Injured dolphin surprises family on morning swim in Dorset
However, the UK's Marine Management Organisation has since asked the public to keep away from the injured creature, warning that such encounters 'can harm dolphins leading to injury, death or aggression'
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The Independent
30 minutes ago
- The Independent
Strictly faces fresh scandal after BBC reportedly calls in police over new allegations
The BBC has asked the police to investigate Strictly Come Dancing amid fresh allegations, according to reports, after claims two of its stars used cocaine. The Sun On Sunday reported that the corporation has alerted the Metropolitan Police to new allegations about the dance competition show, the details of which it does not specify. A BBC spokesperson said on Saturday that the corporation does not comment on police investigations. It comes after reports in The Sun earlier this month alleged two Strictly cast members' drug use was discussed on the BBC dancing show, and said that the corporation had appointed law firm Pinsent Masons to lead the investigation. The scandal-hit show was also the subject of a review in 2024, when the BBC looked into allegations of bullying and harassment against former professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, made by his former dance partner, Amanda Abbington. The corporation upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made, and introduced a series of new measures aimed at improving welfare. This included the introduction of a chaperone who is present 'at all times' during training room rehearsals. EastEnders star James Borthwick was also suspended from the BBC after a video emerged of the actor using a disabled slur on the set of the dance programme. The cocaine use allegations were reportedly made in a legal submission by law firm Russells in March on behalf of former contestant Wynne Evans, who was dropped by the BBC after apologising for using 'inappropriate language' during the launch of the Strictly tour. It is understood that the BBC often appoints external law firms to help it lead investigations. The BBC spokesperson previously said: 'We have clear protocols and policies in place for dealing with any serious complaint raised with us. 'We would always encourage people to speak to us if they have concerns. It would not be appropriate for us to comment further.'
Times
31 minutes ago
- Times
If police can't stop shop theft, let's try the stocks
The apostle of free-market economics, Adam Smith, claimed that Britain was 'a nation that is governed by shopkeepers'. He meant it as a compliment. But now we are becoming, instead, more a nation of shoplifters. Which we would not be if those behind the tills were actually running the country and in charge of making and enforcing the law. Last month it was reported that annual shoplifting in England and Wales amounted to 530,643 incidents, more than double the rate of 20 years ago, and beating the previous year's unwelcome record by more than 20 per cent. That equates to nearly three robberies a minute during opening hours, according to the British Retail Consortium. Yet that is a gross underestimate of the scale of the problem, since the police-recorded figures are a small fraction of the total: the majority of shops tend to report an incident to the cops only when they have observed the offender in action, or have CCTV evidence. And even in those cases the forces of law and order seem largely uninterested. Last year a fashion boutique called Riccado, a family business that had been trading in Chiswick High Road, west London, for 40 years, was ransacked — not for the first time — by a gang who carted off clothing worth at least £25,000 at retail prices. The manager called the police to say that she had footage of the incident on CCTV, and that it showed the faces of some of the gang. The police never came round, so eight days later the manager went to them and handed over the footage. Immediate result, sort of: next day she was told by the police: 'It is unlikely we will be able to identify those responsible. We have therefore closed the case.' When the police have such an attitude, it is hardly surprising that the shoplifting figures are rising in every passing year. Or that Marks & Spencer had to resort to using a private police force (TM Eye) for a successful prosecution with a jail sentence at the end of it after the local constabulary did not deign to investigate an incident at one of its shops in which a thief, David Hanson, with 105 previous convictions, had been recorded on CCTV smashing a reinforced glass window and grabbing £500 worth of goods. Smaller shops do not have the resources of M&S. Which helps explain the actions of Rob Davies, the owner of Run Ragged, a Wrexham vintage clothing shop, who, after the local police failed to turn up to investigate a string of robberies, put up a sign in his shop which read: 'Due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open the cabinets.' Then, the police did show up … to inform Davies someone had complained that his handwritten sign was 'provocative and offensive'. Perhaps it was one of the more sensitive of the local shoplifters. According to the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, Matthew Barber, the scourge of shoplifting is partly the fault of law-abiding customers for not taking on the robbers ourselves. This summer he declared: 'If you're not even going to challenge people, you're not going to try and stop them, then people will get away with it. That's not just about policing. That's a bigger problem with society. People who [don't do anything] — you're