It started with a bang – several, in fact – outside my house on 28 September. The first student protest had started in French Guiana, an overseas territory in South America, three weeks earlier. By the time it arrived on my doorstep in the suburbs of Lyon this month, students at hundreds of sixth-form colleges around France were protesting.
All the explosions made me worry that someone was shooting, so it was with a certain amount of relief that I opened my window to see a teenager running off with my bins, before ceremoniously burning them in front of the college across the road.
Over the weeks that followed, the protests intensified. Some mornings I found myself pedalling away from tear gas on my commute; on another I saw a couple of teens preparing a Molotov cocktail where my bins had been burned just days earlier. Once I’d established that the explosions weren’t gunfire, I wasn’t particularly concerned for my safety, but I did hope that they’d satisfy themselves with burning bins rather than something larger, like my car parked opposite the college. I found myself becoming accustomed to the (not altogether unpleasant) smell of firecrackers.
Australian MP loses leg in car ‘attack’ – what we know
An independent Australian politician is fighting for her life in hospital and has lost one leg, after an allegedly deliberate attack in broad daylight.
Hit and run ‘deliberate’, says PM
Helen Haines, 65, an independent member of Australia’s lower house of parliament, was hit by a car on Monday afternoon, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called “a deliberate act”.
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What is her condition?
- Haines remains in a critical condition in hospital and has lost a leg.
- The former nurse, mother of three and grandmother has suffered “severe” lower-body injuries.
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Hero challenged attacker
Ricky Jefferies, a barber working next door, rushed to Haines’s aid and pulled the driver from the car. Jefferies said he had “no choice” but to take action “because it was the right and safest thing to do”.
Police confirmed that at this stage it appeared to be an isolated incident “and there are no known threats connected to this matter”.
Who has been charged?
Brendan Nugent, 43, has been charged with driving causing serious injury, intentionally cause serious injury and causing harm to a commonwealth public official.
- He will be held overnight to appear at Wangaratta magistrates court on Wednesday, Victoria police confirmed in a statement
Watch more from The i Paper
Where first named storm of the season could hit UK
As heavy rainfall hits most of the UK over the course of the day, the Met Office has named the first storm of the autumn.
Storm Austen is due to batter southern parts of the country on Friday.
Where will the storm hit?
A yellow severe weather warning has been issued from midnight to noon on Friday, with Storm Austen set to hit the south-west of Wales and England, up to west Sussex. Eastern coastal counties could also be affected by the storm.
There is also a chance that the storm could change its course and hit Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern parts of England. Severe gales and disruption are expected wherever the weather front hits, with winds of up to 70mph.
Why is this the first named storm?
The unusually warm and dry weather means the UK has not yet had a named storm this autumn. The jet stream bringing wind and rain has mostly avoided the UK so far this season, but the weather front moving in this week is set to change that.
Although the storm is expected to move away later on Friday, Saturday will still be wet and windy for much of the UK.
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When is a storm named?
- In the UK, a storm is named when it is expected to cause disruption or damage significant enough to warrant an amber or red warning.
- This decision is based on the National Severe Weather Warnings service.
Naming storms is a vital part of how the Met Office communicates severe weather risks.
What could happen to mortgage rates in 2027
Homeowners are being told to brace for continued high mortgage rates next year – with the Bank of England set to raise interest rates. Most economists expect the Bank to hike rates twice in the next few months, while financial markets are forecasting even more rises – as many as four in the next year.
Why are rate rises expected?
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has driven the cost of oil up, which has fed through into a higher rate of inflation. Economists expect inflation to continue rising and peak at above 4 per cent, which will drive up swap rates – contracts between banks which are linked to fixed mortgage rates. Banks are pricing their mortgages above swap rates to make some profit.
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Elevated rates in 2027
Although experts have said the outlook for mortgage rates remains uncertain for next year, experts expect them to remain elevated. How much will depend on whether inflation and the BoE’s base rate go higher or lower than markets currently expect.
Alper Kara, professor of banking and finance at Brunel University, said he expected rates to “remain around these levels next year”, while Nick Mendes from John Charcol brokers said they will go “higher”.
Is there any hope?
The reverse pattern is very possible.
Peter Stimson, director of mortgages at lender MPowered, is hopeful that the Bank of England may cut interest rates next Spring in response to easing inflation, causing mortgage rates to fall.
A ceasefire in the Middle East would make this more likely as energy prices and government borrowing costs would fall.
All the channels the BBC will shut down as of spring 2027
The BBC has announced it will stop broadcasting three of its channels on linear TV and radio, as part of cost-cutting measures which will also see it cut jobs across BBC News.
Which channels are being axed?
Content from this channel will still be available on iPlayer and on other platforms, including YouTube.
The Scottish channel will still be an option online but not on television.
Programmes from the station will still be on the BBC Sounds app and the Daily Service will be broadcast on local radio.
What is behind the cuts?
100
jobs from next spring in a bid to make savings to secure the broadcaster’s future.
The BBC needs to save…
by 2028 to respond to the pressures of rising costs.
“We need to make every pound work harder for audiences as we respond to the immediate cost pressures and reinvent the BBC for a changing world. We all know that means tough choices… I recognise the confirmation of this news will be hard for audiences and colleagues”
bBC Director-General Matt Brittin
New rights for drivers to challenge ‘rip-off’ parking fines
Andy Burnham has announced a new set of rules to protect drivers from unfair parking charges, giving them the right to appeal fines they receive as a result of “honest mistakes” or certain acceptable excuses.
What do the new rules cover?
Grace period
Drivers will get 5 minutes to buy a ticket on arrival and 10 minutes to leave.
Honest mistakes
Time to check directions once in the car.
Extraordinary situations
Problems outside a driver’s control such as a breakdown or medical emergency.
