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.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

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.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ‘ Infowars media platform and its assets will be sold off piece by piece in auctions this fall to help pay the more than $1 billion he owes relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, under an order expected to be approved by a federal judge.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said during a court hearing Tuesday that he will approve the auctions that start in November. But he said he first must change a previous order to make it clear that the trustee overseeing Jones’ personal bankruptcy case controls all the assets of Infowars parent company Free Speech Systems, which is owned 100% by Jones.

Despite the pending loss of his company, Jones vows to continue his talk shows through other means, possibly including a new website and his personal social media accounts. He also has suggested that Infowars’ assets could be bought by his supporters, allowing him to continue hosting his show as an employee under the Infowars brand in their home city of Austin, Texas.

“It’s very cut and dry that the assets of Free Speech Systems, the website, the equipment, the shopping cart, all that, can be sold,” Jones said on a recent show. “And they know full well that there are a bunch of patriot buyers, and then the operation can ease on.”

Jones and his company both filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 — the same year Sandy Hook families won nearly $1.5 billion in defamation and emotional distress lawsuits against Jones for his repeatedly calling the 2012 school shooting a hoax staged by “crisis actors” to get more gun control legislation passed. Twenty first graders and six educators were killed in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting.

During two civil trials in Texas and Connecticut, parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ hoax conspiracies and his followers’ actions. They said they were harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son’s grave.

Jones is appealing the civil jury verdicts, citing free speech rights and questioning whether the families proved any connection between his comments, and the people who harassed and threatened the relatives. He has since acknowledged that the shooting did happen.

In June, Lopez converted Jones’ personal bankruptcy reorganization case into a liquidation, meaning many of his assets will be sold off to pay creditors except for his main home and other exempt property. The same day, Lopez also dismissed Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy case after Jones and the families could not reach agreement on a final plan.

The sell-off order Lopez intends to approve would put Infowars’ intellectual property up for auction on Nov. 13 including its trademarks, copyrighted material, social media accounts and websites. Jones’ personal social media sites, including his account on the social platform X, which has 2.8 million followers, would not be included.

However, the trustee overseeing Jones’ bankruptcy case, Christopher Murray, said Tuesday that he may soon seek court permission to also liquidate Jones’ personal social media accounts and his other intellectual property — which Jones’ attorneys have opposed. That issue could develop into another court fight in the bankruptcy case. Murray also is expected to sell many of Jones’ personal assets.

The Sandy Hook families who won the Connecticut lawsuit want Jones to lose his personal social media accounts. Their lawyers further contend that the families should get a chunk of all of Jones’ future earnings to help pay off his more than $1 billion debt.

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said the judge’s signing of the auction order will be “a significant step forward” in the family’s efforts to make Jones pay for his hoax lies.

“Alex Jones will no longer own or control the company he built,” Mattei said in a statement Tuesday. “This brings the families closer to their goal of holding him accountable for the harm he has caused.”

The rest of Infowars’ assets, including computers, video cameras and other studio equipment, would be sold at a different auction on Dec. 10.

Jones has made millions of dollars over the years selling dietary supplements, apparel, survival gear, books and other items he promotes on his shows, which air on the internet and dozens of radio stations. It’s unclear how much money would be raised by selling Infowars and Jones’ assets, and how much money the Sandy Hook families would get.

Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to court filings. Free Speech Systems has about $6 million in cash on hand and about $1.2 million worth of inventory, according to previous court testimony.

Lawyers, financial experts and others who worked on Jones’ bankruptcy cases — who have racked up millions of dollars in fees and expenses — are expected to be paid first.

A remaining legal dispute in the bankruptcy case is whether Free Speech Systems owes more than $50 million to another Jones-owned company, PQPR Holdings Limited. Free Speech Systems buys dietary supplements from PQPR to sell on the Infowars website. PQPR said it wasn’t paid for many of the supplements and filed liens. Sandy Hook lawyers allege the debt is bogus.

If the debt is found to be valid, that could reduce any amount the Sandy Hook families ultimately get from the liquidations.

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”.