⚖️ Love bombing guidance + a look at the week ahead

_{Read in 5m 18s ∙ Listening to Arlo Parks}

Meet the “purrfect” finalists in this year’s National Cat Awards - the Cats Protection charity’s annual celebration of the companionship of cats. Shortlisted pets include Zebby (left) - who helps his hearing-impaired owner - and Henry (right) - who provides companionship to the gardeners of Hampton Court Palace. Vote for your favourite feline - with categories including Moggy Marvels and Social Star - here.

⚖️ The legal approach to love bombing

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has updated its guidance on how to prosecute abusive partners for controlling and coercive behaviour, highlighting the phenomenon of love bombing.

First things first - what’s love bombing?
Love bombing is when a person showers a partner with intense displays of affection early on in a relationship and can be “part of early signs of abuse”, according to Solace Women’s Aid.

Such red flag behaviours could include excessive affection, compliments or gift-giving, designed to manipulate or confuse the partner.

Got it. So what exactly does the updated guidance say?
The CPS guidance warns prosecutors about the different tactics a suspect may use to mislead criminal proceedings or weaken a prosecution case.

The guidance now reads that “love-bombing behaviour, intermittently carrying out what appear to be loving acts, such as sending flowers, can constitute a manipulative step, designed to disrupt investigation and prosecution”, The Guardian has reported. These manipulative steps could include altering behaviour when being watched or supervised.

What’s the bigger picture?
The wider CPS guidance is about how to recognise and prosecute abusers for the offence of “coercive control”, defined by Women’s Aid as “an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim”. Examples of this could include isolating a person from their friends or controlling their finances.

Almost 2,000 (1,816) people - the vast majority men - have been successfully prosecuted for the offence of coercive control since it was first introduced in December 2015. However, it remains difficult to prove this kind of abuse in court.

📱 Emergency alert: The government’s first UK-wide test of a new public alert system reached tens of millions of mobile phones on Sunday, but some people claimed their devices didn’t do anything at all - or that the alert arrived early. The government also received criticism for a spelling error in the Welsh version of the message.

❌ Diane Abbott: The former shadow home secretary had the Labour whip suspended pending an investigation into a letter she wrote to The Observer newspaper. In the letter, Abbott suggested that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people had not experienced racism.

🇸🇩 Sudan rescue: A military operation to rescue British diplomats and their families from Sudan took place over the weekend, with around 30 people believed to have been rescued from its violence-ravaged capital.

✍️ Donald Trump: The former US president is planning to publish a personal letter written by King Charles in 1995 (when he was Prince of Wales) without his permission, according to a report in The Telegraph.

🐉 Dragon catches fire: Spectators at the popular Fantasmic show at Disneyland’s Southern California theme park were shocked when a fire-breathing animatronic dragon suddenly burst into flames. No injuries were reported.

Trivia answer: A) Eating carrots could help you see in the dark - but only if you already have a Vitamin A deficiency (and the root vegetables definitely won’t allow you to see in complete darkness). The WWII origin of this popular myth is pretty enlightening though…

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