part of the problem.' Barely a fortnight ago, in an Iceland supermarket in Clifton, Nottinghamshire, two women were assaulted when they did, indeed, challenge a man they saw putting items in his backpack. He put his hands round the neck of one and threatened to kill the other. So perhaps Barber might like to think again. However, there is a way in which the local citizenry could get involved, more safely, in taking satisfying action against convicted shoplifters. If only we brought back the stocks, the ancient remedy of pelting the miscreant with rotten fruit could be restored — perhaps with produce our ancestors could never have imagined, such as (very soft and well past their sell-by date) avocados and kiwi fruit. I made this suggestion, in a slightly different context, a year ago, when a serial offender named Walid Raoul was convicted of stealing a £50,000 watch from Mark Beard outside the Connaught Hotel in London. His accomplice had also attempted to rip the rings from the hand of Beard's wife, Annli, breaking one of her fingers. The judge at Southwark crown court, Quinton Newcomb, suspended the sentence (of two years) because he said he had 'to take into account the current overcrowding of this country's prisons'. Mr and Mrs Beard, understandably, were not impressed. Those prisons have become still more overcrowded, with the result that convicted shoplifters (the unlucky small minority who are successfully prosecuted) are even less likely to do time. My point was that, as one historian noted, the public stocks, as a form of punishment, had been 'rendered obsolete by the development of the modern prison system, which took justice out of the town square and moved it behind bars'; so, if our judges were declaring our 'modern prison system' unavailable, because of overbooking and underbuilding, it might be necessary to return to the status quo ante. It could be implemented quickly — at least in the sense that while the pillory was excised from the statute book in 1837, the stocks are still available. In fact, a 1405 statute, which has never been abolished, requires every town to have a set. A most visible deterrent for (very) common thieves. One legislator has since proposed something along these lines. He is the Labour peer Lord Glasman, who recently declared: 'I'm quite in favour of public humiliation of these shoplifters: bringing back the stocks, pelting them with rotten fruit. The old ways are the good ways!' I got in touch with Glasman, using the not quite so medieval means of WhatsApp to tell him: 'Last year I advocated the return of the stocks. Unaccountably the then Conservative government failed to take up my suggestion. But with your influence in the Labour Party, I'm sure Keir Starmer will listen.' 'Ho, ho, ho,' was Glasman's reply. Yet his point about the deterrent value of public humiliation was serious. In the world we live in, however, when it was recently suggested that shopkeepers might put up photo images of local thieves — a very dilute form of the same idea — they were warned by the Information Commissioner's Office that this 'may not be appropriate', on the grounds that retailers 'must only share personal information that's proportionate and necessary to achieve your purpose'. So, no shaming for the perpetrators of a shockingly increasing crime that is ravaging our already ailing high streets. And no respite for the shopkeepers who are at the heart of communities. It doesn't exactly make you proud to be British.
The Sun
31 minutes ago
- The Sun
Tragedy as body found in search for missing boy, 12, last seen swimming in river at UK beauty spot
A BODY has been found in the search for a 12-year-old boy who vanished while swimming in a river. Police launched a frantic search after the youngster disappeared in the River Swale, North Yorkshire, on Saturday evening. 3 Police were alerted to the boy's disappearance shortly after 5pm. Officers received reports that the young lad had entered the North Yorkshire river before vanishing. Cops rushed to launch an urgent hunt for the missing child with specialist teams joining the search. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and Mountain Rescue joined the hunt and scoured the banks of the river looking for any sign of the youth. Members of the public were seen at the popular beauty spot this afternoon as the extensive search operation got underway. Tragically, a body was found just before 11pm. Cops said a child's body was recovered from the water and the boy's family were informed. Witnesses reported seeing an air ambulance arrive at the scene earlier this evening. It was then spotted leaving the area a short while later according to reports. Pictures from the banks of the river show extensive searches underway as emergency services desperately tried to locate the boy. Specialist crews were seen in the water searching the base of a nearby waterfall. The search recovered the boys body a short while later, identification is yet to take place, police said. The lad's family has been informed and are being supported by specialist officers. Emergency services remain on scene at the river. 3 3 The young boy's death is not being treated as suspicious, police said. A North Yorkshire Police Spokesperson said: "Following further searches of the river, sadly search teams recovered a child's body from the water at 10.45pm today. "The body is yet to be identified but the boy's family have been informed and are receiving support from specially-trained officers. "Emergency services currently remain at the scene. "We are not treating the death as suspicious and we are not in a position to share any further information at this time."
