Category Archives: Society

‘An inspiration’: family and friends pay tribute to Camila Batmanghelidjh

Posted on by

Children’s campaigner lived an extraordinary life encompassing social entrepreneurship, fame, politics, a fall from grace and a dramatic courtroom exoneration

Family and friends are squashed into the late Camila Batmanghelidjh’s neat, tiny, kaleidoscopically colourful flat in north-west London. There are tears and hugs. Dates are passed round and cups of tea. “One thing is for sure,” said Lindita Berila, who has dropped in to pay her respects, “everyone knew Camila was special.”

A few days previously, Batmanghelidjh had been here with colleagues helping to wrap thousands of Christmas presents to be delivered the next day to disadvantaged children. “She looked fabulous,” said her brother Bobby. “There was no indication she was going to leave us.”

Continue reading...

Decoding the junior doctors’ strike – from patient safety to public support

Posted on by

Health bosses raise alarm as junior doctors begin the longest strike in NHS history. But how will the action actually affect patients?

Almost a year after the first strike over pay and conditions, junior doctors in England are going out on strike again for six days. (A pay deal has already been reached in Scotland, while doctors in Wales are due to strike later this month and those in Northern Ireland are being balloted.)

While the new health secretary, Victoria Atkins, is on slightly better terms with the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents junior doctors, than her predecessor, Steve Barclay, the doctors and the government are still a long way apart. As the two sides make their case, here’s some help with interpreting what they have to say.

Six days of strike action following bank holidays at a time of enormous pressure, there are real issues around patient safety”

NHS Confederation chief executive, Matthew Taylor, 23 December

Junior doctors’ pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008”

BMA website

The public know the only way to have a healthcare system that looks after them is to have enough doctors. And they can completely appreciate [that junior doctors’ pay] is just not enough”

Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-leader of the British Medical Association, 20 December

They have taken the decision to walk away from the discussions we were having, which were live”

The health secretary, Victoria Atkins, 13 December

I mean even recently the secretary of state has said they have a final offer to give. Well then give it and let’s solve the dispute”

Dr Rob Laurenson, co-leader of the British Medical Association, 30 December

Continue reading...

Wednesday briefing: Decoding the junior doctors’ strike – from patient safety to public support

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: Health bosses raise alarm as junior doctors begin the longest strike in NHS history. But how will the action actually impact patients?

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. It is never a good time to be seriously ill, but this week is worse than most. The NHS is in the grip of its customary winter crisis, which typically peaks in early January. More than 125,000 posts are vacant, and about 6.5m people are on waiting lists for routine appointments, more than a million of them for more than one procedure.

Today, junior doctors in England go out on strike again, for six days. (A pay deal has already been reached in Scotland, while doctors in Wales are due to strike later this month and those in Northern Ireland are currently being balloted.) Almost a year after the first strike over pay and conditions, the dispute still appears a distance from being resolved.

Israel-Gaza war | One of Hamas’s most senior officials, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut that threatened a significant and dangerous escalation of Israel’s war against Hamas and its related conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Read Jason Burke’s analysis.

Japan | A passenger jet that collided with a coast guard plane in a catastrophic accident at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport had been given permission to land, Japan Airlines executives have said. Five crew members on the coast guard plane were killed while all 379 passengers evacuated from the burning Japan Airlines jet.

UK news | Camila Batmanghelidjh, who created the Kids Company children’s charity and became one of the UK’s best known and most powerful campaigners for disadvantaged youngs people, has died aged 61.

Climate Crisis | The UK had its second hottest year on record in 2023, according to provisional data from the Met Office, as the climate crisis continued to deliver elevated temperatures. Such a warm year would have occurred only once in 500 years without human-caused global heating, the scientists said.

US news | The president of Harvard University has resigned amid pressure over her response to questions about antisemitism at US colleges and allegations that she has plagiarized some of her academic work. Claudine Gay’s six-month tenure is the shortest in the university’s history.

Six days of strike action following bank holidays at a time of enormous pressure, there are real issues around patient safety”

NHS Confederation chief executive, Matthew Taylor, 23 December

Junior doctors’ pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008”

BMA website

Continue reading...

‘Ramen noodles budget’: EU moves to end exploitation of unpaid internships

Posted on by

Unless from a wealthy family, internships for many mean chipping away at savings and cutting back on essentials

By day, he was mostly an unpaid intern, getting a glimpse of day-to-day life in university research as he networked with potential employers.

