Deaths were nine times higher than normal in parts of Europe during the darkest days of Covid, official figures show. 

Bergamo, a city in northern Italy, recorded 156.1 deaths per 100,000 people in the week to March 20 in 2020 — 800.5 per cent higher than the average for that time of year.

This means it logged Europe’s deadliest spell during the Covid crisis, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

For comparison, Birmingham, where deaths spiked most in the UK, saw a 239.5 per cent rise during mid-April.

Nationally, Italy, the first European nation to be engulfed by the virus, saw deaths skyrocket the most.

The ONS looked at relative age-standardised mortality rate across Europe for every week between December 28, 2019 and July 1, 2022.

The figures show the difference between the death rate logged for each of these weeks compared to the average logged between 2015 and 2019.

Nationally, statisticians found that the peak in death rates was logged by Italy in the week to March 27, 2020, when 74.1 per cent more people died than expected.

Italy was the first country in Europe to be swept by Covid. It spotted its first case in February 2020, in the northern region of Lombardy, and its first wave of deaths peaked in March.

The nation’s high death toll has been put down to its ageing population and overstretched healthcare system.  

Spain (138.5 per cent) and France (50.2 per cent) logged their peak one week later, with deaths concentrated around Madrid and Paris.

The UK saw the most deaths in the week ending April 17, 2020, when there was 38 deaths per 100,000 people — 97.9 per cent higher than expected.

Deaths in England (38.7 per 100,000, 107.6 per cent) and Wales (34.8 per 100,000, 68.7 per cent) spiked that same week.

The fatality rate in Scotland skyrocketed in the week to April 10 (37.4 per 100,000, 71.7 per cent), while deaths reached their highest point in Northern Ireland in the week ending April 24 (28.7 per 100,000, 48.2 per cent).

The ONS broke down rates by areas — called Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics — of which there are 179 in the UK and 1,166 in Europe.

After Bergamo, El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands, logged the highest spike in death rates in 2020 (621 per cent), followed by Segovia, northern Spain, (620.4 per cent) and Cremona, northern Italy (554.6 per cent).

In 2021, El Hierro (595.7 per cent), Lungau, south west Austria (389.1 per cent), and Mayotte, a French overseas territory (379.1 per cent) saw the biggest increases.

The largest spike in deaths in 2022 were reported in Lungau (376 per cent), Außerfern in Austria (228.9 per cent) and Eilean Siar in Scotland (184.1 per cent).

The ONS also examined which areas saw high excess deaths for the longest period.

Bucharest, in Romania, recorded a death rate at least 50 per cent higher than expected for a quarter of all weeks over the 30-month period. 

It was followed by Sofia, in Bulgaria (17 per cent), and Birmingham (9.4 per cent). 

In the UK, Birmingham logged the highest death rate compared to the pre-pandemic average, with a spike 239.5 per cent in the week to April 17, 2020.

London (220.8 per cent), Manchester (206.8 per cent) and Cardiff (146.6 per cent) logged their peaks in deaths that same week. 

Since the pandemic began, nearly 7million virus deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization. The UK has logged around 230,000 fatalities whose death certificate has mentioned Covid as one of the causes.

Drone footage taken from points on Britain’s faltering High Speed Rail 2 project has revealed the enormous scars ripped into the countryside across the route with as ministers due to make a decision on the northern leg this week.

If all had gone to plan, Britain would be just two and a half years away from high-speed trains whizzing between London and Birmingham, cutting travel times by around 30 minutes.

Construction workers should now be putting the finishing touches to the network but instead, completion has been pushed from 2026 to 2029-33 and the budget has risen from £37.5billion to £98billion. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly so spooked by an £8billion jump in costs to complete the line to Birmingham that he is set to axe the Manchester leg which has been labelled a ‘gross act of vandalism’ and an ‘act of economic self-harm’ by former chancellor George Osborne. 

In an article for the Times newspaper with Tory grandee Lord Heseltine, the former Chancellor warned the Prime Minister about damaging Britain’s reputation and protecting his own legacy.

He wrote: ‘Governments are remembered for what they build and create. Make this mistake, and yours may only be known for what it cancelled and curtailed.’

Citing Boris Johnson‘s winning message in the 2019 election, they added: ‘How could ever again claim to be levelling up when you cancel the biggest levelling-up project in the country?’

