Category Archives: Society

‘Climate smart’ policies could increase southern Africa’s crops by up to 500%

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Researchers outline urgent steps to improve food security in the face of increasing natural disasters caused by the climate crisis

The climate crisis is threatening food stocks in sub-Saharan Africa, but a comprehensive approach to food, farming and resources could increase crop production by more than 500% in some countries in the region, according to new research by more than 200 experts.

There is no single technological fix to the threat posed by the barrage of natural disasters striking the region, they said, but significant improvements could be achieved with new approaches, based on modelling done by the network of researchers in Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia.

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Music improves wellbeing and quality of life, research suggests

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A review of 26 studies finds benefits of music on mental health are similar to those of exercise and weight loss

“Music,” wrote the late neurologist Oliver Sacks, “has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. Music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.”

A new analysis has empirically confirmed something that rings true for many music lovers – that singing, playing or listening to music can improve wellbeing and quality of life.

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Aged care workers struggle to cover basics as low wages and rising living costs take toll

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Full-time income of a single parent worker not enough for essential expenses, Australian Aged Care Collaboration report reveals

Aged care workers are being priced out of their communities, with low wages and rising living costs leaving a worker in a typical two-parent household with $34 of disposable income each week, and a single parent full-time worker unable to cover basic expenses.

The findings come from a report published on Wednesday by the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), a group of six aged care peak bodies. The report compared average wages for workers in the residential and home care sectors against key cost of living indicators including average rents, childcare expenses, grocery costs, and petrol.

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Rapist jailed for 17 years after attacking again while on bail

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Charles Goodwin, 21, was under investigation when he raped and assaulted two women

A “cold, unempathetic, manipulative” student who raped and sexually attacked two women while he was on bail and being investigated for an earlier violent rape has been jailed for 17 years.

Charles Goodwin, 21, attacked his victims after getting them drunk, Liverpool crown court heard.

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Boris Johnson did prioritise animal charity for Afghan evacuation, MPs told

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Second whistleblower suggests to committee that top civil servants lied to cover up episode

A second whistleblower has gone public to say it was “widespread knowledge” in government that Boris Johnson ordered the prioritisation of an animal charity based in Afghanistan for evacuation during the Taliban takeover last summer.

Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, including a stint in the Kabul embassy, suggested senior civil servants in the department had lied to cover up the embarrassing episode.

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Millions of children to be vaccinated for polio in Africa after Malawi detects case

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First case of wild polio detected in Malawi for 30 years prompts emergency rollout of vaccinations in five African countries

More than 23 million young children across southern Africa will be offered vaccinations against wild polio after an outbreak of the virus was detected in Malawi for the first time since 1992.

Children under five in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, began to be immunised on Sunday as part of a mass drive against the disease.

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Raise benefits and pensions to help lower earners, thinktank tells Rishi Sunak

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Resolution Foundation says pegging benefits to inflation will target help to needy better than scrapping NI rise

Rishi Sunak should consider raising benefits and pensions to keep pace with inflation, research has suggested, as the chancellor faced increasing pressure to tackle the cost-of-living squeeze in this week’s spring budgetary statement.

Increasing benefits by an extra five percentage points, by 8.1% rather than the 3.1% currently planned, would give four times as much help for low-to-middle income households for every pound spent as scrapping the planned national insurance rise, the Resolution Foundation said.

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Wales introduces ban on smacking and slapping children

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Welsh government hails ‘historic moment’ for children’s rights amid calls for England to follow suit

Smacking and slapping children has been outlawed in Wales, with people told to contact social services or police if they see a parent or carer meting out physical punishment.

The law change, which came into force first thing on Monday, was hailed as “historic” by the Labour-led Welsh government and a number of child protection champions, who called for England to follow suit.

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UK asbestos maker withheld information on material’s risks, court papers show

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According to documents, Cape played down dangers and lobbied for warning labels to be tempered

One of the UK’s biggest manufacturers of asbestos and the industry bodies that it co-founded historically withheld information on risks posed by the carcinogenic material, playing down the dangers while lobbying the government for product warnings to be tempered, according to documents released after a lengthy court battle.

A lawyer who acted for the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK in its fight to obtain the documents about Cape compared its behaviour to the tobacco industry’s former refusal to admit evidence of harms from smoking while its own research showed the opposite.

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5m people in England to be offered Covid booster jabs

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Vaccine available to care home residents, people aged 75 and over, and immunosuppressed aged 12 and over

Coronavirus booster vaccine jabs for millions of people in England will begin to be offered this week, the NHS announced.

The vaccine will be available to care home residents, people who are 75 and over, and the immunosuppressed aged 12 and over.

