Landlords who illegally dump the remains of cannabis farms will be traced using “smart water” spray in what is thought to be one of the first trials of its kind in the UK.Council officials in Bradford said they were taking action after a rise in the number of cannabis farms that had been fly-tipped in…
With towns and cities across the US increasingly deluged by ferocious storms and rising sea levels, a group of disaster survivors has pleaded with the federal government to overhaul a flood insurance system they say is ill-equipped for an era of climate crisis.A petition of nearly 300 people who have been flooded, and their advocates,…
It was the runner beans that did it. My neighbour, who is in her 90s, dropped round an envelope filled with a small handful of dried beans, which looked as if they’d been dipped in pink and black paint. A few months later, I was eating the best runner beans I’ve ever tasted, and they…
We have the Babylonians to blame for making the new year a festival of self-flagellation – although their resolutions were more about appeasing gods than weight loss or cutting back on booze. (Sensibly, they carried out their rituals in spring in the Middle East, not the meteorological hellscape that is a British January.) John Wesley,…
Community care services have been hit by staff absences and increasing numbers of patients as Omicron cases have continued to rise in England.Community care, particularly nursing, could end up being rationed, the Royal College of Nursing has said.We would like to hear from people affected by these staff shortages. Are you struggling to access community…
For most of 1991 I was employed as secretary to the Dowager Duchess of Argyll, the fourth and final wife of Ian Campbell, the 11th duke. Mathilda was the wife after the more famous Margaret, the subject of A Very British Scandal, Sarah Phelps’s brilliant and frankly horrifying BBC three-part drama. Whenever I talk about…
Ratnaboli Ray regards one of the lowest points of her life as a breakthrough. After years in an arranged marriage in which she felt stifled and trapped, her mental health took a catastrophic turn in 1997, when she was in her mid-30s.“I was feeling very caged, I was not able to express myself,” she says,…
Contact with nature in cities significantly reduces feelings of loneliness, according to a team of scientists.Loneliness is a major public health concern, their research shows, and can raise a person’s risk of death by 45% – more than air pollution, obesity or alcohol abuse.The study is the first to assess how the environment can affect…
Wood burning stoves in urban areas are responsible for almost half of people’s exposure to cancer-causing chemicals found in air pollution particles, new research has shown.The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in tiny pollution particles are produced by burning fuels and have long been known to have carcinogenic effects. The new study examined the sources of…
It may not be rocket science, but researchers have found aerospace engineers and brain surgeons are not necessarily brighter than the general population.Researchers examined data from an international cohort of 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons who completed 12 tasks online using the Great British Intelligence Test (GBIT) from the Cognitron platform, as well as…
I’m known as the feminist barrister. I represent women with no immigration status on the breadline and I represent politicians in positions of power. They all have one thing in common. They are survivors of male violence. Kate Griffiths MP is no exception.I had the great privilege of being her barrister. I remember meeting her…
The rent university students pay for halls of residence has risen by 60% over the past decade to reach an average of £7,347, surpassing the reach of the average student maintenance loan, a survey shows.A survey of nearly 500,000 beds in student halls shows that rents have been steadily creeping up, with prices 4.4% higher…