A teaspoon, taken from the Queens Hotel in Southsea in 1942, has been returned. The silver spoon, bearing a monogram that identified it as part of the hotel’s cutlery, was found in a drawer in the town of Bundanoon in New South Wales, Australia. The finder, John White, sent it back to the hotel with a letter explaining that his parents had borrowed it during a stay at the hotel during the Second World War. “We thought it would be a nice gesture if we could send it back to the hotel and apologise for having it for so long and hope they hadn’t missed it too much,” said White.
BBC News (Amanda Welles)
Play the gooseberry
This year marks Holmes Chapel’s bicentennial gooseberry fair, at which contestants compete for the prized “premier berry” award, bestowed upon the grower of the most weighty fruit. At its peak, the prize was the equivalent of a month’s wages but organisers now describe it as just “a quirky and frivolous activity”.
BBC News (Daragh Brady)
Where are you Frome?
Residents in Frome, Somerset, have vented frustration about people moving in from London, who have been dubbed FILTH – Failed in London, Try Here. One business lady in Frome has said the newcomers want to turn the town into “café central” with outdoor dining and additional pedestrian roads. One gentleman remarked, “We don’t want any more Londoners. We’ve fulfilled our quota, now we’re feeding them to the pigs.”
Somerset Live (Adam Robertson)
[See also: The politics of murder]
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This article appears in the 07 Aug 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Summer Special 2025