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Britain joined Australia, Japan and nine other countries in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the CPTPP. Kemi Badenoch, Business and Trade Secretary, said that projections of its contribution to the growth of the UK economy, of 0.08 per cent over a decade, didn’t tell the whole story. Teachers voted for more strikes; the Passport Office began five weeks of strikes. The Food Standards Agency investigated allegations that a meat supplier falsely labelled foreign pork as British and mixed rotting and fresh meat. In March, house prices were 3.1 per cent less than a year before, according to the Nationwide – the largest annual decline since July 2009. In March, the pound gained 3 per cent against the dollar. Lord Lawson of Blaby, editor of The Spectator 1966-70 and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1983-89, died aged 91.

Ferry travellers to France had to wait for hours at Dover, some overnight; French passport checks meant every coach had to be emptied of passengers. At Heathrow, security workers in the Unite union went on strike for ten days. The RAF allowed all cadets to wear uniforms of either sex, and those transitioning are ‘permitted to use facilities such as toilets and ablutions’ of the gender of their choosing. Nicola Sturgeon, the previous first minister of Scotland, attributed speculation on social media about her private life to people who ‘want to pretend, and they want other people to believe, there is one hidden secret life’.

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, announced a grooming gangs taskforce and declared that ‘evil grooming gangs who target children and young women will be stamped out’ and ‘cannot hide behind cultural sensitivities as a way to evade justice’. Michael Vaughan was cleared of using racist language while a Yorkshire player in 2009; the Cricket Discipline Commission found that an allegation that he had said to four Asian players ‘There are too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that’ was not proved, even on the balance of probabilities.

Abroad

Donald Trump, the former president of America, faced criminal charges after a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him. His former lawyer said that he had paid $130,000 to a pornography actress, Stormy Daniels, to keep her quiet after she claimed they had had an affair. That is not illegal but it is alleged that Mr Trump recorded the payment as legal fees. President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan stopped off at New York on her way to Central America; China warned the United States of serious repercussions. Japan demanded the release of one of its nationals, an employee of a pharmaceutical company, detained by China early last month accused of spying. Three British men were being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, including Miles Routledge, 23, who specialises in visiting dangerous countries. Russia arrested an American Wall Street Journal journalist, Evan Gershkovich, 31, in Yekaterinburg, accused of spying. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia cut planned production, sending oil prices up.

All 30 Nato members ratified a protocol allowing Finland to join. Sanna Marin was out as prime minister of Finland when her Social Democrat party was overtaken by the centre-right National Coalition in elections. Russia took the presidency of the UN Security Council for a month; last time it held the presidency it invaded Ukraine. Russian missiles damaged 16 blocks of flats and a nursery school at Kostyantynivka, 20 miles from Bakhmut, killing six. In the ruins of Bakhmut, Russia made very slow advances with high casualties. Vladlen Tatarsky, a pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger, was killed by a bomb in a St Petersburg café. Wimbledon lifted a ban on Russians and Belarusians who played as neutral athletes. World Athletics announced a ban at international level on transgender women competing in the female category; UK Athletics followed, saying it was ‘fair for athletes who have gone through male puberty to be excluded’ from the category. Elon Musk, who runs Twitter, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, were among those who signed an open letter calling for the training of artificial intelligence machines above a certain capacity to be halted for at least six months. Italy banned the chatbot ChatGPT. The Pope, aged 86, spent three nights in Gemelli Hospital in Rome with breathing difficulties. A vending machine started to sell bear meat in Semboku, Japan.