Aberdeen finds itself at the forefront of the bitter battle over asylum hotels, as Reform UK is accused of sinking to a “new low” with its deportation plan.
As part of its campaigning, Nigel Farage’s party has promised to build detention centres away from any area which elects a Reform politician or a Reform-controlled council.
It has vowed to target areas run by the Greens for its migrant deportation facilities because of the left-wing party’s support for “open borders”.
Shorts – Quick stories
Why eating eggs five times a week could cut Alzheimer’s risk
People who eat eggs more regularly could have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.
Caption: A detail of cracked egg falling into the pan as woman holds egg shells in both hands. Photographer: SimpleImages Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF
What does the study show?
Having eggs at least five times a week suggests a…
27%
lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s, compared with those who rarely or never eat them.
The research followed nearly 40,000 adults aged 65 and over for an average of 15 years.
980,000
People are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK, with Alzheimer’s the most common cause.
This is forecast to rise to 1.4m by 2040 as the population ages.
What’s so special about eggs?
Photographer: Andrew Brookes Provider: Getty Images/Image Source Source: Image Source Copyright: Copyright Andrew Brookes
A no-brainer
Eggs contain choline, which the body uses to make acetylcholine, a chemical involved in memory and learning.
Nutritious and delicious
Eggs contain lutein and zeaxanthin, the yellow-orange pigments in food which could act as antioxidants.
(Photo: Laurie Ambrose/Getty).
Caption: Eggs are seen in a carton on Monday, April 13, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Photographer: Jenny Kane Provider: AP Source: AP
Egg-ceptional
They also provide some omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked with cognitive function.
HEALTH
The potential cause of common type of stroke uncovered
Caption: Closeup of elderly Asian man visiting neurologist explaining stroke risk using artery model ??? discussing brain health and blood pressure Photographer: PonyWang Provider: Getty Images Source: E+
Researchers have pinpointed the potential cause of a type of stroke suffered by about 35,000 people in the UK every year.
The discovery could explain why widely used treatments don’t work, and could pave the way for new options.
What does the study say?
Lacunar strokes – triggered by damage to tiny blood vessels – are caused by the widening of arteries in the brain, researchers say.
This is unlike ischaemic strokes, which are caused by a blocked blood vessel.
This could explain why usual treatments, such as anti-platelet drugs, which stop blood clots from forming in the arteries, do not work.
Lacunar strokes can lead to problems with thinking, memory, movement and dementia.
Divorce Diaries
5 min read
New treatments are needed
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the UK Dementia Research Institute tested and tracked 229 people who had a lacunar or mild non-lacunar stroke. Patients with widened arteries were four times more likely to have a lacunar stroke.
Scientists argue that ‘holistic’ approach is needed to brain disease prevention and treatment as the world faces a dramatic rise in cases of stroke, dementia and other conditions. (Photo credit: FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images)A retired infection control nurse says it isn’t possible to “hand wash” your way out of the quad-demic. She says hospitals need better ventilation and mask wearing to tackle the crisis (Photo: Jeff Moore/PA Wire)
This explains why conventional blood-thinners don’t work and highlights the need for new therapies to target the underlying microvascular damage.
Stroke research ‘chronically underfunded’
Stroke research is chronically underfunded, with less than 1% of total UK research funding spent on the condition…Yet these findings illustrate the value of research and the potential it has to change the lives of stroke patients.
MAEVA MAY, STROKE ASSOCIATION
Caption: Embryologist performing embryo cleaning under microscope in Petri plate after IVF next day in real laboratory Photographer: Natalia Lebedinskaia Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF Copyright: www.natasha-lebedinskaya.ru
Over 5,000 council seats are set to be contested in England as part of the elections this week (Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
POLITICS
Everything you need to know about the local elections
Thursday’s local elections are set to reshape the political landscape and potentially threaten Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Here’s everything you need to know as voters prepare to head to the polls.
How will the results unfold?
Polling stations open at 7am on Thursday, 7 May. Voters in England will need to show photo ID to be able to cast a vote..
Millions of people will take to the polls before they close at 10pm.
In England, 46 of the local authorities will count and declare overnight, with results expected in the early hours of the morning on 8 May.
The results in Scotland and Wales are expected to trickle in from Friday afternoon.
The remaining English authorities begin counting ballots on Friday morning, with results announced throughout the day.
All the results will be in by Saturday 9 May.
Status quo upended
The local elections are set to be grim for Labour, with sweeping losses across the country. The polls show the Tories are also expecting a bruising defeat.
Reform UK and the Greens are likely to reap the rewards, with Nigel Farage’s party hoping to gain control of councils across the country.
Reform is in danger of jumping feet-first into fiscal commitments and having to unpick them later (Photo: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu/Getty)
Exclusive
3 min read
Four key takeaways from Starmer’s antisemitism summit
Iran’s attempts to incite antisemitism in the UK “will not be tolerated”, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Here are the main points from the Downing Street summit.
