Net migration to the UK hit a record 906,000 in 2023, before falling by 20% in the following year, official figures show. The drop – to 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 – is mostly due to the previous government’s tightened entry controls on care workers and international students. The top dating apps are suffering falling user numbers for the first time. Tinder lost 600,000 users (5%) in the year to May 2024, while Hinge dropped 131,000 (3%). The change is apparently down to Gen Z and millennials deciding they would rather find love the old-fashioned way: in real life. Chic pantry staples – such as extra virgin olive oil, posh tinned fish and fancy salt – are the latest middle-class status symbols, according to Waitrose’s annual food and drink report. Sales of Cornish salt flakes are up by 79% year on year, and premium olive oil, olives and vinegar are apparently starting to replace wine as the go-to gift at dinner parties.

Don’t blame welfare scroungers, blame the system

The government’s crackdown on unemployed young people detracts from the real crisis in our welfare system, says Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph: Britain is the only developed country seeing a surge in sickness benefit claims. This is not, as Labour’s welfare minister Alison McGovern argues, because people have “stolen from the state”. The reverse is true: those on welfare are being failed by the state. Almost four million people are currently trapped in the system. Many are capable of work but deemed unfit, due to a process that is miscategorising people on “an industrial scale”. I’ve been speaking to claimants for a documentary, and there’s a clear theme. For most, life had been going well until a mental health episode knocked them for six. They needed temporary support but instead ended up “signed off long-term sick” – whereupon they were abandoned, unable to leave the system and given little incentive to try.

Most assessments are now done over the phone, and the approval rate has doubled to 80% since 2010. Once you’re on these benefits it’s very hard to get off them, not least because many jobs won’t come close to the same kind of pay. And if claimants do find a job and tell the Jobcentre they no longer need the payments, the process of being “reassessed” can take years – during which time they continue to receive the money. So not only is the system actively stopping people getting back to work, it’s also a “criminal waste of money”. The daily damage this is inflicting on our economy and society is so great that “delay is no longer an option”.

In a sign of the times, Walmart is rolling back its much-trumpeted diversity scheme. Changes include closing its $100m Centre for Racial Equity which launched in 2020; discontinuing the use of the term “diversity, equity and inclusion”; and ending its preference for suppliers majority-owned by women, LGBTQ+ folks and veterans. This is a big deal, says Axios: Walmart is the world’s largest private employer and one of the largest firms by revenue globally. “Where it goes others are likely to follow.”

There are 37 towns and cities in northern Europe that call themselves “Venice of the North” because of their canals. Germany has the most, with nine supposed Venices, closely followed by Britain, with seven: Birmingham, Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds, the Glaswegian suburb of Maryhill, Leeds, London Paddington, Manchester, and Skipton in North Yorkshire. See the full list here.

Putin’s new friend in Europe

Călin Georgescu’s victory in the first round of Romania’s presidential elections caught the whole country by surprise, says Nicholas Vinocur in Politico. The openly pro-Russia candidate hardly registered in national opinion polls, featured in no TV debates and doesn’t even belong to a political party. Now he is the front-runner. In many ways, Georgescu is an archetypal “2024 radical right-wing populist”: he speaks in layman’s terms; shuns Western dogma; expresses deep scepticism about the EU and Nato; and is despised by mainstream media. In the run-up to the elections, he followed other “leading right-wing radicals” like Jordan Bardella and Nigel Farage by amassing a huge following on TikTok, where his campaign played out. One viral video shows him – à la Putin – riding a horse in a traditional Romanian shirt.

Georgescu’s win hit Brussels “like a thunderbolt”, says Emmanuel Berretta in Le Point. Since the Ukraine war broke out, Romania’s Port Constanţa has been a “vital artery” for the delivery of Western military supplies and the export of Ukrainian grain. A change of allegiance in Bucharest could “strangle” Kyiv on its southern flank. And while Romania is expanding one key Nato base, Georgescu recently described another airbase – which houses Nato’s anti-missile shield and has been a “major asset” in the Ukraine conflict – as a “diplomatic disgrace”. The Romanian firebrand would also join a growing list of leaders, such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, who are cosying up to Putin. This could lead to a “pro-Russian axis” within the EU, posing a significant threat to the alliance’s cohesion. If Georgescu wins the second round of Romania’s election next Sunday, “the impact would be considerable”.

Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone has become the most expensive shopping street in the world, says The Guardian. The 350-metre strada commands annual rental prices of up to €20,000 a square metre, compared to only €19,537 for New York’s Fifth Avenue. Milan receives a fraction of the visitors that cities such as London or Paris welcome, but attracts big spenders with tax-free luxury shopping (for those coming from outside the EU). Plus, as one of the street’s proprietors points out: “You get a much better plate of pasta and glass of wine.”

Two of London’s most historic markets, Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate fish market, are set to close for good, says BBC News. The City of London corporation voted to withdraw its support for the planned relocation of the foodie trading spots to a £1bn site in Dagenham, citing cost concerns. Both markets, which date back 850 years, were set to be relocated to the east London location to make way for a new London museum at the Smithfield site and new houses at Billingsgate. The butchers and fishmongers will receive compensation for the closure, and can continue trading until 2028.

It’s a mock-up of a future Chinese moon base, says The Times. Despite its amateur feel – not least the “Lego-like spacemen” – the model was based on a careful examination of the challenges of building a lunar colony: extreme temperatures, cosmic radiation and a lack of raw materials. The theory is that each igloo would be built by robots using large 3D printers. China has also made bricks from moon dust brought back from previous landings, and is sending them to its space station to see if they can withstand conditions there. “If so, they could be the first building blocks of our new space civilisation.”