EXCLUSIVE How Bristol's beauty spot was defiled: Hundreds living in caravans have moved in - along with drugs, sex work and brazenly revolting acts. Now furious locals are fighting back. Special report by DAVID WILKES
During his 20 years in the RAF, he rose to the rank of squadron leader, was an expert in air defence missiles and worked on what he calls ' Nato Afghanistan intelligence-type operations'.
So Tony Nelson, 52, who's now a design engineer for the latest Navy vessels, sounds like just the sort of man you'd want on your side in a sticky situation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
10 minutes ago
- The Sun
Shoppers racing to Lidl to snap up ‘amazing' household gadget that's £250 cheaper than Tefal
BUDGET shoppers are flocking to Lidl for an 'amazing' household gadget that's giving pricey brands a serious run for their money. The Tower Ceraglide 2700W Steam Generator Iron has landed on Lidl's shelves, and customers say it's 'cutting through ironing piles with ease". With a similar power output to high-end Tefal models, which can cost up to £300, Lidl's version is nearly £250 cheaper at £49.99. The Tower model heats up in just 35 seconds and features an 80g/min continuous steam output with three-bar steam pressure, letting you power through shirts, trousers and even curtains. It's also got a large 1.2L water tank, vertical steam setting for hanging garments, self-cleaning function, and ceramic double soleplate for extra smooth glide across all fabrics. While Tefal's flagship Pro Express Vision offers higher steam pressure, fancy LED lights, and automatic steam release, it will set you back up to £400. Curry's currently sells it for £299.99, which makes Lidl's version £249.99 cheaper. Curry's also stocks the Tower steam generator iron for £60, which is £10 more expensive than what Lidl is selling it for. It's always worth shopping around and comparing prices to make sure you're getting the most value for money. How to compare prices to get the best deal JUST because something is on offer, or is part of a sale, it doesn't mean it's always a good deal. There are plenty of comparison websites out there that'll check prices for you - so don't be left paying more than you have to. Most of them work by comparing the prices across hundreds of retailers. Here are some that we recommend: Google Shopping is a tool that lets users search for and compare prices for products across the web. Simply type in keywords, or a product number, to bring up search results. Price Spy logs the history of how much something costs from over 3,000 different retailers, including Argos, Amazon, eBay and the supermarkets. Once you select an individual product you can quickly compare which stores have the best price and which have it in stock. Idealo is another website that lets you compare prices between retailers. All shoppers need to do is search for the item they need and the website will rank them from the cheapest to the most expensive one. CamelCamelCamel only works on goods being sold on Amazon. To use it, type in the URL of the product you want to check the price of. Lidl's customers are thrilled with the results. One buyer said: 'This iron is amazing. Lightweight and easy to use. Cuts through the ironing pile with ease.' Another raved: 'Really good design and functionality was spot on.' While a third praised the price tag, adding: 'Compared to more well-known brand names, it has some great features.' I tried 'magic' Lidl garden hose - you need to get it, it's perfect for summer The model number to look out for is T22023GLD, and it comes with a three-year warranty, giving shoppers extra peace of mind. Meanwhile, it's not the only dupe Lidl is stocking this summer. The Silvercrest Air Fryer, priced at £49.99, has been hailed as a cheaper alternative to the £200 Ninja version. The Monsieur Cuisine Smart, at £399.99, is a fan favourite and often compared to the high-end Thermomix which can cost more than £1,000. The Silvercrest Cordless Vacuum, on sale for £59.99, has drawn comparisons to the Dyson V8, with many praising its strong suction and lightweight design. It comes as the budget-retailer brought out its Peppa Pig ride on suitcases, perfect for kids this summer. How to save more money at Lidl Lidl's prices are already wallet-friendly, but you can slash your bills even further using simple tips. Download the Lidl Plus app The app unlocks exclusive weekly discounts, automatically applied at the checkout. Customers have saved up to £235 in a single month just by scanning it during each shop. You can knock up to 25% off popular items like ready meals, baked goods and snacks. Right now, Flying Goose Sriracha Prawn Crackers are down to £1.49, 50p off. Bag £1.50 wonky veg boxes Each morning, Lidl sells 5kg boxes of imperfect fruit and veg for just £1.50, saving you around £3.50 compared to buying them individually. Grab midweek bargains Every week, Lidl slashes prices on six fruit and veg items — this week, 400g of mushrooms is just 99p. Hit the Middle of Lidl You never know what you'll find in the famous middle aisle — from garden tools to kitchen gadgets, all at bargain prices. Earn rewards with Lidl Plus Spend £250 in a month, and you'll bag 10% off your next shop, saving you £72 a year if you hit the target monthly. Don't miss bakery Happy Hour From 7pm, Lidl knocks 20% off baked goods to reduce waste — croissants, doughnuts and pastries all go cheap. Used right, these Lidl tips could save shoppers save hundreds on their Lidl shop.
