Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 30 Sep 2017

The new chief inspector of hospitals in England has said the NHS
is not fit for the 21st Century. Professor Ted Baker, who started
the role last month, told the Daily Telegraph: “The model of care
we have got is still the model we had in the 1960s and 70s.” He
added that the system had not adapted to deal with the growth in
the population. 

San Juan’s mayor has warned Donald Trump’s administration that
if its hurricane relief efforts are not improved, “what we we are
going to see is something close to a genocide”. A tearful Carmen
Yulín Cruz said: “We are dying here. I cannot fathom the thought
that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out the
logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles.”

Boris Johnson has set out his red lines on Brexit, including a
demand that any transition period after Britain leaves the EU
should not last “a second more” than two years and that the UK must
refuse to accept new EU rules during that period. However, the
leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, has criticised
the foreign secretary and called for “serious people” to take
charge of Brexit.

A police investigation has found there were initial grounds to
suspect former prime minister Sir Edward Heath over allegations of
child sexual abuse. Wiltshire detectives, who will publish a report
into the claims against Heath next week following a two-year
inquiry, have concluded that if the politician had still been alive
he may have been formally interviewed by detectives under criminal
caution.

A lawyer has warned that legal action over an operation
performed on thousands of UK women could end up being bigger than
Thalidomide. More than 75,000 women in England have undergone the
20-minute operation, used to treat stress incontinence and prolapse
after childbirth, by inserting a polypropylene mesh into the
vagina. Some were left in chronic pain, unable to walk, work and
have sex.

Britain has dropped from the top to the bottom of the league of
G7 leading economies in the year since the Brexit vote. After
weaker-than-expected GDP data, a report that London’s house prices
fell for the first time in nine years, and amid higher levels of
consumer debt, the pound fell as much as 0.7% against the euro.
However, Mark Carney hinted that the Bank of England may still
raise interest rates in November.

Three leading supermarket chains have halted deliveries of
chicken from a factory belonging to 2 Sisters, the country’s
biggest poultry supplier, after undercover filming exposed slack
hygiene standards and food safety records being altered. Marks
& Spencer said the footage showed “unacceptable” standards,
while Aldi and Lidl said they had also suspended supplies from the
food processor.

Ryanair has offered nearly 700,000 customers with cancelled
flights compensation for hotels and other “reasonable” expenses, as
well as alternative flights with other airlines. Some customers
have spent up to £1,500 of their own money as a direct result of
having their flights cancelled. However, the airline may force
customers to take busses or drive themselves in hire cars
instead.

Donald Trump’s health secretary has resigned after it was
revealed he had repeatedly used taxpayers’ money to hire expensive
chartered flights. Tom Price is the first member of Trump’s cabinet
to leave office. His exit was announced an hour after the US
President told reporters he was disappointed in Price’s use of
private aircraft and did not like the way it reflected on his
administration.

A woman’s body found in a lake in Cheshire is thought to be that
of a serving officer with Greater Manchester police. Cheshire
police were called to Poynton park in the early hours of Friday
morning after reports a body had been found. They believe that the
victim is 39-year-old Leanne McKie, a mother of three young
children. A 43-year-old man from Wilmslow has been arrested on
suspicion of murder.