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EXCL: A Labour MP has been accused of raiding a historic cafe’s fridge on a trip to Normandy to mark the anniversary of D-Day. Amanda Martin is said to have started helping herself to food at the Café Gondrée, the first place liberated by the Allies during the landings in 1944. Portsmouth’s Ms Martin was one of two Labour backbenchers hauled in by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle after Parliament’s Armed Forces Scheme’s visit last June. Samantha Niblett was also spoken to over her behaviour after missing the ferry over to France and then reportedly clashing with the organisers. Both MPs are understood to insist the respective incidents are “misunderstandings”. Full story

This is an impressive newspaper interview by @WilliamClouston, the SDP's candidate in Clacton. William and I would probably disagree on some of the economics, but on everything else he is spot on. Intelligent, sober, grown-up politics. Why would you be a good MP to the people of Clacton? The Social Democratic Party (SDP), is the only national political party with a developed policy platform standing against Reform in Clacton. We’re the party of the patriotic state, which is exactly what Clacton’s electorate demands: we support strong control of the borders and national pride, while also believing in a robust government that nationalises utilities, invests in infrastructure, and brings industry back to Britain. Whereas Reform lacks political direction, we are crystal clear on our plans for government and want to fix the long-term, structural challenges facing our country: migration, under-investment, a degraded public realm, and deindustrialisation. What are the main issues Clacton faces? The caricature we see of Clacton in the press is completely inaccurate – both in terms of the idea of it being economically destitute or socially atomised, and in terms of the idea of there being just one “Clacton”. Clacton-on-Sea is the biggest town in the constituency at 55,500 people, but there are another 30,000 people living in adjacent towns like Frinton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze, and Jaywick. These are all very distinct towns, with their own needs and issues. In terms of issues common to the whole constituency, I think there’s an underinvestment in the public realm, poor economic connectivity with the rest of the country, and a shortage of consistent, quality social care. Firstly, on the public realm, there’s some real work to be done on making sure public spaces are consistently well-maintained and orderly. The landscapes of the area is stunning, and it has a lot of beautiful housing stock. However, it’s undermined by the road and streets they often lead on to. Often there’s not been too much thought put into the basics like planting trees on the streets for shade and beatification, or on properly planning the road network out to stop congestion. These are subtle things, but for a tourism-heavy constituency it’s critical that Clacton gets this right. Secondly, on economic connectivity, the town is really underserved in terms of road and rail links. If you want to travel to or from Clacton by a main road, your only option is through the A12-A120 junction near Colchester- that means a route that’s usually riddled with delays. On rail, all but a couple of trains a day are the same hourly service to London Liverpool Street. This lack of options makes Clacton too inconvenient for many tourists and commuters – the first resulting in reduced income for the hospitality firms the constituency relies on, and the second resulting in a real shortage of dentists, doctors, and nurses for many of Clacton’s residents. The lack of dentists, doctors, nurses, and carers has been told to me consistently on the street and the doorstep during this campaign. Social care is particularly worrying to many people, given the patchiness in quality and coverage that’s available – Clacton’s would be a great beneficiary for one of the SDP’s proposed policies, a National Care Service that guarantees national resourcing for comprehensive social care. How would you sum up your campaign in three words? “You already agree.” The SDP’s mix of economic and social policies is pretty much bang-on the position of the average Brit. We believe in a strong state that takes on crime and criminals, controls the border, and takes real pride in our country. But we also believe the government must roll up its sleeves and invest in infrastructure, ensure care for the sick and old, and make sure that Britain protects its manufacturing sector and industry. What do you think of Andy Burnham as PM? I have no idea what Andy Burnham wants to achieve as PM. He’s not explained what he wants to do in real terms, and only speaks in terms of fuzzy platitudes and folksy PR spin. I think the Labour party is in a bind, and is incapable of fixing the troubles facing this country. Since 1997, the Migration Observatory has noted that total net migration has stood at 9.5mn people. That’s nearly 1 in 7 of the official population count. Simply put, you