Nightfall would often send him rushing to his second shift; this time, at a library in the suburbs of Paris as he strives to pay his bills.

What we see is that, many times, they [internships] are actually replacing entry-level jobs

Tea Jarc, of the European Trade Union Confederation

Unpaid internships have really become a barrier for the social mobility of young people

María Rodríguez Alcázar, of the European Youth Forum

Continue reading...

Divorces delayed by cost of living crisis, research finds

Posted on by

Financial pressures have led to postponement of 19% of divorces, involving 270,000 couples, Legal & General claims

The start of the new year is often boom time for divorce lawyers, but 2024 may be different as new research shows the cost of living crisis has delayed more than 270,000 couples from splitting.

Financial pressures delayed 19% of divorces, researchers at Legal & General found. The impact has been particularly pronounced since 2020, with income concerns, cost of living pressures and the price of divorce all cited as reasons to postpone the split.

Continue reading...

Meet the Outlaw escaping from prisons in protest against indefinite detention

Posted on by

Joe Outlaw is one of 2,921 inmates still on IPP sentences, which were abolished in 2012

It should be impossible to escape from a high-security prison, doubly so for prisoners held on the segregation unit, who are allowed only to exercise in a caged yard.

But on 21 June, the summer solstice and the hottest day of the year at that point, Joe Outlaw managed to break through the cage and get on to the roof of HMP Frankland, a Durham prison dubbed “Monster mansion” due to many of its inmates being convicted murderers, terrorists and sex offenders.

Continue reading...

Labour should make UK leader in wellbeing-informed policy, says peer

Posted on by

Call by economics of happiness expert Richard Layard comes as research agency set up under David Cameron is to be axed in Whitehall cuts

A Labour government should make the UK the world’s first country to make policy based on its impact on wellbeing as well as the economy, one of the world’s leading experts on the economics of happiness has said.

With Keir Starmer in No 10, Downing Street should require Whitehall departments to appraise the potential impact on citizens’ wellbeing when they make funding bids, Richard Layard said. The next chancellor should announce measures of happiness and misery alongside GDP in their annual budget statements, he added.

Continue reading...

Civil servant at MoD alleges sexual assaults by three male colleagues

Posted on by

Woman came forward to Prospect trade union after feeling allegations were not sufficiently dealt with

A Ministry of Defence civil servant has told of being subjected to three separate incidents of sexual assault by male colleagues, after allegations emerged of a “hostile” and “toxic” culture at the department.

The woman came forward to Prospect, the trade union, after feeling that her allegations were not sufficiently investigated and dealt with by the Ministry of Defence.

Continue reading...

Call to end ‘cruel’ winter rises as energy bills go up by £100 a year

Posted on by

Campaign groups call on regulator to abolish January bill increase, saying households are facing an ‘assault from all sides’

Midwinter energy price increases should be abolished to protect households from unaffordable bills “at the worst possible time”, according to a coalition of leading charities.

Charities and campaign groups have called on Ofgem, the energy regulator, to scrap future January bill increases as it prepares to raise the cap on energy prices by 5% from Monday.

Continue reading...

Scientists call for review of UK’s 14-day rule on embryo research

Posted on by

Extending the limit could help uncover causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions, experts say

Scientists are calling for a review of the 14-day rule on embryo research, saying that extending the limit could help uncover the causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions.

Until now, scientists studying the earliest stages of life have been restricted to cultivating embryos up to the equivalent of 14 days of development. They can then pick up the path of development several weeks later, on pregnancy scans and from material donated from terminations.

Continue reading...

‘An outstanding person’: tributes paid to former Team GB footballer Gemma Wiseman

Posted on by

Wiseman, who has died at the age of 33, represented England and Great Britain’s deaf women’s teams

Tributes have been paid to former Team GB footballer Gemma Wiseman after her death at the age of 33.

Wiseman represented England and Great Britain’s deaf women’s teams and helped guide GB to third place at the 2016 World Deaf Football Championships.

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 counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

Tory MP says most struggling children in his area are ‘products of crap parents’

Posted on by

Bury North MP James Daly makes remark while outlining what New Conservatives group stands for

A Conservative MP has claimed most children who struggle in his constituency are the “products of crap parents”.

