Four million pensioners living alone face a fresh tax raid after Labour scrapped the winter fuel allowance, Sir Keir Starmer has hinted.

The Prime Minister and Downing Street officials on Wednesday refused to rule out scrapping a council tax break claimed by millions of one-person households.

Retirees make up about half of the 8.4 million people who will be affected if the council tax discount for single householders is abolished, analysis shows.

Ministers said on Wednesday that there would be no watering down of the plans to scrap winter fuel payments worth up to £300 for 10 million older people. The move would save around £1 billion a year.

Scrapping the 25 per cent single-person council tax discount would save the public purse £3 billion a year, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It cuts around £543 per year from the average Band D council tax bill in 2024-25.

However, pensioners have warned that removing the discount would be an “unforgivable betrayal” of older people and could mean they lose their homes.

Sir Keir was challenged in the Commons by Tory MP Louie French to rule out “scrapping concessionary travel fares and council tax discounts” after Labour’s “disgraceful political decision” on winter fuel payments.

Sir Keir replied: “As he knows very well, I am not going to pre-empt the Budget. It will all be set out in due course.”

Outside the Commons a Downing Street spokesman, when asked if the Government was committed to free bus passes for pensioners, said: “We are. There are no plans to change that.”

She added: “The PM was making a broader point about not pre-empting the Budget. I think there were some other examples put to him as well but on bus passes we have been clear in answering that question – there are no plans.

“The Chancellor [Rachel Reeves] was also asked about this… she mentioned TV licences, prescriptions and bus passes to rule those out.”

Asked specifically about the single person’s council tax discount, the spokeswoman said: “On that, I would point you to his words about not getting ahead of the Budget.”

Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary, has also previously refused to rule out scrapping the discount. On Wednesday, Ms Reeves fuelled speculation when she hinted the Budget could include further cuts to benefits.

She told broadcasters: “I have been really clear that the Budget on Oct 30 will require difficult decisions on tax, on spending and on welfare.”

Labour ‘hiding estimates of pensioner deaths’

Meanwhile, Sir Keir came under fire in the Commons for failing to publish an impact assessment of the impact of winter fuel payment cuts amid claims that nearly 4,000 pensioners could die by being denied the cash.

He was challenged by Rishi Sunak, the Conservative leader, to say whether the numbers were higher or lower than the 3,850 deaths that Labour itself previously forecast as a result of the policy.

“We know why he’s hiding the impact assessment. The Labour Party’s own previous analysis claimed that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths. So, are the numbers in his impact assessment higher or lower than that?” Mr Sunak asked during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons.

Sir Keir replied: “We’re taking this decision to stabilise the economy. That means we can commit to the triple lock. By committing to the triple lock we can make sure payments of state pension are higher and therefore there’s more money in the pockets of pensioners, notwithstanding the tough action we need to take.

“But he goes around pretending that everything is fine. That’s the argument he tried in the election and that’s why he’s sitting there and we are sitting here.”

People in England and Wales not in receipt of Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits will lose out under the Government’s changes to the payments.

It is expected to reduce the numbers in receipt of the benefit from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving more than £1 billion this year.

Despite Tory attempts to annul the regulations provoking a Labour backbench rebellion in the Commons, the measures are expected to come into force next week.

Schools have been told to ditch blazers from their uniforms by the SNP.

In new guidance, headteachers have been urged to instead require pupils to wear only “generic” non-branded, gender-neutral items and consider “alternatives” to ties and formal trousers.

Ministers insisted “flexible and inclusive” uniform rules would drive down costs for families and promote the “comfort, happiness and freedom” of children.

However, critics called on the Scottish Government to instead address declining standards and rising violence in Scottish classrooms, as experts highlighted evidence that uniforms could improve behaviour and attainment.

Nine out of 10 of Scotland’s best-performing state schools currently require pupils to wear blazers, while the other asks its oldest pupils to wear one.

Jordanhill School in Glasgow, widely regarded as Scotland’s top state school, is known for its brown blazers, which cost up to £135 and must be worn even when travelling to and from the site.

Boroughmuir High, Edinburgh’s best-performing state school, sees its black blazers as an “integral part of the dress code”. Its blazers cost up to £47.50, although the school also sells £3 badges which can be sewn onto cheaper jackets.

However, under the new guidelines, published on Thursday by Jenny Gilruth, the SNP’s Education Secretary, schools are told they should “not include items such as blazers or other branded outerwear as a compulsory part of their uniform policy.”

Should headteachers insist on maintaining blazers, they have been told they should only be “an optional item” and it must “be clear that these are not needed or expected”.

Parents should also be permitted to buy cheap optional blazers and sew, iron or pin on a badge rather than having to buy bespoke items from a specialist supplier, the guidance says.

The new rules also call for schools to give “careful consideration” to required clothing which pupils may find “restrictive”, such as ties or formal trousers, because of fears they will not “support pupils’ comfort and wellbeing.”

‘More urgent priorities’

Liam Kerr, education spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said uniforms could be “crucial” in fostering schools’ “identity and community spirit”.

“While it’s sensible for schools to follow guidance on making sure that uniform is affordable, the SNP government should not be attempting to dictate policy on blazers, badges or other school insignia,” he said.

“After the SNP’s serial failures on standards, the attainment gap and funding, many people will feel the Education Secretary has much more urgent priorities to be dealing with.”

The SNP government has backed away from plans, set out in an earlier consultation, to compel schools, including those in the independent sector, to follow the rules.

However, the party said its new non-statutory guidance would apply to all state schools to “support” them in setting policies, with private schools “strongly encouraged” to also take account of it.

It calls on schools to “avoid categorising items of clothing or uniform as suitable for a particular sex or gender and instead include a range of comfortable and practical, gender-neutral options.”

The guidance says teachers should permit “generic items that can be bought from a range of suppliers” adding that “school uniform is a barrier to participation and engagement for some pupils.”

‘Significant burden’

Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at the University of Edinburgh, said that evidence suggested uniforms could improve behaviour.

However, he acknowledged that while blazers were “effective” they were “unlikely to be affordable” for all families.

“Branded items can have an important role to play, provided the branding is affordable,” Prof Paterson said.

“But the new guidance fails to assert strongly the beneficial effects of uniform. Its otherwise worthy aims of inclusion and affordability lack the coherence that would arise from a strong policy of encouraging uniforms in all schools.”

Ms Gilruth said the costs of uniforms could be a “significant burden” for families and claimed the measures could play a “crucial role” in ending child poverty.

She added: “This new national guidance contains measures for schools to develop and implement their own affordable and sustainable policies that recognise the individual needs of all pupils.

“It makes clear that schools are expected to do all they can to limit school clothing costs for families as part of our wider aim to reduce the cost of the school day.

“The guidance also encourages schools to develop flexible and inclusive policies which promote generic items of clothing and do not include compulsory branded items, supporting our efforts to be more sustainable.”

