Category Archives: Society

Some takeaway meals contain more calories than daily limit, UK study finds

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Cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets accused of fuelling the obesity crisis

Some takeaway meals contain more calories in one sitting than someone is advised to consume in an entire day, a study of British eating habits has revealed.

Cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets are fuelling the UK’s obesity crisis because so many meals they sell contain dangerously large numbers of calories, it found.

Supermarket meal deals – usually comprising a sandwich, snack and drink – contain on average 780 calories, more than the 600 advised.

Burgers are the most popular takeaway dish in England, Scotland and Wales, followed by chips, fries or wedges.

People consume an average of 300 calories a day in takeaway food and drink.

Non-alcoholic drinks, especially coffee and fizzy soft drinks, contribute 12% of all the calories consumed by people in out-of-home premises.

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Pregnant women should be tested for diabetes far earlier, study suggests

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Women should be tested for gestational diabetes before 14 weeks, say academics

Pregnant women should be tested for diabetes much earlier than the current practice of doing so between 24 and 28 weeks, according to research.

Gestational diabetes, a form of the condition that only develops in pregnancy, affects thousands of women in the UK and one in seven pregnancies worldwide. It is the most common medical pregnancy complication and occurs when a hormone made by the placenta stops the body from using insulin effectively, leading to elevated blood glucose levels.

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Birmingham general election hopeful joked about domestic violence on podcast

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Independent Akhmed Yakoob, who polls suggest is closing gap on Labour, also said ‘70% of hell will be women’

An independent candidate standing in Birmingham said “70% of hell will be women” and joked about domestic violence on a podcast earlier this year, it has emerged, as polling suggests he is closing the gap with Labour.

Akhmed Yakoob, who came third in the West Midlands mayoral election in May with just over 10% of the vote, is standing against Labour’s Shabana Mahmood in Ladywood, one of the most deprived constituencies in the country.

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UK children shorter, fatter and sicker amid poor diet and poverty, report finds

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Food Foundation says height of five-year-olds falling, child obesity up by a third and type 2 diabetes by a fifth

Children across the UK are getting shorter, fatter and sicker amid an epidemic of poor diets, food insecurity and poverty, according to a report warning that millions are facing a “timebomb” of avoidable health conditions.

The average height of five-year-olds is falling, obesity levels have increased by almost a third and the number of young people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has risen by more than a fifth, the report by the Food Foundation said.

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Weightlifting at retirement age keeps legs strong years later, study finds

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Year of heavy weights resistance training around retirement age has long-lasting benefits, research suggests

Lifting heavy weights three times a week around the age of retirement could dramatically preserve your leg strength long into the later stages of life, research suggests.

People naturally lose muscle function as they get older, and experts say faltering leg strength is a strong predictor of death in elderly people.

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Boss of US firm given £4bn in UK Covid contracts accused of squandering millions on jets and properties

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Rishi Sunak’s team helped fast-track deal with firm founded by Charles Huang, who says contracts generated $2bn profit

In California, state of sunshine and palm trees, a small group of men are locked in a big legal fight over the money made by a US company selling Covid tests to the British government. The founder of Innova Medical Group says his business collected $2bn (£1.6bn) in profits, one of the largest fortunes banked by any medical supplier during the scramble for lifesaving equipment in the early months of the pandemic.

In a storm of claims and counter-claims, Innova’s boss, Charles Huang, is accused by former associates of “squandering” or moving $1bn of those profits, spending lavishly on luxury aircraft, an $18m house in Los Angeles and “homes for his mistresses”.

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Campaigners hope Labour will scrap two-child benefit cap once in No 10

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Manifesto has no pledge to end rule Angela Rayner called ‘inhumane’ but there have been hints at more to come

Senior Labour figures have been crystal clear in the past about the two-child benefit limit, with Angela Rayner saying it was “obscene and inhumane” and Jonathan Ashworth calling it “heinous”.

Yet, as expected, Keir Starmer’s safety-first manifesto lacked any promise to reverse it, and shadow ministers have been wheeled out to underline the need to make “tough choices” and avoid unfunded promises. Rayner has said Labour has to “prioritise”.

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Starmer faces further calls for Labour to axe two-child benefit cap

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IFS research shows 670,000 more children will be hit by policy by end of next parliament if limit stays in place

Keir Starmer is facing renewed pressure to scrap the two-child benefit limit, as research reveals that 250,000 more children will be hit by the policy over the next year alone.

Labour’s manifesto for government, published last week, included the promise of an “ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty”, but no mention of the two-child limit.

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Labour sends activists to 13 seats where it fears losing Muslim voters over Gaza

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Concern continues after local elections and George Galloway win that party’s position on Israel-Gaza war still eroding support

Labour is directing activists to campaign in seats with substantial Muslim populations, over fears that some voters have been alienated by the party’s stance on Gaza.

Its campaigning efforts are mostly being concentrated on Conservative and SNP seats in an attempt to secure a potentially record-breaking majority. However, there are 13 Labour-held seats where Muslims make up at least a fifth of the electorate which the party is telling its activists to target.

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Places in council-run children’s homes in England fall by third as private firms take over

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Increased reliance on private provision is pushing children hundreds of miles away from friends and family

The number of places in council-run children’s homes in England has fallen by a third since 2012 – at the same time as places in privately run profit-making children’s homes have soared, according to an Observer analysis of government data.

