The House voted to pass a rule vote to begin debate on four separate spending bills after two rules votes failed last week, prompting Republicans to burst into applaus on the floor.  

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was the only Republican to vote against the rule, opposing the ‘blood money’ it contained for Ukraine. 

The House now moves on to debating amendments for the agriculture-FDA, defense, homeland security and state appropriations bills.

McCarthy celebrated the win in a news conference with reporters after the vote where he vowed to bring a stopgap spending bill to the floor to extend the September 30 deadline for a government shutdown.

He said he would bring it to the floor whether or not it had the votes to pass as multiple GOP members remain opposed to any CR, arguing the House must pass 12 single-subject spending bills or nothing.  

‘We want to make sure government stays open as we do our work,’ he said. 

But the speaker scoffed at the Senate‘s new bipartisan CR plan that includes money for Ukraine and disaster relief. He said the Senate’s priorities are ‘backwards’ because their CR included money for Ukraine but did not include border security provisions.  

With only four days to shutdown, the rule vote gave a hint of optimism to the House GOP, which is not facing new pressure to agree on spending legislation after the Senate released a bill that would kick the deadline for a government shutdown down the road by six weeks.

The continuing resolution (CR), endorsed by both Senate leaders Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would extend government funding from September 30 to November 17. 

It includes over $6 billion in Ukraine aid, sure to trigger some House conservatives. It also includes $6 billion in disaster relief and no border provisions. 

It’s unlikely the deal could pass before Sunday if Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., holds up ‘quick passage’ – which requires unanimous consent. He claimed Tuesday he would continue to do so. 

‘I will object to any kind of easy passage or speeding up of the time. I think it’s bad policy to borrow money from China to send it to Ukraine.’

Meanwhile Speaker Kevin McCarthy remained non-committal on whether he’d ever give a Senate-authored CR a vote on the House floor. He’s also called for Ukraine aid to be dealt with separately from stopgap spending legislation. 

On Tuesday he did say he would put a stopgap funding bill on the floor before Saturday but said he would continue pushing for one that included border security. 

The Senate CR would likely pass both the upper chamber and the lower chamber with votes from Democrats and some Republicans if House GOP leadership put it up for a vote. But doing so could endanger McCarthy’s speakership. 

McConnell endorsed a ‘standard, short-term’ stopgap spending bill on the Senate floor Tuesday. 

‘Over the years, I’ve been pretty clear in my view that government shutdowns are bad news whichever way you look at them. They don’t work as political bargaining chips,’ the GOP leader said. 

The Senate is set to advance the House’s FAA reauthorization bill on Tuesday, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will use to advance a CR through the Senate. 

Meanwhile the knives are out between Congress and the White House four days before a government shutdown, as McCarthy lays blame on Joe Biden‘s border policies and tears into right-wing Republicans who ‘side’ with the president.

The GOP leader said he would put a short-term continuing resolution (CR), or a stopgap spending bill to fund the government past September 30, on the floor before Saturday and it would likely include provisions to bolster border security. 

‘What’s concerning to me is that there are people in the Republican Party who will take the position of President Biden against what the rest of Americans want,’ McCarthy said Tuesday. 

The speaker can only afford to lose four Republican votes and still pass a party-line CR loaded up with spending cuts.

More than four in his conference have expressed opposition to a CR – most vocally McCarthy opposer Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. They insist the House most move forward on 12 single-subject spending bills. 

McCarthy, who cut a debt limit deal with President Biden that set top line spending numbers for fiscal year 2024, is now requesting a meeting him to cut another deal to keep the government funded.  

‘Why don’t we just cut a deal with the president?’ McCarthy told reporters who pressed him on when he would cut a CR deal with congressional Democrats. 

The House is set to vote on a rule to advance four of 12 appropriations bills Tuesday night in what could be an bellwether for the week to come.  It’s not clear yet clear whether a handful of obstinate Republicans will allow the rule to pass. 

He then suggested that if Biden fixed his border policy they could work together on funding – a seemingly infeasible tradeoff. 

‘Listen, the president, all he has to do … it’s only actions that he has to take. He can do it like that. He changed all the policies on the border. He can change those,’ McCarthy said. ‘We can keep government open and finish out the work that we have done.’

Border crossings in fiscal year 2023, which ends at the end of September, are on track to surpass that of 2022 after figures released Friday show an uptick of 50,000 in apprehensions in the month of August.

In recent days the Biden team has piled on to the GOP for causing the shutdown: Biden warned voters to ‘stop electing Republicans’ if they could not pass spending deals that keep the government open. 

What a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week.  

Joe Biden’s embarrassing gaffes came thick and fast this week – after the president managed to fumble a series of high-profile domestic events on the world stage.

His litany of errors – including walking into flag poles, addressing people with the wrong names and rudely forgetting to shake foreign official’s hands – is coupled with the devastating blow that the 80-year-old president’s approval rating stands at 37 percent.

This is five percentage points lower than it was in February, and crucially, it is 10 points lower than his fierce 2020 Republican competitor, Donald Trump, in the latest embarrassing poll from the Washington Post. 

Meanwhile, there is a percussive thunder of calls for him to drop out of the running for the next election, from both the left and the right of the political landscape. 