Women slim down faster on weight-loss jabs than men, a new study has found.

Obese women taking the weight-loss drug tirzepatide lost up to 24.6 per cent of their body weight compared to 18.1 per cent in men.

The anti-obesity medication, also known by the brand name Mounjaro, is a rival to the popular drug semaglutide, found in Ozempic and Wegovy.

Both drugs belong to a class of medication called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and work by mimicking the function of a hormone to reduce appetite and make people feel fuller.

In trials, tirzepatide proved even more effective than semaglutide in helping patients shed weight. It is licensed for use in the UK, but it is only available on the NHS for diabetes at present and not obesity.

Its manufacturer, Eli Lilly, presented results at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting, proving that its weight-loss mechanism benefited both men and women.

However, the analysis of four major trials involving 4,677 adults taking the weekly jab for up to 88 weeks, found that women experienced a greater reduction in weight than men.

Clinical trials compared the drug to a placebo in people who were obese or who were overweight and had a weight-related condition such as heart disease.

Across the four trials the average women’s weight ranged from 79.6kg to 99.8kg, while for men it was 98.6kg to 115.2kg.

The trials involved different groups of people with different weights and body mass indexes, as well as different doses of the medication.

But the results consistently found that women lost a larger chunk of their body weight, despite starting from a lower base.

Further research required

Researchers are yet to identify why women are more affected by the drug, with them also suffering higher rates of nausea and vomiting, although the safety was largely the same in both sexes.

Dr Luis-Emilio García, the lead author from Eli Lilly, said: “This post hoc analysis underscores the consistent benefits of tirzepatide for women and men. More research is needed to understand the mechanism by which females may experience more weight reduction in these trials.”

It comes after separate research presented at EASD this week revealed the first results of a trial that found weight-loss jabs were effective in children as young as six.

The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found daily slimming injections lowered the body mass index of obese children between six and 12 years old by 7.4 per cent.

Joe Biden donned a Trump baseball cap and told a crowd of people “not to eat dogs and cats” during a light-hearted exchange on the campaign trail.

The US president was referring to wild claims repeated by Donald Trump during his debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the pets of the people that live there”.

Mr Biden was initially persuaded to wear his former opponent’s hat by a Trump supporter after a humorous back-and-forth between the two men.

It started off by Mr Biden offering to give his presidential hat to the Trump supporter, who asked him: “Are you going to autograph it?” Mr Biden said he would autograph the hat before the Trump supporter quipped: “Do you remember your name?”

The president joked back that he “doesn’t remember my name” because he’s “slow”, which sparked laughter among the crowd.

The exchange continued with the Trump supporter labelling Mr Biden an “old fart” before the president pushed back and said “Yeah, I’m an old guy… You would know a lot about that.”

Mr Biden then quipped that he needed the man’s Trump hat and was urged to put it on by the Republican and the crowd in the fire station.

After initially saying “I’m not going that far”, Mr Biden eventually donned the Trump hat, earning applause from the crowd and the Republican supporter. “I’m proud of you now,” the Trump supporter said.

The president, speaking on the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, said the bipartisan unity seen after the terror attack needed to return to the US.

But that didn’t stop Mr Biden from mocking Trump’s claims that Haitian immigrants are “eating cats and dogs” in Springfield, the town that is now in the centre of a bizarre Right-wing conspiracy theory.

Trump’s claims angered the father of an 11-year-old boy who was killed last year when a minivan driven by a Haitian immigrant collided with his school bus. He accused Trump and JD Vance, his running mate, of using his son’s death for political gain.

“I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would say something so blunt, but if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone,” Nathan Clark, Aiden’s father, said.

Russia has launched a major counter-offensive in an attempt to dislodge Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region.

Both Ukrainian and Russian sources said that Kyiv’s troops had started losing some of the ground they seized in the audacious incursion that began on Aug 6.

On Wednesday, Maj Gen Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechen special forces fighting in Kursk, said Russian troops had gone on the offensive.

“The situation is good for us,” he said, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

“A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated.”

Mash, a pro-Kremlin channel on the Telegram messaging app, reported that Moscow’s forces had advanced up to 150 square kilometres into the Ukrainian-held salient in a “local counter-offensive in the region”.

Other prominent Russian military bloggers said their country’s troops had seized control of Snagost, a village south of Korenevo on the Ukrainian left flank.

Battlefield footage shared on social media appeared to show at least eight armoured vehicles and tanks operated by Russia’s 51st Guards Airborne Regiment advancing on Snagost.

“It appears Russia was able to get the armoured force across the Seym River, despite Ukrainian strikes on the bridges,” Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the foreign policy research institute, a US think tank, said.

Kyiv had hoped by targeting bridges across the stretch of water it would hamper Russia’s ability to move troops and material to reinforce efforts to recapture lost territories across Kursk.

Moscow responded by building a series of temporary pontoon bridges across the water to replace the three main crossings.

Deep State, a popular Ukrainian war blog, also reported that Russians were able to launch the offensive after ferrying armoured vehicles across the river.

“The situation on the left flank of our group in Kursk worsened,” it wrote in a post late on Tuesday.

The blog, which has ties to the Ukrainian defence ministry, did not say whether Snagost had been lost in the fighting.

Prominent Russian military bloggers said Moscow’s forces were also advancing in the villages of Apanasovka and Byakhovo, south of the claimed capture of Snagost.

Russian sources also shared unverified clips of what they claimed to be the capture of Ukrainian prisoners of war caught in the advance.

Neither political or military officials in Ukraine made any public acknowledgement of the claimed Russian counter-offensive.

Russia’s defence ministry on Wednesday said Ukraine had sustained about 12,200 casualties in Kursk and lost nearly 100 tanks.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continued to advance in other areas of Russia’s Kursk region, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

The think-tank said geolocated footage had shown gains in eastern Komarovka, which lies south west of Korenevo.

Separate footage showed a Ukrainian advance south east of Vetreno, which is east of Korenevo.

The United Nation’s chief has heavily criticised Israel after a deadly air strike that reportedly killed 18 people, including six UN aid workers.

Antonio Guterres condemned the strike that flattened a former school in Nuseirat in central Gaza, calling it “totally unacceptable”.

“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now,” Mr Guterres said, adding that 12,000 people were sheltering in the al-Jaouni school.

The UNRWA, which works with Palestinian refugees, called it “the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident”. At least 44 are also said to have been injured.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s most senior diplomat, said he was “outraged” by the bombing, while the US called on Israel to protect humanitarian sites.

Israel has been condemned by the international community for the high death toll among aid workers, with nearly 300 killed since Hamas launched the war on October 7, according to the UN.

It is the fifth time the school compound has been targeted since the start of the war, UNRWA said.

Survivors of the strike described scrambling over “shredded limbs” as they tried to retrieve bodies and belongings from the rubble.

