Researchers find no such link for women, suggesting connection between diet and bowel cancer is clearer for men
Eating a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes can reduce the risk of bowel cancer in men by more than a fifth, according to research.
A large study that involved 79,952 US-based men found that those who ate the largest amounts of healthy plant-based foods had a 22% lower risk of bowel cancer compared with those who ate the least.
Continue reading...Editors urge ministers to end ‘endemic’ use of Slapps – legal cases designed to hinder investigations
A coalition of senior journalists and editors from across the political spectrum are calling on the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, to back a proposed law to tackle the global super-rich’s use of “abusive legal tactics to shut down investigations”.
More than 70 newspaper editors, publishers and media lawyers wrote to Raab on Tuesday demanding that the government take urgent action to stop oligarchs and kleptocrats from using their fortunes to exploit British courts, intimidating and silencing investigative journalists with strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps).
Continue reading...End Fuel Poverty Coalition fears energy suppliers are using warrants to disconnect poorest ‘by the back door’
Campaigners have called for an immediate ban on pre-payment meter (PPM) installations made under court warrants because of fears that energy suppliers are using them to disconnect the poorest, most indebted customers “by the back door”.
Energy firms’ licence conditions protect many vulnerable people from formal disconnection over the winter, but the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said transferring households on to PPMs, which require regular top-ups and charge for energy at a higher rate, often prompted people in debt to “self-disconnect”.
Continue reading...Revised online safety bill proposes fines of 10% of revenue but drops harmful communications offence
Social media platforms that breach pledges to block sexist and racist content face the threat of substantial fines under government changes to the online safety bill announced on Monday.
Under the new approach, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter must also give users the option of avoiding content that is harmful but does not constitute a criminal offence. This could include racism, misogyny or the glorification of eating disorders.
Continue reading...National Highways has obtained an injunction to ‘prevent unlawful protests’ until November 2023
A high court injunction has been granted that would impose fresh penalties on Just Stop Oil activists for demonstrating on the country’s busiest motorway until November next year.
National Highways said it had secured the civil order to “prevent unlawful protests” on the M25, after a series of actions by the environmental group caused significant traffic disruption.
Continue reading...Jason Penrose launched a ‘campaign of consistent stalking’ against The Crown actor, making her fear for her life, court told
A persistent stalker who left Claire Foy “terrified in her own home” and fearing he would kill her and her daughter entered the UK illegally, a court has heard.
Jason Penrose, 49, launched a “campaign of consistent stalking” and even turned up at the The Crown star’s home on 17 December last year and repeatedly rang the doorbell, Wood Green crown court was told on Monday.
Continue reading...PM is stuck between two wings of party and at risk of Commons defeat on pro-renewables amendment
Rishi Sunak is scrambling to find a compromise on permitting onshore wind amid a growing backbench Conservative rebellion, though No 10 remains fearful of a backlash from MPs who oppose windfarms.
The U-turn on backing onshore wind projects would directly contradict a pledge by Sunak during his leadership campaign but Downing Street has sought to frame it as government policy.
Continue reading...Representatives of Eurosceptic insist he had been left with no option but to appeal to European court of human rights
Lawyers for Owen Paterson have admitted the irony of the former MP bringing a case against the UK government at the European court of human rights, despite having previously called on Britain to “break free” of the court entirely.
Representatives for Paterson, a prominent Eurosceptic Conservative who resigned last year in the midst of a lobbying scandal, issued a statement on Monday insisting he had been left with no option but to appeal to a court whose authority he had previously questioned.
Continue reading...Foreign Office minister says case of Hussein Abo al-Kheir raised ‘at highest level’ and demands end to executions
The British government has condemned as “abhorrent” what it said was the clear torture of a Jordanian national on death row in Saudi Arabia for drug offences, and demanded an end to a sudden spate of executions in the Gulf monarchy.
It was the first time the British government has made the allegation.
Continue reading...Opposition to unveil plan to reverse biodiversity loss rather than simply halting it, which is government’s current target
The government will not be able to achieve its nature targets by 2030, even though they are “embarrassingly poor”, the shadow environment minister and leading wildlife groups have said.
Next week at the Cop15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Alex Sobel will be discussing Labour’s “science-led, joined-up plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency”. The plan will aim to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, rather than simply halting it, which is the government’s current target.