Many are seriously questioning how Biden will be able to face a long presidential campaign for the Democrats if he struggles like he did the past week – and how he’ll handle the prospect of another four years in office. 

Biden’s gaffes with the Brazilian president: Walking off stage, running into a flag, no hand shake, and failed translator earpiece

On September 20, ailing Joe Biden seemed to produce gaffe after gaffe while on the UN stage alongside Brazil‘s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Lula da Silva, 77, looked visibly irritated after the two leaders shared a stage to speak about their initiative to improve workers’ rights in each country – because Biden walked off without shaking his hand. 

Their diplomatic meeting got off to a labored start when Biden, 80, shuffled into a seven-foot Brazilian flag, leaving it teetering as he approached the podium. 

The president made a rambling speech about his ‘economic vision to rebuild our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down’ while Lula watched on from his right flank. 

Meanwhile, during Lula’s speech, Biden fumbled with his headset, which he was using to hear a translated version. 

‘Can you hear me President Biden? This is an historical moment for Brazil, and for the US,’ Lula said at the start of his speech.

Biden continued to look confused as he grappled with the headset while Lula went on with his speech. At one point, Biden dropped his earpiece and raised his eyebrows in frustration.

International Labor Organization Director General Gilbert Houngbo took to the podium after the two world leaders, and Biden stooped to slowly grab a folder from the ground.

Houngbo shook hands with Biden and Lula in turn at the close of his speech – but Biden appeared to leave Lula hanging, awkwardly saluting the audience before shuffling off stage.

He appeared to be torn between giving a thumbs-up or a salute, and made a sloppy gesture combining the two.

As Biden turned his back on the Brazilian president, Lula looked annoyed and made a swiping gesture with his arm. They departed awkwardly from opposite sides. 

The series of mistakes and ill gestures were watched on the world stage – as the high-level meeting brought world leaders together at U.N. headquarters in New York.

President calls the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the ‘Black Caucus’ 

On September 22, the president made yet another public gaffe when all eyes were on him during a keynote speech in Washington, DC. 

Joe Biden mistakenly praised the ‘Congressional Black Caucus’ during a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. 

The 80-year-old made the blunder during a speech at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 46th Annual Gala. 

He had celebrated Sister Norma Pimental, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, for her gala award win moments before the mistake. 

Biden praised her for living the lessons based on the Gospel of Matthew before adding: ‘The Congressional Black Caucus embodies all those values.’

‘I know Sister Norma lives the lessons nuns taught me growing up,’ Biden said during the speech addressing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

‘Lessons based on the Gospel of Matthew: feed the hungry, care for the sick, welcome strangers.’

‘They echo what my dad taught me, and I mean this sincerely, my dad used to say, ‘Everyone, everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.’

The president added: ‘The Congressional Black Caucus embodies all those values,’ without correcting his mistake. 

Biden repeats the same story about a white supremacist rally twice at the same event 

As well as making in-the-moment mistakes, Biden was also berated this week for repeating the same story twice at the same event in New York City.  

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was then forced to answer for Biden’s concerning, ailing behavior in front of journalists.

She said that President Joe Biden was ‘speaking from his heart’ when he repeated the same story twice at a Wednesday night fundraiser in New York City. 

Jean-Pierre was twice asked Friday about Biden’s flub – said in a room without cameras rolling but with several journalists present due to rules about covering 2024 finance events. 

A pool report from the event, held at food security expert Amy Goldman Fowler’s home, noted that Biden talked about how the white supremacist rally – and former President Donald Trump‘s reaction to it – in Charlottesville in August 2017 inspired him to run for the White House in the 2020 cycle. 

‘A few minutes later, he told the story again, nearly word for word,’ the pool report said. 

NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asked Friday, ‘Is it any concern that he would fully retell a story in the same space at the same event?’ as polls show that a super-majority of Americans are worried that Biden  wouldn’t be effective through a second term.

‘Sometimes I re-speak as well from here and retell a story,’ Jean-Pierre said with a laugh.  

‘But look, I think it’s important to note that the president was speaking, as you said at a fundraiser and he was speaking from his heart,’ she continued. ‘He was speaking about why he’s decided to do this.’

‘And you hear the president talk about this, it’s always incredibly emotional for him. Cause he didn’t have to. He went through an incredibly difficult time when he was deciding to jump into the race,’ she added. 

Biden refers to rapper LL Cool J as ‘LL Jay Cool J’    

Adding to the long list of problematic things the President did this week, Joe Biden referred to legendary rapper LL Cool J as a ‘boy’ after mispronouncing his name at the Congressional Black Caucus.

On Saturday night, LL Cool J and MC Lyte received Phoenix Awards for their musical contributions at the annual ceremony.

While on stage, Biden said: ‘Two of the great artists of our time representing ground-breaking legacy of hip hop in America, LL Jay Cool J, uhhh…’ – as the audience laughed at his latest gaffe over the rapper’s name.

Biden then added: ‘By the way that boy – that man’s got biceps bigger than my thighs.’

The footage of his speech was quickly re-posted by right-wing RNC Research on social media, where commentators swiftly pointed out that referring to African Americans as ‘boy’ is widely considered a derogative term. 

It was yet another butchered speech for the most powerful man in the world.  

