It’s likely that until this week even most Americans outside the state of Georgia had never heard of Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff – but now, Donald Trump’s White House seems determined to make him a household name.
Speaking at a rally on Sunday, Ossoff launched into a concerted attack on the President’s performance, saying he “sleeps through his meetings” and “golfs and trades stocks”.
These attacks, though, got virtually no attention compared to what came next. “He doesn’t want to do the job,” Ossoff continued. “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie.”
Nick Kyrgios banned from tennis after positive cocaine test
Nick Kyrgios has been provisionally suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine.
The Australian submitted a sample during the Mallorca Open on 22 June that was later found to contain benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
What you need to know
- Kyrgios has been provisionally suspended since 4 August.
- The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Kyrgios could appeal against the provisional suspension “but has not done so to date”.
- In a post on Instagram, Kyrgios said he made “a huge mistake” and takes “full responsibility” for it.
What the suspension means
Kyrgios cannot play, coach at or attend Grand Slams or any events sanctioned by the men’s and women’s tennis tours.
The 31-year-old has played just four singles matches this season, having struggled with injuries. He last played in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon, where he lost in the first round.
Years of injuries take toll
My body hasn’t been able to do what my mind expects it to do. Coming to terms with being near the end of my career has been harder than I ever imagined. None of that excuses what I did.”
said in a written statement
Ikea is set to launch its own second-hand selling site later this year, which will allow shoppers signed up to its membership to buy and sell pre-owned Ikea items locally.
Already trialled in other countries
The scheme follows trials of online second-hand marketplaces in Spain and Norway.
It also comes five years after the world’s biggest furniture retailer began buying and selling used Ikea items in some of its UK stores.
2 min read
Perks for users
- On the Spanish version, selling is made easier with price suggestions given by Ikea and pre-filled product descriptions.
- Ikea also offers sellers 15 per cent extra on the price of the item if they agree to be paid with an Ikea gift card.
- A similar system to Vinted of paying a 5 per cent “protection fee” is being implemented in Spain from January next year to fund various costs related to the sale.
2 min read
The mispronounced words Britons struggle with the most
The most commonly mangled words in the UK have been revealed in a new survey, as well as our attitudes surrounding pronunciation.
Here is everything you need to know.
What you need to know
OnePoll has conducted a survey on the most commonly mispronounced words in the UK.
The research was commissioned by Czech car manufacturer Skoda to highlight the fact that many Britons pronounce the brand’s name wrong – “S-co-der” instead of the correct “Sh-co-da”.
3 min read
Mispronounced words – and the correct pronunciations
- 1Acai: Ah-sigh-ee
- 2Segue: Segway
- 3Charcuterie: Shar-koo-tuh-ree
- 4Quinoa: Keen-wa
Mispronounced words – and the correct pronunciations
- 5 Gnocchi: Nyock-kee
- 6 Worcestershire: Wus-ter-sher
- 7 Chipotle: Chi-poht-lay
A closer look at the survey
The survey also revealed how Britons feel about mispronounced words.
- 85 per cent of respondents had someone correct them after a mispronunciation, with 25 per cent feeling embarrassed afterwards.
- 27 per cent admitted they continued using the wrong pronunciation anyway.
- 52 per cent thought it shows respect for language, while 38 per cent thought it made them appear more knowledgeable.
- 34 per cent thought it made them seem more professional.
- 38 per cent said that the way someone pronounces words could affect the impression they have of them.
How worried should you be about UK salmonella outbreak
One person has died and more than 200 have fallen ill amid a UK-wide salmonella outbreak, with health officials linking the cases to the consumption of imported eggs.
Source being investigated
The patients affected appear to have eaten the contaminated eggs in restaurants and cafes, not at home. Those affected include babies and people as old as 90.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has ruled out UK-produced eggs or poultry as the source and said the evidence suggests imported eggs are responsible.
Where have the cases been?
Most cases have been in England, including 47 in London and 38 in Yorkshire and the Humber. There have been six cases in Scotland, one in Wales and another in Northern Ireland.
Officials have found that all of the cases are linked to a single strain of salmonella.
5 min read
3 min read
How worried should you be?
- More than a third of those affected have needed hospital care – however, most people get better without treatment.
