too soon.
The Tories don’t deserve to win. After 14 years in power, they are a shambles. The original sin was austerity. But the precipitating crisis of this government was when voters were told that leaving the EU with the thinnest of deals would be good for them. Nothing could have been further from the truth. From the Pandora’s box of Brexit flew the furies of conspiracy, dishonesty, government abuse and executive overreach. It has been five years of unremitting cruelty and chaos. Starved public services and a miserly welfare state have seen life become poorer, nastier, more brutish and shorter. The right’s obsession with putting the state at the service of the market is destroying councils and universities, and spewing sewage into rivers.
Comfort food made with the finest ingredients and cooked with largesse
Cloth, a hot, hyped restaurant near Smithfield Market and just behind St Bartholomew’s church in central London, does not open at all at weekends, but, unusually in hospitality these days, it is open on Mondays, as well as every day through to Friday. It sets out this fact pleasingly plainly on its website. Cloth’s clarity on this matter is refreshing, because, despite my job as a restaurant critic, it seems I spend far less time eating out than I do barking at my laptop about this trend to be cagey, opaque and mostly shut. “But when are you actually open?” I regularly find myself quacking. “When, when, when?”
The modern, cool restaurant, you see, prefers to offer page after online page of TS Eliot-style tracts about the chef’s culinary journey and the restaurant’s attitudes to biodiverse composting, with no mention at all of what point in the week they switch on the stoves, which often turns out to be around Thursday lunchtime. At Cloth, however, you very much get the feeling that they are sweeping away all that nonsense and leaving behind the bare bones of good, modern British hospitality. Namely: a table, a great glass or two of wine, and an interesting, hearty, ever-changing menu featuring duck terrine with pickled walnut, comte tart, monkfish with Cornish mussels and sea beet, Amalfi lemon tart and a heavenly chocolate mousse with salted caramel ice-cream.
Hackney Empire, London Well-spun jokes and great audience rapport elevate the comedian’s show above standard fall-guy fare, though slick management inhibits its spark
How good can standup be without being very distinctive? This good, I thought, watching, and enjoying, Ed Gamble’s new touring show. Skill for skill, you can’t fault the 38-year-old, who can write good jokes, deliver them expertly, course-correct with grace when things go wrong – and maintain a great rapport with his crowd throughout. Hot Diggity Dog is a tight 70 minutes of classic manchild comedy, recounting the travails of a newly married schmuck as he sustains “preventable middle-class injuries” in the kitchen and lurks on the neighbourhood WhatsApp, harvesting eccentric chat for comedy. All it lacks is what the best comedy needs – idiosyncrasy, some spark of irrefutable truth that might mark out Gamble as himself and no one else.
Is he hiding something, one wonders, by being, well, a bit generic – or was he born this way? Perhaps I should stop worrying and learn to love the well-honed set pieces – about his ill-advised honeymoon in Las Vegas, or his intense relationship with his new cat. There’s fun to be had with the former, as the Off Menu man practises his seven deadly sins on a lasagne, and regrets swallowing a marijuana sweetie (“Is there an antidote?”). There are anticlimaxes, too, like a section about a “drag brunch” that under-delivers on its big buildup.
With a job advert offering £2m, one tutor says such roles require huge amounts of commitment
This week, a job advert emerged for a private tutor to an architecture student with potential earnings of more than £2m. Here, Stephen*, who has worked as a private tutor to wealthy families for 16 years, describes what it takes. He has studied at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Pennsylvania. He speaks French, Italian, Japanese and English and plays the guitar and shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese vertical bamboo flute.
I have worked as a private tutor since 2007 including with families sailing round the world, living busy lives in London and on the continent and wintering in the Alps. Jobs generally last at least a year. My longest is four years. But in each case my intention is the same. Teaching is about making a positive contribution to the lives of young people.
Moving around a lot as a child taught the 22-year-old to listen and absorb myriad musical influences. Now she’s combined them into a Grammy-nominated cocktail of R&B and Afrobeats and is ready to conquer Glasto
Three years ago, to mark the release of Nigerian singer Ayra Starr’s debut EP, Starr’s brother paid a Lagos singer of fújì, a Yoruba genre incorporating elements of poetry, to chant praises at her. That melodic verse opens Starr’s sophomore album The Year I Turned 21, and sees the artist – born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe – labelled “the glorious child”.