Last week, the Mail sent a drone along the entire length of HS2. Photographs show many major points are still construction sites in their early stages.

Phil Marsh, who has worked in railway administration for 50 years, said: ‘These pictures show what a massive infrastructure project HS2 is and how dreadful it looks at the moment. There are earthworks, concrete mixers and haul roads on a vast magnitude, which creates a huge environmental and societal impact on our densely compacted country.’

Costs have spiralled, Mr Marsh said, due to the number of changes made. ‘Every time specifications are slightly altered, insiders tell me that contractors are basically sticking another million pounds in their back pockets.

‘If all this is for 30 minutes off the journey from London to Birmingham, it would be a complete waste of money.’

About one mile east of Lichfield and 15 miles north of Birmingham Curzon Street Station, HS2 veers northward.

Construction work is being carried out beneath the West Coast Main Line and amid Staffordshire farmland.

‘This is what is considered a ‘mission critical’ spot as any disruption to the West Coast Main Line might have cost millions,’ said Phil Marsh.

‘It looks fine, but the tracks still need to be laid.’

The Chiltern Tunnel ends to the west of Chesham and north of High Wycombe.

This is where the high-speed trains are due to travel above ground for a short distance before plunging into the 0.9-mile Wendover Tunnel.

‘This end of the tunnel through the Chilterns hasn’t been cut through yet so it’s just a wall of earth,’ said Christian Wolmar, who hosts the railway podcast Calling All Stations.

‘The twin tunnel-boring machines, Florence and Cecilia, still have about two miles to go.’

This one-mile tunnel travels beneath an ancient woodland and was completed in November last year – but at the cost of felling four ancient woods in nearby South Cubbington.

Work is still being carried out to handle 500,000 tons of mudstone at an on-site slurry treatment plant.

‘The hard work has been done with the major construction complete,’ said rail administrator Phil Marsh. ‘But there are the railway communications, drainage and signalling systems still to do.’

Covering ten miles, this will be the longest of the 500 tunnels dug for the HS2 line.

The underpass begins in the south near the M25 and then head north-west between the towns of Beaconsfield and Amersham. Railway podcast host Christian Wolmar said: ‘The tunnel is only about three-quarters finished.

‘Denham is a mess – an enormous building site with a car park for 1,000 cars and a concrete factory works for mixing concrete and making tunnel supports.’

More than half of A&E attendees at the worst-performing hospitals have had to wait more than four hours for care in the last year, official figures show.

NHS data revealed 54 per cent of sick Brits showing up to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the year to March 2023 waited at least this long.

Under decade-old guidelines, 95 per cent of casualty patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of being seen.

But overall, only 71 per cent of patients in England were seen within this timeframe, according to latest NHS data for 2022/23, plummeting from 77 per cent in the previous year.

Health leaders warned that difficulties getting GP appointments, strikes by NHS medics and the record 7.68million backlog is piling pressure on emergency units. 

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust recorded the worst four-hour A&E performance in the country last year.

More than half of patients (54 per cent) had to wait too long to been at the Trust’s A&E facilities — 66,159 patients in total.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust was the second worst in the country with only 48 per cent of patients being seen within the four-hour target, meaning 181,451 had to wait too long.

This was followed by East Cheshire NHS Trust, where 46 per cent patients weren’t seen within guidelines. 

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust each recorded that 45 per cent of patients weren’t seen within four hours.

Wye Valley NHS Trust and The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Essex reported that around 44 per cent of patients waiting in excess of four hours. 

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust rounded off the list of 10 worst NHS trusts for four-hour A&E waits, with around 43 per cent of patients forced to wait this long.   

Responding to the figures, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘A&Es have been under enormous pressure for years, with people naturally gravitating towards ‘where the lights are on’ and where they know they will be seen in a relatively short time frame.

‘But it’s not just A&Es that are under pressure and that is the problem. 

‘With general practice and primary care also facing huge demand, we know that patients may turn towards urgent and emergency care should they struggle to get a GP appointment at a time suitable to them.’

He added: ‘The data for last year shows the scale of the effects ever growing demand is having on A&E and on patients, with over 410,000 people waiting over half a day for admission, up from 98,000 the previous year, and this isn’t even from time of arrival, so a patient could’ve been waiting much longer. 

‘But with too few staff, beds, or capacity and availability in alternative services, health leaders can only do so much.