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 5: Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting with civic leaders to discuss tackling antisemitism at Downing Street on May 5, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Hannah McKay – WPA Pool/Getty Images) Photographer: WPA Pool Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe
Key takeaways
1Starmer said one of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state is behind the attacks.
2He announced £1.5m funding to strengthen community cohesion and protect Jews in at-risk areas.
3Ministers are “fast-tracking legislation” allowing them to ban state threats such as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
4Universities must publish the scale of antisemitism on campus and show how they are tackling it.
Go deeper on this topic
The measures to protect the Jewish community come after the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green and a series of attacks at synagogues and other sites in recent months.
Starmer has faced criticism that he has not done enough to keep the community safe, and was heckled during a visit to the north London suburb on Thursday.
Caption: TOPSHOT – Local residents look on from outside a cordoned off area in the Golders Green neighbourhood of north London on April 29, 2026, following the stabbing to two people nearby. Two people were stabbed on April 29 in north London, Jewish groups said, following a series of arson attacks targeting Jewish sites in the area. A man was arrested after he was seen running with a knife “attempting to stab Jewish members of the public”, the Shomrim Jewish neighbourhood watch said on social media. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: JUSTIN TALLIS Provider: AFP via Getty Images Source: AFP Copyright: AFP or licensors
NEWS
7 min read
Starmer’s message to Iran
One of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents…Our message to Iran, or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated.
SiR KEIR STARMER, PRIME MINISTER
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 30: Prime Minister Keir Starmer (C) and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (CR) meet members of Shomrim, the Jewish community security organisation, in Golders Green following yesterday’s attack on April 30, 2026 in Golders Green, England. A 45-year-old British-Somali man was arrested yesterday, after stabbing two Jewish men, Shloime Rand and Moshe Shine, in a terrorist attack in Golders Green. Both victims are in a stable condition, and the suspect was caught by police after being tasered. The government has since pledged ??25 million to improve security for the Jewish community following the incident. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) Photographer: Leon Neal Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe Copyright: 2026 Getty Images
Co-op is confident it’s stores will be ‘back to normal’ within days (Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters)
NEWS
The supermarket using invisible spray to combat shoplifting
Co-op has been secretly marking frequently shoplifted groceries with a special forensic spray to tackle the resale of stolen goods.
Here’s how the invisible spray works, and how the company hopes it will make shoplifting less profitable.
What’s the story?
Co-op has been marking items with an invisible spray that contains a unique forensic code linked to the shop where it was originally sold, according to Retail Gazette.
Retail theft on the increase – woman stealing in UK supermarket. (Photo: Andrey Popov/Getty Images Copyright: Copyright (C) Andrey Popov Caption: A shopper walks along an aisle inside a Tesco supermarket in Manchester, Britain, February 5, 2026 REUTERS/Phil Noble Photographer: Phil Noble Provider: REUTERS Source: REUTERS
Co-op has invested £250m in store security, including body-worn cameras for staff, reinforced kiosks for items such as spirits and tobacco, and shelf fixtures designed to stop thieves sweeping products into bags.
How does the scheme work?
Where?
The scheme has been trialled in Manchester and London and will be rolled out across the UK.
Which items?
High-risk items such as alcohol, laundry detergent and confectionary have been sprayed.
Why?
The aim is to help Co-op and the police identify where stolen products are being resold, making theft less profitable.
More than 300 babies have been born with inflatable forceps, the first breakthrough in childbirth assistance in decades.
It is hoped that the device, called the OdonAssist, could reduce birth trauma. It will be rolled out to 40 hospitals across Britain and Europe.
How new forceps could revolutionise childbirth
Around one in eight people will have an assisted vaginal birth using forceps or vacuum extraction.
Women may have bleeding or tears and marks can be left on the baby.
Inflatable forceps work by surrounding the baby’s head with a soft air cuff, allowing doctors to help remove it more gently.
In trials, patients reported no or low pain in more than 95 per cent of births where OdonAssist was used.
Analysis
5 min read
How ‘gentle’ forceps were invented
From a prototype using a jar and a doll to development by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The OdonAssist was thought up by a mechanic in Argentina in 2006 called Jorge Odón.
He created the first prototype using a jar, a cloth and his daughter’s doll.
It was then taken up by Mario Merialdi, of the WHO, who refined the idea for clinical use.
It was created by Maternal Newborn Health Innovations, a public benefit corporation to help reduce avoidable pain.
Residents in Aberdeen – preparing to vote at this week’s Scottish Parliament election – know just how heated and divisive the issue can be.
The small north-east port city had 424 asylum seekers staying in hotels – more than anywhere else in Scotland, according to the Government’s annual figures in December 2025.
Residents have seen anti-immigration protesters face off against anti-racism activists outside hotels over the past year.
The Home Office recently pulled migrants out of the Sure Hotel in the city centre, part of Labour’s effort to gradually shut all asylum hotels across the UK.
However, hundreds of new arrivals are thought to still remain in other hotels and former student accommodation blocks in and around Aberdeen.
And Aberdeen City Council expects a 30 per cent rise in “displaced households” coming to the city in the next 12 months, according to a report by its housing committee.
