A software update is thought to have created a problem with some variable speed cameras, meaning motorists were incorrectly penalised

Thousands of speeding fines could be cancelled after a “technical issue” triggered some speed cameras in England to incorrectly penalise motorists.

National Highways has apologised for the error, which meant a “very small number” of drivers had been wrongly fined since 2021.

Startup valuation, likely to go public at $800bn, will bolster Musk’s wealth to an estimated $677bn, according to Forbes

Elon Musk on Monday became the first person ever worth $600bn, according to Forbes. The news comes on the heels of reports that his SpaceX startup was likely to go public at a valuation of $800bn.

Musk, who was the first to surpass $500bn in net worth in October, owns an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX, which is preparing to go public next year. No other person has hit the $500bn mark.

Condemning a terrorist attack is easy. We need the condemnation, and the solidarity, but we also need action

Being Jewish in Australia today feels very different to when I was a child.

Growing up, it was about family, community, culture. It was about our customs, cuisine, our shared history and connectedness.

Government says arrangement will bring in extra £400m on top of more than £15bn of existing annual trade with Korea

The UK has signed a new trade deal with South Korea designed to increase exports of cars, Scottish salmon and Guinness canned in Britain.

Keir Starmer described the deal, which replaces an existing agreement, as “a huge win for British business and working people”. It follows UK deals with India and the US, and the free trade agreement with the EU clinched this year.

Manager’s comments on Saturday have left Chelsea baffled and the Italian in danger

If Enzo Maresca was interested in ending speculation that he has a problem with elements of Chelsea’s hierarchy then he would have done so on Monday . Instead the Italian made no attempt to clear up a situation entirely of his own making.

He rebuffed questions about his cryptic response to beating Everton on Saturday and even reacted with exasperation when he was asked if he regretted saying a lack of support from unspecified people had put him through his “worst 48 hours” since joining the club.

From near-total control to collapse to late Bruno Fernandes and Matheus Cunha goals that seemed to put Manchester United on the right end of a 4-3 festive thriller. But then, yet more horrific defending allowed Eli Junior Kroupi, on as a substitute, to score Bournemouth’s third equaliser and the points were shared.

Fernandes’s strike was a pinpoint curled free-kick and Cunha’s finish came 120 seconds later when Benjamin Sesko’s cross from the left hit Adrien Truffert and diverted into the Brazilian’s path.

Federal officials charged four suspects who they allege were planning to bomb multiple sites across southern California

Federal authorities said Monday that they foiled a plot to bomb multiple sites of two US companies on New Year’s Eve in Southern California after arresting members of an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group.

The four suspects were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert east of Los Angeles as they were rehearsing their plot, Bill Essayli, first assistant US attorney, said during a news conference. Officials showed reporters surveillance aerial footage of the suspects moving a large black object in the desert to a table. Officials said they were able to make the arrests before the suspects assembled a functional explosive device.

Company to scrap several electric models and focus on gas and hybrid as US president pulls support for EVs

Ford said on Monday it will take a $19.5bn writedown and is killing several electric-vehicle models, in the most dramatic example yet of the auto industry’s retreat from battery-powered models in response to the Trump administration’s policies and weakening EV demand.

Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, said it will stop making the F-150 Lightning in its electric vehicle form, but will pivot to producing an extended-range electric model, a version of a hybrid vehicle called an Erev, which uses a gas-powered generator to recharge the battery.

The Scotsman is a wry, slightly daft ex-plumber who wears his heart on his sleeve. So why does the Ally Pally crowd enjoy goading him?

By the time Cameron Menzies finally leaves the arena, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand has trickled its way down the whole hand, down his wrist, part of his forearm and – somehow – up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappears down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of the Professional Darts Corporation.

The physical scars from Menzies’s encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby will be gone within a few weeks. Most probably there will be a fine of some sort. What about the rest? Man loses game of darts, punches table three times in fury, goes to hospital, repents at leisure: simple cause and effect. But of course this is not, and this is never, the whole story. In a way this tale is a kind of parable for elite darts itself, a pub game elevated to the level of a prize-fight, even – very occasionally – a bloodsport.

