Robert Rowlands

Asda has launched a £4 Hot Food To Go Meal Deal at participating stores across the UK. Customers can choose one main, one side and one dip from 17 mains, five sides and eight dips, including breakfast baps, chicken, pizza, fries and regional options such as Bells Scotch pie in Scotland. Availability varies by store and time of day, and the offer expands Asda's existing food-to-go meal deals.

Squishy toys, including mini-dumpling collectibles costing as little as £1, have driven increased visits and sales at The Works as children spend pocket money on collecting and trading them. HMV also reports higher footfall after redesigning stores around popular culture, with vinyl sales up 27% in shops, online sales up 45%, and CD sales rising by 10%. Both retailers attribute growth to young people seeking shared, screen-free activities, while The Works expects the Government’s proposed social-media restrictions for under-16s could reinforce demand. HMV also points to renewed interest in physical music, K-pop albums and DVDs, alongside a broader revival of retro technology such as the iPhone 5C.

Scientists have produced the first complete genome of the common marmoset, creating a high-quality reference for research into dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other conditions. The University of California, Santa Cruz team used Telomere-to-Telomere methods to analyse genetic variation across 230 marmosets, identifying 76 genes linked to human neurodegenerative diseases and revealing previously unresolved features of the species' DNA. The resource could improve disease modelling, research into evolution and the development of personalised genomics, while also enabling further study of complex chromosome regions and sex-related genetic differences.

A report by education expert Alan Smithers predicts a small rise in the proportion of UK A-level entries receiving A or A* grades in 2026, driven by the growing popularity of maths, economics and other quantitative subjects associated with stronger job prospects. Boys may extend their lead over girls in A* grades, although increased entries in psychology, biology and history could support girls’ results. Northern Ireland is expected to continue outperforming England and Wales. The Department for Education cautioned that the forecast is speculative and said final grades will reflect students’ abilities, while grade thresholds remain within the power of regulators and exam boards.

Morrisons is introducing Everseen's Evercheck computer-vision technology at 200 supermarkets to identify missed or incorrectly scanned items and prompt shoppers to correct them. The system will be added to existing self-checkouts, is intended to reduce queues and routine staff interventions, and does not use facial recognition or customer profiling. Morrisons has not yet announced which stores are included or when the rollout will be complete.

A rare 1983 British 20p coin struck on a bronze blank instead of the standard blank sold on eBay for £170.20, or 701 times its face value. The Royal Mint Museum authenticated the error through examination and spectrographic analysis, finding the coin to be 97.10% copper and weighing 3.62 grams. It is believed to be one of only two known 20p coins struck on bronze blanks, prompting collectors to check their change for similar minting errors.

A Surrey woman experienced increasingly frequent periods and severe abdominal symptoms that were initially attributed to stress before her condition rapidly escalated into a medical emergency. A ruptured ovarian cyst caused sepsis while an internal hernia led to part of her small intestine wrapping around a fallopian tube, requiring emergency open surgery and intensive care. After three weeks in hospital and a long recovery, she urges women to trust their instincts, push for medical answers and highlights concerns about dismissed symptoms in women’s health conditions such as fibroids and endometriosis.