‘This level of demand is unsustainable, so we need to see a greater focus on prevention and resourcing for community care to help relieve some pressure, keep patients healthy and out of hospital, and enable them to get care closer to home.  

Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) president, Dr Adrian Boyle, said the figures showed how ‘dire’ both last winter, and last year in general had been for patients, some of whom had paid the ultimate price for care delays.  

‘Record attendances met with the significant shortfall of staff and beds meant huge numbers of patients faced severe delays for care that we know are associated with increased harm and even deaths,’ he said. 

‘We know that it is the elderly, the sickest and most vulnerable, and those experiencing a mental health crisis that face the longest waits for a bed.’

He added that the RCEM added that despite ministers pledging to improve A&E waits, data for this year showed no significant improvement.

‘Since the Government published their urgent and emergency care delivery plan in January 2023 we have not seen sufficient progress on reducing long stays for patients who need to be admitted to hospital,’ he said.

Dr Boyle said this winter was likely to be another difficult one for A&E services and urged the Government to take further action.  

‘The emergency care system is under severe pressure. Resuscitating it is a necessity,’ he said. 

Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England, the patient watchdog, said: ‘People continue to wait many hours for care, often in crowded waiting rooms, with little or no information on when they will be seen.’

She added: ‘Undoubtedly, urgent and emergency services have been under unprecedented pressure for the last few years amid the pandemic, industrial action, record waiting times for hospital treatment and struggles to access GP care.

‘People will go to A&E if there is nowhere else to go, leading to increased treatment and care because they couldn’t get help sooner.’

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care, said: ‘These latest figures demonstrate the incredible pressure NHS staff are facing, and on top of this record year we know that we have also just experienced the busiest summer ever in A&E, with more than 6.5million attendances between June and August.’

However, he insisted efforts to slash A&E waits are now paying off.

‘Despite this pressure, the measures in our urgent and emergency recovery plan are beginning to deliver real improvements with 73 per cent of patients seen within four hours in August, up from 69 per cent in December,’ Professor Redhead added.

A Department of Health spokesperson insisted that Government efforts to boost A&E performance were working.   

‘No one should be waiting longer than necessary for urgent and emergency care and we are taking immediate action to improve access – with improvements made in both A&E waits and ambulance response times compared to last year,’ they said. 

‘Our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan aims to deliver one of the fastest and longest sustained improvements in waiting times in the NHS’s history, including creating 5,000 permanent staffed hospital beds – with the NHS on track to deliver this by winter.

‘The NHS has already rolled out over 9,800 virtual ward beds to care for patients in their own homes and ease pressure on hospitals, and is on track to reach 10,000 ahead of winter.’

The new analysis of NHS data comes as latest monthly A&E waiting time figures, released last week, showed 2.1million sick Brits showed up to A&E departments in August.

Of those, only 73 per cent were treated within four hours, compared to around 83 per cent pre-pandemic.

All of the Trusts named as low performers for four-hour waits to be seen in A&E were contacted for comment. 

A spokesperson for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘Like other hospitals around the country, our emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary is under intense pressure. 

‘We apologise to patients waiting too long to be seen and those facing delays in admission to our wards because of this pressure.’

The spokesperson said while staff are working hard to address pressures the Trust was trying to combat issues with bed-blockers.

‘Each day, we have up to 200 people who have completed their treatment but have to remain in our beds until a suitable place in the community can be found,’ they said. 

‘That causes longer waiting times in our emergency department while we wait for beds to become available.’

They added the Trust had a number of projects underway to boost A&E performance including a new facility to discharge medically fit patients to free up beds and a new urgent treatment centre to reduce pressure on the emergency department. 

A Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: ‘Like hospital trusts across the country we are seeing an increasing demand for services, with a growing number of patients with an acute need for treatment, which has led to patients waiting longer than we would like within our Emergency Department.’

The spokesperson added the Trust had recently expanded its A&E staffing and physically expand the emergency department itself in an effort to reduce waits. 

‘We have seen improvements in our four-hour performance in recent months and anticipate seeing further improvements going forward,’ they said. 

A Wye Valley NHS Trust spokesperson told MailOnline that their poor A&E performance figures were partly due to a lack of walk in centres for patients. 

However, they added the Trust understood the ‘frustration of patients waiting for treatment’ and is working hard to reduce waits.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust’s chief operating officer Stephanie Lawton said: ‘We continue to experience an extremely high demand for our emergency department services, and across our hospital. 

