Category Archives: Society

Australian-style social media ban for under-16s ‘a retrograde step’, say UK charities

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Child safety experts say similar move in Britain would penalise young people for the failings of tech companies

Child safety experts have warned the UK government against enacting an Australian-style social media ban for children under 16, which they called a “retrograde step” that would “do more harm than good”.

On Thursday, Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from using social media platforms. The move was supported by a large majority of the Australian public – but academics, politicians and child rights groups said it could backfire, driving teenagers to the dark web, or make them feel more isolated.

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Louise Haigh quits as transport secretary after admitting conviction for misleading police over stolen mobile – UK politics live

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Transport secretary departs after it emerged she pleaded guilty to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013

In her resignation letter Louise Haigh said little about the past conviction, now spent, that led to her resignation. But she gave a fuller statement yesterday when approached by reporters about the story. She said:

In 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.

I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken - including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.

Louise Haigh has done the right thing in resigning. It is clear she has failed to behave to the standards expected of an MP.

In her resignation letter, she states that Keir Starmer was already aware of the fraud conviction, which raises questions as to why the prime minister appointed Ms Haigh to Cabinet with responsibility for a £30bn budget? The onus is now on Keir Starmer to explain this obvious failure of judgment to the British public.

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Women arrested by Taliban for begging report rape and killings in Afghan jails

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Draconian new laws allow mass incarceration of women and children forced to beg because of work ban

Destitute Afghan women arrested for begging under draconian new Taliban laws have spoken of “brutal” rapes and beatings in detention.

Over the past few months, many women said they had been targeted by Taliban officials and detained under anti-begging laws passed this year. While in prison, they claim they were subjected to sexual abuse, torture and forced labour, and witnessed children being beaten and abused.

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MPs hours away from historic vote on whether to legalise assisted dying

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Vote expected on Friday afternoon, as those running campaigns for and against say it is too close to call

MPs are hours away from deciding whether to legalise assisted dying for those with less than six months to live, in a knife-edge historic vote.

The private member’s bill, brought by the Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, will be debated from 9.30am on Friday in the House of Commons with a vote expected at about 2.30pm.

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Assisted dying bill will not be adopted as government bill if it passes vote

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Departments ready to work on assessment of its workability as critics say it is proceeding the ‘wrong way round’

Civil servants and ministers will begin work on implementing the assisted dying bill if it passes its first stage in parliament on Friday, but the Guardian understands it will not be adopted as a government bill.

MPs will have a free vote on the bill to legalise assisted dying in the case of terminal illness. It is a private member’s bill, brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, which means the government is technically neutral on the issue.

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Lucy Letby inquiry: hospital boss ‘sincerely regrets’ not calling police sooner

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Former medical director of Countess of Chester hospital says he is ‘truly sorry’ if he failed bereaved families

A boss at the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered babies has said he “sincerely regrets” not calling police sooner and is “truly sorry” if he failed the bereaved families.

Ian Harvey, a former medical director at the Countess of Chester hospital, told the Thirlwall inquiry he wished he had contacted the police nearly a year before they were informed.

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Doctors hail first breakthrough in asthma and COPD treatment in 50 years

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Results of trial of benralizumab injection could be ‘gamechanger’ for millions of people around the world

Doctors are hailing a new way to treat serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attacks that marks the first breakthrough for 50 years and could be a “gamechanger” for patients.

A trial found offering patients an injection was more effective than the current care of steroid tablets, and cuts the need for further treatment by 30%.

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Plans to end NHS dental care crisis not working, warns spending watchdog

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National Audit Office finds ‘significant uncertainty’ as to whether pledge for extra 1.5m treatments will be fulfilled

Plans to end the deepening crisis in access to NHS dental care are failing, leaving patients unable to get treatment, according to a warning from the government’s spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office’s (NAO) damning verdict on the “dental recovery plan” prompted patient groups to voice alarm that people’s struggles with decayed teeth represents “a serious public health concern”.

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Government confirms online slots cap and betting levy to fund NHS services

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Gambling minister says measures will be ‘instrumental’ in helping those most at risk of addiction

Bookmakers and casinos will be forced to fund NHS services that tackle problem gambling, after Labour rubber-stamped the previous government’s plans, which also include a cap of as little as £2 on the sums that can be staked on online slot machines.

The Guardian revealed on Monday that the government was poised to approve the new “statutory levy”, using proceeds of around £100m a year to fund research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms.

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Safeguarding agencies ‘ignoring children abused by family members’ in England

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‘Worrying evaporation’ in skills among professionals meant to protect victims of intrafamilial sexual abuse, report says

Safeguarding agencies are failing to listen to children who have been sexually abused by family members with devastating consequences, amid a “worrying evaporation” of skills among the professionals meant to protect them, a report has found.

A review of the experiences of 193 children in England who were victims of sexual abuse by a family member found seven went on to commit suicide, while 14 more – including a seven-year-old – either attempted suicide or talked about killing themselves.

