SHOPPERS have noticed a brand new flavour of special edition Cadbury’s chocolate – but you’ll be lucky to get your hands on a bar.

The new Tiramisu-flavoured bar is part of the brand’s white chocolate range, Dream.

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It was relaunched in 2020 and has seen several exciting editions including Oreo and raspberry.

News of the brand new Tiramisu flavour was shared on the New Foods UK Facebook group – where it received 840 reactions and 110 shares.

Meanwhile, 600 commenters shared their thoughts on the new chocolate.

One said: “Oh my I need this.”

Another said: “I need that.”

A third wrote: “Imagine this as my easter egg!!!”

However, others shared the disappointing update that the bar had already sold out on the specialist Bombon website, where it was originally spotted.

One said: “Just to let you know the bar was £6 plus delivery of £3.50 and it has sold out now that site.”

Another moaned that special edition bars are often hard to find in supermarkets, saying: “It’s pretty funny there’s lots of pictures of these chocolate bars and you go to shops to try and find then but you never can”.

The bar, which is £5.99 for 150g, is currently out of stock on the website.

The new launch comes after Cadbury announced an exciting new opportunity for chocoholics – to be appointed a professional chocolate taster.

However, the brand has not been without controversy in recent weeks, as it was revealed that the beloved Brunch snack bar was getting smaller – but remaining the same price.

It also announced it was axing its Christmas treats Festive Friends, with shoppers claiming “Christmas is ruined”.

However, chocolate-lovers can still get excited about a number of other new chocolatey treats hitting supermarket shelves.

Aldi released a dupe of Cadbury Pots of Joy, while Nestle launched a new flavour of Quality Street Matchmakers – which supposedly tastes. like Nutella.

Whatever one’s view on the gifts of clothes to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife — as well as other senior party officials — in a recent television interview the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, stated that they were “part of the job” (“Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves declared clothing donations as office support”, Report, FT.com, September 20).

That being the case, they are “taxable benefits” and no doubt the prime minister and other beneficiaries will be making the appropriate declarations in their tax return.

Wayne Kitcat
Abinger, Surrey, UK

DOMINO’S has created a lockable box to keep leftover pizza safe, as university students head off for fresher’s week.

The pizza chain is giving away the limited-edition safes, which fit perfectly in a fridge and keep pizza secure, away from prying eyes and hungry mouths.

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The boxes are available to students or anyone else at risk of fridge thefts through their website.

Melanie Howe from Domino’s said: “There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve got some tasty leftovers ready for the next day – only to be left fuming when someone has pinched them.

“For most people students, that’s an all-too-common reality.

“To make sure you don’t become a victim to the same misfortune, we wanted to create the Slice Security safe which fits in fridges and keeps precious leftover pizza safe from greedy housemates.”

It comes as research of 400 of university students who’ve lived in student accommodation in last 10 years found 65% have had food stolen during their time at uni.

Milk (45 %) and bread (33%) are the most swiped items, followed by leftover pizza (18%).

And in a bid to stop their goods being stolen, 60% have written their name on items.

It also emerged 46% have caught others in the act of stealing their grub.

While 52% said food theft is one of the biggest causes of arguments as student.

The research also found living with friends (39%) and having your own space (35%) are the best things about living in student accommodation.

While living in messy conditions (48%), having loud roommates (43%), and having food stolen (36%) are the biggest worries.

Those polled also had their say on their favourite takeaway in the research carried out through OnePoll – and pizza (46%) came top.

Motivations for ordering a food delivery include great taste (45%), not having to wash up (40%), and having leftovers for the following day (30%).

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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THE kids are finally back at school, so now it’s time for the grown-ups to put their feet up.

And there are few better ways to unwind than a cruise. From epic adventures around the Caribbean to wild nights partying on the White Isle, Sophie Swietochowski picks her top adult-only sailings still with availability this year.

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1. FRENCH DAZE & IBIZA NIGHTS: If a raucous adults-only getaway is what you’re after, that’s certainly what you’ll get on board Richard Branson’s Virgin Voyages — and this French Daze & Ibiza Nights cruise has 70 per cent off for the second passenger, but you’ll have to be ready to set sail straight away.

When you’re not swigging back cocktails in your jammies at the PJ party on board Scarlet Lady, you’ll be dancing til dawn on the sands of Ibiza or slurping some of the finest rose in France’s Provence.

And if all that boozing leads to a bit of a sore head, the ship is home to a marble-clad spa complete with a mud room, salt room, sauna, steam room, hot and cold plunge pools, and heated hammam benches.

The seven-night voyage costs from £1091.69pp, based on two sharing an indoor cabin and departing from Barcelona on September 29.

The ship calls at Marseille, Cannes, Mallorca, and Ibiza. See virginvoyages.com.

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2. NORWAY’S LAND OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS: This 14-night icy voyage around Norway’s snow-capped peaks is certainly one for the bucket list as you hunt for the famous Northern Lights.

