Category Archives: Society

Boris Johnson to stress work as the fix for cost of living crisis

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Ministers remain unable to decide on ways to help as energy firm boss warns soon 40% could be in fuel poverty

Boris Johnson hopes to blunt calls for urgent action on the cost of living crisis by stressing that work is the best route out of poverty, as an energy firm boss warned that 40% of households could soon be in fuel poverty.

No 10 sources confirmed on Sunday that the prime minister will continue to throw the spotlight on the healthy state of the job market, in the face of the rising clamour to help families struggling with their bills.

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More monkeypox cases detected in UK ‘on daily basis’, says scientist

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Twenty cases confirmed in UK amid reports of child being admitted to intensive care in London hospital

More monkeypox cases are being detected in Britain “on a daily basis”, a senior doctor has warned, amid reports that a child has been admitted to intensive care with the disease.

Dr Susan Hopkins, a chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said an update on confirmed cases would be released on Monday as efforts continue to contain the outbreak using contact tracing, testing and vaccination.

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‘A huge achievement’: first woman wins UK’s Fisherman of the Year

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Ashley Mullenger talks about the difficulties of finding the right boots and lifejackets, and getting more women into the industry

Being a woman in the male-dominated fishing industry has presented some challenges for Ashley Mullenger, who has become the first woman to win a Fisherman of the Year award.

“It’s little things like the ankle cut on the boots we wear – for men it’s wider and you need to have good ankle support on a boat when you’re working on a moving deck. It took me a while to find boots suitable for commercial fishing and for women,” she says.

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Britain slashes humanitarian aid by 51% despite global food crisis

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Campaigners say ministers must change course as millions face famine in Africa and the Ukraine war threatens to disrupt global food supplies

Ministers have been accused of choosing the “worst moment in history” to slash the foreign aid budget, as provisional figures showed that UK overseas humanitarian funding was cut by more than half last year.

MPs and charity campaigners say the aid budget urgently needs to be increased to cope with the Ukraine conflict and the risk of famine in Africa. Up to 23 million people face acute hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia due to drought.

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Revealed: one in five patients leave some A&E departments in England without treatment

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Long waiting times and difficulty in accessing other NHS facilities drive a trebling in those leaving without completing care

More than one in five patients at some hospitals are leaving accident and emergency departments before completing treatment, and in some cases before being seen for assessment at all, with the rate across England trebling since before the pandemic.

Experts told the Observer that the increase was probably driven by a combination of long A&E waiting times and by difficulties accessing NHS facilities such as GPs, community health services and NHS 111.

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Monkeypox outbreak: WHO working on sexual contact theory, top adviser says

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David Heymann says experts developing guidance for countries, as New York City resident tests positive for Orthopoxvirus

A senior adviser for the World Health Organization has said the monkeypox outbreak seems to be spreading through sexual contact, and warned that case numbers could spike over the summer months as people attend major summer gatherings and festivals.

David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, led a meeting of the group on Friday “because of the urgency of the situation”.

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Iain Duncan Smith calls for benefits to rise in line with inflation

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Tory MP says immediate increase in universal credit would provide ‘shield’ against cost of living crisis

The former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called for benefits to be immediately brought in line with inflation to provide a “shield” against the sting of mounting living costs.

He said rebates and discretionary funds represented “a step in the wrong direction for tackling poverty”, arguing it would be better to uplift universal credit (UC) as it “links benefits to work”.

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Statue of fossil-hunting pioneer Mary Anning to be unveiled in Dorset

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A nine-year-old pointed out what was missing in Lyme Regis. Her long campaign has now borne fruit

It all began with a curious nine-year-old and a question that she asked her mother. Where in their hometown of Lyme Regis was the statue of Mary Anning, the pioneering Victorian fossil hunter who, she had recently discovered, had lived and worked there?

There wasn’t one, Anya Pearson was forced to tell her indignant daughter. Anning’s lifetime of discoveries – including finding the first ichthyosaur skeleton at the age of just 12 – may have profoundly shaped the emerging science of palaeontology, but in her own Dorset town and farther afield, she had been largely forgotten.

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Bristol University found guilty of failings over death of student

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Parents of Natasha Abrahart argued Bristol failed to make allowances for their daughter’s severe anxiety

A leading university has been ordered to pay £50,000 in damages to the parents of a vulnerable student who took her own life, after a senior judge ruled it had discriminated against her.

In a landmark case that has deep implications for other higher education institutions, the parents of Natasha Abrahart successfully sued the University of Bristol under the Equality Act.

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org

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The nurses getting huge bills for quitting the NHS – podcast

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International nurses working for NHS trusts are being trapped in their jobs by clauses in their contracts that require them to pay thousands of pounds if they try to leave. Shanti Das reports

Nurses are the backbone of the NHS. For the past two years as Covid-19 gripped the country, people lauded NHS staff as heroes. Many nurses join the NHS from abroad, attracted by the stability of the work, the ethos and a chance for a new life in the UK. But joining the NHS from abroad comes with strings attached.

