United Kingdom

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2595305

Two sanctioned Russian oligarchs have become part-owners of the UK's largest oil producer after it completed a deal to buy a German firm.

LetterOne, the investment company part-owned by oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, now owns nearly 15% of Harbour Energy.

LetterOne itself is not sanctioned, and the two Russians have no contact with the firm and don't receive any share of its profits.

Harbour Energy is the largest oil and gas producer in UK waters. It has bought most of the oil and gas production assets of a Germany-based firm, Wintershall DEA, from the chemicals giant BASF.

"A mass grave containing more than 300 bodies, including babies and children, has been uncovered.

An unmarked burial site at Royton Cemetery in Oldham contained 145 stillborn children, 128 babies and young children and 29 adults, local councillors said..."

The UK's competition regulator has launched an investigation into Oasis ticket sales after widespread complaints over pricing.

The investigation is also set to include a wider probe into how "dynamic pricing" was used during the sale.

Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing meant that when reunion tour tickets went on sale, prices would rise in-line with demand.

The 90s Brit rock icons announced two extra Wembley Stadium shows as part of their 2025 UK tour on Wednesday, after "phenomenal demand" for tickets left many fans empty handed during the main sale on Saturday.

Tickets for the band's tour went for up to £350 per ticket, around £200 more than had been advertised.

In response to widespread uproar over pricing, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today announced it has launched an investigation.

The CMA confirmed it is now scrutinising whether the sale of Oasis tickets by Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law.

The probe follows Oasis' comments hitting out at Ticketmaster's pricing policy, with many fans pay over the odds to secure access to the tour.

In an apparent response to the anger about dynamic pricing, they say tickets will be sold by a 'staggered, invitation-only ballot process'.

Was aware of the 7726 short code for spammers

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/phone-internet-downloads-or-tv/stop-getting-nuisance-calls-and-texts/

but never heard of 159 before.

Heads up?

Ministers have been urged to treat suicide as a public health crisis after the rate at which people killed themselves in England and Wales reached the highest level in more than two decades.

The official figures, described by the suicide prevention charity Samaritans as “worse than expected”, showed 6,069 suicides were registered in the two nations in 2023, up from 5,642 in 2022 and the highest rate since 1999.

Three-quarters of the deaths were of males, but the female suicide rate reached its highest level since 1994, according to the annual Office for National Statistics figures.

“Rates increased across all age groups compared to 2022, especially among those aged 45 to 64 years,” said Vahé Nafilyan, the head of data and analysis for social care and health at the ONS.

“Suicide rates either increased or remained unchanged in each of the nine English regions, but the north-west saw the largest rise.

...

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Archived link

UK government to equip teachers with AI tools to help them "mark and plan lessons"

The project, which has £4 million of government investment behind it, will feed government documents – including curriculum guidance, lesson plans, and anonymized pupil assessments – into AI models, which will then spit out "accurate, high quality content."

[...]

The £4 million in funding will be divided into £3 million for the content store itself – which will consist of teaching standards, guidelines, and lesson plans – and £1 million for AI companies that come up with "the best ideas to put the data into practice to reduce teacher workload."

Moves to deal with teacher workload have been broadly welcomed, although the use of AI was greeted with caution.

[...]

The journalists asked the government how anonymity will be protected in the training set and how the scenario where an AI might end up marking homework generated by an AI from a lesson plan produced by an AI might be avoided, but they have yet to receive a response, the article says.

Fish and chips is a British family favourite equally enjoyed around the table on a Friday night or out of the paper on an often overcast beach.

But the deep fried delicacy has seen the biggest price increase of some of the UK’s most popular takeaways, according to new figures.

The average price for a portion of fish and chips rose more than 50% to nearly £10 in the five years to July – while the cost of a kebab went up 44% and pizza 30%.

Chip shop owners cite a "perfect storm" of costs in recent years, including soaring energy bills, tariffs on seafood imports and extreme weather hammering potato harvests.

This all means a family of four won't get much change out of a £50 note once they've forked out for their tea and added some mushy peas and cans of pop.

People in crisis with mental health problems can now access services through NHS 111, giving them another way to get urgent help.

It makes the NHS in England one of the first countries to offer such a support service for mental health issues, as well as for physical problems.

The number connects to a local team of call handlers with mental health training, alongside nurses and clinicians who are available around the clock.

The team can organise a mental health assessment, send out a crisis team and flag up help available in the local area.

It is an increasingly common message from websites: browse for free - if you allow us to track your data and target you with personalised ads - if you don't, hand over some cash.

The model is known as "consent or pay" and, while it may be becoming increasingly common, questions remain over whether it is ethical or even legal.

The UK data regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched a consultation, external on the practice - it will report its findings later this year.

"In principle, data protection law does not prohibit business models that involve 'consent or pay,'" the ICO says on its website.

But it continues: "However, any organisation considering such a model must be careful to ensure that consent... has been freely given and is fully informed, as well as capable of being withdrawn without detriment."
[…]
Newspapers such as MailOnline, The Sun, The Independent and The Times have all recently brought in "consent or pay" models.

"It's basically saying, 'We're giving people a choice. They can either pay and get ad-free access to our articles, or they can be tracked, or they can walk away and not read it,'" Philippa Donn says.

This question being considered by the ICO and others is - is that a fair choice?

More than 700 people in the UK have posted on a pro-suicide website looking for someone to die with, a BBC investigation has found.

The site, which we are not naming, has a members-only section where users can look for a suicide partner.

We have connected several double suicides to the “partners thread”.

Our investigation also found that predators have used the site to target vulnerable women.

In December 2019, Angela Stevens’ 28-year-old son, Brett, travelled from his home in the Midlands to Scotland to meet a woman he had made contact with on the partners thread.

The pair rented an Airbnb and took their lives together.

...

Since her son’s death, she has spent years researching the pro-suicide site - in particular, the partners thread.

“It's a very dangerous place,” Angela says.

She compares it to a dark version of a dating app.

“Where else would you go to find a partner to take your own life with?” she says. “It’s just absolutely vile.”

The thread encourages users to end their own lives - and offers instructions on how to do it.

Archive version

Former President Donald Trump suggested on Truth Social that the streets of the United Kingdom were replete with death and destruction — and a Kamala Harris presidency would give the U.S. the same fate.

Moments after GOP defectors told Democrats in Chicago why they're voting for Democratic presidential nominee Harris over Trump, the MAGA leader bashed his opponent in a Truth Social screed.

"Kamala Harris supports the Environmental Extremists’ 'NET-ZERO' Energy Policy - A Radical Left Agenda to abolish Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas, and plunge MILLIONS into Poverty," he said, in his signature mixing of upper and lowercase fonts.

Trump then blamed net-zero "lunatics" for "currently destroying the Economies of many other Countries, including the U.K."

"Their Radical, Self-Destructive Policy has led the U.K. to the Worst Economic Growth since 1780, now causing Economic Chaos, Destruction, Riots, and Death in the streets of British Cities," he said.

The term net zero often refers to a goal of negating the amount of greenhouse gases produced by humans.

"There has been a widespread feeling that this summer was a big letdown, unusually cool and even cold at times. But was it really so bad?"

The consumption facility for illegal drugs including heroin and cocaine is set to open in Glasgow.

Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday.

Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.

Previously: UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch among missing after luxury yacht sinks