Afternoon.

It's Monday 28th September: five men have been arrested in a terrorism investigation near a major RAF base, Andy Burnham wants to make social care work more like the NHS and the under-16 social media ban is getting closer.

Kettle on.

📅 On this day: In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin after noticing that mould growing in a petri dish at St Mary’s Hospital in London was killing the bacteria around it. The accidental discovery eventually led to the development of antibiotics and transformed modern medicine.

Armed police responded to reports of three suspicious vehicles apparently heading towards RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire early yesterday morning, and five men are now in custody as counter-terrorism officers investigate.

The men were initially arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, and later also on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.

RAF Fairford is a British airbase used extensively by the US Air Force, including for American bomber deployments. Police say the investigation is still at an early stage and have not said what they believe the men were planning.

Reports say investigators are also examining a possible link to Iran, although that has not been established.

Andy Burnham wants to create a universal social-care system in England that is free when people need it, similar to the NHS.

Social care is the help people need with everyday life because of old age, disability or illness, including support at home and residential care. Unlike NHS treatment, it is currently means-tested in England, meaning many people have to pay some or all of the cost themselves.

Burnham says Labour will put an NHS-style system in its manifesto at the next general election, with care available to everyone rather than being means-tested.

The important unanswered question is exactly how the system would be paid for. Burnham says everyone would contribute, but has not yet set out how, with more details promised this week.

Nothing is changing immediately. The plan would not be introduced before the next election, due by 2029, and Baroness Louise Casey is conducting a review intended to help shape the eventual system.

Social care has been one of Westminster’s more durable cans to kick down the road. Burnham is promising that this time somebody will actually pick it up.

The government is pushing ahead with plans to stop children under 16 using social media, with the restrictions due to come into force in spring 2027.

Under the plans, social-media companies rather than parents would be responsible for keeping under-16s off covered services. That means platforms will need sufficiently robust age checks rather than relying on somebody entering a birthday suggesting they were conveniently born in 1974.

The government hasn't yet confirmed exactly which services will be covered. It says its approach will be similar to Australia's, where platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, X and Reddit are restricted for under-16s. Messaging services will be excluded.

There will also be extra protections for 16 and 17-year-olds, including access being restricted between midnight and 6am, with personalised feeds and autoplay also switched off by default.

The first regulations are due to go before Parliament by the end of this year.

Avanti West Coast will be brought into public ownership from 7 March 2027, when the government takes over services on one of Britain's busiest rail routes. Avanti runs trains between London and cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. Its services have faced years of criticism over cancellations, delays and overcrowding.

The move is part of the government's wider programme to bring passenger rail operators into public ownership as their contracts end. Ministers are also promising £10m for power and signalling maintenance on the West Coast Main Line.

First-time buyers in England could soon be able to buy a new-build home with a deposit of just 2.5%. Under the government's new Your First Home scheme, buyers would get a government-backed equity loan worth 20% of the property's value, reducing the size of the mortgage and deposit they need.

There will be household-income and local property-price limits, although we don't know what those are yet. The full details, including how much the scheme will cost and when it starts, are due in next month's Budget.

Thousands of young disabled people and those with long-term health conditions are to be offered guaranteed jobs under a new government employment scheme. Eligible young people receiving health benefits will be able to take up a guaranteed job offer from 13 weeks after their Work Capability Assessment, alongside mentoring and help with things such as mental health, finances and housing.

The programme forms part of £2.5bn of government spending aimed at helping almost a million young people towards work.

New cameras being tested on motorways in south-east England have detected thousands of illegally altered number plates designed to dodge detection. So-called "ghost plates" use materials designed to make some or all of a registration number unreadable to automatic number-plate recognition cameras. Those cameras are used for everything from enforcing road rules to helping police track suspected criminals.

A BBC investigation found the plates are easy to buy, while police are already testing new technology capable of detecting them. The government has now started a national programme to establish how widespread illegal plates are. 

Councils in England are getting stronger powers to bring long-term empty homes back into use. At the moment, a property generally has to sit empty for two years before a council can seek an Empty Dwelling Management Order. The government is cutting that to six months.

Despite the rather formidable name, the idea is straightforward: councils can temporarily take over management of an empty property and try to get somebody living in it, while the owner keeps ownership. The orders can last for up to seven years.

Those green bikes blocking a pavement near you are becoming a rather sizeable business. Lime's average monthly UK users have risen to nearly 700,000, while sales jumped by a third to £148m last year. Pre-tax profits more than doubled to £4.7m.

The company now has almost 38,000 bikes and scooters in its UK fleet, operating in places including London, Oxford, Nottingham, Milton Keynes and Salford. Whether Britain has embraced Lime bikes or simply accepted that they now live here is perhaps a matter of perspective.

Have a great day.

See you tomorrow.

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