Top story: Alarming scale of addiction in over-50s

Good morning, I’m Warren Murray – let’s get started.

Alcohol and substance abuse, and their detrimental health effects, have reached worrying levels among baby boomers in Britain. Katherine Brown from the Institute of Alcohol Studies sums it up: “This is the first generation of home-drinkers who are far more likely to buy cheap supermarket alcohol than visit their local pub. They are drinking more than their parents and it’s no surprise that their health is starting to suffer as a result.”

Tabloid imagery of inebriated young people lolling in the gutter couldn’t be more misleading. The hard core of the drinking problem is those aged 55 to 74, who outstrip any other age group including millennials for alcohol-related injuries, diseases and conditions.

The phenomenon is being seen in other countries as well – by 2020 the number of people receiving treatment for substance misuse problems is expected to double in Europe, and treble in the US, among those aged over 50. Cannabis, opioids and prescription medications are increasingly part of the picture.

In the UK there are calls for tailored addiction programmes for older people. Karen Tyrell, from charity Addaction, said: “[Older adults’] drinking and drug use tends to be around age-related issues, so things like retirement, bereavement [and] being quite lonely.” Screening for alcohol dependency and other drug issues during visits for health problems such as dementia or liver disease is also being proposed. On a practical level, older people should limit their standard drinks to a maximum of 11 a week rather than the government guideline of 14, says Dr Tony Rao, an old-age psychiatrist with expertise on the issue.

‘They do not like our country’ – Donald Trump has used a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, to try to counter the widespread, bipartisan condemnation of his response to deadly neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville. The president caused outrage when, in a chaotic press conference at Trump Tower, he blamed “both sides” equally for Charlottesville, where a car allegedly driven by a far-right zealot ran over and killed an anti-fascist protester. On Tuesday night, Trump painted himself as the real victim and rambled about the “fake news and crooked media”. He told the crowd: “The media can attack me, but where I draw the line is when they attack you – the decency of our supporters.”

The superiority of Trump’s rhetoric was emphasised when he threw in that he lives in a “bigger, more beautiful apartment” than the elites aligned against him.

Brexit ‘red line’ blurred – Theresa May could be headed for a clash with hardcore Brexiters over independence from the EU courts. A policy paper confirms the “direct jurisdiction” of the European court of justice in Luxembourg over the UK will end but suggests its rulings could still hold sway in resolving disputes between the EU and Britain. The prime minister has previously promised to “take back control of our laws”, vowing that Britain’s laws will be made in the national and devolved parliaments, and interpreted by British judges. The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, said: “We welcome this sensible and long overdue climbdown by the prime minister. The government seems to have belatedly accepted it won’t be possible to end the EU court’s influence in the UK without damaging our free trade and security cooperation with Europe.”

Kim ‘helping Syria with WMD’ – Two North Korean shipments confiscated on their way to Syria’s chemical weapons agency suggest the countries’ regimes are cooperating on banned armaments, the UN security council has been told. The Assad government was supposed to have handed over its sarin stocks in late 2013 after a massacre in Damascus, but another deadly attack took place in northern Syria this April. There are concerns the exchanges with North Korea could also include nuclear technology. British WMD expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said: “The North Koreans have been desperate for currency and have been happy to sell technology to anyone.” Meanwhile ever-tougher sanctions are worrying ordinary North Koreans who are already struggling against drought and the failure of crops. “For one thing there are too many soldiers to feed,” says Japanese documentary-maker Jiro Ishimaru who maintains covert contact with citizen journalists inside the regime’s border. At a time when the international community is focused on trying to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, the UN, determined to avoid a repeat of the 1990s famine, is having to send North Korea $6.3m in food aid.