It’s a moniker Starr isn’t exactly scared of embracing. “One thing you’ll notice about me is I’m very audacious,” she says. “I like to shock people and I always show temerity in any way possible.” The audaciousness is what grips you – while you’re taken in by the beautiful, rhythmic fújì melodies, you’re then hit with Starr’s bold vocals, and lines like “I run up blocks, I run ’em myself” and “I don’t watch my tone cause I like how I sound, bitch”.
From the humble Welsh to the painterly Icelandic, poppies bring joy – even when you don’t plant them on purpose. Here’s how to make the most of them
I wasn’t one of those kids who had their own plot in the garden. I count myself fortunate to have had access to a garden and a feeling of comfort in roaming the nearby fields, but I was so bookish that I preferred rainy- day indoor play to playing outside. Nevertheless, it’s interesting which plants we carry from our childhoods into our adult gardens: for me, a key one is Papaver cambricum, or Welsh poppy (AKA Notpoppies in our house, named by my Yorkshire grandfather, with according accent, after he – wrongly – identified them as such).
Tiny, yellow, rebellious: for so long I resisted such things in my own garden, preferring the grand structure and swag of Icelandic poppies (heaven in a vase) or flashier summer flowers. But your roots get you in the end, and this spring I rehoused half a dozen self-seeded “Notpoppy” plants that had smuggled their way from the garden of my upbringing into my parents’ miniature (if verdant) town courtyard. My home feels more like home with each one that opens.
I recoiled in horror: I could see a thick black body hanging out of my nostril
It was September 2014. I’d just started working front of house in a fancy hotel in Edinburgh. I spent most of my shifts with a paper napkin pressed to my nostril, as I had been getting lots of nosebleeds. I would soon find out why.
A few weeks earlier, I’d been travelling in Vietnam. I had rented a moped and had the time of my life driving around. I soon crashed but luckily was wearing a helmet, so only got a small bump on my head.
In what felt like a Greek tragedy, Trump didn’t win the first presidential debate of 2024 – but Biden certainly lost it
That sickening thud you heard was jaws hitting the floor. That queasy sound you heard was hearts sinking into boots. That raspy noise you heard was a US president embodying what felt like the last gasp of the ailing republic.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, has spotted good news on the economy in today’s GDP report:
Within the service sector, the highest rate of growth was for the professional, scientific and technical activities sectors, which rose by 1.8%.
This was driven by a 7.2% increase in research and development and a 3.3% increase in legal activities. These are high value activities for the UK economy, and growth in this area bodes well for the future of the UK. This may go some way to mitigating the decline in business investment last quarter.
The latest UK GDP data shows that Britain’s economy grew quicker than expected in the first quarter of the year, expanding by 0.7% from the previous quarter. This shows that the UK economy still showed slow growth, rather than the most timely monthly estimate that showed no growth in April 2024.
Particularly, services grew by 0.8% on the quarter with widespread growth across the sector; elsewhere the production sector grew by 0.6% while the construction sector fell by 0.6%.
Our panel of undecided voters on whether their views have changed in recent weeks – and who will get their support
As many as 15% of British voters are still undecided about who to vote for. How they make up their minds will have seismic consequences for the UK’s political future – so the Guardian has spoken to a range of undecided voters from across the country. In the second part of this series, we hear how their opinions have changed in recent weeks, and whether they have come to a decision on who to vote for ahead of next week’s ballot.
Labour appears poised to win a historic election victory on 4 July. In the series Life under Labour, we look at Keir Starmer’s five key political missions and ask what is at stake and whether he can deliver the change the country is crying out for.
“If they came into power, the Labour party would inherit a really terrible set of problems in the NHS that are both broader and deeper than the ones they faced in 1997. This feels a lot worse,” says Siva Anandaciva, the chief analyst at the King’s Fund thinktank.
Photographer Dan Dennison has documented three families around the UK from Manchester, Wiltshire and London and their struggles due to the two-child limit to benefits
At the other end of the playing fields, Matthew’s friends are at a Saturday morning football practice, but he can’t go. “My son really misses football,” his mum, Carol*, says. “He keeps asking when can I go back?’ I don’t think he quite gets the money situation.”