‘We recognise this has an impact on the time that patients are waiting to be seen and our dedicated teams continue to work hard to assess, treat and admit patients and ensure that those who are well enough can leave hospital and return home as soon as possible. 

‘We have ongoing work with our local health and social care partners to support patients with the right care, in the right place, at the right time.’

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust chief operating officer Michelle Cady said: ‘We recognise the challenges we face in achieving the four-hour A&E access performance standard mainly for our Peterborough site. 

‘A board approved improvement program is in place and whilst it is still early days, we have seen significant improvements in ambulance handover times, improved journey times through the department and improvement of our time-to-initial-assessment performance.’

‘As a result, the Trust’s overall performance against the 4-hour standard in accident and emergency continue to maintain over 60% this year.’

MailOnline recently revealed that no NHS Trust in England with a major A&E department has hit goal of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours between January and July 2023.

Record breaking NHS staff strikes, which have delayed or cancelled almost 1million appointments or procedures, adding to the 7.6billion waiting list for elective treatment, have been partly blamed for the crisis.

Some experts have also pointed to Britain’s GPs as part of the problem, warning A&Es are overwhelmed by people left with nowhere else to turn as they can’t get an appointment with their family doctor.

For their part, GPs themselves report being overwhelmed with some family doctors now responsible for up 2,600 patients each in some areas, up from an average 1,900 in 2016.

Bed-blockers — patients trapped in hospital unable to safely be discharged due to a lack of support in the community — is another factor.

About 11,895 NHS beds were taken up by patients ‘no longer meeting the criteria to reside’ in any given day in August this year, the latest data available. 

NHS staff shortages are also contributing, with the latest data for June suggesting there are just over 125,500 full-time-equivalent vacancies in the health service, meaning roughly one in 10 NHS roles is unfilled. 

The A&E crisis is so bad the NHS effectively abandoned the 95 per cent of patients seen within four hours at the end of 2022.

Instead, trusts have been told to focus on an ‘interim goal’ of getting 76 per cent of patients seen within four hours by March next year.

But for some patients a wait of even four hours to be seen by a medic is a luxury. 

NHS data shows that in some hospitals almost one in five A&E patients had to wait over 12 hours to be seen in August. 

Nationally this figure was almost 9 per cent.  

Cash-ridden UK councils are being forced to flog their wares – selling multi-million pound public assets after being unable to balance their books.

Last week, Birmingham City Council hit headlines following revelations it had become the seventh local authority to become bankrupt after failing to manage its assets.

The Labour-led council revealed in June that it faced an equal pay liability of between £650million and £760million, growing between £5million and £14million a month and now estimated to be more than £1 billion.

Other local authorities are facing a mass of equal pay claims that threaten to tilt their already struggling coffers even further – with 3,000 such claims against Cumberland, Glasgow, Dundee and Fife councils.

The GMB union is also understood to be collecting evidence for further equal pay claims against an additional 20 councils, adding: ‘Everywhere we are looking, we are finding problems.’

In Glasgow, some 8,000 women employed as cleaner and assistants in homecare, schools and nurseries took industrial action before the council agreed to pay £770million in compensation. 

To fund this, the local authority sold off council assets, including Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries, The Guardian reports.

The City Council announced its plans to sell the assets last autumn as part of a drive to raise £270million. 

Political rivals including former Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman slammed the deal and insisted the council had no right to make such an arrangement, as the like of City Chambers and Kelvingrove Museum were owned by the Common Good Fund and required legal approval.

In November last year, the council confirmed it did not plan to buy the properties back from City Property Glasgow at the end of their lease, the Scottish Daily Express reported. A council official confirmed that they will review the position when the time comes.

Thurrock Council announced plans at the start of the year to raise £90million through asset sales to help fulfil its £470million funding gap.

Acting chief executive Ian Wake stated that the authority had five options to help plug the gap, including raising council tax, asset disposal, revenue savings from rationalisation and transformation, growth and exceptional financial support from the government.

Mark Coxshall, the Tory leader of the council said: ‘At the moment, we are £470million in debt which we can’t cover and that is why we are needing to move for exceptional financial support from the government.

‘These are shocking numbers but the first stage to creating a good plan for recovery is to understand the full extent of the problem.’

In May, Croydon Council announced plans to sell off holdings of more than 20 properties in an attempt to raise £50million during this financial year.