Biden claims he’s been to ‘every mass shooting’ – which he has not  

Joe Biden also – erroneously – claimed to have been to ‘every mass shooting’ this week. 

The bizarre remark came days after he falsely claimed to have visited Ground Zero the day after 9/11, and have left many demanding to know whether he is lying or forgetting.

Speaking alongside vice-president Kamala Harris in the White House Rose Garden, he said his administration had been ‘working relentlessly to do something’.

‘After every mass shooting, we hear a simple message, the same message heard all over the country, and I’ve been to every mass shooting,’ he told his audience.

There have more than 500 mass shootings in the US this year and critics on social media were scathing in their response to the latest tall story.

‘Suspicious, if true,’ tweeted former US diplomat Alberto Fernandez.

‘Every weekend should be therefore spent in Chicago instead of Delaware,’ added Fox News contributor Joe Concha.

The news comes as a new poll from the Washington Post has Biden trailing former president Trump in a theoretical 2024 match. The two men are the frontrunners for their party’s nomination for president.  

But questions are growing louder on whether Biden should run as Democrats such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom appear to be positioning themselves to take the mantle. 

According to the WaPo polling this weekend, Biden’s approval rating stands at about 37 percent, similar to where it was in May, but five percentage points lower than it was in February.

Biden’s disapproval figure is 56 percent. The poll also asked whether, in retrospect, voters approve or disapprove of the job Trump did while in office.

Forty-eight percent say they approve and 49 percent say they disapprove. When he left office in January of 2021, Trump’s approval was closer to 38 percent.

The poll’s matchup of the two likely candidates showed Trump polling ahead of Biden by 10 percentage points – 52 to 42 – among registered voters.

The current resident of the Oval Office is also ailing in his policy record. Biden has spent many of the last several weeks touting his signature economic plan, ‘Bidenomics.’ But his earned approval rating on his handling of the economy has plummeted to 30 percent – the lowest of his presidency.

Some 75 percent of Americans believe the economy is ‘not so good,’ or ‘poor,’ according to the poll. A whopping 87 percent of Americans say that gas and energy prices are ‘not so good’ or ‘poor.’ And 91 percent of people say the same about food prices.

A plurality of respondents (44 percent) said they are not as well of financially as before Biden took office, while 39 percent said they are in about the same position, and 15 percent said they are better off.

My uniform fits snugly. Hair is brushed, shoes polished – but it’s certainly not the best of starts.

‘Can you tell me where the nearest ladies’ washroom is, please?’ asks an American guest.

‘I’m awfully sorry, but I can’t.’

Thierry Altuna, the French cruise manager (Terry to the Anglophones), takes me to one side as we line up for the Captain’s welcome speech.

‘You have your badge on the wrong way,’ he says. ‘It should always be on the right-hand lapel of your jacket.’

I move to make the switch but the magnet on the inside of my shirt – which holds the badge in place – falls and ends up somewhere near the top of my trousers. Retrieving it will require a partial striptease.

So, badgeless, I stand next to Thierry and listen to the Captain as he thanks all 107 guests for choosing Uniworld at the start of this luxurious Rhone river cruise from Arles, in the south of France, to Lyon, on board the 135-metre S.S. Catherine, named after the actress Catherine Deneuve.

Sportingly, but with understandable apprehension, Uniworld has agreed to let me join the crew for what can best be described as work experience.

There are 51 other crew and we’re an international bunch, including 13 from Bulgaria, 11 from Romania, nine from France and just one from the UK. Two, if you count me.

Thierry then takes over from the Captain, holding the microphone like a seasoned pro – and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt about cruise managers, it’s that they love an audience.

Thierry asks all those from America to raise their hands (43 of them); then wants to know how many are from Britain (27 in total), and so on.

After which, he waxes lyrical for 30 minutes about the various excursions, during which a smartly dressed passenger with a bouffant perm sidles up to me and whispers: ‘He never mentioned Ireland, and there are five of us here, you know.’

‘Thanks for that, I’ll have a word,’ I tell her. This formidable woman turns out to be Eleanor Walsh, a widow from Dublin, who is here with four other widows, three of them in their 80s.

By day two I refer to this gang as the ‘Frightening Five’, because they prove to be the most demanding passengers on the ship. Or as the hotel manager, Alexandru Marinescu, puts it more tactfully: ‘They are the ladies who need special attention.’

First, Mrs Walsh complains to me that the walk from the airport terminal at Marseilles to the coach was far too long in the 42c heat; and, second, that bottles of water should have been given to everyone upon boarding the coach.

I report this back to Alexandru the next morning at the daily heads of department meeting and he jots it down in a notebook.

Also in his book goes a note about a particular guest from the U.S. He’s been seen at the front desk naked from the waist up.

‘He must be asked politely not to do this again,’ says Alexandru – although it’s not entirely clear who will do the asking. Mind you, topless from Texas is a novice compared with Jan and Bush Hanna from Knoxville, Tennessee.

It’s the couple’s 14th Uniworld trip and it comes as they are about to celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary.

As I replenish the Hannas’ glasses with water one evening, I ask them what they make of the political situation in America. ‘Let’s not mess about – we’re for Trump,’ says Mr Hanna.

‘Would you back him if he is running the country from prison?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Do you not think he’s brought politics into disrepute?’

