Painkiller tablets, lilies and chocolate were among the biggest causes of accidental pet poisoning in the home last year, leading vets are warning.

A large increase of incidents involving e-cigarettes and vitamin D supplements were recorded in recent years.
Contraceptive pills, artificial sweetener and raisins also harm thousands each year, data shows.
Vets reported almost 11,000 UK pet poisonings in 2016, mostly involving dogs, cats and rabbits.
More on pet poisonings and other Devon & Cornwall news here
Gudrun Ravetz, president of the British Veterinary Association said: "E-cigarettes may be harmful if they are ingested by your pet, as e-cigarettes and refills can easily contain sufficient quantities of nicotine to kill a small animal."
Some 113 pets were poisoned by e-cigarettes while 148 cases involved vitamin D tablets, figures from the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) show - however they remain a small percentage of the overall total.
Pete Stewart's dog was poisoned after he found and ate "up to four bars of dark chocolate".
Mr Stewart, from London, said: "He seemed completely normal until the next afternoon when he started getting quite hyperactive and shaking, so I took him to the vets immediately.
"It was pretty horrible, they were really worried - they managed to flush his system but the quantity he had was enough to kill a much bigger dog".
1,253
Human painkillers
579 Chocolate
759 Rat poison
253 Artificial sweetener
113 Electronic cigarettes
Elizabeth Mackie's cat, Mr Mistoffelees, died after licking pollen from lilies in what she described as a "traumatic and horrific experience".
The Shropshire pub manager said she had an "overwhelming response" to her story from cat-lovers "right round the globe".
Nicola Brown, from Newquay, also said she had a "massive nightmare" and a "large bill" when her "pride and joy" Shaka the cat was poisoned by lily pollen.
There are no official figures for how many animals die from poisoning, although research into about 1,500 cases by the VPIS shows of those brought to a vet around 8% end in fatality.
Fatal poisoning cases are known to have involved insulin, baby wipes, bleach, morphine pesticides and antifreeze.
Animals' bodies break down certain substances in a different way to humans, which can lead to kidney failure.  In chocolate, the problem is a naturally occurring chemical in cocoa beans called theobromine. Symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhoea, hyperactivity, tremors, rapid breathing and fits.


Plans to build a new railway station in a Derbyshire town have been given a boost by the government.

Residents have been campaigning to have trains stop in Ilkeston, one of the largest towns in the UK without a hub.
Transport Secretary Justine Greening said the town had directly inspired the creation of a £20m fund for new stations across the country.
Ilkeston would have to compete for a share of the money but Ms Greening said she hoped the town would be successful.
"It was a meeting I had with her [Jessica Lee, Conservative MP for Erewash] and her local councillors that really brought it home to me," the transport secretary said.
"We needed some money set aside to make sure that new stations for communities that need them, where there is growth happening, could take place."
Ms Lee said there was now "a suitable fund to apply for the remaining funding required" for Ilkeston train station, which could cost about £6m to build.
"It appears that the pieces of the jigsaw to fund the station are falling into place, but we are not quite there yet," she said.
"I will continue to progress this important project."
She had said the the new station would have "long-term benefits" for the town and nearby areas.
It is hoped the rail link could boost jobs for residents by making it easier for them to commute to neighbouring cities as well as attracting visitors to the town.
It is thought the railway station would include hourly trains to Nottingham, Chesterfield and Sheffield.


Three men have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and sexual exploitation after two women were found at a house in Lancashire.

Officers searched the address on Accrington Road in Blackburn at about 19:45 BST on Wednesday.
The women, aged in their 20s, were believed to have been brought to the UK from Romania and are in a place of safety, police said.
The men, aged 30, 31 and 33, were being questioned.
Det Insp Mark Vaughton, of Lancashire Police, said: "These arrests are part of our ongoing work under Operation Proteus, in which we have a dedicated team working to identify both the victims and perpetrators of trafficking and slavery across Lancashire."


Russell Knox believes playing in Europe over the next month can help him rediscover the form that won him two titles in a year.

The Scot triumphed at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in 2015 then won at the Travelers Championship in 2016.
But the world number 44 has not registered a top-10 finish in 2017.
"Maybe after last year being so incredible for me, it was inevitable there was going to be a slight downturn," Knox told BBC Scotland.
"I haven't played as well, but I don't feel any different, to be honest. I don't feel my game has dropped any.
"Golf's a funny old game as everybody knows; the line is so small between playing well and not playing well. Right now I'm just not getting the most out of my rounds.
"I'm hitting the ball well, I've maybe just got to take care of a few more putts and avoid the silly mistakes that creep in. I'm very optimistic that things are going to turn around very soon."
The 32-year-old is in Paris to compete in the European Tour's French Open at Le Golf National, which is also the venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Inverness-born Knox narrowly missed out on selection for Team Europe in 2016 and is determined to do what it takes to be one of Thomas Bjorn's picks next year.
"It's exciting to come to Europe for a month," said Knox, who is normally based in Florida.
"I won't be playing the Irish Open because we're going to spend a week in Italy on holiday to keep my wife happy. I'm very much looking forward to this week and then the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. It would be great to peak for those events.
"It's obviously my goal to make the Ryder Cup team, and with Le Golf National being the venue for it, I thought it would be great to come and give it a go - the course looks really good.
"Just standing around at the 18th, it's a nice little area where you can see a bunch of holes and I can just imagine how good the atmosphere will be come Ryder Cup time because there will be so many people around those holes.
"They have a lot of water around them so there's going to be a lot of risk-reward, so I think it's going to be a fantastic venue."


Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls has attacked Labour's approach to business under Ed Miliband.

Mr Balls, who lost his seat in May, told the Daily Telegraph it was "no secret" he thought Mr Miliband had to position himself better with business.
In the interview, Mr Balls said he had not been in the "core campaign team" around Mr Miliband for the election.
He added that since the election he had turned down an offer to appear on ITV's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
"I'd already subjected myself to one high-profile public vote this year, and I wasn't really sure that I wanted a second one," he said.
On Labour's approach to business going into the election, Mr Balls said he had publicly supported the energy price freeze pledge, even though he thought it allowed the party to be seen as "anti-business".
"What I didn't like was the language giving the impression that energy companies are the bad guys," he said.
"If you allow yourself to be anti-business, or anti-bank or anti-energy company, people think, 'Hang on a second, you have to work with these people if you want to govern.'"
Mr Balls said he had to "take it on the chin" that he had not been able to persuade people he could run the economy.
He lost his Morley and Outwood seat in West Yorkshire to Conservative Andrea Jenkyns by 422 votes on 7 May.
He revealed that among the messages of consolation he received after his defeat was a "very nice" text from Chancellor George Osborne, but nothing from David Cameron.
Mr Balls said he was not now tempted to return to front-rank politics, having spent 20 years as Gordon Brown's adviser, then an MP and cabinet minister, before being shadow chancellor on Mr Miliband's front bench.
"I'm not going to the House of Lords, and I'm not planning to go back to the Commons," he said.
"It's a new chapter for me and there will be something for me outside politics."
Since the election he has turned down offers of work except for part-time academic posts at Harvard in the US and at the London School of Economics.
On the Labour leadership contest, Mr Balls said his wife Yvette Cooper was standing as a candidate because she is "there for a purpose".


Norway is the happiest place on Earth, according to a United Nations agency report - toppling neighbour Denmark from the number one position.

The World Happiness Report measures "subjective well-being" - how happy the people are, and why.
Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and and Finland round out the top five, while the Central African Republic came last.
Western Europe and North America dominated the top of table, with the US and UK at 14th and 19th, respectively.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and those hit by conflict have predictably low scores. Syria placed 152 of 155 countries - Yemen and South Sudan, which are facing impending famine, came in at 146 and 147.
The World Happiness Report was released to coincide with the United Nations' International Day of Happiness on 20 March.
It mainly relies on asking a simple, subjective question of more than 1,000 people every year in more than 150 countries.
"Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top," the question asks.
"The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?"
The average result is the country's score - ranging from Norway's 7.54 to the Central African Republic's 2.69. But the report also tries to analyse statistics to explain why one country is happier than another.
It looks at factors including economic strength (measured in GDP per capita), social support, life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity, and perceived corruption.
Can we all be as happy as Scandinavians?
This year's report also contains a chapter titled "restoring American happiness", which examines why happiness levels in the United States are falling, despite constantly-increasing economic improvement.
"The United States can and should raise happiness by addressing America's multi-faceted social crisis - rising inequality, corruption, isolation, and distrust - rather than focusing exclusively or even mainly on economic growth," the authors said.
"America's crisis is, in short, a social crisis, not an economic crisis."
Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which published the report, said President Donald Trump's policies were likely to make things worse.
"They are all aimed at increasing inequality - tax cuts at the top, throwing people off the healthcare rolls, cutting Meals on Wheels in order to raise military spending. I think everything that has been proposed goes in the wrong direction," he told Reuters.
The report also suggests that professional "white collar" jobs are associated with improved happiness over "blue collar" roles - but that having a job at all is one of the biggest factors.
And while "those in well-paying jobs are happier and more satisfied with their lives", that effect has diminishing returns - "an extra $100 of salary is worth much more to someone at the lower end of the income distribution than someone already earning much more."
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The report has been published for the past five years, during which the Nordic countries have consistently dominated the top spots.
The clear dominance of those countries - and Denmark in particular - has encouraged other nations to adopt the Danish concept of "Hygge" - a cultural concept of cosiness and relaxation.


A woman who killed a fellow hospital patient by suffocating her has been indefinitely detained under the Mental Health Act.

