Mohamed Iidow attacked Natalie Shotter after she apparently passed out in park in Southall after night out
A man has been convicted of the rape and manslaughter of a woman while she lay unconscious on a park bench in west London after a night out.
Natalie Shotter, 37, an NHS worker, was attacked after apparently passing out in Southall in July 2021. Mohamed Iidow orally raped her “until she died”, his trial heard.
Continue reading...Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain
When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.
I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.
Continue reading...Payments such as universal credit linked to previous September’s figure, meaning a rise of just 1.7% in April
Last month’s surprise fall in UK inflation lands with bad timing for millions of people who receive state benefits linked to the figure, who can now expect their payments to rise by just 1.7% next April.
A number of benefits, including universal credit, are increased each tax year in line with the cost of living figure for the previous September.
Continue reading...Health secretary announces trials to assess impact of medicines such as Ozempic or Mounjaro on worklessness
New weight-loss jabs could be given to unemployed people to help them get back into work, Wes Streeting has suggested.
The health secretary said “widening waistbands” were placing a burden on the NHS.
Continue reading...Process tested in patients over 10-year period involves short course of chemotherapy before chemoradiation
Doctors are hailing a “remarkable” new treatment regime for cervical cancer that reduces the risk of dying by 40%, in the biggest advance against the disease in 25 years.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally, with about 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the UK, there are about 3,200 cases and 800 deaths each year.
Continue reading...Thinktank reports saying sector should be hit with extra £900m to £3bn in levies prompts market selloff
Shares in British gambling companies have dropped sharply, reducing the stock market value of large operators by more than £3bn, after the Guardian reported that Treasury officials could tap the sector for between £900m and £3bn in extra taxes.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has come under pressure from two influential thinktanks to raise taxes on the industry, as she pulls every available lever to plug a £22bn “black hole” in the nation’s finances.
Continue reading...New climate network will teach trainee doctors more about heatstroke, dengue and malaria and role of global warming in health
Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria will become a bigger part of the curriculum at medical schools across Europe in the face of the climate crisis.
Future doctors will also have more training on how to recognise and treat heatstroke, and be expected to take the climate impact of treatments such as inhalers for asthma into account, medical school leaders said, announcing the formation of the European Network on Climate & Health Education (Enche).
Continue reading...Migrant workers accuse Home Office of targeting the victims of labour exploitation rather than companies profiting from them
Migrant workers living in a caravan encampment raided by immigration enforcement officers have accused the Home Office of targeting the victims of labour exploitation rather than companies profiting from the hidden economy.
The Observer reported in August that about 30 mainly Brazilian delivery riders working for large companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats were living in dilapidated caravans in the centre of Bristol. Many claimed they were, in effect, earning below the minimum wage and could not afford to rent in the city.
Continue reading...Thousands could lose up to £4,900 a year if the plan is retained in the forthcoming budget
Rachel Reeves is coming under intense pressure to use the budget to abandon a £1.3bn cut to benefits for people with disabilities, first announced by the Tory government, amid warnings it will lead to hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people losing almost £5,000 a year.
The leading independent thinktank, the Resolution Foundation, has called on the chancellor to drop or delay changes to the work capability assessment (WCA), arguing that key aspects of the policy have not been thought through, and that around 420,000 people who are unable to work through disability or ill-health could lose up to £4,900 a year.
Continue reading...With the amount spent on refugees and asylum seekers this year on course to hit £3.6bn, the sum available for international projects must be cut again, warns thinktank
Ministers have been warned that £900m will have to be raided from UK overseas aid projects to meet the costs of supporting asylum seekers in Britain this year.
Projections seen by the Observer show that the amount of overseas aid set to be spent in the UK on refugees and asylum seekers this year is still on course to reach £3.6bn, despite a big fall in the costs of housing people from Ukraine.
Continue reading...Multimillionaire Derek Webb, a Labour donor, goes all-in with support for levy on online casinos and bookmakers
As a former professional poker player, Derek Webb is used to rising from the table holding more chips than he started with.
Vanquished opponents are left scratching their heads, wondering how they have been bested by a softly spoken, bespectacled septuagenarian with a Derby accent.
