The theme of public service is at the forefront of the new year honours list, with the majority of those receiving awards nominated for their work in their local communities.Tricia Ward-Jones, 69, from Shropshire, receives the British empire medal (BEM) after 17 years as a volunteer fundraiser for Promise Dreams, a charity based in Wolverhampton
While filming her new show about the state of Australia’s health, Magda’s Big National Health Check, Magda Szubanski began getting chest pains. “I’ve been dreading having a heart attack for years – everyone looks at me like I’m a walking heart attack,” the 61-year-old says now. Helpfully, the pain occurred while she was filming a
“Welcome to the site of hope and heartbreak.”With these words Bronwen Newton greets visitors to a quarter-acre gravel carpark between two industrial buildings in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. Still visible are the foundations of a sheet-metal workshop that once stood there; not visible is the cohousing project that Newton and 23 other families hoped to
From the outside it may not look like much – a tangle of metal boxes in a remote Welsh yard weathered by salty winds next to a field of goats and sheep.Inside, though, it is extraordinary. The structure turns out to be four shipping containers ingeniously linked to create a cosy, if eccentric, home for
The chemical imbalance theory of depression is well and truly dead. A paper by Joanna Moncrieff and colleagues, longtime critics of the effectiveness of antidepressants, has caused a splash. The paper provides a summary of other summaries that confirm there is no evidence to support the idea that depression is caused by disturbance of the
People in “fuel-poor” households in England are facing annual bills about £250 higher than need be because of their poorly insulated homes, according to Local Government Association (LGA) research.The LGA has identified about 3 million households where better insulation would save large sums for people struggling with the rising cost of living. About £770m is
California voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to an abortion in their state constitution, a question sure to boost turnout on both sides of the debate during a pivotal midterm election year as Democrats try to keep control of Congress after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.The court’s ruling
Juul can continue to sell its electronic cigarettes, at least for now, after a federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked a government ban.Juul filed an emergency motion earlier Friday, seeking the temporary hold while it appeals the sales ban.The e-cigarette maker had asked the court to pause what it called an “extraordinary and unlawful
Low-income families in the UK’s poorest neighbourhoods are paying up to £541 a year more than affluent households to access the same basic services such as energy and insurance, and buy essential items such as TVs and fridges, a study claims.The Fair by Design charity has called for the government and regulators to outlaw practices
Care workers recruited from overseas to look after elderly and disabled people in Britain are being charged thousands of pounds in illegal fees and forced to work in exploitative conditions to pay off their debts.An Observer investigation has uncovered a network of agencies supplying workers to care homes and homecare agencies that charge recruitment fees…
Doctors have hit back at critics saying they are failing menopausal women, and said that treating menopause as a hormone deficiency that requires medical treatment could fuel negative expectations and make matters worse.Writing in the British Medical Journal they said there was an urgent need for a more realistic and balanced narrative which actively challenges…
The government’s lead adviser on food issues has condemned what ministers have billed as a landmark national plan to combat food poverty and obesity, saying it is “not a strategy” and warning it could mean more children will go hungry.Henry Dimbleby’s verdict is further bad news for Boris Johnson as the white paper is a…