An American who moved from a place where it’s “normal to spend senselessly on food” to the UK was blown away by the prices in Waitrose, but then they “went to Tesco”

An American who moved from a country where it is “normal to spend senselessly on food” to the UK has expressed her shock at the price of groceries in Tesco. Having “stared down a $13 (about £9.50) carton of eggs” in the US, Ashley Baker was so delighted by Waitrose’s UK prices that she called her mum to marvel at the cost of bin bags.

In comments that appear to highlight the cost-of-living gap with neighbours across the Atlantic, she described food shopping in Britain as “paradise” — until the excited shopper “went to Tesco”.

She claimed that unless they’d heard Lily Allen’s 2006 track, LDN, which mentions it, most Americans would not know the supermarket that offers a “similar bounty at two-thirds of the price”.

In a piece for The Times, Ashley said: “So when I spotted one on the Cromwell Road, I pulled over. It delivers a similar bounty at two-thirds of the price, along with a wider assortment of Little Moons mochi and all sorts of additional discounts for loyal Clubcard holders.

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“And best of all: a free car park and a Waves Car Wash, where the lovely chaps have my junker looking like it’s fresh off the lot for £25. If pressed, I will declare that Kensington Gardens is my favourite place in London, but I think we all know that’s a bare-faced lie.

“When I’m really feeling evil, I like to blast my American group chats with pics from the produce aisle. Wonky carrots reduced to 43p. Brussels sprouts down to 85p. An entire sleeve of Jaffa Cakes for less than a Zone 1 ride on the Tube.”

Ashley amusingly noted that her friends had initially told her to “sod off”, but they have since stopped replying, leaving the writer fearing she may have “gone too far”.

It comes after another US expat in the UK shared a “culture shock” that left them “frustrated”.

Taking to Reddit last year, the unnamed person claimed there was a difference in how “closing time” operates between the two nations.

They wrote: “Something I’ve noticed living in the UK is how differently ‘closing time’ works. In the US, if a place says it closes at 9pm, you can usually walk in at 8:55 and still get served — ‘closing’ means that’s when they stop serving new customers.

“In the UK, closing time is when employees expect to be walking out the door to go home. Restaurants shut their kitchens an hour before the posted time, and grocery stores might even stop letting people in 20–30 minutes before closing.

“This caused some frustration my first year here: I’d walk into a café ten minutes before closing, hoping to grab a coffee, only to find the machine already turned off.”

They added that they might head out to buy milk or eggs shortly before a shop’s closing time, only to discover staff would not allow anybody in.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the Hungarian capital on Monday for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government during which they plan to sign a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement heralded by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has been outspoken in his support for the nationalist Orbán in the Hungarian leader’s bid for reelection in two months. Orbán and his Fidesz party are facing their most serious challenge in the April 12 vote since he retook power in 2010.

The stop in Hungary’s capital follows Rubio’s visit to Slovakia on Sunday, after he previously attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Led by euroskeptic populists who oppose support for Ukraine and vocally back Trump, Slovakia and Hungary represent friendly territory for Rubio as he pushes to shore up energy agreements with both Central European countries.

Widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most reliable advocate in the European Union, Orbán has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin despite its war against Ukraine while currying favor with Trump and his MAGA — short for the 2016 Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” — movement.

Many in MAGA and the broader conservative world view Hungary as a shining example of successful conservative nationalism, despite the erosion of its democratic institutions and its status as one of the EU’s poorest countries.

In a post on his Truth Social site earlier this month, Trump endorsed Orbán for the coming elections and called him a “truly strong and powerful Leader” and “a true friend, fighter, and WINNER.”

Trump has praised Orbán’s firm opposition to immigration, exemplified by a fence his government erected on Hungary’s southern border in 2015 as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Syria and other countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Other U.S. conservatives admire Orbán’s hostility to LGBTQ+ rights. His government last year banned the popular Budapest Pride celebration and allowed facial recognition technology to be used to identify anyone participating despite the ban. It has also effectively banned same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage, and disallowed transgender individuals from changing their sex in official documents.

