Helen Flint

Christmas gift giving is a zero sum game. Too much tit-for-tat ends up in tat, that wastes money and fills landfills. Time for my annual ‘no unnecessary presents’ Christmas message (courtesy @itvMLshow)

Just had a good call with @LeicesterLiz about O2's price hike on a price hike, that makes a mockery of @Ofcom's rules. Its bad for consumers & now its broken the taboo if others follow suit could increase inflation! My 3 key suggestions were 1. Just scrap current rules and simply ban above inflation mid-contract price hikes. Banning inflation-linked hikes which is what Ofcom's done isn't the same (ie while you can't say we'll increase by inflation + 3%, but you can say we'll double your price!). O2s prices rises are 7% to 30% year on year, far more than they were for many under the old inflation linked hikes system. In the interim while that's looked at... 2. The current rule says if mobile, broadband & pay TV firms hike prices mid-contract by more than they said they would when people signed up, then customers have a right to leave penalty free. There are two problems with this... a. They ?deliberately? don't communicate it well so many miss it. They need to be made to put it in font 50 at the top of all communications. b. You have 30 days after notification to leave penalty free. Yet most people miss the notifications, it feels like junk. They only notice it when the price actually rises. So there should be two 30 days windows you can leave penalty free i) After notification ii) After the hike. 3. Firms should not be able to unilaterally decide to increase prices by more than they said at the start of the contract. If it is going to be allowed it should be only in emergencies (eg huge unexpected rise in underlying costs) and they should have to apply to Ofcom for permission to do it. -------------- I'm thankful to the Secretary of State for listening to me on this, and glad she was already up in arms about it too. She is going to investigate what can be done... PS If you're wondering why I say ban above inflation mid-contract price hikes, rather than ban all price hikes. Partly because I lobbied for changes for years on this, and there was huge reticence so I'm trying to come up with practical solutions that could be implemented. Plus as over two year contract costs can change, so if you ban any rises, then you risk firms over-inflating prices at contracts start as a provisional against possible cost increases over the contract period. So all in all no above inflation rises seems reasonable.

Fountains Abbey 🍁

We are currently in attendance at the exit to the Kingsway (Wallasey) tunnel in Liverpool following reports of concern for the safety of a man. Officers were called at 5.20am to the scene near to Ennerdale Park where the man is on the wrong side of a barrier. The exit slip road leading to Scotland Road northbound is currently closed while emergency services speak to the man. The exit to Scotland Road southbound and all Wirral-bound lanes remain open to traffic. We thank motorists for their patience as we deal with this incident.

#BOPA2025 don’t escape - come to the final motivational session in the main auditorium

It is only 3 weeks until #BOPA2025 in Belfast & there is still time to sign up! Shane Martin @moodwatchers is our #MotivationalSpeaker this year & will be discussing 'The psychology of renewal: seeking purpose & meaning in life and work’ 🔗bopa.org.uk/latest-confere… #BOPA2025

Please post and re-post the hell out of this please! And listen to it. And be nice about it online if possible. Massive drive to show people that people care right now. Thank you!

It is only 5 weeks until #BOPA2025 in Belfast Have you registered yet? 💰£300 reduced fee for #BOPA members 🗒️Agenda incl. fantastic speakers 👩‍🏫Clinical updates 📊Research 🧒Pediatrics & Teenage Young adult 🫀 Hot topics 🔗bopa.org.uk/latest-confere…

The final episode in the new series of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue airs tonight at 6:30pm on @BBCRadio4! Join @AdrianEdmondson, Miles Jupp, @henningwehn and Rachel Parris as they return to The Bristol Beacon! Catch up now on BBC Sounds: bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b…

We are saddened by the passing of Gemini and Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. With the crew of Apollo 8, Lovell became one of the first to leave Earth and journey to another world and on Apollo 13 his cool head helped turn a near-disaster into NASA’s finest hour. Lovell was a great friend to our museum and we will miss him dearly.

Ey up, it's #YorkshireDay! 🤩 We're celebrating by posting a few of our favourite pictures featuring some of the special qualities of the #YorkshireDales #NationalPark. What's your favourite place in the #Dales? 📸 Wendy McDonnell, Kev Lockwood and Paul Clark

Deserved acclaim for both the Lionesses and the Kerry Football team, but can we also just acknowledge how great the last stage of @LeTour was yesterday? And if this the last time we have it on @itvsport, then @nedboulting and @millarmind et al left on a high. Thanks lads.

@nedboulting When you all get home, need to catch up with Human TV doc series on bbc iPlayer. It will answer some of Pete’s questions from earlier this week about timelines

Watts Occuring? 😉 We're rounding off racing in Wales this year! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🙌 #ToBM | @LloydsBank

The ITV4 coverage of The Tour de France has been fantastic, as always.

I've created a new YouTube playlist of 10 videos that explain how systemic cancer treatments work. youtube.com/playlist?list=… They're aimed at health professionals who want to understand cancer treatments and feel better equipped to discuss them with patients.

🎆 Victory to Yates, and Yellow to Healy! A 10th stage that offered no respite for the peloton, the breakaway took the lion's share of the lead while the favourites continued to test each other… ▶️ Here's the recap of this 10th stage. Time for a well-deserved rest! #TDF2025

@GeoffThomasGTF Good luck! Take care of the knees…..

When you treat metastatic CRPC in elderly person, polypharmacy and drug to drug interactions needs to noted . These are some common drug interactions with Abiraterone and Enzalutamide. Useful for clinical practice @OncoAlert @medicalwatchBC @OncBrothers @dr_yakupergun