Category Archives: Society

Badenoch and Farage to vie for attention of Trump allies at London summit

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Event co-founded by Jordan Peterson will bring together global rightwing figures including senior US Republicans

Influential rightwingers from around the world are to gather in London from Monday at a major conference to network and build connections with senior US Republicans linked to the Trump administration.

The UK opposition leader, the Conservatives’ Kemi Badenoch, and Nigel Farage of the Reform UK party, her hard-right anti-immigration rival, will compete to present themselves as the torchbearer of British conservatism.

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Poorest UK households pay rising share of income on council tax, study finds

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Resolution Foundation report says failure to reform has ‘slowly recreated the issues that undid the poll tax’

Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.

The poorest fifth of households paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financial year, up from 2.9% in 2002-3, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.

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NHS England launches first advertising drive to boost breast cancer screenings

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TV, radio and online adverts aimed at increasing uptake of routine mammograms for women aged 50 to 71

Women in England will be encouraged to attend potentially life-saving screenings for breast cancer in TV, radio and online adverts as part of the first NHS awareness campaign for the disease.

Women in the UK are invited for their first routine mammogram between the ages of 50 and 53, with further invitations arriving every three years until they reach 71, after which they can request screening.

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Parents working from home is affecting school attendance, says Ofsted chief

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Martyn Oliver says less office-going since pandemic has led to a shift in attitudes among pupils in England

School attendance rates are being affected by parents working from home after the pandemic, the head of Ofsted has said.

The chief inspector of the schools watchdog in England, Martyn Oliver, told the Sunday Times that the widespread change in working habits after the pandemic had led to a shift in attitudes among pupils.

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Republican senator who voted for RFK Jr balks at Louisiana anti-vaccine move

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Republican Bill Cassidy calls state surgeon general’s halt to promotion of mass vaccination a disservice to parents

Bill Cassidy, the Republican US senator, has said his home state of Louisiana’s recent decision to cancel the promotion of mass vaccination against preventable diseases is a disservice to parents who want to keep their children healthy.

Nonetheless, before those remarks, the medical doctor-turned-politician who has clashed with Donald Trump joined 51 of his fellow Republicans in voting to confirm anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of the US’s health and human services department. Cassidy had also previously voted to advance Trump’s nomination of Kennedy as national health secretary from the committee level to the full Senate.

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Muhsin Hendricks, world’s ‘first openly gay imam’, shot dead in South Africa

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Police say motive for killing of Hendricks, who ran a mosque for LGBTQ+ Muslims near Cape Town, is unknown

Muhsin Hendricks, considered the world’s “first openly gay imam”, has been shot dead near the southern city of Gqeberha, South African police have said.

The imam, who ran a mosque intended as a safe haven for gay and other marginalised Muslims, was in a car with another person on Saturday when a vehicle stopped in front of them and blocked their exit, police said.

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JD Vance decried as extremist over attack on UK abortion clinic safe zones

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US vice-president’s comments, part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe, called inaccurate and misogynistic

JD Vance has been labelled an “extremist” after he launched a broadside against the UK’s efforts to protect women seeking an abortion.

The US vice-president’s criticisms of UK and Scottish policies on safe access zones around abortion clinics – part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe on Friday – were derided as inaccurate and misogynistic by a number of groups, politicians and governments.

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WHO calls for cigarette-style cancer warnings on alcohol packaging

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Cancer charities back call for prominent warning labels while industry body says move ‘not proportionate’

Cans and bottles of alcohol should carry cigarette-style labels warning that drinking increases the risk of cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

It has said governments should insist that “prominent” warning labels become standard in order to alert consumers to the link between alcohol and cancer and tackle the harm caused by heavy drinking.

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Doctor tells London inquest of ‘feelings of betrayal’ after son’s sepsis death

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Deborah Burns says she witnessed a series of medical blunders by colleagues at William Hewes’s bedside

A consultant paediatrician has been unable to work at the hospital that failed to save her son from a sepsis infection, after “feelings of betrayal” towards her medical colleagues who ignored her warnings about errors in his treatment.

William Hewes, 22, a history and politics student, died on 21 January 2023 of meningococcal septicaemia at Homerton hospital in east London, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, had worked for more than 20 years.

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Student died from sepsis after antibiotics error in London hospital, inquest hears

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Potentially life-saving drug was prescribed for William Hewes but not given quickly enough due to communication mix-up

A consultant paediatrician warned medical colleagues treating her son that they had failed to give him life-saving antibiotics hours before he died from sepsis, an inquest has heard.