‘No, sir.’

There’s been one other complaint during the first 24 hours. Apparently, the restaurant staff have not been coming round with wine fast enough.

I’m particularly mindful of this because, this evening, I shall be assisting the sommelier during the Gala Dinner.

But, first, I am on morning duty at the front desk with Adriana, from Croatia. I like her telephone manner and copy every word, just substituting my name for hers.

‘Thank you for calling the front desk. My name is Mark. How can I best assist you today, Mrs Rosenberg?’

I know it’s Mrs Rosenberg because her cabin number flashes up on one of three screens hidden from view. It’s just a matter of matching the name to the number.

She wants one breakfast tea, one yoghurt, one slice of brown toast and one poached egg delivered as soon as possible.

‘Within 30 minutes, Mrs Rosenberg. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.’

There’s a strict hierarchy on cruise ships. The Captain is the big boss, of course, and on the S.S. Catherine we all answer to Captain Pascal Rech.

He’s been sailing on the Rhone river all his working life and this is his 18th year with Uniworld.

‘Every day is different and I never get bored,’ says Pascal, 55, who met his wife on a river cruise ship when she was working as a pastry chef.

I join him in what’s called ‘the wheelhouse’ (similar to the bridge of an ocean cruise ship) as we leave Avignon and head upstream in the direction of Viviers.

Amid all the technology and flashing lights there’s a sign that reads: ‘Work like a captain, play like a pirate.’

Second most senior in the pecking order is hotel manager Alexandru, 45, who is married with a 15-year-old daughter. He’s in charge of everything on board apart from piloting the ship.

I’m particularly grateful to him because he makes sure that my shift in the kitchen, working with ten chefs and three washer-uppers, with little room to move about, lasts no longer than is absolutely necessary.

I would also struggle to toil for long in the laundry room, where I am tasked with ironing guests’ clothes (bed linen is changed every three days) while simultaneously mopping my brow.

Uniworld has a fleet of 17 ships worldwide. The company is privately owned by the South African Tollman family, which also has in its portfolio the Red Carnation group of hotels.

Guests on this trip are paying anything from £3,000 to £8,000 per person for eight nights, all-inclusive, with as much alcohol as they want at any time of day or night. The long corridors display more than 460 works of art, including original paintings by Richard Scott and signed lithographs by Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. But the pièce de résistance is the Murano glass horse in the lobby, which was specially commissioned and cost £200,000.

Crew are billeted on the lower deck, two per cabin – unless you are a department head in charge of a team, which warrants a single room – all with their own ensuite shower rooms.

Before the Gala Dinner, the captain asks me to line up at the door to the lounge and greet guests as they file in. I clink glasses with a few of them, which seems a little forward but I notice Pascal does it in a refined sort of way. Follow the leader.

Then I report to the Bulgarian sommelier, Nedko Nikolov, who places a white napkin over my left arm and says I should hold a bottle each of the red and the white wine in my left hand, before pouring with my right.

‘The labels must be clearly visible to the guests and never let the bottle touch the glass,’ he tells me.

All goes well until I reach a table where a group of Australians are seated.

‘Could you tell me the name of the vineyard where the white wine comes from?’ says a burly man who seems to be the leader of this group. ‘I need to get back to you on that,’ I tell him.

‘I think you should know,’ he says.

I seek out Nedko, who comes up with the name, and I return with it to the Aussie.

‘You’ve spilt a couple of drops on the table,’ he says.

The correct response to this would be to apologise and dab the drops with my napkin. I master the dabbing but not the apology.

‘You’re just smarting because the England football team knocked your lot out at the Women’s World Cup,’ I tell him.

It must be a sackable offence to speak to a guest in such a manner, but I move on quickly and there are no repercussions.

A highlight of the cruise is ‘Seventies Night’. Several guests have brought with them flower-power shirts and T-shirts; some of the men wear wigs in the style of John Lennon.

The ‘Frightening Five’ take to the dance floor with gusto – and then Alexandru suggests that I should join them. ‘You have my permission,’ he says. ‘But don’t go mad.’

Working on a cruise ship is hard work. But there’s also a lot of camaraderie and you pass through some wonderful scenery. The level of service from the crew has been exemplary.

Uniworld’s motto is: ‘You deserve the best.’ I can’t honestly claim that I have been the best, but I’ve got away with it – and stood no nonsense from a bellicose Australian, who may or may not report my insolence to the Captain.

Consultants have taken to picket lines today in their ongoing row with the Government over pay.

The senior medics walked out of hospitals across England at 7am this morning as part of a 48-hour strike and are providing a stripped-back ‘Christmas Day’ level of service — meaning routine appointments and operations are set to be significantly disrupted. 

Junior doctors will then stage a joint strike with consultants tomorrow — for the first time in the health service’s 75 year history — marking an escalation in the dispute.

Striking medics claim their salary has been slashed over the last 15 years but officials say their have already made their final pay offer and patients are at risk. 

Here, MailOnline details all you need to know about the action and how it could affect you.  

Who is striking this week and when?

Consultants and junior doctors in England are taking industrial action this week, coordinated by the British Medical Association (BMA).

Senior doctors will walk out from 7am today to 7am on Thursday.