The council has revealed a list of 27 buildings it planned to sell off 2023/24. Among its list of properties to be disposed of were the Colonnades Retail Park and the old New Addington Leisure Centre, and the Cherry Orchard Garden Centre – staffed by volunteers with disabilities.

The portfolio also included the sale of five council houses which were arranged to be sold off in order to clear the way for the expansion of Crystal Palace Football Club’s Selhurst Park stadium.

Many of the sales were for properties the council had acquired as part of a planned investment portfolio. 

These include The Colonnades, which was purchased for £53million in 2018 and the following year, the council bought the Selco builders’ merchants warehouse building the offices of medical supplies trader Alliance Healthcare  for a sum of £14million.

Following the legacy of Northamptonshire County Council, which was disbanded in 2021 after going bankrupt, one of its successors sought to offload some of its inherited assets.

North Northamptonshire Council estimated it saved more than £350,000 by closing down a Knuston Hall, near Rushden, last September after it said it became financially unviable to keep it open.

The Grade II-listed former stately home was used as a conference centre and college  but closed during the Covid pandemic.

It reopened briefly in 2021 before closing again in January 2022.

Subsequent survey found it did not meet legal standards and maintenance work would need to be carried out.

The council’s executive director for finance and performance Janice Gotts said it lost around £372,000 in associated income from the hall but made salary savings of £488,000 and net savings in running costs of £241,000.

The hall and its extensive grounds are on the market for £2million.

Slough Borough Council declared bankruptcy in 2021, owing £760million in borrowed debt. To plug the gap, it announced plans to sell off a portfolio including a cinema, DIY store, supermarket and warehouse.

The former Montem Leisure Centre site -which received received planning permission for 212 homes – was put up for sale in October last year

An application submitted by the council’s company Slough Urban Renewal – a joint enterprise between the council and regeneration company Muse, included affordable homes, ‘iconic buildings’, open spaces, and leisure facilities.

The council cannot embark on with capital projects due to restrictions on spending for essential services while it reduces its debt.

Acquired in the 1930s, the leisure centre was demolished in 2019/20 at the cost of £500,000.

The council has received bids of approximately £13.5million for the site, and also put a former music venue, which hosted The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, up for sale.

In south London, Bromley Council is selling its historic Grade-II listed HQ after getting a £164million ‘maintenance and refurbishment bill’ for properties across the borough. 

The council announced it would be moving from its Civic Centre based at Bishop’s Place, in Stockwell Close, to a new purpose-built site in Churchill Court in December last year. 

The former HQ dates back to 1775. Speaking at the time, council boss Colin Smith said: ‘Whilst leaving our current home is a real wrench and tinged with considerable sadness for those of us who have been there a while, this move is of its time given the well-publicised pressures on local governments’ finances and the opportunities it presents in terms of integrating our services more efficiently.’

The council finalised its purchase of the new Civic Centre HQ last month, with staff now moving into the site.

In north Wales, cash-strapped Conwy County Council is looking to spend £255,000 on a study to sell off its historic Bodlondeb HQ.

The authority’s top cabinet team met this week to discuss plans to flog off the Grade -II listed building and move staff into the £58million Coed Pella offices in Colwyn Bay, reports the Daily Post today. 

Conwy’s leader Councillor Charlie McCoubrey said the council had to spend money to save money.

‘It is absolutely vitally important that we get this right,’ he insisted. ‘This is a huge decision for us both in terms of reducing to one office in Coed Pella but also in maximising the community benefit, the economic benefit, and making sure that this amenity is utilised in Bodlondeb to support the residents in Conwy.’

The move comes after it was revealed Conwy faces a £20million to £30million budget shortfall next year, despite increasing council tax by 9.9 per cent last year amid sweeping cutbacks to services. 

Further to the west, in Liverpool, Wirral Council is preparing to flog off 23 car parks, libraries and some of its building to pay off a multi-million pound debt. 

The local authority last month gave Lambert Smith Hampton £495,000 to help selling off its assets over the next three years. 

It comes after civic chiefs backed controversial measures in July that saw Claremount Specialist Sports College, the site of the new Bebington Town Hall and Bromborough Civic Centre put up for sale. 

Wirral’s move to cutback on buildings has been launched to help the authority pay back a £12million of emergency Government funding it received in 2021 to prevent it from declaring bankruptcy, reports the Wirral Globe. 

