Steve Reed convenes Tower Hamlets envoys as concerns over council persist

The communities secretary, Steve Reed, has called a meeting with officials overseeing the running of Tower Hamlets council as concerns about the governance of the east London authority continue.Envoys were sent to Tower Hamlets after a team of government-commissioned inspectors published a report last November that uncovered a “toxic” and secretive culture dominated by the inner circle of the local mayor, Lutfur Rahman.It is understood Reed plans to meet the envoys to discuss their work so far, and to find out whether they think there has been sufficient change in the council and what else could be done.Rahman, a former Labour leader of the council, first became mayor in 2010 as an independent. He was removed from office in 2015 and banned for five years from standing for mayor after an election commissioner found him guilty of electoral fraud

‘Are you building communities or just houses?’: human cost of Birmingham council’s plans for Druids Heath estate

Xylia Legonas was just a few years off fully repaying her mortgage and had just finished refurbishing her house after a fire when someone knocked on her door in 2023 and asked if she was aware of the Druids Heath regeneration project.“The first thing I thought: ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to knock my house down’,” she recalled. “He basically said yes and I thought: ‘What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?’”After years of discussions, councillors have now approved planning permission to knock down most of Druids Heath, a postwar housing estate on the southern edge of Birmingham, to create higher density housing.In total, 1,800 homes will be demolished to make way for 3,500 new ones, 400 (11%) of which will be designated as affordable, according to the planning documents – 800 fewer than there are now.This was the main point of contention at the planning committee meeting in which dozens of Druids Heath residents crammed into the room and adjoining corridor to voice their anger – shouts of “these are our homes” and “it’s not enough” could be heard throughout

Ultra-processed foods may help explain rising bowel cancer in under-50s, study suggests

Women under 50 who have a diet high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) stand a greater risk of having abnormal growths in their bowel that can lead to cancer, research suggests.Ultra-processed foods are typically defined as industrially produced products that are often ready-to-eat, contain little in the way of whole foods, fibre and vitamins, and are typically high in saturated fat, sugar, salt and food additives.While the concept is not without controversy, not least around whether all UPFs are unhealthy, studies have suggested such foods are associated with a host of health problems, from higher risk of heart disease to early death.Now researchers say women who have a greater intake of UPFs have a greater risk of the early onset of a common type of bowel polyp known as conventional adenomas.Dr Andrew Chan, the lead author of the study based at Massachusetts General hospital in the US, said the study was prompted by an effort to understand what was driving rising rates of bowel cancer in younger people

Council staff visited wrong address day before Sara Sharif’s murder, review finds

Services in Surrey failed to identify that Sara Sharif was at risk of abuse, did not question unexplained bruising, and staff members visited the wrong address the day before her murder, a safeguarding review has found.Sara, 10, was killed by her father, Urfan Sharif, and her stepmother, Beinash Batool, in August 2023 after years of escalating brutality that left her with bruises, burns, human bite marks and at least 25 fractures.She was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home after her father fled to Pakistan, leaving a handwritten note saying he had “lost it”.A child safeguarding practice review, commissioned after Sara’s murder, revealed that on 7 August, the day before Sara was killed, the council’s home education team attempted to carry out a home visit but went to the family’s old address.The mistake was spotted when staff returned to the office, but a rescheduled visit wasn’t due to take place until September

The rapid rise of renters in their 60s: ‘I hate the idea of house-sharing – but I have no choice’

It is often assumed that people of retirement age will no longer have housing costs to cover. But for a significant and growing group, this is far from the caseNow that she is retired, Deborah Herring’s days are hers to fill – usually with leisurely walks, museums and trips to the theatre. But she still manages to spare a thought for her ex-colleagues at the private boarding school where she taught religious studies for 14 years. “In their nice, expensive Oxfordshire village, I think they’d be frankly horrified about my situation,” she says with a laugh.Horrified that a few weeks ago she came home to find two strangers asleep on her sofa; horrified that she has to put up with an overflowing litter tray belonging to a cat that isn’t hers; above all, horrified that at the age of 65, she is about to leave a two-bedroom flatshare to move into a four-bedroom one where she will “probably be living with people whose combined age is less than my own”

Deaths linked to antibiotic-resistant superbugs rose 17% in England in 2024

The number of deaths linked to superbugs that do not respond to frontline antibiotics increased by 17% in England last year, according to official figures that raise concerns about the ongoing increase in antimicrobial resistance.The figures, released by the UK Health Security Agency, also revealed a large rise in private prescriptions for antibiotics, with 22% dispensed through the private sector in 2024.The increase in private prescribing is partly explained by the Pharmacy First scheme, a flagship policy of Rishi Sunak’s government that allows patients to be prescribed antibiotics for common illnesses without seeing a GP, raising questions about whether the shift in prescribing patterns risks contributing to the rise in resistance.“Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest health threats we face,” said the UKHSA’s chief executive, Prof Susan Hopkins. “More people than ever are acquiring infections that cannot be effectively treated by antibiotics