Proposal is part of new package of security guarantees, backed by the White House, that could mark breakthrough in reaching agreement

Europe is ready to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine as part of a US proposal for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, European leaders have said.

In a statement, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and eight other European countries said that troops from a “coalition of the willing” with US support could “assist in the regeneration of Ukraine’s forces, in securing Ukraine’s skies, and in supporting safer seas, including through operating inside Ukraine”.

Community mourns terror attack in Bondi beach, just months after two killed at site of event in Greater Manchester

Dark rain clouds hung above Heaton Park synagogue in Greater Manchester on Monday evening as worshippers gathered for the second day of Hanukah. It was the nightly menorah candle lighting, typically a festival of joy and celebration, but this year the atmosphere had a sombre tinge.

As well as celebrating the annual festival, members of the Manchester Jewish community are mourning those who were killed in a terrorist attack in Bondi beach, Sydney, where 15 people were shot dead and dozens injured during a religious gathering on Sunday.

Evacuation order comes after a levee failed following a week of heavy rain as NWS issues flash flood warning

Officials in Washington state ordered immediate evacuations in three south Seattle suburbs on Monday after a levee failed following a week of heavy rains.

The evacuation order from King county covered homes and businesses east of the Green River in parts of Kent, Auburn and Tukwila.

Wes Streeting and BMA urged to seek mediation as hospitals in England struggle amid flu outbreak

Hospitals are cancelling tens of thousands of appointments and operations after resident doctors voted overwhelmingly to reject a last-ditch government offer to avoid this week’s strike.

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the British Medical Association (BMA) are being urged to agree to see if an independent mediator can break the deadlock in the almost three-year-old pay and jobs dispute in England.

Campaign groups warn prolonged inquiries are retraumatising survivors

A super-complaint has been filed against police forces in England and Wales over years-long delays in investigating sexual offences.

More than 37,000 sexual offence investigations have taken longer than three years to conclude over the past decade, campaigners said.

Sunday’s events in Bondi have stunned Australia and the watching world before a third Test that could be a decisive one for this England team’s legacy

Adelaide may be 1,300km to the west of Bondi but the sense of pain in the city has been no less for the distance. People are in shock here trying to make sense of the horrors that unfolded on Sunday evening – a day that was supposed to be one of celebration for Sydney’s Jewish community.

As the first national public event being staged in Australia since, the third Ashes Test that starts here on Wednesday will play out to a sombre backdrop. The flags at Adelaide Oval will fly at half-mast, a minute’s silence will be observed before the toss, while players are likely to wear black armbands throughout. Inevitably, security for the match has been increased.

It will doubtless be an emotional week for Australia’s players and not least given the number of links to New South Wales within their squad. Nathan Lyon summed up the helplessness many were feeling on Monday, offering thoughts and prayers to those affected before admitting: “Nothing I’m going to say right now is going to make anyone feel any better.”

Pledge to invest billions in UK paused, with Washington citing lack of progress on trade barriers across pond

The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.

The £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational stepchange in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Donald Trump’s state visit, has been put on ice by Washington.

Guan Heng, who filmed at sites in China of alleged rights violations against Muslim group, detained by ICE in August

A Chinese man who left his country after filming at sites of alleged human rights violations against Uyghurs now faces the risk of removal from the United States, according to his lawyer and mother.

Guan Heng, 38, underwent an immigration hearing in New York on Monday after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August, his mother said in an interview.

From the US to Hungary to Argentina, rightwing leaders are praising José Antonio Kast’s win in Chile’s presidential race

José Antonio Kast’s victory in Chile’s presidential election has been widely praised by leaders of the global right, with congratulations coming from the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Argentina’s Javier Milei and X’s Elon Musk.

The son of a Nazi party member, a father of nine and a staunch Catholic known for opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, Kast won 58.16% of the vote in the runoff – more than 2m votes than the leftist Jeannette Jara, a former labour minister under the current president, Gabriel Boric.

Our investigation of the Free Birth Society points to problems with maternity care and the role played by technology

Despite all the proven advances of modern medicine, some people are drawn to alternative or “natural” cures and practices. Many of these do no harm. As the cancer specialist Prof Chris Pyke noted last year, people undergoing cancer treatment will often try meditation or vitamins as well. When such a change is in addition to, and not instead of, evidence-based treatment, this is usually not a problem. If it reduces distress, it can help.

