Category Archives: Society

Could Britain solve its prisons crisis by going Dutch?

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After the UK justice minister praised the system in the Netherlands, experts there say the reality is more complex

Earlier this year, before he became the UK justice minister, James Timpson described how Britain should follow the Dutch example of mild sentencing to help solve the prisons crisis.

“They have shut half their prisons not because people are less naughty in Holland,” he told Channel 4. “It’s because they have a different way of sentencing, which is community sentencing so people can stay at home, keep their jobs, keep their homes, keep reading their children bedtime stories, and it means they are far less likely to commit crime again. A custodial sentence is not always the right thing.”

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UK should restore diplomatic presence to help Afghan women, says aid chief

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Hugh Bayley says NGOs would also benefit as he releases report on impact of UK programme in Afghanistan

The UK should consider restoring its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan to support Afghan women and to help monitor the impact of British aid, a commissioner for the official UK aid watchdog has suggested.

Hugh Bayley, who visited Kabul in May, said he believed Afghan women and NGOs would welcome more western diplomats to represent the opinions of women to the Taliban as he released a report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) on the effectiveness of the UK programme, which is the second largest operated by Britain.

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Era of culture wars is over, pledges new culture secretary Lisa Nandy

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Nandy says her department will prioritise celebrating British culture and a less divisive vision of the UK

The “era of culture wars is over”, Lisa Nandy has promised in her first speech as culture secretary, saying her department will be at the heart of efforts to reflect a more positive and less divisive vision of the UK.

“For too long, for too many people, the story we tell ourselves, about ourselves as a nation, has not reflected them, their communities or their lives,” Nandy told staff at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

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Conditions at UK immigration removal centre ‘worst inspectors have seen’

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Report found ligature points previously used in suicide attempts at Harmondsworth had not been removed

The prisons watchdog has described “truly shocking” conditions in an immigration removal centre close to Heathrow airport as the worst its inspectors had ever seen.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons has published a damning report on conditions at Harmondsworth, a 658-bed centre, the largest of its kind in Europe.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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NHS urged to prioritise cancer care basics over tech and AI ‘magic bullets’

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Health service is at tipping point, say experts, and ‘novel solutions’ have been wrongly hyped

The NHS must concentrate on the basics of cancer treatment rather than the “magic bullets” of novel technologies and artificial intelligence, or risk the health of thousands of patients, experts have warned.

In a paper published in the journal Lancet Oncology, nine leading cancer doctors and academics say the NHS is at a tipping point in cancer care with survival rates lagging behind many other developed countries.

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Wes Streeting pledges billions to GPs in order to ‘fix front door’ of NHS

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Health secretary wants to bring back family doctors, cut pressure on hospitals and solve pay disputes

Ministers will divert billions of pounds from hospitals to GPs to “fix the front door to the NHS”, Wes Streeting has promised as he said millions of patients will be able to see the same family doctor at every appointment.

The health secretary made his first major policy announcement as he prepared to begin vital talks with junior doctors on Tuesday, aimed at finally ending the strikes that have crippled the health service since 2022.

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Pakistani breast milk bank closes after Islamic clerics withdraw approval

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Doctors deplore decision and point to country’s high neonatal mortality rate as bank, which opened in June, forced to close without taking a single deposit

When he heard a hospital in Karachi was setting up a milk bank for babies, the news was a “huge relief” to Mohammad Munawwar.

With his wife very sick and their premature son Ayan in hospital, the 52-year-old father had had to collect milk five or six times a day from different female relatives who were breastfeeding their own babies.

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Starmer tells his cabinet: now it’s time to deliver on our promises

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PM pledges swift action on NHS and prisons, setting out agenda to reform public services and rebuild international relations

Keir Starmer on Saturday rallied his new cabinet behind an ambitious agenda to reform the country’s creaking public services and reset damaged relations abroad during his first full day as prime minister.

After an extraordinary 48 hours that saw Labour storm to a landslide general election victory with a massive Commons majority of 174 while the Tories were routed, Starmer said he was “restless for change” and determined to deliver on his campaign pledges.

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Wes Streeting says NHS is broken as he announces pay talks with junior doctors

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New health secretary aims to resolve dispute in England and warns health service is ‘not good enough’

The new health secretary, Wes Streeting, has declared the NHS is broken as he announced that talks with junior doctors in England would restart next week.

The Ilford North MP said patients were not receiving the care they deserved and the performance of the NHS was “not good enough”.

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Babbling scouse youngster shows babies can have accents, say scientists

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Newborns are tuned in to the ups and downs of speech, and even a cry mimics language heard while in the womb

The upward intonation, the guttural “ck” and even the cheeky comeback to win the argument: at just 19 months old, baby Orla has mastered the crucial elements of speaking like a scouser.

Impressively, the toddler who featured in a viral video this week appears to have done so without the need for actual words.

