Category Archives: Society

England’s poorer pupils face ‘geographic exclusion’ from top state schools – study

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Offering places by proximity results in selection of pupils from more affluent households, say researchers

Disadvantaged children are suffering “geographic exclusion” from England’s best state schools because they cannot afford to live near those with the best exam results, according to new research published by the University of Bristol.

The research found that very few state secondary schools give priority to pupils who qualify for free school meals, despite the government’s admissions rules being redesigned more than eight years ago allowing them to do so.

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Labour says it will urge UK firms to publish menopause action plan

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Menopausal women could be offered paid time off as part of efforts to support wellbeing of women

Menopausal women could be offered paid time off and working environments with temperature-controlled areas under Labour plans to support the wellbeing of women in the workplace.

About one in 10 women aged 45-55 left their jobs last year due to their symptoms and ultimately the lack of workplace support, according to research supported by the Fawcett Society.

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Donor children could contact biological parents before 18 under new proposals

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Existing UK fertility law should be updated to regulate modern treatments, says HFEA

Children born via sperm or egg donation would not need to wait until adulthood to find out more about their biological parents, under proposed changes to the law in the UK.

At present, donor-conceived children cannot obtain information about their biological parents until they are 18. But the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said the law should be updated so this information can be made available after the birth of a child, should the donor choose.

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Ambulance call handlers in England tell of anguish over death risk to patients

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Dispatchers tell investigation it is common to worry: ‘How many people are we going to kill today?’

Ambulance call handlers suffer anxiety about how many people will die before they can get help to them each day, researchers looking into the welfare of NHS staff have found.

Officials from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) in England asked staff working in urgent and emergency care, including in A&E, NHS 111 call handling centres and ambulance services, for their experiences as part of wider research into NHS care.

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England’s new housing supply likely to fall to lowest level in decades, study says

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Home Builders Federation warns planning policy changes will result in government meeting less than half its annual target

Housebuilding in England is due to fall to its lowest level since the second world war, according to an analysis by the Home Builders Federation (HBF), owing to a range of government policies that threaten to dramatically slow development.

The study says the supply of new housing is likely to fall below 120,000 homes annually over the coming years, less than half of the government’s target, as a result of changes to planning policy and what developers say is over-strict enforcement of environmental regulations.

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Trans violent offenders banned from women’s prisons in England and Wales

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New rules also cover transgender women ‘with their male genitalia intact’, says Dominic Raab

Rules barring some transgender women from female prisons in England and Wales are to come into force on Monday, the justice secretary has announced.

Dominic Raab had already announced in October that trans women with male genitalia or who had committed sexual offences would not be allowed in women’s prisons.

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Junior doctors in England to strike for 72 hours in March

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Ten of thousands to take part in industrial action in escalation of row between NHS staff and government

Hundreds of thousands of operations and medical appointments will be cancelled in England next month and progress in tackling the huge care backlog will be derailed as the NHS prepares to face the most widespread industrial action in its history.

Junior doctors are poised to join nurses and ambulance workers in mass continuous walkouts in March after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action.

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Four English councils bring half of legal actions for blue badge misuse

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Two-thirds of local authorities did not prosecute anyone for disabled parking scheme fraud, data reveals

Four councils are responsible for bringing more than half of the prosecutions in England for people abusing the use of disabled parking badges.

Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) show that Lambeth, Birmingham, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Bromley carried out 54% of all legal cases for people misusing the blue badge system, for the year up to the end of March 2021.

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Revealed: NHS England chair fixed meeting for client of bank he advised

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David Prior helped arrange a meeting between NHSX and the private care company Teladoc, said to be keen to expand in the UK

The former Tory minister who chaired NHS England helped arrange a meeting for an American private health firm that paid millions of pounds to the investment bank that employed him.

David Prior emailed Matthew Gould, a senior NHS executive, in February 2021 asking him to “have a conversation” with Jason Gorevic, chief executive of Teladoc, a multibillion-pound virtual medicine firm.

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Revealed: record number of households in UK depending on food banks

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Almost 90% of food banks see increased demand, as organisers fear having to cut support or turn people away

More people are depending on food banks than ever before in Britain, new figures show, as “ever-increasing” numbers of households – including pensioners, NHS staff and teachers – seek help amid the cost of living crisis.

New research by the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan), shared with the Observer, found that almost 90% of food banks surveyed reported increased demand in December 2022 and January 2023 compared with a year earlier. Half of the 85 organisations running 154 food banks that responded said if demand rose further they would either have to cut support or turn people away.

