Category Archives: Society

NHS strikes: Steve Barclay expected to announce formal pay offer

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Offer to unions involved in strikes in England expected to include one-off payment of up to 6% for this year

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, is expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions involved in NHS strikes in England, including a one-off payment of up to 6% for this year, in an effort to end months of industrial action.

Last-minute talks between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the unions were understood to be continuing on Thursday morning, but an offer was expected to be made public later in the day.

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Hunt’s disability plans put 1m at risk of losing £350 a month, IFS says

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Charities and disability campaigners say chancellor’s proposals set out in his budget more ‘stick than carrot’

Up to 1 million people currently claiming incapacity benefits could lose hundreds of pounds a month as a result of plans outlined in the budget to push ahead with the “biggest reforms to the welfare system in a decade,” experts have said.

The warning came as ministers unveiled a range of measures to try to drive more people back into the workplace, including scrapping controversial “fit for work” tests for disabled claimants and stepping up the threat of benefit sanctions against part-time workers.

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Spanish monastery admits girls to choir for first time in 700-year history

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Mixed group to take over duties of Escolania choir at Montserrat monastery one weekend a month

Women and girls are to be admitted to a choir at the Montserrat monastery near Barcelona, home to the famous Escolania all-boys choir, for the first time in its 700-year history.

The new chamber choir, made up of a mix of about 25 boys and women and girls aged 17 to 24, will be separate from the Escolania, which comprises 45 boys aged nine to 14.

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Polish court convicts activist for helping woman get abortion pills

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Justyna Wydrzynska sentenced to community service after telling court she sent pills to victim of domestic violence

A court in Poland has convicted an activist for helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills, sentencing her to eight months of community service in a landmark case over abortion rights in the predominantly Catholic country.

“I do not feel that I am facing the court alone,” said Justyna Wydrzynska at the hearing on Tuesday. “Behind me are my friends and hundreds of women I have not had the luck to meet yet.”

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Prison thrown into chaos by policy change

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Prison specialising in people convicted of violent crimes was changed into a category C training prison in October

A prison which specialised in people convicted of violent crimes has been “thrown into chaos” by a policy change introduced by Dominic Raab’s Ministry of Justice to cope with a national rise in inmate numbers, an official watchdog has found.

HMP Aylesbury was “suddenly and without sufficient consultation, notice or support” changed into a category C training prison in October, the chief inspector of prisons said.

Only four out of every 10 prisoners went into settled accommodation on release from custody.

Just 8% of those available for work went into employment.

Recall rates were high, with 30% on average being returned to custody – four in 10 of these were within 28 days of being released.

There is an 30% shortfall of full-time employed probation officers in post against the required staffing level of 6,160.

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Vermont school that boycotted game with trans player banned from tournaments

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  • Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited game on 21 February
  • Many conservatives have opposed trans athletes

A Vermont school that refused to play against an opposing basketball team with a trans player won’t be able to participate in future tournaments, the Vermont Principals’ Association announced on Monday.

Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited a game on 21 February in an out-of-state tournament against Long Trail school.

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Children face acute risk amid Malawi’s deadliest cholera outbreak

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The disease, which has killed 1,500 people since last March, has been aggravated by heavy rains and an overburdened health system

Malawi’s cholera outbreak is the country’s deadliest on record, claiming more than 1,500 lives, according to the UN.

More than 50,000 cases have been detected in the landlocked country in south-east Africa since an outbreak was declared in March last year, triggered by two devastating tropical storms that hit the region. Almost 200 children have died.

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Killer exposed himself to Libby Squire weeks before murder, mother believes

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Mother of murdered Hull student says incidents should be treated as red flags for more serious sex offences

Just weeks before Libby Squire was raped, murdered and dumped in a river, a stranger exposed himself to her on her way home.

Her mother, Lisa Squire, said the assault left the 21-year-old University of Hull student feeling “absolutely furious”. “But I never thought to say to her, you need to report that, you need to ring the police, and she didn’t report it either,” said Squire. “We’re almost conditioned to ignore indecent exposure. I didn’t know better then, but I know better now.”

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Parents in England spending up to 80% of pay on childcare

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Two other studies also show there are insufficient places in half of the country’s councils

The scale of the childcare crisis in England has been exposed by new data showing some parents face spending as much as 80% of their take-home pay on childcare while others struggle to find a provider because of supply gaps in large parts of the country.

A study by the thinktank Nesta, seen by the Guardian, shows how hard it is for families in different parts of England to afford to pay for someone to look after their children while they work. Meanwhile, two other studies – one by the children’s charity Coram and one by the Labour party – show there are insufficient places in half of the country’s local authorities, with demand now more than double the country’s supply.

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Campaign calls for gender apartheid to be crime under international law

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Prominent Afghans and Iranians say current laws do not capture the systematic suppression of women

A prominent group of Afghan and Iranian women are backing a campaign calling for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime under international law.

