“He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
With that carefully crafted sentence, delivered at a campaign rally over the weekend, Senator Jon Ossoff brought Donald Trump’s relationship with his executive assistant Natalie Harp into full public view – just as the rising star in the Democratic Party intended. A Washington beltway parlour game – what exactly is going on between the President and his devoted Natalie – promptly became the subject of frenzied internet speculation.
Ossoff was picking up on recent reporting that Harp, 35, was one of the chosen few who joined the 80-year-old US President as the Secret Service concealed him in a catering truck and boarded a backup plane in Turkey last month to avoid an Iranian missile threat, while cabinet members and unsuspecting journalists were left on a decoy plane.
The best and worst supermarkets for shelf life – ranked
New secret shopper market research by consumer champion Which? found “a striking difference” in how each shop delivery performed.
The official ranking
Each supermarket home delivery was tested by 12 different shoppers across 29 standard items.
Here is every supermarket delivery ranked according to average perishable shelf life from best to worst:
- – 10.4 days
- – 10.4 days
- – 10.2 days
- – 8.8 days
- – 7.7 days
How do they compare?
Asda performed the best, with an average 11-day period to use up perishables. This was more than three days better than the worst average time.
Which? noted Ocado, which came in joint second, also delivered on longevity, with two packs of honey roast ham arriving with more than 20 days left on the packet.
How did Waitrose respond?
Waitrose had the shortest average shelf life across all six supermarkets tested. Some of the shoppers even had packs of meat arrive with just one day before the use-by date.
The shop said this was partly due to removing preservatives from certain items “in response to increasing customer demand”. Its pickers are “trained to choose the longest dated products they can”.
4 min read
How top album releases are linked to rise in fatal crashes
A Harvard study has found new releases by the most popular artists are linked to a notable rise in car crash deaths in the US, thought to be linked to distracted driving.
What did the study find?
- Researchers looked at the release of 10 of the most streamed new albums between 2017 and 2022.
- They found new release days had a 15 per cent higher number of fatal crashes compared to the days either side of it.
- This is equivalent to 182 excess deaths in the US between those 10 albums.
- Albums included Taylor Swift’s Drake’s and Harry Styles’ .
6 min read
What does this mean?
Vishal Patel, lead author of the study, said searching for the new music likely distracts drivers. “You unlock the phone, open the app, find the release, read down a tracklist, tap the right song. That’s several seconds of looking at a screen,” he said.
Researchers also found the rise in deaths was more prominent among younger drivers, male drivers and those driving alone.
Areas in England have been ranked by friendliness, according to government data from the community life survey.
The survey takes into account sense of loneliness, local pride, participation in the local community and friendliness with neighbours.
The friendliest places
- 1The Isles of Scilly, a tiny archipelago off the coast of Cornwall.
- 2, Devon. On the coast just south of Dartmoor National Park.
- 3. Bordering South Hams to the north, encompassing much of wild Dartmoor.
- 4, including Bakewell, Ashbourne and parts of the Peak District.
- 5Richmond upon Thames in southwest London.
The bottom of the pile
Barking and Dagenham in east London placed as the least friendly part of England. The other lowest-ranking areas were Stoke-on-Trent, Ashfield, Mansfield and Ipswich.
The index was collated by National Conversation, a commission to better understand British cohesion and tackle division. It has launched its own survey people can take to give their view on their own area.
British couple on honeymoon killed in helicopter crash in Greece
Greek police believe a mechanical fault may have caused a helicopter to crash before it was due to land on the island of Sifnos.
The crash on Monday evening killed a British couple on honeymoon and the pilot.
What we know so far
- London-based couple Marie Ebert, 30, and Alexander Cromie, 31, died in the incident. They were celebrating their honeymoon.
- The pilot, Giorgos Raikos, 53, was a former air force officer and was “extremely experienced”. He also died in the crash.
- “The focus of the inquiry is now on the helicopter and possible engine failure. What has happened is nothing short of a tragedy,” a source told The Guardian.
How the crash unfolded
The private helicopter crashed just metres from a landing pad. CCTV footage showed the aircraft spinning out of control before plummeting to the ground and igniting a fireball. A thick plume of dark smoke was seen billowing into the sky from the site of the crash.