Trump lied while Biden struggled to mount a coherent response. Our panelists weigh in on the first presidential debate
What a catastrophe. From the moment the debate started, Joe Biden was meandering, confused and charmless. It never improved. Donald Trump, however, was relatively restrained, at least for Trump. Of course, he resorted to lies, insults and exaggerations throughout the 90 minutes. By citing things called “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs” and by calling Biden a “bad Palestinian”, Trump managed to hit all his usual racist notes.
Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist
Jill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness
Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist and the author of Strong Female Lead
After a dismal defeat to Panama, Monday’s game against Uruguay may be the coach’s last chance to save his job
It may seem harsh that Gregg Berhalter’s job as USMNT head coach is in acute jeopardy because one of his players decided to smack an opponent in the head.
Then again, in the US’s last big tournament test before it co-hosts the 2026 World Cup, a coach expected to reach at least the quarter-finals is staring at a group-stage exit in the Copa América, barring what seems an improbable triumph against one of the favorites, Uruguay, in Kansas City on Monday.
José Fajardo beat backup goalkeeper Ethan Horvath in the 83rd minute to give Panama a 2-1 victory over the US at the Copa América on Thursday night, putting the Americans in danger of elimination if they don’t beat Uruguay in their group-stage finale.
In a chaotic game that saw the two sides combine for 22 fouls, the US played for most of the match a man down. Timothy Weah was shown a red card in the 18th minute after he struck Panama defender Roderick Miller away from the ball.
LeBron James and his son Bronny James will become the first-ever father-son duo to share the floor for the same NBA team. It was the dream that LeBron James first floated a few years ago, the notion of playing in the NBA alongside one of his sons.
Joe Biden and his allies are leaning heavily into their message that Donald Trump represents a threat to democracy in the final hours leading up to tonight’s debate.
The Democratic National Committee plans to run a mobile billboard around the debate venue in Atlanta, with the featured ad highlighting Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the reversal of Roe v Wade.
Company accused staff member of ‘aggressive behaviour’ after she raised concerns about far-right group gathering
BrewDog has been accused of sacking an Asian woman after she voiced her distress when members of the far-right English Defence League met in the London bar where she worked.
The former staff member said members of the EDL had gathered unchallenged at the “punk” brewer’s flagship bar in Waterloo, ahead of a rally to mark St George’s Day on 23 April.
“If only India had come second in the Super Eights,” says David Howell. “Then (assuming this match isn’t played) they’d have been eliminated by their own governance effectively running the ICC.
“Putting a semi-final with no reserve day in the Amazon rainforest in June? That is, in every sense, a thunderous lack of common sense.”
Decision could result in retailers being prosecuted if they import goods made through forced labour, campaigners say
The UK National Crime Agency’s decision not to launch an investigation into the importation of cotton products manufactured by forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province was unlawful, the court of appeal has found.
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which brought the action, said Thursday’s decision was a landmark win that could lead to high street retailers being prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) if they import goods made through forced labour.
As he plays Glastonbury and prepares a Fabric mix, Skinner answers your questions on his film debut, dinners with Chris Martin and the secret to true happiness
Why haven’t you gone on tour and performed A Grand Don’t Come for Free to celebrate its 20-year anniversary?Turangaleela2
I don’t tend to look back. I’ve only ever really done what was in front of me at the time. It’s great to sing the old stuff, but as a musician your old songs pay for you to write new ones, even if no one wants them. I know people like Liam [Gallagher] and Dizzee [Rascal] have done the anniversary thing, but I don’t really need the money and I think for your own sanity you have to at least pretend that you’re doing things that are important right now.
I read in your memoir, The Story of the Streets, that you read books by Hollywood screenwriters while you were writing A Grand Don’t Come for Free. Did they come in handy for your film debut [The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light]?JJethwa
I actually went to see [the screenwriting consultant] Robert McKee, who’s Hollywood in every way – a sort of very aggressive, no-nonsense American. There’s a hell of a lot to take in, but ultimately it comes down to the basics: show, don’t tell; start with an idea and finish with the same one; have the characters act out your ideas in a very physical way.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump will hold the first of two scheduled US presidential debates on Thursday, a high-stakes rematch between two well-defined political foes.
The earlier-than-usual confrontation will give both men a chance to make their case for a second-term to what could be one of the largest television – and internet – audiences of the election cycle.