The campaign, launched on International Women’s Day, reflects a belief that the current laws covering discrimination against women do not capture the systematic nature of the policies imposed in Afghanistan and Iran to downgrade the status of women in society.

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A year on, many US parents are still reeling from baby formula shortage

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Families in rural towns still faced with empty shelves, purchase limitations and fewer options of infant formula

Marie Abate’s son turned six months old last Wednesday, but the joyous milestone also marked a more anxious one: half a year of worrying about how to feed him.

Abate wasn’t just concerned about trying to establish breastfeeding or setting a feeding schedule. She has a more fundamental concern: will she be able to find enough formula to make sure he doesn’t go hungry?

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Spain approves draft law for gender quotas in business and politics

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Legislation aims to increase number of women in decision-making roles such as in company boardrooms

Spain’s government has approved a draft law that aims to bolster the presence of women in decision-making spheres by setting out quotas for women in politics, business and professional associations.

“This is useful policy that changes people’s lives,” the country’s finance minister, Nadia Calviño, said on Tuesday. “It’s clear that we’ve come a long way … but there is still a lot to do.”

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UK among most liberal countries on divorce and abortion, survey reveals

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Global study shows significant shift in UK attitudes on matters such as casual sex and assisted dying

The UK has overtaken Canada, Germany and Australia to become one of the world’s most socially liberal nations towards divorce and abortion, the latest wave of a global study has revealed.

Significant increases in the last five years in people saying the practices are justifiable is mirrored by sharply increasing acceptance of homosexuality, casual sex and prostitution over the same period, the World Values Survey found.

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More than half of ambulance workers have seen patient die because of delay

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GMB union calls findings based on views of more than 1,200 NHS ambulance workers in England and Wales ‘utterly terrifying’

More than half of ambulance workers have seen a patient die because of a delay in reaching them after a 999 call or overcrowding in A&E, a new survey has found.

The findings, from a survey of frontline paramedics and other ambulance staff, are another stark illustration of the patient safety risks created by the crisis in NHS urgent and emergency care.

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Heads warn UK parents not to back pupil protests spreading via TikTok

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Teachers condemn family support for trend escalating on social media that leads to school ‘stampedes’

The TikTok videos show pupils throwing bins, tables and even urine. Across England and Wales, a handful of schools have been hit by protests against rules such as banning trips to the toilet during lessons or regulations against rolled up skirts.

Schools admit they are extremely worried about the copycat protests that have erupted in the last two weeks, typically sparked by videos shared on TikTok with many thousands of views. But what has shocked many leaders most is the number of parents on social media applauding pupils taking part.

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Less than 3% of NHS England trusts hit key cancer waiting-time target

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‘Shocking’ analysis reveals only three trusts managed to treat 85% of patients within two months of urgent referral

Patients are being warned of a “shocking gap in cancer care” as new figures reveal that fewer than 3% of England’s NHS trusts met a key waiting-times target last year for cancer patients to be treated within two months of an urgent GP referral.

Of 125 hospital trusts in England analysed, only three (2.4%) hit the standard of treating 85% of patients within 62 days after an urgent referral in 2022. Some trusts have not hit the standard for at least eight years.

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Norovirus cases in over-65s in England at highest in a decade

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Care homes hard hit while overall cases up 24% on pre-Covid five-season average

Cases of norovirus among people over 65 in England have reached their highest level in a decade, with care homes hard hit by the winter vomiting bug.

According to data released by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), there have been 4,551 positive norovirus laboratory reports this season up to the week beginning 13 February, which is 24% higher than the five-season average for the same period before the Covid pandemic struck.

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Medical students urged to fill gaps when junior doctors strike in England

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Exclusive: Several NHS organisations have asked unqualified medics to provide support during strikes later this month

Unqualified medical students are being urged to provide clinical support in English hospitals when tens of thousands of junior doctors go on strike this month, the Guardian can reveal.

The NHS faces the prospect of unprecedented disruption to services from 13 March when junior doctors strike for 72 hours in an increasingly bitter row over pay, morale and safe staffing levels.

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Number of UK children in food poverty nearly doubles in a year to 4m

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Support grows for expansion of free school meals to struggling families in face of rising hunger

The number of UK children in food poverty has nearly doubled in the last year to almost 4 million, new data shows, ramping up pressure on ministers to expand the provision of free school meals to struggling families.

According to the Food Foundation thinktank, one in five (22%) of households reported skipping meals, going hungry or not eating for a whole day in January, up from 12% at the equivalent point in 2022.

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Canadian government urged to test sick patients for herbicide

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Patients in New Brunswick with array of symptoms ‘show signs of exposure to glyphosate’, says neurologist

A neurologist who believes his patients are suffering from a suspicious illness has pleaded with the Canadian government to carry out environmental testing he thinks will show the involvement of the herbicide glyphosate.

For more than two years, dozens of people in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have experienced a distressing array of neurological symptoms, initially prompting speculation that they had developed an unknown degenerative illness – and that figure is believed to be far higher than official reports.

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