Orbán has remained firmly committed to purchasing Russian energy despite efforts by the EU to wean off such supplies, and received an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy after a November meeting in the White House with Trump.

Apparently trusting that his political and personal affinity with the U.S. leader could pay even greater dividends, Orbán and his government have sought to woo Trump to Hungary before the pivotal April 12 elections — hoping such a high-profile visit and endorsement would push Orbán, who is trailing in most polls, over the finish line.

Budapest has hosted several annual iterations of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, and another was hastily rescheduled this year to fall in March, just before Hungary’s elections.

Details of the civilian nuclear deal were not known ahead of Monday’s signing in Budapest.

During his White House visit in November, Orbán had agreed to U.S.-Hungary cooperation in the civil nuclear industry, including the purchase of compact nuclear reactors — known as small modular reactors or SMRs — and spent fuel storage.

Hungary signaled it was ready to support construction of up to 10 SMRs with a potential value of up to $20 billion. Orbán also said Hungary would enter a nuclear fuel deal with U.S.-based Westinghouse to supply nuclear fuel for Hungary’s Russian-built Paks I nuclear plant.

HONG KONG (AP) — World shares mostly advanced on Monday and gold declined. Japanese stocks dipped and several stock markets in Asia were closed or trading for a half-day ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX was up 0.2% to 24,958.01. Britain’s FTSE gained 0.3% to 10,479.47, while the CAC 40 in Paris also rose 0.3% to 8,333.81.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.2% to 56,806.41, after the government reported that Japan’s economy grew more slowly than economists had expected in the latest October-December quarter, at an annualized 0.2%.

The sluggish rate of growth increases the likelihood that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will press ahead with plans to revive the economy by raising government spending and cutting taxes, Marcel Thieliant, head of Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.

Trading was thin as stock markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed. The first day of the Lunar New Year this year falls on Tuesday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5% in its half-day session, closing at 26,705.94.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.2% to 8,937.10. India’s Sensex was up 0.4%.

U.S. futures edged higher. The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up 0.4%. U.S. stock markets are also closed on Presidents Day, a holiday.

On Friday, U.S. stocks calmed after a sharp drop earlier driven by worries about artificial intelligence disruptions across various industries which particularly hit software companies hard.

A report showing inflation cooled last month also helped steady the markets. The data suggesting U.S. price pressures may be easing offered more room for another Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

The S&P 500 edged up less than 0.1% to 6,836.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 49,500.93. The Nasdaq composite edged down 0.2% to 22,546.67.

Computer chipmaker Nvidia, the heaviest weight company on the S&P 500, was down 2.2% Friday. Technology company AppLovin rose 6.4% after losing almost a fifth of its value on Thursday, as investors focused on how AI could disrupt businesses of software and technology-related firms.

In other dealings early Monday, gold and silver prices fell. The price of gold was down 0.3% to $5,030.30 per ounce and the price of silver fell 1.2% to $77.05 an ounce.

Oil prices fell. U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 34 cents to $62.55 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, was also 34 cents lower at $67.41 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar was at 153.33 Japanese yen, up from 152.64 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1867, down from $1.1872.

The date and time has been revealed and where you can see the eclipse

This year’s first solar eclipse is set to take place this week with the rare phenomenon will only be visible from certain locations on Earth. The event, famously dubbed a “ring of fire,” occurs when the Earth, Sun, and Moon reach perfect alignment.

During this process, the Moon passes directly between the sun and our planet, casting a distinct shadow and leaving only the outer edge of the Sun visible as a glowing celestial ring.

This rare astronomical event is due to take place on Tuesday, February 17, marking a major highlight for the 2026 lunar calendar. However, for those hoping to catch a glimpse, visibility remains the primary concern.

Whether the “ring of fire” will be visible from the UK depends on specific geographic pathways of the Moon’s shadow, with experts noting that only those in certain places will witness the alignment in its full glory.

The first solar eclipse will take place at 7.10am on Tuesday, February 17. However, the spectacle in the sky will only be visible in a handful of locations, according to National World.

The path of annularity – the path the solar eclipse will take and be visible from – will rise across western Antarctica and set off across the Davis Sea coast and the Southern Ocean.