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Death of sexual assault survivor in therapy preventable, inquest finds

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Emma Pring, 29, who had PTSD and depression, killed herself after insufficient observation in Maidstone hospital, jury concludes

The death of a young woman at a privately run hospital could have been prevented, an inquest has concluded.

Emma Pring, 29, killed herself while an inpatient at Cygnet hospital in Maidstone in April 2021.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

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Gordon Brown urges Sunak to address cost of living crisis in spring statement

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Ex-PM warns millions of people will fall into fuel poverty as bills price cap is lifted in April

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that millions more people will be plunged into fuel poverty unless the government uses next week’s spring statement to ease the UK’s cost of living crisis.

A letter to the chancellor, organised by Brown and signed by more than 70 Labour local government leaders, urged the chancellor to adopt a five-pronged approach to help those struggling to make ends meet.

Halt the 1.25 percentage-point increase in employee national insurance contributions.

Restore the £20 a week taken away from 6m households last October.

Provide significantly greater help for energy costs, targeted at the poorest households.

Put in place support for insulation costs for the poorest households as part of a programme for housing retrofits.

Update benefits this year in line with inflation rates.

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Tech bosses face jail if they hamper Ofcom investigations from next year

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Overhaul of online safety bill reduces grace period for criminal prosecution of senior managers from two years to two months

Tech bosses face the threat of prosecution and up to two years in jail if they hamper investigations by the communications watchdog from next year, under a wide-ranging overhaul of a landmark online safety bill.

The government has reduced a grace period for criminal prosecution of senior managers by 22 months from two years to just two months, meaning tech bosses could be charged with offences from early next year.

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UK refugee scheme could lead to exploitation of Ukrainians, say experts

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Promise of ‘light touch’ checks prompts fears traffickers could see arrival of mostly women and children as opportunity

More than 120,000 Britons have expressed interest in hosting Ukrainian refugees, amid concerns that the new government scheme could lead to exploitation of vulnerable women and children.

The figure was released by the government on Tuesday evening, little more than 24 hours after Homes for Ukraine programme was launched to take in those fleeing Russia’s invasion, most of whom are women and children.

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Camelot to lose licence to run UK national lottery after 28 years

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Gambling Commission names rival Allwyn as its preferred applicant to take over licence

Camelot is to lose its licence to run the UK national lottery after 28 years as the Gambling Commission named rival Allwyn as its preferred applicant to take over.

Allwyn, which is owned by the Czech group Sazka, Europe’s largest lottery operator, is expected to take over from Camelot in 2024.

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Sleeping with light on linked to higher risk of heart disease and diabetes

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Exposure to artificial light at night worsens glucose and cardiovascular regulation, research suggests

Sleeping with the light on might scare away monsters under the bed, but it could be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, research suggests.

Light is an important signal by which the body’s internal clock, which governs a host of biological processes from temperature to hormone release, is synchronised to the external cycle of day and night.

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Bermuda’s ban on same-sex marriage is allowed, UK judges rule

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JCPC overturns decision by lower court that ban was unconstitutional, in setback for LGBTQ rights

British judges have ruled that Bermuda’s ban on same-sex marriage is permitted under its constitution, in a setback for gay rights in the British overseas territory.

The UK’s judicial committee of the privy council (JCPC) – the ultimate court of appeal for Bermuda and dozens of other British overseas territories, dependencies and Commonwealth states – on Monday overturned a decision by Bermuda’s highest court, which ruled the ban to be unconstitutional.

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Restrict phones to improve child social mobility in UK, says commission chair

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Katharine Birbalsingh tells school leaders’ conference ‘all the problems start on smartphones’

Schools and parents can improve the social mobility of disadvantaged children by restricting access to smartphones, the chair of the government’s social mobility commission has said.

Katharine Birbalsingh told the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference: “If we genuinely want things to be fairer, and we want our disadvantaged children to be socially mobile, the best thing I can do for them is getting them not to have a smartphone.”

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Victims of ‘vile’ abuse of children in care in Northern Ireland reject apology

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Religious orders called on to pay compensation for physical, sexual and psychological abuse carried out for more than 70 years

Victims of sexual, psychological and physical abuse of children in care in Northern Ireland have rejected a formal apology by religious orders and called on them to pay compensation.

Ministers and representatives of six institutions at the centre of the scandal on Friday issued a long-awaited statement saying sorry for what was described as “vile” and “unimaginable” abuse carried out for more than 70 years.

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Global Covid-19 death toll ‘may be three times higher than official figures’

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Researchers studying ‘excess deaths’ estimate that more than 18 million people died of disease by end of 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic may have claimed 18.2 million lives around the world, more than three times the official death toll, a new study suggests.

The higher figure is a better estimate of the true global casualty figure to the end of 2021, according to an analysis by a consortium of health researchers published in the Lancet.

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