Rachel Bowen, 49, pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to the manslaughter of Linda Goswell.
Mrs Goswell, 52, from Halifax, died at the Cygnet Hospital in Bradford on 2 August last year.
Her husband, Stewart Goswell, said both his wife and her killer had been "let down" by the hospital.
A nurse has since been dismissed by the hospital for gross misconduct and NHS England is conducting a serious case review.
The court heard both patients were supposed to be observed by staff every 15 minutes.
CCTV showed Bowen entering Mrs Goswell's room in the early hours, where she remained unnoticed by a nursing assistant making a routine check.
Charge nurse Kudakwashe Masvodza claimed to have checked on Mrs Goswell at 04:45 BST, but the court was told CCTV footage showed that was incorrect.
Following the attack Bowen - who was admitted to the Bierley Lane unit in 2014 after stabbing a friend in the neck with a screwdriver - told a member of staff: "I think I did something bad last night, I killed that lady."
She said she had strangled her with her hands but also alluded to a cushion. She later told police she couldn't remember the incident.
Mitigating, Shaun Smith QC said his client suffered a "severe mental illness" and had not received psychiatric care following a separate incident in 2012.
Giving her an indefinite hospital order, Judge Roger Thomas said the high level of supervision at the hospital should have prevented the incident.
In a statement, Mr Goswell said: "It is clear that Linda has been let down, also I feel that Rachel Bowen has been let down."
The hospital said it has since made changes to its working practices.


The Christmas jumper has now become a staple of festive activities - from boozy office parties to essential wear when carving the turkey on the big day.

While the designs are naff and the craftsmanship questionable, one UK designer is looking to make the festive fixture more sustainable.
The 30-year Christmas sweatshirt that is guaranteed to see you through three decades worth of festive frivolities.
Tom Cridland hoped it would make people question the "fast fashion" industry.
"I am told it is the world's first Christmas jumper to come with a 30-year guarantee," Mr Cridland told BBC News.
He hoped the guarantee would prompt people to realise that jumpers, and clothing more widely, were for longer than just Christmas and made people think about sustainable fashion.
"It is an idea that came to me as a business opportunity, not because I am some sort of philanthropist.
"It was of extremely high quality and at a relatively accessible price, yet I was effectively being priced out of the competition by the fast fashion retailers who were making clothes so cheaply and selling it on so cheaply that it was impossible for many smaller, independent brands to take a share of the market."
Mr Cridland said the concept of the 30-year guarantee, which he also offers on other ranges such as jackets and trousers, was more than having confidence in the fact the garments were well made and used durable fabrics.
"I think people need more than that these days, and they certainly need more than that to engage with a sustainable fashion brand," he told BBC News.
"While we may reap the marketing benefits from this, our customers also reap the benefits from this concept as well because if we make that pledge. The 30-year guarantee means that if anything should happen to the sweatshirt within 30 years, we will repair or replace them free of charge.
"We are essentially making a pledge that we are going to make our clothing as well as possible and to be a durable as possible. For the consumers' point of view, people are buying these sweatshirts with the intention of keeping them for 30 years.
"It is not that it is letting fashion trends pass them by because the only reason people would replace things like that is because they would wear out because they had been badly made by a fast fashion retailer."
Although the 30-year Christmas jumper will set you back £65, considerably more than what you would pay for one from the High Street but considerably less than the £24,000, which is the asking price for this year's purportedly most expensive seasonal warmer.
Mr Cridland felt that the 30-year sweatshirts' asking price represented good value for your hard-earned money.
"I would argue that the 30-year concept is cheaper than the ones from the fast fashion retailers," he said.
"If you are going to go out and buying a new navy sweatshirt every year or two, why not get one that is made from nicer materials, made by people who are paid a fair wage.
"In terms of cost-per-wear, if you are going to keep a garment like that for 30 years then it is going to be cheaper."
He explained that offering customers a 30-year guarantee was a pledge that he believed the garments and the materials they are made from would stand the test of time.
"If this clothing was exceptionally poor quality and this was not a claim we truly believed in, we would essentially be planning to go out of business - which I am not.
"Making that pledge has earned us the trust of a lot of customers."
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A doctor and his nurse wife have been found guilty of keeping a man as a slave for 24 years at their home.

Ofonime Sunday Inuk, now 40, told Harrow Crown Court he arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 1989 when he was 14 and made to look after the couple's home and children.
Emmanuel and Antan Edet, from Perivale, north west London, were found guilty of three slavery and cruelty charges.
The couple, who had denied the charges, are due to be sentenced on 18 November.
During the case, Mr Inuk told the court he had been promised an English education, but was instead made to work, with the warning that if he left the house or went to the police he would be arrested for being an illegal immigrant.
The court heard he had made attempts to escape and spoke to the police in 2005, but was left "a bit dejected" after being told by an officer it was a "family matter".
Ten years later he contacted the Metropolitan Police again when he saw media reports about modern slavery and realised the life he was being made to lead was wrong.
He also emailed the charity Hope for Justice, which in turn contacted Scotland Yard to co-ordinate his release.
Prosecutor Damaris Lakin told the court: "Emanuel and Antan Edet have cruelly robbed this victim of 24 years of his life. They have treated him with complete contempt.
"Not only did the defendants have total psychological control over the victim, but they also had control of his passport and identity documents.
"This was a shocking case of modern day slavery which has no place in our society."
The couple were found guilty of child cruelty, slavery and assisting unlawful immigration.
Det Ch Insp Phil Brewer said: "They controlled what he wore, what he did and how he spoke for the majority of his life.
"Today, the victim is living a new life in the UK. He has a job, a home with his own bed and freedom to move, and he is studying."
Edet, 60, is a trained obstetrician and gynaecologist and his wife has worked as a senior sister at a hospital.
Ben Cooley, from Hope for Justice, said the victim's story was "saddening" but "unfortunately, not surprising" and the charity had liberated more than 70 slaves since January.
He said: "To all those others still out there I say, please have the confidence to come forward, we will do all that we can to help you."


The Turkish government says it will do whatever is necessary to secure the release of 80 Turks abducted by Islamist militants in northern Iraq.

Insurgents led by al-Qaeda offshoot Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) seized 49 consulate staff and 31 other Turks on Wednesday.
The government in Ankara says it is watching the situation closely and the safety of the hostages is a priority.
But it has held back from calling for help from its Nato allies.
Among the 49 staff seized from Turkey's diplomatic buildings in Mosul are the consul general, Ozturk Yilmaz, members of Turkish special forces and some children, reports say. They are believed to be at a militant base in the city.
An Iraqi employee of the consulate told Turkey's Hurriyet daily on Thursday that "they are in good health - they are expecting to be released soon". He managed to contact them after they were taken hostage.
The other Turkish nationals are said to be lorry drivers who were taken hostage at a power plant in Mosul, where they had gone to deliver diesel.
Turkey has threatened to retaliate if any of its citizens are harmed and its foreign ministry says "all resources have been mobilised" for their safe return.
Emergency government meetings have been held and Nato ambassadors were summoned in Brussels, but Turkey has stopped short of invoking the founding treaty which member states can use if they feel their security is threatened.
After the meetings in Ankara, involving Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, security chiefs and President Abdullah Gul, officials said they had agreed to try diplomatic methods to bring about the hostages' release.
However, ministers are said to be assessing military options too.
According to Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, officials are looking at the terms of an earlier parliamentary mandate that sanctioned cross-border operations in Iraq.
The mandate expires later this year. and Mr Bozdag told reporters on Thursday that Ankara was not working on a new mandate, Reuters news agency reports.


There's not much longer to go before the latest Star Wars film The Force Awakens is out in cinemas.

4 December 2015 Last updated at 09:09 GMT
Some of the well-known actors from previous Star Wars films are starring in the latest instalment alongside some newer actors.
British actors Daisy Ridley and John Boyega have been talking about what it's like being on the set of such a big film.
Take a look.


Liam Neeson and Graham Norton have called for the introduction of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland ahead of a planned protest in Belfast.

Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody and The Fall star Bronagh Waugh have also added their voices to the campaign.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK and Ireland where same-sex marriage is still banned.
The issue is one of the major stumbling blocks in the ongoing negotiations to restore power-sharing at Stormont.
It has been getting a lot of media attention recently after Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which opposes same-sex marriage, entered into a deal with UK Prime Minister Theresa May after she failed to get a majority at Westminster in the general election.
The DUP rejects accusations it is homophobic, insisting it is instead protecting the "traditional" definition of marriage.
A number of celebrities, including actor and writer Stephen Fry and singer Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, shared their views with Amnesty International, one of the leading members of the Love Equality coalition organising the march in Belfast on Saturday 1 July.
Ballymena-born actor Liam Neeson said: "We've had enough of a history in our society in Northern Ireland of discrimination, mistrust and hatred.
"Yet, we're also an open-hearted, welcoming and terrific people. Let us show that to the world by treating gay, lesbian and transgender peoples as our brothers and sisters and allowing them to marry, if they so wish."
TV presenter Norton said the historic referendum that approved same-sex marriage in the Irish Republic was a "proud gay day".
"My own mother was from Northern Ireland, so of course I have a huge affection for the place and its people," he said.
"I know it is hugely frustrating for gay people there that it is the last part of these islands still without marriage equality. Especially when there is such overwhelming support for it among the public."
County Down-born singer Lightbody added: "Two years ago, I marched with 20,000 fellow Northern Ireland citizens for marriage equality. It was a beautiful day of hope, joy and solidarity and I was so proud to be from 'Norn Iron'.
"Two years on and somehow - defying reason given it's the will of the people - we still do not have marriage equality in Northern Ireland."
Coleraine-born actress Waugh, who will host the parade rally at Belfast City Hall, said: "With the spotlight on Northern Ireland at the minute, now is our chance to really step up our campaigning a gear and give Northern Ireland what it so clearly wants and deserves, finally - equal marriage."