Continue reading...Treasury weighing proposals as chancellor attempts to plug £22bn hole in public finances
Ministers are considering a tax raid of up to £3bn on the gambling sector as Rachel Reeves casts around for funds to shore up the public finances.
Treasury officials are understood to be weighing up proposals, put forward by two influential thinktanks and backed by one of the party’s top five individual donors, to double some of the taxes levied on online casinos and bookmakers.
Continue reading...Assessment finds detention unit is subjecting families to ‘unnecessary suffering’ amid lengthy Home Office delays
Young children are being traumatised while held at a Gatwick airport deportation centre that should be closed down, a watchdog has found.
The independent monitoring board (IMB) also said the children’s parents were being subjected to “callous treatment and unnecessary suffering” because of the Home Office’s lengthy decision-making process over removals.
Children are witnessing or overhearing their parents’ “considerable distress” at their expected deportation, despite staff efforts to shield them.
Children are being asked by staff to translate for their distraught parents, despite having been taken from their homes and facing removal to a country they may know very little about.
The use of the Family PDA may prolong or add to trauma already experienced, particularly for children.
Continue reading...BMJ case report reveals potential overuse injury after man in his 30s has surgery to remove large lump on his head
Going breakdancing today? If so, maybe go easy on the headspins. Unless you want to end up with a “cone-head”, that is.
Breakdancing’s extreme physical demands mean it is known to involve a high risk of injury: everything from hair loss to sprains and damage to almost every part of the anatomy.
Continue reading...Thinktank says tax increases in budget will be necessary even if Rachel Reeves changes fiscal rules
Keir Starmer’s promise to end austerity and rebuild public services will require tax increases of £25bn a year in the coming budget even if debt rules are changed to provide scope for extra investment spending, a leading thinktank has said.
In its preview of the first Labour budget in 14 years, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Rachel Reeves would need to raise taxes to fresh record levels to meet the government’s policy goals. The chancellor was also warned of the risk of a Liz Truss-style meltdown if the City responded badly to substantially higher borrowing.
Continue reading...Labour clamps down on poor working conditions at sea with laws on collective dismissal and minimum wage on cross-Channel ferries
Laws to ensure that the P&O Ferries mass sackings scandal can never recur will be laid before parliament this week as Labour clamps downs on poor working conditions at sea, with cruise and cargo ships also in its sights.
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said the new laws would close the loopholes exploited by P&O when it fired 800 crew without warning in 2022, and any company would now face unlimited fines for acting in such a way.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Billionaire launches $250m fund to address problem as she warns of growth of ‘maternity care deserts’
Women’s health is being neglected worldwide with “maternity care deserts” more common, millions denied abortions and maternal death rates surging, Melinda French Gates has warned as she launches a $250m (£190m) fund to improve women’s physical and mental health globally.
Despite advances in medicine, women experience “unacceptable” inequities across all aspects of their health, spend more years living with ill health and still face barriers to accessing basic care. Women in rich and poor nations are affected and more than 700 are dying in childbirth each day, French Gates said.
Continue reading...One million more people are in what Trussell charity defines as ‘hunger and hardship’ than five years ago
More than 9 million people in the UK experience levels of poverty and hunger so extreme they are vulnerable to reliance on charity food handouts, according to research.
A report by the charity Trussell found Labour would fail to deliver its manifesto promise to remove the “moral scar” of food banks unless it tackled low household incomes in this group, which amounted to one in seven of the population.
Continue reading...Researchers in China say their suture can speed up wound healing and reduce risk of infection by producing a charge
The humble stitch plays a crucial role in surgery, holding a gash together while tissues repair. Now scientists have created a type of suture they say can help speed up wound healing and reduce the risk of infection.
Researchers in China have created a suture that when put under strain – as occurs during movement – electrically stimulates the wound.
Continue reading...Almost half of girls aged 11 to 21 in Girlguiding survey say sexism and misogyny makes them feel less safe
Girls and young women are seeing more unwanted sexual images and suffering more cyberstalking online, but still don’t want to take a break from social media because of a fear of missing out, a survey for Girlguiding has found.
“Fomo” is keeping more than half of 11- to 21-year-olds on apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and WhatsApp despite nearly one in five saying they have been being stalked online and more than a third saying they are seeing sexual images they didn’t wish to see, the survey of more than 2,000 girls and young women found.
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