can’t have a social democratic state – or a nation-state with a basic sense of a shared culture or trust – if you allow mass migration of this scale to continue. The moment you suggest this, however, you’re met with shrill rage from the Labour backbenches. Open-border utopianism – and seeming contempt for their own constituents – seems to be a prerequisite for the Parliamentary Labour Party. But another prerequisite is an inability to do basic maths. Government debt is on an unsustainable trajectory, and one of the main drivers of this is an exploding entitlements bill. In real terms, the amount spent on the state pension per claimant has soared from £6,000 in 1997 to £10,800 in 2024. Spending on disability and incapacity benefit jumped from 1% of GDP in 1991 to over 2.5% of GDP in 2025. As a result, public sector net debt has exploded from 36% of GDP in 2007 to 95% in 2025 – it’s costing us up to £130bn per year just to service the interest of this higher debt, and that’s going to only grow unless we pull down unsustainable spending. But the Labour Party will not hear this, even if you’re suggesting reallocating this spending to things that will generate growth like railways, roads, or power stations. You can’t govern with such immature, unserious people. How do you differ from other candidates in Clacton? We’re the only national party with a developed political programme who are standing in this election, with a full manifesto at the last general election. We also have fully developed green papers on some of the major political topics of our time, like energy or the state of the public finances. Our main project is to offer real, fully-formed solutions to the challenges facing the country – motivated by our principle that the country should be led by a patriotic state. What are the main policies you would look to implement if you were the MP for Clacton? I’m under no illusion: as a single MP, you can’t really do much in a legislative sense in terms of bills passed. And neither can Nigel Farage, given his party currently has only a handful of MPs in the Commons. My job as MP Clacton would be to champion the policies that the people of Clacton voted for and that are in the SDP manifesto. However, the most important thing as an MP would be to hold the government’s feet to the fire at parliamentary debates, challenging their de facto uncontrolled system of mass migration, failure to invest in infrastructure, spinelessness to our radicalised judiciary, and inability to get the basics right on things like energy, water, and rail. In terms of particular policies, Clacton stands to benefit significantly from the SDP’s proposed National Care Service: a universal, comprehensive care service that will provide access to acute, nurse-led intermediate, and long-term care. For Clacton, with its larger share of older residents, a National Care Service would offer significant peace of mind for many households. What’s the best night out in Clacton? I’ve really enjoyed my meals at the Mangiare Ristorante at Frinton-on-Sea. It’s a great Italian restaurant: the food is fantastic and the team is incredibly friendly. In terms of drinking at the pub, I’ve had a lovely time at the Old Lifeboat House at Clacton-on-Sea. What would you tell President Trump if you could speak to him directly? I think he must ask himself what his priorities are and what he wants to achieve from his presidency. The Iran War is one of the worst disasters in American military history, and it happened entirely because of a complete failure by him to look at his intelligence brief or consider how it might impact the rest of his presidency. His failure and flip-flopping on tariffs is another case in point, as was his idiocy around the Greenland Annexation push. Trump seems to just do things because it feels good in the moment for his ego – if I had his ear for a moment, I’d tell him that if he wants any sort of legacy then he must reign this in immediately. What would your dream role be if you were asked to join the government? I’m campaigning as leader of the SDP party, so my dream role would be to serve as Prime Minister so we had full latitude to implement our policy platform. But if the SDP were asked into a coalition, and if the terms were right, then I would probably choose Housing Minister. I’ve enjoyed a forty-year career in town planning and commercial property development, so Housing would allow me to put my expertise to best possible use – and allow me to ideally oversee a proper resurrection of state housebuilding capacity. If you could change one thing about the UK more broadly, what would it be? An end to short-termism in public life. Building and maintaining a country is hard, and requires you to think in timeframes beyond a single election – it can take decades for the consequences of a decision to be felt. Mass media and social media both have compressed our timelines down to the order of weeks, days, and hours. Many people in public life aren’t interested in making the country better, but in taking part in a vapid never-ending circus of outrage and “gotchas”. These people must go.

