What the papers said in the week ending 3 June 2023
Fear:
The Metropolitan police and some other forces are saying they will not attend calls relating to people with mental health problems, unless there is an immediate threat to life. It is their cry against a situation which has been developing over quite a number of years wherein the police feel they are underfunded and not properly equipped for their responsibilities – and increasingly asked to deal with crises which result from failures in other public services which are similarly not properly funded. The fabric of our society is torn: Met police to stop attending emergency mental health calls | Police | The Guardian
A fierce posture designed to discourage people from having large families, but encouraging them to work, has pushed many into severe hardship: Two-child limit on UK welfare benefits ‘has failed to push parents into jobs’ | Benefits | The Guardian
The extra costs of living with a terminal illness are not currently provided for: Terminally ill patients need help with energy bills | Household bills | The Guardian
- Informal care has costs: Caring is work. It is time that was recognised | Letters | The Guardian
- The provision of care is paper-thin and sometimes fails dreadfully: CQC case reveals ‘degrading’ conditions in England care home as Covid hit | Social care | The Guardian
- Man faced homophobic abuse in London care home, partner says | Social care | The Guardian
- There is growing evidence that privatisation does not deliver optimal care – for young or old: Outsourced care means more children being moved further away – study | Social care | The Guardian
- Surely we should be funding all these essential services out of mainstream monies – not rely on charitable giving: The NHS must be funded by taxes, not charity | NHS | The Guardian
And there is another threat: The existential threat from AI – and from humans misusing it | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian
Health:
Celebrity dementia keeps the condition in the headlines: Bruce Willis’s daughter says family ascribed his dementia to ‘Hollywood hearing loss’ | Bruce Willis | The Guardian
New medication for migraine: New migraine drug on NHS could help thousands of patients in England | NHS | The Guardian
New treatment for cancer: Breast cancer drug cuts risk of most common form returning by 25% | Cancer research | The Guardian
A new test for cancers: Blood test for 50 types of cancer could speed up diagnosis, study suggests | Cancer research | The Guardian
New treatment for chronic heart disease: New drug could help thousands with chronic heart disease in England | Heart disease | The Guardian
Flavonoids help preserve memory: Tea, apples and berries could stave off age-related memory loss, study suggests | Ageing | The Guardian
Some things to muse on:
Solace in a good read: Bloomsbury reports sales surge as people buy books as ‘affordable diversion’ | Publishing | The Guardian
Gardens: Munstead Wood, prototype of classic English garden, saved for nation | Heritage | The Guardian
Wartime compassion: From chapel building to babysitting: how prisoners of war enriched our lives | Second world war | The Guardian
Old school: Vote to close 167-year-old school angers villagers in North Yorkshire | Primary schools | The Guardian
Old ailment: Oldest evidence of plague in Britain found in 4,000-year-old human remains | Archaeology | The Guardian
Old ways: How Girlguiding gave me skills for life | Guides | The Guardian
Covid-19 has not gone away:
Some people would have it that it has gone: On Covid, the past is being erased and the present ignored | Coronavirus | The Guardian
We find that ethnicity played a role in receiving fines: Black people were three times more likely to receive Covid fines in England and Wales | Police | The Guardian
The story is remembered in art: Telling the Covid tale in a tapestry | Coronavirus | The Guardian
David Jolley. Chair of Christians on Ageing in a personal capacity.