A Glasgow-based bar and restaurant chain is planning to open a further seven restaurants across the UK.

Bar Soba, which was first launched as a pop-up restaurant at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1997, already has five sites across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds.
It is now considering opening restaurants in Aberdeen, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester.
The expansion follows a Â£3m investment by the Business Growth Fund (BGF).
The company, which serves creative cocktails and South-East Asian street dishes, is on course to turn over in excess of Â£6m during the current financial year.
Following the initial expansion into the north of England, it hopes to eventually operate at 30 different locations.
Brad Stevens, founder and chief executive, said: "I'm really excited about our ambitious expansion plans and that we've found the right partner to provide the funding and expertise we need to accelerate our growth.
"Expanding to 12 city centre locations will allow even more drinkers and diners to enjoy our combination of indulgent cocktails, freshly prepared street food inspired by the night markets of South East Asia and music.
"We have been researching locations we feel will suit the Bar Soba offering but are always open to hear ideas from others."
As well as providing capital, BGF introduced the business to Mohan Mansigani, who has been appointed as non-executive chairman.
He served as chief finance officer at Casual Dining Group - the company behind brands including Bella Italia, CafÃ© Rouge and Belgo - from 2002 until 2014, having previously worked as finance director at Costa Coffee and TGI Fridays and in senior finance roles at Grand Metropolitan and Pizza Hut.
Mr Mansigani, said: "I've worked with some really vibrant brands during my career and I see many of the same elements in the DNA of Bar Soba.
"I'm looking forward to working with Brad to help him fulfil his ambitions for the business, which I believe will prove to be just as popular in the north of England and further afield as it has been in its Scottish heartland."
BGF's existing UK investments in the leisure and hospitality sectors include Mexican restaurant group Barburrito, tapas brand Camino, and Thai chain Giggling Squid.


Defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the second round of the Australian Open by beating Spain's Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion secured a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 victory in an entertaining match in Melbourne.
World number nine Rafael Nadal earlier reached the second round with a commanding display.
The injury-hit Spaniard, who lost in the first round last year, beat Germany's Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4 6-4.
World number two Djokovic will next face Denis Istomin or Ivan Dodig while Nadal, attempting to win his first Grand Slam title since 2014, will play Marcos Baghdatis.
Djokovic, 29, was hardly stretched as he took the first set inside 31 minutes as Verdasco, who received warm support from the crowd, badly mistimed several shots.
But Verdasco broke straight away in the second set, putting Djokovic under pressure. He eventually forced a tie-break despite a slew of unforced errors.
However, his inconsistency meant he could not capitalise on Djokovic's errors and the Serb went on to secure his place in the second round.
"It feels like home," said Djokovic. "It feels like coming to the place where I have an amazing number of incredible memories.
"When I saw the draw I thought to myself, this is going to be the only match I could focus on."
Nadal, 30, had played just four matches since September's US Open after struggling last year with a wrist injury.
He dominated Mayer from the start, taking just over two hours to secure a straight-set victory in 39 degree heat.
"I was healthy enough to practise the way I wanted to, so that's important for me," Nadal added.
"I've had a longer period of time here in Australia, it was great experience and I was able to play in Brisbane."
Third seed Milos Raonic went through with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over Germany's Dustin Brown.
The 26-year-old Canadian, a semi-finalist last year, hit 18 aces and 46 winners, and will next face either Luxembourg's Gilles Muller or American Taylor Fritz.
Brisbane International champion Grigor Dimitrov beat Australia's Christopher O'Connell 7-6(2) 6-3 6-3, while France's Richard Gasquet also advanced after a 6-4 6-4 6-2 over Australian Blake Mott.
Croatia's Ivo Karlovic and Argentine Horacio Zeballos played out a mammoth match on court 19 lasting five hours and 14 minutes.
Karlovic, the 20th seed, eventually took the fifth set 22-20 after a total of 84 games. He won 118 of the 226 points played.
The match, which Karlovic won 6-7 (6-8) 3-6 7-5 6-2 22-20, is the longest at the Australian Open in terms of games since tie-breaks were introduced for the first four sets in the 1970s.
It is the joint-second longest in terms of time, alongside Nadal's semi-final win over Verdasco in 2009 and behind only Djokovic's defeat of Nadal in the 2012 final.
However, it falls almost six hours short of the longest match in history - John Isner taking 11 hours and five minutes to beat Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010 in a match decided 70-68 in the final set.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.


About 100 people had to flee three separate fires which broke out in London in the space of an hour.

Fifty people were forced out of their homes by a blaze at a residential building in Spring Street, Paddington just after 22:00 BST on Saturday.
Crews were then called to a fire at a flat in York Rise, Kentish Town, causing 40 people to be evacuated.
Firefighters were then called to another flat fire in Belmont Street, Chalk Farm, at 22:43 BST.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said no injuries were reported.


Aston Villa have appointed Remi Garde as their new manager on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

The Frenchman, 49, succeeds Tim Sherwood and will watch Villa's match at Tottenham on Monday from the stands.
Garde, who left Lyon in 2014 after three seasons, described joining the Premier League's bottom club as an "unbelievable honour".
"Obviously we have a difficult task in front of us but I'm looking forward to the challenge," he added.
Villa have slipped to six straight defeats in the league and, with just one win since the opening day of the season, the club sacked Sherwood after eight months in the job.
Chairman Randy Lerner said: "Nobody at Villa can deny that we are way behind. We recruited aggressively this past summer and it is our responsibility to now harvest this talent rather than buckle under pressure and criticism - we are better than that.
"Remi arrived with honesty, humour and a steely sense of what it will take for Aston Villa to be what it is meant to be - hard working, tireless, creative and unwilling to concede."
Former Villa boss Gerard Houllier, who Garde worked under early on in his coaching career at Lyon, told BBC Radio 5 live: "At the moment let's not dream, escaping relegation would be as good for the club as winning the title."
After recruiting more than £28m of players from French Ligue 1 during the summer, Villa will hope the ex-Arsenal midfielder can draw more from the likes of Jordan Amavi, Jordan Veretout and Jordan Ayew than Sherwood managed.
But despite coaching at Lyon, Garde has only managed one club - achieving league finishes of fourth, third and fifth while at Stade de Gerland, where he also won the French Cup in 2012.
Former Villa midfielder Ian Taylor told BBC Radio 5 live: "I'm always partial to giving a manager a chance and seeing how he goes but we're in a position right now where we need an instant fix and if Remi Garde can't give us that instant fix then you fear the worst."
Houllier added: "All I know is he's an experienced coach, a good manager. He did extremely well at Lyon in a difficult context where there were some financial restrictions. He managed to get some young players through who are shining now."
Villa sold key players in Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke during the summer but Garde says Lerner and chief executive Tom Fox have "ambitious plans" for a club that has not finished higher than 15th since 2011.
His early movements at the club have not been straightforward, as fog ruined plans to travel to Birmingham on Monday. Garde instead flew straight to London to watch his new side play at White Hart Lane.
One of the crucial tasks for Garde - who speaks good English - will be to get Villa scoring more goals as only Stoke (0.82) average fewer goals per game than Villa's 0.9 in the Premier League.
His first game in charge will be at home to Manchester City on Sunday before a trip to Everton on 21 November.


Carl Ferrer, head of small ads website Backpage.com has been arrested on allegations of pimping, the California Attorney General has announced.

A three-year investigation concluded that "many" of its adult escort adverts involved prostitutes and victims of sex trafficking, including children, the department said.
Warrants have also been issued for two controlling shareholders.
The site, which operates around the world, is still online.
Allegations that the site has carried adverts aiding forced prostitution have dogged the platform for some years.
When the BBC reported this in 2012, the site's owners said they were acting legally and co-operating with authorities to help prosecute those who misused it.
It says in its terms and conditions that "posting any material on the site that in any way constitutes or assists in human trafficking" is not permitted and states that users must abide by local laws.
Users can submit adverts under various headings including buying and selling, property, jobs, events, dating and adult services.
The BBC tried to contact Mr Ferrer and Backpage. The phone number on the firm's website currently connects to a callback service and it has not yet responded to an emailed request for comment.
The site's former owner, Voice Media Group, told the BBC it had not had a business relationship with Backpage for some time.
"Raking in millions of dollars from the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable victims is outrageous, despicable and illegal," said Attorney General Kamala D Harris from the State of California Department of Justice.


There is no evidence that three girls, thought to be heading to Syria to join Islamic State, were radicalised at school, their principal has said.

Mark Keary said pupils cannot access Twitter or Facebook on Bethnal Green Academy computers.
"Police have advised us there is no evidence radicalisation took place at the academy," he said.
Shamima Begum, Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, flew from London to Turkey on Tuesday.
UK police officers have gone to Turkey but their role has not been confirmed.
The girls were all studying for their GCSEs at the east London school, which reopened on Monday after half term.
The head teacher said the school was "shocked and saddened" by the girls' disappearance.
"This situation follows the earlier disappearance of a student in December of last year," he said.
"The police spoke to the student's friends at that time and, further to this, they indicated there was no evidence the girls were at risk of being radicalised or absconding."
Mr Keary said it was business as usual for the 1,200 pupils and staff, although "a full programme of briefing sessions" with police and counter-radicalisation groups was available.
"The priority for all of us is the safe return of the girls," he added.
The girls boarded a Turkish Airlines flight from Gatwick, and would have needed a visa for Turkey and a passport.
It has emerged that Shamima used the passport of her 17-year-old sister Aklima to travel.
Security services have been criticised after it emerged that, before leaving the UK, Shamima sent a Twitter message to Aqsa Mahmood, who left Glasgow for Syria in 2013 to marry an Islamic State fighter.
According to a lawyer for Ms Mahmood's family, her Twitter account has been "monitored" by police since she left Britain.
He said authorities should have seen Shamima's message and taken action before she and her two friends followed.
Their families have made appeals for them to come home.
Another of Shamima's sisters, Renu Begum, said she hoped her sister had gone to Syria to bring back the girl who had gone there from Bethnal Green Academy in December.
Ms Begum said Shamima and her friends were "young" and "vulnerable" and if anyone had tried to persuade them to go to Syria it was a "cruel and evil" thing to do.
Amira's father, Abase Hussen, said: "The message we have for Amira is to get back home.
"We miss you. We cannot stop crying. Please think twice. Don't go to Syria."
In an appeal to Kadiza, her sister, Halima Khanom, said: "Find the courage in your heart to contact us and let us know that you are safe and you are OK.
"That is all we ask of you."