James Daly, the MP for Bury North, was outlining what the New Conservatives group of MPs stood for when he presented his perspective on how important a family unit is in giving children “stability”.

Continue reading...

NHS in England facing ‘storm of pressure’ as flu and Covid cases surge

Posted on by

Average of 3,631 patients in hospital with Covid during Christmas week, data shows, a rise of 57% in a month

A surge in the number of flu and Covid admissions to hospitals in England is adding to a “storm of pressure” facing the health service, NHS leaders have said.

Figures released on Friday showed that in Christmas week, there were on average 3,631 patients with Covid in hospital, up 57% from the same week in November.

Continue reading...

Rape survivor who joined the Met: ‘Domestic abuse is very different to any other form of crime’

Posted on by

Trainee detective constable says her ordeal helps her to empathise with victims and help other officers on her team

A Metropolitan police officer who was assaulted and raped by an ex-partner has channelled her ordeal into targeting domestic abusers.

The trainee detective constable, who works in a safeguarding unit in east London, was a student when the abusive relationship left her feeling suicidal. The woman, 24, who is not being named for legal reasons, hopes that speaking out about her experience will give victims the confidence to report abusers to the police.

Continue reading...

Victims of domestic abuse have lost trust in Met police, says senior officer

Posted on by

Det Supt Andrew Wadey says force has ‘let women and girls down badly’ and service must be improved to restore faith

Victims of domestic abuse have lost confidence in Britain’s biggest police force after a series of scandals, a senior officer has admitted.

Det Supt Andrew Wadey, the Metropolitan police’s lead for domestic abuse and stalking, acknowledged the force had “let women and girls down badly in the past” but insisted they were committed to rebuilding trust.

Continue reading...

Health of England’s children at risk from policy inaction on obesity, report finds

Posted on by

Exclusive: Officially commissioned research lays out effects of shelving anti-obesity pledges

Children in England are at risk of diabetes, heart disease and other serious health problems because ministers have shelved anti-obesity policies until 2025, according to a damning report commissioned by the government.

The independent report says that ultra-processed foods (UPF) and products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) have become “normalised” in children’s diets, with poorer parents powerless to curb them.

Continue reading...

England heads for obesity disaster as minister frets about nanny state

Posted on by

Government has shelved policies that could have helped to change landscape weighted in favour of unhealthy food options

Less than three weeks into her new role as health secretary, Victoria Atkins left health campaigners aghast when she suggested her approach to tackling obesity would largely focus on dietary advice.

Obesity is a devastating public health problem harming millions of people in the UK that will never be resolved by tips on what to eat and what to avoid. Two in three adults are overweight or obese and the problem costs £100bn a year.

Continue reading...

England has ‘twice as many empty homes as families stuck in B&Bs’

Posted on by

There are 121,327 in short-term housing, while 261,189 homes are empty long-term, say Lib Dems

England has more than twice as many long-term empty homes this Christmas as there are children living in temporary accommodation, the Liberal Democrats have said, calling this a stark indication of a “broken” housing market.

The numbers of families without a permanent home and in short-term housing, whether hotels and B&Bs or temporary rental properties, has hit a record high this year, with the latest statistics showing it now affects 121,327 children, according to data collated by the House of Commons library.

Continue reading...

More than 500,000 under-35s in UK out of work due to long-term illness

Posted on by

Experts link 44% increase in four years to a growing mental health crisis and underinvestment in health services

More than half a million young people in the UK say they are out of work due to long-term illness, a 44% increase in just four years.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that more than 560,000 people aged between 16 and 34 were economically inactive – meaning they were not in work or seeking work – in the first three months of 2023 due to long-term sickness.

Continue reading...

Indian Christians find comfort and joy in church communities across Britain

Posted on by

And churches used to dwindling congregations are delighted to see numbers boosted by worshippers of all ages

Father Happy Jacob has a reason to be cheerful. When he started St Thomas’s Indian Orthodox Church in Liverpool in 2002, his congregation numbered about 60 families, and stayed at that level for almost two decades.

Then, a few years ago, things began to change. “We have seen a massive increase in families coming to the church,” says Jacob, 48. At his last count, there were 110 families, with worshippers including NHS workers, international students and about 100 school-age children.

Continue reading...