The council’s leader Paul Stuart insisted the sales were desperately needed to pay off the loan, which is racking up £600,000 in interest every year. 

Other sites set to be sold include Oaklands Outdoor Centre, Seacombe Library, the Coronation Gardens Cafe, the Price Street car park, Tranmere’s Marine Technology Park, former council offices in Liscard, and properties in Seaview Road, Laird Street, and Manor Road. 

Land at Ditton Lane in Moreton, Bedford Place, and Old Clatterbridge Road in Bebington is also being sold. 

Also in difficulty is neighbouring Sefton Council. The authority last year announced it was reviewing around 200 assets a year, reports the Liverpool Echo.

These assets, made up of land and buildings, ‘surplus assets’ and investment properties total more than £300million in value, many of which are held as a legacy from the merging of previous local authorities into what is now Sefton Council. 

On the south coast, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council is planning to sell off a children’s centre, student accommodation building and toilet block to help it plug a £20million gap in its finances.

While Labour-led Nottingham City Council is also making sweeping cuts to its holdings, with civic bosses agreeing to sale a number of buildings and other assets.

At a meeting in February, it was announced the authority would sell York House, which is home to the popular Rosa’s Thai restaurant – alongside six other sites.  

The council said it will complete a sweeping review of 550 of its assets by the end of the year to determine what else it will get rid of.

Nottingham faces a £32million black hole in its 2023-24 financial budget, with the council having proposed savings totalling £29million. 

Meanwhile, there are fears more councils up and down the country will go bust with one Surrey authority grappling a debt that is 86.9 times its regular income.

The Moody’s investor services research found that Spelthorne in Surrey had debts valued at £1.1billion. 

That was an even worse ratio than nearby Woking, which has already issued a section 114 order – meaning it is effectively bankrupt. 

Astonishingly, the bosses at five cash-strapped councils facing bankruptcy are pocketing a higher wage than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak £167,391 salary. 

Drivers have rated the M5 the best motorway in England for 2023 – and the A303 the best road.

The accolades come from a new satisfaction survey of motorways and major roads by independent watchdog Transport Focus, with the M40 – which links London and Birmingham – ranked the No.2 motorway and the A30, which runs from London to Land’s End, the second-best road.

The M6 is declared England’s worst motorway and the A27 comes bottom of the entire list, with an overall satisfaction score of 59 per cent.

The study quizzed more than 9,000 users about their last journey on a motorway or major ‘A’ road managed by National Highways, with those polled asked to rate their journey times, the management of roadworks, surface quality, how safe they felt, the quality of the permanent signage and the electronic signs.

The top-rated M5, which connects the Midlands with the South West, has an overall satisfaction score of 82 per cent, thanks to road users being satisfied with their journey time, the traffic flow and the road not being too busy during their journey, Transport Focus said.

One driver said of the M5: ‘Clear road, and signage was clear for roadworks that were taking place.’

Commenting on the silver-medal-winning M40, one driver said: ‘Traffic not too heavy, road in good condition.’

The A303, which runs from Basingstoke in Hampshire and takes drivers past Stonehenge and on to Honiton in Devon, receives an overall satisfaction score of 85 per cent, the highest in the table.

One driver said: ‘Great road. Not much traffic. Beautiful scenery. Stop off points. No delays.’

Despite running through some of the most picturesque scenery in the land in Cumbria, the M6 – the UK’s longest motorway – receives an overall satisfaction rating of 66 per cent, far below that of the M5.

One driver using the M6 said: ‘Terrible tarmac conditions in places, matrix signs not up to date, unwarranted smart motorway speed limits.’

The bottom-ranked A27, meanwhile, which runs from Wiltshire to East Sussex, was slated by one driver for harbouring huge amounts of rubbish in the verges.

They said: ‘The trip was fine. What is such a shame is the amount of rubbish on the sides of the roads. I have travelled on this road for nearly 30 years and the amount of rubbish in the past few years has got much worse. They used to pick up rubbish – what has happened?’

The A12, which runs from London to Lowestoft in Suffolk, ranks second from last in the table with an overall satisfaction score of 61 per cent. One driver describes its surface as ‘terrible’.

Transport Focus said that overall, 73 per cent of road users were satisfied with their last motorway or major ‘A’ road journey, an improvement on last year’s 69 per cent – and that journeys on smart motorways had lower levels of satisfaction with road users than those that did not include a smart section (smart 69 per cent, not smart 76 per cent).

Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: ‘England’s motorways and “A” roads are at the heart of how many of us move around the country. It’s good to see the M5 and M40 perform well.

‘As the so-called backbone of Britain, the M6 is a vital route which National Highways must continue to focus on, [to] deliver safe, smooth journeys. We’ll continue to keep pushing National Highways to improve these issues.’

By Laura Sharman

Published: 11:57 EDT, 11 September 2023 | Updated: 12:07 EDT, 11 September 2023

Those battling a weekend hangover may be dreaming of a greasy fry-up to shake off their sore head, nausea and tiredness.

But those suffering from the after-effects of alcohol should instead consider a meal of gut-friendly fermented foods, experts say.

Options such as kimchi, kombucha and kefir boost gut and liver health, which is vital for the body to better flush alcohol from the system and therefore reduce the length of a hangover, says London-based registered dietitian Lucy Kerrison. 

Fermented foods, which are made by adding microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast to products including vegetables, tea or milk, can also tackle dehydration, which is behind many hangover symptoms, according to Ms Kerrison.

However, other nutrition experts warn that eating the foods when hungover will have ‘little or no effect’ on how the body deals with alcohol. 

Ms Kerrison told MailOnline: ‘We know the liver is responsible for alcohol metabolism, so looking after your gut health and liver can have a positive impact on alcohol metabolism.’

She said: ‘The faster alcohol is metabolised and removed from your system, the shorter your hangover.

‘Maintaining good gut health can strengthen your intestinal barrier function, so it is less affected by alcohol, a known gut irritant which can affect intestinal motility, permeability and absorption of nutrients.’

She added: ‘If you are suffering from a hangover, it is often foods high in salt and carbohydrates which you crave. 

‘Alcohol is dehydrating and salt results in water retention, so adding a little salt to your diet is not a bad thing during a hangover. 

‘Fermented foods which are higher in salt, such as kimchi and sauerkraut, can be helpful. 

‘They also contain live bacteria which can have a positive impact on our gut microbiome, something which can be damaged with excess alcohol consumption.’

While civilisations have been fermenting food for thousands of yeas for its preserving effects, it has recently gained popularity due to its reported health-boosting effects. 

These include kimchi, a Korean dish made from salted and fermented vegetables, such as cabbage and radish; kombucha, a fizzy, fermented drink made from sweetened tea; and sauerkraut, which is essentially fermented cabbage.

These fermented foods contain probiotics — foods with living microbes that travel to the gut boost health — which may be another reason that they can curb the effect of alcohol. 

Studies in animals have found that consuming probiotics before drinking causes the body to absorb less alcohol.

Another component found in some fermented foods may also explain why dieticians believe they can ease hangovers. 

Alcohol can harm the gut because it disturbs short chain fatty acids, which maintain gut health by reducing inflammation and regulating immune function. 

The body converts alcohol into acetaldehyde and then to acetate, which then disturbs the ratio of short chain fatty acids and contributes to hangover symptoms, experts say.

But butyrate — a short chain fatty acid found in some kombuchas — can help rebalance the ratio. 

Dr Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior lecturer at Aston University in Birmingham, said butyrate can deliver more good bacteria to the colon.

However, loading up on fermented products before drinking will not help prevent a hangover, he warns. 

Dr Mellor said: ‘Most of the alcohol will be absorbed in the upper gut, so unless you drink excessively very little will get to the colon where most of the bacteria are.’

And eating them when hungover will have ‘little or no effect on how your body deals with alcohol’. 

‘The best way to avoid a hangover is not to drink to excess,’ he added.

However, he noted their benefits for general health.  

Tai Ibitoye, a registered dietitian based in London noted that, although good for you, fermented foods are by no means a ‘magic solution’ when it comes to drinking too much alcohol. 

She said: ‘Probiotic foods and fermented foods may help diversify gut microbiome and help with imbalance.

‘Some studies have shown that it may help with liver enzyme reduction in alcohol-induced liver injury. 

‘However, the evidence is based on small sized studies and focus on chronic alcohol use, and therefore further research is needed.’

Experts have hailed a ‘major discovery’ in Staffordshire – the identification of eight Knights Templar graves – and say ‘many more’ could be hidden around England. 

Historian Edward Spencer Dyas said he made the Da Vinci Code-style revelation at St Mary’s Church in the village of Enville, west of Birmingham.