Upstairs downstairs – British homeowners are digging a basement or getting a loft conversion as high house prices and a stagnant market put the next rung of the property ladder out of reach. Planning applications for basements have increased by 183%. The trend is to put the man-cave, laundry and/or playroom down there, while the children’s bedrooms go up there. London is the epicentre of the big dig – giving rise to high-profile neighbourly disputes between the likes of Robbie Williams and Jimmy Page – but the phenomenon also reflects the situation of ordinary owners who simply can’t afford a bigger place. The number of planning applications for loft conversions has climbed from 34,822 in 2012 to 49,649 in 2016. London agent Henry Pryor says it is “depressing news” as far as sales activity is concerned but for many owners it makes sense to extend their mortgage, and their home, rather than move.

‘She felt very torn’ – Princes Harry and William have told how the Queen sought to shield them from the public grief sweeping Britain after the death of their mother, Diana.

Their grandmother kept the boys at Balmoral with newspapers out of sight in the first days, and William says in a BBC documentary that he appreciates how he was given “the privacy to mourn, to collect our thoughts, and to just have that space away from everybody”. They were eventually thrust into the limelight during a walkabout to meet mourners after public pressure led to the Queen returning early to London – and then walked behind their mother’s coffin in her funeral procession. The documentary Diana, 7 Days airs on BBC1 on Sunday evening.

Lunchtime read: Labour looks north for Scottish revival

Labour won seven seats in Scotland during the general election, compared with the one they held before. But the party will need to regain many more seats from the SNP to get into power in Westminster.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kezia Dugdale, leader of Scottish Labour. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

Ewen Macaskill examines the lay of the land as Jeremy Corbyn sets out on a five-day Scottish tour to highlight 18 marginal constituencies. They might be softer targets than Conservative heartlands in England but it still won’t be easy – poll analyst John Curtice says Labour has “one hell of a battle on its hands” against the nationalists. Labour’s Scottish leader, the sometime Corbyn critic Kezia Dugdale, is getting ready in case Theresa May’s government tumbles out of power in the autumn, and says: “I do think we are seeing a revival … The party with the greatest potential to grow is the Labour party.”

Sport

England have booked the showdown with New Zealand that the Women’s World Cup has been craving – and if their heroic tacklers can patch themselves up in time, they have every chance of defending their crown.

Shahid Afridi demolished Derbyshire’s dream of reaching the NatWest T20 Blast finals day for the first time with a brutal display of power hitting as Hampshire cruised to a 101-run victory in a one-sided quarter-final at Derby. The FA and Fifa have condemned the latest hack by the Fancy Bears group after details of failed drug tests and therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) among footballers were made public. And New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft awarded Donald Trump a Super Bowl championship ring after the team’s valedictory trip to the White House in April.

Business

Asia-Pacific stocks have risen as continued optimism about the prospects for the US economy outweighs any doubts about possible conflict with North Korea. Tokyo and Seoul were both up but the ASX200 in Sydney was down, not helped by the country’s biggest company, the Commonwealth Bank, facing a class action over a huge breach of money laundering regulations.

The FTSE100 is set to dip 0.22% at the open. The pound hasn’t recovered any ground from Tuesday’s selloff and is at $1.281 and €1.089.

The papers

The Sun has the oddest headline of the day: “Snorkel dad in Turkish hellhole for finding a few coins”. The Times leads with “Europe under threat” and features an interview with the Libyan prime minister who says terrorists could be posing as migrants as they cross the Mediterranean to the continent.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Guardian front page, 23 August 2017

The Telegraph splashes with news Britain will be bound by future decisions of the European court of justice after Brexit according to a key UK government negotiating document. The Guardian version: “PM accused of U-turn over EU courts promise”.

The Mail and Mirror both lead with a new BBC documentary that has Prince William and Harry talking about the death of their mother, Diana. The Mail’s headline is “Moment daddy told us mummy was dead”. The Scotsman splashes with results of a review by the Scottish government calling for private schools to pay business taxes. The FT leads on the news that sub-prime lender Provident has lost its chief executive and 65% of its value after it issued a second profits warning.

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