Strike chaos could carry on throughout 2023 if the government refuses to negotiate over pay rises, the new leader of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has warned. Speaking to The Independent, Paul Nowak warned voters will "punish" the Conservatives at the next general election unless Rishi Sunak changes his stance on public sector pay and ongoing industrial action. New TUC analysis shows that UK workers have lost an average of £20,000 in real wages since 2008 as a result of pay not keeping up with inflation. By 2025, the loss will total £24,000. For some key workers in the public sector the squeeze on real earnings has been even worse, the organisation said. Its latest report found that nurses have lost £42,000 in real earnings since 2008. |
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| Police in Wales investigate after releasing 33-year-old |
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| Detectives trying to discover whether gun that killed 26-year-old linked to other crimes |
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| Issues with platform reported by both DownDetector and NetBlocks |
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| Passengers arriving in the US from China will have to show a negative Covid test no more than two days before flying |
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How has Lego become an investment vehicle you can't play with? |
It's a long time since anyone gave me Lego for Christmas, but if they did, I'd probably not even open the box, let alone actually build a scale model of the Battleship Potemkin or the Real Madrid Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. As stock markets struggle to make progress, crypto follows a volatile random path to ruinous oblivion, and the housing market looks set to crash, people are turning to the plastic toy construction kits to protect their wealth. It's not the BRICs economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) we're advised to invest in, or even bricks and mortar, but Lego bricks, in the form of sought-after sets – as long as the box is completely unopened and undamaged. You must not under any circumstances actually play with the stuff, because that will render it worthless. Yes, it's a little mad, writes Sean O'Grady. It can be lucrative, though. A recent article in The Times noted that Lego has outperformed the FTSE 100 and gold for returns on investment over an extended period. There are websites and social media accounts run by Lego tycoons that track the value and the profits that can be made, and it all sounds highly tempting. Like Star Wars figures and rare classic cars, Lego memorabilia has shot up in value, and people are bragging about their capital gains: a Marvel Avengers Iron Man set bought for £6.60 last year recently sold for £22, and a Creator Propeller Plane bought for the same amount just sold for £19.69, noted The Times. Dizzying stuff. In such an atmosphere, avarice can overwhelm folk. Imagine how much you might make if you bought enough £649.99 Imperial Star Destroyers from the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series. Why, you could buy a real house, not a Lego one. |
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"Over 10 months of this year, we helped everyone. We helped the West find itself again, to return to the global arena and feel how much the West prevails. No one in the West fears nor will they fear Russia." |
– Ukrainians have helped the West "find itself again", president Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as he declared his country a "global leader" in a speech to parliament Read more here |
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