This means that the upcoming solar eclipse will not be visible in the UK. According to Space.com, the following list is the locations where a partial solar eclipse will be visible from and the percentage of the sun’s disk which will be covered in each location:

• Heard and McDonald Islands, Australia – 88%
• French Southern and Antarctic Lands, France – 88%
• Mascarene Islands, Mauritius/France – 35%
• Port Louis, Mauritius – 32%
• Saint-Denis, Reunion, France – 31%
• Antananarivo, Madagascar – 20%
• Durban, South Africa – 16%
• Maputo, Mozambique – 13%
• Maseru, Lesotho – 11%
• Gaborone, Botswana – 4%
• Harare, Zimbabwe – 3%
• Ushuaia, Argentina – 3%

After Tuesday’s solar eclipse, there will be lunar eclipse on March 3-4. This will turn the moon a red shade in the sky, with the Earth instead passing in between the Moon and Sun and casting its shadow onto the Moon. Due to the reddish hue of the Moon during this phenomenon, a lunar eclipse is sometime referred to as a “Blood Moon”.

SYDNEY (AP) — A man accused of killing 15 people in a mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach appeared in court Monday for the first time since his release from the hospital.

Naveed Akram appeared in Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court via a video link from the maximum security Goulburn Correctional Center 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.

He did not enter pleas to the charges against him, including murder and committing a terrorist act. The brief court appearance focused on extending a gag order that suppresses the identities of victims and survivors of the attack who have not chosen to identify themselves publicly.

Defense lawyer Ben Archbold told reporters outside court that Akram was doing as well as could be expected and it was too early to indicate any intention of pleas.

Akram, 24, was wounded and his father Sajid Akram, 50, was killed in a gunbattle with police after the attack on a Hanukkah celebration at the beach Dec. 14.

The younger Akram is next scheduled to appear in court April 9.

The police investigation is one of three official inquiries examining Australia’s worst alleged terrorist attack and the nation’s worst mass shooting in 29 years.

One involves the interactions between law enforcement and intelligence agencies before the attack that was allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group.

A royal commission, the highest form of public inquiry, will investigate the nature, prevalence and drivers of antisemitism generally as well as the circumstances of the Bondi shooting.

Videos from the scene show the car engulfed by flames

Firefighters were called to a huge car fire in a Cambridgeshire town on Sunday (February 15). Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to Elm Road in Wisbech at around 9pm with reports of a car on fire.

A crew from Wisbech attended. The cause of the fire is believed to be deliberate.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “At around 9pm on Sunday (15) a crew from Wisbech was called to a fire on Elm Road in Wisbech.

“Firefighters arrived to find a car on fire. Wearing breathing apparatus they extinguished the fire using a hose reel and returned to their station by 10pm. The cause of fire is believed to be deliberate.”

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A train carrying around 80 passengers has derailed in Switzerland following an avalanche this morning, authorities said as rescuers scrambled to reach survivors.

Several carriages were forced off the line near the village of Goppenstein, in the southwestern canton of Valais, around 7am this morning, police said.

Ambulances and rescue helicopters raced to the scene as police warned injuries were “likely”. They reported just after 10am local time that 30 people have so far been evacuated.

“The train derailed due to an avalanche that came down in the Stockgraben area,” a spokesperson for train company BLS told 20 Minuten.

Were you affected? Contact james.reynolds@independent.co.uk

It was unclear whether the train was struck directly by the avalanche. Other services on the Frutigen-Brig line will be suspended until at least tomorrow, BLS said in a statement.

The train left Spiez at 6.12am and was heading southbound towards Brig at the time, according to BLS.

More follows on this breaking news story…

Why isn’t Silent Witness on tonight and when will it next air? Release schedule explained

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Silent Witness will not air tonight as usual as it has been replaced with another popular BBC drama.

Season 29 kicked off earlier this month but has experienced a number of changes to its original planned schedule.