Dr Liam Fox went to the aid of a pregnant mother in difficulty during a flight, it has emerged.

The defence secretary, who was a GP before entering politics, answered a call from the pilot for anyone with medical knowledge to come forward.
He assisted the woman on the flight from Istanbul to London until she was met by paramedics at the airport.
A spokesman for Dr Fox said it was the third time in four years he had been called into action in such a way.
Dr Fox was returning to London after a meeting with Turkish military and defence officials on Monday when the incident occurred about halfway through the four-and-a-half hour flight.
The defence secretary was able to make the woman comfortable for the remainder of the journey, his spokesman told the BBC, and she did not suffer any serious distress.
"Of course being a former doctor, he feels obliged to help. Any doctor would do," the spokesman added.
He confirmed this was not the first time that Dr Fox's medical experience had been called upon: "I think it is the third time over the last four years this has happened."
But he said he was not sure whether the woman was aware of her helper's identity and his other responsibilities.
Dr Fox worked as a civilian medical officer in the armed forces and is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners.


Fines for people who walk more than four dogs at a time have come into force in a Hampshire town.

Gosport Borough Council says it brought in the £100 fines to combat dog mess and poorly controlled dogs.
Previously walkers were allowed to walk up-to six charges, but this has been curbed with the new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).
One professional dog walker said it will affect business.
Nick Lower, who runs Gosport Dog Walking, said: "There are a few professional dog walkers who are going to be affected, and members of the public as well."
Sue McNaughton, who will now have to walk her five huskies in two packs said: "I understand where [the council] are coming from, but they're penalising the many because of the few.
"I wouldn't walk five dogs if I didn't think I could control them."
Councillor Graham Burgess said: "In a densely-populated borough like Gosport, we do believe new rules are needed."
Some residents are happy about the change, including Jenny Brown who said: "I'm pleased this has come into focus. I've had so many problems when encountering larger groups of dogs."
Similar fines are in place in other areas including Oxford.
In 2011 the council brought in fines for people walking more than four dogs after complaints of packs being out of control.
Councillor John Tanner said: "With more than four dogs, you are not taking your dog out for a walk but a pack of potentially dangerous animals for a riot around the park."


A massive floating Christmas tree has been lit in the harbour in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

4 December 2012 Last updated at 11:15 GMT
The tree is listed as the largest in the world by the Guinness book of world records.
It has 3.1 million light bulbs, is 85-metres high and weighs 542 tonnes.
There was an amazing six minute firework display when it was lit up as the start of the festive celebrations in the Brazilian city.
More than 100,000 people came to watch the show.
See the tree being lit.


Blood that has been made in a laboratory will be tested by the NHS within two years.

The new blood cells will be made in bulk from stem cells that normally circulate in the blood.
Around 20 people will be given small quantities of the "lab-blood" as part of safety tests.
NHS Blood and Transplant said it would be a "landmark" moment and could help people with diseases such as sickle cell anaemia.
The organisation is facing falling numbers of new blood donors.
Artificial blood is one potential solution, particularly for patients for whom it is hard to find a good blood match.
The trial will be organised by the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford and will start by 2017.
Healthy people - not patients - will be given five to 10ml (less than two teaspoons) of the manufactured blood.
This is much smaller than a transfusion of a unit of blood - which is around 470ml.
Dr Nick Watkins, from NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "Scientists across the globe have been investigating for a number of years how to manufacture red blood cells to offer an alternative to donated blood to treat patients.
"We are confident that by 2017 our team will be ready to carry out the first early phase clinical trials in human volunteers.
"These trials will compare manufactured cells with donated blood.
"The intention is not to replace blood donation, but provide specialist treatment for specific patient groups."


Englishman Anthony Wall won the Paul Lawrie Match Play to claim his first European Tour title in 16 years.

The 41-year-old beat Alex Noren of Sweden 1 up in the final.
Wall, who has struggled with back and hip injuries over the past three years, said: "I've been struggling all year, not feeling well. And then this week, I've been really enjoying myself."
Wall's only previous European Tour win came in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2000.
In the third-place play-off, James Morrison was a 4&2 winner over fellow Englishman Oliver Fisher.


An IT expert from Bridgend county had web trouble of a different kind - when nurses removed a spider from her ear.

Victoria Price, 42, from Porthcawl, had been in agony for more than a day with a suspected infection or perforated eardrum.
But after going to the emergency unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital, staff pulled the "chunky" spider out of her ear.
The mother-of-one said everyone there was "really grossed out".
Mrs Price, who is a member of Newton Lifeguard Club and swims in the sea several times a week, had changed in the beach hut as usual and then headed home for a shower.
"I got out of the shower and the pain in my ear was just incredible. I was like Irish dancing around the bathroom. I didn't know what to do with myself," she said.
"I assumed I had trapped water or I'd perforated an eardrum or something."
She only realised there was something "alive in there" after her husband looked inside her ear the following day and could "see it looking up out of the top".
The spider was removed by emergency nurse practitioner Sarah Gaze.
She said: "It was alive and very wriggly. It was quite big too.
"Victoria was very brave - braver than me. I didn't find it a pleasant experience at all but it was my job so I had to overcome my fear."
Mrs Price added: "There was no further damage - or any eggs laid, as everyone keeps asking me."


The head of British Cycling has apologised for "failings" following accusations of bullying and sexism against top-level cyclists.

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Chairman Jonathan Browning said the governing body will be making changes to be more caring to riders.
"Where there are failings we apologise," Browning told BBC sports editor Dan Roan.
He added the organisation would also address concerns raised by MPs at a select committee hearing into doping.
An investigation into the culture at British Cycling was launched last year after ex-riders complained about their treatment.
A report on the findings of the investigation is imminent.
But the governing body says work on an action plan to address any "failings" is already under way.
"Athlete and participant welfare is our highest priority," said Browning.
He said the organisation had achieved "remarkable success" in not only winning races, but bringing new people into the sport.
However, he added: "We deeply regret any instance where we have failed to deliver."
He accepted there had been "well reported" incidences where behaviour had been "unacceptable" and needed to be addressed.
"My ambition for athletes is anyone leaving the programme says 'I would recommend it to my younger brother or sister'," he said.
Browning said British Cycling was now "committed to implementing the recommendations of the independent review in full" to ensure the best possible environment in which its athletes could flourish.
The action plan aims include:
The independent review was commissioned last April by British Cycling alongside UK Sport, which provides elite funding to the organisation.
It came after former technical director Shane Sutton, who was was later cleared of eight of nine allegations, was found to have used sexist language towards cyclist Jess Varnish.
UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl says the independent review has "identified valuable lessons" both for British Cycling and other sports it funds.
The organisation set out its own action plan to help British Cycling, which includes "placing more emphasis on the importance of culture and duty of care".
Browning added: "Athlete development has been and will continue to be the key to our success at the highest level.
"This is not about complying to protect funding, this is about running and leading our organisation in a way that is consistent with our ambition to be a world-class governing body and a great place to work."
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The release of British Cycling's action plan comes a day after MP Damian Collins said the body's credibility was "in tatters" following a separate inquiry into doping.
MPs heard "some detailed and worrying" evidence from former British Cycling coach Simon Cope and UK Anti-Doping chief Nicole Sapstead, covering poor record-keeping of riders' medical details to the mysterious contents of a jiffy bag delivered from British Cycling to Team Sky at a race in France.
Browning, who only took on the role of chairman last month, said he had been left "really disappointed" by the hearing, adding: "We're still looking for clear answers. Not only do we need to be clean but we have to be able to demonstrate it.
"I've not come across any evidence of cheating. I've found an organisation that's changed quickly and needs to reset its priorities - it's something we are going to fix."


A giant panda in Hong Kong called Ying Ying is pregnant and due to give birth within a week, officials at an amusement park say.

The cub will be the first giant panda to be born in Hong Kong.
Earlier this year, 10-year-old Ying Ying mated naturally and was also artificially inseminated.
However, the staff at Ocean Park are unsure which method has resulted in the successful pregnancy.
Ying Ying was sent to mainland China's Sichuan province this spring to take part in a breeding programme.
The 100kg female - described by the park as "inquisitive, active and vigilant" - attempted to mate naturally with two male pandas on five different occasions and one of the attempts was deemed successful.
But to improve the chances of a viable pregnancy, Ying Ying was also artificially inseminated.
Repeated ultrasound scans in late September confirmed she was carrying a foetus, Ocean Park officials said.
Two panda maternity specialists have travelled to Hong Kong from Sichuan to provide pre- and post-natal support and the park's executive director of zoological operations Suzanne Gendron said she was "cautiously optimistic" about the birth.
Panda reproduction is a notoriously difficult process, with females only ovulating once a year.
It is common for giant pandas to re-absorb the foetus into the womb in the late stages of pregnancy.
The gestation period is typically five months and one or two cubs are usually born.


