The Telegraph Frontpage for 2022 November 28

By Danny Boyle Beijing is facing unprecedented disobedience as anti-lockdown demonstrations spread across China. We have the latest from on the ground – and the response of stock markets.

Anti-lockdown marches sweep China in threat to Xi

It is the most direct challenge to Beijing since the Tiananmen Square protests. Chinese protesters have called for Xi Jinping to resign, as anti-lockdown marches swept the nation. Hundreds took to the streets of major cities as anger at the government’s zero-Covid policies boiled over into demands for regime change. “Down with the Chinese Communist Party! Down with Xi Jinping!”, protesters chanted on the streets of Shanghai. In Wuhan, where Covid-19 first emerged, large crowds pulled down metal barriers meant to keep neighbourhoods in quarantine. As Simina Mistreanu and Jenny Pan report, about 300 people were surrounded by police in Beijing as they chanted “We are with Xinjiang”, a reference to a deadly fire in the region where Covid-lockdowns allegedly hampered rescue efforts. By yesterday evening, police in Shanghai had begun to bundle protesters into vans. Last night, footage showed a BBC journalist being beaten and kicked by police. Matthew Henderson argues that this could be the beginning of the end for Mr Xi. China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-Covid strategy, in which authorities erode citizens’ freedom with lockdowns and lengthy quarantines. Economic growth is set to fall to 2.8pc this year, according to the World Bank, a drop of 5pc on last year and a threat to the Communist Party’s implicit promise of wealth in return for obedience. Early today, Chinese assets slumped as chaos and uncertainty gripped traders. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped more than 4pc in early trading. Follow the latest with business live blogger Chris Price.

Revealed: The NHS bosses earning six-figure salaries More than 2,000 NHS trust managers are taking home six-figure salaries as pay soars, an investigation reveals today. The figures, which come as nurses prepare for their first ever national strikes, show a 15 per cent rise in NHS pay at the highest levels in 12 months, with more than 600 earning over £200,000. Think tanks demanded an “urgent focus” on executive pay, urging health chiefs to “show some restraint” at a time when patients are facing increasingly long waits, and struggling to access care. Ministers have ordered a review of NHS efficiency. A Telegraph analysis reveals the scale of NHS managers at local hospitals and commissioning bodies who are earning at least £100,000.

Review: No jungle coronation for Matt Hancock Matt Hancock has been unseated at last. Not from his West Suffolk constituency – not yet, anyway – but from his campfire chair in the Australian bush. His third-place finish brought to an end the ex-health secretary’s surprise run to the grand final of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! In his four-star review of the final, critic Michael Hogan says it is a measure of how much he exceeded expectations that Hancock being a bronze medallist and not the champion came as a shock.

Also in the news today Energy | Households will be told to turn boilers down to 60C as part of an £18 million government drive to lower energy bills. As part of the campaign, being launched in the coming weeks, households will also be advised to turn down radiators in empty rooms and to draught-proof their windows and doors. Chief political correspondent Camilla Turner reports Downing Street gave the campaign the green light despite concerns it might be regarded as an unwanted “nanny state” intrusion.

Just Stop Oil | Christmas campaign starts with new tactics Just Stop Oil activists are planning to launch a campaign of Christmas chaos on Monday by targeting roads across central London, police have warned.Protesters are expected to unleash a fresh wave of disruption which will see them blocking major roundabouts, glueing themselves to the tarmac and marching slowly in front of traffic. Migration | MPs urge action on ‘bogus’ asylum seekers Illegal immigrants who claim to be victims of modern slavery should be sent back to their home country, Rishi Sunak has been told.A letter from over 50 Tory MPs, led by former cabinet minister David Davis, urges the Prime Minister to pass emergency laws to crack down on “bogus” asylum seekers. It comes amid rising pressure on the Government to find ways to prevent the rising number of small-boat crossings, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman last week admitting that Britain has failed to control its borders. Learner drivers | Covid tests backlog ‘raising failure rate’ A chronic bottleneck caused by the pandemic means learners are facing waits of up to six months to sit their exams. But when their dates do come, students who still feel unprepared are reluctant to postpone tests because they do not want to wait for another available slot. Cancer | Covid vaccine taskforce is model for new mission A vaccine for cancer is to be sought by a new taskforce set up to emulate the success of the Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) which delivered the world’s first Covid jab.The Government has announced £113 million to set up groups to tackle four of the biggest health challenges facing Britain – cancer, obesity, mental health and addiction. ‘Titanosaur’ | Biggest dinosaur ever stomps into London For years, Dippy was the dinosaur whose monstrous frame greeted visitors to the Natural History Museum.But now Dippy is being sidelined by a predator four times as big – and a third longer than the museum’s other giant, Hope the blue whale. Patagotitan mayorum, also known as the “titanosaur”, will replace the diplodocus next spring in the Waterhouse Gallery, the only space large enough to house the specimen. + Dippy is a replica of a near-complete Diplodocus carnegii skeleton uncovered in the western USA in 1898. He was given to the museum by Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie after King Edward VII saw an illustration of the original skeleton, which was at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, and requested a copy.

