From building more homes to giving private renters a legal right to buy after longer tenancies
Demand far outstrips supply in private rented housing. More housing of any tenure should reduce excess demand, and with it rents. It could also increase competition among landlords, meaning higher standards, and restore the possibility that young renters could eventually afford to buy.
Continue reading...Boys charged with using a machete to stab Shawn Seesahai, 19, to death in a park near a primary school
Two 12-year-old boys have appeared in court charged with using a machete to kill a 19-year-old man in a park in Wolverhampton.
Shawn Seesahai died after being stabbed shortly before 8.30pm on Monday while he was with friends on open fields near Stowlawn primary school in the East Park area of the city.
Continue reading...Species populations falling, with some decreasing due to loss of habitat and less food availability
More than half the seabird species breeding on British and Irish coasts have declined over the last 20 years, according to the most comprehensive census to date.
Eleven of 21 nesting seabirds species have fallen, five species have remained stable and five have increased, some because of targeted conservation work, according to the Seabirds Count survey.
Continue reading...International study finds those on England programme have bigger drops in BMI, blood sugar and bad cholesterol
People at risk of diabetes reduce their weight and levels of bad cholesterol after undergoing “lifestyle counselling” in the NHS’s diabetes prevention programme, a major international study has found.
The health service launched the programme in 2016 to help prevent patients in England from developing diabetes through intensive weight loss, diet and exercise goals. Prediabetic patients referred to the scheme attend at least 13 group sessions over nine months. Latest figures from NHS England show that 1.3 million people have been referred to the scheme so far and 120,000 patients are due to take part this year.
Continue reading...After the building was evacuated, leaving hundreds temporarily homeless, we look at what happens next for residents and the council
What has happened at Barton House tower block in Bristol?
Barton House, a 65-year-old 15-storey tower block, was built in the late 1950s using reinforced concrete cross walls, pre-cast concrete floors and reinforced concrete external walls.
Continue reading...Quarter of new flood defence projects will also not go ahead, NAO finds, as Environment Agency blames cuts on inflation
The number of properties that will be better protected from flooding by 2027 has been cut by 40%, and 500 of 2,000 new flood defence projects have been abandoned, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
The number of homes forecast to be under enhanced flood protection by 2027 has been slashed from 336,000 to 200,000. This means 136,000 more homes will be at risk of flooding since plans were drawn up in 2020, figures from an NAO report show.
Continue reading...Number of antibiotic prescriptions also up and officials warn against giving leftovers to friends and family
Giving leftover antibiotics to friends and family risks fuelling a surge in infections resistant to the drugs, officials have warned, as data shows a rise in related cases in England – with people of Asian heritage at greater risk than those who are white.
While severe antibiotic-resistant infections – such as bloodstream infections, UTIs, surgical site infections and respiratory infections – remained below 2018 levels last year, the latest estimates suggest there was a 4% rise between 2021 and 2022, from 55,792 to 58,224. The uptick follows a notable decline during the height of the Covid pandemic.
Continue reading...Amanda Pritchard will say combination of vaccination and screening means goal within two decades is realistic ambition
Cervical cancer can be eliminated in England by 2040, saving thousands of women’s lives, the head of NHS England will say on Wednesday.
A combination of HPV vaccination and screening for the disease means that elimination of it is a realistic ambition, Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, will say.
Continue reading...With waiting times on the rise and a challenging winter ahead, analysts claim the ‘financial bottom line’ is being prioritised
Rishi Sunak’s pledge to slash NHS waiting lists has effectively been downgraded, the Observer has been told, amid an increase in the number of patients in England waiting longer than 18 months for treatment.
Hospital leaders are warning that morale is low, staff absences are high, and funds for new equipment and repairs are having to be raided ahead of winter. They have now been told to prioritise controlling costs in favour of some of the extra work being done towards the prime minister’s pledge to bring down waits.
Continue reading...Association of Clinical Psychologists must pay £20,000 after intervening in family justice case where it mounted ‘critique of expert’
A professional body ordered to pay costs of £20,000 by the president of the family division after intervening in an appeal regarding the qualifications of a court-appointed expert has said the ruling was “unfair” and could have a “chilling effect”.
