2 ***^ Friday 16 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
Taking the reins Castle Howard, the stately home in North Yorkshire, opened BBC Countryfile Live yesterday – the first
time the event has been staged in the North of England. Events included races, debates and farm animal demonstrations.CHARLOTTE GRAHAM‘Purer’ drugs behind rise in deaths
By Charles Hymas
HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
DRUG deaths have hit a record high
amid growing concern at the threat
posed by super-strength cocaine, her-
oin and ecstasy.
There were 4,359 deaths from drug
poisoning recorded in England and
Wales in 2018, the highest number
since records began in 1993, the Office
for National Statistics (ONS) said.
While opiates including heroin ac-
counted for half of the deaths (2,208),
the number from cocaine doubled in
three years to 637, the highest level re-
corded. Deaths from new psychoactive
substances, or legal highs, have also
doubled in just a year to 125, while those
from MDMA, or ecstasy, are twice as
high as they were five years ago.
Fiona Measham, professor of crimi-
nology at Durham University, and co-
director of The Loop, a drug-testing
service available at festivals, said the
increase in deaths from cocaine and ec-
stasy could be attributed to the huge
rise in purity.
It meant festival-goers were increas-
ingly likely to underestimate the
strength of the drugs, making it more
likely that they overdosed, said ProfMeasham. A single pill of ecstasy (or
MDMA) could contain two or three
doses, which meant a young festival-
goer who might think it safe to take two
of them to get high could be having six
times the normal dose, putting them-
selves “at serious risk”.
She cited two cases in recent sum-
mers: Georgia Jones, 18, who died after
taking double-strength MDMA tables
at a festival in Portsmouth, and Chris-
tian Pay, also 18, who died after taking
the drugs at the Kendal Calling festival.
“The difference is the equivalent be-
tween having a pint of shandy and a
pint of whisky,” said Prof Measham.“It’s really vital that we get this infor-
mation to young people and have test-
ing to show the risks.”
At festivals where The Loop tested
drugs for strength and purity, they is-
sued alerts listing the most dangerous
drugs, showing that one, called Tech-
nogym, contained 330mg of MDMA.
A person with a light build should
stick within a range of 40 to 75mg, with
anything over putting them at risk.
The National Crime Agency (NCA)
warned in March that opium produc-
tion in Afghanistan and cocaine pro-
duction in Colombia were at record
levels, boosting purity to a new high ascriminals needed to use less cutting
agent to adulterate the drugs.
The ONS figures cover deaths in-
volving controlled and non-controlled
drugs, prescription and over-the-coun-
ter medications. However, around two-
thirds of drug-poisoning deaths were
from drug misuse (2,917), continuing a
trend seen over the past decade.
Men accounted for more than two-
thirds of such deaths (2,984, compared
with 1,375 women). Most of the deaths
were due to accidental poisoning (80pc
of males, 67pc of females), and then in-
tentional self-poisoning (16pc of men
and 30pc of women).Warning of a month’s
worth of rain in a day
By Lizzie RobertsHOMEOWNERS have been told to pre-
pare for flooding as some parts of the
UK are expected to be hit with almost a
month’s worth of rain today.
The Met Office yesterday issued
weather warnings across the west of
the country as it predicted that as much
as 60mm of rain could fall across Dart-
moor, in Devon.
The average rainfall for August in
England is 69.3mm, meaning almost an
entire month’s worth of rain could hit
the area in just 24 hours.
Yellow weather warnings are in
place across much of the west, includ-
ing Wales, where 80mm of rain is ex-
pected to fall in parts.
The Met Office has warned that
transport could be affected and flood-
ing of a few homes and businesses was
possible.
The heaviest rainfall may coincide
with peak travel times tomorrow after-
noon and early evening, causing diffi-
cult driving conditions, it said.
The forecast of bad weather follows
last week’s unseasonably windy spell,
which resulted in gusts of up to 60mph
in the South East. Helen Roberts, a MetOffice meteorologist said: “There is
some pretty wet and quite windy
weather on the way for Friday, a deep
area of low pressure pushing in from
the Atlantic that is going to bring a spell
of rain for all.
“But the heaviest and most persis-
tent rain is going to be across the more
western parts of the UK, particularly
hills and slopes that face the west.
“We have a warning out for thatrainfall and in some very localised ar-
eas we could see as much as 80mm of
rain – the average rainfall for the UK in
August is just under 90mm.”
There have been some predictions
that August could be the wettest on re-
cord, but the Met Office said it was still
too early to tell.
By the middle of next week the un-
settled weather is due to clear, with
warm and sunny conditions expected
for the August Bank Holiday weekend.National Grid denies three
‘near-misses’ before outage
Continued from Page 1
analyses the green energy market,
said: “This compensation raises impor-
tant questions about the way wind
farms receive payment for reducing
output, particularly so soon after being
involved in a blackout which is still un-
der investigation.
“Our analysis shows there was a drop
in system frequency to below normal
operating limits on Saturday night, just
before Hornsea was told to reduce out-
put. It raises the further question of
whether this was another near-miss.”
A National Grid spokesman said it
continuously “balances the system sec-
ond by second”, adding how limiting
Hornsea’s supply was “business as
usual” and not related to any involve-
ment in the blackout.
“There are physical constraints on
the network and to manage these we
can ask generators to reduce their out-
put in order to maintain stability and
manage the flows on the network.
“Generators are compensated via a
constraint payment, the most econom-ical way to run the system, keeping
costs as low as possible for consumers.
“Hornsea One received constraint
payments on Saturday and Sunday as
part of our ‘business as usual’ opera-
tion of the system. These payments
were not related to Friday’s power cut.”