Around the world: Bakhmut, the new Passchendaele

Nothing but shattered trees and mud are visible from the trench for as far as the eye can see. Inside the fortifications themselves, filthy troops wade through slicks of freezing mud, waiting for the next artillery barrage. The photos shared by Ukrainian forces resemble the horrors of Passchendaele or other First World War battles from more than a century ago. Instead they show conditions in the 2022 battle for the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut which has become an epicentre for fighting in the nine-month-old war. Ben Farmer has our dispatch from Dnipro.

Ukrainian soldiers fight in mud and water-filled trenches as they defend Bakhmut

Comment and analysis

Nick Timothy | Tories have surrendered power to quangocrats Iain Dale | Germany’s Putin appeasement still shames Europe Liam Halligan | The bloated public sector shows its contempt Telegraph View | China paying the price for autocratic hubris Reader letters | The NHS needs to stop deflecting criticism

Editor’s choice

	Sobering long-term effects | What binge drinking can really do to your body
	Money Makeover | ‘I inherited my mum’s home – should I be a landlord or invest?’
	The Swimmers | Gut-wrenching film that may make you think twice about migrant crisis

Business briefing: Customers pay extra for mortgages Homeowners are paying thousands of pounds extra on their mortgages, according to analysis that suggests some of Britain’s biggest lenders are charging rates that are “far too high”. Natwest, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC are offering fixed rate deals around 50pc more expensive than three months ago on mortgages reviewed by The Telegraph – even though wholesale borrowing costs have fallen dramatically since the highs after the mini-Budget. Meanwhile, Ruth Bloomfield reports where millennials are snapping up bargain homes.

Here is a selection of articles we think you’ll be interested in today.

Boris Johnson launches appeal for medical supplies for Ukraine Boris Johnson has launched a Christmas appeal for medical supplies for hospitals in Ukraine. The former prime minister warned that without donations, hospitals in the war-torn country face running out of vital items such as bandages and defibrillators within weeks. JK Rowling attacks Labour over support for Nicola Sturgeon’s gender bill The Harry Potter author tweeted that Scottish Labour’s support for the legislation meant that “the Tories have been handed an open goal on safeguarding” women. Ms Rowling, who donated £1 million to Labour in 2008, also accused the Scottish party of having ignored public opinion, the United Nations and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) watchdog. Renewing her attacks on Ms Sturgeon, whom she has previously accused of being a “destroyer of women’s rights“, she said the First Minister had treated criticism of the plans as “an impertinence” rather than listening to “serious concerns.” Michael Gove’s support for onshore wind farms fuels Tory rebellion Michael Gove has told allies he supports ending the ban on onshore wind farms, leaving Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet split on the issue and fuelling a growing Tory rebellion. The Levelling Up Secretary is understood to have been joined by Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary; and Graham Stuart, the climate change minister, in privately supporting the removal of a Cameron-era prohibition on new turbines. On Saturday, a band of Tory rebels reached 30 signatories on an amendment to Mr Gove’s planning bill that would allow new developments, threatening to inflict a defeat on Mr Sunak in the House of Commons on the issue. Turn your boilers down to 60C to cut energy bills, households to be told Households will be told to turn their boilers down to 60C in an £18 million government drive to lower energy bills. It will form part of a two-pronged strategy spearheaded by Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary, which will also involve middle-income families being handed “eco” grants to make their homes more energy efficient. As part of the campaign, which will be launched in the coming weeks, households will be given technical tips to cut their energy this winter. Opinion – As union militants mobilise, Rishi Sunak has little time to avoid the same fate as Ted Heath Until about 40 years ago, one of the most distressing features of life in Britain was that everyone was forced to know who the trade union bosses were. They were constantly on television – often fat, often chain-smoking, always men, with names like Ken or Len, Don or Ron, Mick or Vic.