A report into how a ferry crashed into a pier has pointed to a mechanical fault.

Uriah Heep ran into Hythe Pier while it was berthing with 15 passengers and three crew onboard in May 2016.
The trimaran became wedged under the pier, collapsing the wheelhouse and trapping the skipper, who was pulled free by a colleague.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found the crash resulted from a loss of propulsion control.
Investigators found the skipper lost control of the water jet propelled vessel on 13 May as it arrived at the pier at 21:10 BST.
According to the report, the loss of control was caused "almost certainly from a mechanical failure within the hydraulic circuit that powered the thrust deflector".
It also found "the ferry's berth at Hythe afforded little space within which to abort an an approach in the event of a mechanical malfunction".
The investigation found the ferry had been involved in three previous incidents:
Following the crash passengers and crew were rescued from the ferry and taken on to another vessel.
Some passengers received minor neck and back injuries, the skipper suffered minor cuts and abrasions.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency withdrew Uriah Heep's passenger safety certificate following the accident.
Uriah Heep was later sold by its operator, White Horse Ferries Ltd.
Hythe Ferry now runs a shuttle service using one vessel, Great Expectations, between Hythe and Southampton.


New Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder says taking the job was "a complete no-brainer".

Wilder left Northampton on Thursday to sign a three-year deal at Bramall Lane to replace Nigel Adkins.
The former Oxford boss, who guided the Cobblers to the League Two title, began his playing career with the Blades.
"Of course this is my dream job. Hopefully it will be a great period of my footballing career," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.
"I'm determined to get the club going forward and I understand the responsibility and the history.
"I'm ready for the challenge. As soon as this club made the telephone call it was a complete no-brainer. I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if I had turned this down."
The 48-year-old held discussions with relegated Championship side Charlton earlier this week and was also linked with Blackburn Rovers.
Wilder is the club's fifth full-time manager since they were relegated to League One in 2011.
Adkins was sacked after failing to guide the team to a play-off finish and Wilder says the goal for next season is to win promotion.
"I'm not frightened of the challenge. I don't go in for three or five-year plans. If we can get out of the division this year then we will do," he added.
"The biggest thing is to go and win games of football and I put myself under enormous pressure to do that."
by BBC Radio Sheffield sport editor Andy Giddings
"Sheffield United will find no more enthusiastic a manager than Chris Wilder, as he's a die-hard Blade.
"Wilder is also a manager whose stock is high after a hugely successful time at Northampton.
"He faces a huge challenge to overhaul an under-performing squad and turn them into title contenders but he is a boss who calls a spade a spade and his honest forthright manner will be welcomed by the fan base."


Two names are synonymous with the violence of Guatemala's 36-year-long civil war.

One is Dos Erres, a village in the jungle of the Peten region which was wiped from the face of the earth by soldiers in December 1982.
The other is Efrain Rios Montt, the de facto president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces at the time.
Today, the road to Dos Erres is long and riddled with potholes.
But for our guide, Luis Saul Arevalo, known as Don Saul, it was a far more arduous journey. Don Saul is a survivor of the notorious massacre, and the trip to the place where his village once stood brought back some very traumatic memories.
He points out grisly signposts along the way - a parcel of land where his friends once lived, the place where the school used to be, or perhaps worst of all, the site of the village well, where the army dumped the mutilated bodies of their victims.
Don Saul was just 25 when scores of troops came into his village. In three days of sustained torture, rape and murder the army killed at least 200 villagers. Among them were Saul's parents, his five younger brothers and sisters, and his three-year-old niece.
Don Saul was only saved because he had gone into town with his wife.
As he surveys what is now cattle-grazing land, he remembers the day he returned to the once-thriving village after the soldiers had carried out their infamous "scorched earth" policy in the search for left-wing guerrillas.
"Two weeks after the massacre, I was able to come back here. Where children had once run and played football, where you could previously hear hymns being sung in church or see birds overhead and cattle in our pastures, there was nothing. All the homes had been burned. They left nothing."
In all, six soldiers have been tried for the crimes at Dos Erres for which they received dozens of consecutive life sentences. And yet, even though it was one of the most notorious events of his time in power, the massacre did not even appear on the list of charges against Gen Rios Montt.
Rather, the former military leader was tried for genocide related to the murders of 1,771 members of the Ixil ethnic group in another part of Guatemala.
But Don Saul believes his village should have been part of the genocide case.
"It was the bloodiest year in Guatemala's history. They can't say that there wasn't genocide in Guatemala, because we gathered up the bodies of children, pregnant women, the elderly, of young women who'd been raped. I saw little children's socks stained with blood.
"By not leaving a single human being alive in this village, they committed genocide."
Barely two weeks ago, a court agreed. There had been genocide in Guatemala, the presiding Judge Jazmin Barrios said, and the then-President Rios Montt was guilty of having planned it and ordered it.
For that and other crimes against humanity he was sentenced to 80 years in prison, sending the human rights activists and victims' families in the chamber into jubilation.
But his legal team immediately sought to overturn the sentence. Earlier this week, they were successful.
The ruling was annulled and the case has been reset to where it stood on 19 April.
On that day, Gen Rios Montt's lawyer, Francisco Garcia Gudiel, was thrown out of the courtroom after accusing the judge of bias, leaving the former military leader temporarily without legal representation. Now a new verdict must be reached.
Mr Garcia Gudiel says the decision to overturn the genocide sentence was right for two reasons.
"The constitutional court ordered that there be no sentencing until after a series of appeal issues had been resolved. But the tribunal disobeyed that order and hurriedly issued their sentence. That's why we disagree with the verdict, on the one hand.
"And secondly," he adds, turning to a point of deep division in Guatemala, "we simply don't agree that there was genocide in Guatemala. In Guatemala there has never been genocide. We can't be compared with Rwanda or Yugoslavia or Nazi Germany."
The victims' families disagree.
Dona Maria Esperanza Arriaga, whose two daughters, aged four and six, were murdered in December 1982, says it has been hard watching the former military leader lodge appeal after appeal.
"This man has asked for so many appeals. But why didn't he give us the opportunity to appeal?" she asks, the tears rolling down her cheeks.
Sitting on the porch of her wooden shack in the Peten, she remembers those days vividly.
"He just ordered the army to scorch the earth. He never gave us the chance to show that we weren't guerrillas. I'd never met the guerrillas, I didn't know them."
In the municipal cemetery in the nearest small town to Dos Erres is a very forlorn-looking blue and white concrete cross next to a reconstruction of a well. Around it there is a metal fence and some tatty plastic bunting.
It is the only monument in the country to the victims of Dos Erres.
Under the terms of the Peace Accord of 1996, the government of Guatemala was supposed to build a proper monument to the dead. It never has.
As the two sides get ready for the next stage of the legal battle, once again the name Dos Erres will not feature in the list of charges against Efrain Rios Montt.
Perhaps the state of disrepair of the monument is the least of the families' concerns.


A Met police constable has admitted persuading a 14-year-old girl to perform a sex act during a Skype call.

Alistair Leiper had a series of online video chats with two teenagers between December 2013 and April 2014, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child and one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He will be sentenced on 3 March.
Judge Joanna Korner QC said she needed "to know whether he is dangerous" and ordered a pre-sentence report.
Leiper was suspended from the force when he was arrested in August 2015. He was released on bail.


Armed police officers could refuse to carry weapons if a colleague is charged over the shooting of a man in London, the Police Federation has warned.

A firearms officer has been arrested over the fatal shooting of Jermaine Baker on 11 December.
The 28-year-old was shot dead during an alleged attempt to spring two convicts from a prison van in Wood Green.
Met Police Federation chair Ken Marsh, said a criminal charge would have "massive ramifications" for the force.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has opened a homicide inquiry following the shooting.
But Mr Marsh said: "If the officer in question was charged, my colleagues would consider very, very carefully if they would still carry blue permits and carry firearms.
"We are talking about police officers who carry firearms by choice and are looking to be backed up by the government for doing this.
"Otherwise, if they are out in the streets in a Paris-style scenario, they don't want to think if they are going to be prosecuted."


There is a ritual that is now very familiar to Thais, before the two big holiday seasons of the year, in late December for the new year, and in April for the Songkran Festival.