“I can hardly stand up,” a man holding a plastic bag of human remains told AFP.

The IDF said that they carried out “precise strikes on terrorists” who were operating inside a “command and control” centre embedded within the school, which has not been in use since October.

IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said the army IDF requested that UNRWA provide details and names of the killed workers, in order to “thoroughly review the claim.”

“To date, no answers have been provided by UNRWA despite repeated requests,” Mr Shoshani said. In response, UNRWA spokesman Juliette Touma said the agency was “not aware of any such requests”.

A colleague of the killed UN workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group had just sat down to lunch when Israel bombed the school.

“Suddenly, I heard a big explosion. Everything shook. I ran back to see that they had all vanished… all torn to pieces,” she told CNN.

She said that all six had worked as teachers at the school before the war. “They are all loved by everyone. They helped and provided aid to everyone,” she added.

Earlier this year, nine UNRWA workers were fired earlier this year after the agency reviewed Israeli evidence of their participation in the October 7 massacre.

The agency has also come under fire in recent years for its school books which contain antisemitism and glorification of terror and jihad.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, meanwhile took aim at Hamas, saying the terror group is trying to “conceal the fact that it continues to oppose a deal to release the hostages, and is foiling it.”

‘Special operation’

Israeli forces reportedly carried out a “special operation” in the Syrian city of Masyaf last week in which military helicopters and drones attacked a facility belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The operation, revealed by Middle East analyst Eva Koulouriotis Eva J Koulourioti, who cited security sources, was aimed at a facility where the IRGC is developing ballistic missiles and drones for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Residents were reported to have heard loud sounds of explosions coming from the area as the Israeli special forces carried out the hour-long raid.

The IDF reportedly retrieved “important equipment and documents” and then destroyed the facility, which was reportedly also targeted last year, under air cover to avoid attacks from Syrian warplanes.

Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes in Syria since the civil war began, largely targeting weapons convoys and military facilities belonging to Iran and Hezbollah.

Peru’s former president Alberto Fujimori, who spent 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday at the age of 86 in Lima.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, his children Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji Fujimori wrote: “After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just departed to meet the Lord.

“We ask those who loved him to join us in praying for the eternal rest of his soul. Thank you for so much, Dad.”

Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, was released from prison on humanitarian grounds in December, two-thirds of the way through a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity during his rule.

Sources close to his family told AFP earlier on Wednesday that his health had deteriorated rapidly after completing treatment for mouth cancer in August.

Just a month earlier, his daughter Keiko had announced that he would run for president again in 2026.

Fujimori, who was of Japanese heritage, was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.

Ruthless legacy

Fujimori was loved by many for crushing the notorious left-wing Shining Path rebels, but hated by others for the ruthless, authoritarian way he governed.

Born in Lima on July 28, 1938, Fujimori was an agricultural engineer by training, then worked as a university lecturer in mathematics.

He studied in France and the United States, eventually earning a Master’s degree in mathematics.

Upon his return to Lima, he took a high-level post at his former university, before embarking on his unlikely career in politics.

In 1990, he defeated writer Mario Vargas Llosa to win the presidency – a surprise result.

One of the most dramatic episodes of Fujimori’s time in power was a four-month hostage ordeal at the Japanese embassy in Lima, which began in December 1996.

Commandos ended up raiding the embassy, saving nearly all the VIPs held by Tupac Amaru guerrillas and killing the 14 hostage-takers. That strengthened Fujimori’s reputation for fighting terrorism with a firm hand.

At the same time, he won popular support for boosting the economy of the South American country, a major mineral exporter.

His neo-liberal economic policies won him the support of the ruling class and international financial institutions.

Fujimori’s downfall began in 2000 after Montesinos was exposed for corruption. The president fled to Japan and sent a fax announcing his resignation.

Congress voted to sack him instead and ban him from public office for 10 years. He was eventually arrested when he set foot in Chile and extradited back to Peru for trial.

Fujimori was also found guilty of crimes against humanity for two massacres carried out by army death squads.

While in jail, Fujimori was in and out of the hospital with heart, back and stomach trouble. He had several operations to remove cancerous growths from his tongue.

In December 2017, then-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned Fujimori due to his ill health.

But the Supreme Court later annulled the pardon and in January 2019, he was returned to jail from hospital.

Jon Bon Jovi, the American rock star, has been praised by police in Nashville, Tennessee for helping talk a woman down from a bridge in the city.

The singer was on the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge in the city centre with a team of people for what appeared to be a video or photo shoot when they spotted a woman in distress. 

Footage of the incident was shared on social media by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, which praised the singer and his team for their intervention.

“A shout out to @jonbonjovi & his team for helping a woman on the Seigenthaler Ped Bridge” on Tuesday night, said Nashville’s police chief John Drake.

“Bon Jovi helped persuade her to come off the ledge over the Cumberland River to safety.

“It takes all of us to help keep each other safe,” he added.

The security footage shows several passersby walking apparently oblivious as the woman stood on the ledge.

It showed what appears to be the rock star and an entourage arriving on the bridge with a tripod and spotting the woman.

Jovi and a female member of his team promptly walked over to her and waved hello, before leaning on the railing nearby.

They engage her in conversation before one of the pair gets closer and reaches for her forearm. Jovi, 62, then walks over to her other side to help pull her to safety.

The singer then gives her a hug and stands with her for a few minutes before they leave the bridge together.

It is unclear what the rock star was doing in Nashville, but sources with direct knowledge of the incident told the entertainment site TMZ that Bon Jovi routinely assists people in crisis through his foundation, the JBJ Soul Foundation.

The source described him as having extensive training in how to speak to people experiencing a crisis.

The NHS is not underfunded and the answers to its problems are not more money or more staff, a leading clinician has said.

Prof Sir John Bell said the UK spends more on healthcare than many other leading nations but has worse outcomes.

It comes after a landmark report by Lord Darzi, a surgeon and former health minister, warned the NHS is in a “critical condition” and doing less work despite record funds.

Sir John, a former Oxford regius professor who has advised successive governments, argued the health service already had enough cash that had to be spent more wisely.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The Today Podcast, he said: “I think it is not underfunded to be honest. I think we need to get better at using the money that is in it.

“We did run a healthcare service for, actually, many of my early years when I was a practising physician, which was profoundly underfunded and the outcomes weren’t bad, people did pretty well.

“But then over the last five, 10 years we have been pumping up the amount of money going into the NHS so when you look at it as a comparator, as a percentage of GDP we actually spend more money than Spain.

“We spend more money than Japan, we spend more money than a lot of developed economies that have healthcare systems that deliver much better outcomes. So the answer is not in my view pouring more money or indeed pouring more people into the system.”

The NHS budget for the current year is £165 billion, a record outside of the pandemic.

But Lord Darzi warned in his long-awaited report of an urgent need to shift more care out of hospitals in order to boost productivity.