An Orsted spokesman confirmed
that Hornsea was asked over the week-
end to reduce its production of energy,
adding it was a condition of its Ofgem
licence intended to guarantee effi-
ciency, security and value for money.
“To put this into context, on Satur-
day the National Grid made over 1,
such requests to generators of all
kinds,” she said.
National Grid was said to have expe-
rienced three “near-misses” in as many
months before Friday’s blackout.
A spokesman denied here had been
three near-misses and said that the sys-
tem had remained “in safe limits” since.
The blackout affected London, the
South East, Midlands, South West,
Yorkshire, the North East, Cornwall
and Wales.Health ‘MOTs’
for over-40s to
be replaced by
online checks
By Laura Donnelly HEALTH EDITOR
THE NHS is to scrap routine health
“MOTs” for the over-40s, promising to
instead introduce online checks and
more “targeted” advice.
Ministers said the “one size fits all”
system, introduced a decade ago,
would be replaced by one using data
and technology to pinpoint help.
Patients’ groups raised fears that po-
tentially deadly problems could go un-
checked. They expressed concern that
the move was an attempt to offer
checks “on the cheap”.
Patients aged between 40 and 74 are
invited to their GP every five years for
checks. But under the changes, physi-
cal checks may be reserved for those
thought to be most in need.
The Health Secretary said scientific
advances – such as the use of DNA to
identify genetic risks – would mean
programmes could be tailored.
An evidence review of the checks
will begin this autumn before changes
are introduced, Matt Hancock said.
John Kell, head of policy at The Pa-
tients Association, raised concerns that
the move was an attempt to cut costs,
amid underfunding of public health.
Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern,
said she was “very worried” that deadly
health risks would be missed.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director
at Age UK, urged officials to make sure
checks were available for everyone,
saying older people might miss out if
online tests were over-emphasised.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair-
man of the Royal College of GPs, wel-
comed an end to “blanket checks”, but
added that methods to assess risk must
be based on “rigorous evidence”, as
widespread use of DNA tests could
leave patients needlessly worried.
News
‘We have a warning out for
that rainfall. In some very
localised areas we could see
as much as 80mm of rain’Subscribe today
and save 50%
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appeal to IPSO at http://www.ipso.co.uk.The Daily Telegraph, 111 Buckingham
Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DTNEWS BULLETIN
Cricket umpire dies after
being struck by ballA veteran cricket umpire who took on
the match duty at the last minute has
died after being hit on the head by a
ball. John Williams, 80, was left in a
coma after being struck at Pembroke,
West Wales, during their division two
league game against Narbeth.
He was flown 100 miles to the
University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff,
but died a month later.
Umpire Merfyn John said it was only
because of a “last-minute swap” that Mr
Williams was umpiring the match. He
said: “It’s just one of those things – the
ball comes so quickly.”
Mr Williams was described as a
long-standing servant to local cricket.‘Friends’ actor lookalike
jailed for theft and fraud
A lookalike of Friends actor David
Schwimmer was yesterday jailed for
nine months for theft and fraud.
Abdulah Husseini, an Iranian
national described in court as a
“travelling, nomadic thief ”, used a
stolen bank card to make purchases in
Blackpool last September.
A month later police posted a CCTV
image of the 36-year-old on social
media in an appeal to trace him. The
post went viral as users pointed out
the man’s resemblance to Schwimmer’s
character Ross Geller in the US sitcom.
Husseini, of Slough, Berks, denied
the charges at Burnley Crown Court.Grade II listing for Bowie
festival bandstand
A south London bandstand associated
with David Bowie has been given a
Grade II listing.
The singer performed to an
audience of just a few hundred at the
1905 structure in Croydon Recreation
Ground in 1969, soon after the release
of Space Oddity, his first hit single.
It has been suggested that the star,
who died in 2016, may have penned
the lyrics to Life On Mars from the
steps of the cast-iron bandstand.
The festival at the bandstand, which
Bowie organised, was immortalised in
the song Memory of a Free Festival, on
his 1969 album David Bowie.Instagram will let users
report false informationInstagram is to test a new tool which
will allow users to report content they
believe is misinformation. The
Facebook-owned social media
platform said it would launch the trial
feature at the end of August.
It said a new “False Information” tag
would be added to existing reporting
tools in the section where users can
already flag content as inappropriate.
Instagram will use reports from the
tool to train artificial intelligence to
find and rate misinformation.
Facebook has said it is investing
heavily in tackling misinformation
across its apps.Met officer admits theft
after pocketing £
A Metropolitan Police officer who
pocketed £200 given to him as lost
property wept as he admitted theft.
Robin Ruston, 36, was given the
cash, a bag and a phone charger by an
undercover officer to “test his
integrity”, Westminster magistrates’
court heard yesterday.
The policeman was handed a
16-week suspended prison sentence.
District Judge Tan Ikram said: “The
degree of breach of trust in a case like
this could not be higher.”
Defending, Tom Doble said Ruston
had been in acute financial difficulty
and “regrets it enormously”.Stormzy funds more
Cambridge scolarships
Stormzy has announced he will cover
the university costs of two more
Cambridge students. The grime
artist will pay the tuition fees of two
young people from a black, Asian or
minority ethnic background.
Stormzy will also continue to cover
costs for the first two students to
be supported by the scheme, now
entering their second year of study.
The Stormzy Scholarship is aimed
at supporting people from minority
backgrounds who have won a place
at the university. The identities of the
students have been kept secret to en-
sure they can enjoy a normal life.РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS