Author: shuiyaoinns.com

According to a report from the Central Meteorological Station, a new cold front is set to sweep across much of China from October 21 to 23, bringing temperatures down by 3 to 6 degrees Celsius in many areas, with some locales experiencing drops of over 8 degrees. During the daytime of October 21 and 22, regions such as southern Chongqing, central and eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, southern Hubei, central Anhui, and parts of Jiangsu and the Shandong Peninsula can expect moderate to heavy rainfall. On October 22 and 23, eastern parts of Northeast China will also see moderate to heavy rain, with rain turning to snow in areas like eastern Jilin and eastern Heilongjiang, where some places could even face heavy snow or blizzards.

As for the forecast over the next three days:

From 8 AM on October 21 to 8 AM on October 22, scattered light snow or sleet is expected in parts of central and western Inner Mongolia, northeastern Heilongjiang, southern and eastern Tibet, southern Qinghai, and the Hexi Corridor in Gansu, with some regions in northeastern Inner Mongolia possibly seeing moderate snow. Areas in the eastern and northern Northeast, northeastern Northwest China, southern Shaanxi, parts of northern and central North China, the majority of the Huanghuai region, Jianghuai, Jianhan, and northern and western Jiangnan, as well as northeastern Fujian and most of Southwest China, will experience light to moderate rain, with heavy rain (25 to 30 mm) predicted in certain spots like the Shandong Peninsula, central Jiangsu, and northern and southern Hubei.

From 8 AM on October 22 to 8 AM on October 23, light snow may affect parts of northeastern Heilongjiang, northern and eastern regions of Xinjiang, northern and southern Tibet, and northern Hebei, with mixed rain and snow possible in eastern Heilongjiang and eastern Jilin. The eastern and southern parts of Northeast China, northern North China, eastern Huanghuai, most of Jianghuai, and southwestern and southern regions of South China, including Taiwan, will see light to moderate rain, with heavy rain in parts of eastern Jilin.

Lastly, from 8 AM on October 23 to 8 AM on October 24, areas of northeastern Inner Mongolia, northwestern Heilongjiang, eastern Northeast China, northern and southern Xinjiang, southern and eastern Tibet, central Northwest China, and northern Southwest China could experience light to moderate snow or sleet, with heavy to blizzard conditions possible in parts of northeastern Heilongjiang. Meanwhile, regions like northern Xinjiang, southeastern Tibet, southwestern Sichuan, northeastern Yunnan, and parts of South China and Taiwan are in for light to moderate rain, with heavy rain possible in northeastern Heilongjiang.

Stay tuned for updates as we monitor these weather changes.

Glyndebourne, SussexTom Cairns’s naturalistic production of Verdi’s tragedy is revived for the autumn season with Elisa Verzier’s Violetta and Christian Federici’s Germont standouts
Tim AshleyFri 11 Oct 2024 09.22 EDTLast modified on Sun 13 Oct 2024 05.54 EDTShareGlyndebourne’s autumn season – no longer a touring one, following Arts Council England cuts – opens with a revival by Laura Attridge of Tom Cairns’s 2014 production of La Traviata, a beautiful piece of theatre that serves Verdi’s tragedy uncommonly well. Mindful that the work itself was groundbreaking in its realism, Cairns mostly strives for theatrical naturalism, and the avoidance of grand histrionic gestures that smack of anything conventionally operatic. There’s little to distract from social observation and psychological insight.
Hildegard Bechtler’s designs give us a series of sparsely furnished rooms, minimalist yet smart. Costumes – jackets, ties and tuxes for the men, pencil skirts for the women – suggest the early 1960s. The erotic divertissement at Flora’s soiree feels better integrated than when I last saw it, and indeed the subsequent scene, in which Matteo Desole’s Alfredo publicly humiliates Elisa Verzier’s Violetta, generates extraordinary tension without once seeming melodramatic. The peculiarly symbolist ending, however, when sets and lighting gradually become abstract as Violetta’s life draws to its close, still strikes an awkwardly jarring note.
It’s for the most part beautifully sung by its new cast, with the added luxury of three native Italian speakers in the leading roles, though Desole, warm in tone but taking time to settle on opening night, overdoes the wide-eyed gawkiness in act one, where his acting feels fractionally too large in scale compared with what surrounds him. Verzier, on the other hand, is a really lovely Violetta. The voice, extremely beautiful albeit not large, suggests both emotional strength and physical fragility. She has the requisite agility for act one, but wisely avoids showily interpolated high notes. Later on, there are moments of deep, restrained intensity as well as some exquisite soft singing. Dite Alla Giovine, done with a rapt, introverted pianissimo and an immaculate sense of line, is breathtaking.
View image in fullscreenMakes you sit up and listen … Christian Federici and Elisa Verzier in La Traviata at Glyndebourne. Photograph: Richard Hubert Smith/Glyndebourne ProductionsIn the big act two confrontations, meanwhile, she is matched, in the other great performance of the night, by Christian Federici’s Germont. Handsome of voice and presence, he sings with unforced lyricism and exemplary dynamic control. Di Provenza, given in this instance in full, can so often seem anticlimactic after everything that has gone before, but here we really sit up and listen. He’s a good actor, too, giving us a finely considered – and unusually sympathetic – portrait of a man confronting the disastrous consequences of his own inflexible morality.
The conductor, meanwhile, is Adam Hickox. Like Desole, he took a while to settle in act one, where speeds were extreme and Un Di Felice felt unduly slow. Thereafter, however, he builds the tension with a measured inexorability that gets under your skin. The Glyndebourne Sinfonia’s playing is excellent, and there’s first rate choral singing, too.
At Glyndebourne, Sussex, until 2 November.

In this week’s newsletter: Lip products are trending, now carrying the kind of cultural cachet once reserved for It-bags. So what’s behind the rise of ‘IYKYK’ beauty?
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Chloe Mac DonnellThu 17 Oct 2024 12.37 EDTLast modified on Thu 17 Oct 2024 12.39 EDTShareSome people claim that you’re never more than six feet away from a rat. I’d argue that, in 2024, you’re never more than stretching distance from a lip product. From sticks to balms and glosses, lip products have never been more omnipresent. They’re trending on and off social media, proudly accumulated and displayed on bathroom shelves and nightstands, tossed on to dining tables or nonchalantly applied in selfies. There are scrubs, butters, masks, tints and stains, each promising to make lips smoother, softer, plumper, better.
It’s a long way from the £1 grubby tins of Vaseline that were passed around at school, or those cheap cherry-flavoured chapsticks that somehow made lips even drier. Today’s must-have lip products range from Glossier’s Balm Dotcom (£16) to a refillable glass-encased lipstick from Chanel (£140).
Despite high price tags, they have gained a cult following. At John Lewis, sales of lipstick and lip treatments are up 14% over last year. Today, customers queued for hours outside the US skincare brand Rhode’s first London pop-up in the hope of buying its £18 peptide lip treatments, which come in flavours such as salted caramel and watermelon slice. Meanwhile, the Celine website experienced a surge in traffic as it launched its first product from its debut beauty range – a £62 red lipstick that is engraved with the house’s monogram and comes cloistered in a faceted gold metal case.
View image in fullscreenLe Rouge lipstick, £62, by Celine. Photograph: PR IMAGESimilar to a pair of New Balance x Miu Miu trainers or those sold-out horseshoe-shaped jeans, these popular lip products carry a certain cultural cachet. It’s the IYKYK effect in beauty form. Never mind the designer bag they are carried in, a lip balm has become a status symbol in its own right.
Nateisha Scott, a beauty editor at Vogue Business, says offerings from luxury brands are increasingly positioned similarly to accessories. “The emphasis is not just on the quality of the product but also on the experience of owning it – packaging, branding and even the weight of the lipstick in your hand contribute to its luxurious appeal,” she says. “The idea of longevity – such as Hermès’s refillable lipsticks – gives these items a sustainable aspect that aligns with contemporary luxury values, where investments are meant to last and carry long-term appeal.”
Rhode, founded by Hailey Bieber in 2022, is the perfect amalgamation of celebrity (Hailey’s dad is Stephen Baldwin and her husband is the singer Justin Bieber) and astute marketing. When Hailey was pictured with a branded phone case featuring a slot designed to house its lip balms, fans went wild and dupes appeared overnight.
“Since the beauty space is so crowded, brands need to stand out, and a lip product – the most public-facing product in a line – is a brand’s calling card,” says Jessica Matlin, director of beauty and home at Moda Operandi, and co-founder of the beauty podcast Fat Mascara. “No one is going to see a brand’s exfoliator or concealer. A lip product is applied, reapplied and reapplied again, often in public. It’s a form of advertising. The Rhode phone case was brilliant because it took two of the biggest essentials for their customer and put them together.”
View image in fullscreenIsamaya Frrench’s provocative £80 lipstick.Every element of these new lip products is made to be shared socially, whether that’s for an online audience on TikTok or randomers jostling to use the pub bathroom mirror on a night out. A Hermès lipstick (£62) comes in the brand’s signature orange box, a collector’s item in its own right. Tatcha’s overnight lip mask features a jelly-like texture designed to be scooped out with an accompanying tiny gold branded spoon. Makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench’s lip colours (£80) that come in penis-shaped holders are an instant conversation starter – and shocker. Applying a lip product at the start of a TikTok video is even a marketing manoeuvre. Dubbed the “lip gloss tactic” it has been proven to capture a viewer’s attention, even if the subject of the video has nothing to do with said lip gloss.
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Unsurprisingly, “lip balm collection” and “lip balm organising” are trending terms on the platform. Influencers such as Carly Rivlin have made trying on lip balms their entire content streams, while Ky Mason went viral last year for a five-part “lip product collection tour” that featured hundreds of products.
“Lipstick is, at its core, an emotional purchase,” Matlin says. “If you go on discontinued product forums, very often people are missing their favourite lipstick. The colour, the scent, the feel, the weight of the tube – all of these things are such critical factors. Lipstick is a personal product, and people will pay for it, whether it’s £16 or £60.”
To read the complete version of this newsletter – complete with this week’s trending topics in The Measure and your wardrobe dilemmas solved – subscribe to receive Fashion Statement in your inbox every Thursday

It’s still early in the No 1 overall pick’s career but he is already showing the savvy and command of an NFL veteran
Doug FarrarTue 15 Oct 2024 05.00 EDTLast modified on Tue 15 Oct 2024 16.02 EDTShareOn the flight from Chicago to London for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams carried the hopes of an entire fanbase – not to mention the burden of a 75-year quarterback curse unparalleled in pro football history.
Evidently, Williams left any baggage on the plane. In a 35-16 domination of the Jaguars, the first overall pick in the 2024 draft completed 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, a passer rating of 124.4, a Completion Rate Over Expected of +12.5% (only Lamar Jackson was better on Sunday at +14.1%), and a Passing EPA of +14.6 (behind only Jared Goff and Jordan Love).
Jerry Jones lashes out at radio hosts after Dallas Cowboys’ 38-point defeatRead moreNot bad for a rookie starting his sixth NFL game with a franchise that has systematically destroyed quarterbacks. The last time the Bears had what you could call a legitimate franchise quarterback was right after the second world war, when Sid Luckman was finishing up his Hall of Fame career. Since then, it’s been a history of near-misses, might-have-beens, and massive whiffs at the most important position in football – perhaps the most consequential position in any sport.
This is the franchise that lost a coin flip for the fourth overall pick in the 1944 draft with the Detroit Lions, who used that pick on Otto Graham, who never played for the Lions, but succeeded at a Hall of Fame level with the Cleveland Browns. There was more: the third overall pick in the 1948 draft, Bobby Layne, was quickly traded to the Bears. But Layne refused to return to the team after a year playing behind Luckman and Johnny Lujack. Layne later became a Hall of Fame quarterback with the Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bears also selected George Blanda in the 12th round of the 1949 draft, but owner and head coach George Halas insisted that Blanda was more of a kicker than a quarterback. Blanda responded by defecting to the American Football League in 1960 after a one-year retirement, and, yes, put together his own Hall of Fame career together there.
And in 1979, Bears scout Bill Tobin had a first-round grade on a certain Notre Dame star, but general manager Jim Finks was happy with mediocre quarterback Bob Avellini. The Notre Dame quarterback? Joe Montana.
Since the beginning of the AFL-NFL common draft in 1967, the Bears have spent first-round picks on seven quarterbacks – Jim McMahon in 1982, Jim Harbaugh in 1987, Cade McNown in 1999, Rex Grossman in 2003, Mitch Trubisky in 2017, Justin Fields in 2021 and Williams in 2024.
None of those first six picks really panned out besides McMahon, who was more of a punky accessory to the Chicago teams of the mid-1980s that sported some of the best defenses pro football has ever seen.
This is how you travel time since your inception as one of the NFL’s original teams in 1920 without a quarterback throwing for 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns in a single season. Given the advancements made to the passing game, that’s an astonishing drought. And a curse of the franchise’s own making.
Through the first four weeks of Williams’ NFL career, it appeared that the curse might actually be a thing. Williams completed just 87 of 141 passes (61.7%) for 786 yards (5.6 yards per attempt), three touchdowns, four interceptions, a passer rating of 72.0 (second-worst in the league among qualifying quarterbacks), and 16 sacks behind a leaky offensive line.
But over the last two games, against the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars (admittedly, two bad defenses), the light has switched on. Over those games, Williams completed 43 of 58 passes (74.1%) for 530 yards (9.1 yards per attempt), six touchdowns, one interception, and a league-best passer rating of 129.2.
When grading a quarterback’s progress, whether it comes against great defenses or not, you’re looking for the universal qualities that comprise great play at the position. And especially against the Jaguars in London, Williams proved to have those universal qualities in an intercontinental sense.
Two of Williams’s four touchdown passes against the Jaguars went to veteran receiver Keenan Allen, and the others went to tight end Cole Kmet, who also served as Chicago’s emergency long-snapper in the game. The first TD pass to Kmet came out of a nifty design. Allen went in orbit motion, and Williams’ double-fake flat route passes set Jacksonville’s defense on edge enough for Kmet to be wide open down the middle of the field.
<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Orbit motion, double fake flat routes, and hit a wide-open Cole Kmet upfield because Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd has become your huckleberry. <a href=\"https://t.co/FoEq9WXd3B\">pic.twitter.com/FoEq9WXd3B</a></p>&mdash; Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1845818727578963997?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>"}}”>Orbit motion, double fake flat routes, and hit a wide-open Cole Kmet upfield because Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd has become your huckleberry. pic.twitter.com/FoEq9WXd3B
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 14, 2024Kmet’s second touchdown was facilitated by Williams looking the safety off at the back of the end zone to an area the quarterback wanted the safety to go. There are veteran quarterbacks who don’t know how to do this.
<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You want your quarterback to put the conflict defender on a string. Caleb Williams did that to Jaguars safety Antonio Johnson on Cole Kmet&#39;s second TD. Look off to DJ Moore as the backside iso, and use that delay to hit Kmet out of trips. Williams has the Easy Button. <a href=\"https://t.co/6tJQyRPGs9\">pic.twitter.com/6tJQyRPGs9</a></p>&mdash; Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1845819807779967223?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>"}}”>You want your quarterback to put the conflict defender on a string. Caleb Williams did that to Jaguars safety Antonio Johnson on Cole Kmet's second TD. Look off to DJ Moore as the backside iso, and use that delay to hit Kmet out of trips. Williams has the Easy Button. pic.twitter.com/6tJQyRPGs9
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 14, 2024The first touchdown pass to Allen was a dart into a tight window in which Williams put the ball on Allen’s right shoulder – where only Allen could catch it. Now, Williams was showing veteran command.
<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Caleb Williams&#39; first touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. Scheme is great and all, but there are times when you just need your quarterback to make a tight-window timing throw with authority. No problem here. <a href=\"https://t.co/UI9JhfYWjD\">pic.twitter.com/UI9JhfYWjD</a></p>&mdash; Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1845808656866292198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>"}}”>Caleb Williams' first touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. Scheme is great and all, but there are times when you just need your quarterback to make a tight-window timing throw with authority. No problem here. pic.twitter.com/UI9JhfYWjD
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 14, 2024Williams’ second touchdown to Allen, at the start of the fourth quarter, may have been the best throw of the quarterback’s young career. He had to steer the ball over the outstretched hands of two Jacksonville defenders, and the cornerback who was covering Allen tightly, into a small window before Allen went out of bounds. It was no problem.
<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is as ridiculous a throw as you will see — Caleb Williams&#39; second touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. Over the outstretched hands of the DT and LB, over the CB in tight coverage, and into Allen&#39;s hands with less than a yard of end zone left. Just preposterous. <a href=\"https://t.co/9sevy4jqVX\">pic.twitter.com/9sevy4jqVX</a></p>&mdash; Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1845808200530206843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>"}}”>This is as ridiculous a throw as you will see — Caleb Williams' second touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. Over the outstretched hands of the DT and LB, over the CB in tight coverage, and into Allen's hands with less than a yard of end zone left. Just preposterous. pic.twitter.com/9sevy4jqVX
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 14, 2024Williams also ran four times for 56 yards, but these were not random scrambles from an overwhelmed rookie – like everything else, there was a clear plan in place.
<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Caleb Williams&#39; scrambles aren&#39;t senseless pocket bails — he&#39;s turning them into calculated decisions. Downfield isn&#39;t what you like, you&#39;re getting pressure, and it&#39;s time to array your targets as eye candy for the run. <a href=\"https://t.co/PDzt1q7nVQ\">pic.twitter.com/PDzt1q7nVQ</a></p>&mdash; Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1845825718175076458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>"}}”>Caleb Williams' scrambles aren't senseless pocket bails — he's turning them into calculated decisions. Downfield isn't what you like, you're getting pressure, and it's time to array your targets as eye candy for the run. pic.twitter.com/PDzt1q7nVQ
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 14, 2024Postgame, Williams said that he was “pissed off” with himself after his one negative play – an interception on a pass intended for DJ Moore in the first half. Perhaps that was the spark he needed.
<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This was really Caleb Williams&#39; only negative play against the Jaguars. Hung the ball up and threw late on what should have been an easy completion to DJ Moore. Other than that, Williams had it on lock with multiple concepts and progressions. <a href=\"https://t.co/Ulk56m7LrJ\">pic.twitter.com/Ulk56m7LrJ</a></p>&mdash; Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1845798500900196815?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>"}}”>This was really Caleb Williams' only negative play against the Jaguars. Hung the ball up and threw late on what should have been an easy completion to DJ Moore. Other than that, Williams had it on lock with multiple concepts and progressions. pic.twitter.com/Ulk56m7LrJ
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 14, 2024“That’s a pass that I don’t miss, that you don’t want to miss, and do something like that,” Williams said. “And so yeah, I was a bit pissed off after that, and I think [to] reset myself was important. But still having in the back of my mind, like you know, can’t have that happen again, and let’s go out here and go score.”
From then on, that’s pretty much all Williams did.
The question now, of course, is whether Williams can sustain his run of success. The ramp-up did take a few games. And the Bears’ schedule is about to get a lot tougher. Chicago’s NFC North, is the first division since the NFL’s merger with the American Football League in 1970 to have every team with at least four wins through a season’s first six games. And per FTN analyst Aaron Schatz, the Bears had the second-easiest slate to date based on opponent-adjusted efficiency, and no team has a more imposing go the rest of the way.
Williams will undoubtedly experience more adversity – because no young quarterback can avoid it entirely. But based on the show so far, the Bears may finally, mercifully, have hit on the solution they’ve searched for in vain longer than any other pro football franchise.

People’s experiences were very different, and it wasn’t always easy
Emma BeddingtonSun 13 Oct 2024 01.00 EDTShareIn 2000, Nicci Gerrard explored five facets of the fraught, freighted business of modern mothering.
Dorothy’s mother died when she was 11, but it took her five years to accept it. ‘She was this living, pulsating thing inside me.’ Other people’s stories and memories were just confusing: ‘To me, she was just Mum.’ It took her a long time to dare to imagine motherhood herself, but when she had children, ‘I found her again… I can see her. I talk to her.’
Peter grew up without a mother (‘Among happy families, I was an outcast’), but at 19 he became one, sort of, when his partner left him as primary carer for their two children. ‘Sometimes it was hard, but I was utterly ripe to be devoted… to be the mother I hadn’t had.’ At 30, he found his own mother, but it was bittersweet. ‘I adored her… It was too late, because she was the one who needed looking after.’
Peter became a mother, sort of, when his partner left him as primary carer for their two children Joan was one of the 20% of western European women who had actively chosen not to have children. Growing up, motherhood looked like just one option among millions and not the one she wanted. There had been ‘no real heartsearching… no regrets’. After all, both mothers and non-mothers faced the same ‘torrents of abuse’.
Claire, a working mother of two, lived ‘two separate lives’ at home and in her pressured job – fine in the short term, but eventually something had to give. She stepped back, finding she ‘wanted to be the person who was there for them… meet their friends, know about their days.’ She found herself wondering, ‘Who needs who?’
When her husband was diagnosed with cancer, Carrie found she ‘needed to be the foundation, the rock, the Good Mother’. When Martyn died, she needed to be even more present but, three years on, realised she wanted an existence outside motherhood: ‘Self-esteem, a sense of who I am.’ For her son Joe, she wanted to be the bow to his arrow: ‘Strong, resilient and flexible. I try…’

Research is one of 11 projects part of a £12m government plan to reduce drug overdoses with new technology
Ian Sample Science editorThu 17 Oct 2024 19.01 EDTShareResearchers are building a virtual reality world to help people overcome their cocaine addiction by repeatedly exposing them to tempting scenarios in a safe environment.
The project draws on the experiences of drug users to create tailored 3D experiences, such as being alone in a flat or at a party with friends, where people can be immersed via a VR headset in realistic situations that trigger the urge to take drugs.
Studies have shown that “cue exposure treatment” can substantially reduce cravings and relapse in recovering alcoholics, but the approach has not been fully tested as a potential treatment for cocaine addiction.
Paolo Deluca, the lead researcher and a professor of addiction research at King’s College London, said the virtual reality world should help users break the association between tempting scenarios and their cocaine use, and give them time to practise strategies for refusing drugs.
“We are trying to better understand the scenarios – the cues and interactions – that trigger cravings in people who use cocaine,” he said.
View image in fullscreenA virtual bathroom created by King’s College London researchers. Illustration: Paolo DelucaThe work is one of 11 projects announced on Friday as part of a £12m government investment to reduce drug overdoses through virtual reality, artificial intelligence and wearable technology.
Across Britain, drug overdoses claim nearly 5,000 lives each year. Several of the new projects will run from Scotland, which has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe.
Another project backed by the programme is investigating whether a wearable device that talks to a chest-worn breathing monitor can detect when a person has overdosed. If the device suspects an overdose, it alerts emergency services that have access to an antidote in the hope of delivering the potentially life-saving treatment faster.
One of the most effective antidotes for heroin or methadone overdose is naloxone, but the treatment is typically available only as an injection or nasal spray and cannot always be used in time. To make the drug more accessible, another team at King’s is looking into naloxone wafers that can deliver the antidote by melting in the mouth.
Patrick Vallance, the science minister, said: “These innovative projects highlight the power of collaboration in delivering life-saving treatments. By investing in these partnerships, we are tackling addiction head-on and ensuring that cutting-edge science reaches those who need it most.”
The projects were announced as research suggested that diabetes and weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy could become a tool to prevent drug overdoses.
Scientists at Loyola University Chicago analysed health records of more than half a million adults with a history of opioid abuse. Those with prescriptions for weight-loss drugs were 40% less likely to have overdosed than those without, the study found.
Similar results emerged for alcohol abuse. The health records of more than 800,000 people with a history of alcohol problems revealed that cases of intoxication were 50% lower in those with prescriptions than those without, according to a report in the journal Addiction.
The medications affect the brain’s mesolimbic system, reducing appetite and triggering satisfaction after eating. But they may also affect reward pathways in the brain that play an important role in substance abuse.
Matt Field, a professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield, said they could reduce hospitalisations from heroin and alcohol abuse but it was unclear whether they helped people cut down on how often they used the substances.
“We already have things such as naloxone which are specifically intended for rapid treatment of heroin overdose, and they work very well,” he said. “The best way to avoid ‘alcohol intoxication’ is to avoid drinking huge amounts, and the big question is whether Ozempic helps people to do this.”

JMW Turner faces off against fellow observers of nature, Constable is contextualised, and the Romani community are represented in textiles – all in your weekly dispatch
Jonathan JonesFri 18 Oct 2024 07.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 18 Oct 2024 07.02 EDTShareExhibition of the weekVanessa Bell: A World of Form and ColourThe subtle and sensitive paintings of this Bloomsbury Group stalwart prove modernist art doesn’t have to be explosive to be interesting. MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, from 19 October until 23 February
Also showingLand Sea Sky: Ingrid Pollard, JMW Turner and Vija CelminsAn intriguing encounter between three contrasting artists of landscape that pits JMW Turner against Ingrid Pollard, with Vija Celmins as referee. The Box, Plymouth, from 19 October until 12 January
Discover Constable & The Hay WainIf you think The Hay Wain is just a Tory view of quaint rural England … shame on you, it’s a masterpiece that paved the way for impressionism. National Gallery, London, until 2 February
View image in fullscreenVisitors at the Małgorzata Mirga-Tas show at Tate St Ives. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PAMałgorzata Mirga-TasPainterly group portraits that are actually textile collages by this Romani artist, who works in her village in Poland as a community activist as well as artist. Tate St Ives, from 19 October until 5 January
Pass Shadow, Whisper ShadeGroup show that takes its poetic title from an Irish proverb. Hannan Jones, Emelia Kerr Beale, Josie KO, Katherine Fay Allan, Clarinda Tse and Rowan Markson feature. Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, until 22 December
Image of the weekView image in fullscreenTunnel vision … London’s Elizabeth Line has won the 2024 RIBA Stirling prize. Photograph: RIBA/PAThe Elizabeth Line was announced as the winner of the 2024 RIBA Stirling prize for the best architecture in the UK. With its futuristic panels, airy tunnels and elegantly unified design, the 73-mile Lizzie line provides a dazzling demonstration that Britain is still capable of pulling off gargantuan transport infrastructure projects with style and panache. Read more here.
What we learnedThe National Gallery in London has tightened security after activist art attacks
It’s not all cobblestones and whippets – Yorkshire is becoming the UK’s cultural powerhouse
Buying new masterpieces at Frieze art fair is stressful stuff
Hew Locke’s British Museum looting exposé is ‘inescapably shocking’
Photographer Letizia Battaglia chronicled life on Palermo’s blood stained mafia-ridden streets
Photographer Frank Habicht captured the ‘heart and restlessness’ of 1960s London
Australia’s National Gallery has plans for seven new sculpture gardens
A new film brings the late Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s work to life
Masterpiece of the weekStill Life With a Bowl of Strawberries, a Spray of Gooseberries, Asparagus and a Plum by Adriaen Coorte, 1703
View image in fullscreen Photograph: National GalleryPaintings like this one, depicting humble, everyday foods, fruits or flowers, were dismissed for a long time as minor works, yet they were radically reclaimed by the modernist movement as precursors of a more truthful way of seeing, anticipating the likes of Cézanne and Vanessa Bell. Adriaen Coorte is a perfect example of how the neglected still life appealed to eyes schooled by such artists: he was practically unknown in his lifetime, forgotten afterwards, but rediscovered in the early 20th century. The precise way he depicts a simple arrangement of glistening red strawberries, pale-stemmed purple-tipped asparagus, white-veined gooseberries and a black plum does in fact look precociously modern. There’s no hint of allegory, just a quiet wonder at nature’s variety. National Gallery
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Ebere Nwoji
AXA Mansard Insurance has been commended by the Lagos State Government for continued fight against climate change.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, Titi Oshodi, gave the commendation during a commemorative walk to raise awareness about the impact of waste on water in Lagos organised by AXA Mansard in commemoration of its annual AXA Week for Good, the flagship programme of AXA Hearts.
