Prof Sir Roy Calne performed gamechanging operation in 1968, and was responsible for other surgical ‘world firsts’
Prof Sir Roy Calne, the pioneering surgeon who led a team which performed the first liver transplant in Europe, has died at the age of 93.
On 2 May 1968 Calne performed the gamechanging operation at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, a year after the US’s first successful liver transplant.
Continue reading...PM sets up possibility of income tax coming down in March and says control of welfare is a priority
Rishi Sunak has said he wants to cut taxes for working people further this year, possibly cutting welfare payments to fund it.
The prime minister said on Sunday his priority before the budget in March would be further tax cuts, which he said would entail stricter controls on public spending and benefits.
Continue reading...Latest attempt to tackle pupil absences criticised as failing to tackle the magnitude of the problem
The government is to make a new effort to repair sagging school attendance figures in England, with the education secretary to announce funding for “attendance mentors” in some of the worst-affected areas.
Pupil absences remain stubbornly higher than before the Covid pandemic, and during a visit to Liverpool on Monday Gillian Keegan is expected to announce plans for caseworkers to offer one-to-one support for pupils in 10 areas including Blackpool and Walsall, where rates of unauthorised absences remain far above national levels.
Continue reading...ONS data also reveals working mothers spend on average an hour and a quarter more a day on household chores than male partners
You may not catch them on TikTok or Snapchat, but the latest data shows that the over-70s are spending more time online than any generation besides Gen Z.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics detailing how different Britons report spending their time, the 70-plus age group is second only to those in their 20s when it comes to the average amount of time using a computer or device as a primary activity (separate from working or watching streamed video).
Continue reading...The teenage sensation may have lost his world final showdown but has helped bring a fresh audience to the sport
When Eilidh Milne was visited by her dad and brother on Tuesday, she initially protested against their insistence on watching the darts world championship on television.
But Milne soon found herself on the edge of her seat, yelling at the TV and leaping into the air when the 16-year-old Luke Littler, who had taken the tournament by storm, defeated the 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals.
Continue reading...Row breaks out on first day of NHS’s longest ever stoppage as requests to return to work rejected
Junior doctors’ leaders have said they are prepared to stage yet more strikes after the longest stoppage in NHS history, as health leaders warned that this week’s action alone could cripple the health service until spring.
The dire warnings came as Rishi Sunak faced fresh pressure over his pledge to reduce waiting times. Since he made his vow exactly a year ago, the list has gone up, not down – and by 500,000, official figures reveal.
Continue reading...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...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”
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...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?
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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”
Continue reading...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...