2 min read
2 min read
A closer look at what may have gone wrong
People in the area have testified hearing the helicopter making a noise, a strange noise, probably a mechanical fault in the air and because the propeller was doing something strange.
Manolis Fountolakis, deputy mayor of Sifnos
Tribute paid to couple
- Asset management firm Blackstone, where Cromie worked, said it was “shocked” by the couple’s death.
- “We are shocked by the tragic passing of three people including our colleague Alex Cromie and his wife Marie Ebert, who were celebrating their honeymoon,” the firm said.
- “Alex was beloved by everyone who knew and worked with him at Blackstone, and our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.”
3 min read
Meta goes on federal trial for social media addiction
Dozens of states are seeking damages worth as much as $1.4trn in the federal trial kicking off in the US.
It is the biggest case of its kind to reach the courts.
What do we know so far
- Meta is accused of designing features which it knew would make children addicted to its social media platforms.
- The lawsuit alleges the tech giant illegally collects data on child users under 13 without parental consent.
- The trial will take place in front of a jury in Oakland, California
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify in the unprecedented trial.
3 min read
What does each side say?
Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general said: “Meta designed a dangerous product for young users, knew it to be dangerous, and then lied to children, families and the community about how dangerous it was.”
Meta denies any wrongdoing. It said it was “proud of our record in protecting teens on our platforms and the amount of effort that we’ve put into developing protections over the years”.
Russia and Ukraine trade more deadly strikes – the latest
Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said Ukraine sent 620 drones towards the city overnight, with 180 downed by Russian defence systems.
Ukraine faces drone attacks
Ukraine was also hit as the warring countries traded blows overnight. The state emergency service said a 59-year-old woman was injured in the Russian attacks.
Pictures posted on Telegram show firefighters battling blazes in two outbuildings hit by a drone in the northern Chernihiv Oblast.
Major e-commerce giant hit
- Yet another Wildberries warehouse was struck near Moscow.
- It is the latest in Kyiv’s campaign to take out Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, which it accuses of supplying Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
3 min read
go deeper on this topic
Putin’s fury at the UK could escalate his sabotage campaign
The news that Ukraine is using British-made drones in its deep strike campaign has prompted scornful words from Russia and talk of potential retaliation.
Less than half know how to stop someone from choking
St John Ambulance has warned too many people are choking to death because bystanders “do not have the knowledge or confidence to intervene”.
What the survey tells us
- Around 300 people die in England every year due to choking.
- A poll has revealed only 42 per cent know how to stop someone choking, by giving back blows and abdominal thrusts.
- 32 per cent did not know choking can become life-threatening in minutes without first aid.
- Jordan Davison from St John Ambulance said: “Choking is often dismissed as a minor incident.”
3 min read
‘Everyone should have first aid training’
Marine engineer Calum Glen was enjoying dinner when he noticed a woman at a neighbouring table choking. Following first aid training at work, he gave the woman five back blows before moving on to abdominal thrusts, when her airway was cleared.
“I hope I never have to use those skills again, but you never know when someone’s life could depend on you knowing what to do,” Calum said.
What to do if someone is choking
- 1Cough it out. Encourage them to cough and remove any obvious obstruction from their mouth.
- 2Hit it out. If coughing fails, you need to give five sharp back blows between their shoulder blades.
- 3Squeeze it out. If back blows fail, give five abdominal thrusts. Stand behind them with your hands just above their waist.
- 4If the blockage has not cleared, for emergency help straight away. Repeat steps until help arrives.
The flaws in Reform’s plan to scrap PIP and slash £50bn from benefits bill
Reform Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said it would stop some claimants “taking everyone else for mugs” by slashing personal independence payments, banning foreign nationals from receiving benefits and forcing long-term claimants to do community work.
What is in the plan?
- Under the plans, foreign nationals would be excluded from most benefits – including EU nationals with settled status in the UK.
- It would also shake up disability benefits through a new system of “Return to Work Cover”.
- Lastly, people on universal credit for more than 12 months who are fit to work would be required to provide 20 hours a week of community work.