Oshodi had joined the leadership and staff of AXA in the commemorative walk to celebrate the annual event.
During the event, AXA Mansard employees, under the “TrashToTreasure” initiative, collected waste from their homes, offices, and environment and converted it into funds, which the company would donate to provide health insurance for vulnerable children under the Chess-In-Slums Africa Foundation.
Speaking during the awareness walk that preceded a beach clean-up by AXA employees in Lagos, Oshodi noted that the government was proud of organisations like AXA Mansard that were keenly interested in working to mitigate the impact of climate change.
She said, “At the Lagos State Office of Climate Change and Circular Economy, our goal is to ensure that the governor’s vision for a zero-carbon Lagos by 2050 is not a mirage. This is because we have seen that the impact of climate change is no longer a concept. It is real”.
She quoted the Lagos State Climate Action Plan 2020 – 2025, as saying that more than half of 21 million residents in Lagos live in informal settlements, which rendered them highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
She said the Lagos State Adaptation and Resilience Plan (LCARP) estimated the impact of climate inaction at $22-29bn – 11 times the state’s 2022 annual budget.
“So when we see partners like AXA Mansard doing more than just raising awareness but getting their employees to act for the climate, we must commend them because we want them to do more as we journey to our vision 2050″, she stated.
Expressing further her delight in what the AXA Mansard has done she said “I am especially delighted because of this year’s commemoration theme, TrashToTreasure. This theme fits well with the ambition of my office to ensure that we address the challenges of climate change, not just by awareness and advocacy, but to entrench circularity into the mix. So, when I heard that AXA Mansard is not just collecting waste, they are valourising the waste to provide health insurance for vulnerable children, I thought this is a model initiative because it embodies the whole idea of circularity, which is using waste for economic, social and environmental good”, she stated.
Appreciating the gesture from the state government, Chief Client Officer, AXA Mansard, Rashidat Adebisi, said that AXA remained unrelenting in its quest to ensure that its sustainability agenda of fighting climate change and protecting the vulnerable population has an impact and makes the world safer, healthier, and more prosperous.
“We are delighted and encouraged to have you here today as we once again collectively express our purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters”.

BBCCheshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price has called for forensic marking and immobilisation technology on farming equipmentA rise in the theft of GPS units from a county's farm vehicles by Eastern European organised crime gangs could be linked to the war in Ukraine, a police and crime commissioner has claimed.
Farm equipment theft in the UK has risen since 2022, which was also when Russia invaded Ukraine, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price said.
Farmer Andy Shaw told the BBC when his farm was targeted thieves ignored expensive tools but took a GPS unit from one of his tractors.
Cheshire Police said there was no direct evidence that the units were being used by Russian forces, but it was "possible".
Andy Shaw said thieves had ignored expensive tools and targeted GPS units at his Cheshire farmSix MPs in Cheshire have now signed an open letter from Mr Price calling on the government and manufacturers to improve security on essential farm equipment.
Insurance claims for GPS units in particular increased by 137% in 2023.
The units, valued at up to £20,000, are used to guide tractors and combine harvesters to improve accuracy in planting, adding pesticides and fertilizer.
A statement from Mr Price's office said organised criminals had been known to target several farms in a single night and then plan later raids to steal replacement GPS units.
While police have no direct evidence of the units being used by the Russian military, Mr Price told BBC North West Tonight the rise in thefts since the war was a "deeply worrying coincidence".
"My fear is that these units are leaving the country and they are helping the Russian invasion, that is my deep concern and I know others are worried about this," he said.
Mr Price called for immobilisation technology and forensic marking on new GPS equipment.
Supt Andy Huddleston, head of the National Rural Crime Unit, said: "In relation to theft of GPS guidance units there is evidence this is being done by eastern European organised crime units, but there is no direct evidence to show that they're being used in military application."
Sgt Rob Simpson said police in Cheshire were "on the right path" to tackling the organised criminals responsible Arable and potato farmer Mr Shaw, from Aston Grange Farm in Runcorn, said the thefts had a financial impact beyond the loss of the GPS unit.