But the proliferation of online health influencers poses challenges that governments and regulators in many countries have yet to grasp. The Guardian’s investigation into the Free Birth Society (FBS), a business offering membership and advice to expectant mothers, and training for “birth keepers”, has exposed 48 cases of late-term stillbirths or other serious harm involving mothers or birth attendants who appear to be linked to FBS. While the company is based in North Carolina, its reach is international. In the UK, the NHS only recently removed a webpage linking to a charity “factsheet” that recommended FBS materials.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

As EU countries face multiple challenges in a new era, they must fight to preserve the continent’s social model. That means a new economic approach

More than a year after the election that handed Donald Trump a decisive comeback victory, the Democratic party has still not released its postmortem analysis. But last week, an influential progressive lobby group published its own. Kamala Harris’s campaign, its authors argued, failed to connect with core constituencies because it did not focus enough on addressing basic economic anxieties. By prioritising the menace to democracy that Maga authoritarianism represented, progressives neglected the bread-and-butter issues that were uppermost in many people’s minds.

As the EU braces for a tumultuous period of politics between now and the end of the decade, that is a lesson that needs to be fully absorbed in Brussels, Paris and Berlin. The White House, as its recently published national security strategy makes clear, is hopeful that “patriotic” parties in Europe will soon replicate Mr Trump’s success. In the EU’s Franco-German engine room, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) lead the polls, backed by large swaths of blue-collar voters. But among mainstream leaders and parties, it is hard to discern a response that is adequate to troubling times.

President’s statement blaming acclaimed director’s death on his dislike of him described as ‘disgusting’ and ‘vile’

Celebrities and lawmakers from both of the US’s major political parties are condemning Donald Trump after the president blamed the death of Rob Reiner on what he described as the acclaimed Hollywood director’s dislike of him.

After the apparent killings of Reiner, 78, and his 68-year-old wife, Michele, who were found dead at their home Sunday in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, Trump took to social media to call the director “tortured and struggling”. Trump also claimed Reiner died “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME”.

Efforts to get PM to spend more time with his MPs appear to be bearing fruit – more so than any macho briefing war

In the corner of one of Westminster’s endless Christmas receptions, a Conservative veteran of the Brexit years admits they are somewhat baffled by the frenzied leadership speculation among the new Labour ranks.

It was easy to forget, they said, given how many Tory leaders the party cycled through – but prime ministers were not that easy to dislodge.

Britain’s fifth-biggest grocer postpones goal by 15 years to 2050, saying revised plan will now cover entire supply chain

Morrisons has become the first UK supermarket chain to postpone its net zero carbon emission targets, delaying them by 15 years to 2050.

Britain’s fifth-biggest grocer said its new targets would cover the entire supply chain, as well as Morrisons stores, including emissions from agriculture and land-use sources.

The liaison super-committee has an unavoidable tri-annual encounter with the prime minister

An afternoon with Keir Starmer isn’t necessarily many people’s idea of fun. A period of time when every minute feels like five.

Sadly, for the select committee chairs who make up the liaison super-committee, they didn’t have the option of saying no. This was one of their unavoidable tri-annual encounters with the prime minister. Still, at least they all had the Xmas recess to look forward to at the end of the week. They would need a long lie down.

• Newcastle player has left door open to allegiance switch

• Scotland manager may seek to stay on after World Cup

Steve Clarke plans to check on the extent to which Harvey Barnes will commit to playing for Scotland before friendly matches in March. The manager wants to know Barnes is ­sufficiently keen on swapping international allegiance – he has a single cap for England – before con­sidering the Newcastle player for a potential World Cup berth.

Scotland’s World Cup return after a 28-year wait has put Barnes’s inter­national future back on the agenda. The feeling within the Scottish ­Football Association has thus far been that Barnes believes he can play for England again, but the player left the door open on a switch during an interview last month.

Blaise Metreweli says world ‘more dangerous and contested now than for decades’ as AI and new technologies emerge

Britain is caught in “a space between peace and war” complicated by the rise of artificial intelligence and other technologies dominated by powerful individuals and corporations, according to the new head of MI6.