This includes 24 hours of joint action with junior doctors from 7am on Wednesday to 7am on Thursday.

The junior medics will take to picket lines from 7am on Wednesday to 7am on Saturday.

What services will be hit? 

Many routine hospital appointments and treatments, including cancer care, have been postponed as a result of both junior doctor and consultant strikes.

Some hospitals have had to halve their normal levels of activity on strike days. 

However, patients have been urged to still attend their appointment if they have not been told it is cancelled — as some doctors are still working.

There will be ‘Christmas Day’ cover throughout hospitals on Tuesday and Wednesday, with emergency units staffed and a basic level of cover on wards. 

On Thursday and Friday — during the junior doctor strike — there will be a ‘full strike’ meaning consultants will be used to provide cover in hospitals.

GP services and pharmacies are expected to operate normally during the strikes, though some junior doctors work at GP surgeries, so some practices may be affected from Wednesday.  

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director at NHS England, said: ‘The NHS has simply never seen this kind of industrial action in its history. It poses an enormous challenge.’ 

Professor Powis urged the public to use NHS ‘wisely’ to ensure care is delivered to those who need it most.

He said to only call 999 or attend A&E for life-threatening emergencies and otherwise contact NHS 111 for non-urgent needs.

Why are they striking?

The BMA argues that junior doctors and consultants have seen their pay be eroded over the last 15 years, meaning it hasn’t kept up with inflation.

As a result, the medics’ pay has fallen by around 35 per cent, the union claims.

Junior doctors have called for a full 35 per cent pay uplift, while consultants set their pay demand at 11 per cent. 

For comparison, the Government has offered junior doctors a pay rise between 8.1 and 10.3 per cent, depending on what level they are at.

The average junior doctor in their first year of training will see their salary rise from £29,300 to £32,300, while a medic with three years’ experience will get a boost from £40,200 to £43,900. 

Meanwhile, pay for consultants will increase by six per cent. It means starting basic pay has increased from £88,300 to £93,600. The average consultants’ earnings are expected to be £134,000 a year, after including overtime and on-call payouts. 

Why are health leaders more worried about these strikes? 

NHS bosses have long warned that strikes mean disruption for patients, with nearly 1million appointments and operations cancelled over nine months of walkouts.

For this round of action, health chiefs are warning that increasing numbers of patients who have already had their operation cancelled due to industrial action are having their rescheduled appointments cancelled again.

This includes a growing numbers of cancer patients. 

NHS Confederation warned that the BMA is now putting ‘more patients at risk than ever’ and describe the situation as ‘dangerous’.

What impact will the strikes have on patients?

Hospitals are reporting that some patients have now had their appointments cancelled up to three times because of strike action.

Health leaders say there is a ‘clear risk’ that the health of some patients will deteriorate the longer they are left to wait. 

While NHS bosses report that around 1million apportionments have been rescheduled because of strikes, the true toll is thought to be much higher. 

This is because hospitals are now routinely not booking in patients for strike days, meaning the true scale of the impact won’t be reflected in the official data.

Is there any end in sight for the NHS strikes? 

The Health Secretary Steve Barclay and the BMA, which is coordinating the consultant and junior doctor strikes, have not met in more than three months.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that they pay offer the Government has granted is fair and final.

But BMA leaders have said they will only call off action if presented with a higher pay uplift and ‘cannot cancel strikes to simply enter talks’.

This suggests that there is no end in sight, with the union warning that without an agreement, strikes will continue into winter. 

People who eat too much sugar risk weight gain, tooth decay and an array of health conditions, experts have long warned.

But while NHS guidance sets the maximum daily intake at 30g of free sugars a day, or 210g per week, it can be difficult to know what combination of food you can actually eat before hitting this limit.

Those with a sweet tooth who enjoy tucking into chocolate, biscuits and ice cream every day may be in for a shock.

MailOnline’s graphic offers up four combinations of sugar-packed treats — but only one falls within the health service’s sugar guidelines.

Option one — a single bar of Dairy Milk — has a whopping 201.6g of sugar, which means the first option on the graphic is the only one that falls within the NHS target, as long as it is consumed over the course of a week. However, doing so leaves just 8.4g of free sugars for the rest of the week’s meals and drinks.

The NHS sugar limits only apply to free sugars — those added to products — rather than those found naturally in milk, fruit and vegetables.

But the other combinations of sugary snacks shown in MailOnline’s graphic well surpass the NHS guidelines. 

Campaigners told MailOnline that they want stricter policies from the Government that force food manufacturers to slash the sugar content in their products — as many treats are impossible to enjoy while sticking within the 30g per day limit.

Those who ate one bar of Dairy Milk and five chocolate digestives over the course of one week, the second option in this website’s graphic, would consume 225.6g of sugar.

This combination, plus a tub of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough, contains 327.9g.

Those who also then consume two Mars bars over seven days would be eating a whopping 389.9g of sugar — nearly double the NHS target.

Campaign Lead at Action on Sugar, Dr Kawther Hashem said: ‘Whilst it is important to guide the public on the maximum daily limit, many adults are oblivious to this information. 

‘We therefore need strict government policies for the food industry, to ensure they reduce levels of sugar in their everyday products and protect our health from avoidable illnesses and early deaths.’