- Salmonella generally causes a mild illness, though vulnerable people may experience severe illness.
- There are simple steps to prevent the spread of salmonella, including washing your hands after using the bathroom and before handling food.
5 min read
What are the symptoms?
- Hannah Charles, the UKHSA’s lead epidemiologist for gastrointestinal infections said: “Symptoms of a salmonella infection include diarrhoea, stomach cramps and sometimes vomiting and fever.
- “Anyone who is concerned about symptoms should contact their GP or out-of-hours service in the first instance.”
- To prevent the spread, she advised: “Wash your hands thoroughly after using the bathroom and before preparing and handling food, cook food thoroughly.
- “If you have any symptoms, avoid handling food for others where possible.”.
How the UK’s child ADHD diagnosis rates compare to the rest of the world
The former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners has said she would “ban the label ADHD” and that it should be treated as a “social construct” instead of a neurodevelopmental condition.
What is the situation?
Speaking to ahead of the Channel 4 documentary The Great ADHD Myth?, Dr Iona Heath criticised overdiagnosis and argued there is no scientific evidence that those diagnosed have neurological differences.
Earlier this year, then-health secretary Wes Streeting said there was an “overdiagnosis” problem and launched a review.
4 min read
What does the UK data reveal?
- and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) put the UK rate of childhood ADHD at 5 per cent, and 3 to 4 per cent for adults.
- One study found ADHD diagnoses increased in the UK from 2000 to 2018.
- By 2018, the highest rates were in boys aged 10 to 16 – 3.5 per cent had been diagnosed. Back in 2000, this number was 1.4 per cent.
5 min read
How we compare with other countries
In the US, 11.4 per cent of children aged three to 17 years old were diagnosed with ADHD in 2024. In Europe, a 2023 French study indicated 3.68 per cent of children (800,000) have ADHD compared with 5.5 per cent of adults (1.4 million).
Meanwhile, in Spain, estimates of ADHD prevalence in children range from 5.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent.
A closer look at the review
The ongoing Government review is led by Professor Peter Fonagy, national clinical adviser on children’s mental health.
An interim report, published in March this year, identified rising diagnosis rates as an issue alongside people with ADHD and autism failing to get the support they need.
The final report is set to focus on how to make more support available that is “less dependent on diagnostic thresholds” and “more responsive to functional need”.
2 min read
Why better sleep could keep people working for longer
Researchers in Finland examined data from people aged between 50 and 68 to look at the correlation between sleeping habits and the ability to continue working.
The story in numbers
13 years, five months
Regularly disturbed sleep was linked to leaving the workforce months early.
People who reported no disturbances had a working life expectancy of 13 years and five months.
Six years, five months
The shortest working life expectancy was found among men in routine jobs with low levels of education who slept for more than nine hours a night.
They had an average of six years and five months left in work after the age of 50.
What does this tell us?
Researchers said the findings, published in the journal , suggest healthy sleep (under seven hours but undisturbed) may help people keep working as they age.
“To promote older adults’ participation in working life, supporting sleep of recommended length and good quality may be required,” they added.
3 min read
How some prostate cancers ‘can be diagnosed without biopsy’
Researchers at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) have found MRI scans can be used to detect cancer in some men with a high degree of certainty.
What the research found
- Men may not need to have a biopsy to diagnose prostate cancer.
- Radiologists looked at scan results combined with the patient’s age and their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) score.
- Of the 69 patients deemed to be “99 per cent certain” they had a tumour via their MRI scan, all of them had cancer confirmed through biopsy.
- Researchers said this indicates certain men may not need to have invasive biopsies.
What does this mean?
UCLH consultant radiologist Alex Kirkham said the research indicates prostate cancer could join the list of cancers which can be diagnosed with a scan alone.
Consultant urologist and professor of interventional oncology Mark Emberton said it is particularly important as prostate cancer incidence is only set to rise.
4 min read
3 min read
Th expert reaction
Avoiding unnecessary biopsies is an important goal in cancer care, because they can be painful, invasive and can cause infections… Using MRI alone to diagnose these cancers could make the process much safer and easier for men, and less costly for the NHS.
