Students are exempt during their course but as soon as they finish their final year they are liable to pay
Final-year university students have been urged to check that they do not owe council tax for the last few weeks of their rented accommodation.
While students are exempt from the tax during the course, they are liable to pay as soon as they finish their final year.
Continue reading...Though the betting often interests few outside Westminster, leaders must be clear on where opportunity for impropriety really lies
Until the past few weeks, online casinos and bookmakers have made handy villains for an under-pressure government.
Ministers could legitimately claim to be cleaning up Labour’s mess with reforms that partially roll back the permissive regulatory regime ushered in under Tony Blair.
Continue reading...Leaked documents from Philip Morris reveal ‘secret’ strategy to market its heated tobacco product IQOS
The tobacco company Philip Morris International has been accused of “manipulating science for profit” through funding research and advocacy work with scientists.
Campaigners say that leaked documents from PMI and its Japanese affiliate also reveal plans to target politicians, doctors and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of the multinational’s marketing strategy to attract non-smokers to its heated tobacco product, IQOS.
Continue reading...Almost 12,000 rough sleepers were seen by outreach workers in 2023-24, a 19% increase on the previous year
Rough sleeping in the capital has hit the highest level in a decade, with more than 1,100 people living on London’s streets for the first time because of evictions.
The number of new rough sleepers seen for the first time by outreach workers between April 2023 and March 2024, surged 25% to 7,974 people – the highest in at least four years. Almost one in 10 people living on the streets was aged 25 or under – including 13 children.
Continue reading...Higher incidence of damage to hips, jaws and thumbs reveals their writing efforts may have taken a toll
From bad backs to eye strain, office work can take its toll on the body.
But it seems such perils are nothing new: researchers have found Egyptian scribes experienced damage to their hips, jaws and thumbs as a result of their efforts.
Continue reading...Rights groups protesting at Modi government’s view that criminalising sexual assault violates ‘sanctity’ of marriage
Campaigners angry that marital rape is not to be criminalised under India’s long-awaited new penal code have been promised a ruling on the issue by the supreme court next month.
Human rights organisations, including the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have been petitioning India’s supreme court to make it a criminal offence. The court has in turn asked the government for a response.
Continue reading...Research discovers the cost of some healthcare products fluctuates wildly, according to time of year you buy them
Dentists agree that brushing twice a day is the best way to look after your teeth. But depending on what month it is, dental hygiene can be a dramatically more expensive habit to maintain.
New research has shown that the cost of a tube of toothpaste at some times of the year can be double its price at other times. The price of other popular health products such as Gillette razors can also double depending when they are bought.
Continue reading...Alarm over high mortality and miscarriage rates as mutated virus spreads in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
A dangerous strain of mpox that is killing children and causing miscarriages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most transmissible yet and could spread internationally, scientists have warned.
The virus appears to be spreading from person to person via both sexual and non-sexual contact, in places ranging from brothels to schools.
Continue reading...RNIB calls on all parties to commit to remove barriers that prevent people with sight loss voting on their own
Tens of thousand of people with sight loss will be denied their right to a secret ballot at next week’s general election, campaigners have warned, prompting calls to make it the last inaccessible election.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is calling on all political parties to commit to remove barriers that prevent blind people voting on their own and without help in future elections.
Continue reading...UK researchers say study shows stopping long-term use of the drugs is possible at scale without costly therapy
Almost half of long-term antidepressant users could stop taking the medication with GP support and access to internet or telephone helplines, a study suggests.
Scientists said more than 40% of people involved in the research who were well and not at risk of relapse managed to come off the drugs with advice from their doctors.
Continue reading...Music teacher Nathaniel Dye, 38, who had spoken about delays for treatment, gave update on Tuesday
A man who had a terminal cancer diagnosis, and who described Labour as “the party of hope for a brighter future I won’t live to see” at the party’s manifesto launch, is now cancer-free.
Nathaniel Dye, a 38-year-old music teacher, was diagnosed with stage four incurable bowel cancer in October 2022, and tumours were understood to have spread to his lungs, liver and lymph nodes.
Continue reading...Reports surface days before UN summit on Afghanistan that will exclude Afghan women and debate on women’s rights
Teenage girls and young women arrested by the Taliban for wearing “bad hijab” say they have been subjected to sexual violence and assault in detention.
In more than one case the arrests and sexual abuse that young women faced while in custody earlier this year led to suicide and attempted suicide, reporters from the Afghan news service Zan Times were told.
Continue reading...Biden and Harris give forceful campaign statements blaming Trump for ending right to abortion access
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris marked the second anniversary of the US supreme court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade with forceful campaign statements that laid the blame squarely on Donald Trump for ending the national right to abortion.
In a video released on Monday, Biden pledged to restore the right to an abortion and “protect American freedom” if he is re-elected.
Continue reading...Author responds after shadow chancellor says party would be ‘really happy’ to ‘give her assurances’
JK Rowling has agreed to a meeting with Labour after Rachel Reeves said the party would be “really happy” to “give her assurances” over its plans to change the process through which people can legally change gender.
Speaking in Scotland, Reeves said protection for women-only spaces would “absolutely stay”, adding: “We’re not going to be changing anything around biological sex … We’re really happy to talk to JK Rowling to give her assurances about that.”
Continue reading...Only ‘urgent’ tests to go ahead in short term after hospitals in south-east London hit by Russian gang’s seizure of data
Patients denied a blood test because of a Russian cyber-attack on the NHS may have to wait up to six months to have their sample taken, the Guardian has learned.
The delays are so long that some patients have decided to pay to have their blood taken and analysed by a private clinic rather than remain on the NHS waiting list.
Continue reading...Party’s deputy leader says Fair Work Agency will have the power to inspect workplaces and levy fines
Labour will create a watchdog with “real teeth” that has the power to prosecute and fine companies that breach the rights of their employees as part of its plans to strengthen workers’ rights.
Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, told the Observer that she would create a new body, the Fair Work Agency, to oversee her proposals. She said that millions of workers could be losing out on basic rights as a result of underenforcement.
Continue reading...Boxer says ex-fighters suffer poor health and that he hopes to help them as part of his sports legacy
Anthony Joshua has said he is considering opening a care home for retired boxers with health problems.
Speaking to Lauren Laverne on Sunday’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, the former world heavyweight champion said he had discussed issues faced by ex-fighters with his former boxing coach, John Oliver.
Continue reading...Victim of random street assault has become symbol of the legal system’s handling of gender-based violence
The case of a soldier who brutalised a woman in a random street attack and walked free from court has prompted protests across Ireland.
Thousands of people marched in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick on Saturday to show solidarity with Natasha O’Brien, 24, who has become a symbol of the legal system’s handling of gender-based violence.
Continue reading...Whalley residents say drunken crowds and antisocial behaviour at weekends is making life unbearable
Whalley, in Lancashire’s verdant Ribble Valley, is famed for its 14th-century Cistercian abbey and historic churches, as well as the spectacular views from Whalley Nab, the wooded hill that overlooks this seeming picture-postcard idyll.
But while the village still draws in family day-trippers and history buffs, it is also attracting an altogether different type of tourist, after earning perhaps an unlikely reputation as Lancashire’s premier drinking destination.
Continue reading...NHS England says its ambition to wipe disease out by 2040 relies on more under-50s coming forward
Women have been urged by NHS officials to attend cervical screenings after figures showed a third of those under 50 do not take up their invitation.
Each year, about 3,200 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 850 die from it. It is the 14th most common cancer affecting women in Britain, with women aged 30 to 34 most likely to be diagnosed with it.
Continue reading...