Times
31 minutes ago
- Times
Can AI be made trustworthy? Alexa inventor may have the answer
One of the inventors of Amazon's Alexa has proven he can make AI trustworthy — at least when it comes to assessing valid insurance claims. William Tunstall-Pedoe originally developed the technology that became the retail giant's voice assistant service and his new venture, called UnlikelyAI, has an even more ambitious goal. 'We are tackling a problem that is potentially bigger than Alexa, which is making AI trustworthy,' he said. His company has combined data-driven learning models, known as neural networks or large language models (LLMs), with rule-based systems, called symbolic reasoning, to create a platform that companies can use to automate their processes using AI. 'LLMs have amazing capabilities and are absolutely transformative but when enterprises try to apply LLMs to problems in their business it very often doesn't work,' said Tunstall-Pedoe, 56. 'A lot of pilots don't really succeed. It is a black box, isn't explainable, and it is inconsistent. We are developing fundamental technologies to tackle that problem.' UnlikelyAI has completed a pilot with SBS Insurance Services, which saw the insurer automate 40 per cent of its claims handling with 99 per cent accuracy. This compares with a rate of accuracy for the same task that is typically around 52 per cent when just using LLMs, the company said. UnlikelyAI's system also provides an audit trail for all its decisions, so they can be explained if queried by customers or regulators. 'We are building a collection of technologies that bring trust to AI applications. Whenever enterprises are using AI to do business critical things, where the cost of getting it wrong is high, we can help,' said Tunstall-Pedoe. 'In the insurance world we are ingesting the policies, which are natural language. We create a symbolic representation of it, which then gives you that really high accuracy when doing the claims process against it.' He sold the technology that became a key part of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant in 2012. It originated in a startup he founded in Cambridge called True Knowledge, which became known as Evi after it developed a voice assistant, a few months after Apple launched Siri. 'We were competing directly with the biggest company in the world as a 30-person Cambridge startup. We had millions of downloads very quickly and every big company that was trying to figure out its response to the existence of Siri were talking to us. At the end of 2012 we had two acquisition offers and we chose to get bought by Amazon.' Tunstall-Pedoe joined the Amazon team to develop Alexa, working on an initiative under the Project D codename, and launching it in the US in 2014. He left Amazon in 2016 and has since invested in over 100 start-ups and mentored entrepreneurs. He founded UnlikelyAI in 2020 and has since raised $20 million from investors including Amadeus Capital Partners, Octopus Ventures, and Cambridge Innovation Capital. Tunstall-Pedoe said UnlikelyAI's 'goal is to create AI that is always right'. 'When it gives you an answer you can always trust it. It can always provide a fully auditable explanation for any business decision that is made. And it will be consistent, and not breach your trust by giving a different answer each time you use it.' 'Our primary customers are high stakes industries, where a business decision has really big consequences if it's wrong. Medicine is a good example. Finance is also very important, or any industry that is regulated. If you breach regulations you can be fined.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
How ‘ethical' banking is putting British defence firms at risk
Should British troops ever find themselves fighting World War Three, they may be glad of the time they spent with a bad-tempered robot capable of shouting at them in Russian, Arabic and Chinese. The SimStriker is an AI-powered android used to train infantry in everything from full-scale combat to peacekeeping. It can play the role of enemy soldier, traumatised civilian or hostile villager – and like a moody Alexa, it can interact and answer back. If provoked, it can even open fire, Terminator-style, with a pellet gun hidden in its abdomen. 'The idea is to blend the physical and virtual worlds,' says James Crowley, one of two former Royal Marines who set up 4GD, the aerospace tech firm behind SimStriker. 