Britain’s Shopping Centres Are Boarded Up And Crime-Ridden

Shoppers have claimed that Britain’s abandoned ghost shopping centres would be improved ‘by a zombie apocalypse’.

Residents of Dartford, a commuter town in Kent, claim that since the construction of the expansive Bluewater Shopping Centre in 1999, the town has declined.

Now they say it is in need of life support economically, socially and from a construction point of view.

Complaints have ranged from its crime problems to tearaway youths as well as a deeper issue from its lack of aspiration.

Locals have claimed that Temple Hill Square and the High Street, both once teeming with energy, shoppers and retail giants, are now filled with corner shops, a chippy and a cafe.

Miserable-looking flats and maisonettes also overlook the square, while the town centre has numerous shops sitting empty.

One local, a fan of the area, describes the square as ‘brutalist architecture’, while another says it is a ‘hellhole’.

Much outrage is directed at what the 240-acre Bluewater – the fifth largest shopping centre in the country – has done to the area and how local politicians and planners have responded.

Michael Preston, 56, said standards in the area had slipped in recent years.

The decorator said: ‘It is just hell. I’m sure there’s rougher areas but it is so depressing. It is appalling.

‘A zombie apocalypse would do the area a favour. It would cheer the place up. It really is that bad. It’s just grey and miserable. I want to move.

‘There’s always stabbings or crime and anti-social behaviour. I have lived here my entire life and it used to be lovely. Now it’s grim.

‘It’s so sad. It was heaving in the 1990s and 2000s. Now it’s empty. You can hear a pin drop across the square and in the town.’

‘Dartford has been home for so long but I just can’t take it anymore. I used to be proud but it has been neglected.’

Dave Willis, 54, said: ‘It’s not what it used to be. It used to be thriving. People would come from all over Kent to come and shop. Now even locals do not bother.

‘It’s empty. It’s just corner shops and nothing really works around here in terms of the shops.

‘The Argos went and that was a massive loss. Nothing has been able to keep up with Bluewater. It’s really bad.’

Retired builder Eddie Hemsley, 66, has lived in Dartford most of his life and said Bluewater had ‘ruined’ the town.

He said: ‘Nobody cares about us. The council has just abandoned us. Bluewater came in and sucked the life out of this town.

Nowadays, Turkish barbers, tattoo parlours, and nail parlours can be found in most places. Older people rely on local stores to shop, especially if they are elderly or disabled. However, real shopping has shifted to adjacent retail parks where parking is always crowded and occasionally free.

However, this is not happening just in Dartford, it’s happening up and down the country.

The same has occurred in Basildon, Essex. The abundance of shops and once great market stalls have now gone into deep decline, and shops are now being knocked down to build four tower blocks, no doubt for the London overflow, but no additional doctors, schools and the hospital are buckling at the knees.

Many shopping centres in towns across the UK are like this. If the area is more moneyed, then it has a better possibility of surviving. If a town is deprived, it will usually end up with boarded-up shops, and the area will rapidly decline, and crime will rise.

Retailers won’t even set up shop in places where there is increased criminality, it’s a vicious circle.

Asylum Seekers Costing Taxpayers £160,000 A Year Now Live In £575,000 Luxury Homes

A family accused of masquerading as Afghans to illegally claim asylum in the UK are living in a £575,000 luxury home in an exclusive Home Counties commuter town having cost the taxpayer £160,000 over the past year, MailOnline revealed.

Gurbakhsh Singh, 72, his wife Ardet Kaur, 68, their son Guljeet Singh, 43, and his wife Kawaljeet Kaur, 37, all appeared on bail at Croydon Magistrates Court earlier this month.

Just before Christmas last year, the Singh Kaurs reportedly claimed to be from the Taliban-led nation when they landed at Heathrow Airport.

But they have been accused of twice having failed to obtain visas to come to Britain as Indian nationals earlier in 2023.

Earlier this month, they made their first court appearance. Both Punjabi and Dari translators were available to them during the hearing.

Until recently they were living at Wembley’s Holiday Inn in north London, which has been fully booked by the Home Office for asylum seekers and is now not accepting any customers.

However, as a requirement of their bail, they have all been ordered to stay at the new house in Hemel Hempstead where they are already living together.

The 1,136 sq ft property, which has four bedrooms, an open plan ground floor and with ‘luxurious’ fitted kitchen with top-end appliances, was put up for sale for £575,000 in March 2023. It was sold in 2022 for £467,000, according to the Land Registry.

It has plush deep-pile carpets, new wooden floors and a 341 sq ft loft room with views of Hertfordshire.

The modern property, within half a mile of excellent schools and close to Hemel Hempstead’s amenities and railway station, also profits from a recently landscaped garden to the rear and two parking spaces.

MailOnline asked the Government to comment on the case – and the expense to the taxpayer of accommodating them in a hotel and now their new property for the past 12 months.

A recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the cost of housing an asylum keeper went from £17,000 per person in 2019/20 to £41,000 in 2023/24.

Based on these figures, the family of four at the centre of the case would cost £ 164,000 a year to house since they arrived a year ago.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation’.

But added: ‘Where there are concerns of abuse of the asylum system, we ensure that these are thoroughly investigated and appropriate action is taken.’

These people should be deported, not supported.

Our own homeless people are dying on the streets in the meantime.

It’s the same old thing. While our own are allowed to deteriorate, Keir Starmer must cease granting these individuals preferential treatment.

These people just keep on taking, and our government just keeps on giving but not their own. They should be removed immediately.

These people are fraudsters, and please don’t say racist or human rights. They have committed a crime, end of.

Hundreds of migrants arrive every day, but we can only take so much before we blow.

This is so bad. No wonder this country is on its knees.

Everyone born outside of this nation must go. Now is the moment to rise up because enough is enough. Since this is a problem that will not go away and our Prime Minister and his administration are clueless, I would be more than happy to take a stand as an older woman.

After Moving To Australia, A Brit Faces Returning Home

A British man who moved to Australia just weeks ago faces being forced to return to the UK after he suffered a catastrophic stroke.

