A member of the public made a freedom of information (FoI) request to the police, ‘Could you provide the number of officers at each rank and number of staff at each grade?’ What they received was not only a numerical table but, inadvertently, a huge Excel spreadsheet called ‘the source data, which should never have been released for public scrutiny on an FoI website. It was removed after 2½ - 3 hours once police became aware of it. Each line contains information from the top of the force down - surname and first initial, their rank, grade, where they are based and the unit they work in; including sensitive areas of surveillance and intelligence. The sensitive information exposes many in nationalist communities who were taking great care to keep who they work for a secret, in some cases even from friends and family. The scale of this error is enormous; the consequences cannot be evaluated. It is probably the worst data breach in the organisation's history.

Despite recent increased spending on Continuing Healthcare, staff shortages and rising prices mean people with complex medical needs are lacking the help they need. Sometimes family members are so exhausted from providing continual care that they’re concerned over their relative’s safety. Declan is one of the 16,000 people needing Continuing Healthcare. He has severe, progressive muscle wasting and cannot move unassisted. He requires a ventilator to breathe and has chronic heart and respiratory failure. The care he needs to be able to live at his family home should be met by NHS’s Continuing Healthcare scheme that enables people with high complex needs to live outside of the hospital. Declan is entitled to 24/7 support by experienced care workers plus extra help mornings and bedtime. His mother has been asking for care overnight and during her working hours - but repeatedly faces shortfalls in meeting Declan’s needs.

British lawmakers warn that imported technology embedded in Chinese electric vehicles could be used to harvest information on drivers. With China leading the global EV market, cheaper Chinese vehicles are expected to dominate UK automotive sales. A cross-party group of MPs have expressed concern to the government that Britain is on the verge of handing control of critical infrastructure to Beijing, with all of the ‘associated security risks.’ An unnamed senior government official said that if it is manufactured in China, how certain can you be that it won’t be a vehicle for collecting intel and data? Why have electric vehicles manufactured by countries that already spy using technology? Why wouldn’t they do the same here? The UK already suspects China’s technology imports are a security risk and barred Huawei from the 5G network in 2020, ordering all equipment and services to be removed by the end of 2023.

Adam Smith-Connor has pleaded not guilty to charges related to breaking a local ‘buffer zone’ around an abortion clinic and praying silently outside the medical facility. He was approached by police outside the clinic earlier this year. He thought he would not be prosecuted, as the statutory time-limit for pressing charges had elapsed. At his hearing on 9 August he said, ‘We are standing in the nation of the Magna Carta, the nation which has championed democracy and freedom. We have a history of upholding human rights we can be proud of and a respect for freedom that I fought to uphold when I served this country for twenty years in the army reserves, including in Afghanistan. Yet here I stand before you, being prosecuted for a thought crime.’ His legal team contend that freedom of thought is protected absolutely through the Human Rights Act and therefore, the local council has no power to prohibit silent prayer.