The government will set a target for reducing fatalities on Thailand's notoriously dangerous roads, exhorting Thais not to speed, or drink and drive.
Sometimes good citizens will run publicity stunts, like the coffin-maker, who last year invited journalists to film the huge stockpile his workers were building up for the holiday season.
And every year these efforts fail.
The grim statistics of death and injury on the roads are tallied each day in the media with, as often as not, worse figures than the year before.
And so it was this last new year - 478 people lost their lives on the roads in just seven days.
In one horrific collision in Chonburi on 2 January, 25 people died - some burned to death in a crushed and overcrowded passenger van they could not escape.
Thailand's roads are currently ranked the second most lethal in the world after Libya's by the World Health Organization.
This status is all the more extraordinary given the fact that Thailand has been peaceful and increasingly prosperous for decades, with governments that in other fields, like healthcare and infrastructure, have made impressive progress.
In 2011 the then-government announced the following ten years as Thailand's 'Decade of Action on Road Safety'.
It declared 2012 as the year of 100 percent helmet use on motorbikes.
In 2015 the Department of Disaster Prevention, which is tasked with road safety in addition to problems like floods and landslides, boldly announced a target of reducing road deaths by 80%.
All in vain.
The challenge they face is not hard to see. Thailand's rapid development has bequeathed it an unrivalled network of 462,133 roads in the region, nearly all paved, with plenty of multi-lane highways.
There are 37 million registered vehicles, 20 million of them motorbikes, and millions more that are unregistered.
Driving on a Thai expressway is akin to playing a hyper-caffeinated video game. A cursory web search for road accident videos will throw up examples of breathtaking, sometimes suicidal, recklessness. Drunk driving is a huge problem.
2nd in the world for road accident deaths, after Libya
24,000 people are estimated to die on Thai roads every year
73% of those killed are motorcyclists
36.9m vehicles ply Thai roads - it's gone up by 30% in the last five years
In 2014 and 2015 three foreigners, a British couple and a Chilean man, who were cycling around the world, and near the end of their journeys, were killed while travelling through Thailand.
A pick-up truck driver, who struck the British couple while trying to reach a hat on the floor of his cab, was fined the equivalent of $30 and given a suspended prison sentence.
"Thailand has beautiful roads", explains Ratana Winther, the country director for the US-based Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. "And people tend to go very fast. So the number one killer is speed."
Police Sergeant-Major Kanthachat Nua-on can attest to that.
At a speed trap he had set up on a stretch of elevated expressway outside Bangkok, he watched car after car pass him at speeds well in excess of the 80km/h (50 mph) limit. He did not bother to ticket them.
"If we strictly follow what the law says, and issue a ticket for people driving over the speed limit, then we will end up booking everyone."
He booked just one car, travelling at 129km/h. But the fines are small, and more than half of those ticketed do not bother to pay, with little follow-up.
In recent years there have been a number of cases where drivers from wealthy families have killed, and been treated with extraordinary leniency.
In 2012 the grandson of the man who made a fortune from the Red Bull energy drink killed a policeman while driving at speed in his Ferrari. He was charged, but has repeatedly failed to show up in court.
Another case was that of a 16-year-old girl from an influential family, driving without a license, who struck a passenger van, killing nine of its occupants.
She was given a suspended prison sentence, and ordered to do community service - which it turned out two years later she had avoided doing.
"Enforcement is the key", says Ratana Winther. "But that is not just about telling the police to enforce the law. The police should be told to prioritise traffic policing over traffic management.
"But it is a multi-sectoral challenge. The punishment needs to be big enough for people to be afraid of it. And the safety campaigns must be continuous, not just at peak seasons. Then we need to move on to issues like improving the engineering of roads."
Former Deputy Transport Minister and safety campaigner Nikorn Chamnong goes further.
"We need to go back and change the DNA of the country," he says. "Education, right back in schools, is important".
He has been petitioning the current military-appointed National Assembly to do more. It is now on the point of approving ten changes to driving laws, including mandating the use of rear seatbelts - overall the largest overhaul of road safety legislation in 40 years.
But no-one knows how well these laws will be enforced.
Members of the public are cynical. "There is a saying, that a true Thai follows his own rules," said Pongsak Putta, a motorbike taxi driver, who was hit by a car and injured over the new year.
"As long as it does not happen to them, people do not think safety is an issue," said Pornpen Wongbantoon, who complains about the poor driving of the buses she has to take to work.
"Enforcement is everything," says Dr Liviu Vedrasco, who works on road safety at the World Health Organization.
The government officials he works with are serious about road safety, he believes, but co-ordination is a real challenge.
The Road Safety Direction Centre is responsible for leading on the issue, but is subsumed within the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, which is itself within the Ministry of Interior. Roads are the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport.
Dr Vedrasco believes the best way to cut the appalling death toll on the roads is to focus on the most vulnerable group, motorbikes, which account for 80% of deaths.
"If you cannot reduce the number of motorbikes, the next best thing is separating them. Make a dedicated lane; maybe not a hundred percent of roads in Thailand, but aim to increase the percentage of roads with separated traffic - this will definitely have a tremendous impact."
After the shocking collision in Chonburi, the government has promised to phase out passenger vans, which it says are not designed to carry up to 15 people over long distances.
The police believe the 64 year-old driver fell asleep at the wheel. He was on his fifth 300km, 3.5 hour journey in 33 hours.
Twenty-six-year-old Hathaitip Modpai was one of the victims. She had been travelling in the van back from a new year visit to her parents to Bangkok, where she worked as a car saleswoman. She was an only child.
After her funeral, her mother, Wimol, reflected on what the impact of her daughter's death would be.
"I wish the government would do more," she said. "After the accident people got excited for a while, but once the fuss dies down, everything will go back to the way it was before."


Almost 300 art students will turn Dundee into Scotland's largest exhibition space for ten days at this year's Duncan of Jordanstone degree show.

Thousands of visitors are expected at the college of art and design event, which opens to the public on Saturday.
Themes range from Scandinavian furniture design to artwork inspired by grief at the loss of family members.
The show takes place over two buildings and 14 floors at the school.
Duncan of Jordanstone alumni include best-selling illustrator Johanna Basford, photographer Albert Watson and painter Albert Morocco.
One of this year's exhibits is Gentian Meikleham's pair of mechanical swings made from porcelain and parian ceramic and inspired by the death of her brother Koan and other family members.
Miss Meikleham said: "Koan was 24 when he died, and this number is repeated several times throughout my work.
"I chose the swings because they are an easily recognisable symbol of childhood and innocence and also relate to so many memories of my own childhood.
"They continue to swing together, despite the loss of the physical body and despite the childhood that is lost."
Former DJ Jon Christie is exhibiting his range of Scandanavian furniture, created using traditional methods and modern 3D printing.
His love of the Scandanavian designs began more than 20 years ago after visiting his Danish wife's homeland.
He said: "This didn't look like any furniture I had ever seen before and I had never seen people take such pride in it either.
"I instantly fell in love with these beautiful, elegant, timeless designs.
"Every single component has a function and that's where the design brings the traditional skills and technology together.
"It is important to me that 3D printing isn't seen as a replacement for these traditional skills but another tool for the maker to use to complement them."
Last year's degree show attracted 15,000 visitors, its highest number to date.
The show exhibits from students in all 11 Duncan of Jordanstone undergraduate programmes and from graduates in architecture.
College Dean, Prof Paul Harris, said: "Research we carried out showed that the creative industries account for 3,000 jobs and contribute Â£190million to the local economy annually.
"When you consider that Dundee has a population of around 150,000 that shows the phenomenal importance of this sector.
"In many ways Duncan of Jordanstone is the starting point for all this.
"For more than a century he has brought together practising artists, designers and researchers, and of course, students, to create a hub for creativity and it has been shown across the world that a thriving arts scene is a factor that makes a city a vibrant and attractive place to live.
"The city-wide Ignite Festival and Dundee Design Festival have been built around the degree show in recognition of its huge importance to Dundee."
Following a preview evening for students, families and guests on Friday, the show will open to the public until Sunday 29 May.


A Welsh assembly member has been awarded £45,000 in libel damages by a High Court judge, but could face significant legal costs.

Mohammad Asghar, Conservative AM for South Wales East, had accused four Newport men of defamation.
It followed a dispute over the running of two mosques in the city.
Mr Justice Jeremy Baker has now cleared three of the men but ordered Mohammad Ali Hayat to pay Mr Asghar and a co-claimant five-figure damages each.
The defamatory claims, made in a newsletter, on a website, and in a file handed to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies, suggested Mr Asghar and his co-claimant Abdul Mujahid were involved in criminality and corruption.
Mr Justice Jeremy Baker heard a trial on the issues at Newport Crown Court and Cardiff Civil Justice Centre, last year.
In his judgment, handed down on Thursday, the judge said the false claims caused "very significant distress and damage to the claimants' reputation".
The judge cleared defendants Manzoor Ahmad, Farzand Ali and Shokat Butt of any wrongdoing but found Mr Hayat liable for damages.
But Mr Asghar and Mr Mujahid may now face a large legal bill.
A costs hearing will be held to decide how the bill - which could run to tens of thousands of pounds - should be divided between the parties.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Asghar said he was "quite happy" with the outcome, adding "we'll have to see what happens" with regards to the costs.


It is a little grey tractor once sat on by Harry Ferguson himself, and it is the star of a vintage auction expected to raise £1m.

The Ferguson Brown, worth up to £20,000, is one of 100 vintage tractors for sale in Dromore, County Tyrone on Saturday.
The collection owner spent 40 years lovingly restoring the vehicles but has now decided to sell them off.
And the sale has attracted interest from the US and Germany.
David Graham of Euro Auctions said there has been "huge interest" in the sale.
He said he believed it was due in part to people's nostalgic connection to the land.
David Marshall from Omagh is hoping to buy the Ferguson Brown for a customer in Cumbria.
But he was not prepared to say what he would be prepared to pay for the "iconic little lady".
"It'll definitely go for more than the £226 it was worth when it was new," he said.
The Ferguson Brown revolutionised farming as it was the first tractor which allowed implements like ploughs to be connected directly to the vehicle and raised and lowered using a gear system.
Also in the sale are 15 racing red Porsche tractors - with a top speed of 20mph.
They were built under franchise in the Republic of Ireland in the post war years.
They are expected to make between £10-20,000 depending on the model.


It's been pretty hot and sunny recently in the UK, but for our furry friends this can be pretty tough.

21 June 2017 Last updated at 16:41 BST
Many animals can't keep cool in the same way that humans can - by sweating through our skin.
Instead, they keep cool by panting and sweating through glands in their feet.
Check out our guide to keeping pets cool here.
Top dog trainer Cesar Milan and his dog Eddie gave us some of their top tips for keeping your canine pal cool in the heat...


Welsh snooker champion Matthew Stevens says a stolen snooker cue was like "a best mate" to him.

