Ten things we learned this week

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/24/ten-things-we-learned-this-week

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Twenty MPs declared more than £100,000 form second jobs

An analysis by the Guardian has shown that 26 MPs have declared more than £7.1m in combined earnings from second jobs and outside interests.

Twenty declared more than £100,000 in outside earnings. Many received more income from shareholdings, directorships or paid employment than they did from their parliamentary salaries.

One of the top earners was Charles Hendry, who was until September 2012 a minister of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Hendry received an income of £100,000 from three energy sector companies. Nadine Dorries, meanwhile, earned £167,140 from novel writing.

There is no suggestion any of the former ministers breached parliamentary rules or the ministerial code.

People are divided over Renée Zellweger’s face

When photographs of Renée Zellweger on the red carpet of Elle magazine’s 2014 Women in Hollywood event emerged on Tuesday morning, social media reacted with shock. Zellweger’s face had changed. “This is not Botox or even surgery,” joked the comedian Viv Groskop on Twitter. “It’s a MISSING PERSON ENQUIRY.”

Commentators couldn’t decide whether the changes were down to plastic surgery or possibly because Zellweger had stopped having botox. Articles pouring scorn on the actor were tweeted gleefully, before a second wave of articles appeared criticising the public’s reaction – everybody was discussing a woman’s appearance, again. In a statement to People magazine, Zellweger wrote: “I’m glad folks think I look different! I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows.”

Tesco’s profits hole is bigger than expected

Tesco’s profits hole is bigger than anticipated and runs back into previous financial years. A month-long investigation found the supermarket’s first-half profits had been artificially inflated by £263m rather than the £250m initially thought.

The chief executive, Dave Lewis, said the investigation report would be passed to the Financial Conduct Authority and that from Tesco’s perspective, this “drew a line” under the issue.

Embattled chairman, Sir Richard Broadbent, is to be replaced after a disastrous three-year tenure, with former Asda boss Archie Norman the current favourite to replace him.

Tesco’s total first-half UK sales fell by 2.6% to £23.6bn and like-for-like sales for the last 3 months have fallen by over 5%. Pre-tax profits plunged 92% to £112m.

DJ Mike Read repents over Calypso song

This week marked the rise and fall of the Ukip Calypso song. The ditty, created by former Radio 1 DJ Mike Read, involved him singing in a fake Caribbean accent about “open borders” and “illegal immigrants in every town”.

“Leaders committed a cardinal sin, open the borders let them all come in,” went one line. “Illegal immigrants in every town, stand up and be counted Blair and Brown.”

Nigel Farage welcomed the song by tweeting that all the party’s supporters should buy the single in a bid to get it to number one. At first Read batted away criticism that the song was racially insensitive, saying that “it was never meant to be remotely racist.” “It’s an old-fashioned political satire … you can’t sing a calypso with a Surrey accent.”

But as pressure grew, the former BBC presenter changed his mind on Wednesday and issued an apology for “unintentionally causing offence”. “That was never my intention and I apologise unreservedly if anyone has taken offence. I’ve asked the record company to withdraw the single immediately.”

Isis may have possession of a US airdrop of arms

Video footage released by Islamic State (Isis) this week appeared to show one of the group’s fighters with boxes of arms dropped by the US and intended for besieged Kurds in Kobani. The film shows a stack of boxes attached to a parachute which contain various weapons.

The Pentagon said it was investigating the video and admitted that one of its airdrops failed to reach its target. US defence spokesman Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Warren said: “One bundle worth of equipment is not enough equipment to give the enemy any type of advantage at all. It’s a relatively small amount of supplies. This is stuff [Isis] already has.”

If the video is verified it will be embarrassing for the US, whose airforce uses advanced precision technology.

Oscar Pistorius will spend at least 10 months in prison

Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for shooting dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.

The disgraced Paralympian was pictured in the back of an armoured police vehicle before being transported to Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, where he is being housed in the hospital wing.

Convicted of culpable homicide, Pistorius will spend at least the next 10 months in prison, but could spend the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said a judge must strive for a sentence “neither too light nor too severe”, ruling that a non-custodial sentence would send out the wrong message.

Reeva Steenkamp’s parents said they were satisfied with the sentence, but believe there was “more to the whole story”.

125 prisoners have killed themselves in 20 months

Between January 2013 and 28 August 2014, 121 men and four women, aged between 18 and 74, killed themselves in the prison system.

Since then and up to 2 October another nine men killed themselves, bringing the total number of self-inflicted deaths since January to 134.

Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, has repeatedly claimed there is no pattern to the rise in suicides in the last 20 months. But a Guardian investigation identified a number of distinct themes in many of the deaths, including mental illness among inmates and lack of training for prison staff.

Prison service ombudsman, Nigel Newcomen, described the deaths as “utterly unacceptable” and said they reflected the “rising tide of despair” across the prison system.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau is the Ottawa gunman suspect

Canada’s capital Ottawa went into lockdown on Wednesday as a lone gunman shot dead a solider at a war memorial and opened fire in the parliament building.

Twenty-four-year-old Corporal Nathan Cirillo was killed while standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the national war memorial.

The gunman then forced his way into Ottawa’s parliament building before being shot dead by a ceremonial official.

The suspect has been named as 31-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Muslim convert who appears to have had an extensive criminal record.

On Monday, a man described by authorities as having converted to jihadi ideology ran down and killed a soldier with his car in Quebec.

Ched Evans protests his innocence

Footballer and convicted rapist Ched Evans walked free from prison, expressing regret for what he described as an “act of infidelity” against his girlfriend.

The former Sheffield United player was released from Wymott prison in Lancashire on Saturday after serving half of a five-year sentence for a rape in 2011.

Evans, 25, continues to protest his innocence and insists that the woman he was convicted of attacking had consented to sex.

The criminal cases review commission is fast-tracking an inquiry into the footballer’s conviction.

Evans’s victim was forced to flee her home and given a new identity after being repeatedly named on social media.

The NHS needs £8bn more funding

The Five Year Forward View for the NHS in England report was only 39 pages long, but it caused quite a stir when it was published on Thursday. The report was drawn up by NHS England chief executive and recommended a far-reaching overhaul of the health service to relieve pressure on hospitals and GP practices.

The document said that the NHS would need a further £8bn of funding on top of the planned increases in line with inflation. It argued for a more prominent role for GPs in providing out of hours care and performing more serious procedures that might usually be done in hospitals. It also suggested that employers could offer cash incentives and vouchers in return for healthier lifestyles.

Health ministers from the three main parties embraced the report’s principles, but refused to commit the extra funding above inflation over the next parliament that the report asked for.