United Kingdom

>An anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist who encouraged violence against Prof Sir Chris Whitty on social media has been sentenced to five years in prison. > >Patrick Ruane, 55, from Paddington, west London, was convicted of two charges of encouraging terrorism on social media in 2021, following a trial at the Old Bailey. > >Ruane believed in conspiracy theories about the government having a "hidden agenda" to the coronavirus epidemic which he shared with thousands of users in Telegram groups, the trial heard. > >His posts referred to "serious violence" including the use of explosives such as Semtex as well as criminal damage and the disruption of electronic communication systems, said the prosecution. > >Ruane had suggested "whacking" the Chief Medical Officer for England, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, and referred to executing politicians.

> The cost of the UK’s unhealthy food system amounts to £268 billion every year, according to a report. > >The Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) report calculated the direct and indirect impact of diet-related ill health by combining the cost of healthcare and social care, welfare spending, productivity losses and the human consequences of chronic disease, and identifying what proportion relates to food. > >The food-related cost of chronic disease in the UK includes £67.5 billion in healthcare, £14.3 billion in social care, £10.1 billion in welfare, productivity at £116.4 billion and £60 billion that can be linked to the chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem, the research states. > > Prof Tim Jackson, the director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at Surrey University, who carried out the analysis, said: “The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering. > >“When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we’re paying for our food.