Many people, unaware of the guided sugar levels, fill their lunches with crisps, chocolate and biscuits to get them through the work day. 

Data from the British Nutrition Foundation suggests that the average woman actually consumes 44g of sugar, while men have 55g. 

But enjoying a bar of chocolate on your lunch break can quickly eat through most of the Government’s recommended ‘free sugars’ for the entire week.

As well as the 30g of free sugars per day limit, the government recommends that that these sugars should not make up more than 5 per cent of the calories a person gets from food and drink each day.

This means a bar of chocolate every day for your lunch — which have around 10 to 31g of sugar — can almost guarantee you go over the limit every day.

If you prefer to enjoy a little treat while watching some night-time TV, this could also make staying in those tight guidelines almost impossible.

But some combinations do fall within the NHS sugar limits of 210g per week.

These include six Mars bars (186g), two Terry’s Chocolate Orange Milk Balls (185.26g) or two tubs of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough Ice Cream contains (204.6g).

Two packets of McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Digestives Biscuits (151.62g) and two bags of Haribo Starmix (164.5g) also fall within the NHS guidelines, if consumed over the course of seven days.

Nutritionist Nichola Ludlam-Raine, based in Leeds, said: ‘It’s a stark reminder that indulging in even one of these treats can consume a significant portion, if not all, of our weekly sugar allowance, excluding sugars from drinks and regular meals.

‘The guidelines might seem stringent, but they’re designed to encourage a shift in our consumption patterns towards more whole, nutrient-dense foods and away from sugar-laden processed products. 

‘While it’s okay to enjoy treats occasionally, it’s essential to be mindful of their sugar content and balance them with other nutrient-rich foods.’

Sugar is one of the biggest culprits fuelling Britain’s bulging waistline.

One in four adults and 23 per cent of children aged 10-11 years in England are obese, making the UK one of the worst countries in Europe for obesity, behind Malta and Turkey.

• Catching up on sleep at the weekend could make you feel more tired, experts say
• Sleep expert says not getting sunlight in morning can make you go to bed later 

By Rebecca Whittaker For Mailonline

Updated: 08:38 EDT, 3 September 2023

NOWHERE TO RUN

by Jonathan Sayer (Bantam £16.99, 256pp)

If you sometimes feel a little wearied by endless newspaper reports of barely-known football players picking up gazillions as they move from club to elite club, then this heart-warming, genuinely funny little book is just the thing to lift the spirits.

This is the beautiful game unseen by TV cameras, Gary Lineker or Sky Sports, down there in the seventh tier of English football.

This is the world of meat and potato pies and hot Bovril on chilly winter nights, rather than the roar of a private jet as it lands with a new player; it’s the world where your coveted striker turns up on crutches; or where you’re running out of match balls because one furious neighbour who supports a rival football team refuses to return them when they’re kicked into her back yard.

Welcome to Ashton United, one of our oldest clubs, founded in 1878. This is the world of semi-pro, non-League football, a world of losing and occasionally winning, but it’s also the world of mud and nettles beloved by vast numbers of football fans all over the country.

Jonathan Sayer is an actor and award-winning comedy playwright, and one of the team behind the hilarious series of long-running shows such as The Play That Goes Wrong. So he knows how to tell a joke.

His family has had a long connection with Ashton: his grandfather played more than 400 games for the club, more than anyone else, and his father holds the record for most bookings and sendings off in a season, including thumping one half-back who asked mid-match if he could date Sayer’s mother.

He fell in love with the game at the age of eight, and eventually decided to buy the club with his father. Nowhere To Run is an account of their first year in charge.

Money, of course, is always a problem. A gate of a few hundred is a result, and season ticket sales are peaking at 32. Harry Kane might be on £400,000 a week at his new club Bayern Munich; for Sayer’s Ashton, one hyped new recruit starts by demanding Premier League wages, but settles for £125 a week and a £5 goal bonus.

The record club signing is £2,000 for ‘Bruno’ Billings from bitter local rivals Curzon Ashton.

Sayer and his father have to plough in large amounts of their own money, including for salaries, a batch of new home and away kits, and, due to an ordering cock-up, more than 600 pairs of socks. At one nearby club, where the chairman was a butcher, players were often paid in meat.

He also has to get the supporters onside. Forget about football he is told, take up a hobby like birdwatching or pottery. A rumour goes round that he wants to drop John Smith’s beer from the taps in the club bar. A rebel group of furious octogenarian supporters launch a militant campaign ‘Save Our Smiths’. But how to get the fans in?

Record attendance was back in 1880, and Ashton is in an area of Greater Manchester that has more non-League football clubs per square kilometre than GP surgeries, fire stations and mega supermarkets combined.

It’s also just a few miles from one of the world’s wealthiest and most successful clubs, Manchester City. But, on the bright side, as Sayer points out, the highlights of the area include an Asda, a Texaco garage and a banging tandoori.

He starts to pull in favours to generate sponsorship and pitchside advertising, including one from old performing friends, Las Vegas magicians Penn & Teller, despite them performing more than 5,000 miles away from Ashton-under-Lyne.

