Category Archives: Society

Growing numbers of young Africans want to move abroad, survey suggests

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Covid, climate, stability and violence contributing to young people feeling pessimistic about future, survey of 15 countries suggests

African youth have lost confidence in their own countries and the continent as a whole to meet their aspirations and a rising number are considering moving abroad, according to a survey of young people from 15 countries.

The pandemic, climate crisis, political instability and violence have all contributed to making young people “jittery” about their futures since the Covid pandemic began, according to the African Youth Survey published on Monday.

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Digitisation of food vouchers for UK families left them hungry and desperate

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Analysis: in a botched upgrade the fruit and veg Healthy Start scheme turned away numerous eligible low-income families

As the cost of living crisis blew up in March, and millions faced “starve or freeze” choices, it emerged – with dismal timing – that the rollout of the government’s newly digitised Healthy Start fruit and veg voucher scheme for low-income mothers was in chaos.

About 550,000 mothers who are pregnant or who have children aged three or under are in theory eligible for the scheme, which is worth between £4.25 and £8.50 a week. Designed to ensure their kids get their five-a-day portions, milk or formula, it should have been a timely boost.

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Commons will be a ‘menopause-friendly’ employer, says Speaker

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Sir Lindsay Hoyle unveils plans to ‘break the taboo’, and agrees to sign the Menopause Workplace Pledge

The House of Commons is to become a “menopause-friendly” employer, with Sir Lindsay Hoyle unveiling plans to “break the taboo” and offer practical adjustments for those affected.

The Commons Speaker will sign the Wellbeing of Women charity’s Menopause Workplace Pledge, which will commit the House of Commons Service to supporting employees going through the menopause.

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NHS needs reform rather than more money to deliver, Sajid Javid says

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Health secretary says service has enough resources but admits waiting lists will grow before they shrink

The NHS needs reform rather than more money, the health secretary has said, while admitting that record-high waiting lists will continue to rise before they fall.

Sajid Javid said the health service already had the resources it needed and did not require more to care for patients effectively. “The NHS now has locked in the resources it needs. It doesn’t need any more money. What it needs to deliver for more people is not money. It needs reform,” he said.

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China calls theory that Covid originated in Chinese lab ‘politically motivated lie’

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WHO report has said origins of virus are still unknown and recommended further investigation

China has repeated its assertion the theory that the Covid-19 pandemic began with a leak from a Chinese laboratory is “a politically motivated lie”, after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended continued investigations this week.

“The lab leak theory is totally a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes, which has nothing to do with science,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing on Friday.

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Nearly one in three children in north-east England on free school meals

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Figures shows 10% rise in FSM across England and school leaders say real child poverty level is even higher

Nearly one in three children in the north-east of England are receiving free school meals (FSM), according to figures that reveal a 10% rise across England, as school leaders say the real level of child poverty is even higher.

The figures released in the Department for Education (DfE) annual school census show that 22.5% of state school pupils are on FSM, up from 20.8% last year, reflecting the increasing number of households receiving universal credit and earning less than £7,400 a year after tax.

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Rape used ‘systematically’ during Lebanon’s civil war, report finds

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Levels of torture and sexual violence used by combatants against women and girls during the 15-year conflict shocked investigators

The full scale of the rape, torture and killing of women and girls during Lebanon’s civil war has been revealed after survivors were interviewed about their experiences for the first time in over 30 years.

Testimonies gathered by the human rights organisation Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), documented in a new report, provide evidence of systematic violence against Lebanese and Palestinian women and girls by government forces and militias during the 15-year war, which began in 1975. The conflict saw more than 100,000 people killed and 1 million displaced.

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Report describes ‘fear and intimidation’ at Northumberland county council

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Review found council was ‘paralysed’ due to processing freedom of information requests

Northumberland county council operated in a “climate of fear and intimidation” so extreme that senior officers and councillors were constantly making freedom of information (FoI) requests to dig dirt on each other, a report has found.

An independent governance review into the council found it had become “paralysed” due to the “extraordinary” resources devoted to processing almost 5,000 FoI requests made within three years, many from senior officers and councillors.

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England going smoke-free by 2030 depends on No 10 willpower

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Analysis: The question is not what is in the Khan review but whether its recommendations will be implement

• Plan to raise smoking age to 21 to be unveiled amid cabinet splits

While much has been made recently of the danger posed by soaring obesity levels, tobacco remains the biggest public health threat the world has ever faced.

Despite its risks being known for decades, 1.3 billion people globally still use tobacco products. They kill 8 million people every year, and more than one million of whom die from exposure to second-hand smoke.

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‘Overdiagnosis’: some breast cancer treatments may have been unnecessary, study suggests

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Exclusive: Patients tell of screening and surgery they believe they didn’t need, and the effect this has had on their lives

When Jenny* had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she believed the major surgery to remove her breast, although traumatic, had saved her life.

She described feeling “rage” when at a follow-up appointment three years later, she said to her surgeon, “I would probably be dead by now” if she had not received the surgery, to which he replied: “Probably not.”

