Armed forces

Commemorations begin today to mark the eightieth anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. A military procession will leave Parliament Square and head to Buckingham Palace – the start of four days of events that culminate on Thursday, actual VE Day, with a service of thanksgiving from Westminster Abbey. Britain’s military top brass will be out in force, laying wreaths at memorials and talking in grave tones about the courage and sacrifice of the Second World War generation. This generation was ethnically diverse, as highlighted in the set of commemorative stamps released by Royal Mail to mark VE Day. A recent poll found that 86% of the British public agree that

Meet market Who uses the gay dating app Grindr?  – The site claims 27m users worldwide, 80.5% of whom identify as gay. – 13m users are active on a monthly basis. Some 923,000 are paid users. – 80% are younger than 35. – 39% are single. – 48% are in the US. – The average user is on the site for 60 minutes per day. – The ‘explore’ feature – which allows users to see who on the app lives in a particular town or city – is accessed more in London than any other city in the world. – Grindr accounts for 3% of global use of dating apps.

For the love of dog XL Bully dogs were banned in England from this week, although there is an exemption for animals which are neutered, registered, insured and kept on leads and muzzled in public. Some other things that have been banned this week: – Parking on the pavement in Edinburgh. – Importing disposable vapes in Australia. – Selling new homes with gas boilers in the Australian state of Victoria. – Displaying toys in Californian shops under male and female sections. A gender neutral section must now be included. – English councils trying to charge for disposing of waste from DIY projects. – Withdrawals in dollars from banks in Iraq.