67 h. ago Shoplifter with 'extraordinary' criminal record swung at worker with vodka bottle

He has a criminal record stretching back 30 years.

Economics

2 d. ago Cops to crack down on shoplifters in Lanarkshire as new taskforce targets areas with highest retail crime

The Retail Crime Taskforce will address a rise in offences such as shoplifting and was created following a £3m funding allocation from the Scottish Government.

Events

5 d. ago FBI forms taskforce over rising reports of vandalism at Tesla dealerships

Amid protests, White House officials close ranks around the Tesla owner leading efforts to slash federal jobsEscalating reports of vandalism at Tesla dealerships and charging stations across the US have prompted the FBI to create a taskforce to target the perpetrators.The development, announced by Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, comes as White House officials close ranks around Elon Musk, the Tesla owner and world’s richest person who has been leading efforts to slash federal jobs and budgets as head of the “department of government efficiency” (Doge). Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago MoD taskforce to target violence against women and girls in the military

The taskforce will include a regional support network trained on topics including domestic violence and sexual offending.

Events

3 w. ago A Town Without Time by Gay Talese review – New York by an old master

The colour and detail in this collection of nonfiction by the grandfather of New Journalism brings the city to gripping, dazzling lifeThe critics have never quite called off the search for the great American novel; meanwhile, the hunt goes on for the only slightly less prized great American article. It’s a piece of journalism that captures the spirit and meaning of the republic. Hardboiled but with a soft centre, in the US feature-writing tradition, it might be set in New York, the most American of places.Indeed, you can still catch staffers at the New Yorker magazine having a crack at it, though they’d never admit it. Their copy might include a zigzagging fire escape, or a genie of steam escaping from a sidewalk, or perhaps a yellow cab hopscotching over potholes. But never all these motifs together! That would risk unfavourable comparison with the cherished chroniclers of the city’s past: EB White, AJ Liebling, Dorothy Parker and others. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘It’s very brazen’: retail workers and shoplifters on the UK’s record theft statistics

Staff tell of thieves costing stores thousands, while shoplifters say soaring living costs drove them to crimeIt was about 8pm in Tesco Express when Katherine*, a shift manager in north-west England, was alone with her younger colleague when she noticed a man acting suspiciously in the aisle containing home goods.The section – which stocked items such as laundry detergent and fabric softener – is behind plastic security barriers, so “he basically ripped it out the shelf, swept it into a duffel bag and walked out,” Katherine said. Continue reading...

Economics