'Often soldiers won't have much idea of the environment they're going into, and this allows us to create a tiered system of behaviours – the robot can respond passively or aggressively, depending on a soldier's actions.' Founded in 2016, 4GD is exactly the kind of next-generation defence firm Britain needs to keep its military fit for the 21st century. There is one foe, however, that even SimStriker can't simulate – a bank manager. Despite helping to defend the realm, UK defence firms often struggle to obtain loans or insurance. Some have been denied bank accounts altogether, or 'debanked' (the process by which accounts are abruptly closed at a bank's discretion) after existing ones were shut down. The trend is largely driven by banks' reputational concerns – particularly the belief that defence companies fall foul of the financial sector's so-called 'environment, sustainability and governance' (ESG) standards. The squeamishness persists even though many firms, such as 4GD, manufacture only non-lethal products – and despite growing recognition, including from the Prime Minister, that Britain must rearm at pace. 'There has been a reticence to see defence as a moral and ethical investment that needs to be supported, although with war now on Europe's doorstep, that has changed significantly,' Crowley says. 'If we want to support our nation as a democratic institution, then we need a robust defence industry.' As he points out, the Russia-Ukraine war has pushed defence spending back up the political agenda. This month's Strategic Defence Review (SDR) pledged to raise spending from 2.5 to 3 per cent of GDP, while Sir Keir Starmer has spoken of the need for 'war fighting readiness' and a longer-term goal of increasing defence spending to 5 per cent by 2035. Many banks, however, still group arms firms alongside tobacco giants, rapacious oil majors, and Reform Party leader Nigel Farage – who was infamously 'debanked' by NatWest-owned Coutts in 2023. That, certainly, is the impression given by a recent report from the trade body ADS (Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space), which represents more than 1,500 small defence firms. Nearly three quarters of members who took part in an ADS survey said they had struggled to access basic banking services. Roughly half also reported difficulties securing loans and investment, with the trade body warning that the financial barriers are so severe some companies 'risk going under' as a result. One firm's owner, who asked to remain anonymous, told the survey: 'The financial sector has completely decimated the defence industry, they'd rather have an account with the local car wash than a firearms dealer or somebody in the defence industry.' The owner's wish for anonymity is hardly surprising. Many defence businesses, especially smaller ones, are wary of criticising the banking sector, which can terminate accounts without giving a reason. Firms and banks are also targeted by anti-arms trade activists, galvanised by the Israel-Gaza conflict. Last summer, campaigners from Palestine Action vandalised around 20 Barclays branches across the UK, demanding the bank divest from 'Israel's weapons trade'. (The group is now set to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation after its activists breached security at an air base to damage two RAF planes last week.) 4GD is one of the few defence firms willing to speak out, and Crowley's co-founder, Afghanistan veteran Rob Taylor, doesn't pull his punches. The firm, he says, has effectively given up on attending investment meetings in the UK, having been turned down point-blank as soon as the word 'defence' was mentioned. And while 4GD has never been 'debanked', it remains an occupational hazard in the defence trade. 'We are aware of other companies that have been debanked once they have been discovered to be defence firms,' Crowley says. 'It's infrequent, but frequent enough that it's not a surprise when it happens.' One problem is that UK banks are not currently required to explain why they shut down accounts – and if challenged, they can easily obfuscate, citing business reasons rather than reputational concerns. Last year, however, a Treasury select committee on access to banking was told that Santander and Lloyds alone closed 300 accounts belonging to 'public administration and defence' companies. While no reasons were given for the closures, the committee's report stated that ESG criteria should not be used to blacklist firms 'engaged in perfectly legal defence activities'. The term 'ESG' was first coined 20 years ago during a United Nations-led push to promote global corporate social responsibility, but it gained real traction after the 2008 financial meltdown, when scandal-ridden banks sought to signal they were cleaning up their act. Once a relatively niche concept, 'ethical investment' quickly went mainstream. Banks and financial firms also faced growing social media pressure if they failed to comply. One UK company that noticed the shift was Devon-based engineers SC Group, which manufactures all-terrain vehicles for the British military. Its products include the Jackal armoured patrol vehicle, featuring special V-shaped hulls designed to deflect improvised explosive device (IED) blasts, and credited with saving countless British soldiers' lives in Afghanistan. That seemed to count for little when CEO Nicholas Ames found himself seeking finance five years ago. 