The Association of Clinical Psychologists UK (ACP-UK) said it had acted in good faith on a matter of “public protection”, after being criticised for conducting itself in a “wholly exceptional manner” during an appeal before the most senior family judge in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Fears grow that Rishi Sunak’s anti-green policy shift is driving investment in renewable energy abroad
The government has received no new applications for onshore wind farms in England since cabinet ministers eased planning rules earlier this year – in a further sign that Rishi Sunak’s anti-green policy shift is driving investment abroad.
So far this year, only one new project, with a single turbine, has become fully operational in England, with many more being built in the EU – and in Scotland and Wales, where planning rules are less burdensome. This is despite renewables being seen as the cleanest and safest form of power, and having wide public support.
Continue reading...BMA raises concerns with minister about planned data platform, which could be run by US firm Palantir
Patients fear that their personal information may be misused by the NHS’s new data store, especially if the US spy technology company Palantir runs it, doctors’ leaders have warned ministers.
The planned creation of the “federated data platform” (FDP) has prompted concerns about privacy and trust in the NHS and suggestions that suspicion around it will lead patients to refuse to share their data.
Continue reading...Police to put tight controls on protesters’ movements with hundreds of thousands expected at event on Armistice Day
The organisers of the pro-Palestine march due to take place in London on Armistice Day believe “hundreds of thousands” of people will turn out for what they say will be one of Britain’s biggest days of mass protest.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan police said the policing of the remembrance weekend would be “far greater and more complex than we’ve delivered before” and that officers would draw on “an extensive set of powers to prevent any disruption whatsoever”, with tight controls put on the movements of protesters.
Continue reading...Katie Tidmarsh found guilty of killing ‘defenceless young child’ she had been in the process of adopting
A woman has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years for murdering the one-year-old baby she was in the process of adopting, after failing to disclose mental health problems to the adoption panel.
Katie Tidmarsh, 39, was convicted of murdering Ruby Thompson, who sustained catastrophic brain damage and died in hospital in August 2012.
Continue reading...Susan and John Cooper, from Burnley, fell ill after hotel room next door was sprayed for bed bug infestation
A woman whose parents were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning during a holiday to Egypt has said her family is “broken without them”.
John and Susan Cooper, aged 69 and 63 respectively, died after falling ill in their hotel room after a pesticide was sprayed in the room next door to kill bed bugs, a coroner ruled on Friday.
Continue reading...England’s chief medical officer says more realistic conversations needed about some treatments’ side-effects
England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, has called for a cultural shift in medicine away from maximising lifespan and towards improving quality of life in old age, arguing that sometimes this means “less medicine, not more”.
Speaking before the publication of his 2023 annual report, which this year focuses on health in an ageing society, Whitty said doctors needed to have more realistic conversations with patients about the risk of some treatments extending life at the expense of quality of life and independence.
Continue reading...Chair of Charity Commission says funds should not be rejected due to the views or preferences of donors
The head of England’s charity regulator has promised to crack down on “squeamish” charity boards who reject large cash donations from corporations or wealthy philanthropists on moral grounds.
Orlando Fraser, the chair of the Charity Commission, said the regulator may intervene where trustees have rejected or returned donations simply because their “personal worldviews or preferences” were incompatible with those of the donor.
Continue reading...PM backs down over march on Armistice Day after meeting Met chief, with senior party figures critical of his handling of the issue
Rishi Sunak has been accused of “silly puffed-up posturing” by senior Tories after being forced to concede at the 11th hour that a pro-Palestine march planned for Armistice Day will go ahead.
For days minsters have insisted that the march through central London should not proceed out of respect for commemorations being held on 11 November.
Continue reading...Planning Inspectorate says ‘Captain Tom Building’ harms Grade II-listed home where Moore’s daughter and her family live
The family of Captain Sir Tom Moore have lost a planning application appeal for a spa complex in their garden and have been given three months to demolish the structure.
Moore’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore, 53, and her husband, Colin, 66, appealed against a demolition order by Central Bedfordshire council for what they have called the Captain Tom Foundation Building in the grounds of their Bedfordshire home.
Continue reading...MP offers ‘sincerest apologies’ for social media post and pays compensation into BMA strike fund
The Conservative deputy chair, Lee Anderson, has apologised to a doctor after he made a “misleading” social media post about him.
The MP for Ashfield said he wanted to offer his “sincerest apologies” to Dr Tom Dolphin for “any distress caused” by his post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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