While hospital staff numbers have risen by almost one-fifth since 2019, NHS productivity is actually at least 11.4 per cent lower than it was five years ago.

Lord Darzi’s report added that accident and emergency care is in an “awful state”, while “no progress whatsoever” was made to improve early cancer diagnosis between 2013 and 2021.

At an event in central London on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, was set to warn that the health service must “reform or die”.

Insisting that taxpayers cannot afford to pour more money into the NHS, Sir Keir was expected to say: “Raise taxes on working people to meet the ever-higher costs of an ageing population – or reform to secure its future.

“We know working people can’t afford to pay more, so it’s reform or die.”

Tiny robotic fingertips could one day help those who have lost their sense of touch to feel a handshake, University College London (UCL) scientists have said.

The technology is also set to be used as a diagnostic tool able to identify people who are losing their sense of touch and track any worsening of the condition.

The machine clamps onto a person’s finger and replicates real-life sensations by using vibrations at a range of frequencies to activate the four sensors in the skin itself.

The technology is the first to activate all four sensors simultaneously and create an accurate copy of touch, transmitting this to a person’s entire fingertip.

It will be used to monitor the loss of touch in people suffering from conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and diabetes in an upcoming clinical trial at UCL.

Ten people who are losing feeling in their fingers are being recruited before the end of 2024 for the trial which will last 18 to 24 months.

Regular check-ups with academics and doctors will use the device, called BAMH, to determine any worsening in a person’s loss of sensation in their fingers.

Engineers behind the project, published on Thursday in Nature Communications, are hopeful the technology can later be scaled up from one fingertip to several, and maybe even a glove, to allow people to add physical touch to video calls.

“One area where the device can be used is in social applications  It’s very likely that you have family that is not living in the same town as you,” Dr Sara Abad, study author  from UCL, told reporters at the British Science Festival at the University of East London.

“Unfortunately, with video calls there is a barrier. For social bonding, which is important, you need touch, but video calls don’t provide that.

“The technology offers a way of incorporating touch into our virtual social interactions and can also act as a diagnostic tool for touch perception for patients, who experience sensitivity loss.”

Professor Helge Wurdemann, who also worked on the device, said: “We believe we have the technology here that would enable us to design a glove… We’re looking into [combining] multiple fingers.”

“This interface can be changed as we want – for patients who have loss of sensitivity, for surgery, for remote social interaction.”

Scientists are also investigating using BAMH to add accurate sensory feedback into robotic surgeries so clinicians can conduct examinations remotely as well as they can in-person.

Criminals are using popular social media platforms such as Instagram to market and sell deadly knives and machetes to children, a senior police officer has warned.

Unscrupulous dealers exploit algorithms used by tech companies to target under-18s, who are blocked from buying bladed weapons legitimately online.

Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on knife crime, accused some of the social media sites of being “wilfully blind” to the problem and said they must do more to stop the illegal trade.

Speaking at the Police Superintendents’ Conference, he said: “The best people to police the online space are these online companies because if an algorithm can expose you to it, the algorithm should be able to take that risk away.”

He said when some of the companies had been approached about the issue they had refused to recognise there was a problem.

But he went on: “I would suggest they need to look again at all they’re being wilfully blind to so it’s a serious issue they need to take up, and they need to come up with some of the solutions to fight this.”

Last week a 23-year-old man from Hampshire also admitted attempting to sell knives, firearms and other illegal weapons via Instagram.

Stefan Petrescu from Totton bought many of the weapons from overseas retailers and then had them shipped into the UK.

He advertised the knives for sale on popular social media sites, including Instagram, and then sent them to the purchaser through the post.

When his mobile phone was examined by detectives they discovered he was in regular contact with known knife-point robbers.

Chat logs recovered by detectives also suggested Petrescu – who held strong Right-wing views – had supplied weapons to those involved in the recent riots.

Appearing at Southampton Crown Court last week, Petrescu admitted one count of marketing a combat knife for sale and one count of possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation device.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place and will be sentenced next month.

In another case uncovered by the police, an online weapons trader was found with a stockpile of more than 250 zombie knives and swords, which he was selling to gangsters and county lines drug dealers.

The current legislation is supposed to prohibit under 18s purchasing knives, but many youngsters are able to circumvent the law by simply lying about their age.

Mr Clayman, who is conducting a rapid review for the Government aimed at identifying loopholes in the law, said the role of third party sellers who bought in bulk and then advertised on social media was making the issue difficult to tackle.

A spokesman for Meta, which owns Instagram, said: “We don’t allow the promotion and sale of weapons on our platform and we remove this content when we find it.

“Earlier this year we met with other large tech companies, the Home Office, Ofcom and the Chief Officer for knife crime to understand how we can work together to tackle this issue.

“We have also agreed to join the anti-knife crime coalition launched by the government and Idris Elba this week.”

An eight-week old baby died after a nurse left him at home during a shift, a court heard.

Ruth Auta, 28, left her son Joshua Akerele by himself for eight hours and he suffered from an asystolic cardiac arrest, a condition in which the heart stops beating.

She arrived home from her shift on Dec 20, 2022 at about 3.15pm and emergency services were called after she found Joshua unresponsive.

Despite attempts to resuscitate him , Joshua could not be saved and he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital, Bolton Crown Court heard.

No conclusive cause of death was given and a post-mortem examination said there were “so many unknown variables” it was not possible to ascertain what had caused it.

Auta did not disclose her pregnancy

Auta had undertaken three years of nursing training in her native Nigeria before emigrating to Britain to train with the NHS.

She then gave birth to Joshua on Oct 22 2022 after going into labour in the middle of a shift at Royal Bolton Hospital in Greater Manchester.

Prosecuting, Vanessa Thomson said: “When she came to the UK to complete her training, she did not disclose that she was pregnant.

“She would not have been permitted to work on hospital wards had she done so.”

CCTV footage showed Auta leaving her flat in Bolton, Greater Manchester, at 6.37am before returning to the property at about 3.15pm, both on her own.

An ambulance was called just minutes after and Auta met paramedics at the entrance to the building, holding Joshua.

Ms Thomson said: “CCTV footage checks showed that nobody had entered her flat throughout the day.

“The previous days mainly showed her entering and leaving with a pram.”

Claim Joshua was left with carer

Auta told police that she had “returned home from work, fed him and laid him on her bed” before he went to sleep.

She also claimed she had wrapped Joshua in multiple layers of clothing which caused him to sweat.

Analysis at the scene found an area of her bed saturated with sweat.

Ms Thomson said: “The defendant claimed she had collected Joshua from a carer when she left work and taken him back home.”

Text messages on Auta’s phone showed contact with a child carer whom she had employed to look after Joshua.

The messages, which were sent after his death, said: “I lost Joshua, I don’t want you to panic, police are coming to you for questions.