Last week, episodes 3 and 4, called The Enemy Within, which revolved around the forensics team investigating a fatal stabbing that seemed to be racially motivated were replaced with the following week’s storyline Creekwood, starring guest actors Lydia Wilson, Cat Simmons, Megan Cusack and Mark Stobbart. You can read more on this here.

The shake-up was believed to be because of a horrific incident that took place in Birmingham.

A BBC spokesman told TV Guide: “Due to the attack in Birmingham over the weekend, this week’s episodes of Silent Witness will not transmit as planned and instead they have been replaced with two episodes from later on in the series.”

And those hoping to catch up with the rescheduled episodes tonight will want to take note of another change. Silent Witness will air on Tuesday and Wednesday night this week, instead of its usual Monday and Tuesday slot.

Instead, the latest season of Death in Paradise will air on Monday, February 16 in the 9pm slot. It comes after Death in Paradise, episode 3, was removed from the schedules on Friday as the BBC made way for the FA Cup fixture between Hull City and Chelsea.

And it’s not the only sport causing disruptions as the BBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics has also seen Father Brown removed from air for the next two weeks.

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The BBC is covering more than 450 hours of live action from Milan-Cortina, bringing audiences unmissable drama from the world’s top winter sport athletes, and the biggest and best moments of snow and ice sport.

Coverage is expected to last until February 22 when disruption to the usual schedules will end.

Silent Witness will return to BBC One on Tuesday, February 17 and Wednesday, February 18 at 9pm with part one and two of The Enemy Within, starring Chris Reilly (Slow Horses), Selin Hizli (Am I Being Unreasonable?), Gerard Kearns (Waiting For The Out), and Phaldut Sharma (EastEnders). You can read more about the cast here.

The guest stars will join the show’s much-loved familiar faces, including Emilia Fox as Dr Nikki Alexander, David Caves as Jack, Maggie Steed as Harriet and Fran Mills reprises her role as Kit.

Silent Witness is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

It was another bitterly disappointing day for Welsh rugby

It was another dark weekend in Welsh rugby as Wales suffered a heavy 54-12 defeat to France at the Principality Stadium.

It was one way traffic as Wales were yet again ruthlessly put to the sword by a France side who look well placed to win the Grand Slam. To make matters worse it felt like a home game for France with a crowd of just 57,744 in attendance.

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Winners

Aaron Wainwright

The Dragons No 8 was Wales’ best player yet again.

Wainwright made 14 carries and 11 tackles in a spirited display. The explosive No 8 was the only Wales backrower to consistently get over the gainline and is a high quality player operating in a weak team.

If Wales are to stand any chance against Scotland then Wainwright will be central to their efforts.

His move to Leicester Tigers for the 2026/27 season could take his game to a new level.

Eddie James

The 23-year-old had a tough time against England in round one but he was much better against France. James gave Wales some go forward in the second-half while he put in a strong defensive shift.

There was enough about the Scarlets centre to suggest he can kick on as an international centre. But his long-term position at Test level is arguably at inside centre.

There is an argument to suggest Wales currently cannot afford the luxury of a ball player at 12 and need someone to get them over the gainline in the same manner Jamie Roberts used to do in years gone by.

James could be that man.

Dewi Lake and Wales’ set-piece

You wouldn’t have thought it if you just went by the scoreline but Wales’ set-piece was actually pretty good against France.

The lineout malfunctioned badly eight days prior at Twickenham but it was faultless at the Principality Stadium.

Dewi Lake came in for some huge criticism for Wales’ lineout woes in the defeat to England but he was much better this time around.

The scrum was also solid enough.

Losers

WRU

It was a record low for Wales as far as the attendance, with the 57,744 crowd the lowest for a Six Nations match in Cardiff outside of the Covid pandemic.

A drop off in attendance will inevitably hit the WRU’s back pocket and the effects of that will be felt throughout the game, especially at professional level.

The current situation is the direct result of years of underinvestment into the pathway and the four professional teams.

Plans to cut the number of professional clubs from four to three are controversial but there does need to be radical change.

Huge investment needs to be put into the pathway.

Adam Beard

The 30-year-old has been a tremendous servant to the national side and is heavily respected by both players and coaches.