'We were surprised at how restricted the market had become, with lots of people saying we don't do defence, it's against our ethics committee,' Ames says. 'We were flatly told by HSBC, for example, that they didn't do defence. That was when I began thinking: 'This is a systemic issue for the UK government, if it wants a strong UK defence industry'.' To their credit, he says SC Group's regular bankers, NatWest, 'has always stuck with us'. But other businesses sometimes shunned the firm, he added, including suppliers of certain parts and website and IT contractors. Defence firms also find it hard to qualify for awards promoting socially responsible companies, such as the 'B Corp' certification. The ESG equivalent of a Michelin Star, B Corp certificates recognise firms that 'balance profits with people and planet'. Certificate holders include The Body Shop and Charlie Bigham's food. However, according to B Corp guidance, defence firms 'are controversial because their services could be misused in ways that may harm others'. Phil Doye is chief executive of the IT procurement firm Boxxe, which counts defence sector clients among others and applied for B Corp certification in 2021. However, despite passing a rigorous audit, the firm decided not to proceed after being told it would have to post a public statement explaining why it was willing to work with defence companies. 'We were keen to obtain B Corp certification, as we agree with the broad idea of socially responsible business, but the public statement might have seemed to our defence clients like we were embarrassed to do business with them,' Doye says. 'You could say that the B Corp definition of defence as 'controversial' is itself somewhat controversial.' Defence industry sources say the Russia-Ukraine war has brought a much-needed reality check, with the Labour government shedding any knee-jerk opposition to the arms industry. Two Labour MPs, Luke Charters and Alex Baker, have led a campaign to help defence firms access finance. The Government also wants the Ministry of Defence – the main client for many defence products – to provide suppliers with clearer long-term signals about their spending plans. The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), which represents investors, insists that this, rather than over-fussy ESG criteria, is often what makes defence firms unattractive investment prospects. There is still a long way to go, though. While some banks may lift their blanket bans on defence products, they may still baulk at the more lethal end of the industry – the stuff that, as Crowley puts it, might 'make a bank manager wince'. One of Britain's most successful arms firms is firearms manufacturer Accuracy International, founded 50 years ago by ex-Olympic sharpshooters. In what is perhaps the ultimate product endorsement, its sniper rifles are used by both British and American special forces. But as favoured tools of professional assassins, they are unlikely ever to receive B Corp certification. Yet sniper rifles are as essential to modern warfare as any other military equipment. So too are cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines, which have proved crucial in Ukraine's defence – though Britain neither makes nor possesses them anymore, having signed global treaties banning their use. A time may come when British firms will have to produce these weapons again – and may once more be seeking bank managers' support. Certain Labour politicians, meanwhile, continue to act as if nothing has changed. In the wake of the Israel-Gaza conflict, four Labour-run London councils – Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Islington and Lewisham – have divested staff pension schemes from arms trade firms. In 2023, investment giant Aviva was also criticised by ministers after announcing it would sell off arms shares as part of 'a baseline exclusion policy'. Aviva later backtracked, blaming a badly worded memo. However, any swing of mood back in favour of defence firms has convinced Ames that despite all the recent talk about ESG, bankers' only real language is money. 'Now that defence is a hot topic again, suddenly you sense that the financial community has got over their ethics, as they see there's money flowing,' he says. 'That makes it almost worse in a way – I had no idea they were quite so shallow.'
