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Storm Dennis
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First Ciara, now Dennis… The UK has endured another weekend of stormy weather and faces another Monday of flooding and travel woe. Dennis brought torrential rain – more than a month’s worth in 48 hours in places – and gusts of more than 90mph. Major incidents were declared in south Wales and parts of England on Sunday, as police dealt with multiple landslides and floods – some trapping residents. The Army was also called in to help. See the impact of Storm Dennis in our gallery.
A record number of flood warnings and alerts were issued for England on Sunday, and hundreds are still in place on Monday morning, including some severe, meaning there’s a danger to life. Rivers are continuing to rise in places like York, and if you’re setting out to travel by road, rail or air, check your journey first.
The government has announced it is activating its emergency funding scheme to help regions hit by Storm Dennis. It allows councils to apply for 100% of the non-insurable costs they incur to deal with the damage. On Sunday, new Environment Secretary George Eustice accepted it would never be possible to protect all homes at risk, and blamed the “nature of climate change” for the scale of the damage.
Getting local forecasts right – street by street and hour by hour – is a massive challenge, but the Met Office is to get a big boost in the form of a supercomputer project costing £1.2bn. It’s the biggest investment in the 170-year history of the organisation, and will create a “digital twin” of the Earth’s atmosphere – a highly detailed “model” of everything from winds to temperatures and pressures.
Flack tributes
Love Island will be back on air on Monday night after Saturday and Sunday’s episodes were cancelled following the death of Caroline Flack. The 40-year-old’s family said she had taken her own life. Monday’s edition of the dating show will feature a tribute to her.
Flack was replaced as host of Love Island after being charged with assaulting her boyfriend. Her friend and replacement, Laura Whitmore, used her BBC Radio 5 Live show on Sunday to criticise those she said had targeted her. “To paparazzi and tabloids looking for a cheap sell, to trolls hiding behind a keyboard – enough,” Whitmore said.
Here our entertainment reporter Ian Youngs looks back at Caroline Flack’s career.
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Car seats
Amazon has said it “regrets” that suspect child car seats have once again been found on sale on its UK store. BBC Panorama discovered the products, including one listed for just £3.99. Amazon’s UK chief said the company took proactive steps to ensure the products it sold were safe and had removed the items found by the programme from sale.
The US firm has repeatedly faced complaints about listing such seats. A case dating back to 2013 led to a trading standards investigation that confirmed one example would tear apart if involved in a 30mph (48km/h) crash.
‘I reinvented the hair tie from my uni halls’
By Lora Jones, business reporter, BBC News
For most students, founding a company would probably be the last thing on their mind when they’re hungover. Back in 2011, Swiss entrepreneur Sophie Trelles-Tvede was finding her feet as a first-year student at Warwick University, but she was feeling unfulfilled. “Studying in the UK was my dream, and I had worked so hard to get there. But all of my exams and deadlines weren’t due until summer, so all of the work was back-loaded. “We were just about to go into the Christmas holidays, but I felt like I didn’t deserve them at all,” she says. To combat this “numb” feeling, Sophie, then 18, went to an “anything but clothes” night, where partygoers wear costumes they’ve made out of random items.
What the papers say
Striking aerial photos of the flooded village of Crickhowell appear on several front pages. The Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express show residents being rescued in dinghies – some clutching children or pets – after Storm Dennis. The Mirror accuses the government of showing “crushing indifference” to the plight of those affected. Elsewhere, papers report that backbench Conservative MPs have been rallying to the defence of the BBC after claims Downing Street wants to replace the licence fee with a Netflix-style subscription. Huw Merriman writes in the Daily Telegraph that the government would be unwise to wage a potentially unpopular vendetta against the much-admired corporation. Others, though, including the Sun, say the BBC needs to modernise. Finally, papers quote the French foreign minister, who thinks his country and the UK will “rip each other apart” during post-Brexit trade talks.
Daily digest
Tanning addiction “I lost my ear”
Trade tussles France warns post-Brexit talks could get nasty
Retail woes The luxury shopping outlet having a tough time
Holden Iconic car brand to be scrapped
If you see one thing today
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The BBC meets a fertility doctor, a psychiatrist a
The doctors giving medical advice on TikTok
If you listen to one thing today
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If you read one thing today
‘Meeting the bombers who killed my mum’
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Lookahead
Today Trial due to start of Extinction Rebellion co-founder accused of attempting to disrupt Heathrow Airport using a drone.
20:00 Channel 4 hosts a live TV debate between the candidates vying to become Labour leader.
On this day
2008 Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
From elsewhere
The virus isn’t our biggest threat – it’s the viral panic (Sydney Morning Herald)
The complicated relationship between shapewear and body positivity (Refinery 29)
The multi-million dollar hostage scam that conned world leaders, an archbishop and CEOs (CNN)
It all ends in failure – why politics has always been a blood sport (The Herald)
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