‘Reform plan is horrific’
Voters who spoke to The i Paper shared their anxiety about the hotel issue – but some appeared to be appalled by Reform’s campaign pledge to build detention centres in Green-run areas.
Fiona Robertson, who has taken part in counter-protests outside hotels, said Reform’s promise was “horrific”.
The 45-year-old disability campaigner said: “Building camps is bad enough – but treating people’s lives and safety as weapons against political enemies is insanity.
“Screaming outside hotels – it’s cruel to target people and make them afraid,” she added on recent protests. “It breaks my heart.”
Jamie Morrison, 49, said Reform is scaremongering
Jamie Morrison, a 49-year-old retail worker who told The i Paper earlier this week she is planning to vote Green, said: “It’s scary that Reform has taken off in Scotland. It’s embarrassing.
“The idea of detention centres and army barracks – it’s too prison-like. Farage is using the asylum issue to scaremonger. He doesn’t actually care about anything.”
‘Reform at least understand’
Some Aberdonians are anxious about the ongoing influx of asylum seekers, and told The i Paper earlier this week they were planning to vote for Reform.
Farage’s party has been polling between 15 and 20 per cent in Scotland for the past year. The final More in Common MRP survey, published on Monday, put them on course to win 22 seats and become the second-largest party at Holyrood – behind the SNP, but ahead of Labour.
The More in Common poll published earlier this week has the SNP on course to take all the constituency seats in Aberdeen – though Reform is expected to pick up regional seats under Scotland’s voting system.
Michael Henderson, 52, said earlier this week that he was planning to vote for Farage’s party, largely over his frustration at asylum seekers staying in hotels.
“They’re hanging around the streets not doing anything,” he claimed. “They’re getting everything for free in the hotels. We haven’t got the housing, we haven’t got the services. Reform at least understand. Labour, the SNP, the Tories, they just don’t listen.”
Asylum seekers in hotels who have meals provided get £9.95 a week from the Home Office. Those in self-catered accommodation, such as student flats, get £49 a week.
‘Asylum hotels are creating a ghetto’
Brian Taylor, who lives just outside Aberdeen, said he was a traditional Labour voter worried about the asylum issue. He is unsure who to vote for now.
“I do worry about the number asylum seekers coming,” said the 77-year-old. “They’re cut off in these hotels. It’s creating a ghetto. They’re not always fitting in with our way of life.”
But Taylor is not convinced by Reform UK or its pledge to build detention centres. He said: “I don’t trust anything Farage says… They’re just old-school Tories.”
Philip Gordon, a SNP voter, thinks the Reform plan is ‘nonsense’
Philip Gordon, 68, a hospitality worker who says he will vote SNP, said Reform’s pledge was “nonsense”. He added: “You can’t send immigrants away to certain places like that. You have to try to spread people around fairly.”
Gordon does not like the anti-asylum protests happening in the city. “Shouting at people at hotels is not a protest, it’s abuse.”
However, he does worry about migrant numbers. “The issue is there are not enough houses and not enough jobs. I suppose we have to try to accommodate them somehow.”
Gloria McShane, a resident living near to asylum seekers, said Reform’s rise was based on ‘hatred’
Gloria McShane lives next to a former student block which began to house asylum seekers last year. “There’s been no issues, other than the unpleasant protests,” said the 65-year-old.
“It’s really bad that Reform has grown here in Scotland… If Reform get elected it won’t make anyone’s lives any easier.”
Voters ‘won’t take kindly to bullying’, Reform warned
According to charities and churches working with migrants, at least 240 asylum seekers are still thought to be staying at hotels in and around Aberdeen. And almost 300 asylum seekers are said to be living in former student accommodation sites.
A group called Unite the Clans Aberdeen Against Illegal Migration (AAIM) has previously organised protests outside hotels, with Stand-Up to Racism Scotland holding counter-demos.
Rev Dave McCarthy, the pastor at Westhill Community Church, just outside the city, said there has been a “lot of misleading stuff” about what asylum seekers receive at the anti-asylum protests.
He said the church had helped migrants with clothing and practical advice. “I think they get £10 a week [from the Home Office], so it’s not as if they’re getting much. We’re certainly not giving them laptops.”
As voters prepare to go to the polls on Thursday, Reform has said that a Farage government at Westminster would try to build detention centres in any areas held by the Greens in Scotland.
Planning legislation could be changed if necessary, Glasgow Reform candidate Thomas Kerr told The Herald. “Vote Green? Then sadly live with the consequences,” he said.
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer responded: “Reform UK are now openly threatening voters. Scots will not take kindly to this kind of bullying.”
The SNP called Reform’s plan “vile”. Labour described it as “grotesque” and a “new low”, and the Scottish Tories dismissed it as “half-baked” and “divisive”.
A Home Office said the hotel closure in Aberdeen was one of 11 such facilities recently shut by the Government. “We will close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, with asylum seekers moved into basic accommodation including former military sites.”
Aberdeen City Council and Unite the Clans AAIM were contacted for comment.