“I told them he stayed with you this morning.”

A further message said: “I am not a bad person, but I am concerned of the UK Government. Just help me out. I was too scared to ring an ambulance.”

The contact responded that she could not help her and when interviewed by police, she told them she had not taken care of Joshua that day.

Postpartum depression

The court heard that Auta was arrested at Gatwick Airport on June 6 this year, while trying to board a flight to Nigeria. She had purchased a one-way ticket. 

Defending, Ellie Akhgar said: “Ms Auta was sectioned for a period of 14 days in hospital, which allowed her to stay for an additional week.”

A psychiatric report conducted following Joshua’s death found that a period of low mood suffered by Auta suggested she had been suffering from postpartum depression.

The psychiatrist said she described the period after his birth as being “awful”, saying she “could not be happy”, was “extremely sad” and that she felt “lonely and isolated.”

Ms Akhgar added that Auta earned about £1,600 a month, with her rent costing £750 and hiring a childminder costing £50 a day.

She said: “She is aware of her wrongdoing and aware that it crosses the custodial threshold. She will carry the weight of tremendous tragedy for the rest of her life.”

‘No one was checking on his welfare’

Concluding, Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said: “The defendant left Joshua, who was just over eight weeks old, for a period of over eight hours.

“He was a newborn baby with no means of support. This eight-week-old baby was entirely reliant on you for his needs, he could not possibly have fended for himself in the over eight hours in which you neglected him.

“No one was checking on his welfare.

“In my judgment, it is all the more serious because of your professional qualifications. You deceived the recruitment agency and the hospital and tried to cover up what you had done, and you tried to deceive the police.”

Auta had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty to neglect but was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

The United States’ elite Seal Team 6 has reportedly been training for missions to assist Taiwan if it is invaded by China.

The clandestine US Navy commando unit, known globally for its raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in 2011, is said to be planning and training for a potential Taiwan conflict for more than a year at its Dam Neck base in Virginia.

The secret training exercises by the Navy special forces team, tasked with some of the military’s most sensitive and difficult missions, appear to be part of a wider deterrence strategy to give China pause for thought about the high costs of trying to forcibly seize the democracy of 23.5 million.

The reports from the Financial Times emerged as China warned it would “crush” any foreign forces who enter what it considers its sovereign territory, which includes much of the South China Sea and Taiwan.

On Thursday, a senior Beijing military official said on the sidelines of a defence forum: “If the United States moves its pawns behind the scenes, if it pushes countries to the front line, or if the United States itself ends up on the front line, then we in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army… will never have any patience.

“We in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will resolutely crush any foreign hostile encroachment on China’s territorial, sovereign and maritime rights and interests with firm determination, staunch will, strong capability and effective means.”

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan even though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled there. Taiwan operates like any other nation with its own government, foreign policy and currency and polls show the vast majority of its population are opposed to unification with China.

The United States is already Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier, despite having no formal diplomatic ties with the island, and in June approved a new $360 million weapons sale, sending hundreds of armed drones, missile equipment and related support material.

Washington is obliged by federal law to ensure that Taiwan has the means to defend itself but maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” in which it does not say if US forces would intervene in the event of a conflict.

However, support for Taiwan has intensified in recent years amid growing concerns that Beijing is preparing to invade, and the Pentagon has been sending regular special forces to Taiwan for low-key missions that include training for the Taiwanese military.

The covert missions of Seal Team 6 are highly classified and the FT reported that sources aware of the commando unit’s activities did not provide any further details about its Taiwan-related planning.

A Pentagon spokesman said the defence department and its forces “prepare and train for a wide range of contingencies”.

China, which is investing heavily in its navy and expanding its nuclear weapons stocks, has stepped up military and political pressure on Taiwan to force it to accept its territorial claims and in May held war games around the island after the inauguration of Lai Ching-te, the new president.

But diplomatic efforts are also under way to cool tensions and avert an escalation into conflict.

On Tuesday, Admiral Samuel Paparo, the chief of the US Indo-Pacific Command, spoke with General Wu Yanan, the commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theatre Command, in the first such call in two years.

The call was another sign of the gradual restoration of top-level military communications as the competing nations try to avoid miscalculations over regional flashpoints including the South China Sea and Taiwan.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said that Adm Paparo “urged the PLA to reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South China Sea and beyond”.

The RAC is telling motorists to report breakdowns online, instead of making a phone call.

Customers of the 127-year-old motor insurer are being told that they will receive faster service by reporting breakdowns through its website.

An 85-year-old driver who does not own a smartphone told The Telegraph that he walked home to report a breakdown using his home computer after initially phoning for help when a wheel fell off his car.

Duncan Rayner, who has been an RAC customer for 40 years, claimed he was left waiting more than 15 minutes after calling up, with an automatic message repeatedly telling him it would be easier to log his issue online.

The grandfather said that even after he reported his breakdown through the RAC website, there was no response for a quarter of an hour.

“If you’re sitting in a car with traffic going past at 90 miles an hour on a motorway … that’s not the sort of response you want,” he said, adding that he had ended up paying a friend with a tow truck to get his vehicle home.

Mr Rayner’s car was left immobile on a busy B road with buses trying to squeeze past for around two hours, roughly 15 minutes from his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire.

“One of [the call handlers] actually just told me to go online and cut me off,” he claimed, adding: “If they don’t answer their phone and I’m stuck on a motorway, how on earth do I get in touch with them?

“And I think that is the big problem facing not only me, but a hell of a lot of other drivers. You know, we don’t all have smartphones.”

He continued: “I tried to ring them, and I think I was on the phone for 15 or 20 minutes [with] no response, and then the phone line kept coming back to say ‘the easiest way to get in touch with us is online’. So I waited, and then I eventually went online.”

After logging the breakdown online, and receiving no response for a further quarter of an hour, Mr Rayner said, he gave up, called a friend with a tow truck and walked back to his car.

The rescue cost him £100, which the RAC declined to reimburse.

In its initial automated response to Mr Rayner’s complaint, the insurer said it could take up to eight weeks to “resolve” the issue.

An RAC spokesman said: “We’d like to apologise to Mr Rayner for any confusion and will be offering him a gesture of goodwill.”

Campaigners condemn policy

Charities and campaign groups condemned the motor insurer’s policy of nudging customers online instead of making its services accessible to people without smartphones or tablets at hand.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Almost half of over-65s are either not online at all or lack the skills and confidence to be able to use digital technology safely and successfully.

“It follows that it’s crucial that non-digital alternatives are always available in terms of accessing services, and that’s as true of vehicle breakdown support as anything else.

“We understand that companies are keen to control costs and that putting services online is one way of achieving this, but it’s a total false economy if it disenfranchises literally millions of older people.

She also called for the Government to create “binding guidance” to make sure that “people who aren’t online can still access all the services to which they are entitled”.