He has had it since he was 12-years-old and used it in every tournament he has played since turning professional in 1994.
The two-times World Championships finalist from Carmarthenshire discovered the cue was missing from his car on Wednesday in Llanelli.
He is now having a new cue made - for the first time in his life.
"I've had it 27 years, so it's a bit devastating," Stevens told BBC Wales.
"It's my best mate really. It goes everywhere with me. It's the only one I use."
It was taken from his white BMW between 20:00 BST on Sunday and 08:30 on Monday while it was parked on Gilbert Crescent in Llanelli.
It was in a black case with the word MAXIMUS written in gold on the casing.
Dyfed-Powys Police is investigating the theft and Stevens has offered a reward for its return.
"It's sentimental value really. I can get used to another cue - that's not a problem - it will take a couple of weeks, probably, but it is just sentimental value, you know," says the 39-year-old.
"It's a great cue and it's lasted well. I'd obviously have played with it until the end of my career.
"But it hasn't returned yet, so I'm having a new cue made as we speak. Hopefully, it will come back but, if not, I'll have to get used to a new one."
The snooker star says he is travelling to London in the next week to pick-up his new cue, but would rather his old one is returned.
"Thieving - it's not nice, is it? Unfortunately, that's the world we live in these days.
"Obviously it is devastating but worse things happen - no-one's died. But it is still very upsetting - fingers crossed that it comes back."


French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has been booed as he attended a minute's silence in Nice, where an attacker in a lorry killed 84 people on Thursday.

Hecklers shouted out "murderer" and "resign" at him before the minute's silence, held across the nation.
Earlier, centre-right opposition leader Nicolas Sarkozy accused the government of failing to provide security.
Troops are to be redeployed to tourist spots as inquiries continue into the killer's possible links to jihadists.
Mr Sarkozy, a former president, called for any foreign nationals with links to radical Islam to be expelled from France.
This was a scene that has never been seen before in France at a national act of homage: the head of government booed and called a murderer.
The angry reception that Prime Minister Manuel Valls received when he observed the minute's silence in Nice is a stark warning of how the mood in the country has changed.
The attacks of last year seemed too extraordinary to provoke much more than shock and horror.
But Nice showed that mass terror is becoming regular and ordinary. And - as Manuel Valls saw at the ceremony - that is beginning to make people very angry indeed.
Read more
The authorities say Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in Nice, became radicalised only recently.
Investigators say they have not yet found evidence that he pledged allegiance to radical groups or had contact with known extremists.
But Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said images found on his computer as well as recent internet searches showed he had a "clear and recent interest" in radical Islamist movements.
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rented the 19-tonne truck used in the attack on 4 July and drove to the Promenade des Anglais twice in the days before the attack, Mr Molins said.
Examinations of his computer showed he had searched for details of the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice as well as videos showing "terrible" traffic accidents.
This showed that his act was "premeditated and deliberate", Mr Molins said.
Many of the dead and injured were children watching a Bastille Day fireworks display with their families.
There are still 74 people in hospital, 28 of whom are in intensive care, Mr Molins said.
Thirteen of the victims have not yet been identified, he said.
Neighbours have described Lahouaiej-Bouhlel as a violent loner who liked to drink, lift weights and go salsa dancing.
Mr Valls has suggested the killer may have been radicalised too quickly to trigger the authorities' attention.
He was shot dead by police when his vehicle's path along the Promenade des Anglais was eventually halted.
Tunisian security sources have told the BBC he visited Tunisia frequently, most recently eight months ago.
IS said the attacker was acting in response to its calls to target civilians in countries that are part of the coalition ranged against it.
Six people are being held in connection with the killings.
They are people who may have been in recent contact with Lahouaiej-Bouhlel or who may have helped him get the gun he used in the attack, Mr Molins said.
The latest arrests, of an Albanian couple who have not been identified, were on Sunday morning, French judicial sources say.
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's estranged wife, who was detained on Friday, was released on Sunday.


US federal investigators say a gunman who killed four marines in a shooting spree in Tennessee had no known links to international terrorism.

Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, was shot dead by police after he attacked a military recruitment centre and a naval reserve centre in Chattanooga.
Local prosecutors are investigating the attacks - in which three people were also injured - as "domestic terrorism".
However, the FBI says Abdulazeez's motive is unclear.
Sources close to the case said investigators were looking into a trip made to the Middle East by Abdulazeez last year, including a period spent in Jordan.
Thomas Sullivan from Massachusetts and Skip Wells from Georgia were named as two of the Marines killed in the attack. The other two names are yet to be confirmed.
A police officer and a marine corps recruiter were also wounded, along with a female sailor who remains in a serious condition in hospital.
President Barack Obama described the attacks as "heartbreaking".
They unfolded at 10:45 local time (14:45 GMT) on Thursday.
The suspected was seen pulling up in a rented Ford Mustang convertible outside a shopping centre and opening fire, spraying the offices of a military recruiting centre with bullets.
April Grimmett, who was working at a nearby hair salon, watched the shooting through the window of the shop.
"We heard the [shots]. It was very loud and very fast," she told CNN. "I could not believe how many bullet holes were in that door. It was insane."
At the scene - Gary O'Donoghue, BBC News, Tennessee
As dawn broke over Chattanooga, the serried ranks of television satellite trucks, police cars and FBI vehicles were still in evidence outside the recruitment centre on Lee Highway - scene of the first shooting on Thursday.
Floral tributes lay on the ground, as the Tennessee governor blinked into television lights and promised to do all he could to help the families of the victims.
In truth, he and the FBI are just at the beginning of trying to piece together what drove Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez to open fire here and then drive seven miles to kill four US Marines at a navy reserve base.
But progress is clearly being made. A cautious Chattanooga mayor, Andy Berke, told me they were getting snippets from the Muslim community, suggesting that the blurry picture of this young man was starting at least to become a little more clear.
What we know about the gunman
Army spokeswoman Kelli Bland said four US Armed Forces recruiters had been in the building at the time of the shooting, but no one was injured.
The gunman then left the recruitment centre and drove some six miles (10km) to a naval reserve training centre, officials said.
There he fatally shot the four marines and wounded the sailor before being shot and killed himself in a firefight with police.
Employees of nearby businesses spoke of hearing repeated gunshots as police swarmed the area, before it went silent.
Police have sealed off the area around the house in which the gunman lived as they attempt to piece together what led to the attacks.
Eyewitnesses said two women were handcuffed and led away from the house in the Hixson suburb of Chattanooga.
Abdulazeez was reportedly born in Kuwait and had Jordanian citizenship, but was also a naturalised US citizen.
He had attended high school in a Chattanooga suburb and graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree.
Those who knew him have spoken of their shock at hearing of his involvement.
"He was a good kid... They're good people," said one neighbour. "I've never had any kind of conflict with them."
US officials said he had not been known to federal law enforcement before the attacks, though he had been arrested locally earlier this year for driving under the influence of alcohol.
"We are looking at every possible avenue, whether it was terrorism - whether it was domestic, international - or whether it was a simple, criminal act," FBI special agent Ed Reinhold said.
A blog reportedly set up by Abdulazeez was found by the SITE Intelligence Group, a jihadist monitoring organisation, shortly after the attacks.
In a post from Monday, the writer says "this life is short and bitter" and that Muslims should not let "the opportunity to submit to allah... pass you by".


A British citizen has been killed in Iraq trying to defuse a bomb left by the so-called Islamic State group, US contractor Janus says.

Another worker is said to have been hurt clearing ordnance in Ramadi, 60 miles (100km) west of Baghdad.
Iraqi forces backed by coalition air strikes retook the city from IS last December, but mine-clearing has to be completed before residents can return.
The Foreign Office said it was in contact with Janus following the death.
According to the AFP news agency, the incident was also confirmed by the mayor of Ramadi, although he did not specify the nationality of the wounded contractor.
The incident is said to have taken place in the al-Malaab neighbourhood of Ramadi, the capital of the western Anbar province.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in contact with the employer of a British national who has died in Iraq and have offered our support at this difficult time."
Dozens of Iraqi civilians have died in explosions while trying to return to their homes in the city.
Janus Global Operations began its work in April after being awarded the contract to clear thousands of devices and booby-traps left by IS.
It confirmed the death of the British contractor without providing further information.


Wakefield Trinity chairman Michael Carter has called speculation they are going to sell their Super League franchise "nonsensical".

Reports in the Yorkshire Post suggested Trinity were considering selling their place in the top flight.
"It was raised and discussed in a meeting with all the Super League clubs in February for about 15 minutes," Carter told BBC Radio Leeds.
"There is absolutely nothing to consider from my point of view."
He added: "If someone said they had £2m for the franchise and here's where we're going to head and this is what it entails, then you sit down and you consider it in a rational manner."
Super League general manager Mark Foster said earlier this month that they would be willing to listen to clubs interested in moving for the good of the sport.
At present, Wakefield do not have a home venue for next season.
Their Belle Vue ground does not meet minimum ground requirements for hosting Super League matches.
Championship side Featherstone Rovers had offered to share their Post Office Road home next season but Carter has said that will not happen.
"I'd like people to stop worrying about the ground and concentrate on enjoying the rugby league. I'll worry about the ground," he said.
"We're still trying to get the people of Wakefield the community stadium they were promised five years ago.
"We won't be going to Featherstone and unless something monumental happens to Belle Vue that's not an option either. The options we are pursuing are outside of those grounds."


The Scottish and UK governments have held discussions on transferring control over abortion laws to the Scottish Parliament, it has emerged.

The issue was discussed as part of last year's Smith Commission on devolving more powers to Holyrood.
No agreement was reached and it was not included in the final report published in November.
Currently, rules governing abortion are a reserved issue and under Westminster control.
But Whitehall sources have confirmed to the BBC that discussions have taken place between the two governments on looking at the issue again.
Under current UK law, abortions can be carried out during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Procedures can only be carried out at hospitals or licensed clinics and two doctors must agree that an abortion would cause less damage to a woman's physical or mental health than continuing with the pregnancy.
In rare situations abortions can be carried out after 24 weeks, including if there is a risk to the mother's life, or if there is a substantial risk that the child would be born with serious physical or mental disabilities.


