Seen in the News

[Stanley]

See THIS report about water levels in the canal.
Lock gates along parts of the Leeds-Liverpool canal have been closed after water levels dropped due to a lack of recent rainfall. The Canals and River Trust said lock use has been suspended between Wigan and Gargrave and on the Five Rise Locks at Bingley. It comes after Yorkshire endured its driest spring in more than 140 years, with a drought declared across the region earlier this month by the Environment Agency. A spokesperson for the Canal and River Trust said they had asked boaters to "temporarily stop using locks on some stretches of canal" due to low water levels. They said: "This conserves the available water to keep boats afloat and protect wildlife. "Boats can still cruise between locks and paddlers can use our waterways as usual. The towpath is fully open for people to use and enjoy. "The public can help us to preserve water by reporting leaks and any lock gates and paddles that have been left open." The spokesperson said they would continue to monitor water levels and hoped to get the locks "back open to boats as soon as possible" as the charity will continue to monitor water levels.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC article about a woman with botulism.
An aesthetic beautician left one woman fighting for her life and several others seriously ill in hospital after injecting them with Toxpia, an illegal Botox-type anti-wrinkle treatment. As the BBC names the woman behind the jabs, two of her victims share their stories. The patch over Kaylie Bailey's left eye is a daily reminder of when her beauty treatment nearly killed her. The 36-year-old mum-of-three from Peterlee, County Durham, had paid Gemma Gray £75 for three "Botox" injections, half of what it had cost on a previous visit - the bargain turned out to be too good to be true. Within days, Ms Bailey was struggling to see. Doctors at Sunderland Royal Hospital were initially baffled and diagnosed her with ptosis, an eye condition characterised by the drooping of the upper eyelid, and told her to go home to rest. The hospital trust said that when Ms Bailey was discharged she had been advised to visit her GP if her condition worsened, and it had been explained to her that her symptoms were probably related to the treatment she had had. It added that botulinum toxicity was a very rare condition "not seen by the majority of doctors during their careers".
Apart from seeing this as an awful warning about 'back-street' Botox injections I have a professional interest as I am one of the rare group of people who have survived a full blown attack of botulism. Mine wasn't from beauty treatments but a bad meat pie in the NAAFI at Wavell Barracks in Berlin. It was awful.... after collapsing I was in a coma for six days and when I came to I was in the military hospital at Hanover where the doctors told me it had been a close run thing. If anyone offers you this treatment run a mile!

[Stanley]

THIS BBC in depth article about illegal cigarette sales on the High Street is worth reading for the insight into what's going on under our noses.
It's pitch black and we're crawling along a secret underground tunnel beneath a high street in Hull. We pass rotting beams propped up precariously by stacked breeze blocks. A rusty car jack is helping prevent the shop floor above from falling in. Through the rubble, we follow a Trading Standards Officer, his torch swinging back and forth in the darkness until it rests on a hidden stash of thousands of illegal cigarettes. This is just one such surreal experience while investigating the sale of illegal cigarettes in Hull. In one week we repeatedly witnessed counterfeit and smuggled tobacco being sold in high street mini marts - and were threatened by shop workers who grabbed our cameras when we tried to film them. This is now a familiar story being repeated across Britain. In April, the National Crime Agency (NCA) raided hundreds of high street businesses, many suspected of being supplied by international crime gangs. Trading Standards teams have also found a thriving trade in illicit tobacco.