Like all semi-pro clubs, Ashton is dependent on countless volunteers working themselves to the bone for their club, and fuelling non-League clubs up and down the country. Here is Dale, a lorry driver who chain smokes roll-ups, who is also the club secretary, groundskeeper, deputy kitman, reserve team manager and assistant spongeman (whatever that is: Sayer still doesn’t know). His wife, Sue, runs the tea hut and his son, Simon, organises traffic control on match day.

The ground can only be watered with a garden hose run from the bar, which doesn’t stretch past the halfway line, so after a dry summer, one half of the pitch is a lush green, the other is burnt brown and dry. But when it’s frozen in winter they have to melt the ice using hairdryers. Though not the Alex Ferguson kind.

Still, it is all about the players, and the one thing the owners can’t control: what happens on the pitch.

For one game, in Chester, the team convinced a credulous young newcomer that he couldn’t get into Wales without a passport, so he should hide in the car boot to cross the border. But when they get there they can’t open the boot and he has to spend the match locked inside a Nissan Micra.

Meanwhile, Sayer’s club briefly hit world headlines with a tweet saying they were trying to sign Norwegian super-striker Erling Haaland. The tweet was eventually seen by 40 million people — but Haaland didn’t come. He went to Manchester City instead!

This being a true account of a year in charge, there is no helpful Hollywood story arc: Ashton don’t make it into an FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool, for example. Nor do they gain promotion.

Some they win, some they lose. But as Sayer says, non-League football is good for the soul. It is full of remarkable people doing remarkable things for the love of the game.

And for Sayer, he has found a sense of belonging that is hard to come by. And who wouldn’t raise a glass of John Smith’s to that?

Premier League: Opta’s AI supercomputer names its week two results predictions: Man United look set to lose at Tottenham… and only one team has a worse chance than Newcastle!

By Michael Rudling For Mailonline

Published: 10:56 EDT, 18 August 2023 | Updated: 12:10 EDT, 18 August 2023

The House of Representatives will no longer come back in session on May 4, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday on a call with reporters. 

Hoyer instead said the Congressional session would resume ‘very soon,’ but he explained that the Attending Physician of the United States Congress, Dr. Brian Monahan, indicated it was too much of a health risk for members to come back to Washington, D.C., because coronavirus cases in the area hadn’t decreased in number yet. 

‘There was a risk to members that he would not recommend taking,’ Hoyer said. 

The No. 2 Democrat also said the session was delayed because CARES 2, the next coronavirus package Congress will take up, isn’t ready for a vote yet.   

Hoyer’s announcement was an about-face, as House Democrats were informed on a call Monday that they were to come back to town in one week’s time.

A number of House Democrats rebelled against that plan, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who previously led the Democratic National Committee, calling the move ‘dangerous,’ Politico reported. 

President Trump had a different take after the cancellation was announced Tuesday, telling reporters that Democrats are ‘enjoying their vacation.’ 

‘Yeah, I think they are, I think they are,’ Trump said. ‘Look at Nancy Pelosi eating ice cream on late night television, yeah I think they probably are having a good time.’  

Hoyer had informed the caucus of the scheduling update on a Monday afternoon call. 

‘Nancy and I have talked a couple of times today,’ Hoyer said, according to Politico’s account. ‘We have decided we will come back on the 4th.’ 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell already announced that the Senate would come back into session next Monday. 

‘Look, it doesn’t make sense for the Senate to sit on the sidelines while a lot of other people are going to work everyday and trying to get us through this,’ McConnell had told Politico in an interview. 

Hoyer’s call to return to Washington had been immediately met with resistance, with members includings Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard of California, Susan Wild of Pennsylvania and Veronica Escobar of Texas speaking up, according to Politico’s account. 

Some asked how they were supposed to deal with childcare with schools across the country closed and with Hoyer suggesting they might be needed in Washington for an extended stay. 

Hoyer had said the House could be in session for two weeks.  

Chiefs of staff told the publication that they were blindsided by the announcement, as their weekly call with Pelosi’s office had been cancelled earlier Monday. 

On Tuesday, Hoyer played down members’ dissent. 

‘Many of the members on the one hand want to get back to adopt a rule and adopt CARES 2, which they think is necessary,’ he said. ‘There are other members who also have that same feeling, but also are very, very concerned if there’s not a major piece of legislation like we passed over the last month,’ he continued, explaining that those lawmakers didn’t want to be stuck in Washington for a long period of time. 

‘We ought to wait until we can do them all together over a short period of time rather than stay here for some period of time,’ Hoyer said. 

The doctor also told Hoyer it was safer for members to pop in and out of Washington than to stay in the city for weeks, he said.   

Congress is expected to start working on a CARES 2 package, which would be the fifth piece of legislation to help stem the economic bleeding brought on by the coronavirus crisis.  

House Democrats, which hold the majority in the House, have initiated some safety protocols to allow for better social distancing on Capitol Hill.  

Instead of every member gathering on the House floor for votes, voting is being done in waves.  

And they’re moving ahead with plans to allow proxy voting, which would open up the door for colleagues to vote for one another if some members are stuck out of town. 

Republicans have expressed they would be against such a plan.   

Google ‘driving in Greece‘ and the search results are alarming for holidaymakers in waiting.

Road rage is in the DNA of Greek drivers, says the Internet. No one in Greece has passed their test – they all bribed the examiner, we’re warned.