I'm a cardiologist. Before you panic-purge your pantry over the viral "throw these out if you love your family" posts — let me show you how fear-based health content manipulates you with real data. The headlines screaming right now: common food emulsifiers like E471 and carrageenan raise cancer risk up to 46%. A French study of 92,000 adults over 7 years found the link. The numbers sound apocalyptic: Carrageenan — 32% higher breast cancer risk. Mono- and diglycerides (E471) — 46% higher prostate cancer risk. Here's the twist that changes everything, and the reason you should never make health decisions from a headline. Those are relative risks. Not your actual odds. Translate it to real life. For a 60-year-old woman in this study, the absolute risk of breast cancer went from 4.1% in the lowest emulsifier eaters to 5.2% in the highest. Yes — an increase. But a nudge from 4% to 5%, not the explosion the headlines imply. The researchers themselves stated these additives do not drastically increase absolute risk. A "46% increase" on a tiny baseline number is still a tiny number. This is the single most common way health misinformation manipulates you — reporting the scary relative number and hiding the reassuring absolute one. Three more things the fear posts leave out: The company they keep. The people eating the most emulsifiers were also eating the most ultra-processed food overall. You cannot cleanly isolate one additive from an entire diet and lifestyle. The emulsifier may be a marker for the junk, not the cause. The gut disconnect. The whole theory is that these additives damage the gut. Yet the study found zero link to bowel cancer — the exact place a gut-driven cancer should appear first. When the proposed mechanism doesn't match the findings, be skeptical. The animal-study bait-and-switch. The terrifying carrageenan animal studies used poligeenan — a degraded form banned from food years ago. It's not what's in your almond milk. And no one in the study even exceeded the established safety limits. This is an observational study showing correlation. Single, unreplicated. It generates a hypothesis worth studying. It does not justify throwing out your groceries in a panic. Here's the real act of love — and the actual science. Stop hunting microscopic chemical codes on labels. That's not where your health is won or lost. The powerful, evidence-backed move is simpler and bigger: eat more whole, nutrient-dense food and fewer ultra-processed products overall. Not because one emulsifier will kill you. Because a diet built on ultra-processed food drives the insulin resistance, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction I treat in the cath lab every day — and THAT is the real, well-established risk, dwarfing any single additive. The emulsifier headline is a distraction. The whole-food principle is the substance. Protect your peace. Base your health on context, not clickbait. And the next time a post tells you to throw something out "if you love your family" — check whether they gave you the absolute risk or just the scary relative one. They almost never do.

The term "fried rice syndrome" emerged in the 1970s after a series of food poisoning outbreaks were linked to fried rice dishes. Researchers discovered that the culprit was Bacillus cereus, a bacterium whose spores can survive cooking. When cooked rice is left at room temperature for several hours, the spores can multiply and produce toxins that cause sudden vomiting and gastrointestinal illness. One of the key studies that popularized the term was published in 1971, when British researchers documented several outbreaks associated with fried rice served in Chinese restaurants. In many cases, the rice had been cooked in advance, left unrefrigerated, and later stir-fried before serving. The reheating killed most bacteria but did not destroy the heat-stable toxins that had already formed. Over time, scientists realized that Bacillus cereus poisoning was not limited to rice. Similar outbreaks have been linked to pasta, potatoes, noodles, pastries, and other starchy foods. Despite this, the nickname "fried rice syndrome" stuck because fried rice was the food most commonly associated with the early outbreaks.