Blaise Metreweli, giving her first speech in the job, accused Russia of being insincere about Ukraine peace negotiations but made minimal reference to China as the prime minister, Keir Starmer, seeks to arrange a visit to Beijing.

Six of Britain’s biggest employer groups fear compromise deal brokered with bosses and union leaders is at risk

• Nils Pratley: The big quarrels over the workers’ rights bill have barely started

Britain’s biggest business groups have urged Conservative peers to stop blocking Labour’s workers’ rights bill in the House of Lords to avoid throwing away a compromise deal reached with trade unions.

With the clock ticking before Christmas, six of the country’s biggest employers’ groups warned that failure to pass the legislation before parliament rises on Thursday could put at risk a deal brokered with bosses and union leaders.

Judgment finds systems designed to protect against inhuman and degrading treatment ‘unlawfully’ failing for years

The Home Office has failed to protect vulnerable migrants it locks up in detention centres, a high court judge has ruled.

Mrs Justice Jefford found an unlawful failure of the “systems” designed to protect immigration detainees from inhuman and degrading treatment under article 3 of the European convention on human rights and that these failings have been going on for years. The judgment could affect thousands of migrants who are at risk behind bars.

Maduro regime accuses Caribbean nation of participating in ‘theft of Venezuelan oil’ as tensions mount in region

Venezuela has accused the government of Trinidad and Tobago of taking part in the US seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast last week, as Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro continues to reverberate across the region.

In a statement on Monday, the Maduro regime accused Trinidad and Tobago of participating in “the theft of Venezuelan oil, committed by the US administration on 10 December with the assault on a vessel transporting this strategic Venezuelan product”.

Bryony Worthington says the media should not be pushing a western attitude to climate strategies to the detriment of African nations. Plus letters from Prof Hugh Hunt, Dr Portia Adade Williams and Angela Churie Kallhauge

Your editorial (8 December) says that it is “hard to disagree” with calls to ban research into climate interventions or geoengineering solutions, citing well-worn tropes about a “termination shock” scenario and a dislike of private-sector involvement in the field. The pretext for forming this opinion – and claiming it represents all of Africa – appears to be the brief reference in a joint statement earlier this year from the African environmental ministers.

I can’t help feeling that the Guardian is being played. Every advance in human technology elicits cries from a vocal few that a line must be drawn that cannot be crossed. Usually seeded in the corridors of western NGOs, legitimate concerns are whipped up into fearmongering and luddism, with the goal of holding back scientific inquiry.

Guardian readers respond to a report by the homelessness charity Crisis and our editorial

Your editorial (The Guardian view on England’s social housing system: failing the very people it was built for, 10 December) claims that “social homes were supposed to be for those who couldn’t afford private rents”. That’s not so. Most council estates, such as Becontree and Harold Hill, were built following the first and second world wars to house ordinary working families when decent housing was in dire straits. Privately rented properties were often of poor quality and devoid of basic amenities.

The governments then believed it imperative to house ordinary families in good-quality modern housing. Relying on private landlords and precarious tenancies was seen practically as an insult to the nation’s people, and even financially well-off council tenants could rest assured that their tenancy was not going to be terminated.

Dr Roman Raczka says artificial intelligence can’t replace therapist-led care, even though it can offer benefits

It is absolutely right that children “need a human, not a bot” for mental health support (‘I feel it’s a friend’: quarter of teenagers turn to AI chatbots for mental health support, 9 December). Overuse of AI for mental health support could well lead to the next public health emergency if the government does not take urgent action.

We shouldn’t be surprised that teenagers are turning to tools such as ChatGPT in this way. NHS waiting lists are rising, and one in five young people are living with a mental health condition. It is unacceptable that young people who require support for their mental health are unable to access the services they need, before they reach crisis point.

