The Hangover News

Black-Eye Friday
LONDON PARAMEDICS GOT MORE THAN 2,000 CALLOUTS ON FRIDAY
Many were related to heavy boozing on what they dubbed "Mad Friday"

As you can see from this video filmed last night, getting drunk is — London Ambulance (@Ldn_Ambulance)December 16, 2016

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London Ambulance Service paramedics said they received almost 2,400 callouts between 7PM on Friday and 4AM on Saturday, on what was pegged the peak night of heavy drinking at work Christmas parties.

The ambulance service updated followers on social media with the minutiae of calls related to booze, in a bid to remind people that drinking is – in the words of the paramedics' own hashtag – "not a game".

"A drunk man we responded to, who was unconscious, has come round and is being verbally abusive to our crews," they tweeted just after midnight, before dutifully adding the #notagame and #madfriday hashtags. At one point, the LAS was taking approximately one call per minute related to drunk people, they said. "We want Londoners to have a great time during this party season," said LAS medical director Dr Fenella Wrigley, "but we also need them to look after themselves and their friends."

DJ Pirate
A DJ'S BEEN JAILED FOR A YEAR FOR TORRENTING TOP 40 SINGLES
He'd been ripping and uploading the chart pop for more than a year

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A 39-year-old DJ was jailed for a year, after an unprecedented collaborative investigation tracked him down as the person uploading ripped top 40 songs to two websites.

Wayne Evans was found out when the police worked with songwriters' rights organisation PRS for Music – they estimated he swindled musicians out of about £1 million in possible earnings from the songs he ripped and offered up as illegal downloads on his own sites.

Evans, from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to uploading the music – approximately 700,000 songs – to torrent sites.

Prison Riot
INMATES TOOK OVER HMP BIRMINGHAM DURING A 12-HOUR RIOT
The disturbance is believed to have started in a ward for vulnerable inmates

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Hundreds of inmates "took over" HMP Birmingham during a 12-hour disturbance started on Friday morning, according to reports and mobile phone video shared from inside the prison.

Details from inside the prison were still thin on the ground by Sunday afternoon, but the local press reported that the "riot" began in a ward for vulnerable inmates at around 9AM on Friday. Inmates then reportedly took control of four wards in the prison, before security services company G4S guards had to call in the prison service's specialist Tornado Squad.

Prisoners reportedly lit fires during the 12-hour disturbance, with one man taken to hospital and at least three others reported as injured. Ambulance and fire services said they were initially unable to enter the prison to respond, and the Ministry of Justice confirmed to local press that no prison staff were hurt. Justice Secretary Liz Truss has promised "a thorough investigation will now be carried out."

British Values
PEOPLE IN PUBLIC LIFE SHOULD TAKE AN OATH TO BRITISH VALUES, SAYS TORY
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid made the suggestion in a Sunday Times column

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Sajid Javid, Conservative politician and current Communities Secretary, suggested that all people who hold public office should swear an oath to British values, including democracy, freedom of speech and equality. His recommendation follows a similar suggestion made by Dame Louise Casey in her recent and controversial report on social integration in the UK.

"We can't expect new arrivals to embrace British values if those of us who are already here don't do so ourselves," he said, according to the BBC, "and such an oath would go a long way to making that happen."

Javid said he didn't want to push a "one-size-fits all identity" of quaint British stereotypes, but rather use the suggested oath to bake tolerance into the "building blocks" of British society, as led by example from people in public life.