What the papers said in the week ending 8 May 2021
Covid Times
2020 has seen more deaths in England and Wales. Most of the excess deaths are accounted for by Covid-19 which displaced patients with other conditions from hospitals to produce a marked increase in the number dying in private households: Deaths for all causes increased by 14% in England and Wales during 2020. 97% of the excess deaths were related to Covid-19. There was a 20% increase in deaths in private households – mostly of dementia, cancer and heart problems which in previous years would have occurred in hospital. Covid deaths were concentrated in hospitals and care homes. (Excess deaths in care homes 10%)Deaths at home increased by a third in 2020, while deaths in hospitals fell except for COVID-19 – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
Permission for more than 30 people to attend funerals is welcomed: Limit of 30 mourners at funerals in England to be lifted this month | Health policy | The Guardian
- Deprivation of the usual access to rituals which help us cope with grief has been painful for many. We are glad to know this will not continue: At last, I will be able to help bereaved people say a proper farewell at funerals | Sandra Millar | The Guardian
Freer use of visits to and from care homes is seen as essential and there are pleas for this to be recognised in law: ‘This will be lovely’: care home residents in England savour the return of freedom | Older people | The Guardian
- Calls for UK law securing right to care home visits for essential carers | Social care | The Guardian
- This freedom was celebrated after 421 days of ‘house detention’ by 92 year old painter Philip Sutton by sketching what he could see. Portrait of happiness: long lockdown ends for the artist Philip Sutton | Older people | The Guardian
Health
We learn more about the effects of air pollution on brain development and function. There is so much to be said for living in areas where the air is fresh:
- Air pollution spikes may impair older men’s thinking, study finds | Air pollution | The Guardian
- Life Course Air Pollution Exposure and Cognitive Decline: Modelled Historical Air Pollution Data and the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 – IOS Press
The therapeutic potential of fishing is recognised in its prescription to improve mental health: ‘No one judges you out here’: fishing prescribed for NHS patients | NHS | The Guardian
I think we already knew that music is good for the soul, including the soul in dementia – but a computer algorithm is now backing bespoke playlists for patients and staff: Alzheimer’s patients and hospital staff prescribed music in NHS trial | Medical research | The Guardian
It is being said that even more money needs to be spent to bring the NHS and social care up to standards which desirable UK needs £102bn boost to NHS and social care, says major report | NHS | The Guardian
- Polly Toynbee doubts that the necessary investment will be forthcoming: Why social care reform in England isn’t on the agenda for this Tory government | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian
Despite strong support for the Conservative Party in Local Elections this week, there are areas where the public do not trust them: Tories lack public trust to tackle global tax avoidance, poll shows | Tax avoidance | The Guardian
- Some will say that there are many reasons to be doubtful Scandal upon scandal: the charge sheet that should have felled Johnson years ago | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian
- But few of us will own up to carrying the blame: Boris Johnson: the power to oust this charlatan lies with voters | Letters | The Guardian
Ethics
The debate about Free Will still has legs: Free will debate rages on, or is it all an illusion? | Letters | The Guardian
Pleas to make fair distribution of covid vaccines have support in the right places: G7 scrambles to speed up supply of vaccines to poorer countries | G7 | The Guardian
- And President Biden has made a marvellous stance to sponsor sharing between the nations and to use the vaccines as resources for the common good, rather than as a money spinner for the few: US support for Covid vaccine patent waivers puts pressure on EU and UK | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian
- Pfizer forecasts $26bn from annual sales of Covid-19 vaccine | Pfizer | The Guardian
By the way
As glaciers melt – history is being uncovered: Melting ice reveals first world war relics in Italian Alps | Glaciers | The Guardian
An early consequence of muddled arrangements about what happens now that the UK is no longer within the EU has been a dispute about fishing rights which almost led to a blockade and the mobilisation of navies: France threatens to cut off power to Jersey in post-Brexit fishing row | Jersey | The Guardian
At last we read of one family who will get their rights thanks to a ruling from the Windrush settlement Home Office unlawfully stopped family joining Windrush woman, court rules | Windrush scandal | The Guardian
The National Trust is using old photographs to turn back time in the landscape of rural Norfolk: National Trust to recreate 19th-century Norfolk woodland using RAF photos | Trees and forests | The Guardian
The (Manchester) Guardian is 200 years old: Times change but the Guardian’s values don’t: 200 years, and we’ve only just begun | The Guardian | The Guardian
David Jolley