William Schabas on the conviction of two officers of a German submarine of ‘an offence against the law of nations’ during the first world war

Sidney Blumenthal referred to a 1945 war crimes judgment on the killing of seamen who had survived an attack at sea during the second world war (Does Pete Hegseth even believe that war crimes exist?, 8 December). There is an even earlier case. In a trial held by a German court pursuant to the treaty of Versailles (1919), two officers of U-86 were convicted of “an offence against the law of nations” for attacking survivors after the sinking of a Canadian hospital ship, the Llandovery Castle, off the coast of Ireland in the final months of the first world war. The judges said the rule against such attacks was “simple” and “universally known”. They rejected the defence argument that the officers were following orders of the submarine’s captain. They said such an order was manifestly unlawful. The precedent is still cited today and is codified in the Rome statute of the international criminal court.
William Schabas
Professor of international law, Middlesex University

Prime minister reiterates support for Kyiv as it comes under mounting US pressure to sign up to Trump-backed plan

A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will fail unless it is backed up by “robust” security guarantees from western powers, the UK prime minister has said.

Keir Starmer, speaking ahead of talks with European leaders in Berlin, told MPs on Monday he was opposed to any agreement that did not include sufficient military guarantees for Ukraine, as Kyiv comes under mounting US pressure to sign up to a Trump-backed plan.

Nick Reiner arrested on suspicion of murder after Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner found dead at their home

• Rob Reiner and wife Michele found dead in apparent homicide

• Rob Reiner – a life in pictures

• Reiner changed Hollywood for ever

Nick Reiner has been arrested on suspicion of murder following the deaths of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, according to the Los Angeles police chief, Jim McDonnell.

Nick, 32, was taken into custody Sunday night, and his bail was set $4m, jail records show.

There is a hint of feudalism about the way the unelected body has treated those who love the track like its serfs

It has taken the better part of a decade but the Jockey Club, the private, self-appointed body that has wielded immense power in racing for nearly 300 years, seems poised to realise its long-standing ambition to see one of the sport’s most historic racecourses bulldozed for housing. If the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day is on your racing bucket list, next week’s renewal might be one of the final chances to tick it off.

That, sadly, is the only conclusion to be drawn from what was almost a throwaway comment by Jim Mullen, the Jockey Club’s new chief executive, to the Racing Post’s industry editor, Bill Barber, over the weekend.

Ofqual issues fines over English proficiency test that some candidates sat at home, A-level Chinese and GCSE English

One of the world’s biggest providers of educational services has been fined more than £2m for a range of serious breaches related to examination standards that could have affected tens of thousands of students.

Pearson, a FTSE 100-listed company, was hit by financial penalties of £750,000 for each of two cases and £505,000 for a third by Ofqual, the exams regulator. The cases concerned GCSE English language exams, A-level spoken Chinese and an online English proficiency test.

• World No 26 lost 3-2 to 20-year-old Charlie Manby

• Menzies apologises saying ‘it was the wrong thing to do’

Cameron Menzies saw red and punched the table in frustration following his 3-2 defeat by Charlie Manby in the first round of the World Darts Championship.

Scot Menzies led twice in the game as he took the opening set before going 2-1 up, but the 20-year-old from Huddersfield fought back to take it into a deciding set before he finally pinned double four, after both players missed several darts at double.

Many critical details have been deliberately left to be resolved in secondary legislation – including the introduction of guaranteed hours contracts

• Business groups urge Tory peers to stop blocking Labour’s workers’ rights bill

Will the employment rights bill be passed by Christmas? Well, the chances are slightly improved after six leading business groups published a temperature-lowering letter on Monday that said parliament, which in this instance means the blockers in the House of Lords, should get on with it.

The employers, note, are still unhappy about the issue that triggered the most recent revolt by Conservative peers and a few cross-benchers: the removal of a cap on compensation claims for unfair dismissal. But they’re more worried that further delays would jeopardise their negotiating victory last month, namely the government’s U-turn on rights guaranteeing workers protection against unfair dismissal from day one of employment. A six-month qualifying period was adopted instead, with the blessing of the TUC, which was similarly motivated by trying to get the bill over the line quickly.

Bus and train initiative comes as government struggles to survive corruption and sexual harassment allegations

Spain’s socialist-led government is to launch a national public transport pass that will allow people to travel anywhere in the country by bus or train for a flat monthly fee of €60 (£52.70).

The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, unveiled the initiative on Monday, saying it would come into effect in the second half of January and was intended “to change the way Spaniards understand and use public transport for ever”.

