In the headlines

Storm Ciarán has brought winds of up to 102mph to the Channel Islands and parts of southern England, causing school closures, travel disruption and power outages. The Met Office issued a rare red wind warning for Jersey, encouraging residents to stay indoors. An Australian woman has been charged with murder over the suspected mushroom poisoning of her family. In a story that made global headlines in July, the parents and aunt of Erin Patterson’s estranged husband died after she served them beef wellington thought to contain death cap mushrooms. The Beatles’s final song will be released this afternoon. Now And Then, which will debut on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music at 2pm, features performances from all four band members, including vocals from the late John Lennon lifted from a demo of the track recorded in the 1970s.

Zeitgeist

Conservative Party interns are being asked to undertake “privilege walks” to highlight the career advantages they benefit from, says The Daily Telegraph. As part of a workshop led by a diversity charity, the aspiring politicos are lined up – sometimes “outside the Margaret Thatcher boardroom” in Tory HQ – and asked a series of questions, such as whether their parents read to them as children and whether they feel safe walking at night. For each “yes”, they have to take a step forward, and the person who travels furthest is designated the “most privileged”.

Letters

To The Times

In your article on reopening a Cornish tin mine, you state that eight million cubic metres of water need to be pumped out. In future could your reporter please use the correct unit of measurement and tell us how many Olympic swimming pools that is.

Martin Boreham, Old Headington, Oxfordshire