Ambassador Cruise Line’s Ambition is all about the grown-up getaways with sophisticated dining options like Lupino’s, an al-fresco style Mediterranean restaurant, and a lavish theatre hosting epic musical performances.

The sailing departs in November so pack your winter coat as it’ll be chilly outside, but the frost only adds to the magic.

The ship sails from London Tilbury to Haugesund, Alesund, Trondheim, Alta, Leknes, Narvik, Bodo and Bergen.

The Norway’s Land of the Northern Lights voyage costs from £1,199pp in the end of summer sale. See ambassadorcruiseline.com.

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3. CARIBBEAN DISCOVERY: Got buckets of time? Well, pack your sunscreen as P&O Cruises has a mega 24-night trip that will take you around some of the Caribbean’s most picturesque, sun-drenched islands.

You’ll tick off St Maarten, the French-half Dutch port littered with little boutiques; Guadeloupe, where hikers will have their pick of craggy trails; Kingstown in St Vincent, home to lush botanical gardens and Bridgetown in Barbados, where you can swig on rum until the sun comes up.

The cruise also calls at Madeira and Ponta Delgada in Portugal.

With plenty of days at sea you’ll have ample time to soak up Aurora’s fun with an epic casino on board, interactive game shows, archery, a cinema and even a library.

The 24-night sailing (R421) costs from £2,399pp, departing Southampton on October 29. See pocruises.com.

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4. FESTIVE FLAVOURS: For a festive-themed European break, few do it better than TUI’s adult-only river cruises.

This five-night sailing along Germany’s Rhine River will call at some of the best Christmas markets in the world, including the one in Cologne selling sweet and spicy biscuits and blown-glass trinkets.

From the top deck of TUI Skyla, you’ll be able to admire the passing cities or join one of the open-air movie nights under a blanket of stars.

Be prepared to not just fill your boots with Christmas gifts but your stomach with grub as on top of the market grub, cruisers will be treated to a six-course gala dinner on board the ship one evening.

The five-night voyage costs from £978pp, departing Mainz on December 8 and calling at Bonn, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Koblenz. See tui.co.uk.

Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike faced its biggest grilling yet over its role in July’s mass global IT outage in Congress on Tuesday.

Adam Meyers, a senior executive at the company, appeared before a US congressional committee to answer questions about its faulty software update that disabled millions of PCs on 19 July.

The incident knocked payment services offline, grounded flights and forced some hospitals to cancel appointments and delay operations.

Mr Meyers said the firm was “deeply sorry” for the outage that affected millions of people and is “determined to prevent it from happening again”.

CrowdStrike described the outage as the result of a “perfect storm”.

Lawmakers on the House of Representatives cybersecurity subcommittee pressed Mr Meyers on how it occurred in the first place.

“A global IT outage that impacts every sector of the economy is a catastrophe that we would expect to see in a movie,” said Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in his opening remarks.

The Tennessee representative likened the widespread impact of CrowdStrike’s faulty content update to an attack “we would expect to be carefully executed by a malicious and sophisticated nation-state actor”.

Instead “the largest IT outage in history was due to a mistake”, he said.

Mr Meyers said the company would continue to act on and share “lessons learned” from the incident to make sure it would not happen again.

Among the questions directed at Mr Meyers during the 90-minute hearing were technical queries about whether the company’s software should have access to core parts of device operating systems.

But there were also more general questions about artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on cybersecurity.

Congressman Carlos Gimenez asked about the threat of AI writing malicious code.

Mr Meyers said he thought the tech was “not there yet” but added that every day it “gets better”.

In response to one representative’s line of questioning, Mr Meyers reiterated that AI – which the company leverages to detect threats to systems – was not responsible for pushing the erroneous update that crashed computers around the world.

He said CrowdStrike releases between 10 and 12 configuration updates each day.

Lawmakers on the committee raised concerns about the impact of large-scale cyber events on national security, adding they could also be exploited by bad actors looking to capitalise on confusion or panic.

But all in all, Mr Meyers did not face quite the level of scrutiny that other high-level technology executives have when called to testify in Congress over apparent failings.

Congressman Eric Swalwell said the committee had not gathered to “malign” the firm, while Mr Green said Mr Meyers showed an “impressive” degree of humility.

Instead there was an emphasis on working together with the committee and government to prevent the possibility of any such further incidents in future.

The company still faces a number of lawsuits from people and businesses that were caught up in July’s mass outage.

Some of the people affected told BBC News it “totally ruined” their holidays, or caused them to lose out on business.

The firm has been sued by its own shareholders, as well as by Delta Airlines passengers left stranded by thousands of flight cancellations.

Delta said it lost $500m (£374m) due to CrowdStrike’s “negligence”.

A MAJOR energy supplier has issued its deadline for customers to take a meter reading to avoid facing unexpected bills.