Dr Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Cancer UK
How some prostate cancers ‘can be diagnosed without biopsy’
Some prostate cancers can be diagnosed without the need for an invasive biopsy, according to a new study.
For some men, cancer can be detected through an MRI scan alone with a high degree of certainty, according to experts from University College London Hospitals (UCLH).
What you need to know
- In many hospitals, men with suspected prostate cancer will be referred for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detailed images of what is happening in the body. Depending on the images, doctors may also recommend a biopsy.
- In other hospitals, those with suspected cancer will be referred straight for a biopsy – where a small needle is put into the prostate to take a tissue sample so it can be checked for cancer cells.
4 min read
A closer look at the detail
There are two different types of biopsy for prostate cancer, with needles inserted in different places depending on the type chosen.
- Samples taken are then examined under a microscope to check for cancerous cells.
Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum
There are a number of advantages and disadvantages for having a biopsy, with the disadvantages including side effects; missed cancers and the detection of non-aggressive or slow growing cancers which may not need treatment.
Ossoff’s comments were widely seen as a reference to Trump aide Natalie Harp, who has become the source of much speculation in recent days, and who has become the focus of unfounded rumours and gossip that she and the President are having an affair.
The 35-year-old aide’s formal role in the White House is unclear, but she is often described as Trump’s “human printer”, passing the President printed-out social media posts to cheer him up, or posts for him to approve for his own Truth Social account.
Ossoff’s remarks might easily have been forgotten, were it not for the furious response from the White House and almost every outrider in Trump’s orbit.
When CNN’s Kristen Holmes asked Trump about Ossoff’s comments, he called the senator a “Pee-wee Herman lookalike” – before the official White House Rapid Response X account called the journalist a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession” for merely asking the question.
It added: “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle also laid in, calling Ossoff a “lightweight” and a “feminine theatre kid”, while the White House communications director called the senator “Jon Jackoff” and dismissed him as “the biggest cuck loser in politics”.
Even by the standards of Trump’s White House, the response has been all-out aggression – which reporters across the political spectrum have noticed. This has made them pay far more attention to this story than they would have otherwise, and, as a result, there are far more articles scrutinising Harp and her working relationship with the President than ever before.
It’s not clear Trump or Harp benefit from such scrutiny. A former right-wing journalist, she stuck by Trump’s side through his time in opposition, even in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riots when Trump friends were thin on the ground. reporter Maggie Haberman has described Harp as Trump’s “binky”, or comfort blanket.
The book , co-authored by Haberman and Jonathan Swan, details letters written by Harp to Trump in which she describes the President as “all that matters to me”, telling him that “I want to bring you joy, to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk ‘work’”.
The spotlight the White House has brought to the story has invited increasingly lurid reporting. CNN has reported an apparent 2023 incident in which, after a row where she was told there was not enough room for her to travel with Trump, Harp leaped into the boot of an SUV so as to stay close to him.
Michael Wolff, who has written several colourful books on the Trump presidency and family – prompting an ongoing lawsuit against him from Melania Trump – has jumped in, claiming that the First Lady is locked in a secret power struggle with Harp, and refuses to appear with her husband if Harp is nearby.
The White House’s aggressive response to Ossoff seems to have guaranteed that his attack line is dominating the headlines, potentially for days or weeks more, making uncomfortable reading for Trump.
What makes the PR disaster particularly odd, though, is that Ossoff’s approach was taken almost directly from the playbook that Trump used to win the presidency a decade ago. As he campaigned for the first time in 2015 and 2016, Trump became notorious for inventing pithy nicknames for political rivals and for his savage but memorable attack lines.
These would prove irresistible to the media, and would goad Trump’s rivals into responding in kind – starting a mud fight around their identified weaknesses. Whether through a happy accident or savvy media manipulation, Trump found a tactic that let him dominate the news agenda, and to which his rivals could never muster a coherent response.
Ten years on, Trump’s White House seems to have fallen into the same kind of trap that he used to set. Whatever the truth – and it could all be very innocent – it’s a story that has taken on a life of its own, far outside Trump’s ability to distract or manipulate the narrative.
Ossoff – who is widely expected to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 – seemed delighted by the row, which is raising his profile and burnishing his credentials as someone who can take on Trump.
Trump was once the master of this type of politics – now he looks completely adrift.