As the internet becomes dominated by images, Facebook is launching a system which can "read" photos and tell visually impaired people what appears in them.

The internet is changing. From a medium based almost entirely on text, it is now becoming increasingly picture-led. An estimated 1.8 billion images are uploaded every day to social networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Good news for aspiring photographers, bad news for blind or partially sighted users who often have no way of telling what is in an image - despite the available modern assistive technologies.
But a new service from Facebook, being launched on Tuesday, is attempting to remedy that.
Blind people use sophisticated navigation software called screenreaders to make computers usable. They turn the contents of the screen into speech output or braille. But they can only read text and can't "read" pictures.
Using artificial intelligence (AI), Facebook's servers can now decode and describe images uploaded to the site and provide them in a form that can be read out by a screenreader.
Facebook says it has now trained its software to recognise about 80 familiar objects and activities. It adds the descriptions as alternative text, or alt text, on each photo. The more images it scans, the more sophisticated the software will become.
Some of the objects the new technology can recognise are:
The man behind the development is Matt King, a Facebook engineer who lost his sight as a result of retinitis pigmentosa - a condition which destroys the light sensitive cells in the retina.
"On Facebook, a lot of what happens is extremely visual," King says. "And, as somebody who's blind, you can really feel like you're left out of the conversation, like you're on the outside."
The technology that King and his team have developed uses Facebook's in-house object-recognition software to decipher what an image contains. It has been trained to recognise items such as food and vehicles.
"Our artificial intelligence has advanced to the point where it's practical for us to try to get computers to describe pictures in a meaningful way," King says.
"This is in its very early stages, but it's helping us move in the direction of that goal of including every single person who wants to participate in the conversation."
The system currently describes images in fairly basic terms such as: "There are two people in this image and they are smiling."
Last month, Twitter added a similar function which enables users to manually add their own descriptive text to images. Although the descriptions may be better, it requires users to actively choose to do it, whereas Facebook's new system automatically tags every photo.
King and Facebook would like the system to go one step further and use face recognition to identify people in a picture by name with help from their database of users, but others are resisting the idea on privacy grounds.
For King, it is a matter of principle - he says sighted and visually-impaired people should have equal access to the content posted online. Sighted people know who is in many of the photos they see, so blind people should also be allowed that same privilege, he believes.
"I feel I have a right to that information," he says. "I am asking for information that is already available to other people to be revealed to me. So I see it as a matter of fairness."
Jeff Wieland, head of the Facebook accessibility team, says the social networking site is investing in accessibility and devising strategies for different communities, to allow them to engage with it.
He says the site is "going to have dedicated teams thinking about how to get all these different communities on-board and connecting with each other. That is the chance for us to be equalisers and to really empower the world".
Hear more from Matt King in Default World, first broadcast on the BBC World Service on 2 April as part of the Identity season. An edited version will be broadcast as an Analysis documentary on BBC Radio 4.
Find .
Follow @BBCOuch on Twitter and on Facebook or email ouch@bbc.co.uk
As people become increasingly connected and more mobile, the BBC is exploring how identities are changing.
Learn more about the BBC's Identity season or join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #BBCIdentity.
More Identity 2016 features:
The nation in love with country music
Camel racing, a market worth millions
Why Nigerians melt their gold jewellery in Dubai


For a country with a current account deficit approaching 7% of gross domestic product - Britain - America is good news.

The UK exports £47bn worth of goods and services a year to America, Britain's most important single trading partner.
It imports £41bn, creating a healthy trade surplus.
In the European Union, only Germany exports more.
The question ahead of President Barack Obama's arrival tonight, is whether the UK's membership of the European Union is a help or a hindrance to that trade relationship.
President Obama's administration believes it is a help.
I interviewed Jack Lew, the US Treasury Secretary, in Washington last week and he made it clear that America saw Britain's position within the EU as positive for both countries.
When it comes to the approach to regulation, open markets, finance and employment flexibility in the EU, Britain is seen by the US as a useful ally in a single market of more than 500 million people.
Americans have never been as comfortable speaking French.
The big bear in the free trade room is the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
This is an all-encompassing free trade deal being negotiated between the US and the EU which you can read about in detail here.
Many economists say the deal - if it is ever completed - could bring £10bn of value to the UK every year.
Might the UK lose out on that free trade dividend if Britain was to leave the EU?
The International Monetary Fund's chief economist and former adviser to President Obama, Maurice Obstfeld, certainly believes the UK's participation in any trans-Atlantic free trade agreement could be at risk if Britain were to leave the EU.
But there are a major couple of "buts" to that argument.
First mooted in the 1990s, the gargantuan TTIP process is still a long way from completion.
It is also mired in controversy on issues like "harmonisation" which some pressure groups see as a weakening of the present EU rules on matters such as the environment.
Second, if Britain votes to leave the EU, then it will happen not under President Obama, but under a different president.
And TTIP could well be slowly suffocated by either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, if they, as expected, are the two candidates.
Both have made it clear that they have little time for a trans-Atlantic free trade deal which they argue risks US jobs.
What their approach reveals is that the debate about free trade deals is often not about economics at all.
It is about politics.


The SNP have held all but one of their four Highlands and Islands seats in the election.

Angus MacNeil was re-elected in the Western Isles' constituency Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
Drew Hendry was returned as MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and Ian Blackford was re-elected in Ross, Skye and Lochaber.
The Lib Dem's Jamie Stone took Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross from the SNP.
Paul Monaghan, the SNP candidate, finished in second place after losing 17% of his support.
Mr Stone, a Highland councillor and a former MSP, said it was "old fashioned canvassing" that helped him to win.
He said people told him that they did not believe their concerns about local health and education were being listened to.
The SNP candidates who were re-elected saw reduced majorities.
In Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey in 2015, Mr Hendry took one of the Lib Dem's biggest scalps - Danny Alexander - beating him by more than 10,800 votes.
This time, it was the Conservatives who were the challengers polling a 24.2% swing and cutting Mr Hendry's lead by almost 7,800 votes.
Mr Hendry said he was pleased with the result, but it was a "tough ask" with such a short time to prepare.
In Ross, Skye and Lochaber, Mr Blackford had taken the seat from former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy in 2015 with a majority of just under 6,000.
But in this election his vote fell by more than 4,600.
Mr Blackford said he was re-elected on his record of taking on local issues and representing all the people in his constituency.
Mr MacNeil has held Na h-Eileanan an Iar since 2005, but there was an almost a 14% swing away from him.


At least eight people died and dozens were forced out of their homes by heavy rain in the Caribbean islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has cut short his holidays and was returning from London,  the government said.
Landslides and flooding also reportedly killed five people in the neighbouring island of St Lucia.
Heavy rain has also been causing destruction in Dominica, also in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
The region was expected to remain on rain alert, according to meteorological services.
Mr Gonsalves said he couldn't remember such heavy rain at Christmas.
By Tulip MazumdarBBC News, St Lucia
It had been raining all day across St Lucia, but by early evening on Christmas Eve we were seeing sheet rain.
We were on our way to the airport to get a flight back to London Gatwick when waters started to rise very quickly in the residential area of Bexon, just south of the capital Castries.
We had to abandon our car and seek shelter on higher ground. Several families were huddled together watching the waters rise.
Several men were going from car to car and house to house making sure people were safely out. We saw some people being rescued from their flooded homes in an emptied refrigerator which was used as a boat.
Waters reached about 1.5m (five feet) in depth.
Some local residents told me this was worse than the flooding seen in 2010 during Hurricane Thomas, but at least there weren't the strong winds this time.
A woman who lives in Canada and was spending her holidays with her family in St Vincent told reporters how she got separated from her sisters and ended up losing one of them and her two-year-old niece.
"We all were going together, but the water came down heavy and it just turned us over," Colleen James told news website I-Witness Online. The extreme weather hit St Vincent on Christmas Eve, with many seeking refuge in shelters as the flooding began.
A family of five died when a house was washed into their home in the north-western region of North Leeward, local media reported.
The rain also cut off the water supply of about half of the island, authorities say.
An official government notice said Mr Gonsalves was returning from his holiday in London, where he was staying after a visit to Rome, where he met Pope Francis.
In St Lucia a policeman was killed while reportedly trying to save people who were in difficulty, after torrential rain on Christmas Eve.
Midnight religious services were cancelled and churches in the island's capital Castries were used as shelters for people displaced by flooding.
Local media reports say at least another four bodies have now been found.
St Lucia's Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said: ``I don't think I can recall when we have had such heavy rainfall on the eve of Christmas."


Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been granted £85,000 to extend the search for a further six months.

The Home Office funding is to extend the probe, known as Operation Grange, between April and September this year.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007 aged three.
The extra funding has been earmarked for operational costs.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have vowed to "never give up" hope of finding their daughter.
Since 2011, the Metropolitan Police has been assisting with the search for clues about what happened to the toddler, with officers visiting the holiday resort in 2014.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Following an application from the Metropolitan Police for Special Grant funding, the Home Office has confirmed £85,000 in operational costs for Operation Grange for the period 1 April until September 2017.
"As with all applications, the resources required are reviewed regularly and careful consideration is given before any new funding is allocated."
Clickable map and timeline
To date a total of £11.1m has been spent on Operation Grange.
Met Police said: "The investigation is ongoing. We are not prepared to discuss any lines of inquiry while the investigation is ongoing."
There is one person who was near the area where Madeleine went missing who police want to speak to, the Sunday Express reported.
The paper said there has been an international search to find the person.