Liam Rudd, 30, and his 28-year-old girlfriend Stella Slinger Thompson were looking forward to starting a new life on the Gold Coast. 

However, their shared ‘dream’ of living Down Under quickly spun into a nightmare after Mr Rudd suffered a stroke in the shower on Sunday, November 11. 

This left him paralysed on the bathroom floor where Ms Slinger Thompson discovered him. 

After being rushed to the hospital, Mr Rudd had two rounds of emergency surgery to remove blood clots in his brain and soon afterwards he was put in an induced coma.

He had been just days away from starting a new job as a fleet mechanic. 

Despite a gofundme page raising thousands to support his recovery, the couple are being forced to cut their time short and return to the UK because the cost of rehabilitation in Australia is too costly.

Although the cause of the stroke has not been determined, doctors believe it may have been caused by a benign tumour called a fibroelastoma that may develop on the heart valves.

The British national is optimistic that he will eventually be able to return to Australia, even though his recuperation may take up to a year and a half.

The Brit, who will be moving back to Guildford, Surrey, said: ‘It was a huge shock. I don’t remember too much from the lead-up. I didn’t feel any symptoms coming on.

‘I just remember having the stroke and being paralysed on the floor and scrambling and trying to pull myself up but being unable to.

‘I was due to start a new job as a fleet mechanic for a fleet engineering company. I love work so I was disappointed. But at the same time, there was nothing I could do to change anything so you have to embrace it.

‘My plan is to go back to the UK to undergo intensive rehabilitation and then come back to Australia anyway. That’s still an open opportunity.

‘I’m very fortunate. My employer’s been very understanding. I don’t think the opportunity is lost.

‘The doctors expect a full recovery but it’s a long road ahead and will take an incredible amount of work to get to. You have to keep the mind strong.’

Ms Slinger Thompson, who works as an advertising producer and is from Brighton, East Sussex, was due to meet her boyfriend for lunch with friends on Sunday 11 November and became concerned when he wasn’t answering his phone.

Thinking he had suffered a concussion, she summoned an ambulance after discovering him lying on the bathroom floor.

She said: ‘It was insane. Even now I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it. This is a living nightmare.

‘He was late picking me up. Usually, he is a bit late so I didn’t think much of it. But I was calling him for over an hour. I would call then it would ring and it would pick up and decline.

‘I thought ‘this is odd’. Then finally after an hour, he picked up. He wasn’t making any sense. All I could make out was him saying ‘help’. So I rushed round and also called three of his friends.

‘We arrived and found him on the bathroom floor. He’d had a shower clearly and fainted or hit his head. He was tapping his head and tapping the floor to communicate to us that he’d fallen.

‘I called the ambulance. They gave me a note to put him in a recovery position. Because he’d been throwing up, we all at the time thought he had a really bad concussion. We didn’t realise at that point what it was.’

Doctors discovered that Mr Rudd had suffered a stroke and required emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain after he became unresponsive on his left side and arrived at the hospital.

However, during surgery, doctors discovered a second blood clot that was too ‘high risk’ to work on immediately and he had to have a second surgery the following day.

Ms Slinger Thompson said: ‘Once we got to the hospital they rushed him into a surgery where they do an incision in the groin to retrieve any kind of blood clot.

‘It usually should take an hour but it took eight hours because they found another blood clot that was too high risk to operate on. The first blood clot they operated on and tried to retrieve as much as they could.

‘They called his mum and dad and explained it. Then they did the six-hour emergency surgery. They cut his skull to relieve any pressure in his brain. They felt like it went well. It was all about trying to save his life.

‘The second surgery was a pretty sleepless night. It’s been pretty bleak.

‘From then he was in a coma. They started to take him off sedation three days later. He slowly came out of the coma and came off all the tubes.’

The mechanic is now being seen five times a day by doctors in a stroke ward and his partner visits him every day.

The UK and Australia have a reciprocal arrangement that covers Mr Rudd’s emergency medical costs, but it does not pay for his rehabilitation because he is not an Australian citizen and does not have sponsorship.

She said: ‘He’s in the stroke ward currently but as soon as he’s moved to the rehab ward that’s when the costs will start coming.

‘Because he’s not a citizen or got a sponsorship yet, from the rehab stage it would become very costly and a financial burden to the point where it’s £8,000 a week.

‘They’ve advised that the best-case scenario is for us to go to the UK and get the rehab he needs back home where it is free because of the amazing NHS.

‘We don’t know what’s going to happen. He could be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Who knows at this stage? It’s a lot of living in limbo and trying to stay positive but not really knowing anything.’

Ms Slinger Thompson has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds so they can both travel business class to get Liam safely back home and begin the intensive rehabilitation process. So far it has risen over £31,000. 

She said: ‘[The support has] been overwhelming. When we first launched it within 12 hours it was on £12,000. He, for the first time, got emotional and actually cried because he was so overwhelmed by the love and support he’s had.

‘[Doctors] said in the meeting that he needs to fly business class. They need someone with him so I’m going to come back home as well.’

The girlfriend admitted Mr Rudd has ‘always wanted’ to live in Australia and it became their shared ‘dream’ and she hopes he will be able to return in the future.

She said: ‘It’s so unlucky. He moved out here and was about to start a new job. He’s always wanted to go to Australia since the first day I met him. He’s always talked about it.

‘We were like ‘Right, let’s save up money and go out to Australia. Coming here we’ve made such a good group of friends. He was so excited about this new job and the offer of sponsorship.

‘Staying here full time was the ultimate dream for him, and for us. It’s been unfortunate. We hope we can get him well enough to come back out here and continue his dream.’

Mr Rudd’s mother, Mandy Mayhew, an estate agent who lives in Hayling Island, Hampshire, flew out to Australia for two weeks to be with her son once she heard the news.

She said: ‘I’ve never cried so much in my life. It was such a shock to everyone. They don’t know how it happened. They don’t know why it happened. He is super fit and he eats really clean.

‘He’s a real warrior. From what we thought would be the first outcome which would be he was brain dead on his right-hand side and completely paralysed on the left-hand side to how he is now is extraordinary four weeks later. A long way to go but obviously extraordinary.