Dennis Reed, campaign director of Silver Voices, a senior citizens’ campaigning organisation, said: “It’s really saying to older customers: get lost. It’s disgusting that [companies] are not providing an efficient alternative.

“I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have that online option at all,” he continued, “but there should be an alternative, particularly when people who may be vulnerable are breaking down in isolated positions.”

RAC apologises

An RAC spokesman said the insurer wanted to apologise for its customer’s treatment and said: “We’re sorry Mr Rayner thought the only way to log his breakdown was online.

“This isn’t the case – we offer members the choice to call or go online. In fact, over half of all breakdowns are reported to us by phone.

“While many of our members prefer to go online – as it allows us to locate them more easily and keep them regularly updated on when we will arrive – we appreciate this isn’t the case for everyone.

“This is why we have fully staffed call centres in three UK locations that take tens of thousands of member phone calls every week.”

Call for new tax system

Earlier this month the RAC prompted dismay in motoring circles by calling on Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, to impose a pay-per-mile road tax system that would hit petrol and diesel car drivers hardest.

Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said: “A pay-per-mile system could be set up according to vehicles’ emissions, with EV drivers paying the least to further encourage take-up, and ‘gas-guzzlers’ paying the most.”

The insurer said it believed such a tax is inevitable as Treasury income from fuel duty declines with the ongoing national shift towards buying electric vehicles.

John Swinney has been taken to task for repeatedly refusing to intervene to stop Police Scotland allowing rapists to self-identify as women.

Three female MSPs angrily challenged the First Minister at Holyrood over the force’s disclosure that it allows people who are charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape to “self-declare” their gender.

Rachael Hamilton, a Scottish Tory MSP, said the policy “opens the door to a grotesque situation where a male rapist can demand to be called a woman and further traumatise his victim.”

She told First Minister’s Questions it was “an insult to the victims of rape and serious assault” and asked Mr Swinney whether he was prepared to allow a repeat of the notorious Isla Bryson case.

The First Minister said “these are operational matters for Police Scotland” and insisted there would be “outrage” if he tried to interfere with the running of the force.

Labour’s Pauline McNeill argued that the Police Scotland policy made a “mockery” of the SNP government’s strategy for tackling violence against women.

Ash Regan, of the Alba Party, said it was “offensive” that rapes being committed by men could be attributed to women in Scotland’s official crime figures. Rape is defined in law as involving penetration by a penis without consent.

In a direct challenge to Mr Swinney, she said: “Will the First Minister show leadership and address this horrible situation urgently?”

The exchanges came after a Scottish Parliament committee asked the force how it records the sex of people who are charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape.

Police Scotland replied that the sex or gender identification of anyone who comes “into contact” with the force would be based “on how they present or how they self-declare.”

No evidence or documentary proof of biological sex would normally be required “other than a person’s self-declaration”, the force said.

Police Scotland said the only exceptions would be if their biological sex was “pertinent to any investigation with which they are linked as a victim, witness or accused”, or there needed to be “further inquiry based on risk.”

The force said allowing people to self-identify their gender was “consistent with the values of the organisation” and was consistent with “the values of respect, integrity, fairness and human rights whilst promoting a strong sense of belonging.”

The response followed the case of Isla Bryson, who was born male and convicted of raping two women when living under the name of Adam Graham.

The predator was initially sent to women’s prison, prompting a public uproar that saw the rapist move to the male prison estate.

Although Bryson had not legally changed gender, Scottish Prison Service guidance at the time stated that trans criminals should be sent to the jail that matched their self-identified gender that they were living in prior to their conviction.

Referring to Nicola Sturgeon’s blocked plans to allow people to self-identify their legal gender, Ms Hamilton told MSPs that the Police Scotland policy echoed the “language of the SNP.”

She said: “The only strong sense this should inspire is disgust. Does the First Minister agree with me and women across Scotland that male rapists should not get their own way? Or is he content to let another Isla Bryson situation happen?”

Mr Swinney protested that “I have never in my life believed” that a “male rapist should get his way.” However, he added: “There would be outrage if I was to interfere in the actions and the decision making of Police Scotland.

“And the law is clear that I cannot do that, but I am sure that Police Scotland will have heard the exchanges in Parliament today and will consider the issues if there are any issues that they wish to address.”

Ms McNeill, Scottish Labour’s justice spokeswoman, said the First Minister “cannot ignore responsibility” and challenged him over the force’s assertion that the policy was “consistent with their values.”

“I think the (Scottish) government needs to be clear, is it consistent with their values?” she asked.

Mr Swinney insisted a second time he could not “interfere in the operational business of Police Scotland” but Ms Regan highlighted media coverage reporting an increase in women committing sex crimes.

Ms Regan, who resigned as a minister in Ms Sturgeon’s government because she could not support self-ID, said: “The reality, of course, is that these crimes are committed by men and they are being recorded as women’s crimes.

“This is offensive to women and it is grossly disrespectful to the victims of these crimes. So why are Scottish institutions still acting as if self-ID is the law when it is not?”

Mr Swinney said that in 2021/22, the last year for which figures were available, all rape and attempted rape convictions were recorded as being perpetrated by males.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “The sex/gender identification of individuals who come into contact with the police will be based on how they present or how they self-declare, which is consistent with the values of the organisation.”

A cyclist was pushed off his bike by a van passenger as he rode to work in a “despicable random attack” in Nottinghamshire.

A man in a silver Peugeot van is seen on bike camera footage hanging out of the vehicle’s window as he prepared to push the cyclist over on Nottingham Road in Toton.

The cyclist suffered facial injuries, bruising to his arms and legs and a swollen knee. His bike was also damaged in the attack, which happened as he was cycling to work at around 4am on March 9 this year, Nottinghamshire Police said.

The force released the footage on Thursday, saying its officers had “already explored several lines of inquiry”, including those related to the van driver and registered keeper.

PC Jon Lingard of Nottinghamshire Police said: “This was a nasty unprovoked assault on a man cycling to work. It’s fortunate that he didn’t sustain more serious injuries following this despicable random attack.

“We would ask that anyone who recognises the man pictured to get in touch. We’d also ask that he contacts us if he sees this appeal.”

Anyone who recognises the man or who has any information can call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 137 of March 9 2024.

Big music and event venues will face fines of up to £18 million if they fail to introduce measures aimed at preventing a repeat of the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.

Martyn’s Law – named in memory of Martyn Hett, one of the 22 victims of the 2017 terror atrocity – will require venues from concert halls for just 200 people to stadiums like Manchester Arena to put in place measures to better protect audiences in the event of an attack.

The move comes after Taylor Swift was forced to cancel three concerts in Vienna after police uncovered a terrorist plot planned by extremists inspired by Islamic State. 

UK security sources said “lone wolf” terror attacks remained a live threat that was harder to detect and investigate.