A foodborne outbreak spreading across the country right now is worth every doctor's attention — and yours. The CDC just issued a formal Health Alert. A parasite called Cyclospora has exploded across 34 states. As of July 13, over 6,700 confirmed or probable cases have been reported nationally in 2026 — compared to about 2,700 in all of last year. The CDC has confirmed 1,645 domestically acquired cases since May 1, with over 5,100 more awaiting analysis. That's running more than 6 times ahead of this time last year. 141 hospitalized. Zero deaths. But the misery is real, and it lasts. Here's what you need to know, because this one is genuinely miserable and often missed. Cyclosporiasis is caused by a microscopic parasite you swallow on contaminated fresh produce — historically leafy greens, herbs like cilantro and basil, and berries. It spreads through the fecal-oral route: produce contaminated with human waste somewhere in the supply chain. It does NOT spread person to person, so you can't catch it from a sick family member. The symptoms: profuse, watery, sometimes "explosive" diarrhea that can last weeks if untreated. Plus cramping, nausea, bloating, loss of appetite, fatigue, and dramatic weight loss. Symptoms usually start about a week after exposure and can come in waves — you feel better, then relapse. That relapsing pattern is a classic clue. Now the part I most want you to hear, because it's where people get missed: Standard stool tests do NOT reliably detect Cyclospora. A routine "ova and parasites" panel can miss it entirely. Your doctor has to specifically order Cyclospora testing. So if you've had watery diarrhea for more than a few days — especially if it's dragging on for a week or waxing and waning — tell your doctor directly: "Could this be Cyclospora? Please test for it specifically." The CDC is actively urging clinicians to order that test right now. It's treatable. The standard treatment is an antibiotic combination — trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. People with sulfa allergies need an alternative, so that conversation matters. Untreated, it can drag on for weeks. Treated, it usually resolves. The current investigation: the CDC and FDA are tracking a multistate cluster of 400+ cases across Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky that likely share a common food source. Michigan has been hit hardest — thousands of cases against a typical background of a few dozen a year. Leafy greens and salad mix are under scrutiny, but no single source has been officially confirmed yet, and there's no formal recall. Prevention — and here's the sobering part: Wash all fresh produce thoroughly under running water, rubbing the surfaces. It helps, but be honest with yourself: Cyclospora oocysts are tough, and washing does NOT reliably remove them. Hand sanitizer does nothing to it. Cooking DOES kill it — heat is your most reliable defense. During an active outbreak, if you're in a hotspot state, cooking your vegetables is far safer than eating them raw. So: wash everything, cook when you can, and if you get prolonged or relapsing watery diarrhea, see a doctor and ask specifically for Cyclospora testing. This isn't a reason to panic. No one has died, and it's curable. It's a reason to be informed — to wash and cook your produce, and to know the one word that gets you the right test if you fall ill. Sometimes the most important medicine isn't a breakthrough. It's knowing what to ask for before a two-week illness becomes a two-month one.

A parasitic infection can sometimes produce symptoms that resemble a brain tumour. A 60 year old man in Spain sought medical attention after about two weeks of persistent headaches along with mild changes in behaviour. Initial brain imaging showed several lesions throughout the brain, which raised concern for possible metastatic cancer. However, further investigations including scans of the rest of the body, and additional tests did not reveal any primary tumour. Because the cause remained unclear, doctors carried out a high resolution MRI scan. This revealed multiple fluid filled cysts in the brain containing larvae of Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm. The condition is known as neurocysticercosis. It occurs when a person accidentally ingests tapeworm eggs, usually through food or water contaminated with human faecal matter. This is different from eating pork containing adult tapeworms. After ingestion, the eggs hatch, the larvae enter the bloodstream, and in rare cases they reach the brain where they form cysts. The MRI findings showed these cysts clearly enough for doctors to identify the larvae within them. Once the true cause was discovered, an invasive brain biopsy was avoided. The man was treated with antiparasitic medication and made a full recovery without complications. What made the case unusual was that he had never travelled outside Spain, where this infection is rare. Doctors believe exposure may have occurred years earlier through indirect contact with someone from an area where the parasite is more common. “Autochthonous Neurocysticercosis Brain Lesions Mimicking Metastatic Disease, Spain” Emerging Infectious Diseases