Ian Murray says he has still not been given an explanation for his demotion to technology minister

The former Scottish secretary Ian Murray has hit out at the prime minister for his “humiliating” sacking, despite deciding to remain a minister in the government.

In a candid interview Murray said he had felt underappreciated in his cabinet role, and that he had been in two minds whether to accept his current position as technology minister.

We can still call off this week’s strike – if the health secretary meaningfully addresses job shortages, real-terms pay cuts and the ongoing exodus

• Dr Jack Fletcher is chair of the British Medical Association’s UK resident doctors committee

Resident doctors in England have voted overwhelmingly to go ahead with this week’s planned strike, because the government’s latest offer fails to address the medical jobs crisis and does nothing to stem the exodus of medics from this country.

Despite the government spin, this offer will not lead to more doctors in our NHS. It makes a start, but the proposed increase of specialty training posts over the next three years, from the 1,000 extra announced in the 10-year health plan to 4,000, simply repurposes “locally employed doctors”, rather than increasing capacity. It will not mean more doctors on the shop floor of our A&E departments – it’s just shuffling the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

Dr Jack Fletcher is an acute medicine doctor working in the north-east of England and chair of the British Medical Association’s UK resident doctors committee

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Reflecting on chaos of early pandemic, former chancellor said it was ‘acutely stressful’ to see rising interest bill on government bonds

Rishi Sunak was concerned about the UK’s ability to fund itself in March 2020 after the government announced rescue measures costing tens of billions of pounds to prevent mass redundancies, the Covid-19 pandemic inquiry has heard.

The former prime minister, who was chancellor when the first UK lockdown was announced, said he feared foreign investors had become more concerned about Britain’s ability to pay its way than other countries in a similar situation.

FBI director said his agency helped detain ‘person of interest’ in Brown shooting – who was released hours later

Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, is once again facing criticism for rushing to social media to tout his agency’s work on tracking down a person of interest in a shooting prematurely.

After a shooter killed two and injured nine at Brown University on Saturday, Patel, a lawyer and rightwing commentator before his job in the administration, posted on X that his agency had helped detain a “person of interest in a hotel room” in Coventry, Rhode Island, acting off a lead from the Providence police.

The Salt Path author has rejected new accusations from a niece alleging she took money from relatives, describing the claims as part of a ‘false narrative’ about her life

Raynor Winn, the author of The Salt Path, has denied fresh allegations that she stole money from members of her family, describing the claims as part of a “false narrative” about her life.

The writer responded after her niece alleged that Winn had written a letter more than a decade ago setting out details of taking money from her mother and from her parents-in-law. Winn has strongly denied the allegations and said she did not write the letter.

Some potential first-time buyer groups ‘could be better served’, regulator says in review

Freelancers and gig economy workers could enjoy more flexibility over how and when they pay their mortgage under plans designed to help more people get on the property ladder.

A shake-up of the rules so people whose income is “variable or irregular” could be freed up from having to make monthly mortgage payments is one of a number of changes being considered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that could make it easier for millions of “underserved” UK consumers to get a home loan.

How do you sell turkey and all the luxury trimmings when the world’s in chaos and the cost of living crisis continues? It’s no surprise that this year’s adverts are a complicated lot

There can’t be anyone skirting closer to burnout, more deserving of our sympathy and complicated respect, than the people who conceive Christmas ads. The goal is straightforward: make people feel good about Christmas so that they spend more than they otherwise might. Amp up the love and affection of the season; play down the labour (emotional and otherwise); make everyone feel a bit hungrier and thirstier – job done.

This must be at least the fifth year, though, that the world looks so perilous, so fraught and vexed, so sad and chaotic, that what’s an honest supermarket to do? The retailers weathered the first Covid Christmas, when demand for nut multipacks and pigs in blankets was poignantly low; then they weathered Christmas 2021, when restrictions came back so unexpectedly that it wasn’t unusual for a household to have 14 times as much turkey as they could possibly eat.

Britons now send an average of 58 hours’ worth of these messages a year. But what about the recipients who are experiencing ‘voice note fatigue’?

Name: Voice notes.

Age: About 14.