‘How cruel is that? Apart from doing a degree which is hard and an engineering degree is very hard, he’s also been fixing people’s cars. He burns the candle at 100 ends. He spreads himself very thin. I said ‘That made you stop didn’t it’.

‘He bl**dy does not want to come back but realises he has to. I don’t know what his future plans and dreams are. I really hope he goes back to where he wants to be.’

To be fair he will be extremely lucky if he can get a visa to return to Australia with his medical history now, and numerous ex-pats see their way back to the UK to use the NHS when they require medical care.

The grass is always greener until something happens, but this guy hardly planned on having a stroke. He should have still taken out health insurance in case he got sick.

It was an unfortunate beginning in a new country, but he was young and intended to work and integrate – tragic, but now he should prioritise his health.

This is tragic – a great life in a new country is now ruined. I hope he recuperates quickly – be kind people out there!

There Have Been A Number Of Basic Failures At A Hospital, According To The Coroner

A mother who died from massive post-birth haemorrhage was ‘failed’ by NHS staff who gave her a biscuit thinking she was dehydrated, a report has discovered. 

Laura-Jane Seaman, 36, died at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, in December 2022, two days after the birth of her son. 

The care support worker was ‘begging staff to help her’ and pleading that she didn’t want to die but medics from a ‘range of disciplines’ failed to listen.

This was despite her frantic warnings that she could feel the bleeding, felt lightheaded, and that her limbs had gone numb, as well as the fact that it was recognised she was at high risk of postpartum haemorrhage, or excessive postpartum bleeding.

Medical staff put Ms Seaman’s symptoms down to dehydration and after losing consciousness she was simply given a ginger biscuit for her to eat.

Ms Seaman ended up suffering two cardiac arrests when her condition worsened and was taken into emergency surgery, but tragically passed away on December 23.

Prevention of Future Deaths report has since discovered there were ‘multiple missed opportunities to escalate and treat’ Ms Seaman in the lead-up to her demise. 

Coroner Sonia Hayes said the mother-of-five’s ‘maternal collapse’ was classified as a faint and she was treated for possible dehydration and given medication that had ‘only a transient effect’.

Ms Seaman had a normal vaginal delivery on December 21, 2022. She breastfed her son and there were plans to send her home before her condition started to decline.

It was later established the internal bleeding had gone on for hours before she had emergency surgery and was admitted to intensive care, where she died.

The report said that Ms Seaman ‘died as a consequence of basic failures by healthcare professionals to recognise and escalate her loss of consciousness as a maternal collapse’. 

It added that staff’s ‘inability to obtain vital signs’ was ‘incorrectly attributed to malfunctioning equipment rather than obvious clinical deterioration’ had they utilised the correct procedures. 

‘Laura-Jane suffered a splenic capsular tear on the labour ward that caused an intraperitoneal bleed that continued undetected in the absence of any examination of her abdomen,’ the report said. 

It said that ‘vital signs that were obtained were severely deranged’ for a period of two and a half hours, adding that ‘the consequential risk to her life that was obvious’.

Coroner Hayes wrote that had action been taken ‘with multi-disciplinary consultant-led review’ this would have resulted in care and treatment that would have saved Ms Seaman’s life. 

The report concluded that her ‘death was avoidable and was contributed to by neglect’. 

In her ruling earlier this year, Ms Hayes said healthcare professionals were responsible for multiple ‘gross failures’ over Ms Seaman’s death and would not have died if these had not occurred.

Notes on Ms. Seaman’s health were marked on paper, which prevented concerns from being escalated quickly, and hindered her treatment.

Concluding the inquest in August, Ms Hayes found there was a failure to trigger a major haemorrhage protocol and a lack of intervention by a multi-disciplinary consultant.

Staff’s inability to obtain vital signs after Ms Seaman fell unconscious ‘was incorrectly attributed to malfunctioning equipment’.

The coroner added there should have been a mandatory escalation before Ms Seaman died and warned she would be writing a prevention of future deaths report.

Suzanne White, head of clinical negligence at law firm Leigh Day, who represented the family, said: ‘She had a high-risk pregnancy, which should have been consultant-led, and observations were not appropriately undertaken which would have indicated how quickly Laura-Jane was deteriorating.

‘The coroner’s experts made it clear whilst giving evidence that Laura-Jane would have survived had the most basic level of care been given to her.’

Maternity services at the hospital were rated as ‘requires improvement’ in the most recent Care Quality Commission inspection.

A spokesman for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Our focus has been on improving training in recognising the early signs of deterioration and escalation routes in our maternity services to prevent this from happening again.’

This was an awful and unnecessary tragedy. It really makes you terrified of falling unwell and having to put yourself at the mercy of the NHS and in recent years they don’t appear to care or listen.

Has anyone been prosecuted for this crime because it is a crime? They failed their duty of care. Hospitals are very frightening these days – you go in, but you don’t come out.

Did they not think to locate other equipment to utilise after determining that the equipment was defective? It appears that hospitals, which are meant to be the safest places to give birth, are unable to recognise a woman who is dying.

A watch with a second hand, a stethoscope and a mercury sphygmomanometer is all that was needed. They’ve been in existence for over 100 years, but no doubt the staff relied upon a new-fangled electric machine because it takes far too much time and effort to do it the old-fashioned way.

And why would you give a patient a ginger biscuit for dehydration? Water perhaps!

This was a wrongful death and they should face professional and criminal charges.

Remember when you clapped during COVID-19 for medics like this? Not clapping now, are you?

After spending billions, the NHS has still failed to fulfil its responsibility of care, which is disgusting.

A spokesman for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said, ‘Our focus has been on improving training in recognising the early signs of deterioration and escalation routes in our maternity service to prevent this from happening again.’

This is fundamental medicine. Recognising when a patient is deteriorating and going into hypovolemic shock is one of the first things medical professionals learn. I am pretty sure that what happened here was a basic failure to adequately complete a history and physical examination, and a failure to do the basics like check the pulse and manually measure the blood pressure.