4 min read
Renegotiating with the EU
Reform’s ban on foreign nationals receiving benefits would require a renegotiation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
However, it is not clear that Brussels would want to rewrite the agreement, and the bloc would probably respond with countermeasures such as stripping British expats of benefits.
3 min read
Making employers pay
Making employers liable for sick employees for two years could have unintended consequences. It is not clear whether Jenrick’s promise that cutting 0.2 per cent to employer national insurance contributions would be enough to make up for the extra costs employers would be incurring.
It could also create a perverse incentive for employers to not hire people with disabilities or previous experiences of ill-health.
3 min read
3 min read
Voter backlash
- The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the new disability needs assessment plans are vague and savings could fall significantly short of expectations.
- This policy may not be very popular in many of Reform’s top target seats which have large PIP caseloads. It could also open up a vulnerable new flank for Andy Burnham’s resurgent Labour Party.
The contrast between Trump’s cosy relationship with Maga women like Harp and his combative approach to the female reporters who cover him daily was underlined on Monday in the Oval Office when CNN’s senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes questioned him on Ossoff’s remarks – and asked whether he was talking to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un about a reduction in military activities. Trump exploded, telling Holmes: “Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. You’re very disrespectful.”
The White House Rapid Response 47 social media account followed up, calling Holmes “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession”, before telling her that “someday your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question”. CNN responded by saying Holmes was doing her job, asking the President a tough, relevant and newsworthy question on behalf of the American people.
The unsavoury episode highlighted the gulf between the kinds of women Trump likes – fiercely loyal and Mar-a-Lago glam – and those he doesn’t – independent, interrogative journalists.
In Trump’s second term, Harp is never far from his side, steadfast beyond measure, credited with encouraging his late-night Truth Social posting sprees and even taking control of the account. Harp – known as the “human printer” because she carries a portable printer around so he can read social posts and documents in hard copy – was recently pictured with the President at his New Jersey golf club two weekends in a row.
While you’d expect her to travel with the President, given her job, her fervent dedication to Trump was the subject of detailed reporting by reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan in their bestselling new book Regime Change. “I want to bring you joy, to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk ‘work’,” read a note that Harp left for the President, according to Haberman and Swan. These “adoring” and “intimate” notes “raised the eyebrows of the Secret Service”, Swan told CNN..
“There is no such thing as a sex scandal for Trump,” observed the veteran journalist Tina Brown in her Substack , “But the rise of Natalie Harp may represent something different. A last days vulnerability. A dangerous and intimate exposure to slavish bad judgement, just when he needs pragmatic interventions.”
Harp, previously an anchor for the extremely Maga One America News Network, has enthusiastically promoted Trump’s unproven theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him. She was with him when he signed an executive order to cut the number of childhood vaccines and space them out over time.
With her trailing blonde tresses, signature winged black eyeliner, power dresses and high heels, she exemplifies the type of woman the President values.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (who’s just quit), former Attorney General Pam Bondi, ex Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others are all similarly eager to aggressively defend Trump’s ever-shifting positions, delivering pithy soundbites from the podium for an audience of one, while impeccably turned out in full Maga glam squad uniform, without a gleaming hair out of place or lipstick smudge.
Women like Holmes, meanwhile, are emphatically not Trump’s type, because they’re the opposite of sycophantic.
Holmes is the latest in a long line of female reporters to receive a tongue-lashing from Trump when they ask questions he doesn’t like. He told reporter Catherine Lucey, “quiet, piggy”, aboard Air Force One, called ABC’s Mary Bruce a “terrible person and terrible reporter” after she pressed him, claimed CNN’s Kaitlan Collins had hatred in her eyes and “never smiles” – and on it goes. Back in 2015, Trump said then Fox News host Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” after she pressed him during the presidential debate on why he had called some women “fat pigs, disgusting slobs and animals”.
The American electorate has shrugged off Trump’s selective misogyny. The 2015 leak of the tape in which Trump was caught having a lewd conversation about women, telling Billy Bush he could “grab ’em by the p***y” didn’t cost him the election. Far from it. Fast forward to 2026, and as Trump’s approval rating hits a new low of 33 per cent, he can rely on Harp to tell him it’s a fake poll.