He thinks the graves can be identified as belonging to Knights Templar members due to the appearance of the clan’s symbols on the headstones. 

Knights Templar was a powerful and wealthy military organisation provided safety to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land in the 12th century. 

They were founded around AD 1119 – two decades after the Crusaders captured the holy city of Jerusalem from Muslim control – but were disbanded by the pope in 1312 after false accusations of heresy. 

Based on the finding, Mr Dyas believes St Mary’s could be one of the most nationally important Templar churches in the country. 

Tony McMahon, a historian, author and Templar expert, called it a ‘major discovery’ because there aren’t many known Templar graves in existence.

He thinks the relevance of the graves has remained unknown for around 500 years. 

‘It seems that these graves were recorded in the 16th century and then forgotten,’ he told MailOnline.

‘It’s thanks to the enduring interest in this mysterious order of knights that they have been uncovered again. 

‘It does beg the question – if Enville has revealed its Templar dead, how many more graves around England are lying under layers of clay?’ 

St Mary’s Church could have been one of hundreds of Templar churches in England, McMahon said, adding that members would have been buried with the order’s sacred insignia on their tombstones. 

‘Some of them may have seen active duty in Jerusalem and Acre fighting the Saracens while others might not have made it, succumbing to diseases like plague,’ he told MailOnline. 

Susie Hodge, historian and author of ‘Secrets of the Knights Templar’, said these ‘could be Templar graves’. 

‘Enville is an old village and so is the church,’ she told MailOnline. ‘There may have been other Templar buildings nearby [but] not enough research has been undertaken yet.’ 

Dr Matteo Borrini, an archeologist at Liverpool Moores University, said further study of the graves could give more information about those buried and whether they were truly knights. 

‘Regarding the possibility to find a real Templar grave, historical records and analysis of the archeological evidence can give the final answer,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘Definitely it is possible to find them in an hypothetical scenario.’ 

Some sources portray Knights Templar as fictional, but there is no doubt of their existence, according to Dr Borrini. 

‘Even if the novels and movies portrayed them as a legendary figure, they were an historical reality created around 1119 and formally disbanded in 1312,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘Documents such as the Chinon Parchment (dated 17-20 August 1308) prove not only the existence but also the charges and trial for heresy against them.’ 

St Mary’s Church, on the outskirts of the Black Country, was built in the early 12th century at a time when the Templars were creating Preceptories – a type of monastery – around Britain.

Each of the graves uncovered by Mr Dyas features a Templar cross within double circles in a standard Templar design. 

Mr Dyas believes the church was ‘under the patronage of the Templars’ and was built thanks to Templar financing. 

But not all experts seemed entirely convinced the graves offer proof of a Knights Templar stronghold at the site.

Helen Nicholson, Emerita Professor of medieval history at Cardiff University, said ‘a cross alone is not enough to show that a tomb was connected to the Templars’. 

‘Those are not necessarily Templar crosses,’ she told MailOnline, adding that the order had ‘no standard design’ for its insignia. 

‘The Templars did not use a distinctive cross – their crosses had four arms the same length, but otherwise varied.’ 

Professor Nicholson also pointed to a lack of available evidence that there ever were Templars at Enville.

‘The Templars were disbanded by the pope in 1312 after false accusations of heresy,’ she said.

‘In January 1308, King Edward II of England had all the Templars in England arrested as a result of those false accusations, and had inventories made of all their property.

‘He then appointed officials to administer the properties and send all the profits to his treasury. 

‘Many of the records that his officials produced still exist and are in the National Archives of the UK at Kew. 

‘A few years ago I transcribed the records for Staffordshire – Enville isn’t mentioned at all.’ 

The relevance of the church to Knights Templar may require more investigation, but more certain is England’s place in the order’s history. 

McMahon said the Templars were a ‘big deal’ in England as well as other countries around Europe, but their initiation rites and ceremonies were shrouded in mystery and scandal. 

‘They set up what were called “preceptories” funding their military operations in the Middle East,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘These were like medieval agri-businesses with farms, dairies, workshops, and of course a place of worship at the centre. 

‘England was of major importance to the Templars – their English headquarters was in what is now the Holborn area of London.

‘In fact, their first church in the capital was under what is now a modern office block called Southampton Buildings. 

‘You can still see their round church nearby – modelled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on the exact spot where Christ was crucified and his tomb is also located.’

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