Those who failed this woman should be struck off whatever register they are on.

What Is The Reason For Cadbury Losing Its Royal Warrant?

It was the sweet-toothed romance between the Royal family and one of Britain’s most cherished chocolatiers. 

But after surviving 170 years and the rule of six sovereigns, confectionery colossus Cadbury’s tie to British royalty seems to have lost its sugary allure.

The chocolate juggernaut based in Bourneville, Birmingham, was among 100 companies to lose out on official approval from ‘The Firm’, after being stripped of its Royal Warrant status.

King Charles ripped away its globally recognised mark of excellence after deciding not to renew it. 

It comes after the company’s recent takeover by an American snack giant led to claims Cadbury had ‘betrayed its heritage’, by introducing bizarre new recipes and shrinking bars – while outsourcing its chocolate production abroad. 

Queen Victoria first granted Cadbury its Royal Warrant in 1854 – which was then repeated by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1955, who was a huge fan of the brand.

It is thought that she received boxes of Cadbury’s Bournville chocolate every Christmas since she liked it so much.

Yet the pool of Cadbury products to royal households has declined in recent years.

Its attraction in the Palace appears to be further damaged by the King’s reputation for eating healthily since he prefers a piece of fruit or seeds high in fibre to a chocolate bar.

The brands that lost their Royal Warrant status were notified via letter, as is customary, but they were not provided with an explanation.

Other chocolate companies like Nestle, which owns Milkybar, and Smarties as well as Bendicks and Prestat have all kept their titles.

Being granted a Royal Warrant is deemed a tremendous advantage for British companies both in the UK and abroad – and losing the stamp of approval has left Cadbury’s owners ‘disappointed’, the company admitted. 

For two centuries, Cadbury has captivated the nation’s palates, starting as a tiny grocery shop in Birmingham. Its advertisements, which include a gorilla drumming to Phil Collins’ song “In the Air Tonight,” have become iconic British favourites.

This year saw the beloved brand behind the likes of Dairy Milk, Flake and Heroes, marking its 200th birthday.

The confectionery behemoth was established by the nation’s very own ‘Willy Wonka’, John Cadbury, in 1824 in Bull Street.

Among the display of goods sold at the grocer’s shop, John introduced hand-made drinking chocolate which laid the footing for the brand today.

As a Quaker, John was eager to promote cocoa as a healthy substitute for alcohol.

In addition to selling hops, mustard, patent cocoa, and cocoa nibs, he was formerly a tea trader and coffee roaster.

The store was the first in Birmingham to use plate glass windows with mahogany frames to draw in wealthier clients, and John is reputed to have polished them daily.

Chinese vases and oriental figures filled with black and green tea were among the shop’s eye-catching decorations.

Cadbury’s dedication to quality and invention allowed the company to grow quickly while enthralling Britons with its mouthwatering confections.

John began selling various kinds of cocoa and moved to a factory on Bridge Street, Birmingham in 1831.

By 1864 the company was being run by John’s sons, Richard and George, and the brothers were eager to distinguish themselves from other cocoa and chocolate manufacturers.

A purer, more luxurious drinking chocolate called Cocoa Essence was introduced by the duo in 1866.

This product used a new process which pressed cocoa butter from the cocoa beans, and it is this that was the forerunner of the cocoa known and loved today.

The firm then introduced its first chocolate selection boxes, demonstrating that the surplus cocoa butter from the press could be utilised to create an early kind of edible chocolate.

Richard and George soon got sick of Birmingham slums and in 1878 they moved to a rural location four miles out of the city in a place called Bournville.

Bournville, which was named after the model hamlet, developed into a staff sanctuary where they could live, work, and play.

Alongside semi-detached cottages with gardens for the employees, there was a field next to the factory where they could play cricket and football; a garden and playground for the girls; and proper welfare provisions.

Sports facilities expanded throughout time to include facilities for bowling, tennis, squash, and hockey.

Finally, swimming pools were built with everyone in Bournville taught how to swim.

Staff days out were common and for employees living outside of Bournville, Cadbury’s negotiated reduced train fares with the local railway company. Education was made available for everyone and the company actively encouraged vocations outside of their business interest.

However, because Bournville was a location of moral living, it was prohibited from having pubs, a prohibition that still stands today.

Queen Victoria proved to be a big admirer of Cadbury, which also established ties with the royal family.

In 1899, the Queen commissioned Cadbury alongside the UK’s two other top chocolate manufacturers, J S Fry & Sons and Rowntree and Company Limited, to produce special chocolates for British troops fighting in the Boer War. 

After Queen Victoria died in 1901, Cadbury’s introduced its iconic purple packaging in a nod to the late sovereign, who loved the colour.

In 1902, Cadbury’s went on to produce a commemorative collection of tins to mark the coronations of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

In 1955, Cadbury’s royal warrant was renewed by the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth – producing a comparable coronation tin for the monarch. 

With the birth of colour television in the mid-20th century, Cadbury found itself at the forefront of the advertising revolution.

The chocolate company came up with a string of iconic promotions for its products with some of the most rememberable being ‘A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat’ and ‘everyone’s a Fruit and Nut case’.

Cadbury went viral in 2007 with a Dairy Milk advert that showed a life-like gorilla drumming to Phil Collins’ song In The Air Tonight.

In 2015 the advert was voted the best British ad in 60 years, but a year later, the company met the anger of Cadbury’s chocolate devoted fans.

It followed the earlier takeover by American snack giant, Mondelez International which bought out Cadbury in 2010.

A string of complaints included changing the recipe of the brand’s iconic Crème Eggs, shrinking bars, strange new recipes, and employment losses.

It led to claims that Cadbury had ‘betrayed its heritage’ after the takeover, according to a 2016 TV documentary from Dispatches series – which claimed workers had been sacked and chocolate – including Dairy Milk – was being produced in Poland.

Mondelez, then known as Kraft Foods, bought the British brand in 2010. But it was accused of a slew of ‘broken promises’. 