Continue reading...16th-century work Epifania is one of only two existing cartoons by the Italian master
One of only two surviving Michelangelo cartoons is undergoing delicate and highly technical conservation work at the British Museum in an attempt to stabilise the fragile work for the coming decades.
Epifania, created by the Italian master artist around 1550, has degraded and been subject to repeated repairs over its almost 500-year history. Now it is laid out in the museum’s state-of-the-art conservation studios as specialists consider how best to preserve the complex structure and black chalk lines.
Continue reading...UK government-backed Heal-Covid trial finds Apixaban can cause dangerous bleeding and does not improve prognosis
A blood-thinning drug given as a potential life-saver to many patients recovering from severe Covid does not work and can cause major bleeding, research shows.
The findings have led to calls for doctors to stop advising people to take Apixaban, because it does not stop them from dying or ending up back in hospital and also can have serious side-effects.
Continue reading...Fresh evidence of owners’ lavish lifestyle discovered at same site as rare Iliad mosaic
If you thought barn conversions were a relatively recent development for the property-owning classes, you’d be wrong – probably by 16 or 17 centuries.
Archaeologists at the site of a Roman villa complex in the east Midlands have discovered that its wealthy owners converted an agricultural timber barn into a dwelling featuring a bathing suite with a hot steam room, a warm room and a cold plunge pool.
Continue reading...Scientists trying to replicate 1964 study say results reveal alarming deterioration in river’s ecosystem
A survey of mussels has revealed an alarming deterioration in the River Thames ecosystem since the 1960s, according to a study.
Scientists attempting to replicate a 1964 survey of freshwater bivalves in a stretch of the Thames near Reading found striking results, as native mussel populations had crashed by almost 95%. One native species, the depressed river mussel, had vanished completely, and the remaining species were much smaller for their age, reflecting slower growth.
Continue reading...Those from deprived backgrounds are particularly at risk of dying from cancer of the lungs, liver, bladder and oesophagus
Poorer women in Britain have some of the highest death rates from cancer in Europe, an in-depth new World Health Organization study has found.
They are much more likely to die from the disease compared with better-off women in the UK and women in poverty in many other European countries.
Continue reading...Hikes set to hit warehouses and online retailers hardest in 2023 as UK government addresses ‘brick v clicks’ tax gap
Amazon’s UK tax bill jump could jump by £29m next year as a result of changes to business rates that are scheduled to hit warehouses and online retailers the hardest.
The online retailer is likely to be among firms facing big tax rises following the chancellor’s autumn statement, according to analysis from the real estate adviser Altus Group.
Continue reading...Exclusive: More than 4,000 European medics have chosen not to work in NHS since Britain left EU, data reveals
Brexit has worsened the UK’s acute shortage of doctors in key areas of care and led to more than 4,000 European doctors choosing not to work in the NHS, research reveals.
The disclosure comes as growing numbers of medics quit in disillusionment at their relentlessly busy working lives in the increasingly overstretched health service. Official figures show the NHS in England alone has vacancies for 10,582 physicians.
Continue reading...Labour leader says it will be a ‘red line’ if party takes power, despite backing the policy three years ago
Keir Starmer has ruled out bringing back free movement of people between Britain and the EU, saying it would be a “red line” for Labour if it gets into power – despite supporting the policy just three years ago.
The Labour leader said free movement “won’t come back” if he becomes prime minister as Brexit has already happened and “ripping up” the deal would lead to years more wrangling with Brussels.
Continue reading...Critics say telecoms firms such as BT – which made £1.9bn profit last year – can afford to keep customers on benefits connected
BT has warned that the telecoms industry cannot afford an estimated potential loss of up to £2bn annually providing low-cost broadband to millions of the UK’s most financially pressured households, but critics have said they have an obligation to do so.
Marc Allera, the chief executive of BT’s consumer division, which includes the mobile company EE, said the industry needed government support to help cover the ongoing cost of providing cheap tariffs, the same way households have been helped with energy bills.
Continue reading...The ultimatum to English National Opera was attacked as ‘cultural vandalism’, but raised some hopes nearer Manchester
When the Arts Council halved English National Opera’s funding earlier this month and made its new £17m grant contingent on the company leaving London – possibly for Manchester – the diktat was greeted as “madness” by the London Evening Standard, “cultural vandalism” by Melvyn Bragg and an order which would kill off the institution by April by the company’s chair, Harry Brünjes.
The battle over ENO’s future soon became the latest frontline in the culture wars as debate raged over what it meant to “level up” culture.
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