Expansion of HMP Parc in Wales should be paused, MPs say

Plans to expand one of the most troubled prisons in England and Wales should be paused until serious failures surrounding staff and inmate safety are addressed, MPs have said.Seventeen men died at HMP Parc in Bridgend in 2024 – the highest number recorded at any prison in England and Wales that year – amid drug use, self-harm, violence and understaffing issues. Another three men died there in the first nine months of 2025.A Welsh affairs committee report released on Monday acknowledged the need for more prison places for adult men, but concluded that Parc is “not the right place to expand the prison population”.Despite the prison’s problems, pre-application approval for adding 345 inmates and 160 staff to the category B facility was granted in September 2024, after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said England and Wales would run out of prison places in two months without urgent action

‘Definitely dodgy’: how to spot a fake vape

You buy a vape from a shop on the high street. Nothing looks unusual but after charging the unit and using it for a few days, you notice it is getting hotter and hotter.The vape is a fake and one of the thousands on sale illegally in shops around the UK. By not installing a simple circuit to prevent overheating, the manufacturers have saved a couple of pence but risk it catching fire.About 5m illegal devices have been seized over the last three years by councils, according to figures collated by the legitimate vape industry

Conversations about infertility are hard, but essential | Letters

Perhaps one of the reasons that conversations about infertility are so difficult is that people are often encountering the experience for the first time without a shared language (Infertility: at a time when we need the right words, some are unable to find them, 21 March). In many ways, what people need is not just support, but a vocabulary for what they are going through. When someone loses a loved one, we have a go-to phrase: “I’m so sorry for your loss”. It’s not enough, but it’s something. With infertility, we don’t even have that

‘I decided not to jog here after dark’: new English council guidance prioritises women’s safety

Reetta Vaahtoranta used to go running in the evening along the Greenway, a four-mile (7km) pathway stretching across east London. But increasingly, she found herself receiving unwanted attention from lone male passersby. She switched her running clothes to baggier options, because “the less attractive and weirder you look, the less likely you are to get people following you”.“In the end, I just decided it was not worth it to come jogging here after dark,” she said. “If I know it can be a bit dodgy, then I just stop doing it

What does new guidance in the UK say about screen time for children?

The government has issued new guidance on how much time children below the age of five should spend on screens.Children’s relationships with screens have become one of the key struggles of 21st-century parenting, along with the impact of the content that appears on those devices. The guidance has been developed by a panel led by the children’s commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza, and children’s health expert Prof Russell Viner.Children below two years old should avoid screen time other than for shared activities that encourage interaction. For children between the ages of two and five, screen time should be kept to no more than one hour a day

Table tennis can help manage Parkinson’s | Brief letters

Regarding your article (A moment that changed me: I thought my Parkinson’s was the end of my life, but dancing changed everything, 25 March), people with Parkinson’s might like to take up table tennis. I set up a Parkinson’s table tennis project in Newcastle in 2025 and we have evidence showing improvements in coordination, footwork, social skills and speech. One member who had to hold on to the table can now play freehand without falling.Philip CheungNewcastle upon Tyne How can you have a list of the best songs about the moon (You saw me standin’ alone: songs about the moon – ranked!, 26 March) without including The Waterboys’ great The Whole of the Moon? Chris EvansEarby, Lancashire Inconceivable that your best songs about our beloved lunar sphere failed to mention the B-52s’ seminal There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon). It couldn’t be much clearer guys – it is mentioned twice