"It was a really busy part of the season when we should've been out spraying," he said.
"Everything got delayed and that has another financial knock-on effect."
Mr Shaw, whose farm has been burgled three times in 10 years, said a valuable battery powered angle grinder had been in plain view of the thieves during the latest incident, but was ignored.
"You just knew they weren't after any old thing, it was just the GPS they wanted," he said.
Insurance firm NFU Mutual said the cost of rural crime across the UK rose to £52.8m in 2023 – up from £50.6m the previous year.
Cheshire Police recently made three arrests in connection with GPS thefts but described tackling the gangs as a complex problem.
Sgt Rob Simpson told the BBC: "We've been learning how to understand the crime, who is carrying out the crime – I'm not saying we've got it perfect but we are on the right path now to how we can combat this."
The intervention from the police and crime commissioner and MPs calls on the government to strengthen the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill to include GPS devices.
The Home Office said in a statement it was introducing "tougher measures" to tackle rural crime including strengthened neighbourhood policing and "stronger laws" to prevent farm theft and fly tippers.
It said: "New laws will also aim to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting."
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It is never the wrong season: try a dry white over ice, a ruby with cold meats and a tawny with cheese
Kate HawkingsFri 11 Oct 2024 09.00 EDTShareThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
It feels inappropriately early to be writing about port – usually the stuff appears on wine pages only in the immediate run-up to Christmas, because that’s when most of us buy our only bottle of the year. Its unfortunate associations with red-trousered, red-nosed, Colonel Blazer types also makes it possibly the most unfashionable of drinks, but, as well as being a traditional essential with the festive cheeseboard, port is a diverse category that deserves attention at other times of year, too.
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Dry white port, for example, is a useful standby to keep in the fridge, to serve with tonic or ginger ale for a lower-alcohol alternative to a G&T, or in place of vermouth in an outre martini, or to serve over ice alongside a plate of green olives. It’s also good to slosh into a sauce instead of white wine.
Red ports – ruby, reserve, LBV (late bottled vintage) and vintage – meanwhile, are most often recommended for the classic port-and-cheese match, but, at the risk of sounding sacrilegious, I think their tannins often clash, especially with blue cheese, and their undoubted charms lie elsewhere. Ruby port, all dense with berry fruitiness, is affordable and versatile, and is as happy with cold meats as it is with brambly fruit puddings or chocolate; chill it a little to take the edge off its sweetness. More complex and structured LBVs are also good with chocolate, as well as all those seasonal sweet treats involving dried fruit and/or nuts.
Vintage ports are the most revered and costly; bottled two years after harvest and at their best when cellared for at least 10 years more before drinking, they quickly oxidise and are past their prime just a few days after opening, which is fine for when there are many knees under the holiday table, but not so good if you want a bottle to dip in and out of from time to time.
Tawny port is aged in small barrels called pipes, where micro-oxidation stabilises it as its colour and tannins fade and those gloriously mellow, nutty, slightly spicy notes develop. Blended and bottled immediately before release, tawnies, unlike red ports, last for months after opening, in the unlikely event that need arises. Served slightly chilled, they are fantastically versatile too; they’re the best port to have with all types of cheese, and also work with salted nuts, charcuterie, earthy main courses and pretty much any wintery pudding you’d care to mention, especially if almonds, apples, caramel, custard or figs are involved; they’re also ace with a good sausage roll.
Aged white ports are harder to come by, but are well worth seeking out. Bottled from a single year and marked colheita (the term “vintage” is permitted on red port only), or blended from different vintages and labelled with the average age of the wines in the blend, they’re sweet and wonderfully luscious, and are saved from being claggy by a savoury, woody finish. Like tawny ports, they last for ages once opened, and should be sipped slowly and contemplatively with whatever takes your fancy. They are also, I might add, stupendous with stilton.
Four ports for everyday drinkingQuinta Pedra Alta White £17.65 Master of Malt,18%. A touch sweeter than most dry whites, with candied peel, pineapple, mountain herbs and lemon zest notes. Fab with cheesy snacks.
Kopke 10-Year-Old White £32.99 Waitrose (on offer until 22 October, down from £37.99), 20%. Opulent layers of ripe peach and quince fruit, with hazelnuts, soft spice, and orange zest. Phwoar.
Quinta do Noval Black Ruby Reserve £22.38 Master of Malt, 19.5%. Slinky, black cherry fruit with a modern freshness; try it in a negroni instead of vermouth.
EH Booth 20-Year-Old Tawny £25, 19.5%. Dried figs, marmalade, walnuts and vanilla, with a pleasing whiff of smoke. Great value.