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Florida couple unable to get abortion will see baby die after delivery

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Doctors’ interpretation of state law prevents procedure, family tells Washington Post, despite baby’s fatal illness

In a few weeks, a Florida couple will have to bid farewell to their child shortly after the baby is delivered, a gut-wrenching reality created by the US supreme court’s elimination of nationwide abortion rights last year.

Because of a new Florida law that bans abortion after 15 weeks except under certain circumstances, Deborah Dorbert has become one of many women having difficulty accessing necessary abortion procedures after the supreme court overturned the rights granted by the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision.

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Scottish leadership election leaves gender reform hanging in balance

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SNP politicians fear quarrel weighing on leadership contest, while any compromise could break coalition with Greens

The future of transgender rights in Scotland remains in limbo, as SNP politicians warn that a leadership contest must not become dominated by ongoing rows on gender recognition reform.

Meanwhile, Scottish Greens sources suggest that any rowback on reform could lead to the collapse of the party’s power-sharing agreement with the SNP.

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Girl with deadly inherited condition is cured with gene therapy on NHS

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Teddi Shaw, from Northumberland, first recipient on health service of Libmeldy, world’s most expensive drug

A girl born with a rare and deadly genetic condition is expected to live a long and normal life after becoming the first person to be cured on the NHS with the help of a revolutionary gene therapy.

Teddi Shaw was diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), an inherited condition that causes catastrophic damage to the nervous system and organs. Those affected usually die young.

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Portugal: Catholic clergy abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, inquiry finds

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Independent commission reaches conclusion after hearing evidence from over 500 survivors last year

Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, an independent commission said on Monday after hearing hundreds of survivors’ accounts.

Thousands of reports of paedophilia within the church have surfaced around the world, and Pope Francis is under pressure to tackle the scandal.

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Nurses’ union in UK warns of exodus of young staff

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RCN says nearly 43,000 nurses in UK have quit early in their careers over past five years

The UK’s largest nursing union warned of a workforce “exodus” with tens of thousands of young staff leaving the profession, as NHS bosses backed calls for ministers to meet unions to agree on a pay deal and avoid further strike action.

Nearly 43,000 nurses across the UK in the early stages of their careers have quit over the past five years, figures from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) show – almost equal to the record 47,000 nursing posts now vacant in NHS England.

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Nurses set to withdraw from A&E and intensive care units as strike intensifies

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UK’s biggest nursing union prompts alarm among senior officials by calling on intensive care workers to join walkouts

The UK’s biggest nursing union is preparing an escalation of its pay dispute with the government that will see members working in emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care services being asked to join the next round of strikes.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is also planning to announce the first continuous 48-hour strikes running through two days and two nights, rather than limiting walkouts to the 12 hours from 8am to 8pm, as they have done to date.

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Can you predict which parts of Sydney will be next to gentrify?

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Researchers have developed a model which uses changes in the socioeconomic status of an area to anticipate gentrification

One consequence of rising rent and house prices in Sydney is the further gentrification of inner suburbs, with wealthier people displacing poorer households in certain desirable areas.

These shifts in neighbourhood composition in Australia’s largest city can have negative effects on the people displaced – people losing access to their community networks and familiar surroundings, as well as more practical concerns like access to transport and health infrastructure.

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Children in mental health crisis spent more than 900,000 hours in A&E in England

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Exclusive: Children as young as three in emergency departments for mental health problems, data obtained by Labour reveals

‘We are letting young people down’: the secret psychiatrist on NHS delays

Children suffering mental health crises spent more than 900,000 hours in A&E in England last year seeking urgent and potentially life-saving help, NHS figures reveal.

Experts said the huge amount of time under-18s with mental health issues were spending in A&E was “simply astounding” and showed that NHS services for that vulnerable age group were inadequate.

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Elderly Chinese people protest in Wuhan against medical benefits cuts

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Rally is latest showing of public discontent since demonstrations against Covid curbs

Thousands of older people have staged a rally in the rain in central China to protest against significant cuts to their medical benefits, in the latest outburst of public discontent since nationwide protests against Covid curbs gripped the country late last year.

Video clips on social media show a large crowd of elderly protesters in raincoats and holding umbrellas gathering outside the Wuhan city government by the Yangtze River on Wednesday, while police officers form a line to stop them from approaching the gates. The location of the rally has been verified.

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Act now on energy bills subsidy or see fuel poverty surge, says Martin Lewis

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Jeremy Hunt urged to reconsider raising state-subsidised energy rate from April as market prices make delay affordable

Jeremy Hunt must act now to reverse plans to raise energy bills from April, MoneySavingExpert’s Martin Lewis has warned, saying the change cannot wait until the spring budget next month.

In a letter to the chancellor seen by the Guardian, Lewis warned more than 1.7m more households could be plunged into fuel poverty if he does not urgently commit to freezing energy prices.

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