When the buyout was announced, Kraft said it would stick to Cadbury’s commitment to using Fairtrade cocoa beans to produce its chocolate. Fairtrade practices mean that cocoa growers earn a minimum of £1,600 per tonne of cocoa sold.

But in 2016, it established it was no longer working with Fairtrade and had changed to a new cocoa production partnership known as Cocoa Life – which does not exercise the same price rules.

Ruth Cadbury, a direct descendant of one of the founders, said her ancestors would be ‘spinning in their urns’ over the way Mondelez was running the business – especially paying no corporation tax in Britain in 2014 despite making £96.5 million profit. 

Talking of no longer being awarded a Royal Warrant, a spokesman for Mondelez International said: ‘Cadbury is a much-loved brand that has been a part of British life for generations and remains the nation’s favourite chocolate.

‘Whilst we are disappointed to be one of hundreds of other businesses and brands in the UK to not have a new warrant awarded, we are proud to have previously held one, and we fully respect the decision.’

Since they altered the formula, more delicious substitutes are now available – yet another great British product allowed to be sold off.

A Royal Warrant should be granted if the chocolate is of high quality; if it hasn’t been, we must consider why it wasn’t.

The new owners have destroyed the product, which makes me wonder why they bought such well-loved chocolate just to destroy it, all sweets, chocolates and crisps have shrunk in size. Open a packet of crisps and inside you have half a packet, but pay for a full packet. Chocolate bars have shrunk in size and tins of chocolates have reduced in size over the years. ‘Shrinkflation’ is certainly that – sadly though they don’t seem to have a tool for shrinking the population – eventually Christmas will be a thing of the past, something that our forthcoming children will only hear about in books.

The answer is quite simple. Corn syrup, palm oil, sweeteners and emulsifiers are being added, with cocoa, dairy and acceptable sugars reduced. It shouldn’t even be called chocolate due to the absence of cocoa, dairy and acceptable sugar.

It’s not British-owned anymore. They sent most of the production to Poland with the loss of numerous British jobs, and they changed the formula, so it no longer tastes like chocolate. Well done King Charles, it was a wonderful decision. They don’t deserve a Royal Warrant.

The chocolate is simply not the same as it once was—it used to be so lovely, rich, and creamy.

The chocolate and oil recipe was altered to a less expensive one, but those who have never tried the original will never understand how delicious it was with the vintage paper and foil wrapping. It was amazing, but regrettably no longer available.

British NHS Health Data Harvested By Beijing

China is attempting to acquire British residents’ medical information to produce bioweapons, experts have warned.

The proliferation of Chinese medical technology in British hospitals has alarmed MPs as well as security and biological experts.

There are fears the hostile state is aiming to ‘weaponise biology’ by capturing sensitive patient data to develop targeted viruses and diseases.

The alarming warning comes as British hospitals depend more and more on vital Chinese equipment that tracks patient data.

One Shenzhen company with a UK headquarters in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, has dramatically expanded in Europe and Britain where it utilises over 100 staff.

Mindray has just secured contracts with over 600 teaching hospitals across Europe, including over 50 NHS contracts with hospitals all over Britain to provide critical equipment including monitoring, anaesthesia, ventilation, and ultrasound devices.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the company last August in a powerful symbol of approval from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

News reports said he urged leaders to ‘continue working toward the top international level and gain a competitive advantage in the market with their technologies’.

In Britain, Mindray has established its own political connections and was the only healthcare company invited to a Downing Street reception with David Cameron when he endeavoured to boost UK-China trade relations in 2013.

There is no indication of any misconduct by the company, which insists its bedside diagnostic equipment measuring vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels and temperature, operates only within a hospital’s own closed, secure IT infrastructure and does not keep patient data externally.

However, the increasing use of Chinese medical technology in the NHS and throughout Europe has sparked worries about the potential for extensive data collecting, which might be a strategic danger to the security of the United Kingdom.

Last year MI5 chief Ken McCallum warned that hostile states like China are ‘laser focused’ on emerging technology like synthetic biology, a scientific area that involves designing or altering biological techniques like a virus to perform new functions.

‘The stakes are now incredibly high on emerging technologies; states which lead the way in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and synthetic biology will have the power to shape all our futures,’ he said.

‘We all need to be aware, and respond before it’s too late.’

Now Tory shadow Foreign Minister Alicia Kearns has called for more safeguards to ensure British patient data cannot be used by an adversary.

She said: ‘The Chinese Communist Party has no respect for privacy or individual rights. It raids personal information when it wants, and once British data reaches China, we have no way of ensuring it isn’t used for malicious purposes.

‘We must take action to stop British hospitals working with CCP-linked companies. The risk of our data being harvested to manufacture future bioweapons is real.

‘No country would tolerate a foreign state raiding physical copies of patient healthcare records – why should we accept the risk of our most intimate information being stolen digitally?

‘China is the largest genomic data harvester in the world, its goal is to be a biotech superpower, but it cannot do that unless it harvests the data from more diverse populations than its own.

‘We’ve already seen the CCP-backed BGI group share data from women’s prenatal tests with the People’s Liberation Army.

‘Do we really want our genetic data and health information being recorded and tampered with by a state hostile to our country? Why do they want it? The question answers itself.’

Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK’s Joint Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Regiment, said the Chinese Government’s activities in biotechnology, particularly in DNA manipulation and synthetic biology, is an escalating security risk.

‘The biological threat is the WMD [weapon of mass destruction] of the future,’ he said.

‘It’s far more dangerous than nuclear or anything else, and it’s something that we really must invest in our security and defence against – otherwise one just has to look at Covid.

‘It’s very clear I think to most of us that the Chinese in laboratories like Wuhan are doing things with biology, synthetic biology, manipulation of DNA which are most likely for nefarious reasons, and the possibility that the Chinese are looking to weaponise biology I think is more likely.’

He went on: ‘What would happen if you managed to synthetically splice Covid with something more deadly? It could be catastrophic.

‘I do not want to be over-dramatic, this sort of activity is getting more into the realms of realism.

‘If you have the intent and capability, which the Chinese appear to have, then this is something we need to guard against and do everything to make sure it cannot manifest itself.