Under the Bill, laid in Parliament on Thursday, bigger venues such as Manchester Arena with capacity for 800 or more people will have to ensure they have the necessary CCTV cameras, security teams, evacuation and lockdown plans.

Smaller venues with capacity for 200 to 799 people will be expected to put in place public protection procedures such as identifying safe routes, locking doors and closing shutters.

A regulator, the Security Industry Authority (SIA), will have powers to fine bigger venues up to £18 million or 5 per cent of their worldwide revenue, whichever is higher, if they fail to implement the appropriate measures.

The Home Office has watered down the plans – originally put forward by the Tories – by raising the threshold of venues covered by the legislation from those with capacity for 100 to 200.

It has also dropped demands for prescribed training and the mandatory completion of risk evaluation forms. The legislation will be less prescriptive about what venues are expected to introduce to allow them to take account of the particular requirements of their own premises.

All the estimated 24,000 bigger venues and 155,000 smaller ones will be required to register with the SIA. The Home Office estimates it will cost bigger stadiums about £5,000 a year to comply, and smaller ones some £330 a year.

Martyn Hett died after suicide bomber Salman Abedi targeted crowds outside an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 2017. More than 1,000 people were injured in the blast.

Figen Murray, Martyn’s mother, has campaigned for the legislation over the past seven years. In May, then prime minister Rishi Sunak promised to bring in the law – hours before calling a general election, meaning it was delayed for months.

Ms Murray said: “Today means we are one step closer to making public spaces safer for everyone. It is also hugely important for my family that Martyn’s Law will be on the statute book ahead of the next anniversary of Martyn’s death.”

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said: “Martyn’s Law has been a long time coming. I want to pay tribute to Figen Murray and her campaign team who have tirelessly worked to make this happen.

“This legislation will strengthen public safety, help protect staff and the public from terrorism and ensure we learn the lessons from the terrible Manchester Arena attack and the inquiry that followed. It is important we now take this forward through Parliament in Martyn’s memory and to help keep people safe.”

Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, became a victim of crime while delivering a speech to senior officers about an “epidemic” of theft.

The Labour MP was giving a presentation at the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) annual conference in Warwickshire on Tuesday when she had her purse stolen.

The event was taking place at the four-star Chesham Grange Hotel, in Kenilworth, when the theft took place.

A Home Office source confirmed the incident had taken place but said no security risks had been identified. Warwickshire Police said they were investigating a report of the theft of a purse.

Dame Diana, the former chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, was attending the policing conference to give a speech when the theft occurred.

After the conference she posted on social media that it had been a “pleasure to speak” at the conference but did not mention the theft.

It will prove acutely embarrassing for the minister, who used her speech to stress the Government’s determination to tackle “crimes that blight communities… like shoplifting, snatch theft and antisocial behaviour”.

A policing source at the conference said organisers and hotel staff were “mortified” about the theft and hoped the culprit could be identified.

The hotel has a health spa attached and was open to the public during the conference.

The conference, which was attended by superintendents and chief superintendents from across the 43 police forces in England and Wales, was one of the first opportunities for Home Office ministers to address senior officers.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, had been invited to the conference and was expected to attend but sent a video message instead, with Dame Diana going in her place.

She told delegates that the Labour Government was committed to listening to the police about the challenges they faced.

“As the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have made clear, we are serious about tackling crime,” she said.

But in his address, Nick Smart, the newly-elected president of the PSA, told Dame Diana that policing was operating on a shoestring and he urged the Government to reset the relationship with policing after “years of under-investment and de-valuing of the workforce”.

He also warned that the Government’s early release of prisoners would result in police officers having to pick up the pieces.

He told Dame Diana: “My colleagues are once again being placed at the centre of a storm that is not their doing, with the prospect of arresting offenders who can then not be placed in prison, and dealing with the fallout from the thousands of criminals being released early today, many potentially without proper rehabilitation and release plans.”

Lottie Moss has urged people not to take Ozempic after she was taken to hospital as a result of taking high doses of the weight-loss drug.

Ms Moss, a model, revealed the drug made her feel so nauseous that she would rather “die” than use it again.

The 26-year-old, whose sister is Kate Moss, the supermodel, described how she had a seizure during her medical ordeal and suffered from severe dehydration.

The model said she later found out she had been taking doses that were far too high for someone of her frame.

She claimed she weighed around 60kg (9 stone 6lbs) when she began taking the drug.

‘It is dangerous’

On her podcast, “Dream On”, Ms Moss said: “A few months ago, I was not feeling happy about my weight, I had a friend, and she could get it for me.

“It was below board, from a doctor, but it wasn’t like you go into a doctor’s office and he prescribes it for you, takes your blood pressure, and takes tests, which is what you need when you go on something like Ozempic.

“At the end of the day it is a medication, it is dangerous and really meant for weight loss of people of a very large size.

“When I was taking it, the amount that I was taking was meant for people who are 100 kilos and over and I’m in the 50s range.”

Ms Moss added: “It’s these small things I wish I’d known before taking it. But I took it, you inject it into your leg, and it was the worst decision I ever made.

“This is a warning to everyone. Please, if you’re thinking of taking it, do not take it, it’s so not worth it.”

Kate Moss, 50, was previously criticised for claiming that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” in 2009, a statement the supermodel went on to say she regretted, in an interview 10 years later.

However, Ms Moss suggested her older sister’s previous brand of “heroin chic” was making a comeback, following the rise of Ozempic.

‘I would rather die than take it again’

NHS patients in England can currently only be prescribed Ozempic if they are referred to specialist services, which have long waits.

They can also only access Ozempic on the health service if they have Type 2 diabetes and Wegovy, a similar drug, if they are obese or have a BMI of 27 along with other specific health conditions.

Speaking on the podcast, Ms Moss said: “I would rather die any day than take it again. It made me feel so nauseous.”

She added: “I was throwing up, it was horrible. I took a lower dosage the first time I took it then I went up higher. I ended up being in bed for two days, felt so sick, my weight had dropped.

“I started at about 60 kilos, and I went down to 57 with the first dose, then I went down to 54.

“It was crazy, my lowest was 53. In terms of a few weeks, that’s not a healthy weight loss, not a healthy drop.”

The former Celebs Go Dating star described going to the hospital at 3am, where she said a nurse asked her what dose of the drug she was taking.

She said: “I was like however much and she was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so not the amount you should be taking.’ She asked how much weight I’d lost in two weeks and I told her… She sent me to the emergency room, and I got wheelchaired through the hospital.”

‘One of the scariest things to ever happen’

Ms Moss said that at one point she thought she was going to pass out, before she was taken to a room and seen by another nurse.

“I literally had a seizure from how dehydrated I was, which was honestly one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me in my life.

“My friend Reece had to hold my feet down and it was just so scary, the whole situation, I didn’t know what was going on, my face was clenching up, my whole body was tense, my hands, it was so weird, your hands clench up and you can’t move them and it feels like you’re going to break your hand. It was honestly horrible.”

Continuing her podcast, Ms Moss said that the drug was “for diabetes” and “not for weight loss really”.

She also suggested that it can be “hard to look at” the dramatic weight losses of celebrities using the drug, “especially for people with eating disorders”.

Ms Moss added: “This heroin chic trend right now [is] coming back, which is something that happened in the 90s, we should not be going back there.

“This should not be a trend right now… Where did the body positivity go?”

The Telegraph has approached Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk for a comment.

An Asian man used the fake name “Chris Nolan” to stir up racial hatred in Birmingham during the summer riots, saying: “We need to take back what’s ours.”

Ehsan Hussain, 25, used the name to post messages calling for disorder during the riots that spread across Britain.

The messages appeared on a Telegram chat group called “Southport Wake Up” which had more than 12,000 members.

Screenshots of the messages obtained by police show Hussain calling to “conquer Alum Rock”, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, saying: “Sick of these smelly scumbags”.

Other racist messages, which were Hussain’s contribution to a conversation he had with two other users included; “We’ve got a blues match on Saturday; we can do a part 2 on Saturday get these p— scums out.”

He also wrote: “Birmingham first! We need to take back whats ours” and “we doing p— bashing”.

Hussain, from Yardley, pleaded guilty at Birmingham’s magistrates’ court to distributing “threatening, abusive or insulting” written material intending to stir up racial hatred between Aug 3 and 6.

Substantial custodial sentence

He was warned to expect a substantial custodial sentence and was remanded into custody for sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.

No details of the material written by Hussain were given to the court, although his solicitor said the offending was “commissioned initially out of curiosity” after he was shocked at some posts and then wrote messages “to take a poke” at others.

Aftab Zahoor, defending, said Hussain had written messages after being “appalled” at other posts on a social media platform, which was not named in court, and had now “had time to reflect on matters”.

“He is apologetic and remorseful for his actions,” Mr Zahoor said of his client.

Committing the case for sentencing at the crown court, District Judge Murray told Hussain: “This is part of the overall disorder which caused real problems throughout the country.

“I will decline jurisdiction in relation to these matters. My powers of sentencing (a six-month maximum sentence) are clearly and substantially exceeded.

“You have pleaded guilty and you will get credit for your guilty plea in due course.”

Complex investigation

Commenting on the case, Chief Superintendent Richard North, from Birmingham Police, said: “This has been an excellent but complex investigation.

“We would like to thank members of the public for alerting us to these posts, which was crucial at a time when we were seeing lots of rumour, speculation and misinformation online; we know this can be extremely harmful to all of our communities.

“We do not tolerate violence in our towns and cities, or tolerate those who use social media to encourage such violence.”

A man was assaulted and damage was caused to a pub in the Yardley area, and a car was attacked elsewhere in east Birmingham, during disorder on the evening of Aug 5, after false rumours spread online of a far-Right march taking place.

Hundreds of dangerous life jackets which people smugglers would have given to migrants crossing the Channel in small boats have been seized after a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation.

About 600 life vests, including some in children’s sizes, were intercepted in a lorry in the Netherlands after being shipped to Italy. The NCA said they did not meet UK or European safety standards and would have failed in deep water.

Just over a week ago, 12 people – including six children and a pregnant woman – died when their flimsy dinghy collapsed and sank three miles off the French coast.

People smugglers had put the dinghy to sea without the stiff rib it should have had on its underside. At sea, it tore and water poured in.

The 12 victims drowned when the sides of the dinghy collapsed, preventing them from escaping. Only eight of the 65 migrants on board had life jackets.

Smuggling methods worsen

People-smuggling gangs are putting flimsier dinghies to sea and cramming more people into them because supplies of boats are limited after crackdowns by border agencies and law enforcement. 

The average number of migrants per boat is now 60, triple the number when the first dinghies started crossing in 2018.

At least 37 people have died in Channel crossings this year, compared with 12 in the whole of 2023. The previous worst incident was in November 2021, when 27 people died after their inflatable dinghy capsized.

The 600 life jackets were intercepted on Monday by the Dutch Royal Marechaussee – Holland’s border force – in the town of Zwolle, after intelligence was shared by NCA investigators and UK Border Force officers. 

The lorry driver, 23, was arrested on suspicion of offences related to people smuggling and is being investigated by the Dutch authorities.

‘To dupe those paying for crossings’

Jacque Beer, regional head of investigations for the NCA, said: “Tackling organised immigration crime remains a priority for the NCA, and we are looking to disrupt the criminal gangs engaged in that in any way we can. 

“That includes targeting their supplies of dangerous maritime equipment. These life jackets … would only have been used to dupe those paying for crossings into thinking they were safe when they were not.

“Some of them were in children’s sizes, again showing the callous nature of those involved. Tragically, we have seen only recently how they don’t care about risking the lives of those they transport.”

Hundreds of dangerous life jackets which people smugglers would have given to migrants crossing the Channel in small boats have been seized after a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation.

About 600 life vests, including some in children’s sizes, were intercepted in a lorry in the Netherlands after being shipped to Italy. The NCA said they did not meet UK or European safety standards and would have failed in deep water.

Just over a week ago, 12 people – including six children and a pregnant woman – died when their flimsy dinghy collapsed and sank three miles off the French coast.

People smugglers had put the dinghy to sea without the stiff rib it should have had on its underside. At sea, it tore and water poured in.

The 12 victims drowned when the sides of the dinghy collapsed, preventing them from escaping. Only eight of the 65 migrants on board had life jackets.

Smuggling methods worsen

People-smuggling gangs are putting flimsier dinghies to sea and cramming more people into them because supplies of boats are limited after crackdowns by border agencies and law enforcement. 

The average number of migrants per boat is now 60, triple the number when the first dinghies started crossing in 2018.

At least 37 people have died in Channel crossings this year, compared with 12 in the whole of 2023. The previous worst incident was in November 2021, when 27 people died after their inflatable dinghy capsized.

The 600 life jackets were intercepted on Monday by the Dutch Royal Marechaussee – Holland’s border force – in the town of Zwolle, after intelligence was shared by NCA investigators and UK Border Force officers. 

The lorry driver, 23, was arrested on suspicion of offences related to people smuggling and is being investigated by the Dutch authorities.

‘To dupe those paying for crossings’

Jacque Beer, regional head of investigations for the NCA, said: “Tackling organised immigration crime remains a priority for the NCA, and we are looking to disrupt the criminal gangs engaged in that in any way we can. 

“That includes targeting their supplies of dangerous maritime equipment. These life jackets … would only have been used to dupe those paying for crossings into thinking they were safe when they were not.

“Some of them were in children’s sizes, again showing the callous nature of those involved. Tragically, we have seen only recently how they don’t care about risking the lives of those they transport.”