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Holly Willoughby speaks out after man convicted of plot to rape and murder her

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Presenter says women should not be made to ‘feel unsafe going about our daily lives’ after Gavin Plumb convicted of plan to abduct her

Holly Willoughby has said “women should not be made to feel unsafe going about our daily lives and in our own homes” after a convicted violent offender was found guilty of masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her.

Gavin Plumb, 37, was obsessed with the television host, amassing more than 10,000 images of her on his phone including deepfake pornography. He was caught after unwittingly communicating online with an undercover police officer based in the US, who flagged him to UK authorities.

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‘A lot of stereotypes to break’: Children’s Inquiry musical explores life in care in Britain

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Children’s experiences form basis of play that weaves 150 years of care system history into narrative

When theatre-makers Matt Woodhead and Helen Monks gathered with a small group of children in a theatre in Essex five years ago, the plan was simple: discuss the care system.

Woodhead and Monks are co-directors of Lung Theatre, a company that has made a name for itself by tackling weighty subjects, such as the Chilcot inquiry, housing evictions and, most recently, the spate of self-inflicted deaths at Woodhill HMP, that are often investigative verbatim pieces.

The Children’s Inquiry runs 8 July to 3 August at the Southwark Playhouse

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NHS leader calls for partnership with private sector to build new hospitals

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Exclusive: NHS Providers head says joining with private health firms and developers would help care backlog

The NHS must be given the green light to partner with private health firms and property developers to build new hospitals to slash the care backlog, a health service boss has said.

The last Labour government was widely criticised over controversial private finance initiative (PFI) deals to erect scores of new NHS facilities that led to vast profits for major corporations.

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The summer of green music festivals – podcast

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It’s festival season! But are festivals any good for the environment? This week Chanté chats to Lewis Jamieson of Music Declares Emergency and the Grammy-nominated House DJ Jayda G about how festivals can become more sustainable and why the music industry can be an important voice in the fight for climate justice.

Jayda G’s documentary Blue Carbon can be watched here

Archive – BBC, TikTok (billsvids), CNN, Blue Carbon (WaterBear), Instagram (liamcmusic_), BBC 5Live,

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UK woman admits helping end life of terminally ill son

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Antonya Cooper, from Oxford, made admission to help efforts to change law on assisted dying

A woman has admitted giving her terminally ill seven-year-old child a huge dose of morphine to end his suffering more than 40 years ago.

Antonya Cooper said her son Hamish had experienced “horrendous suffering and intense pain” as a result of his stage four cancer and “beastly” treatment.

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Judi Dench and Siân Phillips become first female members of Garrick Club

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Exclusive: Veteran actors fast-tracked into venerable London club in wake of men-only rule being jettisoned after 193 years

The Garrick Club has named Judi Dench and Siân Phillips as distinguished members, making them the first women to be allowed to join the club in its 193-year history.

The actors were given fast-tracked membership during the club’s annual general meeting on Monday evening. Until now, no woman had been allowed into the Garrick unless invited in and accompanied around the building by a man.

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Life at the heart of Japan’s lonely deaths epidemic: ‘I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried’

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Some 68,000 people are expected to die alone and unnoticed in Japan this year, police say, as the population continues to age

“We occasionally greet each other, but that’s all. If one of my neighbours died, I’m not sure I would notice,” says Noriko Shikama, 76. She lives alone in a flat Tokiwadaira, in Tokyo’s commuter belt and has come to the Iki Iki drop-in centre to catch up with residents over cups of coffee served by volunteers.

Here, amid the everyday discussions about the merits or otherwise of dyeing grey hair, people also share news about the latest lonely death, or kodokushi – officially defined as one in which “a person dies without being cared for by anyone, and whose body is found after a certain period”.

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Patients left in pain and to die alone amid NHS nurse shortages, survey finds

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Only a third of shifts have enough nurses on duty, the Royal College of Nursing says its analysis shows

NHS patients are being left unseen in pain and in some cases to die alone because shifts do not have enough registered nurses, a survey shows.

The Royal College of Nursing said analysis of a survey it carried out showed that only a third of shifts had enough registered nurses on duty.

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Teenagers ‘crying out’ for return of youth clubs in England, study finds

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Steep cuts left three-quarters of 16- to 19-year-olds unable to get support, youth agency says

Young people are “crying out” for a return of youth clubs after swingeing cuts left three-quarters of 16- to 19-year-olds in England lacking ways to connect with youth workers, according to research shared with the Guardian.

More than half of people in their late teens are specifically calling for more youth work that offers “fun”, with older teenagers particularly hankering for more jollity, according to a study by the National Youth Agency (NYA). One in 10 said they have zero options to access youth work.

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Unpaid UK carers ‘face financial hit that can last decades’

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Loss of income, curbs on benefits and soaring bills are piling pressure on people caring for family members

People who look after family members free of charge are taking a huge hit to their finances which could continue into their retirement as they find themselves unable to balance paid work with their caring commitments.

Recent analysis of official figures by the financial firm Just Retirement found seven in 10 people who were receiving carer’s allowance were not in paid work, and missing out on earnings and private pension contributions.

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