There is a reason Montpellier are paying the former Ospreys lock big money. But this was arguably his poorest performance in a Wales shirt.

Beard missed a tackle he should have made on Théo Attissogbe in the lead up to the first France try.

But after Dafydd Jenkins had done so well to win a turnover Beard inexplicably kicked directly into a French player, resulting in Matthieu Jalibert touching down on the stroke of half-time to take the game away from Wales.

He needs to bounce back quickly.

Wales’ half-backs

Wales lost the kicking game hands down, with both Tomos Williams and Dan Edwards not accurate enough in this regard.

Edwards has not had a good start to the Six Nations and while he is a talented player with a high ceiling he has been exposed defensively over the past couple of weeks.

Yes, it is very difficult playing behind a pack who are getting a tuning but Wales need more direction from their half-backs.

Wales coaching team

It was always going to be an extremely difficult task to improve performances after inheriting a team who were at such a low ebb, but things really aren’t going well.

Tandy has not been helped by the fact he has not got a specialist defence coach and he will have to wait until the summer to get one.

But Wales have conceded 42 tries so far under Tandy and 302 points in just six matches.

The harsh reality is Wales currently don’t have the same calibre of players that were present in the first Warren Gatland era, while the system underpinning the national side is no longer good enough.

Tandy and his backroom staff are lambs to the slaughter and the fact there are currently so many inexperienced temporary appointments is not helping.

It’s now 25% off, and can be used on everything from patios, roofs, bricks and paving stones, to artificial grass, tarmac and decking

It’s been a wet winter, but with spring on the horizon, now’s an ideal moment to get our outdoor areas ready for spending more time outside. If your paving slabs or patio are showing signs of green mould, lichen and algae, an effective cleaning product can help, and we’ve spotted one currently discounted on Amazon.

The Wet and Forget outdoor patio cleaner is a bleach-free solution described as “one of the best outdoor cleaners ever” by Nottinghamshire Live. It’s currently available on Amazon, reduced from £35.99 to £26.68 for a five-litre container, though if that’s too large, there’s also a two-litre bottle discounted from £21.99 to £14.99.

According to the manufacturer, users simply need to mix one part of Wet and Forget with five parts water, spray it onto the surface and leave it to work its magic, with no need to scrub, rinse or pressure wash.

The brand states that one 5L container can create up to 30 litres of cleaning solution and treat a surface area of 100-300 square metres. It’s also described as super versatile as it can be used on everything from patios, roofs, bricks and paving slabs, to artificial grass, tarmac and decking.

Customers have praised the outdoor cleaner, which boasts a 4.4-star rating from over 27,000 reviews. One buyer commented: “Wet and Forget is honestly one of the best outdoor cleaners I’ve ever used. I applied it to my patio, fencing, and the side of the house where mould and green algae always build up”, reports the Express.

Another was impressed with how quickly it worked, noting: “I just mixed this as per the directions and sprayed with a garden sprayer onto the surfaces affected. That was Sunday. By Friday, the green was completely gone! I had expected a far longer wait or to have to scrub the surfaces, but no. Very happy indeed.”

A third reviewer said: “This product is the best on the market and worth the cost. My fences have looked great for years with a treatment every five to seven years or so. Plus, unlike high-pressure cleaning, it doesn’t remove the pine wood treatment, meaning it is clean but not exposed to termite damage.”

However, some customers remained unconvinced. One wrote: “Did not find this sufficiently effective on removing algae from Indian stone flags.”

Elsewhere, the Wet & Forget Rapid Mould & Algae Remover Spray 2L is £49.99 at Lakeland. This is another product from the same brand, available in a two-litre bottle that claims to cover up to 200 square metres. It can be used on patios and garden paths and simply attached to your garden hose.

Another alternative is SCRUBB Exterior Liquid concentrate Algae & mould remover, £13 at B&Q. This five-litre bottle might be suitable if you need to cover a larger area, as it’s super concentrated and can be diluted up to a 1:10 ratio depending on the area to be cleaned.

It is said to work on any surface, from decks to tiles, plastic, glass and even roofs. The brand also says it’s fully biodegradable and surface safe.

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