‘So the fact that a Chinese company has so many links in so many medical devices is to me something we should be concerned about.’

Health data access, according to experts, may be a component of China’s longer-term, more comprehensive plan to build biological capabilities that go beyond conventional military or economic geopolitical strategies.

Data security professionals are now calling for regulatory scrutiny of foreign-controlled medical devices used in British healthcare, especially those from China.

Analysts point to similarities with the controversy over 5G mobile phone technology, where governments acted decisively to curb Chinese companies’ role in critical networks.

Because they provide clinical technology at a lower cost, companies like Mindray have gained popularity among hospital administrators on a tight budget.

But ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned that Britain is overlooking China’s most ominous threat yet in the rush to sign deals with Chinese companies undercutting their rivals.

He emphasised that the Chinese government is legally able to access data that is stored by businesses that operate in China, including for national security purposes.

‘We must protect our genetic data from Chinese scientists, who could use it for targeted bioweapons,’ he said.

Sir Iain said the CCP has already used genomic data to profile ethnic minorities, adding: ‘China is looking to weaponise biology. Why would you want all this data to go back to China? What are going to do with it?

‘The answer is because you want to know of your potential adversaries and what their weaknesses are – and that is what is going on.’

He went on: ‘One way or another you can disrupt lives. Healthcare could be the new frontier for China if you possess biological data and genomic data about people in different countries.

‘The power of this is simply not being looked at. We do need proper scrutiny of these healthcare devices.

‘Hospitals make one decision, which is how much less can I pay if I go with a Chinese supplier? Britain needs to wake up to the fact that China is a threat.’

Mindray tells hospitals it offers a ‘full range of patient monitoring solutions to meet clinical needs ranging from high-acuity critical care to mid-acuity and step-down areas, to the general ward and outpatient clinics’, adding: ‘We connect these solutions with networked systems and compact transport monitors to give you full visibility of patient data.’

A spokesman said the firm is ‘a global developer, manufacturer, and supplier of medical devices which has been operating in Britain since 2002 and it adheres to global standards on information security management, data protection and cyber security.

He said: ‘Mindray UK predominantly supplies NHS hospitals with bedside diagnostic equipment, such as vital signs devices, and defibrillators.

‘These devices can measure clinical parameters such as blood pressure, pulse, Spo2 [oxygen saturation], and temperature, and operate within each hospital’s own closed, secure IT infrastructure.

‘Access to, and storage of, all patient data on the above equipment is strictly controlled by NHS Trusts, using their own protected network, therefore Mindray UK does not provide data storage or cloud services for patient data.

‘Mindray UK works closely with NHS Supply Chain (NHSSC) to supply to NHS Trusts. Operating within NHS procurement frameworks requires adherence to stringent standards, including data security and cybersecurity.’

A spokesman for NHS England said: ‘The NHS has strict policies in place for the awarding of contracts, in line with government guidance. Individual NHS organisations must also ensure they meet their legal responsibilities and national data security standards to protect patient data, and we offer them support and training nationally on how this should be done.’

A UK Government spokesman said: ‘We have strict safeguards in place throughout the NHS to prevent the misuse of data.

‘All providers of services which handle patient data in the NHS must protect it in line with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.’

They rob our trade secrets to impoverish us, they steal research from our elite institutes to develop weapons, and the Tories wanted to put them in control of our nuclear power plants. We deserve much better.

We become more reliant on them as a result of their extremely exorbitant rates for their products. Every day, China gains strength as we lose ground.

What the UK government should be doing is investing in British industry and technology. Lower employment costs, give tax breaks and raise import duties. Oh, I forgot, we have a Labour government, which puts British interests last in every domain.

We just hand over our data to the highest bidder – the Chinese don’t have to steal it, but they are quite capable of doing so if they want to, and they already are, and COVID was just phase 1.

The Mystery Of The Loch Ness Monster

There’s a continuing enigma shrouding the Loch Ness monster.

What, then, comes to mind when we think of Scotland? For me, it would be kilts, bagpipes, and verdant hills. Of course, there is also the Loch Ness monster.

There is a big, weird beast in Scotland, and the locals around Loch Ness have been living with the myth of it for generations.

Loch Ness boasts the most extensive volume of fresh water in Great Britain, and it extends out over 23 miles and reaches depths of nearly 800 feet in places, but Loch Ness is known for being particularly murky, so who knows what could be hiding under the surface.

On May 2, 1933, modern stories of the Loch Ness Monster—dubbed Nessie by fans—began. Due to a local couple’s assertions that it existed, a newspaper then covered it.

They claimed to have witnessed a massive animal rolling and diving on the surface of Loch Ness. From that moment on, the Loch Ness Monster became a fascinating mythical creature that still exists today, despite the claims of many sceptics that it is a hoax meant to boost local trade.

The question is, though, is it real?

Any concrete proof appears to be as uncommon as Nessie herself, and the Loch Ness Monster has been the subject of several scientific investigations and unending conjectures since 1933.

There have reportedly been 4,000 sightings of the odd monster, according to Nessie fans. According to some, it resembles a big dragon with flippers. Because of this, many people think that Nessie may be the last plesiosaur species.

It appears weird that with so many witness sightings there are remarkably few images of Nessie. There have been a few famous photographs that have been deemed to have been of Nessie, but all have been confirmed to be hoaxes.

But if Nessie isn’t real, how can we explain all these eyewitness reports and odd scientific discoveries? People may believe they are seeing Nessie, but there are likely a number of other causes, such as optical illusions. What the mind is capable of inventing is astounding.

Nobody can confirm the Loch Ness Monster exists, and the rest of the world can’t prove that it doesn’t.

Nessie probably isn’t a mystery, but an enterprise. Let’s face it, how many people would have visited Loch Ness without this tale?

So, what do you believe? Does Nessie exist, or is it just another myth? Maybe YOU can unravel the puzzle.

Smart, Loving Sammy Was Bullied At His New School

Sammy Teusch was an intelligent, humorous, and affectionate youngster who enjoyed football, robots, and fishing.