William Hewes, 22, a history and politics student, died on 21 January 2023 of meningococcal septicaemia at east London’s Homerton hospital, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, worked.

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Solar panels could cut fuel-poor UK families’ energy bills by 24%, says study

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Call for means-tested grants or loans to cover upfront costs that prevent poorer households from benefiting

Poorer households could cut their energy bills by a quarter if solar panels were installed on their rooftops, a report has found.

However, the upfront costs mean that those who stand to benefit most from decreased energy bills are prevented from getting panels installed, according to the Resolution Foundation thinktank.

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Weight-loss jabs may help reduce alcohol intake, study finds

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Semaglutide, active ingredient of Wegovy and Ozempic, found to reduce cravings and cut drinking by 40%

Weight-loss drugs could be used to help people reduce their intake of alcohol, researchers have said, after a study found they can cut cravings and curb heavy drinking.

The medicines, originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, have revolutionised the treatment of obesity, and evidence suggests they could have benefits in other areas of health, such as reducing risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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Rogue landlords in England to face curbs on housing benefit income, says Labour

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Deputy PM Angela Rayner announces plans as she presents £350m funding increase for affordable housing

Rogue landlords in England will face curbs on how much housing benefit they can receive if their properties are substandard, Angela Rayner has said as she announced an extra £350m for affordable housing.

The deputy prime minister presented the funding increase, adding to £500m already announced at the budget, as part of the government’s drive to build 1.5m homes.

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Life satisfaction among over-50s in England higher than before pandemic, study finds

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Research shows happiness levels have bounced back post-Covid, although depression also remains more common

People 50 and over in England have greater life satisfaction and sense life is more worthwhile than before the Covid pandemic, although depression is more common, researchers have found.

Prof Paola Zaninotto, first author of the research from University College London, said the study showed wellbeing and mental health worsened between the early stages of the pandemic and later in 2020, contrary to some reports. However, this situation subsequently improved.

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UK health insurer Vitality to offer members discounted anti-obesity drugs

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Third-largest healthcare insurer will be first to give 20% off treatments such as Wegovy and Mounjaro through health cover

Vitality has become the first health insurer in the UK to offer customers discounted weight loss treatments for up to a year through its health cover.

The UK’s third-largest health insurer behind Bupa and Axa, with 1.9 million members, said it would offer discounts of up to 20% for medications such as Wegovy and Mounjaro – which are popular but pricey – to members, based on their body mass index (BMI) and weight-related health conditions.

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Assisted dying bill has lost Commons majority now high court signoff abandoned, says MP – UK politics live

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Danny Kruger says those who backed the bill did so under false premise after change to safeguards announced

There will be two urgent questions after 12.30pm: on the Clonoe inquest, which found that the SAS acted unlawfully when they killed four IRA terrorists in an ambush in 1992; and then another on the US steel tariffs.

A Northern Ireland Office minister will respond to the first, and a business minister will respond to the second.

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Labour shelves plans to make it easier for people to legally change gender

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Ministers mothball promised reforms to simplify the process amid fears over rise of Reform UK

Labour has quietly shelved plans to make it easier for people to legally change their gender amid concerns about the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Ministers have mothballed their promised reforms to simplify the process whereby anyone seeking to change gender in the UK must get approval from a panel of doctors and lawyers.

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Keir Starmer takes public HIV test in push to destigmatise testing for virus

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Prime minister takes home test at No 10 with soul singer Beverley Knight to promote HIV Testing Week

Keir Starmer has taken a public HIV test in an effort to destigmatise testing for the virus and to highlight HIV Testing Week.

The prime minister took a home test at 10 Downing Street alongside the soul singer Beverley Knight. “It’s really important to do it and I’m really pleased to be able to do it. It’s very easy, very quick,” he said.

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Campaign launched to make public toilets a legal requirement in Britain

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Legalise Loos initiative intended to halt slump in number of conveniences in town centres, parks and other locations

It will involve spending more than a penny, but it’s a call that is likely to be viewed sympathetically by anyone who has ever been caught short while out and about.

A campaign has been launched to make the provision of public toilets a legal requirement for central government and local authorities after a slump in the number of loos in town centres, parks and other locations.

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NHS staff barred from workplace for considering Palestine demonstration

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An investigation found the pair had no case to answer and that the trust had breached its own disciplinary policy

Two NHS professionals were investigated and barred from their workplace for expressing interest in organising a peaceful protest in support of Palestine during their lunch break.

The therapist and nurse were accused of posing a threat to the “personal safety” of the staff at Kensington and Chelsea child and adolescent mental health service, and of “bringing the trust into disrepute” for considering the demonstration.

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