WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

HERE'S the latest live update on Trump and Iran......
President Donald Trump says the US and Iran have held talks on the "complete and total resolution of hostilities" in the Middle East. Writing on social media, Trump says he's postponed threatened strikes on Iranian power plants for five days - oil and gas prices fall immediately. However, Iran's parliament speaker denies discussions have taken place, saying "fake news" is being used to "manipulate" the oil markets. Speaking after his initial social media post, Trump says Iran has "one more chance" at peace. These head-spinning developments highlight how fast-moving and unpredictable this war has become, our Washington correspondent writes. Meanwhile, strikes continue to hit Iran's capital Tehran and Beirut in Lebanon, where the health ministry says 1,039 people have been killed since the conflict started last month
The reports coming in seem to suggest that Iran is telling the truth and that Trump is using false news to manipulate the markets.

[Stanley]

See THIS report......
1 hour ago
The NHS waited two days before raising the alarm about the meningitis outbreak, the BBC has learnt. The UK Health Security Agency was first alerted of a case by the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate, on the afternoon of Friday 13 March. That patient arrived in hospital two days earlier but there was a delay in reporting to health officials - despite there being a legal requirement for cases to be reported immediately. It meant there was a delay in tracing close contacts of the patient and potentially identifying that there was a wider outbreak. The hospital - which is run by East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust - admitted to the BBC it had missed an opportunity to alert the UKHSA sooner. It said it had waited until there was a formal diagnosis via a confirmed test. Dr Des Holden, acting chief executive of East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, said the patient first presented on Wednesday evening. "We recognise there was an opportunity prior to diagnosis to notify UKHSA. "We cannot go into the detail of individual patients' care, but the trust has been in close contact with UKHSA since Friday 13 March to discuss the management of patients presenting with suspected meningitis." Invasive meningitis is classed as an urgent notifiable disease, so under Health Protection Regulations 2010 it is a requirement to report cases to health protection officials as soon as a case is suspected. Hospitals do not have to wait for tests and a formal diagnosis.

[Tizer]

Schadenfreude!
`Democrats flip Florida state seat that includes Trump's Mar-a-Lago home' LINK
Democrats are projected to win a special election for a Florida legislative district that includes Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, marking another upset in the president's backyard. Democrat Emily Gregory, a first-time candidate, defeated Trump-backed Republican Jon Maples in a race for the open Florida District 87 state House seat. The result is a reversal from 2024, when a Republican won the district by 19 percentage points. Democrats have performed well in special elections during Trump's second term, and Gregory's victory could indicate momentum for the party heading into this year's congressional midterm elections....

[Stanley]

That's a welcome report Peter. Small signs that something might be happening in US politics....

THIS caught my attention..... I wonder if it is significant or just an isolated judgement?
A Los Angeles jury has handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media. Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year old's mental health. The woman, known as Kaley, was awarded $6m (£4.5m) in damages, a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts. Meta and Google said separately that they disagreed with the verdict and would both appeal. Meta said: "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online." A spokesperson for Google said: "This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site."

[Stanley]

If anyone had told me I would live long enough to see my daughters pass sixty years old I would not have believed it.....

[PanBiker]

That's a welcome report Peter. Small signs that something might be happening in US politics....

THIS caught my attention..... I wonder if it is significant or just an isolated judgement?
A Los Angeles jury has handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media. Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year old's mental health. The woman, known as Kaley, was awarded $6m (£4.5m) in damages, a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts. Meta and Google said separately that they disagreed with the verdict and would both appeal. Meta said: "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online." A spokesperson for Google said: "This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site."

The first thing that struck me regarding this news item was.... When did it become the accepted norm to give six year old children smart phones? I feel the parents have a lot to answer for in this regard. All the blame cannot be attributed to the tech firms or solely down to them to police every one of their billions of users of their stuff. Personally I would follow Australia on this and ban the use of smart phones until kids are 16 years of age.

[Tizer]

Let's not forget that the millionaires who set up and ran the big social media companies didn't let their own children have access to the sites while they allowed the rest of the world's children to get addicted and worse.

[PanBiker]

Yes but guidance and sanctions if required are set by responsible parenting, or should be. I can see no reason whatsoever for a six year old to have a smart phone. Especially as most of them seem to have lost the skill of walking and are taken to and from school in cars.

[Tripps]

I watched this today.

Imagine my surprise to see without any warning - our leader at 21.18 minutes in.

Decline of Lancashire textile industry.

[Stanley]

Yes, it surprised me when I saw it as well David. I saw Daniels pic of my feet sticking out of the furnace on the Bancroft boiler as well the other day in another video. I suspect the use of AI to trawl possible images might have something to do with the exposure.

HERE'S what caught my eye this morning...
1 hour ago.
President Donald Trump's popularity among the American public has been eroding steadily since he returned to the White House last January. While some of this is typical for second-term American presidents, Trump's initial decline also reflects ongoing public dissatisfaction with high prices and cost-of-living – issues that have propelled Democrats to wins in a growing number of elections over the past year. According to data by election analysis website The Downballot, Democrats did an average of 13% better in contested special elections in 2025 than they did in the same districts during the 2024 presidential election. The war in Iran has only exacerbated these economic concerns. Polling company Ipsos found that 43% of the American public approved of Trump's handling of the economy at the start of his second term. By 23 June 2025, the number had dropped to 35%, a level it hovered around for the rest of the year. Three weeks into the Iran war, gas prices have surged to an average near $4 a gallon, as seen in the chart below.
Perhaps the US public is beginning to notice that all is not well!

[Cathy]

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Some people , crazy! Makes you wonder how they got out of the car, and back in.
They must have climbed thru the hatchback .
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They’re out there…

[Stanley]

They must have been desperate for a parking slot!