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How will the rules work?
- Drivers will still be fined but will have the right to appeal.
- Not displaying the permit or mistyping your number-plate will see the fine reduced to £20.
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What is not changing?
- The code comes into force on 21 December.
- Most parking firms were already following these rules as set by their trade bodies, but they can now be legally enforced.
- There was already a cap of £100 on fines, which remains in place.
- Fees for late payment are still capped at £70, though the Government has promised a consultation on the charge.
How AI tool can predict cancer survival by patient selfie
An AI tool developed by doctors can predict a cancer patient’s chance of survival by scanning a single picture of their face, new research has found.
What does the research show?
Researchers at academic health centre Mass General Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts, trained the AI tool on more than 40 million images of cancer patients. The scanner estimates a person’s biological age (how old they look rather than their chronological age) and predicts their chances of survival from cancer.
4 min read
How does the technology work?
The system relies on two tools which scan different parts of the face for clues, one looking at the area below the eyes and the other focussed on the creases around the mouth, forehead and temples.
The people who looked five or more years older than their actual age had a 21 per cent higher risk of dying during the average four-year follow-up than the rest of the group. The patients who looked five or more years younger had a 17 per cent lower risk.
Results could guide treatment plans
As the population ages, physicians need better ways to estimate physical reserve and frailty before recommending intensive treatments such as radiation, surgery or systemic therapy…[The technology] can support personalised treatment decisions.
Dr Raymond Mak, radiation oncologist at Mass General Brigham
More health from The i Paper
The poll that shows how Badenoch bounce is punishing Reform
Kemi Badenoch‘s rising popularity has pushed the Conservative Party ahead of Reform UK to being seen publicly as the main opposition party to Labour for the first time this Parliament, a new poll has found.
What did the poll find?
Of the 2,200 surveyed by pollster Ipsos…
35%
said they view the Conservatives as the main opposition party.
This put them three points ahead of reform on…
32%
Reform was the party in second place for most of the summer, at around three points behind Labour.
Party conference push
Ipsos conducted the poll from 9-13 October after the Tory party’s conference in Birmingham, suggesting Badenoch’s speech went down well. She promised to scrap inheritance tax on family homes, a £10bn air and missile defence system and 50,000 new prison places. The Tories could also be benefitting from the racism and sexism scandal dogging Nigel Farage’s Reform.
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A temporary bounce?
Meanwhile, in the battle for hearts and minds on the right, the Conservatives continue to make progress. Time will tell if this leads to a decisive shift in voter preferences in their direction or if this is merely a low ebb for Reform UK that they recover from.
Keiran Pedley, UK Director of Politics at Ipsos
Badenoch attacks Reform UK
Lyon might be France’s third-largest city, but it rarely makes international news. That changed on Saturday, when it became the face of the protests. Photos of our tourist office going up in flames went viral. Friends and family from all over the world messaged to see if I was ok, many of them asking: “Why do the protesters hate tourists?”
I moved to France from Cornwall five years ago to set up a new life. However, since then, things have changed noticeably. I’d been expecting mass protests for a while. The rising tensions have been particularly palpable this summer. Half of the service stations are out of fuel, while those that still have fuel are extortionately priced. Salaries have stagnated, but the cost of living is rising. My partner and I, with a dual income and supposedly decent salaries, have been turned away by bank after bank for a mortgage.
What started as a student protest has become a wider display of discontent. It’s no coincidence that these protests, and the parallel riots, have broken out just six months before what’s set to be the most divisive presidential elections in French history. The far right has never won an election, but the National Rally’s (RN) Marine Le Pen – sporting her new electronic bracelet following her conviction for embezzlement – is closer than ever before. The latest poll, conducted by Institut Elabé and published on Saturday, put support for Le Pen at 32.5 per cent in the first round, more than twice that of any of the other candidates. What’s struck me is how effectively the protests are being weaponised by politicians to create an even greater divide.
When President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation on Sunday after the largest protest, he blamed the far left for the burnings and looting. Comments under the videos circulating of OnlyLyon, the tourist office, going up in flames incited racial hatred towards immigrants. But the two most visible perpetrators were dressed as Batman, with masks over their faces, so there’s absolutely no way of telling their ethnicity.
Photos of burning buildings make headlines, and while inexcusable, I’ve seen another side to the protests through living here. An artist-cum-activist screen-printing placards for students, a café giving free coffees to protesters, people singing and playing music.
Neither the left nor the right hates tourists, which goes to show that those breaking into and burning buildings aren’t politically motivated – although I suppose the far right would hate tourists if they decided to stay long term.
“It’s where we’re located that made it a strategic target,” said Virginie Carton, general manager of OnlyLyon. “A shop in the same location [in the middle of Place Bellecour, the city’s largest square] would have suffered the same fate. One event like this shouldn’t overshadow a rich, vibrant and welcoming destination.”
Unfortunately, the discourse that the far left is responsible for pillaging and burning has already incited the far right. Last night, just after a curfew had been imposed, a group of some 200 people staged a counterprotest. Styling themselves as supporters of the business owners who had their shops broken and pillaged, they marched through the city centre singing . The slogans on their placards told a different story: “Get Islam out of Europe” and “French people wake up, this is your home!” Lyon’s mayor, Grégory Doucet, released a statement on Tuesday saying he “absolutely condemned the march, and the chants and slogans of hate that accompanied it”.
I’m sure there’ll be many more protests between now and the first round of the presidential elections on 18 April. Instead of offering solutions, French politicians are inviting the public to choose their enemy: the far right or the far left? Immigrants or the ultra-rich?
For now, though, the fuel shortage has been accompanied by a nationwide bin shortage, and I have to share my recycling around an ever-dwindling number of intact bins in the neighbourhood.