Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 11 September 2023

1. China sees UK as a ‘soft option’

Ministers are under pressure to take stronger action against Beijing after a parliamentary researcher was arrested amid accusations he spied for China. Senior Tory MPs have called for China to be categorised as a threat after police confirmed that two men, one in his 20s and another in his 30s, were arrested under the Official Secrets Act in March. Iain Duncan Smith described the episode as a “hostile act in the heart of Parliament”, which shows that Beijing sees Britain as a “soft option”.

2. Moroccan villages ‘in ruins’

Rescuers in Morocco are now using their “bare hands to dig for survivors”, said the BBC, more than 48 hours after an earthquake claimed more than 2,000 lives. Mountain villages near the epicentre “lie in ruins” and local people are “desperately awaiting aid”, the broadcaster added. Many houses in the mountains were built from mud bricks, Al Jazeera reported. Morocco said it has accepted aid from four countries: Britain, Spain, Qatar and the UAE.

Why can’t we predict when earthquakes will occur?

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3. Rates rises may be over

A panel of experts have said there will be either just one more interest rates rise this year or none, said The i Paper. The experts expect “a less aggressive approach to tackling inflation” going forward, following a record 14 consecutive rises since December 2021. The theory that the peak of rises is being neared was boosted last week by Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, who told MPs that the period when it was “clear that rates needed to rise going forwards” was now over.

4. High street ‘looting’ risk

The boss of John Lewis is calling on the government to set up a Royal Commission to investigate the health of towns and how to revitalise them. Writing in The Telegraph, Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said high streets risk “becoming a looting ground for emboldened shoplifters and organised gangs”, following years of shop closures which have left town and city centres with boarded up storefronts or “seemingly endless” rows of charity shops and vape vendors.

5. Braverman explores dog ban

The home secretary is seeking “urgent advice” on banning “lethal” American Bully XL dogs. After a dog attacked an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham on Saturday, Suella Braverman said the breed was a particular danger to children. “We can’t go on like this,” she added. The number of dog attacks recorded by police in England and Wales has risen by more than a third in the past five years, the BBC reported in March.

Dog attacks: should the Bully XL be banned in the UK?

6. Covid booster rollout accelerated

A “faster-than-planned” rollout of Covid booster shots for older people living in care homes in England begins this morning, said the BBC. The programme has been accelerated over concerns about a highly-mutated new Covid variant that is spreading. There have been 34 confirmed cases of BA.2.86 in England, with 28 of those behind a Norfolk care home outbreak.

Covid-19: where we are now

7. ‘Bold action’ needed on cancer

A “growing epidemic of preventable cancers” will lead to 184,000 people in the UK being diagnosed with the disease this year, according to research by Frontier Economics for The Guardian. The £78 billion price tag of cancer cases diagnosed in 2023 caused by smoking, drinking, obesity and sunburn leads to £40 billion in lost productivity, and costs the people affected £30 billion, the study revealed. It also takes up £3.7 billion of the NHS’s budget and costs families and carers £3.4 billion and the social care system £1.3 billion. Charities are calling for “bold political action” to tackle the harm caused by tobacco and bad diet.

Five good-news cancer breakthroughs in 2023

8. Young take more mental health leave

A study has found that more than half of young workers have taken sick leave in the past six months because of mental health issues. Some 56% of 16 to 24-year-olds questioned said that they needed time off because of stress, anxiety and depression, The Times reported. Among over-55s, the figure was just 12%. “There is a perception that young people are soft but actually they have uniquely difficult challenges,” said Dr Nick Taylor, chief executive of Unmind, because “younger people are under the most financial pressure”.

9. Spanish football chief finally quits

Luis Rubiales has stepped down as president of the Spanish Football Federation following the controversy of kissing Spain forward Jenni Hermoso at the Fifa Women’s World Cup final presentation ceremony. “I cannot continue my work,” Rubiales said on “Piers Morgan Uncensored”, after Hermoso, who said the kiss was not consensual, filed a legal complaint. Writing on social media later he vowed to “defend” his “honourability” and “innocence”.

Luis Rubiales and Spanish football’s MeToo moment

10. ‘Vulgar’ EU flag waving condemned

A former Tory MP has called for an inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of the “Last Night of the Proms”, after “a sea of European Union flags” could be seen being waved throughout the evening. Harvey Proctor said the flag-waving was “disgraceful”, “misguided” and “utterly vulgar”. Nile Gardiner, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, said it was “ironic” to see EU flags during “Rule Britannia”. A pro-EU group, Thank EU for the Music, said it handed out the flags in support of musicians impacted by Brexit.