He put a lot of effort into his studies, spent time with his family, and got along well with his Florida classmates, but in November 2022, his family moved to Greenfield, central Indiana, and suddenly the boy’s life became a living hell.

Bullying of the newbie was immediately initiated by Weston Elementary students. At Greenfield Intermediate, the violence and taunting persisted.

To no avail, he begged teachers for assistance.

After months of brutality and cruelty, he killed himself in May – his asphyxiated body was found at home by his 13-year-old brother.

Now in a bombshell lawsuit filed by the parents, the extent of the ten-year-old’s unbelievable suffering has been laid bare – with pictures documenting his injuries. 

Along with a heartbreaking illustration of how the boy was tormented even after he passed away, the startling document also has a text message from one bully who seems to confess to driving Sammy to suicide.

Sam and Nicci Teusch have accused the school district of failing to act and showing ‘callous indifference’ to Sammy, who endured months of misery despite their desperate pleas for help.

Grieving dad Sam told DailyMail.com the wrongful death suit, filed this week at Hancock County Circuit Court, would make schools safer by ensuring teachers crack down on bullies.

‘Their neglect and lack of ability to accept responsibility for their actions can’t be allowed,’ said Sam.

‘I went to the school 20 times or more about all this.’

Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation refused to comment on the 14-page complaint against the district and its trustees.

It alleges that Sammy was attacked and ridiculed about everything from his ‘beaver’ teeth to his general appearance, which was grotesquely likened to that of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Remarkably, a teacher reportedly joined in on the mockery at one point, claiming that the youngster did look like the Milwaukee maniac.

In one instance, a classmate allegedly choked Sammy until he ‘saw stars’.

Another hit him so hard with an iPad that Sammy was left with a black eye and broken glasses, the filing says.

On another occasion, a gang of students allegedly chased him through the school and trapped him in a bathroom.

Perhaps the most hurtful bullying cited in the lawsuit came from a student who simply followed Sammy around the school, urging him to kill himself.

Sammy complained to teachers but was largely ignored, the complaint alleges.

In an attempt to grab the attention of the staff, he flipped over his desk out of exasperation, however, this resulted in his being reprimanded for disturbing the class.

Sam told DailyMail.com that his boy ‘had the biggest heart along with the best smile’.

‘That made him an easy target and easy for school officials to dismiss and disregard him,’ he said.

‘We can’t let the world be like that.’

When Sammy alerted his parents, Sam and Nicci urged teachers to get involved and protect the boy, the lawsuit says.

Some 20 warnings were filed with GIS principal Bronson Curtis and others but to no avail.

The lawsuit says teachers took a ‘cavalier’ attitude to Sammy’s welfare and blamed the victim, not his bullies.

The filing accused staff of even saying the boy was picked upon due to his own ‘mental problems’. 

At one point, the exasperated child told his father: ‘They don’t listen to me, daddy.’

The final straw, it appears, was phone calls from a bully known in court papers as NT.

On Saturday, May 4, the schoolmate allegedly threatened more violence against Sammy once they were back in class the coming Monday.

‘NT never got the opportunity to carry through on his threats,’ says the complaint, as Sammy died by suicide shortly before midday on Sunday, May 5.

Upon finding his lifeless body, Sammy’s grieving parents and paramedics attempted but failed to get his young heart beating again.

Even as the community rallied behind the Teusches and hundreds turned out for the boy’s funeral on May 14, including a commemorative motorbike procession, the taunting persisted.

After reportedly taking pictures of Sammy’s open coffin, one of the bullies, a girl named TN, was observed giggling at her phone.

The lawsuit calls this a ‘blood-curdling moment reminiscent of the movie Children of the Corn’.

NT, the bully accused of prompting Sammy’s suicide, acknowledged in an apologetic text message that it was ‘all my fault for bullying him,’ the documents show.

The Teusches’ lawyer Brian Grossman says school officials are to blame because they ‘for months callously dismissed and disregarded Sammy’s pleas for protection’ and failed to step in.

The family wants damages, a jury trial, and reimbursement for their legal fees.

‘This suit is about more than holding the Greenfield School Corporation accountable,’ says Grossman.

‘It’s about making sure no child ever experiences what Sammy experienced—and no family again experiences the heartbreak the Teusch family can now never escape.’

Days after the fourth-grader’s death, the Greenfield Police Department opened an investigation into the bullying.

They discovered that ‘some bullying’ had plagued Sammy, both in and outside of school, but they ended the investigation on May 31 without bringing charges against anyone.

Deputy police chief Charles McMichael at the time said there was ‘no evidence’ teachers were neglectful.

The school district’s superintendent, Dr. Harold Olin, has contested the Teusches’ claims, saying no report of bullying was ever submitted by Sammy or his parents.

Sammy is just one among some two dozen US children who take their own lives each year after classroom bullying, according to data from the United Educators Association.

According to the US Department of Education, over 25 percent of children experience bullying every day.

Peer pressure and 24/7 social media are contributing to a young mental health crisis that is making those numbers worse.

The Megan Meier Foundation, a Missouri-based nonprofit, says kids who’ve been bullied or cyberbullied are twice as likely to try to end their lives as others.

The Teusches established the non-profit Sammy’s Tree Foundation to assist children who have been bullied in reporting their abusers and discussing issues in the classroom.

‘Our main goal is to let everybody know that right now suicide is the second-leading cause of death in children,’ said Sam.

‘It’s something I didn’t know because they don’t let us talk about it. There’s a stigma: You’re not allowed to even say the word.’

With or without this so-called Bullying Report, I guarantee that most of the grown-ups and students at this child’s grade level knew he was being tormented. This family lost a child due to the negligence of an entire system – all it would have taken is one adult from that school to speak up to protect this boy.

Bullying is out of control, particularly due to the use of social media. Groups form on social media and together they go on a mass frenzy of abuse.

There needs to be consequences, but that will take forever to accomplish. In the meantime, check your child’s phone and talk to your kids. Tell them to block social media posts from the masses, and take measures to help build up your child’s confidence and strength to walk away. It’s not much, but it’s a start in the right direction.