And red lights? They’re not really red, more ‘dark green‘ for the Greek road user.

And as for driving on the islands, it’s practically anarchy – apparently – with few road signs and perilously narrow and twisty cliffside routes featuring heartstopping drops to the sea – with no safety barriers.

It’s enough to put anyone off hiring a car in Greece.

But I’m here to tell you – don’t be.

In July, I spent a week driving around two Greek islands – Kefalonia and Ithaca – and not only did I survive, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Even when the roads lived up to their perilously narrow and twisty billing.

Said roads on these two islands are among some of the most spectacular in the world and well worth the occasional heartstopping moment.

I travelled to Kefalonia on a Jet2holidays package with my partner and young daughter, diverting across to neighbouring Ithaca via a car ferry for a few days before returning to Kefalonia for a final night and the flight home.

We made our forays around the thoroughfares on these Ionian gems in a Thrifty hire car booked through Jet2 that we picked up at the airport, the keys handed over at the desk by a wonderfully cheerful lady.

And it was a scam-free process, incidentally.

Car-hire firms are notorious for pushing their insurance policies. I had my own insurance though, and braced for a hard sell on buying Thrifty’s – but it never came. My disclosure about already being covered was met with an exclamation of ‘oh, perfect!’

Our car was a Toyota Aygo, which had a piddly sewing-machine engine. And I quickly discovered that it offered no pull at all in second gear up any sort of incline.

And on Kefalonia – there are a lot of inclines.

It’s an extremely mountainous island, dominated by the imperious Mount Ainos to the south of the island, which has a summit 1,628m (5,341ft) above sea level.

We were staying on the west coast at the Electra Kefalonia Hotel & Spa, with vehicular incursions that included journeying over to the town of Sami on the east coast and to the pretty village of Assos on the north-west coast.

How would I sum up the drives? Breathtaking. And full of surprises.

The roads on Kefalonia can go at the drop of a hat from being dual-carriageway-wide to so narrow you have to squeeze past oncoming traffic at walking pace.

And inclines of 20 to 25 per cent on Kefalonia can rear up with no warning whatsoever.

The Greeks seem to view road signage as a luxury optional extra, along with road markings.

There was one irregular four-way junction near our hotel that had no road markings at all – and negotiating it involved saying a little prayer each time.

The first time we drove to Sami we took a detour along a scenic back road that appeared on the map as a seemingly random squiggle.

The views were amazing. For the passengers. My eyes were glued to the road, which was… challenging. Full of switchbacks and manic ups and downs.

At one point, we met a car coming the other way on a very steep single-track section.

The driver of the other car surely had seen me coming when he was some distance away and could easily have pulled over on a reasonably wide section of road.

But no, this was Greece, where the sensible option is often swapped for the silly one.

The driver came barrelling down the road until we met on a single-track section so steep that when he came to a halt inches from my bonnet and I yanked the handbrake on – we still rolled backwards.

Once I’d halted our descent, and with my daughter belting out songs from Matilda the Musical in the back, I took stock.

At first, the driver in front of me indicated that I should reverse… before changing his mind and realising he could inch past on the verge.

Praise be. But that still left me with a brutal hill start.

We eventually hit the main road to Sami, which was glorious – wide and enjoyably sinuous (with plenty of crash barriers on the steep bits).

What’s more, for much of the time we had the road to ourselves, slowing only occasionally for wandering goats.

The drive to Assos was similarly eye-catching, with a dramatic descent from the lofty mountainside main road to the coastal village involving multiple hairpin turns.

All good practice for neighbouring Ithaca, where even the main roads feel like the back of beyond.

My family and I, and the Aygos, arrived on the island via an Ionion Pelagos ferry from Sami, a sailing that lasted just 30 minutes or so.

Then the fun began.

Ithaca is a rugged little number and our explorations involved inching the Aygo through impossibly dinky villages, around full-lock hairpin turns and along cinematic hillside roads from our base of operations – the boutique-y Perantzada Hotel 1811 in the main town, Vathy.

With superyachts anchored in the bays and cicadas in full song landside, we ventured to the impossibly cute coastal villages of Frikes and Kioni and to stunning Filiatro beach, reached from Vathy along a road festooned with mirrors to allow drivers to see what’s coming around the corners.

Want a sneak preview of what’s in store via Google Street View? Not an option. The Google car has yet to board the ferry to Ithaca.

At first, I’d cursed the Aygo and its lack of torque, and came close to taking it back to Mrs Cheerful at Thrifty for an upgrade, but after a few days of sneaking into crowded beach car parks and past oncoming traffic on those slender, serpentined village roads, I had a change of heart. The bigger the better? When it comes to cars on a Greek island, definitely not.

And what about that famous Greek road rage?

I didn’t witness any, but did see lots of impatient drivers.

For instance, I was beeped from behind by a car that couldn’t get past me on one occasion – because I was driving slowly in the middle of the road through a small village, simply being mindful of groups of pedestrians walking along both roadsides.

Oh, and Greek drivers tend to approach in the middle of the road and course correct at the last second. Which is slightly unnerving.

But drive carefully, keep your eyes on the road and not the views to the side, and your ego in check – and you’ll be just fine.

In fact, it’s likely you’ll have the drive of your life.