The dramatic fall in council-run children’s homes, and local authorities’ increasing reliance on privately run provision, have helped drive a rise in children being housed hundreds of miles from their families, with private provision clustering in cheaper parts of the country.

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Unrwa accuses Israel of frequently preventing aid deliveries to Gaza

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UN relief agency says authorities are hampering operations by failing to grant requests for access permits

The UN’s relief agency for Palestinians, the largest aid organisation operating in Gaza, has said Israeli authorities are frequently preventing it from delivering aid and hampering its operations in the territory.

“We are getting very few positive responses to our requests for aid delivery and permits to move around Gaza,” said Tamara Alrifai, the director of external relations for Unrwa.

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Tory welfare reform cost working-age families thousands while pensioners benefited – report

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Retirees or those on disability benefit are biggest annual winners, while large families are £4,600 worse off, says Resolution Foundation

Pensioners and people on disability benefits are the winners from radical changes to the welfare system made by the Tories over the last decade, while working-age families are losing out by thousands of pounds every year, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.

The Conservatives’ 14-year overhaul of social security has shifted spending away from children and housing to supporting elderly people, and broken the link between entitlement and need for some of the poorest households in the country, the report says.

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Families vow to step up fight for answers on anniversary of Nottingham killings

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Relatives of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates instruct legal team to investigate police and health trust

The families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks have vowed to take their fight for accountability “to the next level” on the one-year anniversary of the killings.

In a joint statement, the families of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, who were killed by Valdo Calocane in the early hours of 13 June last year, said they had instructed a legal team to help them “leave no stone unturned on our quest for answers”.

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Deadly cancer treatment delays now ‘routine’ in NHS, say damning reports

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Studies sound alarm at state of cancer care with hundreds of thousands waiting months to start essential treatment

Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to wait months to start essential cancer treatment, with deadly delays now “routine” and even children struck by the disease denied vital support, according to a series of damning reports.

Health chiefs, charities and doctors have sounded the alarm over the state of cancer care in the UK as three separate studies painted a shocking picture of long waits and NHS staff being severely hampered by a worsening workforce crisis and a chronic lack of equipment.

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Akira Endo, ‘remarkable’ scientist who discovered statins, dies aged 90

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Biochemist found cholesterol-lowering compound in 1973 and the drugs have prolonged millions of lives

The scientist whose work led to the creation of statins, a chemical that prevents heart attacks and strokes, has died aged 90.

Akira Endo found the first cholesterol-lowering compound in 1973 in a lab in Tokyo. The Japanese biochemist was said to have been inspired by Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928, which lead him to study mould or fungi in order to develop medicines.

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Canadian drug advocacy group founders charged with trafficking

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Vancouver’s volunteer-led ‘compassion club’ offered users pure drugs like heroin and cocaine to prevent overdose deaths

Two founders of a drug advocacy group who sold cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin in defiance of Canada’s federal government have been charged with trafficking-related offences.

Police in Vancouver said charges of possession for the purposes of trafficking were approved on 31 May against 28-year-old Jeremy Kalicum and 33-year-old Eris Nyx, co-founders of the Drug User Liberation Front. Kalicum and Nyx were arrested in October, but were only charged recently, and are due to appear in court on 2 July.

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Scientists develop glowing dye that sticks to cancer cells in breakthrough study

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Experts say fluorescent dye, which spotlights tiny cancerous tissue invisible to naked eye, could reduce risk of cancer returning

Scientists have developed a glowing dye that sticks to cancer cells and gives surgeons a “second pair of eyes” to remove them in real time and permanently eradicate the disease. Experts say the breakthrough could reduce the risk of cancer coming back and prevent debilitating side-effects.

The fluorescent dye spotlights tiny cancerous tissue that cannot be seen by the naked eye, enabling surgeons to remove every last cancer cell while preserving healthy tissue. That could mean fewer life-changing side effects after surgery.

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Labour pledges to create more than 100,000 new nursery places

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Exclusive: Party plans to set up more than 3,300 nurseries in existing primary schools in England for children from nine months old

Labour has pledged to create more than 100,000 new nursery places for children from nine months old, helping to both drive up standards and meet demand, as a key manifesto offer for working parents.

The party plans to set up more than 3,300 new nurseries in existing primary schools in England to support a major expansion of childcare.

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First NHS physiotherapy clinic run by AI to start this year

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Exclusive: New platform to provide same-day appointments with digital physiotherapist in effort to cut waiting times

The first NHS AI-run physiotherapy clinic is to be rolled out this year in an effort to cut waiting times amid growing demand and staff shortages.

The new platform will provide same-day automated video appointments with a digital physiotherapist via an app that responds to information provided by a patient in real time.

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Labour pledges 80 new rape courts in bid to tackle backlog crisis

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Plan for specialist unit in all police forces amid manifesto drive to reduce violence against women and girls

Labour will establish 80 new rape courts across and England and Wales to fast-track cases as part of wide-ranging plans to tackle violence against women and girls that will be announced in the party’s general election manifesto this week.

The specialist courts will be set up in unused rooms and spare capacity within every existing crown court, in an effort to end a growing backlog that causes 60% of rape victims to drop out before their cases even begin.

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