Violence is part and parcel of how prisons function | Letter

Alex South’s article (Death on the inside: as a prison officer, I saw how the system perpetuates violence, 13 January) limits the scope of prison violence to individual acts by focusing on prisoner-on-prisoner homicides. But violence is part and parcel of how prisons function.Hundreds of people die in prison each year, the majority by suicide, medical neglect or drugs. Even if we focus on homicides, they reveal how violence operates at an institutional level. Last year, the inquest of Sundeep Ghuman exposed how it was multiple failures by the prison, not just the actions of his cellmate, that led to his unlawful killing

Blanket rule on trans women in men’s prisons would deny their identity, says Scottish government

A blanket rule to house transgender women in men’s prisons, even when they pose no risk to others, would be a “fundamental denial” of their identity, the Scottish government has argued.Placing a trans inmate in a prison that does not align with their lived gender runs counter to the aims of rehabilitation, Gerry Moynihan KC said on Thursday as he set out Scottish ministers’ position that a blanket rule on where prisoners are housed could contravene obligations under the European convention on human rights.In its latest court battle with the SNP government, For Women Scotland is challenging guidance that says trans prisoners should be housed according to individual risk assessment, which the group argues is contrary to the supreme court’s ruling on women-only spaces.For Women Scotland brought the original challenge that resulted in last April’s landmark ruling that the definition of a woman in equalities law refers to biological sex.Arguing that the supreme court decision was “not a universal proposition” but only for the purposes of the Equality Act, Moynihan said: “Where a transgender prisoner does not pose an article 8 problem, does not threaten the rights of others – are we to have an absolute rule that says that they must be accommodated in a prison of their sex?“Why? The sole reason is that they are to be classified as a man

Does getting cold increase your chances of catching flu?

“Put your coat on or you’ll catch your death of cold.” It’s a common refrain that feeds the narrative that getting cold will make us sick. And it’s true that illnesses are more common during the winter months, but is it true that you are more likely to catch the flu if you forget your hat?Not exactly. Writing in The Conversation, medical microbiologist Manal Mohammed from the University of Westminster has explained that colds and flu are caused by viruses that spread either by respiratory droplets or person to person regardless of the temperature. However, there is a bit of truth in the idea – many viruses survive for longer in colder and dryer conditions, increasing the chances of them hanging around and infecting a fresh victim

Autistic girls much less likely to be diagnosed, study says

Females may be just as likely to be autistic as males but boys are up to four times more likely to be diagnosed in childhood, according to a large-scale study.Research led by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden scrutinised the diagnosis rates of autism for people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2020. Of the 2.7 million people tracked, 2.8% were diagnosed with autism between the ages of two and 37

Wes Streeting to offer resident doctors bigger pay rise to end dispute

Wes Streeting is to offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise than other NHS staff in England as part of a new package of measures to try to end their long-running dispute.The health secretary also plans to guarantee resident doctors that hospitals will be fined if they do not give them good working conditions, such as rest areas and access to hot food.Streeting is looking at making a series of improvements to previous offers he has made, which may persuade the British Medical Association (BMA) to call off its nearly three-year-long campaign of industrial action.Senior figures in the NHS briefed on Streeting’s thinking are increasingly optimistic that the measures he is finalising may prove enough to break the deadlock before the third anniversary of the first doctors’ strike of the current dispute on 13 March 2023.The health secretary hopes that by offering to significantly improve – but for resident doctors only – the 2

Mediterranean diet can reduce risk of stroke by up to 25%, long-term study suggests

A Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of every type of stroke, in some cases by as much as 25%, a large study conducted over two decades suggests.A diet rich in olive oil, nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables has previously been linked to a number of health benefits. However, until now there has been limited evidence of how it might affect the risk of all forms of stroke.The study, published in Neurology Open Access, a journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows an association but does not prove the Mediterranean diet causes a lower risk of stroke.However, experts not involved with the research welcomed the findings, and said there was “huge potential” to reduce a person’s chances of experiencing a stroke