Millions of households must submit a meter reading to ensure their bill is accurate ahead of the new energy price cap.

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British Gas is the leading supplier of energy in the UK, delivering to millions of households and businesses across the UK.

The energy supplier confirmed that if you want an accurate bill, the final date to submit an energy reading is October 14 – however, it’s better to take the actual reading around the October 1 price cap change.

British Gas customers can technically take and submit meter readings anytime, but doing it any point after October 14 might mean their next bill is estimated.

October 1, otherwise known as Meter Reading Day, is the best time to take a reading – as customers can calculate what they pay before the new price cap is implemented.

The new energy price cap, which limits the amount that can be charged, will be around 10% higher than the current level which has been in place since July.

The price cap makes sure that prices for people on a standard variable tariff are fair and that they reflect the cost of energy.

The way it is calculated is based largely on the current wholesale energy prices, as well as other factors such as network, operating and policy costs, and VAT.

The energy price cap changes every 3 months – in June, the cap fell to the lowest level in two years, from £1,690 to the current rate of £1,568.

However, from October 1, Ofgem, who sets the limit, revealed that bills will rise from £1,568 to £1,717.

Households will have until October 14 to submit the reading from the first day of the month – meaning they must remember to take the reading on October 1.

Customers will be able to submit their readings via their online account, the British Gas mobile app, or an automated line.

If you are concerned about the new price cap, British Gas have also been working to provide support for households through their Families and Individual Support Fund.

This is for British Gas customers and non customers who are in debt over their energy bill.

To apply, go to the British Gas fund or search “British Gas Support Fund” where the eligibility requirements are detailed.

Who should submit a meter reading?

Households who are on an SVT should submit regular meter readings to prevent their supplier estimating their usage.

In total, there are around 28 million SVT users in the UK.

For these households it is especially important to submit a meter reading now, to avoid any disputes when the price cap comes into effect.

If your bill’s not accurate, you could be charged more than you should – and if you’re charged less, you could end up owing money down the line.

Meanwhile, customers with smart meters do not need to submit a reading, as this is automatically sent by the device.

And those on prepayment plans or fixed rates also do not need to worry, as their bill is either predetermined, or their rate is locked in for the duration of their deal.

If you are unsure what plan you are on, go to your suppliers website or revisit paperwork from when you began your energy package.

What is the deadline for other suppliers?

EDF

EDF customers will be able to back date their meter reads at any time up to and including Wednesday October 9.

They can submit meter reads through the EDF App, their online MyAccount, or via telephone, email, text and WhatsApp.

Octopus

If you’re a customer with Octopus Energy, you should register your meter reading on, or close to, the exact date October 1 if you want an accurate figure.

Scottish Power

Scottish Power have no deadline for meter readings. Customers can update meter readings as and when they wish to provide them.

If you are on a standard variable or default tariff with Scottish Power, then the energy price cap will automatically apply.

However, if your prices need to increase as a result, there’s no need to contact them.

Scottish Power have said: “We’ll write to you by letter or email to let you know what your new prices will be before the change takes place.”

Ovo Energy

Ovo Energy customers can submit their meter readings via the app, online account, phone, Whatsapp or webchat at any time, however the closer to the bill date the customer provides their bill date, the less of the bill will need to be estimated.

For accurate bills, Ovo recommends customers opt for a smart meter.

Utilita

When we heard from Utilita, they pointed out that “the vast majority of Utilita customers – in excess of 90% – don’t have to worry about the hassle of submitting meter readings because they have a smart meter”

If you aren’t sure of the deadline for your supplier, review the conditions of your arrangement via the company website or paperwork.

To be safe, we recommend you submit the reading on or before October 1 anyway, so you don’t risk missing the deadline.

What is the British Gas Support Fund?

If you are concerned about facing the new price cap this winter, British Gas have reopened their Individual and Families support fund.

The trust has helped more than 21,000 British customers in the past, with energy debt write off grants of up to £2,000.00.

Their current package is bigger than ever, with over £140 million set aside to help those who are struggling financially.

Unlike many other supplier grants, The British Gas scheme extends to both British Gas customers and non-customers.

However, there are certain requirements to be eligible for the fund. 

Pre-payment meter customers must be within £50 and £1,700 of energy debt. 

They must also live in England, Scotland or Wales, and have not received a grant from the British Gas Energy Trust within the last 2 years. 

It is recommended that customers from companies with hardship funds first seek assistance from their own schemes. 

The applicant must be able to show a sustainable position moving forward.

If you are eligible, British Gas can offer:

• Free energy grants
• Energy advice for vulnerable households
• Tailored support for households and small business customers
• Funding for small businesses and charities

Scottish power, Utilita, EDF, E.ON and Utility Warehouse are also offering support schemes for their customers.

Go to your energy provider’s website to learn what help is available.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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