The Observer’s Shanti Das tells Nosheen Iqbal that some nurses working for NHS trusts and private care homes are being trapped in their jobs by clauses in their contracts that require them to pay thousands of pounds if they try to leave. In extreme cases, nurses are tied to their roles for up to five years and face fees as steep as £14,000 if they want to change jobs or need to return home early.

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Respiratory syncytial virus kills 100,000 under-fives every year

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The acute lower respiratory infection has surged after Covid restrictions eased, experts say

Respiratory syncytial virus is killing 100,000 children under the age of five every year worldwide, new figures reveal as experts say the global easing of coronavirus restrictions is causing a surge in cases.

RSV is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. It spreads easily via coughing and sneezing. There is no vaccine or specific treatment.

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Taliban orders female Afghan TV presenters to cover faces on air

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Female anchors post pictures of themselves being ‘erased’ on orders of virtue and vice ministry

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air, the country’s biggest media outlet has said.

The order came in a statement from the Taliban’s virtue and vice ministry, tasked with enforcing the group’s rulings, as well as from the information and culture ministry, the Tolo news channel tweeted on Thursday. The statement called the order “final and non-negotiable”, the channel said.

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US reports rare case of monkeypox amid small outbreaks in Europe

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Man who recently traveled to Canada has first case in US this year, but officials are preparing for more

Massachusetts officials on Wednesday reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada, and health officials are looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe.

Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the US and elsewhere are usually linked to travel there. A small number of confirmed or suspected cases have been reported this month in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.

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Officers should use discretion over stealing to eat, says police watchdog

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New chief inspector of constabulary says crimes of poverty should be ‘dealt with in the best way possible’

The cost of living crisis will trigger an increase in crime and officers should use their “discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute people who steal in order to eat, the new chief inspector of constabulary has said.

“The impact of poverty, and the impact of lack of opportunity for people, does lead to an increase in crime. There’s no two ways about that,” Andy Cooke said as inflation hit a 40-year high of 9%.

Every burglary victim should get a visit from the police.

Forces may be marked down by the inspectorate if they fail to do so.

The charging rate should more than treble, from the current 6% to at least 20%.

The criminal justice system is failing victims of rape.

Policing is still recovering from cuts inflicted by Conservative-led governments from 2010.

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US supreme court abortion reversal would be global ‘catastrophe’ for women

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If Roe v Wade is overturned, it will encourage anti-choice groups – particularly in the developing world, activists warn

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise renewed pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.

The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many in America.

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Numbers of nurses and midwives leaving NHS highest for four years

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More nurses leave NHS than at any time since Covid struck, many reporting stress as their main reason

More than 27,000 nurses and midwives quit the NHS last year, with many blaming job pressures, the Covid pandemic and poor patient care for their decision.

The rise in staff leaving their posts across the UK – the first in four years – has prompted concern that frontline workers are under too much strain, especially with the NHS-wide shortage of nurses.

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Homes for Ukraine: refugees being left homeless, UK community groups warn

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Fears system could crash entirely amid growing reports of people being made to leave by sponsors

Growing numbers of refugees are being made homeless, and in many cases destitute, after relationship breakdowns with their Homes for Ukraine hosts in the UK, community organisations have said.

Some predict the system could crash entirely after reports of Ukrainian refugees being asked to leave the homes of their sponsors with only one day’s notice, leaving them with no option but to be referred to local authorities as homeless or, if they can afford to, attempt to seek last-minute rented accommodation.

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E-cigarettes ‘as safe as nicotine patches’ for pregnant smokers trying to quit

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Pregnant smokers were more likely to quit when using e-cigarettes than patches after four weeks, study shows

E-cigarettes are as safe to use as nicotine patches for pregnant smokers trying to quit, and may be a more effective tool, researchers have revealed.

Smoking in pregnancy can increase the risk of outcomes including premature birth, miscarriage and the baby having a low birth weight. But stubbing out the habit can be a struggle.

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Children’s activity levels have not recovered after end of Covid restrictions – study

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Only about a third of children and young people are meeting recommended activity levels, Bristol study finds

Children have become more sedentary and their physical activity levels have deteriorated in the wake of the pandemic even after the lifting of restrictions, a study suggests.

Researchers said child physical activity levels fell below national guidelines during the Covid-19 crisis and did not recover when lockdowns ended.

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Watchdog urged to step in as UK’s poorest turn off energy supply

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Spate of self-disconnections reflects rising costs, punitive debt collection and disproportionately high charges, says charity

A food bank charity has called for the energy watchdog to intervene after a spate of reports of penniless families self-disconnecting from their gas and electricity, leaving them unable to wash clothes, use cookers or even switch on lights.

Feeding Britain said people on low incomes who used prepayment energy meters were increasingly being pushed into destitution by rising costs, punitive debt collection rules and disproportionately high standing charges.

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