In the United Kingdom, a National Health Service survey found that 26 percent of people in Cheshire and Merseyside who tried to book a dental appointment in the last two years were unsuccessful, and 20 percent of Cheshire and Merseyside residents who did get to see a dentist rated the experience fairly or very poor, numbers which are typical of England as a whole. The British Dental Association said that millions of people no longer even try to book appointments because they know they can't get one, adding that getting to see an NHS dentist "is just a nice idea rather than a reality they can depend on."

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American YouTuber and rapper IShowSpeed, known to his parents as Darren Jason Watkins Jr, was sent to hospital after wiping out during the annual cheese-rolling race in Gloucestershire, England. He regrets nothing.

The influencer said the race had further injured a previous leg injury, but added it was worth it.

— Read the rest

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In England, a judge has ruled that London's Metropolitan Police cannot bar Niyak Ghorbani from attending pro-Palestinian protests. Ghorbani, an Iranian dissident, has become famous for attending such protests while carrying a sign that reads "Hamas is terrorist." He has been arrested by Met police three times at those protests. At his last arrest, he did not have the sign, but he was arrested for refusing to stand where a police officer told him. After that arrest, the police gave him a piece of paper saying that one of his bail conditions was "not to attend any protest relating to Israel or Palestine in the City of Westminster." The judge said that condition was not "necessary or proportionate."

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In England, Swansea Crown Court Judge Geraint Walters wanted to know why prosecutors dropped charges against photographer Dimitris Legakis on the eve of the trial. Legakis had been arrested for taking photos near a crime scene and charged with assaulting an emergency worker, obstructing or resisting a police officer, and using threatening or abusive words or behavior. A prosecutor said charges were dropped because the officer's original statement differed from a later one. But Walters said that after reading the record, he believed that Legakis was arrested because a police officer "took offence" to him taking photos. He said he believed prosecutors knew early on that "there was no evidential basis" to charge Legakis.

The post Brickbat: Freeze Frame appeared first on Reason.com.

If there's one ironclad law of the Internet at the moment, it's that racists will get mad at literally anything. Yesterday, it was the Snow White remake, and today, it's a guy enjoying a really big piece of naan bread. — Read the rest

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