Every area of the school should have cameras, and if there are frequent issues, security personnel should always be on call to intercept, and mobile phones should be banned from schools.

Computers should also be banned from schools because even if they ban mobile phones, youngsters can get onto the computers, so the bullying will continue, and of course, once school has ended these kids are back on their phones where the bullying continues.

After physical punishment was outlawed in both the home and school, bullying began to flourish unchecked.

These kids basically killed this boy indirectly. They weren’t toddlers. They knew that hitting and name-calling someone else was wrong, but now with a carefully cultivated idolisation of children and then we get burned-out families and all entitled, evil, arrogant, rebel without a cause children.

Children spend more time in school than with their parents during the day. This is the reason it’s so crucial to be able to pick a school that respects morals and gives the youngster the proper instruction.

Children are supposed to be psychologically safeguarded by teachers as well as being taught by them. They’re expected to have training in child welfare and early detection of warning signals concerning the welfare and emotional health of children while in school.

There are numerous situations where children have ‘problems’ at home and school should be a haven of safety and trust between children and teachers where children are treated impartially, equal to one another, observed and listened to, and if they can’t receive the highest standard of care in a professional teaching environment, then where can they?

Drive-By Shooting Witnesses Released

Police have released fresh images of witnesses they are keen to talk to in connection to a drive-by shooting outside a wake where a mother-of-two was killed. 

Michelle Sadio, 46, was gunned down when a car drew up outside of a church near Wembley Stadium and opened fire on a gathering of mourners in the street.

The ceremony – held at the River of Life Elim Pentecostal Church in Harlesden – was organised to mark the ninth day of Dinah Boateng’s death on December 5.

Ms Sadio, 46, from Walthamstow, East London, had stepped out of the venue to take a break when she was shot just before 9.15 pm on December 14.

Two men – both in their 30s – were also shot, with one being struck in the foot while the other was hit in the back and remains in hospital in a critical state. 

Investigators have now made public a picture of a person they think may know something about the car’s occupants connected to the drive-by shooting.

The car driven by the suspects has been described as a black Kia Niro with distinct alloys, with the number plate LA23 XRE.

The assailants fired a number of shots in Gifford Road, before driving away to Barnhill Road where the vehicle was dumped and set ablaze.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Clarke, who is overseeing the investigation, said: ‘Our investigation has progressed at pace but we are still keen to hear from anyone who can help piece together the series of events which led to Michelle’s murder.

‘We have an image of a number of people who were seen speaking to the occupants of a black Kia Niro of interest on Church Road, NW10 at 20:50hrs on Saturday, 14 December.

‘Are you one of the people pictured in the white Mercedes or on the pavement nearby, or do you recognise anyone?

‘Did you hear or see something either before or after the shooting that may help with the investigation?

‘I would like to stress that none of those pictured have done anything wrong. 

‘They may not live in the area but they could hold information that is important to the investigation and I urge them to contact us.’

Specialist officers are presently providing support to Ms Sadio’s family, who have asked for privacy at this trying time.

It’s Walthamstow, so there is no British involvement, and two words immediately come to mind: gangs and drugs!

At one time, gun crime was something that occurred in other countries, but sadly not anymore. Not to worry – Labour is giving Khan a knighthood for wrecking London, I wonder what Rachel from complaints will get for recking the economy and condemning the Tories for her policies.

Every day there’s a killing in London, but the Mayor of London said it’s safe on the streets while he drives about in a bulletproof car.

Pedestrian Leaps Into Air After Ford Fiesta Mounts Sidewalk

This is the moment a pedestrian was launched into the air before being knocked to the ground by a car ascending the pavement.

Mridhul Kombara, 35, was hit by a white Ford Fiesta when the car unexpectedly swerved onto the pavement but dodged the full force of the impact after attempting to jump out of the way.

Footage shows Mridhul, wearing a brown jacket and jeans strolling along the path before the out-of-control car crashes into him and a lamp post, severely damaging its bonnet in the process.

He was rushed to University Hospital Coventry where he was found to have a fracture on his left ankle and injuries in his hips, legs and shoulder, the Sun reported.

The father-of-one, who works in IT, said he had been left ‘traumatised’ by the freak incident, which happened while he was walking to a restaurant to meet friends.

He said: ‘Someone was looking out for me that day, it’s a miracle I wasn’t more hurt.’

Mridhul initially thought the car was pulling up to park at the side of the road before he realised its speed wasn’t decreasing and was then tossed up by the bonnet of the car.

The unidentified driver of the vehicle is seen getting out and fleeing the scene without saying sorry to the victim.

Mridhul was luckily helped by passers-by and the manager of a local supermarket who came to his aid and called an ambulance.

But rather than remaining in the UK, Mridhul travelled to Kerala, India to have his injuries treated to ‘avoid NHS wait times’.

Mridhul said he wanted to know the identity of the reckless driver, adding that he would like ‘closure’ on the issue.

‘It was really painful, but I feel lucky to be alive’, he added.

Coventry Police said no arrests had been made in connection with the incident, but that it was continuing enquiries to identify and track down the driver. 

The vehicle was most likely not his, and the driver was most likely uninsured. He fled the scene and he’s probably an illegal, both in terms of residency status and also as a driver. The least he could have done is check the injured man. I hope that the police hunt him down, but they probably won’t bother that much.

Apparently, the man who got injured by the car. His wife took to the comments section and said:

“Hi,

The victim in this video is my husband. He was taken to UHCW A&E by the paramedics. However, he was let go because they couldn’t find anything seriously wrong with him. We waited for a week for him to get better. Unfortunately, he got worse and was in so much pain. That’s when we decided to go back to India where we have family and a better support system there.

At the time, it was the best decision for us as a family. We are very grateful to the paramedics, the doctors and nurses at the UHCW Coventry. They were wonderful. That said, we are taxpaying, hard-working immigrants in this country. We respect this country and live by its rules. No matter the colour of our skin, leaving a human to die on the road is truly disturbing to me!! I am so grateful my daughter was not accompanying him when the incident happened. I feel lucky to had gotten him alive”.

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