Famously … On Trial
BBC Sounds, episodes weekly
TV favourite Stacey Dooley teams up with comedian Larry Dean to revisit celebrity court cases and put them on retrial. First up, it’s Pamela Anderson and the stolen sex tape scandal, which was both illegal and served with a big old dose of 90s sexism. Dooley, as ever, is thoughtful and sharp, but there’s still room for fun, moreish celebrity gossip. Listen out for its sister series, too – Famously … In Love unpicks the biggest romances and affairs. Hollie Richardson
As the two prepare to debate on Thursday night, memories are revived of the ugly exchanges when they last squared off
It could be the moment when a rematch that few seem to want finally comes to life: like two ageing prizefighters, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will enter the arena of political bloodsport on Thursday evening to resume a verbal sparring bout that will revive memories of the ugly exchanges when the two debated face to face four years ago.
A CNN studio in Atlanta will host the first presidential debate of the campaign between the same two candidates who contested the last election, which Biden won.
Both parties deny accusations of secret deal, but move to only target winnable seats is deliberate tactic
According to MRP models, the Conservatives will win about 50 seats at next week’s election. Then again, some pollsters using the same method believe they are heading for closer to 200 seats. The same models show Labour heading for somewhere between 375 and more than 500 seats.
One reason for the huge variation in seat predictions is that people are preparing to vote tactically in historic numbers, encouraged by two opposition parties that have all but abandoned campaigning in each other’s target constituencies.
The Marches, Shropshire: With the glory of summertime comes hayfever, which we are only making worse
Purple and silver: the solstice grass flowers. This is the first year that the whole five acres of Brogyntyn park has been left uncut, and Oswestry has designated it a wildflower meadow. The transformation is enchanting. The many buttercups, ox-eye daisies and few orchids have privilege, but the grasses are the liberated proletariat that have never realised its full potential before.
Common grass names have an earthy poetry: fescue, false oat, foxtail, fog, bent, brome, couch, cocks foot, timothy, rye, sweet vernal, squitch. For a couple of days it stops raining and warms up a bit. When the sun comes out, so does the pollen. VH, a red sign on the weather map, announces a very high pollen count (more than 150 grains per cubic metre of air). About half of the people in the UK report hayfever symptoms – allergic rhinitis. It can mean itchy eyes, runny noses, sore throats and sneezes for millions, but for some the reaction can be deadly serious. Dogs, cats and horses are also affected, as if sacrificing an immune system is a trade-off for domestication.
Just in: Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, has left interest rates on hold at 3.75%.
But it also hints that rates could be cut as many as three times in the second half of 2024 if inflation prospects remain the same.
Inflation is close to the target and economic activity is weak. The Executive Board considers that monetary policy should be adjusted gradually, and has decided to hold the policy rate unchanged at 3.75%.
One in 20 people have walked out of a restaurant without paying for their meal – and apparently it is becoming more common in Britain, leaving owners shaken and out of pocket. What is going on?
You know the drill: you scrape the remaining crumbs of your dessert from the plate, finish off the last of the bottle of wine, settle the bill and leave the restaurant, full and content. While it’s certainly possible to forget to pay, for a small number of diners, this “mistake” is deliberate: they never intended to pay at all.
This summer, a couple from Port Talbot in south Wales were jailed for carrying out a series of so-called “dine and dash” offences: racking up sizeable restaurant bills before doing a runner. Ann McDonagh was sentenced to 12 months in prison, while her husband, Bernard McDonagh, was given eight months. A judge at Swansea crown court deemed the pair to have “cynically and brazenly” defrauded restaurants by paying with a “dud” card, leaving ostensibly to get cash, then failing to return. But what are the consequences for restaurants – and is “dine and dash” on the rise?
Research discovers the cost of some healthcare products fluctuates wildly, according to time of year you buy them
Dentists agree that brushing twice a day is the best way to look after your teeth. But depending on what month it is, dental hygiene can be a dramatically more expensive habit to maintain.
New research has shown that the cost of a tube of toothpaste at some times of the year can be double its price at other times. The price of other popular health products such as Gillette razors can also double depending when they are bought.
Labour has been accused of “not putting up a fight” against Nigel Farage in Clacton after the party’s candidate was instructed to leave the constituency after “distracting” from Keir Starmer’s campaign.
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, 27, who works for Labour’s equalities team, was installed by the party last month to contest the seat, weeks before Farage changed his mind and decided to stand in the Essex constituency.
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