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National Disability Insurance Agency boss resigns amid speculation over his future

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Advocates call for NDIA to be led by person with disability after Martin Hoffman steps down as chief executive

The chief executive of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), Martin Hoffman, has resigned ending weeks of speculation about his future.

Hoffman, who took on the role in November 2019, was heavily criticised during the last government’s term by Labor’s then NDIS spokesman, Bill Shorten, who accused the NDIA leadership of losing the trust of the disability community.

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NHS bosses fear DHSC will use bullying report to blame leadership

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Department of Health and Social Care press release cited negative behaviours but not findings of political pressure

Bullying, discrimination and shifting the blame when things go wrong are rife in the NHS, a government-commissioned inquiry into health service leadership has found.

But NHS England bosses are fearful that Sajid Javid will use the report’s findings selectively to paint an unfair picture of the behaviour of senior managers.

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White NHS nurses twice as likely as black and Asian colleagues to be promoted – study

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Research by Royal College of Nursing suggests racism is ‘endemic’ in health and care

White nurses are twice as likely as black and Asian colleagues to be promoted in the NHS, with minority ethnic staff overlooked due to structural racism, according to research.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its study suggests racism is “endemic” in health and care. A survey of almost 10,000 nursing staff found that those who are white or of a mixed ethnic background are more likely than black and Asian colleagues to have received at least one promotion since the start of their career.

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Gel that repairs heart attack damage could improve health of millions

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Injectable, biodegradable technology developed by UK team works as a scaffold to help new tissue grow

British researchers have developed a biodegradable gel to repair damage caused by a heart attack in a breakthrough that could improve the health of millions of survivors worldwide.

There are more than 100,000 hospital admissions every year due to heart attacks in the UK alone – one every five minutes. Medical advances mean more people than ever before survive, with 1.4 million Britons alive today after experiencing a heart attack. But hearts have a very limited ability to regenerate, meaning survivors are left at risk of heart failure and other health problems.

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£98m wasted on failed upgrade of offender tagging system, say auditors

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Report says failings mean ministers still do not know if tagging criminals is helping to cut reoffending

A failed government plan to transform the system for electronically tagging offenders wasted £98m of taxpayers’ money, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said attempts to upgrade HM Prison & Probation Service’s (HMPPS) tagging system were abandoned in March after 11 years and a net spend of £153m.

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Met officers ‘feared Sarah Everard vigil had become anti-police protest’

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Officers claimed they feared being violently attacked, say reports, but campaigners accuse force of ‘trampling all over human rights’

Attenders at Sarah Everard’s vigil were arrested by police officers who feared the event had become an “anti-police protest”, according to reports.

Officers claimed in witness statements first reported by the Evening Standard that they were branded “murderers” by those in attendance.

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Minimum alcohol price ‘causes poorest to cut back on food’ in Scotland

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Some problem drinkers also reducing heating to afford rising alcohol costs, according to Public Health Scotland

Scotland’s minimum alcohol pricing policy has not encouraged problem drinkers to consume less but has prompted some to cut back on food or heating in order to afford rising costs, according to the first evaluation of its impact on those who drink alcohol at harmful levels.

The Scottish National party’s flagship policy, championed by Nicola Sturgeon when she was health minister and introduced after successive court challenges by the Scotch Whisky Association, came into force in May 2018. It introduced a legally enforced minimum price for all alcoholic drinks of 50p a unit and aimed to tackle chronic alcohol abuse by targeting low-cost, high-strength drinks.

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Jamal Edwards died after taking recreational drugs, says his mother

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Loose Women panellist Brenda Edwards says she was in ‘state of shock’ after finding out how son died

The music entrepreneur and YouTube star Jamal Edwards died from arrhythmia as a result of taking recreational drugs, his mother has said.

Edwards, who helped launch the careers of Dave and Ed Sheeran, died in February aged 31. Brenda Edwards, a singer and Loose Women panellist, said in a statement on Tuesday she was in a “state of shock” after finding out how he died.

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Polio outbreak in Pakistan worsens as eighth child reported paralysed

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Investigation launched as first cases in a year blamed on vaccine refusal fuelled by clerics and falsification of records by parents

Pakistan’s polio eradication campaign is in disarray after an alarming jump in cases last week. Eight polio cases have now been reported in children over the past month in North Waziristan district, bordering Afghanistan. They are the first cases in more than a year.

This new outbreak, officials believe, is due to parents falsely marking themselves and their children as vaccinated, and the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak.

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Unscrupulous ivory traders can evade new UK ban, charity says

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Sellers could pass off elephant products as derivatives from unprotected mammals, Born Free Foundation says

Ivory peddlers may continue to sell elephant tusks after a new ban by disguising their products as walrus or narwhal derivatives, campaigners have warned.

From Monday, trade in elephant teeth and tusks is illegal in the UK, punishable by fines of up to £250,000 or up to five years in prison under the Ivory Act. Pre-1975 musical instruments and antique items of “outstanding importance” are exempted from the act, as well as ivory from non-elephant species.

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