What the papers said in the week ending 25 September 2021
A week of pigeons coming home to roost as prices of fuels and problems affecting the transport and distribution industries bring shortages of basic necessities and scenes not known for many years. The underlying themes of greed and selfishness, laced with fear have made matters worse through panic buying and stockpiling. The Guardian view on an energy price shock: a crisis in the making | Editorial | The Guardian
- Long, cold winter ahead for Britain could keep gas prices soaring to record levels | Household bills | The Guardian
- The empty shelves crisis isn’t just down to Covid and Brexit – it’s been decades in the making | Felicity Lawrence | The Guardian
Covid:
While Britain debates the advantages and risks of vaccinating children and young people, or super-sealing older and vulnerable people with third ‘booster’ jabs, much of the rest of the world struggles to cope with the plague: Gordon Brown calls for urgent action to avert ‘Covid vaccine waste disaster’ | Coronavirus | The Guardian
The tension between fears, freedom of choice and safety has impact in the care industry: Holiday homes for disabled people face closure due to England’s vaccines mandate | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian
Covid is blamed for a fall in life expectancy among men Male life expectancy in UK drops for first time in 40 years as Covid takes toll | Life expectancy | The Guardian
Elsewhere in medicine:
There is hope from better use of anti-cancer medication: ‘Highly effective’ ovarian cancer treatment could help thousands of women | Ovarian cancer | The Guardian
And a novel application of statins is good news for people who require organ transplants: Use of 10p statins in organ donation ‘could save thousands of lives’ | Organ donation | The Guardian
A report from The Department of Health and Social Care gains headlines for suggesting that prescribing patterns are not well focussed – perhaps potentially better care and treatment for less expenditure on drugs Government review finds 10% of drugs dispensed in England are pointless | Doctors | The Guardian
Equality:
There remains concern that the rights of people from minority groups are not respected or protected: Britain’s equality watchdog ‘colluding in denial of institutional racism’ | Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) | The Guardian
The Windrush scandal destined to run its course until all that should have benefitted from the compensation scheme have died Windrush victims launch legal action over compensation delays | Windrush scandal | The Guardian
Prisons:
Our concern for the lives of older prisoners has to extend to the quality of life for people of all ages in the legal system and especially when imprisoned. A report on the death of a child born to a mother left alone overnight in HMP Bronzefield is shocking. We have to be ashamed. Surely we can do better than this for prisoners whatever their age Damning report published into death of baby born to teenager in prison cell | Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Current limits of law and older people, especially those living with dementia:
The story of Joan Blass who was trapped into marriage by a man posing as a Good Samaritan makes alarming reading. It seems protection afforded by a Power of Attorney for financial matters did not override the vulnerability which came to her through a marriage which was deemed legal despite her obvious lack of capacity. Is this a situation which requires a change of law – or, more simply, more competent application of current legislation? Power of attorney doesn’t help in tackling predatory marriage | Marriage | The Guardian
- Older people need better safeguards against predatory marriage | Marriage | The Guardian
- Daphne Franks: the woman who lost her much-loved mother to a predatory marriage | Marriage | The Guardian
And we have lost another great sportsman:
Jimmy Greaves had a stroke about five years ago and his last years were lived with dementia: Jimmy Greaves obituary | Football | The Guardian
David Jolley