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Premier League and Channel 4 to train teenagers in Labour’s £45m work drive

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Ministers to announce sweeping changes to welfare and out-of-work support, aiming to get people off benefits

Teenagers will get skills training at the Premier League, Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel 4 as part of a government drive to get hundreds of thousands into jobs or education and make sure “no young person is left behind”.

Some of Britain’s biggest cultural and sporting institutions will provide work or training opportunities as part of a £45m “trailblazer” scheme across eight English regions, including Liverpool, Tees Valley and the East Midlands.

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Number of single UK women having fertility treatment trebles, report says

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Study also finds that number of female couples receiving IVF or DI treatment doubled between 2012 and 2022

The number of single women in the UK undergoing fertility treatment to start a family has more than trebled in a decade, a report has revealed.

In total, 4,800 women without a partner had in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or donor insemination (DI) treatment in 2022. This represents a 243% increase from the 1,400 single women who had fertility treatment in 2012, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

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Send crisis in England and Wales leaving children more vulnerable, says report

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Experts point to increased risk of criminal and sexual exploitation and call for urgent action from government

The crisis in special needs education has left children vulnerable to criminal and sexual exploitation, experts have warned, as parents of victims described years of failed attempts to get support.

Last year, 7,432 children were referred to the national referral mechanism – the framework for identifying potential victims of trafficking and modern slavery in England and Wales.

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Ministers speaking out against assisted dying ‘are giving false impression’, says peer

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Labour’s Charlie Falconer says vocal opponents are leading voters to think government is against change

Senior ministers who have spoken out against assisted dying are giving voters a “false impression” about the government’s position, a leading proponent of changing the law has said.

Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer and former justice secretary, said opponents to the change were “getting more coverage” because ministers in favour of legalising assisted dying were “playing by the rules”.

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‘Slippery slope’ fears over assisted dying have echoes of abortion debate

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Since the 1967 Abortion Act, the law has been changed twice but the criteria have remained the same

“It is entirely possible that future generations will puzzle over how such a fundamental right could ever be denied to them.” These are the words of David Steel, the veteran former leader of the Liberal party and a Westminster MP for more than three decades, referring to this Friday’s historic vote in parliament on whether to legalise assisted dying.

But Steel could just as well have been referring to a private member’s bill he brought before parliament 57 years ago that was also about the right to bodily autonomy and was the subject of fierce debate and vocal opposition from church leaders.

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‘One conversation really changed my mind’: the personal stories driving MPs’ decisions on assisted dying

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Traditional allies such as Diane Abbott and John McDonnell are split over Friday’s vote as politicians grapple with the issue

During a Labour away day ahead of the last election, the party’s candidates were put through their paces as parliamentary debaters. The topic chosen, assisted dying, was a deliberately intractable issue designed to test their analytical skills. Yet just months later, scores of new MPs find themselves having to make a very real decision over changing the law.

“I’m genuinely the most back and forth on this that I’ve been on anything,” said one new MP who has found themselves on either side of the debate over recent months. Like so many, with the issues so finely balanced in their mind, a single conversation can sway their thinking.

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UK justice secretary attacks assisted dying bill as ‘state death service’

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Shabana Mahmood has written to her constituents saying she is ‘profoundly concerned’ about Friday’s Commons vote

MPs will be placing the country on a “slippery slope towards death on demand” if they back legislation on assisted dying in England and Wales this week, the lord chancellor and justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said in a letter to constituents before a historic Commons vote on Friday.

Mahmood has received numerous letters about the bill from people in her Birmingham Ladywood seat, which has a big Muslim population, and sent out replies saying that she was “profoundly concerned” about the legislation, not only for religious reasons but also because of what it would mean for the role of the state if one of its functions became helping people to die.

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Prison blueprints leak sparks security alert in jails in England and Wales

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Plans are understood to show where cameras and sensors are, triggering fears of weapon smuggling and escapes

Detailed prison blueprints have been leaked, triggering a security alert at jails in England and Wales, it has emerged.

The leak, first reported by the Times, involves prison layouts being shared on the dark web in the last fortnight, prompting an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

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Gordon Brown says daughter’s death showed value of ‘good’ dying over assisted dying

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Former PM, whose daughter died when she was 11 days old, says debate is moving too fast and calls for commission on palliative care

• Gordon Brown: We need better end-of-life care, not assisted dying

The former prime minister Gordon Brown has declared his opposition to the legalisation of assisted dying, saying the death of his newborn daughter in January 2002 convinced him of the “value and imperative of good end-of-life care”.

In a rare and poignant glimpse into the tragedy, he says the time he and his wife, Sarah, spent at their baby Jennifer’s bedside “as her life ebbed away” were “among the most precious days of [our] lives”.

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Yvette Cooper to set out crackdown on antisocial behaviour including jail terms

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Persistent offenders will face up to two years in prison under Respect orders, as police get powers to seize vehicles

People who persistently demonstrate antisocial behaviour will face up to two years in jail under Labour’s Respect orders, the home secretary will say on Friday.

Yvette Cooper will also announce that police will be given new powers to immediately seize off-road bikes, e-scooters on pavements and street-racing cars as part of the clampdown.

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