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Drugs

The Hangover News

This weekend, a drugs gang was convicted after hiding £24 million worth of cannabis in carpets, Winchester was named best place to live in the UK and more.

Waitrose and Whimsy
WINCHESTER'S BEEN NAMED THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN BRITAIN
If you take your cues from Sunday Times surveys where a Waitrose is a major factor

The best place. This (Photo: Herry Lawford via)

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Winchester was named Britain's best place to live, in a Sunday Times survey that accounted for crime rates, the quality of schools, house prices and "foodie culture".

The city has "excellent schools, good transport links, a strong community spirit and an emerging foodie scene", according to the newspaper. Rent in the area is relatively high too, which a city councillor warned could turn it into an exclusive place.

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Local residents contributed to the survey too, with one citing a Waitrose as an asset.

"Eight years ago, when Susie and I were thinking of moving here, I almost told her I couldn't do it because there wasn't a Waitrose," an unnamed resident apparently told the paper. "Luckily, one opened the year after we moved in."

That settles it, then.

Carpets of Cannabis
A GANG TRIED TO HIDE £24 MILLION WORTH OF CANNABIS IN CARPETS
The men face jail time after smuggling drugs into the UK from the Netherlands

(Photo: Metropolitan Police)

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Five men from London and the Home Counties were convicted in court Friday after being caught smuggling £24 million worth of cannabis into the UK from the Netherlands. They'd hidden the drugs in industrial pipes stashed in a shipment of rolled-up carpets.

Over a six-month period the gang had used a front company called Mogafish Flooring to buy and move the carpets, before taking the drugs to a warehouse in Essex. Police first intercepted the gang's lorry in September 2015, then picked off gang members one by one as they were caught transporting drugs, carrying thousands of pounds in cash or linked to the smuggling operation.

"This gang created a complex conspiracy to conceal their criminal activity and the impact on the people of London and the Home Counties was severe," a police detective sergeant said.

Martin Beckett, Lee Jones, Marc Howell, Stuart Openshaw and Jonathan Euesden have been convicted with a variety of drug-related offences, from possession with intent to supply Class As to conspiracy to import cannabis.

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Rollercoaster 2.0
ALTON TOWERS' SMILER RIDE REOPENED AFTER A MAJOR CRASH LAST YEAR
Nine months ago several people were injured, with two needed leg amputations

(Photo: Towers Street via)

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An Alton Towers rollercoaster, the Smiler, reopened on Sunday nine months after a crash due to human error that left two women needing leg amputations.

People queued excitedly on the day, following news that the theme park had outlined plans to heighten safety measures and make sure another crash wouldn't happen on the ride.

Sixteen people had been hurt in the crash, with six sustaining serious injuries and two of those six needing to have their legs partly amputated as a result of the impact.

Benefits Brawl
IAIN DUNCAN SMITH QUIT, THEN SLAGGED OFF TORY BENEFIT CUTS
The former Work and Pensions Secretary quit, triggering an in-party meltdown

Screenshot: BBC via

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Former Tory work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith resigned on Friday night over his concerns with the party's proposed cuts to in-work benefits and disability benefits, as announced in the Budget last Wednesday.

"I am unable to watch passively while certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest," he wrote in his resignation letter.

Smith then called the budget "unfair" on Sunday morning, in his first interview since quitting his job. He said the Conservatives "are losing sight of the direction of travel they should be in", which has predictably kicked up a political fuss and run as front-page news on most British Sunday papers.

Smith has been replaced by the former secretary of state for Wales, a guy called Stephen Crabb.